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He might have turned down a place in England’s one-day squad currently in Pakistan – judging by results, that might not have been a bad decision – but Darren Gough’s venture into TV paid dividends when he won BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, beating Olympic sprinter Colin Jackson and DJ Zoe Ball in the final.”She’s turned me into some sort of a dancer,”Gough said of his ballroom-dancing partner, Lilia Kopylova. “She’s been absolutely amazing, taking the mickey out of me for ten weeks.””He has been the most amazing person to work with,” Kopylova grinned. “I’ve enjoyed every second.”More than five million people voted in Saturday’s prime-time series final, raising almost £1.5 million for the Children In Need charity. Kevin Pietersen, just returned from Pakistan, was in the audience.Eight weeks ago Gough had never danced. “It’s all a bit nancy,” he said at the start, “I can’t dance like a nancy on national TV.” But he soon won the public’s admiration, and admitted it had changed him. “For me, dancing was for softies, but I’m enjoying it. I’d recommend it to anyone.” Whether he keeps his promise of opening a ballroom-dancing club in Barnsley remains to be seen.Gough follows another celebrity TV winner. In 2003, Phil Tufnell turned his back on Middlesex to take part in the second series of the ratings-topping I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here and won. He has hardly been off TV or radio since.

Scorecard
File photo – Peter Fulton’s 55-ball 65 helped Canterbury chase down the target in 37.4 overs•Getty Images

Fifties from Peter Fulton and Henry Nicholls stretched Canterbury’s unbeaten run in this season’s Ford Trophy to five, as they collected a six-wicket victory against Auckland.Chasing 244, Fulton and Nicholls built on Ronnie Hira and Tom Latham’s strong start. The pair added 82 for the third wicket at a brisk pace before Nicholls fell to Lachie Ferguson with the score at 181 in the 32nd over. Fulton, however, continued his assault, smashing five fours and four sixes in his 55-ball 65. He was dismissed four overs after Nicholls, but by then Canterbury were just 28 runs away from the target with over 14 overs in hand. Todd Astle and Andrew Ellis took the visitors home in 37.4 overs, further strengthening Canterbury’s position at the top of the table.In the first innings, Auckland were guided to 243 for 7 by wicketkeeper Brad Cachopa’s 107. Cachopa walked in in the fourth over and dropped anchor for the hosts, batting till the last over of the innings. He was unable to build partnerships with the middle order as quick wickets reduced Auckland to 164 for 6. Donovan Grobbelaar then slammed an unbeaten 45, adding 75 with Cachopa for the seventh boost Auckland in the death.

Ricky Ponting is confident Australia’s strong record in big matches will help them through the semi-final with South Africa in St Lucia on Wednesday. The teams are set to play for a place in the decider after South Africa thrashed England on Tuesday.”It was a big game for them, but not as big as a World Cup semi-final or final,” Ponting said in The Australian. “We have a great record in those games and we are looking forward to playing them. It’s a little way off. We have a good game to play against New Zealand first, but we are very excited about the prospect of playing South Africa.”Australia’s most famous success against South Africa came in the 1999 World Cup semi-final when they tied the game at Edgbaston and went through to the final on a superior run-rate. However, Australia lost the most recent series 3-2 when South Africa overhauled Australia’s 434 to take the trophy. “They have been good rivals of ours,” he said. “They have played excellent cricket of late against us as well.”Ponting is wary of the depth of South Africa’s side and considers them a threat on the Caribbean surfaces. “By the looks of things they might have got conditions to suit them a little bit with their bowling early on, but their batting was very good,” he said. “They are a dangerous side.”

Seamer Glen Querl made an eye-catching entrance to Zimbabwean first-class cricket as a match haul of 9 for 101 from him helped set up a nine-wicket win for Matabeleland Tuskers over Southern Rocks at Masvingo Sports Club.Querl grew up in Zimbabwe and played Under-19 cricket for them before heading to England to further his career, and landing a spot on MCC’s Young Cricketers programme. From there, he was picked up by the Unicorns – a team of non-contracted professionals in the English domestic one-day competition – and become an established member of their seam attack.After a couple of speculative matches for the Mountaineers’ B side at the end of last season, he returned to Zimbabwe and won a contract with Tuskers, sharing the new ball with Keegan Meth in the first innings against Rocks. He made a telling start on his first-class debut, his 6 for 38 helping to skittle Tuskers for 148. Half-centuries from opener Terry Duffin and wicketkeeper Adam Wheater ensured a lead for Tuskers, after which Meth’s five-for set a fourth-innings target of exactly 100. Tuskers lost Brian Chari early, but Duffin and Gavin Ewing saw them home with minimum fuss against the struggling Rocks, who are yet to win a first-class match this season.Mid West Rhinos very nearly pulled of a remarkable win in their match against Mashonaland Eagles at Kwekwe Sports Club. Having conceded a first-innings lead, Rhinos seemed to be out of contention after setting Eagles a target of just 158 in the fourth innings. In a remarkable turnaround, Rhinos clawed their way back in to the match and eventually held Eagles to a tense draw, reducing them to 154 for 9 before the match came to an end.Rhinos had reached 321 in their first innings after being put in to bat, thanks mainly to the efforts of the in-form Gary Ballance, who cracked 83, and Solomon Mire’s career-best 96. Eagles captain Stuart Matsikenyeri then underpinned a strong batting effort, his 144 adding to three half-centuries from Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva and Peter Moor as Eagles reached 463.Ballance, who has now scored 421 runs in his last three first-class innings, carried the batting once again in the second innings, his his 128 – and Riki Wessels’ 73 – guiding Rhinos to 299 all out. Eagles stumbled through the early stages of their chase on the final evening, but appeared on course during an 81-run fifth-wicket stand between Chakabva and Moor. Once they were parted, however, panic set in and three run-outs reduced Eagles to 154 for 9 in the final over of the day.

