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Mtutuzeli Nyoka, the president of Cricket South Africa (CSA), is likely to be ousted from office by a vote of no-confidence on Saturday. The board will hold a special general meeting in Johannesburg to decide on the motion to depose Nyoka, who they have accused of various misdemeanours, the most serious of which is bringing the organisation into disrepute.Six of the eleven provinces have already made public their decision to support the motion. Gauteng, Free State, Easterns, Eastern Province, Boland and Western Province issued press releases in the last two weeks stating that they are in favour of the plan to have Nyoka removed. ESPNcricinfo has learned that at least one other union will also back the motion, which would give the board a comfortable majority to remove the president. Only Northerns Cricket Union have stated their objection to the motion and indicated that they would vote against it.Nyoka and his lawyer were informed of the proposal to remove him on September 8 when CSA’s board met at the conclusion of their annual conference. Nyoka walked out of that meeting and the members’ tabled the motion to have him ousted. They claimed that he had breached media protocol and the Companies’ Act, by taking his honorarium in advance, that they were unhappy with the way he handled press releases and national team manager Mohammad Moosajee penned a letter saying Nyoka’s conduct would make it difficult for Moosajee to maintain discipline in the team.That meeting was a significant step in the ongoing, 15-month long spat between CSA chief executive Gerald Majola, who has the support of the majority of the board, and Nyoka. The conflict began in July last year when R4.7 million (US$ 671, 428) was paid in bonuses to 40 CSA staff after the hosting of the IPL and Champions Trophy in 2009. These amounts were not passed through the board’s remunerations committee and Nyoka insisted on an external audit being held to investigate the payments.CSA held an internal inquiry instead, chaired by vice-president AK Khan, which cleared Majola of any wrongdoing and found that CSA’s corporate governance procedures were to blame and in need of a revamp. Nyoka accepted the findings but continued to question the possibility of wrongdoing within the organisation. His constant probing resulted in him being voted out of office in February this year but challenged the decision in the South Gauteng High Court and won.Deputy Judge-President Phineas Mojapelo found the CSA had not followed the proper procedure to remove Nyoka and was also critical of their reasons for ousting him, and ordered that Nyoka be reinstated. Nyoka also won the right to subject CSA to a full, financial scrutiny and an external audit was conducted by KPMG.The audit report, which has not been released to the public, found the Majola may have breached the Companies’ Act on four occasions and advised CSA to seek legal advice in order to take further action. They appointed Advocate Azhar Bham to provide opinion, which was delivered to the board orally at their AGM in August and resulted in a severe reprimand for Majola. Bham’s counsel has also been kept under wraps and Nyoka himself struggled to view both the audit report and the legal opinion.CSA have taken steps to ensure their method for dismissing Nyoka cannot be challenged this time. They have provided him with more than the required 21 working-days notice period and have laid out their charges against him expressly. Although Nyoka’s lawyer, Bernard Matheson, believes his client will have reason to take CSA back to the courts if he is removed, Nyoka has indicated that he will not continue fighting should he be toppled on Saturday. He has presented his case to various provincial unions, some in written and others in oral form, and said that, “if the cricket fraternity finds corruption acceptable to live with, then there is nothing I can do about that.”Nyoka has 10 months left in the presidency and is serving his second term after being re-elected in September 2008. He had succeeded Norman Arendse, who resigned citing differences with Majola. Khan is likely to take over as acting president until the next elections. CSA are scheduled to have elections in August next year but may move them forward.

