The Pakistan team has been fined for a slow-over rate in the second one-dayer against India at Rawalpindi.Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC match referee, ruled that Pakistan was three overs short at the stipulated cut-off time. While the team was penalised 15% of their match fee, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, had to concede 30%. According to ICC regulations: (i) for each of the first five overs short of the minimum overs required, 5% of each player’s gross match fee in the fielding side; (ii) for the sixth and any subsequent over short of the minimum overs required, 10% of each player’s gross match fee in the fielding side.”Pakistan were earlier penalised for a slow over-rate in the first one-dayer at Karachi, when the bowlers took 20 extra minutes to complete bowling 50 overs.

Hampshire select from 12 for the upcoming Frizzell Championship match starting on Wedneday 28th April against Leicestershire.John Crawley is still absent with a calf strain, and is left out of the squad.Hampshire and skipper Shane Warne will be looking to build on their good start to the season.Hampshire 12: Derek Kenway, Michael Brown, Lawrence Prittipaul, Michael Clarke, Will Kendall, Nic Pothas (wicket-keeper), Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shane Warne (captain), Shaun Udal, Chris Tremlett, Alan Mullally and Billy Taylor.

Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka’s captain, said that Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia next month would be an even bigger challenge for his side if Muttiah Muralitharan decides to pull out.Speaking to the press at Bulawayo today, Atapattu said, “If Murali decides he is not going to Australia, it will be one heck of a challenge for us. It will be a big struggle trying to contain the strong Australian batting line up without him.”Sri Lanka are due to tour Australia from June 24 to July 13 to play two Tests at Darwin and Cairns. “Right along it has been [Chaminda] Vaas and Murali who have been doing the bulk of the bowling and getting the bulk of the wickets for us,” he continued. “But at the same time, it will also give an opportunity for somebody else to come and perform and show what they are capable of.”Murali has been offended by remarks made by former Australian cricketers, and by John Howard, Australia’s prime minister, who publicly criticised his bowling action soon after he passed Courtney Walsh’s tally of 519 Test wickets to become the new world-record holder.It was also in Australia where Murali was called for throwing by the home umpires, and on his last tour there four years ago, he was constantly jeered by a section of the crowd whenever he came on to bowl. Murali then vowed that he would never tour Australia again in the future, and the recent remarks are likely be the icing on the cake.On the matter of Dion Ebrahim being banned for one game after makingremarks about Muralitharan’s bowling action during the Bulawayo Test, Atapattu had no sympathy. Ebrahim was allegedly given a tough time out in the middle by the Sri Lankan fielders in Zimbabwe’s second innings.Atapattu said, “If you take our team as a whole, Murali is the most respected cricketer, performance-wise, in our team. You don’t go around saying things about him and trying to undermine his achievements after he has broken the world record by taking more than 520 wickets. You just admire him. That’s how we look at it.”We hate to see somebody saying nasty things about another player who had achieved something. When the world says this is the best bowler in the game today, you don’t go and say something nasty to him. We were really angry at Ebrahim’s remarks. We respect cricketers from other countries and expect the same from them. We tried to control ourselves today, but it wasn’t the case. I thought Ebrahim got what he deserved.”Muralitharan once again finished as Sri Lanka’s leading wicket-taker in the two-Test series against Zimbabwe. He took 14 wickets and once again emphasized his value to the team. With his doosra banned by the ICC, Muralitharan fell back on his offbreaks and top spinners, and picked up six wickets in the second Test.”One thing I had in mind during the Zimbabwe second innings was for him to get five wickets. I told him `get me five if you can and show the world that you are still capable of getting wickets’,” said Atapattu.”I don’t think the Test would have gone on for so long had Murali been able to bowl his doosra ball. We would have loved to see him bowl it, especially in this innings because the wicket was a good batting track.”Murali is a guy I am pretty sure will work out something else and come back strongly, maybe stronger than he was earlier. I hope nothing will happen to him because he is such a unique personality, an icon. He is one of the best cricketers the world will ever get to see because he has given so much entertainment to the cricket loving public.”Atapattu added that the Bulawayo Test was the hardest for him as captain to keep the team morale going. “We kept on saying this is the last game and we’ve got to finish the tour on a high note because we are meeting the world champions in another month’s time,” he said. “We had to keep our levels high and performances going and somehow we managed to get a good result in our favour.”The team motivated themselves in the one-day series by aiming to retain third spot in the ICC one-day rankings. And in the first Test at Harare, it was of course Murali’s world record.”I thought we played well in both Tests, especially to bowl them out twice on a good batting wicket. This wicket was good for batting than the one at Harare. It was a good effort and I think we deserved to win,” said Atapattu. “I thought both the teams to a certain extent, even the Zimbabweans, came out fighting because the wicket was good for batting. I thought to get them out twice under 80 overs in each innings was a good effort although they were a much weaker side.”He continued, “We approached this series like we were playing any other team. We were trying to keep the incentive levels high right throughout the series and to have the same discipline going.”Had Zimbabwe played their full side it would have been better for us before going to Australia. I am sure it would have been a tougher competition, but still this is what we had to face. We are at two extremes now, playing a weak Zimbabwean team and a month later the full might of Australia. Having done so well here, we’ve got to guard ourselves against overconfidence when we get there.”

