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Justin Vaughan, the New Zealand Cricket chief executive, has defended the 2015 World Cup’s likely ten-team format while urging the ICC to reach a swift decision on the terms by which sides will qualify.Global outcry over the initial exclusion of Associate nations, particularly Ireland, in favour of the game’s ten Full Member countries prompted a re-think by the ICC executive board. The ICC president, Sharad Pawar, announced a renewed discussion of the qualification process at the governing body’s annual meeting, in Hong Kong in June.While sympathetic about Ireland’s difficulties, Vaughan was unhappy to have to place tournament planning on hold. “Look, I am sympathetic to Ireland, in particular, and the way they have performed at world events,” Vaughan told the . “I think the ideal ten-team competition would be one determined solely on merit but I understand there are challenges around that as well.”Jack Clarke, the Cricket Australia chairman, has previously outlined the fact that a ten-team round robin format offered far greater certainty to the public about where and how much their teams will be playing for the majority of the tournament, a sentiment Vaughan agreed with.”A ten-team competition works far better from a host perspective than a 12-team competition does,” Vaughan said. “A 12-team competition would necessitate the introduction of a Super Sixes stage in between two pools of six and an elimination round. The problem with the Super Six portion of a competition is that there’s no certainty around who is playing whom and where.”To sell tickets and organise international tour groups or international visitors becomes hugely problematic when you’ve got a section of the tournament where you don’t know who is playing where.”Vaughan also highlighted the fact that the 2015 World Cup is yet to appoint a tournament chief executive.”From an event host perspective, it’s very unhelpful to have uncertainty in regards to what the format of the competition is going to look like,” he said. “We are in the process of looking for a CEO but how do you set up an organisation if you don’t even know how many teams are going to participate in it?”Obviously it was a sensitive issue and I wasn’t involved in the discussions because that was part of the executive board, which only involves the chairmen, but I know there was some prolonged discussion and an eventual, I believe, unanimous agreement to move to a ten-team competition.”As the hosts of that competition, it is unhelpful to have renewed uncertainty over the format.”

ScorecardRahul Dravid finished with 106 to set up a huge run chase for Nottinghamshire•Graham Morris

MCC wrapped up a 174-run victory with a day to spare against Nottinghamshire despite a better second innings from the county champions who were eventually bowled out for 293 in Abu Dhabi. Paul Franks top-scored with 73 but they were never in the hunt for the target after the top order was blown away.Rahul Dravid earlier became a useful quiz question for the future as he scored the first century of the English season. He was last-man out for 106 with MCC making 357 as Luke Fletcher claimed another four-wicket haul.MCC soon made inroads into Nottinghamshire despite being without Steve Kirby following his match-ending foot injury. Hamid Hassan was again impressive removing Mark Wagh and Alex Hales in his opening spell, while Toby Roland-Jones also claimed a brace to leave the county side in tatters on 21 for 4.Finally, though, they put up some resistance with four batsmen passing fifty. It started as Ali Brown (55) and Chris Read (51) added 111 for the fifth wicket until Roland-Jones returned to trap Read lbw. The end looked to be nigh when Gary Keedy struck in the following over to claim his first scalp of the game when Brown departed.But Franks and Steve Mullaney (62) put bat to ball during an entertaining seventh-wicket stand of 129 which gave MCC’s bowlers harder work. Keedy and Mohammad Nabi, the Afghanistan allrounder, were given lengthy spells to rest the quicks and it was Keedy who broke through to end Mullaney’s effort.Nabi then enjoyed some late success with the wickets of Fletcher and Brett Hutton before the final man, Franks, fell to the deserving Hassan as he completed a match haul of seven wickets.

