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Michael Owen-Smith, the South African journalist, has been appointed Cricket South Africa’s media officer on a three-year contract, replacing Gordon Templeton on September 1.Owen-Smith comes from a strong cricketing background, having spent 30 years as a newspaper journalist; been part of the judging panel for the annual Wisden Cricketer of the Year and is the son of Tuppy Owen-Smith, the former South Africa allrounder.”Michael Owen-Smith is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and experienced cricket correspondents both here and abroad. He will be a major asset to both CSA and the Proteas,” Gerald Majola, CSA’s chief executive said. “Apart from his writing abilities, Michael comes from an outstanding sports background as his late father was the famous Tuppy Owen-Smith, who played cricket for South Africa and rugby for England.”Michael has also been a talent-spotter of note, and many young cricketers he wrote about later became top players. His CSA assignment will include liaising with the media on Proteas’ matters, as well as preparing senior and junior representative players to deal with public issues.”The new appointment is one of a raft of changes for South Africa’s board, following the selection of Joubert Strydom as convenor of selectors.”After 37 years of being directly involved in the newspaper industry, I feel the need for change,” Owen-Smith said. “I am delighted to join the team of Cricket South Africa as I feel the game in this country is entering its most exciting period since unity in 1991.”This was born out by the fully representative squad that represented South Africa at the recent Emerging Players tournament in Australia which we won. Although one of my main focuses will be to communicate with the local and international media, I will also have the opportunity to carry on writing which I will do through the medium of CSA’s website”Understandably the mainframe media tend to concentrate on the Proteas, but there is much else to CSA including the High Performance Centre, the academies, the national youth teams, the franchises and domestic cricket generally.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has offered central contracts to 33 players, with top-grade cricketers being offered a whopping Rs 60 lakhs. The retainership for various categories was hiked and the BCCI announced that it would offer contracts to a record number of players. All top players have received A-grade contracts, while an extra category, the D-grade, has been created to include promising cricketers.The A-grade contract, which comes with a retainer of Rs 60 lakh, was offered to Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. Of this lot, Zaheer is the biggest gainer as he was on a C-grade contract last year.Grade B comes with a retainer of Rs 40 lakh, Grade C 25 lakh and finally grade D Rs 15 lakh. In the final category the BCCI has included people like Subramaniam Badrinath and Cheteshwar Pujara, who have done well for India A but not yet made it to higher honours.Any player from outside this list who played for India would automatically fall into the D grade, and when a player from the D grade notches up five Tests or 15 ODIs in the year he would automatically be upgraded to the C category.Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors was part of the gradation committee that decided on which player would get what contract, along with Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, and Niranjan Shah, the secretary. Soon after the contracts were announced Vengsarkar said, “This is very good for the players. They are being rewarded for their performances. This will create a wider pool of players.”Full listGrade A
Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer KhanGrade B
VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, S Sreesanth, Dinesh Karthik, RP Singh, Virender Sehwag.Grade C
Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina.Grade D
Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma, Manoj Tiwari, Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb Bose, Mohammad Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Aakash Chopra, Yusuf Pathan.

Vikram Solanki held up Warwickshire for a further 85 minutes today as Worcestershire topped 300 in a first innings at New Road for the first time this season.Solanki is a batsman who cashes in on his big innings. Resuming on 113 – thed ninth first-class century of his career – he went on to pass 150 for the seventh time.Three fours off Graeme Welch in the sixth over put him back in the groove but overnight partner Steve Rhodes was content to plod along with only five in the first hour.Solanki eventually collected 25 boundaries to reach 160 in 311 minues before a loose drive off Dougie Brown flew straight to substitute Stuart Eustace at mid-off.Rhodes contributed 28 to a partnership of 112 in 34 overs and added only 25 in 135 minutes this morning to reach 45 in a lunch total of 311 for six.

