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New Zealand Cricket will be $US 500,000 better off after some of the money withheld by the International Cricket Council pending a claim by Global Cricket Corporation was made available today.The welcome news came from the meeting in Monaco yesterday of the ICC’s commercial arm.New Zealand orginally had $US 2.5 million withheld from its tournament payout for not playing their pool game in Kenya due to security fears.England, who refused to play in Zimbabwe had $US 3.5 million withheld and it will get $US 1.5 million back.Sri Lanka which had half a million United States dollars withheld will get all its money back.The return of cash followed an assessment and what the ICC called “an informed judgment” that the maximum claims against the three countries would not exceed the amounts withheld.India was in a different position, however, and no monies were returned to it.The ICC president, Ehsan Mani, said the specific nature of the issues relating to England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka allowed this decision to be made.”The nature of the claims allowed us to return money to three of our Boards,” he said.”In relation to the Indian Board, it is not possible at this stage to assess the likely maximum claims and all countries made the prudent financial decision to continue to withhold the Indian Board’s World Cup distribution at this stage.”

Northerns Cricket Union have announced that Gerald Dros has again been appointed as the Titan’s Captain for the forthcoming 2001/2002 cricket season.Gerald, in his first full season as Captain last year, made great strides with a young team and managed to pull off numerous very encouraging results. From a personal point of view, Gerald was able to average above forty in all forms of the game with the bat, and below thirty with the ball in hand – which according to Dave Nosworthy, the Titan’s Coach, “Is a brilliant performance from a captain who has led from the front and instilled a winning attitude amongst his troops!The reappointment of “Drossie” is in line with our policy of continuity and there is no doubt in my mind that he will again fulfill an important role within the team’s objectives and goals.”

Easterns allowed what should have been a comfortable victory over Border intheir first Standard Bank Cup match of the campaign to turn into somethingof a sweat before eventually triumphing by 15 runs.The Border last-wicket pair of Dumisa Makalima and Geoff Love managed to add42 before paceman Andre Nel wrapped up proceedings by bowling Makalima, whohad made 21 off just 29 balls, with the first ball of the 44th over.That gave Nel an analysis of three for 35 and made him, along with AlbieMorkel, who took three for 27 after coming on first change, the mainarchitect of his team’s success from a bowling point of view.Ironically, though, the Easterns attack, including Nel and Morkel, werepartly responsible themselves for Border getting so close to their victorytarget of 190, as they managed to send down 14 wides and five no-balls, oneof the latter for what umpire Mike Gajjar, standing at square leg, ruled a”chuck” by medium-pacer Pierre de Bruyn.Easterns also gave away eight byes in an extras tally of 32, which was 25more than Border had allowed them as they compiled their total of 189 forsix.Border lost too many early wickets to be in with a serious chance ofvictory, with the first six batsmen falling for just 72 to the pace trio ofMorkel, Nel and Kenny Benjamin, before offspinner Derek Crookes, who wouldlater be named man of the match, chipped in with two wickets later on.When Makalima and Love came together at 132 for nine, 58 runs were stillrequired and their task seemed impossible, but with three overs left, therequired number of runs had been reduced to just 21. Five were scored in the43rd over, bowled by left-armer Mike Rindel, leaving them 16 to make off thelast two overs. But the fiery Nel, who had thrown the ball down infrustration at the end of his previous over after a driving Makalima was putdown by substitute fielder Anthony Pollock, steamed in and spreadeagled hisstumps with the next delivery to dismiss Border for 174.Easterns, whose skipper, Deon Jordaan, had won the toss and elected to bat,found themselves in trouble at 65 for four in the 16th over, withwicketkeeper Ian Mitchell having claimed two catches, off opening bowlersVasbert Drakes and Piet Botha, and two stumpings off the bowling ofoffspinner Love.But Jordaan helped redeem his own decision as he and allrounder Crookes setabout fashioning a partnership of 112 for the fifth wicket. Itwas slow but steady as both batsmen reached half-centuries to give the homeside a defendable total. Jordaan eventually perished for 72, bowledby Tyron Henderson, but Crookes stuck around until the end for an unbeaten58.Love was the pick of the visiting bowlers, claiming two for 29 in his nineovers, while Drakes, Botha and Henderson each managed to collect one scalp.

