New Zealand’s captain, Stephen Fleming, has been passed fit for the first Test against England at Lord’s, after overcoming a groin niggle, and is set to open the batting alongside Mark Richardson on Thursday.New Zealand have capitalised on the confusion in the England camp following Michael Vaughan’s knee injury, and have named their starting XI a full 24 hours in advance of the match. The specialist opener, Michael Papps, is the unfortunate batsman to miss out, despite his century in New Zealand’s recent defeat against Kent.Although he regularly faces the new ball in one-day internationals, Fleming is more used to batting at No. 3 in Tests – in fact he has opened the batting just once in his previous 82 matches. But once Nathan Astle had proved his form and fitness after his recent knee injury, he was always going to be a shoo-in for his first match since October.On a more disappointing note for New Zealand, they will be without Shane Bond, who had been sidelined for almost all of 2003 after suffering a stress fracture in his back. “Shane is struggling with his fitness," said New Zealand’s coach, John Bracewell, who always imagined Bond’s inclusion at Lord’s would be a long shot. "We are staying with our original plan; he’s still on target to be right for the second Test.”The seam bowler, Kyle Mills, is the remaining member of New Zealand’s Test squad to miss out on selection.New Zealand 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Stephen Fleming (capt), 3 Nathan Astle, 4 Craig McMillan, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Chris Cairns, 8 Brendon McCullum (wk), 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Chris Martin.

Zaheer Khan will definitely miss India’s Asia Cup match against Bangladesh, and his participation in the remaining games will be assessed by the team management over the next couple of days. Speaking to the media, John Wright, India’s coach, revealed that Zaheer tweaked his quadriceps muscle even before he had bowled a ball during Sunday’s Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka at Dambulla. Zaheer bowled gingerly, at medium-pace, during the Sri Lankan innings, and came out to bat later in the evening with a runner.”It happened while he was fielding, sprinting for a ball,” said Wright. “Obviously, it affected his bowling.”Wright said that the physio, Andrew Leipus, was happy with the progress that Zaheer had made, but he indicated that the injury was a major worry for both the team and the player. “From our point of view, we want the situation sorted out because we want to be picking from a full squad,” said Wright. “Zaheer was very upset about it. He has trained very hard but he is having these continual injury situations which are generally in the leg region.From the team’s point of view, and his, we have got to try and get on top of the situation because its tough on the player and we can’t have it happening regularly.”Wright indicated that it wasn’t a recurrence of the hamstring problems that had bedevilled Zaheer on the tours of Australia and Pakistan. “From what I understand, it was not exactly the same [as the injury he sustained before] because it was sustained while fielding and not bowling,” he said. “He just got fit, bowled well in that first game and looked as good as I have seen him for 12 months – for it to recur while fielding is very unfortunate.”

Australia’s leading cricketers will have to return more than A$500,000 (£196,000) they were accidentally paid by Cricket Australia following an “administrative error”.As Australia have cancelled a number of tours recently, such as the one-day tournament in Morocco and the Test series in Zimbabwe, there was a surplus of money in a contingency fund set up to cover touring payments, and after discussions in June the Australian Board agreed to pay the players half the amount held in the fund. The other half was meant to be kept for next year, but after the error the entire fund was paid out to the players and none was retained for next year.A Cricket Australia spokesman admitted the error, telling the Brisbane : “It’s a mistake – we accept that – a Cricket Australia administrative error. We have put our hand up and we have workshopped a solution with the Australian Cricketers’ Association. We have told the players we will be as flexible as we can be with individual circumstances concerning the repayment of the money.”In order to recover the money, Cricket Australia plans to reduce the affected players’ salaries in the season ahead, and some senior players will have this summer’s fees cut by more than A$20,000.Tim May, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, supported the decision, saying: “If an employer inadvertently pays money to you that you are not entitled to, they are allowed to take it back.”Australia’s players are the highest paid in world cricket, and several senior players earn more than A$1million a year in payments from the Board alone.