Tony Frost has been brought out of retirement by Warwickshire to cover for the potential absence of Tim Ambrose on England duty next season. Frost ended his first-class career after the 2006 summer and took up a position on the Edgbaston ground staff and continued playing club cricket with Knowle and Dorridge.The offer was put to him by Ashley Giles, the director of cricket, following Ambrose’s call-up for the tour of New Zealand which starts next month. If Ambrose cements a place as England’s wicketkeeper it will leave Warwickshire short of options behind the stumps.”Tony ticks all the boxes and can provide good cover should Tim be away for prolonged spells with England,” said Giles. “He is an experienced, capped player who is an accomplished batter and like-for-like replacement.”As a club we want to be positive and support our younger players and we feel that Richard Johnson [the reserve keeper] would benefit from more matches with the second XI before being thrust into first team cricket. Tim’s position in the England set-up is not guaranteed but until we know more about his long-term commitments we now have an experienced and committed replacement for what is such a crucial position in the side.”Frost was thrilled to be given the opportunity to relaunch his professional career. “It was a surprise to be having the conversation but it didn’t take me long to accept the offer,” he said. “I have enjoyed working with the ground staff and learning the other side of the game but I loved my time with [Warwickshire] and I can’t wait to get back with the team and playing.”In his last season before retiring Frost topped Warwickshire’s batting averages and was highly rated around the circuit as one of the safest wicketkeepers. Early in his career he was forced to bide his time while Keith Piper had the No. 1 slot, but enjoyed a consistent run when Piper vacated the role.

Shane Bond, the former New Zealand fast bowler currently signed up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), has accused international boards of succumbing to pressure from the Indian board to ban players believes players who join the unofficial Twenty20 league.”I’m just disappointed that players are getting banned. I just don’t think that is fair,” Bond, 32, said. “All boards want to make money and they have been quick to jump in with the BCCI, basically doing what they told them.”They [boards] are really the ones who are breaching contracts and probably aren’t acting ethically very well.”The BCCI has refused to recognise the ICL and later launched a multi-million dollar official version, the Indian Premier League (IPL). International Cricket Council regulations prevent contracted players from taking part in any league or tournament not sanctioned by the home board where they are based. The popular belief is that the financially-powerful BCCI has pushed various boards to ban players who play in the ICL from appearing in international or domestic competition.Bond believes these boards could have made a joint demand that the ICL pay a fee in return for each player, with the money going into facilities and grassroots development projects. “We’re professional cricketers and we should be able to play anywhere and for anyone,” Bond said, criticising NCZ for retracting their permission to allow him play in the ICL.Bond, who took 79 wickets in 17 Tests and 125 wickets from 65 ODIs, will debut for Delhi in the ICL’s new tournament starting on Sunday. “It is a job and we are trying to provide and look after families,” he said. “We are forced into a situation where we are getting banned from a job we want to do.”Bond also warned that legal action could be taken if more players were prevented from competing in the ICL. “I think we are going to see it get a ruling in the high court or supreme court. Something like that will happen one day because it will get over the top … people would have had enough.”

ScorecardKenya cruised to an eight-wicket win in the opening one-day international against Bermuda in Nairobi. Peter Ongondo led the way with the ball as his three wickets knocked the stuffing out of Bermuda’s weak batting line-up then Alex Obanda, the impressive 19-year-old, made short work of the target.However, anything less than this emphatic result would have been a disappointment for Kenya against a Bermuda side which is struggling to justify its status as a leading Associate. On Tuesday they lost to Uganda by 43 runs and the top-order woes, which had them on 18 for 5, returned again in this match after they’d been put in.Ongondo began the rout with his seventh ball when Steve Outerbridge edged a rising delivery to second slip and thereafter Bermuda were unable to cope. Irvine Romaine chased a wide one and edged to the keeper and when David Hemp drove a half volley into the covers they were 51 for 5 and sinking rapidly.Some respectability was ensured with a sixth-wicket stand of 61 between Lionel Cann and Janeiro Tucker as Cann crunched 52 off 32 balls before missing a drive at Jimmy Kamande. Bermuda’s lower order showed more fight than their earlier colleagues with Rodney Trott (22) and Malachi Jones (21) adding 35 for the ninth wicket as the total edged to 174.Kenya, though, were barely troubled in the run-chase despite David Obuya’s golden duck when he padded up to Kevin Hurdle. Maurice Ouma eased along at a run a ball, adding 105 with Obanda who again showed his range of strokes. Captain Steve Tikolo dominated the unbroken third-wicket stand of 70 as he and Obanda completed a professional display with more than 21 overs to spare.

