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Ian Shine, a former international umpire from New Zealand, has pleaded guilty to the charge of sexually abusing young boys. Shine pleaded guilty to 25 charges at the Auckland high court last week, according to the .Shine, 56, stood in two Women’s one-dayers and seven youth internationals between 1997 and 2002. His last international assignment was as third umpire in a New Zealand-Australia Women’s ODI in February 2004.The report said he was arrested in late 2011 by the Counties Manukau police. Further investigations revealed 13 boys identified as having been abused by him over 18 months. He was granted bail, but returned to custody – and remained there till this court hearing – after attempting to meet with one of the victim’s mothers.

ScorecardColin Ingram and Rory Kleinveldt, in partnership, helped South Africa A edge past Zimbabwe A in a tight chase in the third match of the tri-series in Harare. An unbeaten 89 from Ingram, batting at No. 3, anchored the chase of 243, while Kleinveldt knocked off 40 from 25 balls just as the required-rate looked like it might get out of South Africa’s control. The win put South Africa at the head of the table at the end of the first round of matches in the series, which also features Sri Lanka A.South Africa looked in trouble in the chase when half their side was dismissed by the halfway mark, with only 114 on the board. They slipped further, losing their sixth wicket on 144 and their seventh man on 182 in the 40th. That meant they needed 59 off the last 10, with Ingram and Kleinveldt at the crease. And Kleinveldt delivered: he took three sixes and a four of the part-time spin of Malcolm Waller in two overs, to drag down the required-rate. With Ingram solid at the other end, South Africa eventually eased home with four overs to spare.Zimbabwe’s total was built around three batsmen. Captain Tino Mawoyo, after Zimbabwe were inserted, scored his second half-century in two games – 52 off 82 balls – to give the hosts a steady beginning. The impetus was supplied by Sikandar Raza, whose 81 off 89 included six fours and two sixes, and Craig Ervine – 49 off 44 balls. The South Africa bowlers, like their Zimbabwe counterparts later in the game, shared the wickets around.

Surrey 233 and 144 for 4 (Roy 71) lead Warwickshire 247 (Chopra 78, Batty 6-73) by 120 runs
ScorecardGareth Batty brought Surrey back into the match with a six-wicket haul•Getty Images

Inviting schoolchildren to spend a day at the cricket is always a bit of a gamble. If being hostage to the weather gods is not risk enough, there is always a chance that the cricket will be interminably dull, at least to the undiscerning eye. Little wonder, then, that Surrey’s marketing folk were grinning widely.Not only did they have the good fortune to pick a gorgeously warm day to usher somewhere approaching 3,000 schoolchildren through the gates of The Oval, they were blessed with entertaining cricket. As a bonus, given that all of the invited young guests were from Surrey or south London, the team on top – at least until most of them had gone home – was the one wearing brown hats.Then again, the cricket is seldom dull when Surrey are involved. Dismissed for 223 in 60 overs on the opening day, they responded by bowling out Warwickshire, the Division One leaders going into this round for 247, six wickets going to the offspinner Gareth Batty, who finished with his best return for Surrey.Given that Warwickshire had gone into day two only one wicket down and thinking in terms of 400, perhaps even 500 on the board in what had seemed to be ideal conditions, Surrey could congratulate themselves on an entirely acceptable half day’s work when the last wicket triggered tea almost 30 minutes hour early.When Jason Roy, in his preferred manner, raced to 71 off 85 balls, they appeared to be putting themselves in complete control, a position they might well have retained and enhanced had Roy and Rory Hamilton-Brown, a batsman with a similarly destructive approach, not both been out in the space of four deliveries.Those two blows put the brakes on Surrey’s progress rather emphatically, forcing Jacques Rudolph and Tom Maynard to adopt a much more measured approach to what remained of the day. The last 13 overs added 36 to the total and Surrey lead by 120 going into the third day, with six wickets in hand. The outcome, as you always hope at this stage, is in the balance.A drying pitch is beginning to play increasingly into the hands of the two principle offspinners, with Jeetan Patel’s success or otherwise on the third day likely to be an important factor, although not perhaps as influential as Batty could be when Warwickshire bat for a second time.Batty has had to contend himself with playing second-fiddle at key moments in his career, which has been to the detriment of his total of Test caps. When he won the last of his seven, against Bangladesh in 2005, it was only because Ashley Giles was injured. He was called into the one-day squad that toured the West Indies in 2009, but only to replace Samit Patel, who was omitted because of fitness concerns, with Graeme Swann injured.At 34 he is an experienced and difficult opponent, nonetheless, and it was by dismissing both Will Porterfield and Varun Chopra inside the first hour that he began to seize the initiative for Surrey. Porterfield squandered his wicket somewhat, edging to slip after going down the wicket but failing to get to the pitch of the ball, ending a partnership with Chopra that had put on 117 in 44 overs.Warwickshire suffered another setback when Jim Troughton’s bad run continued. The captain, yorked by Stuart Meaker, has scored only 40 runs in eight Championship innings so far. But it was Batty’s removal of Chopra for 78 that changed the face of the innings.He earned the wicket, too, with a fine piece of bowling, inviting the opener to claim his 10th boundary by offering him some width outside off stump before bringing the next one in just a little straighter and then catching him by surprise with a quicker, fuller delivery that bowled him.At 182 for 4 at lunch, there was still an opportunity for Warwickshire to secure a workable advantage. Instead they lost their next five wickets for 27 runs. Darren Maddy and Rikki Clarke were leg before to Meaker and Batty respectively, in between which Hamilton-Brown, a reluctant purveyor of offspin, took his first Championship wicket since last May to stilt Tim Ambrose’s progress.Batty subsequently took two in two balls, having Keith Barker stumped and taking a return catch to remove Patel before Chris Wright repelled the hat-trick ball. His success persuaded Surrey to delay taking the new ball until the 90th over, with the scores level, at which point, slightly ironically, Wright and Chris Woakes began to score more freely, with the ball coming on to the bat a little quicker. The last 20 balls of the innings yielded another 24.

