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The IPL has relaxed its stringent media guidelines for covering the tournament and the major news agencies including Reuters and AP are now preparing to cover the event.The main sticking point, a clause that barred news organizations from distributing news and photos to specialised cricket websites such as Cricinfo, has been removed following negotiations.The News Media Coalition (NMC), on behalf of media interests worldwide, had been in discussion with the IPL about media accreditation arrangements and Andrew Moger, executive director of the NMC told Cricinfo: “It will bring a resolution to the difficult conversations we have had.”He added in a statement: “The outcome allows us to provide coverage of what promises to be a news-worthy spectacle. We are grateful for the time that the IPL’s officers have put into our successful dialogue.”Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, said: “We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the global news media industry. This will now allow IPL fans across the world to gain access to the festival of sport and entertainment that is set to unfold here in South Africa over the next few weeks. It was always our intention to give an event like the IPL its proper due by having it covered by the world’s media. We are pleased to have reached this agreement.””It’s a great outcome,” Dave Tomlin, the AP’s associate general counsel, said. “Cricket is big news and we want to cover it. Now we can.”Last year’s inaugural IPL was boycotted by major news agencies after they refused to follow the strict rulings laid down by Modi over the distribution of editorial material and images. The NMC had initially failed to get the tournament’s organisers to amend the conditions for this year’s event which has been shifted to South Africa.Now, though, Modi has softened his stance and the change of countries could well have played a part in him have to concede ground to the news outlets. It is understood that the terms and conditions have been significantly amended, although not every issue has been completely agreed upon.However, reporters of websites continue to be barred from the designated media enclosure at the grounds during match days. The IPL has an exclusive agreement to supply news and photos about the Twenty20 tournament to one website.Last year, besides agencies, news channels in India had also threatened a boycott over the constraints laid down by the IPL before agreeing to cover it after the tournament’s organisers acceded to their main demands.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) captain Khurram Khan believes the time is right for cricket in the Emirates to make a long-awaited comeback from the heights it attained when they made it to the 1996 World Cup in the subcontinent.Khurram, the 37-year-old allrounder, said preparations were “going well” for the World Cup Qualifier (WCQs) in South Africa from April 1-19. “We started a couple of months ago with our new coach (former Sussex and England batsman) Colin Wells and the guys are shaping up very well. We have some new players, some youngsters in the team so it looks good for the future as well but we are ready now,” he said.Asked about their aspirations going into the big event, considering the relative strength of some of the other competing teams, Khurram said, “Our goal is to qualify for the World Cup. We have played against some of the teams such as Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands and others – they are very good teams but we are going well.”We have played some practice matches and we are also involved in the Emirates Airline Pro Arch Trophy against six English county teams taking place in the UAE. I’m sure the other teams are working hard but our preparations are going well too.”Khurram also said the sport should continue to be promoted in the UAE. “I think cricket will grow in the UAE, especially if we qualify for the World Cup. The ICC moving here is also a boost for cricket in the UAE as is the completion of the cricket stadium in Dubai Sports City and the ICC Global Cricket Academy. So cricket is developing here day by day.”Cricket has a huge following in the UAE especially if you take the big expatriate populations from places like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. For locals it’s not the No. 1 sport but there are many local people who play the game and that number is increasing,” he said.UAE are in Group B which includes Bermuda, Kenya, Netherlands, Afghanistan, and Denmark and they open their campaign against Bermauda in Potchefstroom on April 1.They qualified for the 1996 edition after winning the ICC Trophy (as it was then known) in 1993-94, defeating Kenya in the final. There was plenty of drama in the last qualifiers, when they narrowly missed out on making it to the 2007 tournament in West Indies when the lost to Netherlands in the fifth-sixth playoff match, thereby missing out on the last qualification spot.

