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As he made plain before embarking on his ill-fated trip to Australia, Darren Gough has re-affirmed that he would like to play out the remainder of his career with Yorkshire, but has also not ruled out the possibility that he might yet move to another county. This is presuming that he is able to resume his career, having had three operations on his troublesome right knee in the course of the last year.Gough feared that his last chance was to go to the United States to consult with a specialist there with a view to a fourth and final operation. However, he has been assured that the knee only requires further rehabilitation and not more surgery.He is still waiting for a new contract from Yorkshire after the expiry of the previous one in the autumn. On his departure for Australia he scotched rumours that he might be offered a pay-as-he-plays arrangement, and has once again said that he would not consider such a deal."Basically a pay-as-you-play contract is stupid. I’ve had chats with Yorkshire and they want me to do a lot of things but at this moment in time I am a free agent – I have no county."I want to play for Yorkshire for the rest of my career but unfortunately I am out of contract at the minute and if someone nips in you can never say never."With reference to his recent trans-Atlantic trip he said: "I went to the States to get an opinion. The good news was I didn’t need the operation as my cartilage is still intact."One problem you have is you are always under pressure too soon. After each operation I’ve had, I’ve not done the right rehabilitation for long enough."I’m very hopeful. I wouldn’t be doing all this if I wasn’t. I’m insured and the easy way out at my age is to take the insurance and walk away. But I want to play."

BRISBANE, Nov 4 AAP – Queensland off-spinner Nathan Hauritz claimed three quick wickets to leave England faltering in its run chase in the three-day tour cricket match at Allan Border Field today.At tea on the final day, England was 6-292 in its first innings in reply to Queensland’s 582.Hauritz (3-32 from 14 overs) claimed Michael Vaughan (127), captain Nasser Hussain (27) and John Crawley (seven) to take the sting from England’s run chase.The tourists were on track when the classy Vaughan and Mark Butcher (45) were cruising through a 92-run stand before Butcher was caught behind off Ashley Noffke in the first over after tea.Hussain looked scratchy in his 71-minute stay before he skied an edge to Michael Kasprowicz, who took an excellent running catch in the outfied.Vaughan hit 23 fours and one six before he was trapped LBW playing back to Hauritz in his first long spell since returning from Australia’s recent Test and one-day tours.Crawley didn’t look comfortable during his 40-ball stay, while Alec Stewart was unbeaten on 11 at the break.

Mark Waugh says he would not have retired after the Sydney Test had henot been dropped for the Ashes cricket series against England.Many fans believed Waugh was robbed of the chance of a fairytalefarewell from international cricket, but the 37-year-old said he had nointention of playing his last Test in his home city.He hoped to make a fourth tour of the West Indies next year and backedhimself to get runs in the Ashes series to earn his ticket to theCaribbean.”The idea of a Sydney farewell in the final Test was never mine,” Waughwrote in Sunday’s Sun Herald newspaper.”My view was that if I kept my place in the team and got runs againstEngland, then I wanted to go on the West Indies tour next year.”And if I got runs there, I wanted to stay in the team beyond that.”There seems to be a feeling that the Australian selectors robbed me ofthe chance to retire on my home ground, the Sydney Cricket Ground, infront fo my home crowd and against our traditional opponents, the Poms.”Sure, Sydney would have been better than Sharjah, where we playedPakistan, but I wasn’t looking for that.”I guess every Test player would like to finish on his own terms ifpossible, but I hadn’t reached the stage where I was looking to make thenext series my last.”I was quite happy to keep gambling on getting enough runs to convincethe selectors to keep picking me.”The 128-Test veteran revealed he declined an offer from chairman ofselectors Trevor Hohns to make a dignified exit before being axed.”I knew the public would have seen straight through it with the team soclose to being named,” he said.”When I got the call from Cracker about 10am last Saturday I knew hewasn’t ringing to ask me for my race tips.”I assumed the worst and I was right.”He said ‘unfortunately, we’re not going to pick you for the firstTest.'”I said ‘oh, fair enough. You’ve got a job to do’.”Then he said ‘you’ve had a great career and I’d like to congratulateyou on that’.”I could tell from Cracker’s voice that it was a really difficult phonecall for him to make.”He didn’t have to explain why I wasn’t in the team. I didn’t get theruns in Pakistan and, at 37, you don’t get too many more chances.”I can handle it.”Waugh said his father Rodger was probably the most disappointed to hearof his son’s sacking.

The South African team led by captain Ahmed Amla of KwaZulu-Natal beatBotswana in the final of the Africa Cup in Lusaka, Zambia, yesterday to takethe tournament trophy.South Africa bowled Botswana out for just 38 runs to win the final by 270runs and to bring home the Africa Cup.”There were three major benefits for South African cricket at thistournament,” said UCB CEO Gerald Majola today. “Firstly, the South Africanteam won handsomely, and they are the proud champions of Africa. Secondly,it has given this young team that was chosen from across the South Africanspectrum the chance to play international cricket together and to build forthe future. And thirdly, it was most meaningful to participate in atournament that is a vital part of the drive to make Africa a majorcricketing continent,” Majola added.