Royal Challengers Bangalore needed 39 to win off 18 balls against Deccan Chargers, as AB de Villiers prepared to face Dale Steyn, who had two overs remaining. The first delivery of the 18th over disappeared for a flat six over midwicket, the beginning of 23 game-changing runs in Steyn’s over. De Villiers said, after Royal Challengers won with seven balls to spare, he had read the situation to “perfection”.”I guess we know each other pretty well,” de Villiers said of his battle against Steyn. “I can’t take anything away from Dale, he could have knocked me over with any of those balls, unfortunately for him I read it well, it was just my night.”I thought I saw him whispering to Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara]. I think they took the fine leg back. I was quite lucky, I saw them communicating about where to bowl and I saw Sanga saying short of a length and I was expecting the short delivery upfront. From there on I knew he was going to go full. I just nominated that over well, on another day he might knock me over.”De Villiers began his innings when Royal Challengers needed 76 off 37 balls, and he finished unbeaten on 47 off 17 deliveries. His awareness of the situation was so complete that, after taking 22 off the first five balls of that Steyn over, de Villiers intentionally steered the final delivery to third man to keep strike for the penultimate over. He then hit the first three balls of the 19th over from Anand Rajan to the boundary as well.”I enjoyed the situation tonight, I came in [with] 80 [to get] off 40-odd balls. I knew what was required and played to that kind of game plan and, like I said before, my game plan paid off tonight. On another night it might not, so I took full advantage tonight.”I won’t say I’m a finisher of the game. I’d like to think of myself as a guy who can play anywhere, that’s something I’ve worked on in my whole career. I’d like to be a guy that can adjust to certain situations and that’s something I strive for. I can even get better hopefully as there’s lots of room for improvement.”While de Villiers provided the finish, Royal Challengers had significant contributions from other batsmen as well. Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 71 off 54 balls, while Chris Gayle adapted to playing second fiddle during a 91-run opening stand. “I thought Dilshan played an amazing knock, and even Chris, it was a much-needed foundation we needed,” de Villiers said. “We’ve collapsed a few times in the IPL before, so we needed that foundation to finish it off well at the end, and luckily for me I was in that kind of situation to do so.”And before de Villiers launched his attack on Steyn, Mayank Agarwal had given Royal Challengers valuable propulsion by hitting 18 off the six balls he faced. It was overshadowed by the extraordinary flurry of boundaries that followed, but de Villiers acknowledged the importance of Agarwal’s contribution.”Some of the guys around me played amazing knocks. Mayank Agarwal took a lot of pressure off me with those boundaries he hit,” de Villiers said. “It was either him or me who had to take a lot of risks, and he did it before I did. So he played a very important hand tonight and set it up well for me. I could just go and play the situation at the end.”The win helped Royal Challengers move to fifth spot in the league, overtaking Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Brad Hodge smashed 44 off 29 balls•AFP