Ashwell Prince has been left out of the first two Tests against Australia at home, as South Africa picked the 11 who played the three Tests in Australia recently, as well as left-arm swing bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Tsotsobe is the 12th player in the squad for the Johannesburg and Durban Tests, while Prince, Robin Peterson and Monde Zondeki have been dropped.Selection convener Mike Procter said it was a “difficult decision” to leave out Prince. “We are in the fortunate position of having seven world-class batsmen competing for six positions. It is a very healthy position for South African cricket,” said Procter. “Ashwell is understandably bitterly disappointed but he appreciates that he has not had the opportunity to play much cricket since his injury.”Prince averaged 75 in the successful Test series against England last summer but missed the Test series in Australia due to a broken thumb.”Tsotsobe performed very impressively from limited opportunities in Australia and he gives us extra bowling variety and depth,” said Procter. “We are monitoring Mark Boucher’s recovery from injury and we are confident that he will be fit to play by the time the series starts.”Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, said the recent tour to Australia demonstrated the depth that the team had developed in the batting and bowling departments. “This augurs well for the Test squad going forward into another tough series against Australia. There is also the No. 1 ICC Test ranking at stake which will make the upcoming series even more special for players and supporters.”South African captain Graeme Smith, who is all set to make a comeback from injury by turning out for the Cape Cobras against the Dolphins at Newlands, said the side’s success over the past seven months gave them plenty to build on. “We are all looking forward to getting back into the five-day game and the particular challenges that it poses,” said Smith. “It will also be wonderful to be playing on our own grounds again in front of our own supporters.”The first Test starts on February 26, while the Durban match begins on March 6.South Africa Test squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (wk), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Younis Khan took full advantage of a dead pitch at the National Stadium, scoring his maiden triple-century – the third by a Pakistan batsman – to push his side to safety and the match towards a draw. After four bat-dominated days, the only interest now left in the contest is whether the new Pakistan captain can break Brian Lara’s Test record of 400.It was in line with Younis’ character that he brought up the landmark with a reverse-sweep. The cap was off, was performed and a million-dollar smile lit up his sunny face. Fifty-two years earlier, Hanif Mohammad hit Pakistan’s highest Test score, a mammoth 337 against West Indies that took three days in making. The story goes that a Bajan boy, watching it from a palm tree, fell down and upon recovering consciousness in the hospital, wondered: Is Hanif still batting? He still was. Younis might well have elicited a similar reaction today. He batted on for 545 balls, and is not yet finished.”I have never seen a pitch here where even on the fourth day not a single ball has done anything to trouble the batsmen,” Waqar Younis said on air. Younis took full toll in the middle. He had worked out the pitch, the match situation and what he needed to do. Against Muttiah Muralitharan he defended a lot and nudged offbreaks to the on side before suddenly unfurling a slog-sweep. Occasionally, he charged down the track to lift over the infield. And as ever a Younis knock is incomplete without those reverse-sweeps. Against Ajantha Mendis, he rarely got his pad in way and nudged and dabbed his way without any fuss. It worked like a treat. When the mood seized him, he went for the big shot down the ground.The game lapsed into bit of a farce in the last session. Mahela Jayawardene gave Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara and himself some overs. It got weirder when Jayawardene picked up the wicket of Faisal Iqbal. Younis helped himself to easy boundaries in that phase and moved from 243 to his triple-hundred.Sri Lanka, though, persevered gamely till the tea break. Jayawardene used Chaminda Vaas and Mendis in an 18-over spell in the morning and both bowlers kept it tight, giving away only 37 runs. With the wicketkeeper standing up to the stumps and a lone wide slip in place, Vaas kept varying his pace and bowled quite a few offcutters. The batsmen remained cautious but Vaas succeeded in creating a couple of chances with his persistence. On one occasion, Younis edged an attempted cover drive but it flew between keeper and slip. The second time Vaas slipped one just down leg, beating Misbah’s flick but Prasanna Jayawardene could not collect cleanly to complete the stumping.Mendis toiled hard, mixing his deliveries well, using the offbreak as his stock ball and varying the pace. The batsmen generally played him with caution but did strike a few big hits. Younis reprised yesterday’s shot – a smooth clean swing to the straight boundary – and Misbah hit the first six of the match when he cleared long-on.In the second session, Jayawardene used the combination of Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando, who had removed Misbah with an in-cutter just before lunch. Muralitharan could not create any pace off the track and it was left to Fernando to try posing a few problems to the batsmen. He bowled his heart out in what was his best spell of the match. He got the ball to reverse and was accurate throughout. He had a very close shout for lbw against Faisal with a ball that curved in but the umpire wasn’t convinced. He then rapped Younis with a similar delivery but this one was missing leg stump. Mendis returned to trouble Faisal with his carrom balls but the batsmen survived to score some easy runs against the lesser bowlers.The batsmen were intent on playing out time and managed to do just that. It might have made the cricket boring but the match situation left them with no other option. However, the bigger question still remains: When you are playing Test cricket at home after 16 months, and with Test-match attendance falling rapidly, was this dead pitch the best you could come up with? The authorities need to do a sincere post-mortem.