The Dolphins will play the Warriors and the Titans will clash with the Cobras in the semi-finals of the competition over the next two weeks. The latter three sealed their spots in the last week of group matches in the tournament played this week, while the Dolphins ensured they finished the round-robin stage in pole position.The Warriors secured their final four spot on Wednesday with a six run win over the Lions in Port Elizabeth. It was a low-scoring encounter with the Warriors posting just 122. Davy Jacobs and Ashwell Prince started convincingly and when Jacobs was dismissed in the seventh over, the Warriors had 34 runs on the board. Jon-Jon Smuts’ 26 was the only other score in the 20s as the rest of the order was strangled by the Lions bowling. Paul Harris claimed 2 for 26 and both Robbie Frylinck and Ethan O’Reilly conceded less than five runs an over.The Lions would have fancied their chances but were immediately rocked by a double strike from Makhaya Ntini, who removed both Alviro Petersen and Jonathan Vandiar. Neil McKenzie was stumped off Nicky Boje without scoring and suddenly a collapse was brewing. Gulam Bodi and Zander de Bruyn appeared to have the wherewithal to take the Lions home but when they departed for 21 and 26 respectively, the spark in the chase was just about gone. Theron defended 17 off the last over, despite Alfonso Thomas smacking two boundaries.The winning ways didn’t stay with the Warriors and they went down by seven wickets to the Cobras in Cape Town on Friday. Ashwell Prince played a big knock, scoring 57 off 55 balls but the rest of the batsmen battled again. Charl Langeveldt and Johann Louw were difficult to hit around and Justin Kemp bowled a superb three overs for 11 runs, picking up the wicket of Prince.The Warriors posted 126 and were unable to defend it this time, although they caused some flutters in the Cobras line-up when they plucked three early wickets in the Powerplay. Richard Levi, Dane Vilas and Herschelle Gibbs all fell cheaply but Owais Shah and Justin Ontong took the Cobras home. Shah scored 58 off 45 and Ontong 42 off 38 as they punished Garnet Kruger and Jon-Jon Smuts in particular, taking 42 runs off the pair’s four overs. The Cobras eventually romped home with seven balls to spare.The Titans stormed to the top of the table with a five-wicket win over the Knights in Centurion. Reeza Hendricks and Dean Elgar gave the Knights are solid start with 58 for the first wicket in nine overs. Hendricks top scored with 46 off 35 balls. He was dismissed by Andre Nel, who shared identical figures with Albie Morkel – 1 for 26 in four overs. Pierre Joubert did the rest of the damage for the Titans, with 3 for 23, including the wicket of the dangerous Johan van der Wath. The Knights posted 142 for 6.The Titans were off to a brisk start, scoring 18 runs in two overs, but losing the wicket of Henry Davids. Quick contributions from Jacques Rudolph (22) and Roleof van der Merwe (21) took the Titans halfway to their target at the corresponding stage of the match. Dillon du Preez threatened to swing the match back in the Knights favour when he removed Rudolph and later, Farhaan Berhardien for 33. Morkel’s big hitting was on display and his 46 off 30 balls gave the Titans a comfortable win with two overs to spare.Sunday’s match between the Dolphins and the Lions was a nothing game, which the Dolphins won by three wickets in Durban. The Lions chose to bat first and chalked up a respectable 156 for 3, with Alviro Petersen’s 84 off 54 balls the top score. Gulam Bodi finally came good for his new franchise with 51 off 42 balls. Economical bowling from Kyle Abbott, who took 2 for 17 and Jon Kent, with 1 for 23 kept the Lions’ line-up from going wild.The Dolphins lost Devon Conway with the score on 1 at the end of the first over, but then Loots Bosman’s 42 off 19 balls and Imraan Khan’s 39 off 31 balls put them on course for the win. They almost lost their way when they lost five wickets for 44 runs, thanks in part to Alfonso Thomas’ 2 for 42 but Daryn Smit saw them to victory with an unbeaten 12 off six balls. Bowler of the week: Makhaya Ntini has had a rough return to domestic cricket since announcing his retirement but has two economical returns in his outings this week. He picked up 2 for 23 against the Lions and 1 for 15 against the Cobras. Batsman of the week : Loots Bosman played a thunderous knock for the Dolphins against the Lions, with his 42 runs coming at an astounding strike of 221.05. The Dolphins had safely qualified for the semis, but the intent he showed in getting them back to the table was admirable.