The Bombay High Court has asked the Indian board not to award an interim contract to any other television channel and maintain status quo for cricket-telecast rights until the dispute between Zee Network and ESPN-Star Sports is resolved. This was after Zee decided against going in for fresh bids for the four-year telecast rights for international matches played in India. The case is due to come for hearing on Thursday.However, Virendra Tulzapurkar, the BCCI lawyer, said that the matter was still pending in court and the BCCI would be in a spot if the case dragged on. reported that in an affidavit filed by the BCCI on Tuesday, they said that the series must be telecast unless the “Honourable High Court rejects the non-maintainable petition.”In the event of the series not being telecast, “there is every likelihood that not only will the entire series be cancelled with the possibility of penal measures but also that the same is likely to cause serious international repercussions.”Additionally, the BCCI’s petition also mentions the tender process and says, “BCCI may, in its unfettered discretion, decide to accept a tender or reject it and shall not be obligatory on its part to provide any reason therefore.”The issue of came up after speculation about Prasar Bharti, the national broadcaster, being awarded the interim rights if there was no outright winner.

It brought Australia and New Zealand to a stand-off in 1981, and 23 years later, Greg Chappell finally revealed his motive behind the infamous under-arm ball. In an ABC documentary, , Chappell revealed that the decision was a “cry for help” because of Australia’s relentless schedule.In the space of 13 months till February 1, 1981 – when Trevor Chappell bowled under-arm – Australia had played 13 Tests and 17 one-dayers. In comparison, Australia have played 15 Tests and 31 one-dayers in the past 13 months.”I was exhausted. I was fed up,” said Chappell. “The under-arm had very little to do with winning that game of cricket because, in fact, we’d won the game.”They weren’t going to get six off the last ball of the game. It was my statement. My cry for help was: ‘You’re not listening, this might help you sit up and take notice.”Brian McKechnie, who is now a New Zealand selector, was at the receiving end of that grubber, and he told that other sources had confirmed Chappell’s version of events.”I don’t understand why he did it,” said McKechnie. “I’ll take his word. [Rodney] Marsh and [Doug] Walters said it a few years ago. He was under pressure during the game. He wanted to leave the field during the game. He stood at long-off, which is near the boundary. That’s unusual for a captain.”McKechnie’s reaction back then was to throw his bat to the ground in disgust, and he insisted that the incident has coloured his life just as much as it did Chappell’s. “I just wish it never happened to me,” he said. “Everywhere I go in New Zealand you can bet your life someone will ask me a question about it. It was 23 years ago.”I’ve only spoken to him [Greg Chappell] once since. We never spoke about that. It was just one of those unfortunate things … The positive spin in New Zealand was that it increased interest in cricket and added to good, old-fashioned trans-Tasman rivalry in a number of sports.”

Just as things were looking up for West Indies cricket – victory inChampions Trophy and a new high-profile coach on board – the finger was again hovering over the self-destruct button with a showdown between the players and the board threatening to ravage team selection for the Australian tour. Wisden Cricinfo explains what the fuss is about.