The MCC and the ECB will have urgent talks to discuss worries that Lord’s may lose one of its summer Tests in 2009, when the new staging agreements take hold.Lord’s has traditionally received two Tests each summer, owing to being the home of cricket and its grandeur, but with increasing competition from other grounds, there are worries that one of the two Tests may be in jeopardy.The MCC needs to make a good case to the ECB as to why they should continue to stage the amount of internationals that they do. Part of that will be capacity increases, which could be part of the redevelopment proposals.Iain Wilton, the head of communications and public affairs, confirmed to Cricinfo that imminent talks were planned, but said that the £100million rumoured to be the cost of the planned redevelopment was “entirely speculative” at this stage.He said: “The MCC Committee has yet to decide on how, for example, the ground’s capacity should be increased – or by how much. When it has developed its thinking further, the club’s first priority will be to consult its members.”Lord’s is not the only traditional ground to think about redevelopment amid worries of increasing competition. Earlier this week, Surrey unveiled plans to overhaul The Oval in a £35million revamp.

ScorecardSimon Katich’s fourth Pura Cup century of the season gave second-placed New South Wales a handy lead and then four cheap Western Australian wickets put them in a strong position heading into the final day. Katich moved to 189 before chopping on to leg stump in sight of what would have been his fourth double-century in the past year. The ball clipped the bail and he became one of four victims for Ben Edmondson.Beau Casson added a useful 72 not out and was part of a stand with Katich that took New South Wales one run behind, then Nathan Bracken pitched in with 30. But Brad Haddin, perhaps overawed by being tipped to be Australia’s new wicketkeeper-batsman following Adam Gilchrist’s retirement, was an early casualty, adding five to his overnight 8 before being caught by Chris Rogers off Marcus North.Then came a procession as Doug Bollinger delivered two sharp blows, and Casson’s slow left-armers also bagged a couple to send Western Australia’s top order back. Three of the dismissals were lbws and they were in severe trouble at 4 for 36. Luke Pomersbach and Aaron Heal will resume with a huge task to push third-placed Western Australia into any kind of lead and then hang on for the draw. New South Wales, however, will be confident of capturing the final six wickets to keep their final bid secure.

Australia’s growing sick list now includes Matthew Hayden after he succumbed to a knee injury. Hayden’s tendonitis means both of the country’s Test openers are out – Phil Jaques has the mumps – of the Pura Cup games starting on Friday while Andrew Symonds has an ankle problem, Michael Clarke is fighting hamstring tightness and Stuart MacGill’s struggles continue.It is a relief for Australia that there is no serious cricket due until the Twenty20 international in Perth on December 11. Hayden will not play for Queensland against South Australia after Cricket Australia’s medical staff said he needed on-going treatment. The injury does not threaten his prospects for the Boxing Day Test.The future of MacGill is still unclear after a specialist analysed his hand and wrist on Wednesday and a Cricket Australia spokesman told the Australian he would return for more scans. MacGill is having trouble with a bone-on-bone knee problem, but he also experienced numbness in his hand during the Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart.”I have had nothing confirmed at this stage by anyone qualified to do so, but can guarantee you that I will not be taking the field again until I am at the top of my game,” MacGill told the paper. “I will do anything necessary to achieve that, including surgery.”MacGill’s manager, Leo Karis, said the legspinner did not know what to do. “He’s assessing his options,” Karis told AAP. “Whether that option is A, B, C or D, his main focus is playing cricket pain-free and that’s up to him to see how he does that.”

Scorecard

Russel Arnold blitzed a 40-ball 66 to inspire the Chennai Superstars to a nail-biting victory over the Kolkata Tigers in Hyderabad. Set a challenging 186 to win, Arnold and the Superstars held their nerve to post their first win of the tournament, with two balls to spare.While it was Arnold who applied the finishing touches, it was the in-form opener Ian Harvey who laid the groundwork with an express 49 featuring three sixes and four fours. He and G Vignesh gave the Superstars a flier, raising 49 off the first five overs.By the time Harvey was dismissed in the tenth over, the Superstars had raced to 92.Though Hemang Badani fell cheaply soon after, the asking-rate wasn’t allowed to increase too much from the initial 9.30. It was the Arnold show from then as the other batsmen contributed a mere 11 of the required 53 runs. A torrent of boundaries flowed from his bat and even his mishits cleared the ropes, including a top-edged pull which flew over fine leg.Earlier, after opting to bat, the Tigers were reduced to 14 for 3 by the third over. However, a brutal onslaught from captain Craig McMillan (69 off 41, five fours, four sixes) and a relatively tempered half-century from Abhishek Jhunjhunwala enabled them to reach a formidable total. At that stage, it seemed the Tigers would condemn the Superstars to their third successive defeat but Arnold’s pyrotechnics carried the Chennai side to victory.Despite the defeat, the Tigers are in third place, one above the Superstars. The Lahore Badshahs top the table having won all three of their games so far.