West Indies may have lost the Eden Gardens Test by an innings, but they restored a fair bit of pride with a second-innings display that combined grit and flamboyance. No-one exemplified that better than Darren Bravo, whose stylish 136 was the fulcrum of the resistance. But for his dismissal soon after lunch, West Indies might even have forced India to bat again, despite following on 478 behind.”In the second innings, we decided to come together as a team, play our strokes and express ourselves in the best possible way,” Bravo said. “The guys played pretty well. It was good to see Adrian [Barath] and Kirk [Edwards] bat well at the top of the order, and Marlon Samuels later. It’s good to know that it is not just [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul that we can depend on to get the big scores.”Bravo got his first Test century in Bangladesh last month, but satisfaction at following that with a century in conditions that have tested some illustrious batsmen was tinged with the disappointment of an innings defeat. “It’s obviously a sad feeling because it was not enough. Making India bat again was an uphill task, but we have our heads held high after our performance in the second innings.”After 12 Tests, Bravo has the same number of runs (941) at the same average (47.05) as Brian Charles Lara, his mother’s cousin, did after the same number of games. The similarities are obvious, especially in the way he caresses the ball through cover or thumps it over long-on with a flourish. Far from being irritated by the comparisons, Bravo said he was “honoured”. “He is definitely my role model. I play my natural game and look something like Lara but nevertheless I know that emulating him will be difficult – to achieve what he has achieved. Hopefully, I will finish with the sort of record that some of the great players have.”Darren Bravo said he made technical adjustments to his game after the Delhi Test•AFP

Batting alongside Chanderpaul – they added 108 – gave him confidence, but the big difference came in the shape of technical adjustments he made after twin failures in Delhi. “Before this Test match, I played with my bat along the pad in the nets [to avoid the lbw],” he said. “I have been trying to get my bat in front of the pad as much as possible.”Two hundreds in less than a month also owed much, he said, to improved concentration. “I remembered something my brother [Dwayne Bravo] told me – that when you get the first century, the second and third will come much easier than the first. That is something that I kept very close to me.”The series may be gone, but according to Bravo, if West Indies could “eradicate” a tendency to lose wickets in clusters, they were capable of giving India a hard game in Mumbai. “I think it is difficult, but we will play with a lot of pride and passion. We know what went wrong with our performance in the first match and here, so our preparations will be better. If not a victory, it will be a great chance for us as a team to deliver.”

Durham wicketkeeper Phil Mustard has signed a five-week contract with Zimbabwean franchise Mountaineers. Mustard, who has played ten ODIs and two Twenty20s for England, will join the team ahead of the Stanbic Bank Pro20 which runs from November 25 to December 4.Mustard is coming off a good Twenty20 season with his county, topping the batting charts with 366 runs at 30.50. He will also coach youth and senior sides with the Mutare-based franchise.”I’m looking forward to joining up with the Mountaineers, I think my experience in Twenty20 cricket has come on a lot and I wanted to make sure that I kept my eye in over the winter,” Mustard said. “This opportunity allows me to play cricket but also lets me take on some more responsibility in a coaching capacity.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Misbah-ul-Haq was again around to steer Pakistan to victory•AFP

