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Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has said he is keen to move up the batting order and will work towards convincing the team management about his promotion in the national side.”I feel that No. 4 is ideal for me and I am trying to do well lower down the order with a view to maybe being promoted up the batting order,” Akmal, who currently bats at No. 6 both in Tests and ODIs, told . “But I need to win over the captain, coach and management, and convince them that I am responsible enough to bat at No. 4. However, I’m grateful that I am in the team and would bat at whatever position the team requires.”Akmal, who has made 988 runs in 15 Tests, at an average of 36.59, said he was focussing on becoming a better Test batsman. “Test cricket is where I really want to make my name and that format in which I feel I can achieve the most,” he said. “I am still learning the game, but I feel I can definitely make great strides in this format and prove to everyone that I have the skill and temperament to play five-day cricket.”To do this, Akmal is aware he will have to curb his penchant for throwing away solid starts. In the recently-concluded Test series in the West Indies, he got past 30 in all four innings he played, but managed to cross 50 just once making 56.He admitted recklessness has no place in the format. “Test cricket has changed over the years and scoring rates are much quicker, matches are finishing quicker, but that does not mean that a reckless approach is necessary.”My approach will always be positive and if I see a bad ball I will always try to hit it to the boundary, but my main objective is to bat according to the team’s requirement at that time. Nobody feels worse than I do when I play an irresponsible shot. Walking back to the pavilion is hard enough after playing a poor shot, but then having to sit there and thinking about the shot you have just played is really tough, especially when the wicket is a good batting track.”Though he looked to be striking the ball well, Akmal did not make much of a contribution with the bat in the West Indies, apart from the solitary half-century in the Tests. His top score in the limited-overs leg was 41 in the one-off Twenty20 game at Gros Islet. Akmal said he felt the tour could have gone better for him. “I’m not entirely satisfied with my performance in the Caribbean, but then again not totally unhappy with it. It was an average tour but I need to move on and look ahead to the future.”

The bowling action of Nasir Aziz, the United Arab Emirates offspinner, has been found to be legal by the Emirates Cricket Board after an analysis. Aziz was reported for a suspect action during the final of the World Cricket League Division Two tournament against Namibia in April.Where a bowler is reported by the umpires due to a suspected illegal action in a WCL match, the policy requires the relevant member board – in this case the ECB – to initiate an assessment. In the meantime, the player is free to take part in international cricket.Aziz’s action was tested and reviewed at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai by Dayle Hadlee, Head Coach, GCA along with Mudassar Nazar, Head Coach, GCA and Kabir Khan, Head Coach, UAE who later submitted their report to the ICC.If Aziz is reported a second time within a period of two years from the date of the report, he will be required to submit to an ICC analysis. If the ICC analysis confirms that Aziz’s action is legal, he can continue to bowl in international cricket. However, if the ICC analysis concludes otherwise, he shall be suspended from bowling in international cricket for a period of one year.

ScorecardA century by Darren Stevens saved Kent from a second innings defeat of the season against Northamptonshire and helped take this County Championship Division Two clash at Canterbury into its final day.Having conceded a first innings lead of 213 Kent looked odds on to capitulate to a three-day defeat as they slumped to 118 for six soon after lunch, but Stevens found allies in James Tredwell and then Adam Ball to take the game into a fourth day.With Tredwell, Stevens added 45 for the seventh wicket, to which the England spinner chipped in with nine runs, then teenager Ball played a responsible innings of 30 from 79 balls that helped Stevens reach three figures and Kent into the final day.That appeared wholly unlikely when the hosts lost six wickets in the mid-session having finally dismissed Northamptonshire for 493 some 20 minutes before lunch. The collapse followed an opening stand of 59 between Sam Northeast and Rob Key who then went in fairy quick succession for 29 and 34 respectively.Northeast nicked to second slip while Key looked unhappy to be given leg before to counterpart Andrew Hall. Key may yet face censure from the ECB should umpires Nigel Cowley and Rob Bailey report his show of dissent. Martin van Jaarsveld edged a beauty from Lee Daggett to slip and then Geraint Jones, pushing half forward, went leg before as the ball from Chaminda Vaas hit pad then bat to make it 98 for 4.In showing their inexperience, Alex Blake charged down the pitch to be stumped and James Goodman was undone by one from Jack Brooks that appeared to keep low to snare him lbw. Tredwell went in the same manner to Vaas, but Stevens and Ball combined nicely throughout the final 90 minutes of the day to ease Kent into a 42 run lead by stumps. But with only three wickets remaining their fate would appear sealed.Stevens became the first Kent batsman this season to score a hundred on home soil when a Daggett mis-field at long leg allowed him to sprint through for a second run and post a 97-ball ton with 13 fours and a six.Kent had made their first breakthrough of the day in the eighth over to finally end a seventh-wicket stand worth 134 in 39 overs between Northamptonshire captain Hall and fellow overseas pro Vaas. The Sri Lankan had contributed 66 from 132 balls to the partnership before chasing a wide drive against Stevens only to edge through to the Kent keeper Jones.Ten overs later Hall moved to his second century of the summer against his former county in a fortunate manner. Barely four weeks since reaching three figures against them at Wantage Road, Hall reached the landmark again by toe-ending an attempted pull against Neil Saker wide of backward point for a lucky couple of runs.After almost five hours at the crease the South African fell three balls later. Aiming an airy waft against Saker he too edged through to Jones to go for exactly one hundred, having scored 12 fours. The tail fell away as Saker claimed 3 for 111 and Adam Riley 4 for 145 on their Kent debuts.Kent’s second innings looked in real danger of capitulating until a century from Stevens saw them reach stumps. However, Northamptonshire will probably only need the morning session of the final day to finish proceedings off.

