The world of cricket

Nafees added to the century he scored in Zimbabwe in August

Shahriar Nafees made 123 as Bangladesh completed a 101-run consolation win over Zimbabwe in the Champions Trophy.

Dropped in the covers on nought, Nafees shared 84 in 20 overs with Saqibul Hasan (37) and 80 from only 14 overs with skipper Habibul Bashar (30).

Brendan Taylor hit a patient 52 but two comical run-outs and tight slow bowling saw Zimbabwe skittled for a paltry 130.

Neither team was able to qualify for the main tournament after both were beaten by Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Looking to atone for a 3-2 series defeat in Zimbabwe in August, Bangladesh made a nervous start, losing Rajin Saleh who was trapped in front in the fifth over after making no contact with an agricultural swipe across the line.

Aftab Ahmed soon joined him in the pavilion when he gloved a leg-side delivery and was superbly snaffled one-handed low to his left by diving wicket-keeper Taylor, leaving Bangladesh 26-2 in the 10th over.

Nafees and Saqibul rebuilt the innings slowly, bringing up the 100 in the 28th over, with the opener completing his fifty from 92 balls shortly afterwards.

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Fleming is set to beat Arjuna Ranatunga’s one-day record

Stephen Fleming has set his sights on lifting the World Cup before ending his long tenure as New Zealand skipper.

He will set a new record on Wednesday when he leads them for the 194th time in a one-day international.

And the game against Pakistan in Mohali will decide whether the Kiwis reach the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, a tournament they won in 2000.

But Fleming is already thinking about next year’s World Cup and admitted he has a “burning ambition” to win it.

“The biggest worry for us is that we have been inconsistent in big tournaments.

“I think we are a side that gets a bit comfortable once it has won a game,” the 33-year-old commented.

That view has been born out at the Champions Trophy with the Kiwis beating South Africa in their opening game and then losing to Sri Lanka after under-performing with the bat.

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Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has called for Duncan Fletcher to be axed as coach following the side’s comprehensive defeat to Australia in a Champions Trophy group match on Saturday.

“If you talk to people like John Wright and Bob Woolmer, successful coaches with a lot of experience, they will tell you that the job comes with a shelf-life. And Fletcher just reached the end of his,” Boycott wrote in Monday’s Daily Telegraph.

England lost to India by four wickets in their opening match and were dismissed for 169 by Australia before losing by six wickets.

Zimbabwean Fletcher took over as coach seven years ago and the highlight of his career was guiding England to Ashes success last year after 18 years of Australian domination.

He is currently on a rolling one-year contract with the England board.

“I’m not saying he is a terrible coach. In fact, I think he has done a good job — full marks to him for the way he made England’s test team competitive after the dark days of the 1990s.

“But, after a while, I believe a coach runs out of new ideas and the players get comfortable and complacent with him. He almost becomes too familiar and the players stop listening.”

England’s one-day form has been poor for a while, particularly after injuries to a number of premier players.

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Herschelle Gibbs and his laywer on their way to chat with the Delhi police © AFP

Suspicions of match-fixing during England’s hosting of the cricket World Cup in 1999 have led Indian police to Britain only days after they formally questioned South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs.

Delhi police are probing whether matches held in England were fixed by gambling syndicates and have requested the assistance of Scotland Yard.

Video footage of South Africa’s matches during the 1999 tournament and the UK bank accounts and telephone records of disgraced South African cricketer Hansie Cronje have been requested by the Delhi investigators. Cronje, the now-deceased South Africa captain, became a pariah in April 2000 when he admitted accepting bribes from gambling syndicates.

Before being banned for life and later dying in a plane crash, he was the subject of the King Commission set up by South Africa to investigate the bribery claims. However the King Commission did not focus on any of the matches in the 1999 World Cup.

Of particular concern is Bangladesh’s defeat of Pakistan in a group game, although claims have also surrounded South Africa’s loss to Zimbabwe and a second phase match between India and Pakistan. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh won when their opponents had already assured qualification.