Three wickets in three balls from Rajasthan Royals early on derailed Kolkata Knight Riders’ chase as Royals recorded their second win in two matches. Royals seized the advantage early on and held it until the end, with only Manoj Tiwary providing resistance.Royals have never lost a match when they have put on a score of over 160 and that did not change as they defended mercilessly at their fortress in Jaipur. They engineered another poor batting performance from Kolkata who have lost both matches so far.Having put on a comfortable score, Royals’ captain Rahul Dravid chose to open the bowling with left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan but it was medium-pacer Amit Singh who made the first breakthrough. He used a clever change of pace to trap Jacques Kallis into playing early and scooping an easy catch to Dravid at mid-off. Amit’s next delivery angled away from Gautam Gambhir, who could not resist a poke and was caught behind. Royals made it three in three when Chavan trapped Brendon McCullum in front off the next ball.With their three biggest names out and only eight runs in the bank, Knight Riders were going to need something special to compete. If one person was to provide it, that person should have been Yusuf Pathan.The big-hitter showed rare composure as he gave himself time to get in and waited for Johan Botha to come on before attacking. But his patience did not last long. He tried to heave a Siddharth Trivedi slower ball over mid-wicket but was well caught by Brad Hodge.It was only a matter of time after Yusuf dismissal that the game was up for Knight Riders. Tiwary played a useful knock and scored the only half-century of the match. Brett Lee gave him company while hitting a few shots but Tiwary needed more support upfront than at the back end. Kevon Cooper’s successful start to the season continued as he finished with three wickets.Kolkata will have to think seriously about their selection as they left out Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan for the second match in a row, opting to play West Indian offspinner Sunil Narine instead. Narine had an impressive but a quiet debut as he played a key part in tying Royals down in the middle of their innings.A fourth-wicket stand of 64 between Hodge and Ashok Menaria and a late burst from Owais Shah propelled Royals. Hodge accelerated in the 14th over when Gambhir brought Yusuf back. Hodge treated Yusuf with disdain, taking 17 runs off his over. He smacked the first delivery over mid-wicket for six, cut the second behind point for four and smoked the fourth over long-on. Hodge went on to hit back-to-back fours off Jacques Kallis in his 44 off 29 balls.His dismissal, caught behind while trying to play a reverse-scoop, opened the door for Owais to finish in style. He blitzed 23 off 11 balls to put Royals in a position from which they had never lost before, and didn’t lose today.

ScorecardAustralia Women continued their dominance of India Woman, wrapping up the T20 series with a convincing 63-run win at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. The win gives the vistors a 3-0 lead in the five-match series.Having chosen to bat, Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy got the visitors off to a rousing start, adding 112 in 14.5 overs. Healy was the more aggressive of the pair, though Lanning was not exactly a slouch, making 42 from 44 balls, with six fours, before she fell to Archana Das. Healy continued to punish the bowlers in the company of Alex Blackwell, who was also content to play the supporting role. She was finally dismissed off the last ball of innings, run out for 90, having struck 10 fours and two sixes in her 61-ball knock, and having carried Australia to 151 for 2.India’s chase began in disastrous fashion, with four wickets falling in the first five overs. From that point on, it was merely a matter of survival. Mithali Raj’s wicket made it 21 for 5 in the eight over, before Sulakshana Naik and Reema Malhotra provided some resistance, adding 60 for the sixth wicket in 11.4 overs before Naik became Sarah Coyte’s third victim. Malhotra was left unbeaten on 32 as India finished on 88 for 6. Coyte was the pick of the bowlers, with 3 for 19, while Ellyse Perry took 2 for 8.The fourth came will be played at the same venue on March 22.

ScorecardJoe Burns scored his third first-class hundred•Getty Images

Joe Burns scored his third first-class century to put Queensland on the verge of a place in the Sheffield Shield final after two days against South Australia. The Bulls took a 194-run lead on the first innings thanks to Burns’ 130 and at stumps the Redbacks were 1 for 12 in their second innings, with Tom Stray on 5 and Travis Head on 4.They had lost Michael Klinger lbw to James Hopes for 3 and faced an uphill battle to make Queensland bat again, let alone avoid defeat. The Bulls entered the match second on the Shield table but because they had one more win than Victoria and Tasmania, who were equal on points, victory over the Redbacks would guarantee the Bulls a spot in the decider.Burns was part of two century partnerships that gave Queensland their comfortable lead, a 119-run stand with the opener Alex Kemp (47) and a 120-run combination with Chris Hartley, who scored 68. The lower order also provided some useful runs through Steve Magoffin, who made 46 not out, and Alister McDermott (22).Gary Putland picked up a career-best 6 for 72 but it was unlikely to be enough to save the Redbacks, who will finish on the bottom of the Shield table.