West Indies captain Daren Ganga admitted that his team’s poor batting in the first innings and woeful fielding through the game had influenced the outcome of the third Test at Old Trafford.Talking to journalists a day ahead of the final Test at Chester-le Street, Ganga indicated that the team’s fielding needed to drastically improve. He said, “With the introduction of our new fielding coach – Julien Fountain – we have been working very hard as a team to improve but improvement will not happen overnight. It is something that we will continue working at and hopefully you will see a drastic improvement in this Test match.”On Darren Sammy’s injury, Ganga said that an assessment would be made regarding his fitness for the Test. With the weather expected to disrupt the proceedings of the match, Ganga said such matters were out of their control. “We have the Headingley experience behind us so we are aware of what the English players can do in English conditions.”Ganga emphasised that the team needed to cut down on errors. “We are trying to limit the amount of mistakes that we are making over and over again. We’re not accustomed to playing in seven degrees and the swinging ball in the Caribbean. It is important that we feed off one another; a lot of talk has been going around our dressing-room with regards to adapting and dealing with situations like this.”On whether Daren Powell would figure in the team, Ganga said, “Before the last Test match it was really tough leaving Daren Powell out. He was one of our better bowlers over the past year. Strong consideration will be given to him and the other bowlers.”Stating that the injured Ravi Rampaul would not be considered, Ganga said, “We lacked a bit of penetration in terms of getting 20 wickets. We were able to do that at Old Trafford, we actually created a lot more than 20 chances but we weren’t able to hold on to all. It might be a four-day Test match [with weather likely to affect the game] but we don’t know and these are things we have to factor in.”

A high voltage behind-the-scenes drama was sparked off in the Indian dressing-room by Rahul Dravid’s abrupt declaration in the Multan Test which left Sachin Tendulkar stranded only six runs short of a double century, the then coach John Wright has revealed.Tendulkar, batting on 194 in the first Test against Pakistan, left no one in doubt that “he felt let down”, Wright said in his just-published book , disclosing for the first time the tense moments the Indian camp went through although publicly every effort had been made at that time to play down the controversy.Acknowledging that the team managament had a “hot potato on our hands”, Wright said he spent a sleepless night whereas captain Sourav Ganguly, who missed the Test because of an injury, was worried that the issue would snowball and end up dividing the team. Wright says no one could be blamed in particular for the situation which could have been avoided had he himself been able to convince Dravid to declare earlier.”Midway through the final session, Dravid declared, as you do when you’re 675 for 5. What Indian captains don’t tend to do, however, is declare when Sachin Tendulkar is on 194 not out. The matter became a full-fledged sensation when Tendulkar told a press conference he was disappointed not to get his double century.”Wright said had he been the captain, he would have declared a lot earlier, allowing Pakistan to face about 25 overs and with Tendulkar on about 170. But the former New Zealand captain also pointed out that Tendulkar needed to “move on” after tea when things got slow. “Dravid wanted less time in the field, but got caught a bit betwixt and between. At tea he told the batsmen he wanted 15 or 16 overs at the Pakistanis, and after tea a couple of messages went out. As I sat there watching the innings grind on, it crossed my mind that Tendulkar needed to get a move on,” Wright continued. “A final message went out saying they had one more over. Then Yuvraj got run out going for a quick single and Dravid called them in.”Wright felt there was fault all round. “I should have convinced Dravid to declare earlier and he should have grasped that it’s one thing to declare when a batsman’s 170 or 180, quite another when he’s 194. And Tendulkar should have pushed to get there quicker.” Once Tendulkar publicly expressed his disappointment, Wright knew they had a “hot potato on our hands”.”I talked to Dravid, who agreed that he had to have a chat with Tendulkar before things got out of hand. That combination of steeliness and serenity, so evident in Dravid’s batting, is the mark of the man: nothing fazes him. He’s a mature and intelligent individual; all the hype and fuss goes over his head because he can stand back and put the issue in perspective.”Tendulkar, Wright felt, “felt let down”. “He’d been playing for India since he was 16; he’d stood up for his country in bad times and tough conditions, and often been the only man to do so. Having given so much for the team, over such a long period, he probably thought this was one time the team could give something back to him. Even the greatest have their goals and dreams and milestones, and a double century against Pakistan in Pakistan would have been a memory to treasure. After a sleepless night, I spoke to Tendulkar who confirmed that he’d wanted the team to cut him some slack. Then he and Dravid talked it through and resolved the matter.”