The Yorkshire offspinner and former England Under-19 captain Azeem Rafiq has joined Derbyshire on loan for a month.Rafiq, 20, could make his debut in the CB40 match against the Netherlands on Monday. He has played seven first-class matches for Yorkshire plus a further 17 appearances in limited-overs cricket and 28 matches for England Under 19s.Four Youth Test appearances brought two five-wicket hauls and two fifties for Rafiq, who also notched a century in the second County Championship appearance of his career against Worcestershire in 2009.He hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in 2010 after a foul-mouthed outburst on Twitter against his Under-19 coach, John Abraham, but his arrival in Derbyshire was welcomed by their head of cricket, John Morris.”Azeem is a talented cricketer who gives us another option with the ball during an important month of cricket,” said Morris. “Opportunities to play first team cricket have been limited at Yorkshire, but now he has the opportunity to compete for a place both in Championship and one-day cricket here at Derbyshire.”

Shaun Tait has announced his retirement from the one-day format, and his days as a cricketer, at least as most have come to know the word, are over. His decision to quit at the conclusion of Australia’s World Cup campaign, in order to concentrate his energies on the many riches to be had in Twenty20, was far from a surprise. But it will sadden those who found real exhilaration in unbridled pace delivered in bursts of more than four brief overs.In truth, the 28-year-old Tait has been a T20 bowler for quite some time, never delivering more than four overs in the one spell for Australia or South Australia over the past two seasons. He never retired officially from Test or first-class cricket, though in July last year, he had little hesitation in flatly rejecting Ricky Ponting’s hopeful suggestion of an Ashes campaign.A violent action placed unique strains on Tait’s body, and caused him to gradually pare back his cricket from the peak of 2004-05, when he claimed a record 65 wickets in the Sheffield Shield – strike-rate an eye-popping 36.10 – to win an Ashes tour berth. Those days – which retiring South Australian wicketkeeper Graham Manou described glowingly when he departed the game earlier this month – have now receded well into the distance, replaced by only fleeting glimpses of the sustained speed Tait was once capable of delivering.”This is not a decision I have taken lightly but I believe it is one that will help me to prolong my cricketing career through the many Twenty20 avenues available,” Tait said. “In reality, playing all year round for Australia and South Australia is not allowing my body to stand up as I would like and I do not want to be forced into retirement through career-ending injuries.”Twenty20 cricket allows me to manage my body to a level where I feel I can continue to contribute to the game for some time yet. My goal was to hopefully help Australia retain the ICC Cricket World Cup. However, with our involvement now finished I feel it is the perfect time to move on in a new direction.”There was no little nostalgia in Tait’s retirement statement, although his tale has always been somewhat bittersweet. He endured a hellish Test match against India in Perth in January 2008. Picked despite injuries that worsened as the match wore on, Tait spiralled into a state of exhaustion, depression and utter distaste for cricket, and subsequently took nine months out from the game. He returned as a warier figure, but he was able to enjoy the high of World Cup victory in 2007 amid a general pattern of injuries and rehab sessions.His decision to abandon the longer forms of the game allowed Tait some more space, something he needed as a man who was not always devoted to cricket – not unlike the great West Indian Curtly Ambrose.”I’ve never been one of those blokes who loves cricket flat out,” Tait said in a 2010 interview. “I like playing the game and I enjoy it, but I’m not a cricket fanatic and I haven’t always found it as enjoyable as I probably could have, and that’s probably pretty obvious.”I don’t always get up and feel like that [I’m looking forward to playing today], but the majority of the time this season I have, so it’s been a plus. There was a time a couple of years ago when I didn’t want to leave the house and go onto the cricket field, but it’s been quite good this year [2010]. If I keep a positive mindset that’s always going to help physically as well if I’m not so tense and it’s going to help with my results and help the team, so it’s all good.”The Indian Premier League, the Champions League and the expanded Big Bash are where Tait’s future lies, and his retirement from Redbacks duty will make him a notable free agent for all eight teams to pursue for next summer.