One of the more interesting facts to brighten up tomorrow’s climax to what has been a weather-hit and largely uninspiring NatWest Series is it will be the first time New Zealand have played a one-day international at Lord’s. They’ve played virtually everywhere else in the country, from Chester-le-Street to Chelmsford, but tomorrow’s final against West Indies should be a historic day for them.While New Zealand have won all three of their completed matches which escaped the rain, West Indies have won two, but also lost two. One of those defeats was to New Zealand in a five-wicket defeat at Cardiff. Indeed, the last time they beat the Kiwis was in June 2002 in St Vincent, and, on current form, the odds are on another New Zealand victory tomorrow.Considering that every side who has won the toss in this tournament has bowled first, and gone on to win, the fall of the coin will probably again be a key factor. In keeping with the tournament so far, the forecast is for scattered showers throughout the day, but the good news is it shouldn’t be a repeat of yesterday’s dress rehearsal at the Rose Bowl, which was entirely washed out.Tomorrow will be New Zealand’s fourth one-day international final is as many years, after the 2000 Champions Trophy at Nairobi, the VB Series in 2002, and last year’s Bank Alfalah Cup in Sri Lanka. With two wins in those matches, they will start as favourites, something which Chris Cairns, New Zealand’s allrounder, said his side must come to terms with. “We’ve been in three out of four finals recently so it’s becoming a habit, which is a good thing,” Cairns said, before adding, “but if we are going to progress and become one of the best sides in the world, more often than not you will be in the tournament as a favourite. When you have that tag, for a lot of teams it can actually be detrimental – but with our side we need to make sure we are comfortable with dealing with that, and we have so far.”Cairns added that victory would be a welcome lasting memory of their tour of England, which didn’t quite start to plan after they were beaten 3-0 in the Tests: “It’ll be nice to leave these shores with a memory of the fact we can play,” he said, “but we don’t want to pat ourselves on the back at the moment just yet. There is the small matter of the final to come, and we know we will be judged on what we do then.”It’s been a while since West Indies last won a triangular tournament. That was back in 2001 when they took the Coca-Cola Cup against India in Zimbabwe, and they are likely to revert back to a more balanced line-up from the batsman-heavy team which that beat England at Lord’s. Jermaine Lawson has recovered from flu, and he may replace Devon Smith.Brian Lara, West Indies’ captain, said his side was upbeat after that victory over England, but didn’t make any predictions for the final. “If they [England] had scored 350, I would still have been confident that we would have got it with the batting line-up that we have.”He continued, “In the past couple of months we have shown how good chasers we are, so I had no doubt that we would win.” When asked about the final, he would only say: “I’ve always stressed that we have a game plan, and everyone has to fit into the game plan and see themselves playing a part.”Ian Bradshaw, West Indies’ fast bowler, suggested it would be how each side peformed in the field that would be the deciding factor: “I won’t read too much into the first game [against New Zealand] that was rained out, as it was a rained shortened game,” he said. “In our second game we should have posted a much better score than we eventually did. That is what cost us that game and once again we realise we cannot afford to make those mistakes in the future.” He added, “With the confidence and experience in the batting departments in both teams I believe that tomorrow’s game will be determined by the team that bowls and fields better on the day.”For New Zealand, Cairns is almost certain to return after a two-game rest with a minor ankle injury, but Andre Adams, who was a late call-up to the squad while playing in the Lancashire leagues, may have to wait a bit longer for his comeback if Jacob Oram recovers from a side strain. In any case, the New Zealanders are likely to make their Lord’s debut a winning one.New Zealand (probable) 1 Stephen Fleming (capt), 2 Nathan Astle, 3 Hamish Marshall, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Craig McMillan, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Chris Cairns, 8 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 9 Daniel Vettorri, 10 James Franklin, 11 Ian Butler.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Brian Lara (capt), 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Ricardo Powell, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Tino Best, 11 Jermaine Lawson.