There was no respite for Sri Lanka. In one of the more closely-fought encounters on this tour, it was Pakistan who prevailed by five wickets after their opponents promised to deliver better, only to falter and give it away. First, with their batting, when they began aggressively and scored at around nine an over in the first ten overs before slowing down considerably and eventually capitulating in the second half. And then it happened with the ball, their spinners putting them in control through tight spells and wickets, not knowing Dilhara Fernando and some fielders would fail to hold their nerve at the death.Misbah-ul-Haq stood tall for Pakistan, doing what Dinesh Chandimal, who made an enterprising half-century, failed to achieve after guiding the innings – seeing his team through to the end and finishing on a high. Pakistan’s seamers did what their counterparts failed to do – Aizaz Cheema and Umar Gul cleaned up the innings, taking five wickets in the last two overs, to restrict the visitors to a chaseable score; on the other hand, Fernando doled out length deliveries that brought down the required-rate considerably.Ajantha Mendis, returning from injury, and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan restrained Pakistan in their pursuit of 142 after Imran Farhat began brightly. He inaugurated the innings with three crisp boundaries off the first over of the innings but brought on to bowl in the sixth over, inside the Powerplay, Mendis struck, removing Farhat, who holed out. Umar Akmal’s first-ball duck was crucial in reducing the tempo of the innings further when he adventurously made room to Dilshan and was bowled playing inside the line.The next four overs yielded just 19, but at one end was Misbah, building up for a flourish at a later stage. He warmed up by slogging a six off Dilruwan Perera over midwicket and triggered the turn in the tide when 43 were needed off four overs, Afridi just having joined him at the other end.Fernando dropped slightly short to be pulled to the square boundary, and then overcompensated by bowling too full; Misbah unleashed a cracking drive through cover and whipped a full toss behind square to make it 14 in the over. Mendis still had an over left, but Dilshan gave Fernando another go, much to, presumably, his regret. Two length balls followed in the penultimate over – Cheema picked up three wickets at the same stage in the Sri Lankan innings while aiming at the blockhole – and Afridi dispatched them over long-on and deep midwicket. Though he fell off the final delivery, he’d brought down the equation to nine off the last over.The win was hastened by a botched-up fielding attempt. The first ball of the final over, Misbah drove Malinga to long-off. What should have been a single became two as the fielder took time to get to the ball, and if that wasn’t enough, his wayward throw, missed first by Kumar Sangakkara and then by the short fine leg backing up awkwardly, resulted in six runs in total. With two needed off four, Shoaib Malik edged one wide of third man to seal victory with Sri Lanka still appealing desperately, thinking it was a deflection off the pad.Though Cheema was the star towards the end of Sri Lanka’s innings, it was Saeed Ajmal who started the slide. Ajmal’s variations have played a major role in his rise to the No.1 spot in the ODI rankings and with expert changes in flight, pace and his mastery over the doosra, he choked Sri Lanka. In a potentially risky move, he was brought on inside the Powerplay, like Mendis, and was launched over mid-off not long after. The next ball, though, was generously flighted and Dilshan was tempted into the slog-sweep which he top-edged to offer a comfortable catch. Ajmal was particularly effective round the wicket, the batsmen often caught confused about the direction of his turn.Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez slowed down the innings further, making boundaries a rare commodity. Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s best batsman, chipped a catch back to Hafeez while Angelo Mathews and Chamara Silva, from whom the visitors would have expected a surge at the death, were run out. Racing to 91 for 3 at the end of 10 overs, Sri Lanka only managed 50 in the next ten. Cheema added the finishing touches by making up for his troubles early on. In the penultimate over, he trapped Chandimal in front, had Thisara Perera caught behind and bowled Malinga. Sri Lanka fell way short of the target they were on track for. They met with the same fate with the ball.

Shaun Marsh could play for the Perth Scorchers in Thursday night’s Big Bash League match in Melbourne as he aims to prove his fitness for the Boxing Day Test. Marsh has made a surprisingly good recovery from his back injury and was named in a 13-man squad for the first Test against India, his fitness the one question-mark still surrounding Australia’s batting line-up.If he is declared ready for his return he will bat at No.3, with the allrounder Daniel Christian to miss out, but if Australia decide against risking Marsh, Christian will play at No.6 and the rest of the order will be adjusted. It is a difficult call for John Inverarity’s panel, with Marsh having played no cricket since hurting his back during the first Test in South Africa six weeks ago.The problem was so severe that Marsh needed help to get dressed during the Cape Town Test, and last week he was described as “unlikely” to play on Boxing Day by Cricket Australia’s performance manager, Pat Howard. But Marsh has impressed the team management with his work at the batting camp in Melbourne this week and the captain Michael Clarke said he was a chance of playing against India.”I think the next few days are important for Shaun,” Clarke said. “Today was a really good test. He batted really well in the nets, I watched that. Then when we left he was still doing the back end of his fielding session with our physios. The next few days are really important for him, to see how he pulls up.”I know there’s a possible chance he could play in the Big Bash game, I think it’s tomorrow, for the Scorchers. He will be assessed by Alex [Kountouris, team physio] this afternoon and they’ll make a plan for that. Really good batting wise, but as we know there’s a lot more that goes with playing a Test match than having a hit in the nets so we’ll have to wait and see.”If Marsh plays for the Scorchers against the Melbourne Renegades at the Docklands Stadium on Thursday, it will be his first match back since the Cape Town Test. Australia have missed his presence at No.3 over the past three matches and, if fit, he would add some stability to a batting line-up that was skittled by New Zealand earlier this month in Hobart.The Australians have also missed Shane Watson at the top of the order and will again be without him on Boxing Day after he was ruled out due to his ongoing hamstring problem. He suffered the injury while bowling in the second Test in South Africa last month and missed both games against New Zealand, but Clarke is hopeful his vice-captain might be back for the second Test against India.”He’s certainly on the mend, which is a positive, but unfortunately he’s not right to go in this Test,” Clarke said. “I’m really hoping that he’s right for the Sydney Test. He’s going to spend some more time in Melbourne with Alex our physio to make sure he’s getting the best treatment and we try to get him right for Sydney.”He didn’t bat yesterday or today, so I guess we still don’t really know how close he was. At the end of the day we didn’t feel like he was fit enough to bat yesterday and today in preparation for this Test. Hopefully he’ll do some batting and bowling over the weekend though, and throughout the Boxing Day Test in preparation for Sydney.”One man who is not in doubt for the Melbourne Test is Ricky Ponting, who suffered a blow to the hand while batting against James Pattinson in the nets on Wednesday. Ponting ended his net session after the incident but Clarke said there was no question over his fitness for the Boxing Day Test.”He’s 100% fine,” Clarke said. “I’ve already heard there was a bit of talk over the radio that Ricky has busted his hand but that’s completely false. He’s fine.”