Abdul Qadir, Pakistan’s chief selector, says new captain Younis Khan will be given “enough room” in selection matters. Disagreements between the selectors and team management have been an issue in the past few years, but Qadir says he doesn’t mind involving the captain and coach as long as the “best team is selected”.Qadir said Younis, who took over from Shoaib Malik last month, will be consulted along with coach Intikhab Alam. “We will give Younis enough room,” Qadir told the News. “As captain, he is our general in the field and should have a say in selection matters.”We are all on the same side, aren’t we,” he said. “All of us are working to ensure that Pakistan give their best on the field and that target can only be achieved if we work together.” During the recent series against Sri Lanka, the team management had been given the final say in selecting the playing XI.Qadir said a provisional squad of 20 to 25 players will be announced later this week for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka, which begins on February 22. He said he had taken inputs from the other selectors – Saleem Jaffer and Shoaib Mohammad – and Alam. Batsman Faisal Iqbal and allrounder Fawad Alam are likely to be named in the provisional squad. Qadir said players on the youngsters would be given a chance in the two-day warm-up game against Sri Lanka prior to the Tests.Pakistan will also conduct a pre-Tests camp from February 14 in Karachi. “I won’t even call it a camp,” he. “It would be more like a get-together of the players. It will give them and the team officials a chance to sit down and plan for the series.”Pakistan were shot out for 75 in their embarrassing defeat in the third ODI in Lahore, and Qadir said they needed to plan against an attack that includes Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis. “We will have to devise strategies to face their bowlers, who are very good and to tackle their world-class batsmen,” he said. “We want to select a strong squad for the Tests and I’m confident we will do that.”

If success breeds success then South Africa must be a sure thing for the Boxing Day Test after their outstanding triumph in Perth left them brimming with confidence. Alas, sport is not that predictable and Graeme Smith knows that things can change quickly. At least his men are now over their nerves and he hopes they can take extra self-belief into the MCG Test, which starts on Friday.”From our perspective I think the guys are far more settled now,” Smith said. “We’ve got more self-belief in terms of what they’ve achieved individually and as a team in the last Test. I’m sure there’ll be a few exciting moments but I think most of the guys are pretty much in a good space.”If South Africa were nervous before the WACA Test it would be news to Australia. The chase of 414, which they achieved with six wickets in hand, was handled so calmly that it was hard to believe the team had ever been labelled chokers.The ease of the victory left Australia with major concerns over their bowling attack. Ricky Ponting lowered his expectations of the inexperienced Jason Krejza and Peter Siddle, and said Brett Lee needed to lift his game sharpish. It was far from the unruffled attitude that Smith had seen from Australia in previous series.”I was surprised at some of the statements and media reports after the Test match,” Smith said. “It wasn’t something that I expected. Having played against Australia for a period of time they have always looked composed and well-directed in the ways they want to go so that was surprising.”Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Hauritz were added to Australia’s squad and they also have injury concerns over Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds. South Africa’s group is far more settled and with Smith able to play on despite his ongoing elbow problem, the only query is over the batsman Ashwell Prince.Prince suffered a cracked thumb at training ahead of the Perth Test and was a late withdrawal, opening the door for JP Duminy to make his debut. Duminy was a key part of the victory when he made an unbeaten 50 on the final day and proved himself a more than capable replacement should Prince again fail a fitness test.”I would think he’s still 50-50,” Smith said of Prince. “I think it’s only seven days since the injury which is on the borderline. So we’ll see how he goes in the next two days but if he is experiencing pain we probably wouldn’t risk him.”A lot is riding on the match at the MCG, where Australia have won their last nine Tests. If South Africa can break through for another win it would bring them within one match of taking Australia’s No. 1 ranking and hand them their first series victory in Australia, which would cap off a near-perfect year for Smith’s men.”We’ve had three of the toughest tours in a season with India, England and here,” Smith said. “We drew in India, won in England and if we can really close off the series here in Australia it would be an incredible achievement for this team, probably our most successful season ever in the history of South African cricket.”