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With the World Cup less than five months away, Barbados is gearing up to play host to plenty of cricket fans. The latest initiative is to have 14 cruise ships docked at its port, of which six will serve as permanent floating hotels to make up for the lack of conventional hotel rooms.

The Jamaica Gleaner quoted Noel Lynch, the country’s tourism minister, as saying that these ships will accommodate around 12,000 fans and help handle the huge influx of fans expected during the tournament. “We are expecting about 20,000 fans for the finals,” Lynch said. “Of that number, our ports will accommodate some 12,000 and the land-based entities the other 8,000 people.”

Lynch also confirmed that much of the extra accommodation had already been sold out. “The Indians, particularly, have eaten up all of the rooms.”

The World Cup has also meant an opportunity for the West Indies to showcase itself as a tourist destination with sound infrastructure, and Lynch indicated that plenty of work was in progress in Barbados to ensure that the country would be in top shape when the tournament starts. “When cricket fans arrive in Barbados, they will see a new-looking Kensington Oval, and major infrastructure work showcasing Barbados as a seriously developing nation on the cusp of being developed.”

© Cricinfo

Also see World Cup, 2007.

Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock can take heart from the surface on view © Getty Images

Graeme Smith might just be enjoying himself a little more in the state of Gujarat than he did in Mumbai. The Sardar Patel Stadium, for starters, resembles more closely the stadia he is used to playing at back home - it’s big, has colourful bucket seats as a backdrop, the outfield is a lush green. And most importantly, the pitch also had just a tinge of green on it - not the kind of grass that would make it a seaming bunsen, but the kind that would hold it together and ensure that the top didn’t come off, as it did when South Africa went down to New Zealand in Mumbai.

Smith was livid after that match, lambasting the pitch after a game of two halves was easily won by New Zealand. When he appeared for his pre-match press conference in Ahmedabad, looking forward to the game against Sri Lanka, he was far more relaxed, and even smiled once or twice, as he fielded the usual questions. But then, that has been the nature of this tournament.

The format has made it such that each team needs at least two wins to be reasonably assured of making it to the semifinal. With one loss and two games to go, South Africa have no uncertainty left - they just must win, to stay in the competition. Sri Lanka, who already have one win, against New Zealand, but lost to Pakistan, can’t breathe any easier. In that sense, the manner in which results have unfolded has meant that this tournament has virtual quarterfinals, even if the organisers did not design it thus.

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Mitchell Johnson: “I want to try to get around that 150. I’m always trying to bowl quick” © Getty Images

First it was Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in Malaysia. Then it was Kevin Pietersen and figures of 3 for 40 in a fine performance against England on Saturday. Now Mitchell Johnson has re-set his sights on bowling at 150kph as his promising international career develops quickly.

Talk of Johnson gaining the third fast-bowling spot for the first Ashes Test has gained more momentum after he surprised Pietersen with his pace and then out-thought him during the six-wicket win at Jaipur. Johnson’s figures in his eighth ODI backed up his 4 for 11 in Malaysia last month and he said he was growing in confidence with every match.

As Australia prepared to leave for Mohali, where they will play India on Saturday and aim for a spot in the Champions Trophy semi-finals, Johnson also spoke about his plan for Pietersen, which involved a short ball that struck the bat handle followed by a full one angled across the batsman.

“That one probably zipped through a bit more,” he told AAP. “My plan to him was to get a short one in early and then try to get that nick early. From the footage that I’ve seen, he likes to get forward early. Maybe Andrew Flintoff as well. Shane Watson got him out trying to play the pull shot and got him on the forearm as well, trying to get forward. Maybe that’s a pretty good option with those guys.”

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Inzamam-ul-Haq leads his side back onto the field … but too late to save the Test © Getty Images

The ICC is to intervene on England’s claims for compensation from the forfeited Oval Test after Pakistan rejected their demands for £800,000 in lost revenue.

As expected, following the failure to reach an agreement between the two countries’ boards, the ECB has now requested assistance and an ICC disputes panel will decide how much compensation England are to receive following Pakistan’s forfeiture of the game.