Andrew Symonds, the former Australia allrounder, has announced his retirement from professional cricket, citing family reasons. He hasn’t played for Australia since being sent home from the World Twenty20 in England three years ago, but has turned out for several domestic sides in limited-overs cricket.His only current contract was with the Mumbai Indians, but he will not be participating in this year’s IPL. “Effective immediately, I am retiring from all forms of professional cricket,” Symonds said. “It is with regret that I will not be able to fulfill my final year of the IPL with the Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians and the IPL have both been very supportive of me, but the impending arrival of my first child is a priority.”Symonds, 36, had cut ties with his home side Queensland before the 2010-11 Big Bash, and has only played for Mumbai since. He was snapped up for $850,000 at the IPL auction last year, but he had an indifferent time with Mumbai. Symonds failed to make a half-century in either the IPL or the Champions League T20 in 2011, and struggled to hold down a permanent spot in the line-up.Mumbai thanked Symonds for his performance in 2011. “Andrew Symonds was an integral part of Mumbai Indians in season four as well as our Champions League-winning team,” a team spokesman said. “He was a great team player and the youngsters always looked up to him for guidance.”A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds was an acknowledged master of limited-overs cricket. A combination of big-hitting, tigerish fielding and an ability to bowl either spin or medium-pace made him an indispensable part of the Australia side for much of the 2000s. Picked on his undoubted but as yet unfulfilled promise for the 2003 World Cup, Symonds crashed a match-shaping century against Pakistan, hours after the team had been stunned by Shane Warne’s withdrawal due to a drugs offence.He remained integral to the ODI team thereafter, though given to occasional bouts of indiscipline. Symonds was dropped from the team in England in 2005 when he turned up for an ODI against Bangladesh in Cardiff while still under the influence of alcohol. The issue of drinking would re-emerge in 2008.At the time it seemed Symonds had belatedly transferred his ODI influence form to Test matches, but he became embroiled in the biggest controversy of his career after alleging that India offspinner Harbhajan Singh racially abused him in the Sydney Test in 2008.The fall-out from the episode, which had Harbhajan’s original ban reduced to a fine after Cricket Australia cut a side-deal with an indignant Indian board in order to save the tour, caused Symonds to become disillusioned and increasingly wayward in his lifestyle, both with and away from the national team.His international career was hit by more trouble later that year, when he missed a compulsory team meeting to go on a fishing trip ahead of a one-day series against Bangladesh. He was left out for the India tour which followed, as well as the visit to South Africa soon after.Symonds was given a chance to prove himself once more at the World Twenty20 in 2009, but an alcohol-related issue prior to the tournament brought his Australia days to an end.

