Lalit Modi, the vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India,has strongly denied reports that his house and offices were raided by theincome tax department.Modi told Cricinfo that income tax officials had carried out a routinesurvey at the office of Rajasthan Cricket Association, of which Modi is thepresident, to seek “routine information about tax deducted at source (TDS)on certain payments made by the association last year”.”Contrary to what many media organisations have reported, neither my house,nor my offices were raided,” Modi said, “in fact, no-one in Mumbai was awareof the raids.”Modi said he was initiating suitable legal action against the organisationswhich had tried to spread misinformation about him.

The Indian board today launched its official ratings for international and domestic cricket, including women and juniors, but preferred to keep the prize money on offer a secret till close to the planned annual awards function in April 2007 at Mumbai.The ratings cover all segments and fall under the familiar broad categories like batting, bowling, fielding and all-round performance. Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president, said the official ratings have been introduced to reward performances which largely remain unrecognised, especially in domestic cricket.”But we are keeping details of the awards close to our chest till the last moment and the annual awards ceremony would be held at the end of the season, in April,” Modi said.The categories are as follows: Best Test and ODI batsman, bowler, fielder and allrounder; Best Test and ODI Opening Batsman, Most Consistent / Reliable ODI and Test player; Best Test and ODI Innings of the Year.The popular categories are: Test and ODI Player of the Year; My Favourite Player; Most Stylish Player and Master Blaster of the Year. Viewers’ voting categories would include Player of the Week and My Favourite Player.The ratings system is based on parameters defined by the BCCI panel that includes cricketers and statisticians. For the first time in such ratings processes the public would be able to participate by casting their votes through various TV channels, Modi said.The BCCI ratings process is being done in partnership with Percept Holdings, he added.

Graeme Smith’s right ankle showed no signs of discomfort during his innings of 73 in a warm-up match against a local team in New Delhi ahead of the Champions Trophy.This was Smith’s first match since he recovered from an ankle injury that sidelined him for two months, forcing him to miss the tour of Sri Lanka in August and the one-day series against Zimbabwe that followed.”He [Smith] was comfortable on Sunday and active in the nets on Monday,” said Gordon Templeton, South Africa’s media manager. “All the players proved their fitness and now the preparation for the tournament can start in earnest. It was a good trial run on a typical subcontinent pitch.”AB de Villiers contributed 55 and Shaun Pollock scored an unbeaten 53 as the South Africans piled up 307 for 9 against the local side. The completed a clinical performance by dismissing their opponents for 198.South Africa have a couple of warm-up games before they kick off their Champions Trophy campaign against New Zealand in Mumbai on October 16.

ECB chief executive David Collier has accused the Australians of diverting attention away from their own domestic issues after New South Wales premier Morris Iemma asked the British authorities for information on “known sporting hooligans” before the Ashes.”The Barmy Army don’t have a history of causing problems abroad,” he said. “There will always be a minority element we have got to be careful of. But the probability of large numbers of football hooligans travelling, when tickets have not been easy to get hold of, is at the lower end.”There is a little bit of deflection going on,” he added. “Clearly, the policies the ICC had to bring in were largely as a result of crowd issues in Australia, mainly Victoria, not New South Wales.”Collier also expressed alarm that so many tickets appeared to have ended up on the black market. “The problem you have to be cognisant of is that where tickets are in huge demand you will get touts or people flogging the tickets. Then it becomes less controllable as to who comes into the venue.”The Australian board is aware that spectator behaviour will be under the spotlight after last season when both the South Africans and Sri Lankans complained about abuse.

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Phil Jaques ensured his name would remain in the Australia selectors’ minds with 75 from 57 balls as New South Wales scored an easy win over Tasmania in their Ford Ranger Cup match at Bellerive Oval. The Blues reached their target of 167 with seven wickets in hand and 93 balls to spare, after the Tigers were dismissed for 166 from 41 overs.Jaques let fly right from the start, hitting 10 fours and two sixes – both of which went out of the ground and on to the practice pitches – to set up the crushing win that gave New South Wales a bonus point. It was his first half-century in the FR Cup this season but runs have not been eluding Jaques, who scored two centuries against England in tour matches in the space of a week.He scored freely in all directions until he got a thick edge to the diving Xavier Doherty at third man when he attempted to hit Brett Geeves over mid-on. Michael Clarke failed to make the most of his chance to play a lengthy innings and was caught at mid-on for 28 from 50 deliveries but Brad Haddin guided the Blues home with 42 not out.Tasmania captain Dan Marsh elected to bat after morning rain reduced the match to 43 overs per side. Wickets fell at regular intervals for the Tigers, with Michael Bevan’s 39 the highlight of a disappointing innings. Nathan Hauritz was the pick of the New South Wales bowlers, finishing with 3 for 25 from his eight overs, but all of the Blues’ fast men claimed wickets as well.The New South Wales captain Simon Katich said Jaques’ performance was no surprise. “Whatever form of the game he’s playing in he’s going to get runs,” said Katich. “Whether it’s club cricket, state cricket or when he gets the chance for Australia.”The Blues, who came into the match with one win from three games, now sit in third place on the table and Tasmania are fourth. “We knew it was a big game but we’ve got a big month coming up and we can really go up the ladder if we keep playing like this.”

