Mark Ramprakash, the Surrey and former England batsman, is to appear as a contestant in the new series of BBC’s in October.The show, which Darren Gough won last year, is fronted by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly and returns to Saturday nights next month. Ramprakash’s prolific form for Surrey this season prompted certain sections of the media to suggest he could be called up for England’s Ashes squad, but he was overlooked.Gough, who had never danced before, said “I started with nothing and I have worked myself up to something decent” when he and his partner, Lilia Kopylova, won last December.Ramprakash is joined by the former England rugby player Matt Dawson; the BBC newsreader Nicholas Owen; Emma Bunton, the former Spice Girl; Peter Schmeichel, Manchester United’s former Danish goalkeeper and the comedian Jimmy Tarbuck among others.”With a line-up like this, the new series is set to be bigger and better than ever before,” Daly said in a press release. “Where else could you see a Spice Girl dancing alongside Jimmy Tarbuck?”

Imad Wasim’s brave effort on the final day went in vain as India Under-19s achieved a massive 271-run win against the Pakistan juniors in the first four-day match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.Pakistan were down and out when play started on the final morning, but a determined fightback led by Imad almost gave them an outside chance of saving the match. India, however, managed to bowl out Pakistan for 174 in the second innings an hour before the scheduled close to earn victory.Imad stood like a rock in an attempt to save the day for Pakistan and in the process played 249 balls and stayed at the wicket for almost 300 minutes for his 35 runs. India were almost certain to wrap up the match by lunch, but Pakistan had other ideas. The overnight not-out batsmen Imad and Behram Khan (18) stood at the crease till 15 minutes before lunch. It was only through a dubious decision that India finally succeeded in taking their first wicket of the day.Behram was given out caught at silly point by Tanmay Srivastava off Ravi Jadeja, but it seemed the ball had touched the ground before the catch was taken. Instead of giving the benefit of the doubt to the batsman, umpire Shakeel Khan gave the decision in favour of the bowler.This was the second time in two successive days that the umpire had gone wrong. On Saturday, captain Mohammad Ibrahim (5) was given out when the ball deflected off the helmet before being plucked by wicketkeeper Omkar Gaurav.Despite the loss of Behram, Imad stayed cool and with the help of wicketkeeper Abdul Rauf (36) continued his efforts to deny India victory. Rauf, who was the next man out, struck five fours and put on 69 runs for the seventh wicket, but it was the time and overs they consumed that mattered the most.After fighting bravely for almost a day, Imad was the last man to get out. He struck three fours in his epic innings and impressed the sizeable crowd with the spirit and dedication he showed to stay at the crease.Piyush Chawala, the Indian captain, broke the defenses of a couple of Pakistanis with well disguised googlies and finished with 4 for 50. However, the most impressive Indian bowler was Vijakumar Yomahesh who took 4 for 44.Both teams will now leave for Peshawar on Monday to play the second four-day match, starting on September 13. The four limited-overs matches will be played from September 19.

Michael Vaughan’s “small window of opportunity” for the Ashes has been rubbished by John Buchanan as a “smokescreen” after he consulted with Jason Gillespie, who recently returned from a stint with Yorkshire, on Vaughan’s condition.In reaction to Vaughan’s surprising suggestion that he would be fit to make the Boxing Day Test, Buchanan admitted he was far from surprised about the gossip. “I never bought into the will-he-won’t-he talk,” he told . “We will wait and see what squad they bring, and if some of what has been suggested about him playing in the Ashes has been a smokescreen. To us, this news wasn’t unexpected.”We haven’t been doing any specific scouting of him, but I have spoken to Jason a few times. He has been in and around the Yorkshire side and has been seeing how Vaughan is doing. We fully expect England to have a very similar side to the one that played in the last Ashes series.Vaughan’s comments regarding his dodgy knee have varied. Last month he declared that he had no chance of returning before the VB Series. In July, he suggested his career was over. A report in the has now quoted Vaughan as saying that playing in the Ashes was “definitely a target”.”A fit Vaughan is important, not just to England as a batsman, but also in the way that he leads,” Buchanan said. “I’m sure he’ll do everything he can to play in the Ashes.”

Ata-ur-Rehman, the banned Pakistan fast bowler, has been reinstated on the official players’ list and can play from May 2007. Rehman, 30, was one of those implicated in Pakistan’s controversial match-fixing inquiry five years ago – he admitted to lying under oath after initial statements – and was serving a life ban from the game handed him by the ICC in 2000.”From May 2007, Ata will be free to play cricket as he wishes,” Malcolm Speed, the Chief Executive Officer of the ICC, clarified, “in England – league cricket, county cricket – or wherever he may be selected.”We’ve received no further application from any other player,” he said when asked about Mohammad Azharuddin. “the provision is been in place since 2003 to enable an application to be placed. If and when an application is made from any other player, we will deal with it in the same way.”