England star Marcus Trescothick was back at the County Ground this afternoon, after returning from his holiday in Spain.I asked him how he felt about Somerset getting to the final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Lords.He told me: "It’s really fantastic news. I might not have been at the ground but I kept in touch all day with phone calls and text messages. It was pretty exciting at the end so I can’t wait to see the video of the match."Was he going to be able to play in the final I asked. He told me: "Funny you should ask me that because I have just had Michael Vaughan on the telephone about the same thing. I told him that I’m trying to make sure that I am fit for the Lords final. In fact the target for my return to cricket is the championship match against Lancashire at Blackpool just a few days before the final."He continued: "It’s too soon to be sure at the moment because it’s less than three weeks ago that I did it. However after another week hopefully we will have a clearer indication as to how things are progressing."All Somerset supporters will be hoping that Marcus will be there on August 31st to lead the side out onto the field, to open the batting and at the end to lift the trophy aloft.

The Premier League’s weather-ravaged Southern Electric Contracting Cup is edging towards the semi-final stage, with BAT Sports and South Wilts now within sight of the Rose Bowl final.BAT, who have never won the trophy, edged into the semi-finals with a last-ball victory over Portsmouth.But South Wilts cruised home by nine wickets after restricting Old Tauntonians & Romsey to 102-8 (Stuart Tulk 28) at Lower Bemerton.Paul Draper (3-20) and Rob Wade (3-38) did the damage before an unbeaten 57 by Russell Rowe, supported by Jon Nash’s 34 not out, eased South Wilts towards a home semi-final tie against Rowledge or Burridge.The two rain-delayed quarter-finals are scheduled to be played tomorrow evening (TUES 9) – weather permitting.Burridge face the tea-time trek to Rowledge, while Easton & Martyr Worthy are eyeing up a potential shock against Bashley (Rydal).Scheduled matches –
Tomorrow (Tuesday):
Quarter-finals: Easton & Martyr Worthy v Bashley (Rydal), Rowledge v Burridge.Semi-finals:
Tuesday July 16
BAT Sports v Easton & Martyr Worthy or Bashley (Rydal)Thursday July 18
South Wilts v Rowledge or Burridge.The final is scheduled to be played on the main Rose Bowl arena on Friday August 2.

A classy half-century from young all-rounder Damien Brandy was the highlight of the second day of Leicestershire Second X1’s clash with Essex at Oakham School.It kept them in the match, and then some excellent bowling from Jamie Grove, George Walker and Ian Flanagan provided the ideal follow-up.By the close Essex were 176 for seven in their second innings, giving them a lead of 282.Brandy hit an unbeaten 57 in Leicestershire’s first innings total of 176,a knock made even more enjoyable for the 20-year-old because it was against the county where he began his career.Coach Lloyd Tennant said;”Damien came through the Essex youth system before coming to us last season.There is no doubt at all that he has a lot of class and style, and he showed it in this knock. Sometimes a lack of concentration lets him down.”When Essex batted again with a lead of 106, Grove took two more wickets to add to the four he claimed in the first innings, and there were two apiece as well for Walker and Flanagan.

The modern rivalry between Pakistan and Afghanistan produced yet another instant classic, but in the end Afghanistan ran out of bowling depth to lose with one over to go. Pakistan, who will know they manufactured a crisis especially with captain Babar Azam losing his wits around Rashid Khan, are now practically in the semi-final with Asif Ali bailing them out with four sixes in the 19th over.It was as loud as it was tense off the field with scenes of stampede outside the stadium when trying to keep out ticketless fans reminiscent of the rioting during the 2019 World Cup match at Headingley between these two sides. On the field, Afghanistan made all the running, be it a frenetic start, the slowdown to avoid getting bowled out, the finishing quick, the Mujeeb Ur Rahman attack first up, the holding back of Rashid, the Naveen-ul-Haq 18th over to create pressure.

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Pakistan kept absorbing the blows before Asif struck the deciding ones in the 19th over. With one whole bowler’s quote to be made up of Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib, who didn’t bowl on the night, Afghanistan just had too few to defend in 147.Helter skelterThe start was pure no-holds-barred manic Twenty20 energy. Three batters’ first scoring shots in the powerplay were sixes. Haris Rauf bowled the joint-fastest ball of the Super 12s stage. Shaheen Afridi didn’t get a wicket in the first over, but got one in his second. Imad Wasim took out a left-hand batter in his first and got carted two right-hand batters in his second. All told Afghanistan were 49 for 4 after the powerplay.It didn’t stop there. After a couple of overs’ lull, Najibullah Zadran reverse-swept Shadab Khan for four followed by a four and six off him in his coming overs. In between Imad got Janat. Shadab’s response to the six was the perfect wrong’un to take Najib’s edge and make it 70 for 6 in the 13th over.The Nabi-Naib showBy the time Najibullah got out, Mohammad Nabi scored just five off 12. He would continue going slow to 20 off 23 at the start of the death overs. They knew they had lost too many wickets up front, and now needed wickets in hand if they were going to get big runs in the back four. Rauf conceded just three in the 17th. In the 18th, though, Nabi exploited the short leg-side boundary to take down Hasan Ali and then capitalised on a couple of errors from Rauf. Forty-six off the last four gave Afghanistan something to work with.Mujeeb ties Pakistan downThat something became more substantial as Mujeeb started off superbly with his variations and accuracy, bowling four overs on the trot for 14 runs and the wicket of Mohammad Rizwan. By the time Mujeeb was done, Pakistan were just 44 for 1 in seven overs.Rashid Khan is congratulated after becoming the quickest to 100 T20I wickets•Getty Images