Sri Lanka squad

Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Farveez Maharoof, Sachithra Senanayake, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga Lakmal

In: Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga Lakmal

Out: Rangana Herath, Dhammika Prasad, Chanaka Welegedara

Left-arm-spinner Rangana Herath has been omitted from Sri Lanka’s 14-man squad for the Asia Cup, which begins on March 11 in Dhaka. Fast bowlers Dhammika Prasad and Chanaka Welegedara, who were part of the Sri Lanka squad for the Commonwealth Bank tri-series in Australia, are also not in the squad.While the selectors did not originally offer any explanation for why the players had been left out, Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said, after the first final of the Commonwealth Bank series, that a decision had been taken to rest the three bowlers for Sri Lanka’s Test series against England, which starts four days after the Asia Cup final.**”Everybody knows that after the Asia Cup, we travel, we get to Colombo, and the next day we get to Galle to play the No. 1 Test team in the world in a Test match,” Jayawardene said. “I only have four Test bowlers left so I needed to rest them obviously. We made a decision that Rangana is definitely rested, and obviously Chanaka Welegedara and Dhammika Prasad, the other two Test bowlers, are going to take a two-week break and get ready for the Test matches because I doubt they can play a Test match straight after travelling from Bangladesh.”Legspinner* Seekkuge Prasanna takes Herath’s place while fast bowler Suranga Lakmal comes back from a long injury lay-off. The three allrounders who picked up injuries during the tri-series – Farveez Maharoof, Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera – have been included in the squad.Herath played in most of Sri Lanka’s ODIs since being recalled for the tour of South Africa. He has been economical in his 10 one-dayers this year, conceding only 4.35 an over, but he hasn’t made too many breakthroughs – only five at 68.00.Lakmal is returning to international cricket following an ankle injury. He last played for Sri Lanka during the one-day series against Pakistan in the UAE last November. He made a return to competitive cricket in the ongoing first-class domestic competition, the Premier League Tier A tournament, where he claimed eight wickets in four matches. Prasanna was dropped following the same one-day series – which Sri Lanka lost 4-1 – after he had claimed only four wickets in five matches at an average of over 50. He has since show impressive form in the Premier League Tier A, claiming 41 wickets in four matches for Sri Lanka Army, with five five-wicket hauls in eight innings.Mahela Jayawardene and Mathews have been retained as captain and vice-captain respectively. Sri Lanka play their first match of the tournament on March 13 against India.*9:38 GMT, March 3: The article had referred to Seekkuge Prasanna as an offspinner. This has been corrected.**14:34GMT, March 4: This paragraph, and the following one, have been added after Mahela Jayawardene’s press conference in Brisbane on March 4. The article originally said Rangana Herath had been dropped from the teamEdited by Nikita Bastian

Lancashire have re-signed South Africa batsman Ashwell Prince for a third spell as the county’s overseas player. Prince will add experience to the top order as Lancashire set about the defence of their Championship title and will also participate in CB40 matches. He is not expected to play T20 cricket, leaving Lancashire with the potential for two more overseas players.Although Prince’s central contract with South Africa was recently renewed, the 34-year-old lost his place in the Test side to Alviro Petersen in January and was not included on the Proteas’ tour of New Zealand. Lancashire will hope to have him available for the full season, though South Africa may be tempted to offer Prince a way back when they tour England, should he score heavily in the early rounds of the County Championship and the experiment with Jacques Rudolph at No. 6 fail.”I am delighted to be returning to Lancashire for the 2012 season,” Prince said. “I love the place and how the lads go about their work. I’m really looking forward to joining up with the squad in early April and contributing to a successful campaign.”Prince has scored more than 12,000 runs in first-class cricket, with 11 centuries in his 66 Tests and an average of 41.64. He first joined Lancashire in 2009 as cover for VVS Laxman, subsequently returning in 2010 for the first few weeks of the season, and head coach Peter Moores has turned to Prince once again to strengthen the batting, following the retirement of Mark Chilton.”It is fantastic news that Ashwell has rejoined the club,” Moores said. “He is a tough competitor who has enjoyed success here before and he will bring some maturity to an emerging squad.”Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s director of cricket, added: “Ashwell is a world-class batsman who has a wealth of experience and talent. He will bring additional quality to the top order and will have a positive influence on the squad. We are delighted to welcome him back to Old Trafford.”