The ECB originally asked the PCB for £800,000 after they refunded all fifth-day ticketholders and also gave a 40% reimbursement to the 23,000 in the ground on the day of the abandonment, the fourth day. But Pakistan formally rejected this claim, as they maintain that the actions of the umpires were to blame for the resulting refusal by Pakistan to resume the match, and as the employers of the officials, the ICC is responsible for the losses.

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Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff: joint ICC Players of the Year in 2005 © Getty Images

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, will announce the shortlists for this year’s ICC Awards in Mumbai this Sunday.

The shortlists for the awards have been compiled by the 56-member voting academy, who were asked to vote for players nominated by a selection panel chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain.

In addition to the individual awards and the Spirit of Cricket Award, this year’s ceremony will also feature the awarding of Test and ODI Teams of the Year. And for the first time, there is an award for Women’s Cricketer of the Year.

The ceremony - in its third year - will take place at the Taj Land’s End in Mumbai on November 3. It has previously been held in London (2004) and, last year, in Sydney.

© Cricinfo

Mohammad Asif arrives at the preliminary tribunal hearing at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore © AFP

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif attended the preliminary hearing of the tribunal investigating the doping case at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) headquarters in Lahore today. Both players - suspended from the Champions Trophy after testing positive for nandrolone, a banned steroid - recorded their statements separately. They were asked to submit their written statements for the next hearing, scheduled for October 26, after a break in proceedings for Eid.

“The hearing lasted around four hours as we had to do some initial work and then heard Akhtar and Asif,” Shahid Hamid, the chairman of the tribunal, told reporters. “We have given them reports of their tests and have asked them to submit their written statements in the next hearing.” The tribunal consists of Hamid and Intikhab Alam while Waqar Ahmed, the third member and medical expert, was unable to attend the hearing.

The tribunal is expected to return its findings in two weeks, after which the PCB will decide on a final course of action. Both players are liable to face bans of anywhere between one and two years. Hamid said that the players were briefed about the procedures and added that they had the option of bringing their lawyers in the next hearing.

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Damien Martyn: a classy innings to seal England’s fate © Getty images

The pundits had been anticipating a firecracker of a contest to celebrate Diwali, but England’s batsmen and bowlers contrived instead to produce yet another damp squib, as Australia secured an emphatic six-wicket victory in the unofficial Ashes curtain-raiser at Jaipur. In a game full of sub-plots and psychological by-plays, Australia’s greater determination won the day, as they recovered from shaky starts in both innings to win by a margin even more emphatic than the scoreline would suggest.

It was Australia’s young guns, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson, who stole the show with the ball, grabbing three wickets apiece as England capitulated dismally from 83 for 0 to 169 all out. And then, having lost three early wickets in reply, it was over to the old stager, Damien Martyn, on his 35th birthday, who steadied Australia’s run-chase with a classy and confident 78 that included another filleting of Steve Harmison’s bowling figures. Mike Hussey piloted his team home with an unbeaten 32, as England looked like becoming the first major nation to be eliminated from the ICC Champions Trophy.

It was a typically listless one-day display from England, although in the early exchanges of the innings it looked as though a real contest was on the cards. Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss established an excellent platform for their team with a coolly compiled opening stand, a partnership that included a premeditated assault on Glenn McGrath, who looked sluggish when he entered the attack as first-change, and whose demeanour was not improved when Martyn of all people dropped an absolute sitter at mid-off to reprieve Bell on 23.

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The night before the opening match against England in the ongoing Champions Trophy, India’s strike bowler Irfan Pathan looked tense.

The left-arm pacer had been told by the team management that he would be in the playing eleven and he was feeling the pressure of expectations. He knew he had to deliver.

But he smiled when asked about ‘pressure’: “Don’t worry, I’m ready for the show,” Pathan told TOI. He bowled with a lot of heart and rhythm the next day, rattling the England top order and getting two crucial wickets.

“It was a big occasion and we knew that we had to start the match with a bang. When I was given the new ball, I knew I could do the job,” Pathan said.

Pathan said that he was always confident of proving his worth as a bowler in the team again. “I wasn’t under any pressure.