What is the problem?
The main issue is that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has signed an US$20 million deal with Digicel, a major Caribbean-based telecommunications company. However, a number of players already have personal endorsement deals with a rival company, Cable & Wireless. The board wants the players to sign contracts which will prevent them from promoting any company in competition with Digicel – that might compromise their existing individual contracts with Cable & Wireless.Why is this such a major issue?
The main income for West Indies players comes from bonuses and third-party endorsements rather than salaries paid by the cash-strapped board. So by looking to restrict the additional income available, the players argue that their income will be seriously reduced. The WICB contract would also mean that the players forfeited a considerable portion of their image rights.Weren’t Cable & Wireless sponsors of West Indies at one point?
Yes. From 1986, they gave over US$50 million to West Indies cricket but they did not renew their contract after the home series against England. They will, however, sponsor the 2007 World Cup which West Indies will host.Who’s refused to sign?
Brian Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Mervyn Dillon, Sherwin Ganga, Daren Ganga, Denesh Ramdin, Courtney Browne, Ian Bradshaw, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Ryan Hinds, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Darren Sammy, Runako Morton. Early reports had indicated nine – but it’s actually 19.And who has signed?
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Reon King, Narsingh Deonarine, Ricardo Powell, Deighton Butler, Dwight Washington, Xavier Marshall.What happens now?
The West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) are meeting with the refuseniks to see what they are willing to do. But being so numerous and including nearly all the big-name players, the WICB are more likely to back down.TimelineNovember 26
Tim May, chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Association, supports the WIPA stance: “It is ridiculous to suggest that players should agree to give away the right for third parties to use their image and attributes for advertising and promotional purposes without any financial consideration,” he said. “[They are] conditions that no group of players or player association could possibly accept.” A meeting scheduled for 11.30 in Grenada between the WIPA and WICB with Owen Arthur, prime minister of Barbados and Mitchell acting as mediators, lasts six hours, but a breakthrough is reached.Both parties agreed to submit briefs by Friday (December 3) which will enable an independent adjudicator to be appointed to try to find a solution. Mitchell told Barbados’s newspaper: “Clearly there needs to be a much closer working relationship between the board and the players’ representatives. That is a major deficiency and the prime ministerial sub-committee plans to meet very soon and will be involving all the parties to look at a fundamental process for the way forward for the development of West Indies cricket.”November 25
WIPA set to meet some of the dropped players. Peter Young, the general manager of public affairs for Cricket Australia, indicated that an alternative team would be considered for the VB series if West Indies are unable to send a full-strength squad. “At the moment we’re talking about hypotheticals,” he said, “but if they don’t [agree], we will start thinking about alternatives.” Kevin Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, says he is willing to mediate. “I assume if we as leaders make a call for some form of resolution in terms of our intervention, I have a feeling the parties will respond accordingly. Given the vital importance of cricket to the social and economic development of the region, I felt it was essential to have this matter resolved in the most amicable way possible.”November 24
Sixteen players are dropped from initial squad for the VB Series. The WICB rejected the offer from the players association for a follow-up meeting, stating that it will not act “unless the WIPA indicates it is willing to review its position.” Ramnarine, maintains that his association are willing to compromise. “Everything is negotiable,” he said. “Our position from the start, with or without a mediator has been to resolve the issues.” WIPA also claimed that territorial boards are putting pressure on the players to agree to the terms of the contract.November 23
The WICB release statement: “The board has never sought to assume ownership of the individual rights of the players or requested them to forego these rights. Match and tour contracts have always honoured this practice. During the negotiations with WIPA last Thursday discussions were had as to the basis on which compensation would be paid to players in the context of advertisements and personal appearances on behalf of the major sponsor.”November 18
Meeting between WICA and board occurs. It lasts at least 14 hours, and the clash between sponsors is not resolved.November 17
In a separate issue, it was discovered that salaries and bonuses going as far back as August had not been paid to players, and that the board was waiting for a bank loan to come through.November 16
Initial deadline for terms and conditions to be signed and returedn to WICB.November 10
Ramnarine says that he’d been proposing a meeting with the WICB from November 18-20.November 9
The WICB issues a statement indicating that a copy of the invitation was sent to the WIPA on October 7 for comments before October 31. It continued: “Despite requests on four separate occasions with reminders of the need to provide the players with the terms and conditions well in advance, WIPA did not submit any comments on that contract to the WICB.”November 8
Dinanath Ramnarine, president of WIPA, the established body for determining the terms and conditions of contracts of West Indies players, claims that the WICB had bypassed them over the VB Series contracts. WIPA asked players not to sign the letters of invitation. “It is to be noted that some of the conditions stipulated by the WICB have nothing to do with cricket,” Ramnarine said, “but represent an attempt to exploit the players for commercial purposes.”November 5
The WICB send out invitations to 25 players to a training camp for the one-day triangular VB series in Australia in January and February next year, and set out terms and conditions under which players will be considered for selection, and requested the player’s consent over contracts. A copy of the invitation, with terms and conditions, which was dated November 2, was sent to WIPA.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