Ricky Ponting doesn’t want anybody to look too deeply into the exuberant celebration for his 32nd Test century. His wife Rianna was in the stands and her attendance was appreciated, but Ponting’s running, jumping, bat-swinging dance and rare split-watermelon smile apparently did not relate to Ashes revenge.”It didn’t have anything to do with the last series or anything,” Ponting said. “It was all about getting out there and doing it and getting off to a good note in the series. It’s a good start for us.”As Ponting left the ground he learned he had matched Steve Waugh as Australia’s leading century-maker with 32. The outright record should soon be his, but for a man who is happy to scan the Sydney first-grade results on the weekend, he doesn’t care much about his own impressive marks. “It’s nice,” he said, “but what’s even nicer is we’re 3 for 346 at the end of the day.”Ponting eased to his hundred from 136 balls but slowed after reaching the milestone and remained unbeaten on 137. Australia started the day strongly through Justin Langer’s 82 and ended it the same way with a stand of 148 between Ponting and Michael Hussey, who was 63.Langer’s opening flurry set the tone and was a personal relief, showing he could still cope with the Test demands after being knocked out by Makhaya Ntini in his previous match. It also shut the door on an early series entry for Phil Jaques, the New South Wales opener.”It was brilliant,” Ponting said. “It was exactly what we needed and what Justin needed. For ten years of his career he’s been trying to prove someone wrong and he did it again today to give us the exact start we needed.”The early bursts from Langer included some severe treatment for Steve Harmison, who delivered only 12 overs and struggled with nerves. “I was surprised he didn’t bowl a little bit more,” Ponting said. “Our guys played him pretty well today, but we know he’s a dangerous bowler. We’ve all seen that before.”

Japanese wicketkeeper-batsman Tatsuro Chino may be small in stature but he is making a big splash in East Asia Pacific cricket circles.The talented Chino has been selected in the EAP squad for the 2007 Australian Country Cricket Championships, and through the support of Cricket Victoria’s partnership with the Japan Cricket Association, is spending an Australian summer playing with Balwyn CC in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association.In addition to his playing activities Chino also stepped out on Tuesday 28 November to help Cricket Australia launch a new school resource titled ‘CricKids Playing in Harmony’.Tackling social and community issues such as bullying, racism, prejudice, leadership and fair play, as well as curriculum subjects such as English, Art and Information Technology using cricket as a basis, the resource aims to reach 70,000 students and teachers over the next 12 months.The resource launch, held at Melbourne’s Federation Square, saw hundreds of students take part in cricket activities with Chino providing encouragement and advice throughout the day.Chino is also spending time coaching junior players at Balwyn CC while in Melbourne, and is scheduled to travel to Fiji in late January to assist the Japan team in the EAP Under 15 Cricket 8s. A conversation with Chino will leave you in no doubt about as to where this impressive young man is heading … as far and wide as his cricket journey will take him!

Sialkot Stallions 151 (Imran Nazir 46, Fawad Alam 5-27) beat Karachi Dolphins 137 for 7 (Fawad Alam 54) by 14 runs
ScorecardThe fast emerging talented young cricketer Fawad Alam swept away most of the individual awards on a night to remember, but he still couldn’t help his team Karachi Dolphins win the Twenty20 Cup final, as they were defeated by 14 runs by defending champions Sialkot Stallions at the National Stadium.Playing without their skipper Shahid Afridi, who had proceeded to perform the Haj, the Dolphins were visibly depleted but they did well to bowl the Stallions out for 151 in their 20 overs, after having asked them to bat in the day/night encounter.But in spite of the left-handed Fawad’s heroics, the Dolphins fell short by 14 runs in the end, scoring 137 for 7 by the time their overs ran out. With his left-arm slows Fawad first took 5 for 27 in his four overs and then hit a 43-ball 54, with three fours and a six, playing on for a while after having suffered from severe cramps and batting with a runner.The Stallions retained the title they won in 2005-06 also and bagged the glittering trophy and a whopping cash award of a million rupees. The Dolphins were still richer by Rs 500,000 as the runners-up.The 21-year-old Fawad was not only declared Man of the Match but also named Man of the Series. In addition, he won both the Best Batsman and Best Bowler prizes. All awards were worth Rs 25,000 each. Mohammad Salman of Faisalabad Wolves was declared the tournament’s Best Wicketkeeper and fast bowler Mohammad Asif of Sialkot Stallions clinched the Best Fielder award.Sialkot were off to an 80 runs start in 8.4 overs but their last seven wickets fell for 35 runs in 28 balls. Imran Nazir hit 46 off 31 balls with seven fours and a six while Shoaib Malik made 31 off 23 balls with a four and two sixes.When the Dolphins batted, they just couldn’t build up the tempo as the Sialkot bowlers kept them in check. As many as 23 runs were needed in the last over but three wickets fell while Tahir Mughal bowled very intelligently.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe Test series between South Africa and Pakistan men may be neck-and-neck, but on the evidence of the first two matches of this one-day series, the women’s teams are ill-matched. South Africa completed a comprehensive victory at Pretoria for the second time in a week and are on course to take the five-match series in the next match on Wednesday.This match was a carbon copy of the last – South Africa racking up over 200 and then grabbing early wickets to puncture Pakistan’s confidence, leaving them unable to recover.Shabnin Ismail’s double-wicket strike in the tenth over left Pakistan deflated and they failed to regain any momentum. Always up against it, the pressure became too much for them and although South Africa failed to dislodge all of them, their run rate was far too slow from the outset.Cri-Zelda Brits again contributed a useful score for South Africa – taking her captaincy responsibilities seriously – and made a fifty as South Africa put on 226. Daleen Terblanche and Susan Benade also chipped in with forties.Pakistan, though, will take heart from their captain’s contribution, Urooj Mumtaz taking five wickets (although her economy rate was 5.85), and from the fact that they took all ten wickets.