Derbyshire have signed former Surrey left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi and Leicestershire batsman John Sadler as they continue to remodel their squad for the 2008 season.Doshi walked out of Surrey during August citing a lack of first-team opportunity and initially tried to sign for Sussex. However, he couldn’t obtain written permission from Surrey – required for a mid-season switch of counties – and didn’t play again during 2007.Sadler, the left-handed top-order batsman, played a key role in Leicestershire’s 2004 and 2006 Twenty20 titles.”I am delighted that we have been able to bring these two quality players in the prime of their careers to Derbyshire,” said head of cricket John Morris. “They will be outstanding additions to our squad in terms of their ability on the field but also what they will add off it.”Statistics don’t tell you everything but if you look at both of these players their careers were flourishing before disrupted seasons in 2007, even then they both managed to turn in some outstanding performances.”According to the the club are also hopeful of securing Rikki Clarke’s signature as their new captain and are still chasing Mahela Jayawardene as an overseas player.

Sreesanth, the Indian seamer, is hoping a good showing at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 will help him earn a recall to the ODI team to play against Australia and Pakistan at home.Sreesanth was dropped from the squad for the ODI series in England after his indifferent form in the Tests. Also, he has an unimpressive ODI record, having bagged 38 wickets in 29 games at an average of 34.94 and economy of 5.66.”I’m hoping to have good games in South Africa. I’ve been working on my bowling,” Sreesanth told . “I haven’t done greatly in one-dayers but I’ll try and come back hard. Hopefully I’ll do well in the Twenty20 and get back into the one-day team.”Sreesanth said he’s aiming at picking up wickets with the slower ball in South Africa. “I’ve basically been working on my slower ball. Twenty20 is about four overs per bowler and if I get my slower balls in the right areas, you end up getting a lot of wickets.””I’m hoping to stay relaxed [n South Africa] because things happen quickly in Twenty20 and as a bowler one has to think and try it at the right time for results,” said Sreesanth, who might lead India’s attack with Ajit Agarkar and RP Singh in the absence of spearhead Zaheer Khan.Sreesanth has also been working on his action. “I am working on my left arm [non bowling arm], which I almost lost during the tests in England,” Sreesanth told .India open the ICC World Twenty20 against Scotland on September 13, and will host Australia for a seven-match ODI series after the tournament, commencing with the first match in Bangalore on September 29.

Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe’s team manager, wants to put in the background the politics and the economics that have afflicted Zimbabwe’s cricket in recent times. Instead he wants to concentrate on developing their reconstructed, inexperienced side for their forthcoming trip to the Caribbean.”We’re looking at cricket not politics and trying to prepare this new side as quickly as we can.”As they prepare to head for the West Indies for a series of seven one-day internationals, starting on April 29, Pycroft is optimistic they will make the type of progress to ensure they return to Test cricket early next year.”We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing unless we believe it was possible,” Pycroft said. “The time frame set to try and get back into Test cricket is February next year.”We’ve very much been focused on one-day cricket because we believe that’s the way to bring the side through and then get back into longer cricket once we’ve got the experience that we need.”Pycroft, who played three Tests and 20 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe between 1983 and 1992, was speaking from Harare during an interview with CMC CricketPlus during the third day of the Carib Beer Challenge final between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados at Guracara Park on Monday.A series victory, he admitted, would certainly raise a lot of eyebrows. “A lot of people have written Zimbabwe cricket off with the problems they’ve had, but there is still a lot of potential there.”Their 16-man squad, led by Terrance Duffin, includes several players with very little international experience, but the manager is upbeat about the preparations.”The mood’s been very good. It’s a very young side. The average age is only something just over 20 years old, forced on us because a lot of players have given up in the recent past,” Pycroft said. “The side we’ve got together has been practising hard over the last five or six weeks. They are learning quickly and playing quite well. The strength of the side is more in the bowling department. The batting is quite inexperienced.”Prior to coming to the Caribbean, Zimbabwe played against Kenya and after the ODIs against the West Indies, they will remain for a triangular limited-overs series in Trinidad that also involves Bermuda and Canada.”We want these lads to get as much experience as possible. A lot of these guys haven’t played at international level,” Pycroft said. “They are getting better and better. The aim of this tour is to give them experience as quickly as possible and to be as competitive as possible. There is no doubt we can do it.”