In the end, India won by only 11 runs, but the contest was never quite as close as the scoreline suggests. Mohammad Kaif ensured that India recovered from a shaky start and reached a competitive total, before a professional effort in the field took the game beyond Bangladesh’s reach. They finished on 234 for 8, but the first one-dayer at Chittagong was actually wrapped up well before the last ball was bowled.Bangladesh had their moments – the medium-pacers tied the Indian batsmen down in the early stages, Habibul Bashar kept the fight going with a gritty 65, and Khaled Mashud swung merrily to reach 50 off just 39 balls at the end. But as in the Test series, they let the game slip every time they appeared to have some sort of a grasp on it. They walked away smiling with fists pumping, but they had faltered on the big points earlier.Kaif entered amid a ripple. The top three had fallen to the medium-pacers, who justified their captain’s decision to field first: Sourav Ganguly chopped one on to his off stump, Sachin Tendulkar inside-edged a cracking incutter from Nazmul Hossain – the pick of the bowlers – while Yuvraj Singh was unlucky to be given lbw when the ball pitched outside leg. Rahul Dravid hadn’t yet scored, two inexperienced men were to follow, and India were wobbling at 45 for 3.Both Kaif and Dravid went about cementing the cracks by targeting the vacant spaces in the field. The full-tosses were dispatched to the fence, but the bulk of the scoring came through singles and twos. Both batsmen achieved this by knowing the pace of their strokes, gauging the gaps in the field and not letting up on the chance of an extra run. Dravid unveiled several variations of the sweep – the orthodox one to square leg, the lapped deflection to fine leg, and even the slog version, once a trademark of Steve Waugh. They managed 57 singles and six twos in their 128-run stand, and stepped up a gear only after the 36th over.A few clean hits followed but a rush of wickets put a sudden halt to the acceleration. Kaif survived two chances – both off Khaled Mahmud – but Dravid wasn’t as lucky, as Mahmud got his reward for a disciplined spell. After making 53, Dravid got a thin edge while slashing at a wide one (173 for 4).Both Sridharan Sriram and Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed out – Dhoni was recklessly run out off his very first ball in ODIs – but Ajit Agarkar ensured that all the good work in the middle overs wasn’t undone. He added 23 with Kaif, as both batsmen harassed the fielders with their cheeky running, and followed that with a clattering 29-run partnership with Irfan Pathan. The last three overs produced 40 as India darted towards a competitive score.

It seemed to be more than enough as Bangladesh switched to snooze mode in their first 15 overs, managing just 44 for 3. There was one moment in the third over, though, when everyone gaped in jaw-dropping wonder. Mohammad Rafique, promoted to open the batting, slashed a wide one that flew high towards backward point at a scorching pace. At the same time, Yuvraj took off. He timed his jump to micro-second perfection, stretched his left hand out and plucked the ball with his feet almost three feet in the air. The crowd were hushed into silence, Rafique let out a smile.Nafis Iqbal spent a frustrating 52 balls in the middle, making just 9. He was content to leave most of the deliveries alone and the few strokes that were middled went straight to the fielders. Just when he needed to make the initial struggle count, he was run out. Mohammad Ashraful followed almost immediately, giving Joginder Sharma his first ODI wicket, and the customary collapse seemed imminent.Bashar and Aftab Ahmed not only prevented that but added 64 in quick time, including 15 in one over from Harbhajan Singh, and after 26 overs Bangladesh had lifted their total to 96 for 3. At the same stage of their innings, India had 94. But Aftab went for one loft too many off Sriram, holing out to long-off. Bashar battled on, and became only the second Bangladesh batsman to reach 1000 ODI runs – Mashud was the first – but his team was always behind the eight-ball.Mashud smashed his half-century at a stage when the required run-rate was soaring into orbit. He fired off some crisp boundaries and the crowd was given something to cheer. Despite that late charge, though, the scales were always firmly tilted India’s way.

Jamaica 410 for 6 dec beat Guyana 191 and 153 (Fudadin 55, Washington 3-25, Bernard 3-27) by an innings and 67 runs
ScorecardJamaica clinched their fourth straight win of the Carib Beer Cup, thrashing Guyana by an innings and 67 runs at the Sabina Park in Kingston. Resuming from 77 for 5, Guyana were bowled out for 152, with only Assad Fudadin (55) providing any resistance. Dwight Washington and David Bernard were the most successful bowlers for Jamaica, taking three wickets each. Carlton Baugh, who hit an unbeaten 100 and took four catches, was declared Man of the Match. The win means that Jamaica now lead the table with 48 points.
ScorecardA superb spell of fast bowling by Adam Sanford took Leeward Islands to the brink of victory in the Carib Beer Cup match against Barbados at the Kensington Oval. Sanford grabbed 5 for 36 to take his match haul to 11 so far as Barbados, trailing by 187 in the first innings, slumped to 140 for 6 at close of play on the third day. Only Dwayne Smith (63) and Dale Richards (45) offered some resistance as Sanford swept the top order away. Earlier, Ridley Jacobs showed his prowess with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 101 as Leeward Islands declared their first innings on 479 for 6.