ScorecardChamara Silva gave England a day of toil in Colombo•Getty Images

Any illusions England may have had over the enormity of their task in Sri Lanka were dispelled as Chamara Silva thumped a century on the first day of the warm-up match against a Development XI in Colombo.Silva, who has played 11 Tests and 75 ODIs, forced England to toil throughout an unremitting day of heat and humidity, making 163 as the Development XI reached the close on 376 for 5 from 90 overs. England’s bowlers, lacking the rested James Anderson and Monty Panesar, conceded four an over throughout the day and could find little encouragement in the pitch or the overhead conditions. So hot were the conditions that Matt Prior kept wicket without pads for long periods.There was some positive news for England. Stuart Broad, who missed the first warm-up match with a sprained ankle, was declared fit to play and claimed two wickets in his first spell and one more shortly before the close although did say following the day’s play that he felt some soreness after 15 overs.Former Test batsman Malinda Warnapura fell to the fourth ball of the match, driving to mid-off, before Dilshan Munaweera was bowled in Broad’s fifth over. Later he trapped Kushal Perera with the first delivery with the second new ball.There was little further joy for England. Graeme Swann, Steven Finn and Samit Patel all conceded more than four an over as Silva, whose career high came when he made an unbeaten 152 against New Zealand in 2006 but has not played Test cricket since 2008, stuck 25 fours and a six. He added 151 for the third-wicket with Thilina Kandamby (64) and 93 for the fourth with Angelo Perera (61 not out).England’s spinners – Swann and Patel – endured a particularly tough day. The pair claimed just one wicket between them while conceding 185 in 39 overs, with Swann going wicketless while conceding over 100 in his 21 overs. Patel did, at least, enjoy one bright moment when he turned one out of the rough to bowl Kandamby, but Swann was taken for 25 in his first three overs while, later in the day, Perera hit him for two sixes.Alastair Cook, who made a century in the first warm-up match, was also rested ahead of the first Test that begins in Galle on Monday, providing an opportunity for Patel and Ravi Bopara to stake their claims for the No. 6 spot.

Graeme Swann has been named as England’s Most Valuable Player over the winter, according to the ranking system used by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA). Swann’s 10-wicket haul against Sri Lanka earlier this month helped England to a first Test win in five matches and took his tally to 39 wickets in all formats.Swann held off Kevin Pietersen, who scored 151 as England levelled the two-Test series with Sri Lanka at 1-1, to win the FTI MVP award, which includes a cheque for £2,000 to be given the charity Lowe Syndrome Trust. Swann has previously been England’s MVP twice before – after the tours to South Africa and Bangladesh in 2009-10 and following the 2010 English summer.The draw in Colombo – in which Swann finished with match figures of 10 for 181 – also ensured England retained their No. 1 Test ranking for a while longer.”I’m delighted to have won the FTI MVP after what has been a tough winter and it’s obviously great that we’re still number one too,” Swann said. “It is nice to win any award but it is especially pleasing to win one where you are compared to your team-mates on hard statistics.”Losing the three Tests against Pakistan was a real blow, but we picked ourselves up in the ODIs and again after the defeat in Galle to prove there’s plenty of fight in this team. The performance in Colombo bodes well for the summer, and hopefully we can carry that momentum into the Test series against the West Indies.”Sebastian Mathews, senior vice-president of FTI Consulting, said: “Congratulations to Graeme on his win, not only for this winter, but for becoming the first person to win a hat-trick of England FTI MVP awards. It was a very exciting end to the winter FTI MVPs where Graeme was run very close and this sets us up for an exciting summer of cricket ahead of us.”The MVP ranking system, used by the PCA since 2007, takes into account factors such as bowlers’ economy rates and the percentage of a team’s runs scored by individual batsmen, alongside more standard measurements such as wickets, runs and catches.Swann also topped the individual Test statistics with 146 points from five matches at an average of 29.17. His total was over 40 points clear of nearest challenger James Anderson. ODI captain Alastair Cook led from the front in 50-over cricket, topping the standings with 113 points, while Pietersen, who scored 30% of England’s runs in the shortest format, was the T20 FTI MVP.Edited by Alan Gardner