Andrew Symonds has been named in Australia’s starting 11 for the third Test beginning at Perth on Thursday. Adam Voges, who was in the original 13-man squad, has been left out and Mitchell Johnson will be 12th man.Symonds, who will play his 11th Test match, has been listed to bat at No.6, with Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke each moving up one spot in the order. Ricky Ponting said there was no reason Symonds could not permanently hold down a place in the team. “I am pretty confident in him actually,” Ponting told . “I have watched him pretty closely over the last few days.”He might have thought his Test career has passed him on, but he is really excited about being back in the team again and right now he feels better about his game than he probably ever has before. We all know what a great talent he is and he hasn’t shown it at Test level yet, hopefully over the next few days we will see some of that.”Ponting said Symonds’ ability to bowl both medium pace and offspin – which he did with success for Queensland in a Pura Cup match at the WACA last month – would be vital. “He was the pick of the bowlers on a wicket that might have been pretty similar,” Ponting said.”It will give Shane [Warne] a chance to have a bit more of a rest, and probably Glenn [McGrath] at different times. We are going to need some guys to bowl a number of overs up into the wind and Symo will probably give us that.”Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Speculation is mounting that Justin Langer will join Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in making the final Ashes Test at Sydney his last for Australia. If Langer does bring the curtain down on his playing days it will end Australia’s most prolific opening partnership in Test history with Matthew Hayden.Langer, himself, has stayed away from the limelight since the Boxing Day Test finished in three days but his father, Colin, told his son wasn’t going to outstay his welcome.”He’s been privileged to play for his country for 104 Test matches,” he said. “The way he’s gone about his career has been a thrill for his family. When he and Adam Gilchrist won that Test against Pakistan in Hobart [in 1999], that gave me a thrill. But the biggest highlight for me has been the way he’s gone about his business as a cricketer.”To see the effort that’s had to be put in, the effort no one really sees. To see what he’s done to try to get fit for this series, it’s just been unbelievable, the physical effort, the time he spends with his batting coach. People don’t see all that, but we do.”John Buchanan would not be drawn on Langer’s future following the Melbourne Test, just adding how much he is valued by the team. “He’s a tremendous character to have within the team with a set of values which he’s admired for. He believes in all the traditions of the game and, really, in many ways, he’s the epitome of the baggy green cap.”Following an impressive start to the Ashes series, with 82 and an unbeaten 100 at the Gabba, Langer’s form has tailed off and he hasn’t registered another half-century. However, he and Hayden have amassed 5575 runs at an average of 51.15 as an opening partnership since first joining forces against England, at The Oval, in 2001.

The manhandling of Greg Chappell at Bhubaneshwar airport and reports of a threat to the security of the Indian players could jeopardise the future of Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium as an international venue, the Indian board (BCCI) has said.Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, feared that the stadium could be blacklisted as the ICC has strict guidelines on venues as far as security is concerned and has a zero-tolerance policy when such incidents take place.”This kind of incident should not have happened. I fear that such an incident at a venue may lead to that venue being banned under the ICC law,” Pawar told PTI. “Therefore this incident is unfortunate for Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Fortunately the Chief Minister of the state and Sports Minister, whom I spoke to, have started taking corrective action.”Chappell, the India coach, was slapped on the back by an angry fan on Monday when the team arrived in Bhubaneshwar for the second one-day international in Cuttack. The attacker, a member of a fringe political outfit in Orissa known as the Kalinga Kamgar Sena, was protesting against the non-inclusion of any Orissa player in the Indian team and was immediately arrested, while 50 others were detained. The security at the airport seemed inadequate as police struggled to control the hundreds of fans who had gathered for the team’s arrival. The BCCI requested that the security for the teams be beefed up and the police announced that the players would be given Z-Category security.This is the second time in less than a year that the future of a staging venue has been questioned. Last April, crowd trouble erupted during a one-day international between India and England at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati after the umpires abandoned the game without a ball being bowled. The police had to fire tear gas shells to break up the mob and the ICC demanded an inquiry into the incidents.