The USA Cricket Academy of New Jersey, which in 2003 won the ICC’s award as the best junior cricket development program in the world, is set to repeat its successes last year on another trip to the Caribbean.Earlier this year, the USA Cricket Academy won three consecutive games at the British Gas Under-17 Tournament in Trinidad, and finished the tournament on a winning note with another crushing win, ending with four wins and one loss as one of the best teams in the tournament.This time, it will be traveling to Barbados to participate in the Sir Garfield Sobers Cricket Tournament to be held from July 9 through to July 24. Teams from all over the world are expected to participate in this tournament such as New Zealand, Australia, India, and the Caribbean countries–these are sides representing schools, regions and sponsors from the various countries, rather than official U-19 teams from ICC member nations. The tournament, which is in its 16th year, was won in 2003 by Australia who defeated India and a Combined West Indies team in the semi-finals and final. This will be the first year that the USA will be represented in the tournament.Drawing on the experience of past Academy tours, a team has been selected which probably represents the best junior talent currently available in the USA. Captained by Anil Deopersaud (Florida), the team consists of Anveet Patel (New Jersey) as vice-captain, Megh Bhatt, Dhiren Patel, Yuvraj Sharma, and Romero Dean (New Jersey), Roopchand Seebaran and Andre Kirton (New York), Abhimanyu Rajp, Nadir Malik and Mohammed Usman (California), Keenan Fish (Colorado), Musaab Khan (Pennsylvania) and Faizan Sayeed (Georgia). The team is managed by Chi rag Patel, with Sheldon Gomes as coach and Garcia Gerald as Physic and Trainer. Ashok Patel, the President of the USA Cricket Academy, will be accompanying the side. Most of these players have performed successfully for the Cricket Academy at various junior levels for the past few years, and show promise for repeating their achievements at the U-19 level.The USA Cricket Academy has come in for its share of criticism in the past for the way it has managed and conducted its overseas tours. Basically, each Academy tour is run as a self-financing project, with players (i.e. their parents) paying their own way, and the Academy trying to minimize overall costs by making group travel and accommodation arrangements and finding local hosts and catering facilities. A few disgruntled parents have complained of inadequate facilities, high-handed team management and other organizational problems. These complaints, however, have been few and far between; some of them, no doubt, tinged with a dose of envy at the Cricket Academy for pulling off tour after tour while the USACA was unable to organize any international matches without support by the ICC.As they say, nothing succeeds like success. ICC’s recognition of the USA Cricket Academy as the best junior development program in the world silenced many of its critics, though some carping still continues. Perhaps, after Barbados, there will be even less of that sort of snide criticism, although that may be too much to hope for.