USA’s senior team has been hit by controversy less than a week before it is supposed to leave for Hong Kong to take part in the ICC World Cricket League Division Three, with two of its senior members threatening to stay home over non-payment of a bonus that was promised to them by the USA Cricket Association for winning ICC World Cricket League Division Four.USACA President Gladstone Dainty confirmed to ESPNcricinfo on Friday that a bonus payment was promised, and said the players will receive the money in due time, but that financing tournaments and selection camps took precedence ahead of paying out any bonuses to individual players.”We don’t deal kindly with those kind of threats,” Dainty said when informed of the players intentions. “Tell them that I say if it’s the case that they’re not going to go to Hong Kong, we’ll send another team because this is about the growth of US cricket. It’s about everybody. It’s not about them. The money that we spend is for everybody. If they think we’re going to give them money and not have a national championship or not prepare the Under-19 teams, they got something else coming, not under my watch. They can stay home.”With this amount of cricket being played, we’re spending a lot of money and we’ve got to prioritize it. We’re not going to not have a national championship because we’re giving players a bonus. They’re going to have to wait.”The two players, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claim that Dainty promised the team a $1000 bonus for winning Division Four in Italy. Dainty, however, would not confirm that figure. “I don’t know how much they were promised. I told them we’ll give them a bonus based on the money that we have, but generally we don’t give them less than $500. What we’re not going to do, the ladies team won also, we’re not going to give them more than we give the ladies. It’s going to be all of them, and the ladies, so we’ve got to look at the money but it’s not going to be less than $500.”The USA women’s team swept a three-match 50-over series against Canada in July to win the ICC Americas Women’s championship, clinching a spot in this year’s Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh.”They were promised a bonus,” Dainty said. “We didn’t tell them when they’d get it and the reason why we didn’t tell them when they’d get it… for the national tournament we were broke. So to give those players a bonus and not have the national tournament, which one is the priority?”Dainty said that he hoped USACA would receive its quarterly ICC development grant as early as Monday. “We’re getting funding in, including the ICC money. Even today I had a discussion with the treasurer about as soon as that money comes in, not only they’re gonna get their bonus, we promised the ladies some money and those ladies, they’ve been very nice and gracious. So we’ll pay them and pay the ladies when the money comes in.”In addition to the delayed bonus payment, the two players are unhappy that their stipend for the upcoming tour to Hong Kong has not been increased from the tour of Italy. According to the players, they received $200 per day on tour in August for a total of $3000 but have been told that they will receive the same amount for Hong Kong. Team sources have also said that first time tour members receive either $125 or $150 per day. The anonymous players feel that because they advanced to play in a more competitive tournament, they deserve an increase in pay.”It’s not all about the money,” the second anonymous player said. “It’s about respect. If you make a promise, we expect it to be fulfilled.”The USA squad is due to meet in New York on Friday before leaving on Saturday January 15 for Hong Kong with the tournament starting on the 22nd. “This tour is a make or break tour for USACA and if they don’t get things right by next Friday, there may be a few senior players who won’t be going to New York to get on the plane to Hong Kong,” the first anonymous player said. “It’s about time USACA thinks about the players instead of themselves because it’s us going on the field representing USA, and not them.”Another issue bothering both players is that they claim they do not receive any portion of the tour stipend until they get to the airport to go on tour. As a result, they say they have a hard time depositing the money or sending it back to their families to be able to use while they are gone and that the tour stipend does not adequately cover the money they are forgoing in lost wages by taking time off work.”They’re giving us $750 at the airport and then the balance while we’re gone,” the first player said. “Can you take care of your family from the airport? These people are not treating us even halfway how we’re supposed to be treated.””We’ve got a situation, they’re getting ready to go on tour and we always give them money before they leave,” Dainty said in response to the complaint about the