Emerson Rodwell, the former Tasmania cricketer, has died aged 89. He played 18 first-class matches between 1947 and 1956, captaining the state on eight occasions in 1950.He scored 709 runs and took eight wickets but at grade level was a formidable performer and amassed 11,542 first grade runs from 337 innings at an average of 38.47. He won the TCA batting averages on six occasions and was the Association’s highest run-scorer five times. In 1949-50 he compiled 1071 runs – exceeded since only by Ron Morrisby (1099) in 1951-52.His cricket career had been interrupted by the Second World War and he was awarded the Military Medal after serving in Borneo. Following his retirement from playing in 1956 he remained very active with the cricket scene serving as an administrator for the Tasmania Cricket Association and covered local cricket for the ABC.

West Indies will visit Sri Lanka for three ODIs starting January 31, a series scheduled after the five one-dayers they were supposed to play last month were postponed because of torrential rain in Sri Lanka.The series will provide a final tune-up for West Indies, who now get the chance to test themselves in subcontinent conditions two weeks ahead of the World Cup which begins on February 19.All three matches will be at stadiums which will host World Cup matches. The first one-dayer is in Hambantota on January 31, and the other two are at the revamped R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, on February 4 and 6.

Michael Clarke doesn’t believe batsmen should be allowed runners when suffering from cramp after Jonathan Trott had the help of a team-mate for the latter part of his career-best 137 at Sydney.Trott was hobbling as he approached his hundred on a scorching day then shortly after passing the milestone called for assistance and Matt Prior ran for Trott until he fell in the final over of the innings. Clarke briefly discussed the situation with the umpires, Marais Erasmus and Daryl Harper, but the playing conditions have recently been amended leaving the decision to grant a runner solely at the discretion of the officials.”I found out that was a rule that has come back in this year,” Clarke said. “I don’t agree, it shouldn’t be the case that you are allowed a runner if you have cramp. But that’s the rule. They’ve certainly done nothing wrong.”England were at the centre of a runner-based controversy in late 2009 when Andrew Strauss denied Graeme Smith the use of one during the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Smith, who scored 141 in South Africa’s 22-run defeat at Centurion, was cramping badly during the innings but Strauss, in consultation with the umpires, didn’t allow a runner.”The ICC has changed the rule,” Strauss said. “If we all want to abide by the rules then we can. The rules were that you couldn’t have a runner if you have cramp and then they changed it to you can have a runner if you have cramp.”Following the Smith incident, Strauss was adamant that cramp was an issue of fitness and condition, not an injury. “Cramping to a certain extent is a preparation thing,” he said after the South Africa match. “To a certain extent, it’s a conditioning thing. My personal view is that you shouldn’t get a runner for cramps, full stop.”On this occasion Trott’s need for a runner came in the first innings of the match, whereas Smith had also spent 50 overs fielding. Trott recovered to take his place on the middle a few overs into Australia’s chase and also bowled four overs. “I had 40 minutes break and I didn’t come on until after a couple of overs,” he said. “You get a bit of liquid on board and you sit there under the air conditioning and your body cools down a little bit.”Strauss appeared more up to speed on the new runner situation than Clarke and it wasn’t the only occasion where the Australia captain was caught out by the umpires. As the run chase came to a head Clarke wanted to call the batting Powerplay at the start of the 41st over, but was told he informed the umpires too late. He then missed his chance again in the next over and couldn’t take it until the 43rd.”I was told with the Powerplay you have to let the umpires know you want to take it before they get to their mark,” Clarke said. “The first time I tried to take it so they [England] would have to change the bowler and I got told you had to tell the umpires earlier, then in next over I said ‘righto I’m definitely taking the Powerplay’ and Daryl Harper said I’m already at my mark. If that’s the rule, that’s the rule.”In the end the delay didn’t hurt Australia as the five overs of fielding restrictions brought 50 runs for the Clarke-David Hussey partnership and pushed the home side to the brink of victory which they eventually completed with two wickets and four balls to spare.