Another captain, another classic catch
At the Gabba in 1985-86 Allan Border pulled off a screamer in the cordon to remove John Reid, hurling himself to his left to clasp the chance one-handed. More than 20 years later Border’s fellow Australian captain Ricky Ponting grabbed a similar blinder against the same opponents. Jamie How’s thick edge off Brett Lee flew to the right of second slip, where Ponting flung himself to clutch the ball at full stretch. There have been few better slips catches and Ponting set off for an uncharacteristic soccer-style celebration. He couldn’t repeat the effort a few overs later when he dived to his left and Daniel Flynn’s edge was fractionally out of reach.A duck of the highest order
Iain O’Brien has got under the Australians’ skin several times this series and he continued to frustrate them as the finale approached. O’Brien combined with Brendon McCullum for a 50-run ninth-wicket partnership that pushed the game into the final session of the fourth day, and O’Brien contribution in the stand was zero. When he was adjudged lbw to Brett Lee his 38-ball innings was over, and his 54-minute stay was the fifth-longest duck in terms of time in Test history.A long one
Relying on O’Brien to hold up an end is one thing but asking the same of Chris Martin is quite another. Martin came to the crease with 24 Test ducks to his name and the only time he reached double figures was against Bangladesh. So when McCullum reverse-swept the last ball of a Nathan Hauritz over into the outfield, it was understandable that the batsmen would only take a single. But the fielder, Stuart Clark, was just as keen to see the ball reach the boundary to keep Martin on strike for the next over. The ball refused to obey Clark and pulled up, and it became one of the more comical singles in recent times. McCullum’s lack of faith was well founded; when Martin was again out for 0 he completed a record sixth pair in Test cricket.Together for charity
Players from both teams were wearing red ribbons on their sleeves on Monday to mark World AIDS Day, five years after the ICC became the first international sports organisation to form a partnership with UNAIDS. The support from world cricket has been so strong that in 2007 at the World Cup in the Caribbean and the World Twenty20 in South Africa, there were 24 separate player visits to community projects to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS.

Zimbabwe’s selectors are sweating on the availability of former captain Tatenda Taibu for the five-ODI series against Sri Lanka starting in Harare on Thursday.The squad is due to be named after the four-day match between Zimbabwe Select XI and Sri Lanka, which ends today at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The team will then fly to Harare for training with Zimbabwe A, who are set to play the tourists in a warm-up match at Queens Sports Club on Monday.Taibu, an experienced top-order batsman and wicketkeeper, was left out of the team for the current game after selectors said he was not in the right frame of mind to play.A very reliable source within the Zimbabwe camp said the chances of Taibu being available were slim. “He has issues with the board and at the same time in his private life, he is really going through a difficult time, it would not be a surprise if he is not available to play against Sri Lanka,” the source said. If Taibu is absent, Regis Chakabva, another diminutive wicketkeeper, will be given the duties.Veteran left-arm spinner Ray Price, who was omitted for the four-day match, is expected to be named in a squad which is again woefully short of experience.