Ashley Giles has insisted that the England team would have been “strung up” if they had lost the second Ashes Test at Edgbaston. England tied the five-match series at one apiece despite a last-wicket stand on the fourth day that took Australia to within three runs of victory.Giles said England would have taken plenty of flak had they lost after reducing Australia to 175 for 8 on the third day, still needing 107 to win. “We’d have been strung up if Australia had won so we’re just happy it ended this way,” he wrote in his diary on the ECB website. “It’s fine lines because we were three runs away from being sent to the moon again as well.”Giles, after a wicketless first Test, bounced back with five wickets at Edgbaston, and was looking forward to the third Test at Old Trafford, which starts on Thursday. “It was nice to get a few wickets again, I thought I bowled all right and got a few runs in the first innings,” he wrote. “I did what I can do in many ways and in recent times that’s how I’ve had my success, by chipping in with wickets and a few runs. That’s what I’m about and I hope I showed that in this game.”Giles had been under tremendous pressure following his performance at Lord’s and acknowledged the backing he received from his family. “I’ve had a tremendous amount of support from my wife Stine and the family and it was nice that they could be there, he wrote. “It’s great because the stuff that goes around hurts them as much as it hurts me so I owe a lot to them.”

Ian Healy, the former Australian wicketkeeper, has claimed that banning Muttiah Muralitharan from bowling his doosra does not go far enough – his entire bowling action should be re-examined.Healy was disappointed that biomechanical experts at the University of Western Australia focused only on Murali’s mystical doosra when they hooked him up to their computers. “It’s a bit of a shame,” said Healy. “The public wants to know how the rest of his action stands up. Let’s get the whole thing analysed. If I was Murali, I would want that.”Healy, who was in Zimbabwe commentating on last week’s first Test against Sri Lanka, also called for any testing of Murali to be conducted in a match situation instead of a laboratory. “It should all be done from live action in the pressure of a game,” he told The Australian newspaper.Meanwhile Bruce Elliott, the Perth-based biomechanist who investigated Murali’s doosra, said that Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar and various other front-line bowlers also routinely breached the ICC’s new five-degree arm-extension rule.”You look at Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee and they have hyperextension in the joints, which is a special occurrence,” said Elliott. “I guarantee Shoaib extends more than ten degrees on some deliveries because of it, and Brett could well too.”But Elliott said the law, not Shoaib or Lee, should be tinkered with. He said the five-degree rule should be trebled to accommodate bowlers with their physical characteristics.The recently sacked Zimbabwe captain, Heath Streak, said that the ICC, havingjudged Murali’s doosra to be illegal, should now strip him of all Test wickets he has taken with the ball, which is bowled with an offbreak action but spins like a whopping legbreak. But the Wisden editor Matthew Engel disagreed. He told the Melbourne Age newspaper: “Chuckers have been part of the game since overarm bowling began. Only when a bowler is no-balled, then it is considered illegal. You can’t retrospectively change the records, going through each dismissal to see if it was taken with the doosra.”Australian players reacted sympathetically to Murali’s latest setback. Adam Gilchrist, who has previously landed himself in hot water for pontificating on Murali’s action, said: “I think he is a great exponent of what he does. I think he is talented enough and resilient enough to redefine the delivery or develop something else.”Ricky Ponting suggested Murali’s action had grown more ragged of late. “It might have got worse over the last couple of months. He certainly hasn’t taken all his wickets with that delivery.”Bishan Bedi, the former Indian spinner, has always been very vocal in his views regarding Murali. He told the Indian Express, “I have never seen Murali bowl. Bowling is an art. Chucking is not. And why just the ‘doosra’, even his ‘pehla’ [the offspinner] is not genuine.”Bedi also felt that the methods used to test Murali’s bowling action were ineffective. “Why are they [ICC] resorting to geometrical methods to assess bowling actions of cricketers. The field umpires must decide with their human eyes. You can’t decide things with the help of protractors.”