The International Cricket Council may have asked Muttiah Muralitharan to keep the doosra wrapped up in cotton wool, but he insisted that there was still enough in his armoury to pose severe questions of the formidable Indian batting line-up when the two teams meet in the Asia Cup in a few days’ time.Muralitharan had a quiet chat with the media at the Nondescripts Club in Colombo’s Maitland’s Place, as India played their warm-up match a few yards away. “If you don’t allow a bowler to use his weapon, it is like asking someone to run on just one leg,” he said. “That has been my main weapon and that is being denied to me. It surely is going to affect me.”And while he acknowledged the Indians’ batting prowess, there was no diffidence about facing up to them. “They are all good batsmen, but it is a matter of how well they are batting on a day and how well I am bowling on that day,” he said, before adding that the battle would be won in the mind. “It is a mental game and I am very focused on myself. I practise very, very hard. Extra spin still remains my most potent weapon in this battle.”The spin doctors have conveniently labelled the India-Sri Lanka match as a confrontation between him and Sachin Tendulkar, but Murali refused to be drawn on the age-old debate about the identity of the world’s best batsman. “It is hard to compare Brian Lara to Tendulkar,” he said. “Both are great, only I have bowled more to Lara in Tests than to Tendulkar. I haven’t bowled to Tendulkar in a Test for six years, and that is half of my Test career. It’s hard to say who the better of the two is. Anyway, Indian batsmen are all good players of spin and good judges of the ball.”He said that he could relate to the pressure that has become a daily part of Tendulkar’s life. “The pressure he gets from outside is tremendous. I also get the same kind of pressure, and I know how tough it is to live with it,” he said. “It is tough because you have to perform every day. To control that pressure and still remain No. 1 is difficult.”He wasn’t unduly fazed by the fact that Shane Warne had drawn level with him on 527 Test wickets. Warne himself has suggested that his younger rival might finish up with 1000 Test victims, and Muralitharan wasn’t about to rule out the possibility. “I think I can play for six more years,” he said. “I can still bowl a straighter one and can still impart great spin to my deliveries.”There was also the hope that the powers-that-be would lift the ban on his lethal weapon. “Hopefully, I can also use my doosra in the near future,” he said. “It took me four or five years to develop this art.”

Match abandoned
The first one-day international between England Under-19s and Bangladesh was abandoned without a ball being bowled, after heavy overnight rain saturated the pitch at Arundel. It was another frustrating day for the Bangladeshis, who had enjoyed the upper hand in the third and final Test at Cardiff, only for the weather to wreck that encounter.The teams now reconvene at Hove on Thursday, for what has now become a best-of-two matches affair.

For a long time, it looked as though Anil Kumble would have to wait another day for Test wicket No. 435. Then, in the fading light, with the fourth ball of his 12th over, he trapped Mohammad Rafique in front of the stumps. “It’s definitely a kind of a relief to get there,” said Kumble. “I was really happy that I could get to 434 at Eden Gardens [against South Africa]. It was a really special moment – my family was there, my wife was there. She couldn’t travel here, but it’s a nice feeling to get to 435.”The crowd was slow-handclapping as he came in to deliver – not because they were egging him on to reach the landmark that would put him on top of the pile of Indian Test wicket-takers, but because Rafique was on 47, and within one cavalier stroke of his half-century. When the wicket fell, courtesy of a rare lbw decision from Aleem Dar, an umpire fast gaining a reputation as a not-outer, Kumble was engulfed by his team-mates.A moment later he held his hand up to the balcony where John Wright and the rest of the squad applauded. It was a rare Kumble moment, one when he grinned like a child, his dazzling smile taking the sheen off the floodlights at the Bangabandhu Stadium. It was one of those rare moments when Kumble actually showed some emotion on the field. “I’m not a man of emotions,” he conceded. “I don’t show too many emotions on the field. But I’m really happy with the way things have gone. When I first started I never thought that I would get to this level. I’ve played with Kapil . My first three or four years were with him, so it’s really nice to go past somebody you have looked up to from a young age. To be alongside him and then cross him, after having watched him on TV at one stage, is really good.”However, surpassing Kapil is certainly not going to stop the expectant fans from demanding more. “I’m relieved [to get past the mark] but again people are saying ‘Get to 500’, so I’ll have to put up with it. I just have to go out there and keep getting wickets,” said Kumble. And, given the rate at which he is going – 67 wickets in this calendar year already – 500 can’t be far away.When he reached 434, Kumble finally began to receive what he has been denied all his career – recognition as one of India’s greatest-ever bowlers. Whenever there was talk of great Indian spin bowlers, his name was conspicuous by its absence, simply because he was not a classical legspinner. But that doesn’t bother him one bit. “As long as I am defined as a bowler I am happy,” he said. “At the end of the day a bowler is there to get wickets and a batsman is there to get runs. How he does that is immaterial. I am somebody who is different from an orthodox legspinner. There is a feeling that you will be successful only if you do things a certain way, but I don’t agree with that. I’m happy that even with my style I’ve been able to get the results. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what style you bowl.”But Kumble is too hardened a campaigner to believe that the critics will shut up and go home, just because he has become India’s leading Test wicket-taker. When asked if he thought he had silenced his critics once and for all, he said, “I don’t think so. Critics are always there to say things when somewhere along the line you haven’t been doing well. I think that’s something which I don’t really worry about. If I thought too much of whatever people said then I wouldn’t be here. My job is to go out there, play, give 100%. The rest will take care of itself. I’m not there to prove anything to anybody. At this point of time I think I have proved enough, and ultimately I need to go out there and prove to myself that I am still achieving the results that I am capable of.”While no-one can doubt Kumble’s achievment, there have been some who believed, not so long ago, that he was past his best, and that he recently rediscovered the magic after coming back from a career-threatening shoulder injury. “I don’t think I rediscovered anything. Most of it was always there. It’s just that people started to recognise this when I began to do well once more. Right from day one you only try to improve. Every game you play you try to learn something. Over the years my experience has definitely helped in getting the results in Australia and after.”Coming back from injury was hard on the body, but fortunately Kumble is a man of strong will. This, and a burning desire to succeed, ensured that he had his chin up all the while. “Cricket at the international level has more to do with what’s between the ears than ability. At this level everybody is talented. You have to be mentally strong and that has definitely helped me.”But that’s not all that has helped Kumble. In his moment of glory, he remained true to character, and remembered to thank those that helped him along. It has become fashionable in recent times to dedicate every five-for and century to someone, usually prompted by a question in a press conference. But when the “do-you want-to-dedicate-this-to-anyone” question was popped to him, Kumble responded with one of his classic shrugs, smiled, and said, “No, I don’t think so. All my team-mates have been a part of it. I would like to thank them. Without their help I wouldn’t have got this far.”You can be sure that the team will have a quiet celebration to mark Anil Kumble’s achievement, and they certainly have plenty to thank him for.

ScorecardCentral Districts defeated Auckland by 55 runs after scoring 229 for 8. Mathew Sinclair led the way with an unbeaten 95 after CD found themselves in a spot of bother at 36 for 2. Jamie How, who was dismissed for 45, put on 63 with Sinclair. Auckland’s response began with a stutter. At 10 for 3, they were already on the defensive. Then Matt Horne fell for 16 (39 for 4). Kyle Mills and Paul Hitchcock scored defiant 40s and put on 87 for the seventh wicket, but their dismissals effectively signalled the end of Auckland’s chances.
ScorecardWellington beat Otago in a close high-scoring encounter at the Basin Reserve. Chris Gaffaney’s 84 was instrumental in Otago’s cempetetive total of 262 – a score that could have been larger if more batsmen had converted their starts. Stephen Fleming then steadied Wellington’s innings with 64 off 57 balls after an unsteady start. But the most significant batting came from James Franklin and Luke Woodcock, who put on 78 for the sixth wicket. Franklin was in outstanding touch and scored 76 off 65 deliveries, while Woodcock hit 39. The match went into the final over, but Mayu Pasupati, unbeaten on 30, took his team past the target with a powerful blow.
ScorecardAfter a good 142-run opening stand which took them to within 114 of victory, Canterbury lost the plot and fell short of Northern Districts’ score of 255 by 15 runs at Gisborne. The feature of ND’s innings was the 109-run stand between James Marshall and Scott Styris for the third wicket. The lower order chipped in with useful contributions, with Peter McGlashan ending the innings on a lively note, scoring an unbeaten 20 off 13 balls. Canterbury’s bowlers struggled. Nathan Astle was the most successful, taking 2 for 40, while Stephen Cunis kept a tidy line and length to finish with 1 for 32. Astle was immediately in the action with the bat in a superb opening stand with Michael Papps. Papps was out for 51 but Astle carried on to score 123. The remaining batsmen were unable to push on to victory as Graeme Aldridge took 4 for 46. His victims were all dangerous strokeplayers who could have sealed the game for Canterbury: Craig McMillan for 17, Chris Cairns for 3, and Cunis and Hayden Shaw for ducks.