Will I really make my Test debut? Or am I just back-up? Those would havebeen two of the million thoughts racing through M Vijay’s head on his 680 km journey from Nasik to Nagpur on Tuesday night. Earlier that day he had completed his highest first-class score – 243 for Tamil Nadu against Maharashta – before being called to fill the gap created by Gautam Gambhir’s failed appeal against his one-Test ban.Vijay said he was “shocked” by the development and “didn’t expect a call rightnow”. He has never batted with Virender Sehwag before and what was theIndian Test team a few hours earlier has now become “my team” to him. Anylingering doubts Vijay would have had about his participation in the Testhave been put to rest. “We are going with M Vijay,” his captain, MahendraSingh Dhoni, said. “He will open the innings.”The challenge facing the new opener is tremendous. He was rushed out of aRanji Trophy match at short notice to replace the highest run-scorer inthe Test series in a match that will decide the fate of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. And his opponents are renowned for making life hard for fledgling Test cricketers.”The senior players will go and have a chat with him,” Dhoni said. “At thesame time there’s no point pressurising him and making him too aware ofthe fact that this is what is expected. Rather he can just go in and playnormal cricket.”Whether he makes his debut right now, or after ten matches, it willalways be tough. International cricket is tough. The opposition team willalways look to put pressure on the debutant. Vijay has played quite a fewA-team games and he is doing well in domestic matches so I don’t thinkthere will be too much pressure.”Dhoni is ruing Gambhir’s absence – “It is crucial because he’s been the man in form” – but appears to have handled it with typical pragmatism. “As Gautam is ruled out, you can’t really think about what would have happened if Gautam was here,” he said. “We have confidence in M Vijay as well and hopefully he will give the start that’s needed.”Perhaps the most significant factor in Vijay’s favour is that histechnique won’t be endlessly scrutinised by the Australians in search of aweakness for which they can tailor a pre-fixed plan of attack.”We haven’t got any video footage of him, obviously, and none of us haveplayed against him,” Ricky Ponting said. “All I know is that he’s a24-year old who has made a double-hundred in the last game that he played.So he’s obviously in a bit of touch, in a bit of form. I’m surprised thatthey didn’t go back to [Wasim] Jaffer actually. He played the practice game inHyderabad. But we know him pretty well and he hasn’t had much successagainst us, which is probably why they’ve gone for the younger guy. “Vijay’s call-up was on such short notice that he reached practice after the rest of the team. A team official took him towards Gary Kirsten and along the way he passed the spinners’ net in the middle of the ground but didn’t stop walking until he saw somebody familiar – and not from television viewing. S Badrinathwas the captain when Vijay made his Ranji Trophy debut and he congratulated him by clapping him on the back. After meeting RP Singh, Munaf Patel and Venkatesh Prasad, he went over to Kirsten at the fast bowler’s net, who directed him towards the far end of the ground where Robin Singh was conducting fielding and catching drills.He met VVS Laxman on the way and then, walking a few paces behind theofficial, went towards Sachin Tendulkar, who was waiting to bat at thespinners’ net. Vijay had never met Tendulkar before and after anintroduction, a hand-shake, and a fleeting chat – there will be time formore wise words later in the day – he began fielding practice.Every once in a while the ball would get past Vijay and speed towards theboundary. The first couple of times, Vijay turned around and went tocollect the ball himself but eventually Robin seemed to tell him that thegroup of ball boys would do the needful.Once he was done with the fielding, Vijay briefly disappeared into thechanging room and emerged padded up. He headed towards thespinners’ net and Harbhajan, although he had just begun batting, made way.The first ball was from Dhoni, bowling gentle offbreaks, and Vijay padded it away before preparing to face Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma, who was also bowling extremely slow.He played the majority of the deliveries off the back foot but cameforward when the ball was extremely full or flighted. The shots that stoodout because of their frequency was the back-foot punch on the offside, thecut and the whip off the pads. He even attempted to sweep Mishra a coupleof times, a shot not used often by most Indian batsmen. Eventuallyhe charged Mishra and hit him superbly into the second tier of standsbehind the straight boundary.Vijay left the spinners net after 25 minutes – allowing Harbhajan toresume – and headed to face pace from a collection of nets bowlers. Hehandled them with relative ease but, when he next takes guard, it will be a whole new ball game.

Rory Hamilton-Brown has agreed a new two-year contract with Sussex, while Chris Nash has signed a one-year extension.”This is great news for the club,” Mark Robinson, Sussex cricket manager, said, “and is further evidence of our young and promising players dedicating their futures to Sussex.”Nash, 25, shone with the bat after having a difficult first half of the season. He ended 2008 as the third-highest run scorer in the Championship with 980 runs at 37.69.Hamilton-Brown, 21, had a successful first season with Sussex, playing ten Twenty20 matches, nine one-day matches and two Championship matches.