delivery of tour payments. “So they’ll be getting that money and hopefully they can get the bonus. It’s not that we had it. We have to prioritize. Although we signed this big deal, we haven’t drawn down all the money yet, a lot of the money, because a lot of paperwork is still going on. We’re not trying to run away, they’ll get the money, but as the money comes in, we’re trying to prioritize.”With USACA due to receive $5 million in 2011 for its share in the newly formed Cricket Holdings America, the players say they’ve been underpaid for a long time and now they want their share of the spoils.”We need to form a players association,” the second player said. “USACA doesn’t negotiate with anyone. They just give us whatever and expect us to take it. For cricket to move forward, the players need to feel comfortable. Nothing has been improved for the players so I don’t understand how the cricket is going to get better. Cricket is not about those [administrators]. It’s about the players. It’s just a bunch of jokers controlling the cricket.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt was two home-grown South Australians, Cameron Borgas and Daniel Harris, who secured the Redbacks’ victory•Getty Images

South Australia’s 15-year trophy drought ended with a bang at Adelaide Oval, where Cameron Borgas and Daniel Harris drove the Redbacks to an eight-wicket win in the Big Bash final against New South Wales. For most of the day it was a tight contest, but in the last few overs Borgas and Harris cut loose and the end came in a rush, with the Redbacks getting home with 15 balls to spare.The winning runs arrived when Borgas edged away to the third-man boundary off Patrick Cummins, and the South Australia players streamed on to the field to celebrate the state’s first title in any format since the 1995-96 Sheffield Shield. Back then, Jamie Siddons, Tim Nielsen and James Brayshaw were part of the side, and Borgas was 12 years old.And in a South Australian outfit featuring seven players imported from other states or abroad, it was fitting that it was two homegrown talents – Borgas and Harris – who completed the win after another South Australia-born player, Kane Richardson, took three wickets. New South Wales won the toss and batted, but Richardson helped restrict them to 8 for 153, which looked like a middling total rather than an imposing one.By the time South Australia’s captain Michael Klinger had cracked 30 from 18 deliveries, including a hook for six off Scott Coyte, the chase was well and truly on target. Coyte had his revenge by bowling Klinger with a yorker and Aiden Blizzard was bowled for 6 shortly afterwards when he tried to sweep a fullish ball from Dominic Thornely, but they were the only two breakthroughs the Blues managed.Borgas and Harris came together at 2 for 55, needing 99 more to see their side home from 75 deliveries, and they paced their partnership to perfection. The pair began by knocking around singles and twos, running hard and ensuring the required run-rate didn’t balloon too much, and then one big over put them firmly in command.The medium-fast bowler Coyte was coming off a short run-up and Borgas exploited his lack of bounce brilliantly, scooping a pair of slog-swept sixes over midwicket in an over that cost 17 runs. From there, the task sat around a run a ball, until the end came with a flurry. Borgas finished unbeaten on 62 from 39 and Harris had 48 from 39, including two sixes, and he was also the tournament’s leading run scorer.The man who came second on that tally was David Warner, upon whose stocky shoulders the Blues’ hopes rested. He started the day in encouraging style, slog-sweeping Adil Rashid on to the roof in the third over, but he fell for 21 when Richardson bowled him with a fuller delivery that Warner tried to send into orbit.From there, the Blues struggled to gather any real momentum, although Daniel Smith (43 off 35) and Moises Henriques (41) made useful contributions. But they battled to dominate a South Australia attack that, as it had throughout most of its five wins from six games in the preliminary rounds, relied on a triple-pronged spin attack that took the pace off the ball.A couple of balls from the offspinner Nathan Lyon were deposited over the long-on boundary by Smith, but Aaron O’Brien’s left-armers were hard to get away, and his first over was one of only three maidens bowled throughout the tournament. The wickets earned by Richardson (3 for 31) were also useful, as he helped prevent any late surge from the lower-order.And by restricting New South Wales to 153, the hosts ensured that South Australia’s name will be etched on to a piece of silverware. By next year, the competition will be almost unrecognisable, with eight city-based teams and players spread across the country, some away from their home states. After this final, you can guarantee a few sides will be interested in Borgas and Harris.