Holding Rashid backAfghanistan could have bowled an over of Rashid here looking for a wicket but they put all eggs in his basket by trying to bowl medium pace in the next three overs. This is when Babar, stuck on 11 off 17, found some momentum and got to a run a ball. When Rashid was finally brought on, Pakistan needed 76 off 10 overs with nine wickets in hand.Rashid turns it aroundIt is a matter of magic that with such an easy equation, with dew expected, with a few indifferent overs in the bag to capitalise on, Rashid still managed to create panic. In his first two overs, he drew nine false responses. At the other end, Fakhar Zaman got out looking to make up for the quiet at Rashid’s end. Babar failed to pick which way Rashid was turning it. He barely survived the wrong’uns and the edge off the legbreak went wide of slip. Mohammad Hafeez was not so lucky, holing out to long-on. Thirty-eight required off last four.The end gameAfghanistan now had a choice to bowl Naveen in the 17th and 19th overs so that their weakest bowler, Janat, is used only in the 20th, but they went ahead with Rashid in the 17th. Shoaib Malik eased all the pressure with a six second ball, but Babar still played panic-stricken shots without knowing which way the ball was turning. He was dropped first ball, but was out bowled last ball of the over.Naveen backed it up with a composed over in which a slower ball bamboozled Malik and the quicker one got him out. Shadab wanted to steal a single last ball of the over, but Asif wasn’t even looking at him. Time for dealing in quick singles was over.It was now time to exploit Afghanistan’s weakest bowler and the short leg-side boundary. First ball he went deep into the crease to convert the yorker into a half-volley and go miles over long-off. Next one was a perfect yorker. The third one was short, and he pulled it for a flat small six. Next one again a perfect yorker. The last two, though, missed the length and Asif ended the game.

ScorecardJon Holland picked up 7 for 82, including the wicket of Travis Head•Getty Images

A career-best seven-wicket haul from Jon Holland ensured Victoria remained in control of the Sheffield Shield final on the third day against South Australia in Alice Springs. It was the second consecutive season that Holland has delivered a big bag of wickets in the decider – last year he claimed five in the second innings and eight for the match in Victoria’s win over the Redbacks in Adelaide.After dismissing South Australia for 287 and thus earning a lead of exactly 200, the Bushrangers not surprisingly decided againt enforcing the follow-on, hoping instead to build their advantage to unbeatable proportions. A couple of late wickets gave South Australia a faint sniff, but with Victoria at 2 for 38, with Travis Dean on 12 and nightwatchman Chris Tremain on 3, the lead was still a hefty 238.The day had started with South Australia on 1 for 19 and although Callum Ferguson and Jake Weatherald rebuilt with a 76-run second-wicket stand, they were unable to turn it into a match-changing partnership. Ferguson edged to slip for 26 to give Holland his first wicket and in his next over Holland turned one sharply from outside off to have Travis Head lbw for an 11-ball duck.Jake Lehmann was well snapped at short leg by Rob Quiney, whose fine reflexes gave Holland a third wicket, and James Pattinson then chipped in by bowling Tom Cooper for 6. Weatherald, who had compiled a fighting half-century, fell for 60 when he played back and was bowled trying to cut Holland, and at 6 for 121 South Australia were threatening to collapse completely.However, there remained some fight in the lower order. Joe Mennie and wicketkeeper Alex Carey produced a 68-run partnership that ended when Mennie’s attempted sweep on 36 was top-edged to the wicketkeeper to provide a five-for for Holland. Carey brought up his half-century before he was caught at midwicket sweeping Holland on 57 to end a fine counter-attacking effort.It continued an outstanding season for Carey, who during the innings passed the 500-run mark this Shield summer to add to his 58 wicketkeeping dismissals so far. He became just the fourth player to complete the double of 500 runs and 50 dismissals in a Shield campaign: the recently-retired Chris Hartley did so three times, and Matthew Wade and Adam Gilchrist once each.Adam Zampa fell to Daniel Christian for 31 and Holland wrapped up the innings with Daniel Worrall caught at slip for 17 to leave Chadd Sayers unbeaten on 23 as the Redbacks were dismissed for 287. Holland’s 7 for 82 took his season tally to 49 Shield wickets, second only to Sayers in the competition and the highest season tally by a spinner since Stuart MacGill claimed 54 wickets in 2004-05.Sayers added one more to his tally by having first-innings centurion Marcus Harris caught for 21 late in the day and Daniel Worrall followed up with the wicket of Quiney, but South Australia will need to instigate a significant collapse upon Victoria on the fourth day and then bat flawlessly to pull off the victory they need to end their two-decade drought without a Shield title.