For a moment, it seemed it would end as it had opened. Pakistan’s tour to Australia began with a humiliating defeat at Perth and at first, today’s finale was hauntingly familiar. Eventually, Pakistan fought back just as they had done on Friday, and they pushed Australia most of the way. But once Adam Gilchrist and, in particular, Glenn McGrath had done what they do so well, the fight didn`t matter.It is a sign of how resoundingly McGrath has answered those who suggested he was finished, that there is now as much talk and applause – ironic though it may be – about his batting as there has always been about his bowling. It means that his primary function, and itseffectiveness, is once again unquestioned. He picked up five wickets today, throttling any notions of a fight at the very top of the order and snuffing out clear signs of it at the bottom.McGrath was always going to get one, if not two, of the top three out – he has made men with much better techniques than Kamran Akmaland Mohammad Hafeez look silly often enough. But it was his dismantling of the linchpin of Pakistan’s hopes, Inzamam ul Haq that bore testament to McGrath’s ability to rip the heart out of sides just when itmatters.He bowled two balls in what should now officially be rechristened the"Corridor of McGrath", both just short of a length with a slight hint of away movement outside off-stump, before pitching the third delivery much fuller and nipping it back. Traditionally a scratchy starter,Inzamam was trapped on the crease and plumb in front. Pakistan’s captain and star batsman, with five fifties and 364 runs inthe last seven matches, was gone, and the match, in essence,was over.At least Pakistan will not have to hire a rocket scientist to see where they went wrong. Today, as has been the case throughout the VB Series, they might as well not have had a top three. In eight matches, Pakistan tried three different opening combinations and three different No. 3s. Akmal, a gritty lower-order batsman and an increasingly impressive wicketkeeper, became an unlikely opener. Salman Butt, who had faded as the series went on, was replaced today by Taufeeq Umar, once a specialist Test opener but now playing his first international of any variety in almost a year.Shoaib Malik, fast becoming a sturdy upper-order fulcrum, was inexplicably shifted from that position in this tournament. Mohammad Hafeez, back in the side to make up for the loss of Malik’s bowling, instead took his batting place and barely bought a run. Given that neither Inzamam nor Youhana are keen to bat at No. 3, the refusal to let the proven Malik bat there was bewildering.If it seems a muddled policy, then it made for disastrous results as well; Pakistan’s "starts" in this series have been 30 for 2, 36 for 2, 38 for 3, 65 for 2, 41 for 2, 9 for 3, and 38 for 3. That they had managed to stay afloat this far had been due, almost entirely, to the efforts of Inzamam and, in particular, the lower-order of a revitalized Abdul Razzaq (is it the spinach?) and Shahid Afridi.It is a shame they crumbled again, for by doing apassable impression of Sri Lanka in the field, theyhad done wonderfully well to restrict Australia’sbatsmen for the second time in three days. Much of SriLanka’s success in ODIs, and some of it has come againstAustralia, has been based on the slow choke – a method that is effective on sluggish pitches with a number ofquickish spinners who aren’t really spinners. Theydart, rather than flight the ball; they often choosenot to extract significant turn, and they hurry through their overs, never allowing batsmen to settle.In the past, the likes of Jayasuriya, Chandana, Arnold and Dharmasena have successfully strangled Australian run-scoring in the middle overs, and today, the ebullient Afridi and Hafeez played the part admirably, first hauling back a Gilchrist-fuelled run-rate and then picking up crucial wickets in the middle order. They were backed up well by the seamers, and if Rana’s opening over lbw appeal against Gilchrist had been upheld, it might have made a difference (and despite what commentators have said, there have been more than a few appalling decisions in this series).Gilchrist’s hand was characteristically abnormal and crucial; on a pitch where many struggled to get the ball away, he started as if he was batting in the nets. A sumptuous straight drive, a stinging square cut and a spanked cover-drive – three boundaries in the first over and six (as well as a hooked six) in total where his team-mates combined to hit twelve in the 41 overs after his dismissal. He did his thing then, McGrath did it later.