Sialkot did well on the opening day to restrict Karachi Harbour to a score of 235 for 8 at the National Stadium in Karachi. With opening bowler Kashif Raza drawing first blood and offspinner Tariq Mahmood later taking three wickets, Karachi Harbour lost their way a little after opting to bat first on a wicket that looked full of runs.The opening partnership between Khalid Latif and the in-form Wajihuddin was worth 64 in exactly two hours’ time. Wajihuddin, fresh from a half-century in either innings of the previous match against Faisalabad, was the first to go after having scored 47 off 104 balls with six fours.Latif was the next to go, after making a slow but defiant 22 off 111 deliveries with a four and a six. Naumanullah then saw his team slump to 87 for 4 with Tariq sending Aariz Kamal and the prolific Fawad Alam, for a duck, back in a matter of eight balls.Wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed lifted Karachi’s spirits through a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket with his captain Naumanullah. Sarfraz, who led the victorious Pakistan Under-19 side to victory in the World Cup in Sri Lanka last year, scored a fighting 70 off 138 balls with seven fours. Naumanullah hit a brisk 44 off 72 balls with seven boundaries.Later, only the eighth-wicket pair of Anwar Ali and Atiq Maqbool showed some resistance. Anwar was still at the crease with an unbeaten 23 to his name, having hit two fours and a six while facing 58 balls.Opener Agha Sabir made a fighting century as Karachi Urban looked good for a place in the Gold League final against Faisalabad at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex Ground No.1 in Karachi.By the close of play, Karachi Urban, currently placed second behind defending champions Sialkot in the points table, had reached an impressive total of 288 for 6. Karachi got off to a poor squad after opener Asif Zakir was bowled by Tauqeer Hussain for a duck off the first ball he faced. Saeed Bin Nasir and captain Hasan Raza both struck form after having failed miserably in the previous round match against Sialkot. Sabir and Saeed added 117 for the second wicket in just over two hours 20 minutes.Sabir’s 102 came off 174 balls with nine fours and a six. Saeed made 52 off 123 balls with seven fours and a six. Sabir added 87 for the third-wicket with Raza, who scored 41 off 86 balls with five boundaries. Asim Kamal, having recently returned from Pakistan’s tour of South Africa, failed with a score of six. Faisal Iqbal, however, made 31 not out and shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 53 with Imran Javed (23).Rain washed out the opening day of the match between Peshawar and Lahore Shalimar at Peshawar’s Arbab Niaz Stadium. Peshawar, champions twice before in 1998-99 and 2004-05, although currently placed at number five in the points table with 18 points, have an outside chance of making the Gold League final if they attain an outright win in this match with the full nine points.At the same time, they would hope that the two top sides in the ranking — Sialkot and Karachi Urban — do not add to their tally of 24 points each. With the first day lost to rain and no prospect of play on the second day either, it is a setback.Lahore Shalimar too are looking for a win here. They are at rock bottom in the table with a mere six points from their previous five matches of which they have won none. Only an outright victory over Peshawar can help them avoid demotion to next season’s Silver League circuit.

Makhaya Ntini, the South African fast bowler, is likely to miss their first match of the World Cup against Netherlands at Basseterre on Friday. He has remained in South Africa to be present for the birth of his second child while the rest of the squad traveled to the West Indies.Ntini was scheduled to arrive in St Kitts on Wednesday but Graeme Smith, the South African captain, said that he would be given time to acclimatise and get used to the conditions.”With Makhaya arriving late we’ll give him some time to find his feet,” Smith told . “We wanted him to sort out his family business first, we don’t want him worrying about his wife and daughter. We wanted his mind fully focused and we feel he will have enough time to prepare before the game against Scotland [on Tuesday].”Smith said that South Africa would play their strongest XIs against Netherlands and Scotland. “We’ve played superb cricket for the past year-and-a-half in the one-day format of the game, and we know that if we perform to our ability we have the players, the team and the passion to perform well here. Hopefully in the games against the Netherlands and Scotland the guys can spend some time in the middle. We’ll definitely be putting out our first XI for those games.”