There was talk outside that I’m short on confidence but it wasn’t true. My self-belief never suffered and I’m thankful to the team management for giving me the right support,” he said.

The Baroda speedster seemed to have rediscovered pace and swing with the white ball during Sunday’s match and that was bad news for England.

“Andrew Flintoff’s wicket was a special one. We knew he was the key man for England and getting him early would be a bonus. So I gave it everything and tried to pitch the ball in the right area. It worked,” Pathan said referring to Flintoff’s dismissal.

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Consistent performance and merit would be key factors for the selection of Indian squad for the forthcoming tour of South Africa and the World Cup, Chairman of BCCI’s national selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar said on Friday.

“Not just performance in this tournament, but consistent performance and merit will be the only criterion for the selection of the Indian team for the forthcoming South Africa tour during which the team will play five one-day internationals”, Vengsarkar, popularly known as ‘colonel’ said on the sidelines of ongoing four-day Duleep Trophy match at Usharaje ground.

After the South African tour, the team will also play five one-day matches each with Sri Lanka and West Indies.

“The team will be announced on October 30 after the selectors watch the current matches being played in the Duleep trophy and also India-Australia match at Mohali,” Vengsarkar said.

“Everybody has to create his position in the team. It depends how one fits the bill”, he said. “It depends on the composition of the team. We keep trying people all the time.

Nobody is indispensible”, he said, emhasising the importance of consistent performance for a place in the team. DEL “All the selectors are watching domestic cricket. Some of them are watching the match in Gwalior while Sanjay Jagdale and me are here”, Vengsarkar said.

On whether former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is performing well enough to be in the Indian team, Vengsarkar said: “It is for everybody to see, why you are asking me? Everybody has a chance to come back into the team”.

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Former Australian captain Steve Waugh has said the International Cricket Council should make Pakistan’s dope-tainted pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif “pay heavily” if they were proven guilty of using banned drugs.

The pace duo were pulled out of the Champions Trophy in India after they tested positive for banned steroid nandrolone.

“It’s not really associated with cricket but you can’t be too naive to suggest that it wouldn’t happen. Obviously it’s here. Players know the rules and its very strict guidelines and you’ve got to work within those,” Waugh said.

“If you step outside of it then you’ve got to pay the consequences. So I think if they’ve done the wrong thing, they’ll certainly pay pretty heavily for it,” he was quoted as saying by an Australian portal ABC.

Matthew Hayden, Australian Test opener, echoed Waugh’s views. He said the ICC should get tough and send a clear message that drugs were not acceptable in cricket.

“We are very proud of having a clean sport that does its best to maintain the standards so that we pass onto the youngsters a clear message that drugs in our game aren’t acceptable,” he said.

Mark Taylor, another former Australian captain, said Akhtar and Asif had to be dealt with appropriately.

“It’s certainly disappointing for cricket and obviously disappointing for the two gentlemen involved,” he said.

“People like Shoaib Akhtar bring a lot of people to the game but they do have a role to play in the game with what we’re trying to teach our youngsters with what they should and shouldn’t do in sport.

“Obviously (drugs) aren’t a part of sport so they have to be dealt with appropriately.”

Four years after his chest-baring celebration at the Wankhede stadium stunned the cricketing world, a far more matured England captain Andrew Flintoff today apologised for the incident, describing it as “10 seconds of madness”.

“It was embarrassing to be honest. It was 10 seconds of madness,” Flintoff said on the eve of the Champions Trophy clash against Australia at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here.

“I think the series was hinged on final over. It’s not something I’m going to do it again, I got a bit of stick for it in the dressing room. Sorry.”

Flintoff surprised the Wankhede crowd when he took off his shirt and ran around the pitch in wild celebration after bowling England, led by Nasser Hussain, to a thrilling win over Sourav Ganguly’s men in the final game of a six-match rubber and tie the series 3-3 in early 2002.

Ganguly returned the complement with a similar gesture from the Lord’s balcony after India overhauled a daunting target of 325 in a one-day series final that summer.