Scorecard
Ramesh Powar, the offspinner, dismantled the South Zone batting line-up with a seven-wicket haul, his best first-class figures, on the opening day of the star-packed Duleep Trophy game at Hyderabad. West Zone ended the day on 71 for 3, with Dheeraj Jadhav unbeaten on 30, as Anil Kumble gave South an opening with a double strike late in the day.Powar has had a great time in the league phase of the Ranji Trophy, finishing fifth on the wicket-taking charts, and his four-wicket burst against North Zone in the last game helped his side fight back. After the top three South batsmen were dismissed by the faster bowlers, Powar got his first wicket, that of Rahul Dravid, as early as the 14th over. He struck at regular intervals from then on and bowled a marathon 22.5 overs when he snapped up the rest of the batsmen. Powar had burst on to the scene in the Irani Trophy game of the 2003-04 season and had hinted at how Sachin Tendulkar’s advice helped him immensely. It was a similar day today with Tendulkar captaining and Powar striking it big.Venugopal Rao and Lakshmipathy Balaji lent the innings some respectability with 30s and Kumble chipped in with a solid 28. With Kumble getting two early wickets this evening, the spin bowlers may have a major say in the result of this one. Tomorrow promises to be another exciting day with the prospect of Tendulkar walking out to bat first thing in the morning.

There are many things that go into making a great team: a good opening pair, potent strike bowlers, a wicketkeeper who can bat, a captain whoinspires from behind and leads from the front. But the most importantfacet of a winning team, the one that is indispensable, is a culturalone: a burning desire to win.This Indian team, which aspires to greatness, does not have enough ofthat desire. These are not unduly unkind words for a team that wasthwarted by worthy opponents: the evidence was there to see atdifferent points during the Test.Consider the third day’s play. India made 129 runs in 60 overs betweenlunch and close of play. And in the afternoon session alone, they made59 runs in 29 overs. This from a team, mind you, that was on top inthe Test, that had only to drive home the advantage. And althoughPakistan’s bowlers, especially Abdul Razzaq and Danish Kaneria, bowledwell in that post-lunch session, it was not of such a class that theIndians couldn’t handle it. Sachin Tendulkar, who has evisceratedbetter attacks than this, batted as if Geoff Boycott and not VivRichards was his hero. Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman alldawdled, as if they had to play out time to save the Test. Indiashould have ended that day with 100 more than they did. Those runswould have made the difference.Then, consider the fifth day’s play. Pakistan began the day with theirtop six batsmen out, just 53 ahead, and you’d imagine that the gamewould be over, at the latest, by an hour into the afternoon session.Instead, Pakistan added 239 more. Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzaq battedwonderfully, but the Indians never looked like getting them out. Theydid not have a man capable of running through the tail. Or rather,they did have the men, but those men didn’t do the job.Being a fast-bowling strike bowler doesn’t just mean that you run inwith the new ball and make it swing and seam and get early wickets. Italso means that when there is no help from the conditions, you run inand bend your back and use your brain and, with the sheer fire in yourbelly, burn the opposition. Wasim Akram, the West Indian quartet, AllanDonald, they could all do that. do that? Strike thatfirst word; they do that, time and again.India once looked to Zaheer to play that role, but he blows hot, blowscold, and sometimes doesn’t blow at all. He was outstanding with thenew ball on the first morning of this game, and woeful on the lastmorning. You can’t blame a guy who gives it his all, but Zaheer didn’teven bowl accurately, and his line and length was wayward. Ditto IrfanPathan, who was far slower than his usual self. Had he picked up aninjury during the Test? Perhaps. He had done so Chennai againstAustralia as well, a few months ago, and India had struggled to getthe lower order out then as well. Such familiar themes should not bereprised, and the team management must be blamed if they are. Thesemen are capable of much more, and they did not deliver. The questionmust be asked: “Why?”Virender Sehwag, in fact, told reporters after the third day’s playthat it was team strategy to “play out time”, and to not bother aboutthe pace of run-scoring. Such a safety-first strategy befits teamsthat struggle to compete, as India did for a few decades. It isunseemly now, for a team aspiring to be top of the heap. There areplayers in this team who epitomise the attitude that the entire sideneeds to get: Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. (Kumble didn’t breakthrough either on the fifth morning, but at least he tried his hardeston a pitch that offered him little.) But the entire team must imbibethat attitude, and the change has to come from the top.If not, a change has to come the top.