Organisers of the Bank Alfalah Cup have decided to play all the remainingmatches of tournament at Dambulla after heavy monsoon rain in Colombo.The last four games were scheduled to be played in Colombo, but prospects ofplay were remote considering the current cyclonic weather pattern.The dates of the matches have been changed as well, with the fourth, fifthand sixth games to be played on May 18, 19 and 20. The final, which was tohave been played under lights, will now be a day match.May 18 ­ Sri Lanka v Pakistan
May 19 ­ New Zealand v Sri Lanka
May 20 ­ Pakistan v New Zealand
May 23 ­ The final

Just minutes after leaving the field at Taunton, unbeaten after scoring his maiden century, Somerset opening batsman Matthew Wood told me, “I’m very happy to have scored my first century. It was a good wicket out there, and I felt comfortable after we had seen off the new ball.”What was it like batting with Jamie Cox I asked. Matthew told me, “Coxy was great to bat with. He was a great help to me. He carried me through and kept me going.”The twenty year old from Exmouth told me, “It was nice to get a ton against Northants, particularly after getting 90 odd up there earlier in the season.”What did he plan to do during the winter I asked. “I plan to go to Perth for some of the time, and will also go back to Exeter University to do another semester for my degree course.”

Umar Akmal has been left out of Pakistan’s T20 squad for the series against England in the UAE after being handed a show-cause notice for “bringing the PCB and Pakistan Cricket into disrepute.”

Pakistan T20 squad

In: Rafatullah Mohmand, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali
Out Mukhtar Ahmed, Umar Akmal
Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Rafatullah Mohmand, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Imad Wasim (Subject to fitness, otherwise Bilal Asif), Imran Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Aamer Yamin

It is understood that Akmal attended a party in Hyderabad without the requisite permission during the current Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match between Hyderabad and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.Chief selector Haroon Rashid said: “Umar Akmal had been pencilled in for selection, but he has subsequently been dropped on instructions from the Board, as he has been issued with a show cause notice for bringing PCB and Pakistan Cricket into disrepute.”The selectors have also handed a call-up to uncapped 39-year-old Rafatullah Mohmand who is in contention to open the batting. In 2009, Rafatullah was part of the world-record second-wicket stand in first-class cricket when he added 580 with Aamer Sajjad for Water and Power Development Authority.Imad Wasim’s position in the T20 squad is subject to fitness and if he is not available allrounder Bilal Asif will take his place.Meanwhile, Iftikhar Ahmed has been called into the ODI squad to fill the space created by Younis Khan’s retirement following the first match of the series in Abu Dhabi.”Having experience of playing first class cricket for many years, with his form, sound technique and fitness, and also given his fielding credentials, Rafatullah Mohmand has been afforded an opportunity as he was considered to have potential to feature in an international T20 competition as an opener,” Rashid said.”Iftikhar has filled in the spot vacated by Younis Khan in ODIs; it was considered that he also be tried in the T20 format on the back of his performance on the domestic T20 circuit.”