Bangladesh finally reached Harare on Thursday afternoon, at the end of a tiring journey from Dhaka via Doha and Johannesburg. They will play four ODIs during their 11-day stay, all at Harare Sports Club, although persistent rain throughout the last week has already raised concerns over the first match on Sunday.”It was a long and tiring journey here and irritating to say the least with the loss of luggage,” said Bangladesh coach David Whatmore. “But it won’t take long to get ourselves ready for the series. We need to consolidate our advantage.”Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe’s captain, was confident that his young side could upset Bangladesh. “Morale in the camp is soaring. All the players are raring to go. We are out to do well, and if the sky holds we want to do just that,” he old a Zimbabwean website. “Our preparations have gone on pretty well and I am optimistic that the boys will deliver the goods. All it takes is for the top order to click like it did in the first game against South Africa A where Elton Chigumbura batted through our innings and senior players Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza chipped in with some worthwhile knocks.”Also, the playing conditions are on our side so all we need to do is pull in one direction as a team, stick to the basics and take our chances when they come,” he added. “The other thing that might just work in our favour is that we have retained the same team that beat Bangladesh 3-2 at the same venue last year.”

ScorecardNorth Zone put in a good, strong bowling performance and then followed it up with a fluent batting performance to canter to victory by seven wickets against Central Zone. The stars of the day were Joginder Sharma, who bowled with intelligence and control, and then later Gautam Gambhir, who unleashed a volley of boundaries as North Zone chased down 196 with plenty of time to spare.When Dinesh Mongia, who won the toss, chose to bowl, it didn’t appear to be the brightest decision. Although there was a bit of live grass on the surface, the pitch was still very good for batting. But he made the decision keeping the dew factor in mind, and in the end it was one that paid off.VRV Singh and Ashish Nehra got North off to the perfect start, picking off the two openers cheaply. VRV blasted out Faiz Fazal while Nehra had Monish Mishra trapped plumb in front. Mohammad Kaif, the Central Zone skipper, teamed up with Shreyas Khanolkar, and the two began the repair operation from 15 for 2.Khanolkar was steady, and took no chances against either VRV or Nehra, but Kaif, clearly not at his best, struggled to get going. With the runs not coming through big shots, and the singles stifled as well, the pressure gradually built. And when Joginder came on to bowl first change, Kaif went after him, but failed to do more than get a thin edge to an attempted pull shot.From then on, while Khanolkar sealed his end up, the wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end. Abbas Ali played on to his stumps, Piyush Chawla shouldered arms to an inswinger and was lbw, Jai P Yadav flashed one to Shikhar Dhawan in the slips – all off the bowling of Joginder. At 81 for 6 Central Zone were staring at being skittled out for a humiliatingly low score, but were saved the blushes by some spirited lower-order batting.Rohit Jhalani (20), Murali Kartik (22) and Pankaj Singh (28) all contributed, but the only meaningful score of the innings was 57 from Khanolkar, and this meant that Central Zone could muster just 195.When North Zone began the pursuit of 196, they gave Central Zone hint of a chance as two wickets fell for 53. But Central Zone could not take the risks they needed to, or set attacking enough fields, given they did not have the runs on the board. With this being the case, Dhawan and Gambhir settled into an easy groove and began picking off the bowlers.Both Gambhir and Dhawan look to play their shots, and today was no exception. There were pleasing punches back down the ground, some flashy drives through the off side and occasionally the pick-up shot over the leg side. Their partnership stretched to 140 before Dhawan was acrobatically caught by RP Singh on the fine-leg fence after he had top-edged a pull shot. By then Dhawan had scored 51 and only three runs were needed for victory. Gambhir obliged, spanking his 13th boundary, to go with one six, and was unbeaten on a 98-ball 95 as North reached the target.