Out-of-form leaders
Ricky Ponting’s grim series with the bat continued when he was caught off his glove on 1, giving him 83 runs in six innings for the series. Ponting, who hooked his first ball to get his single, jumped awkwardly across the stumps to his ninth delivery as he attempted to glance Steven Finn. Reprieved initially, he stood his ground when England called for a replay, but was forced to walk off ahead of schedule again. Michael Clarke, the vice-captain, started more brightly but his light went out on 20 when he played-on from an angled bat. Australia need more from their leaders if they are to challenge England over the rest of the series.Aussies’ Ashes nadir?
After watching England’s fielders inhale some astonishing takes on the first day, not least Paul Collingwood’s salmon leap to remove Ricky Ponting, Australia knew they had to respond in kind, but the early signs were not exactly encouraging. Late on the first evening, Ponting misjudged a looping chance with Strauss on 0, while Mike Hussey didn’t see a cut that flew at gully straight out of the setting sun. But nothing was as bad as the miss that Brad Haddin and Shane Watson contrived in the third over today. With Strauss still to settle, he snicked Ryan Harris at waist height towards the cordon. But keeper looked to slip, and slip looked back at keeper, and the opportunity fizzed away for four. It looked, at that moment, that the bottom had fallen out of their campaign.Sid Vicious
While Johnson took a breather in the wake of his morning onslaught, the challenge for Australia was to keep control in his absence. Into the attack came Peter Siddle, a bowler who hadn’t struck since claiming six on the opening day of the series, with an extraordinary field that evoked memories of Bodyline as Ponting packed the leg side with as many men on or behind square as possible. Siddle responded with a wasted over of short balls from round the wicket that Matt Prior allowed to sail harmlessly by, but in his second over, he got the line spot on. Prior wore a bouncer painfully on his shoulder, then deflected the next ball down onto his leg stump. Whether he was distracted by the simultaneous arrival of a rogue seagull was a moot point. He was gone for 12, and the Aussies were into the tail.Spiking the Army’s guns
The Barmy Army was slow to find its voice on the second day, and little wonder, but with Ian Bell charming a fifty in the face of some intense pressure, and Graeme Swann providing gutsy support in a 36-run stand for the seventh wicket, they figured at last they could dare to start to sing. Unfortunately, no sooner had they raised the noise levels down at third man, Harris found enough movement on off stump for Swann to graze a thin edge through to Haddin. As the rest of the cordon rushed up the pitch to start the celebrations, Haddin wheeled away with fists clenched in the direction of the stands. As well he might.All bets off … and then on
It may prove to be the right decision eventually, but there will be nervous days ahead for an Australian betting agency that has already paid out all A$400,000 of its bets on an England series win. The decision was made before Mitchell Johnson’s 6 for 38 and England’s dismissal for 187, which gave the hosts a chance to level the campaign. “Unfortunately for Australian cricket fans the writing is on the wall and we can’t see the Aussies coming back from here,” Sportsbet.com.au’s chief executive Matthew Tripp said. If they do, it will be doubly costly.

UAE 79 and 200 for 5 (Ali 50, Burger 4-30) trail Namibia 320 (Williams 116, S Burger 73, Ali 3-46) by 41 runs
ScorecardNamibia are on course to claim he Intercontinental Shield despite a batting collapse on the second day against UAE. Namibia lost 7 for 54 and UAE responded with an opening stand of 98, but then Sarel Burger took four wickets to leave them on 200 for 5 and still 41 runs behind.Burger’s day hadn’t started so well when he fell without adding to his overnight 73 and that began a swift Namibia demise towards 320 all out. That still meant a handsome lead of 241 although Naeemuddin Aslam (48) and Arshad Ali (50) chipped away steadily to suggest UAE were capable of making a decent contest.However, once Burger broke through the match returned to a more familiar footing. Both openers were caught behind either side of Khurram Khan being trapped leg before. Louis Klazinga chipped in with the wicket of Shaiman Anwar then Burger took his fourth to leave UAE on 131 for 5 and facing a two-day defeat.That prospect was avoided through a stubborn sixth-wicket stand of 69 between Saqib Ali and Swapnil Patil which took UAE to the close with the hope of making Namibia bat again to secure the title. Regardless of how well UAE did during the first session the damage had been done on the opening day when they subsided to 79 all out.However, the day began in dramatic fashion when UAE showed it wasn’t just Ashes Test matches that could include two wickets in an opening over. Sarel Burger (73) fell to Shoaib Sarwar who then had Louis Burger caught behind first ball. Tobias Verwey also fell without scoring as did Nicholas Scholtz, but Louis Westhuizen hit a useful 34 to extend the lead beyond 200.