Shane Warne’s manager says the legspinner’s chances of joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL) are “reasonably slim” because he does not want to be part of an unofficial event. The Indian board has threatened any local players with life bans if they join the league, which is focussing on Twenty20 matches and is planned for September.Warne’s manager James Erskine told the Australian the bowler had not made a decision on whether to join the competition. “There’s the small thing about grounds not being made available, the Indian players not being available and being threatened with bans,” he said. “I would think the chances are reasonably slim that Shane would do it because it’s flying in the face of officialdom and I know he doesn’t want to be part of anything that’s not officially sanctioned.”However, AAP reported Dean Jones, who is on the ICL’s board, had returned from an overseas holiday and would resume negotiations with Warne and Glenn McGrath. McGrath said in Canberra this week he was interested in playing, but Brian Lara is the only high-profile player committed to the league.”I’m not going to make any comments about players signing or anything like that,” Jones said. “Obviously we’re talking to them, we’re just trying to make sure it goes ahead, that’s all.”No players contracted to Cricket Australia have approached the body requesting to appear in the tournament in India. Despite the lack of big names, Jones was confident the series would go ahead.”The fans and the viewers will be quite happy with the signings we’ll get, trust me,” he said. “The fixtures and the squads will be released soon, sooner than you think.”

ScorecardKenya cruised to a 104-run run victory in the third and final ODI at a sunny Mombasa Sports Club, completing a series whitewash over Bermuda to give their World Cup preparations a major boost. For Bermuda, however, the upbeat mood which has been a hallmark of their game ever since they qualified for the tournament 16 months ago has given way to the reality that they are far from ready to compete with cricket’s big guns.The game was as good as over by the halfway mark. For much of the last decade Steve Tikolo has been widely accepted as the best batsman outside mainstream international cricket. He is now past his best – and Kenya’s recent international isolation has also dulled his cutting edge – but he turned back the clock with a majestic hundred which enabled Kenya to post 305 for 8.Dropped early on, Tikolo cut loose against some mediocre bowling to record his second – and highest – hundred in an ODI. Both in Nairobi and in the first two matches here, the pitches were damp and made run-scoring hard work. Finally, this match was played on a hard, fast and true surface and Tikolo gorged himself.As was the case on Sunday, the main stand was between Tikolo and the precocious Tanmay Mishra. The pair added 117 for the fourth wicket in 18 overs before Mishra was undone by his own carelessness as he looked to open up. The burly Dwayne Leverock weighed in with wickets at the end to finish with 5 for 53.Thomas Odoyo reduced Bermuda to 6 for 2 before a third-wicket stand of 98 between Dean Minors and Irvine Romaine got the innings on course, albeit slipping behind the asking rate. When Romaine departed in the 26th over the required rate was close to being in double figures, and with the spinners, especially the fast-improving Hiren Varaiya, proving hard to get away, Bermuda gave up the chase and opted for some batting practice instead.

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Tom MoodyOn Sri Lanka’s bowling and the overall performance
India is a very hard place to bowl. It’s not easy on these flat wickets. I thoughtwe collectively pulled together. I’d rather concentrate on the positives and amhappy that we had a terrific partnership while chasing. Our fielding wasn’t as goodas we are capable of. It’s pleasing that two middle-order players came together tofinish the job.On Sanath Jayasuriya’s bad run
He’s having a lean time. Every player goes through these highs and lows but the goodthing is he’s hitting the ball well and working hard in the nets. The Indian bowlershave bowled well to him. Ajit Agarkar has really done well and hit his straps in allthe games.On Nuwan Zoysa’s injury
He had a slight twist in the ankle while fielding. Probably stretched himself toomuch while trying to stop a run.Rahul DravidOn the performance
It’s not easy to say what went wrong but I think we were 25-30 runs short. I thoughtwe had a lot of positives form the game – the attitude and the fielding were goodand the young boys did a great job.On his batting and the experimentation to the side
I’m batting quite well and hitting the ball in the middle. We have a young battingline-up and we need to give them some time and chances. We are experimenting withthe side but we are looking to win every game. I’ll be looking for a 6-1 win in theseries irrespective of the experimentation.On his fitness
I had a slight cramp and didn’t want to take too many chances with many matchescoming up.Greg ChappellOn experimenting with the side
It was very positive. We have to experiment with the long run in mind. If we don’twe run the risk of finding ourselves with players not fit enough or not in form. Wehave to plan towards the World Cup in 2007 and all the games we play need to bedirected towards that. We are obviously looking to play the best combination but ifwe don’t give youngsters a chance now, we run the risk of looking back later andsaying, ‘we didn’t take that chance’. Had we won with this young side, the benefitfor the next 12 to 18 months would have been tremendous. We need to take such risks.On Gautam GambhirHe played brilliantly. It’s not easy for someone to sit in the sidelines and thenwalk out and play so well. I thought he started really well and showed his talentand his mental state.On the fielding
I don’t think we have fielded as well as this in recent times. We were outstanding.On Dravid’s form and Sehwag’s leadership today
Dravid’s a fine player and sets an example like always. I hope he does it forlonger. Sehwag did a good job. I thought he attacked and defended when he had to. Itwas tough to captain out there in the evening and he did fine.