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Mohammad Azharuddin’s presence at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium as anaccredited media representative of Aaj Tak, an Indian news channel, has raisedeyebrows in media circles. Azharuddin is serving a life ban from theBoard of Control for Cricket in India for his alleged involvement withbookmakers in fixing matches.Azharuddin was spotted sitting in the grandstand just in front of themedia box, using his mobile phone to file updates.G Krishnan, the executive director of the TV Today network, confirmed that Azharuddin was doing work for Aaj Tak, and said, “His involvement in match-fixing is alleged. What has the fact that someone is alleged to have done something got to do with his commenting on a cricket match? He is not playing. Just being accused of something does not mean much. People are ministers in this country while they are accused of greater crimes. The point is they are not convicted. You have to be reasonable to everybody. Till you find someone guilty he is innocent.”Asked whether the fact that Azharuddin was banned for life made a difference, Krishnan replied, “The ban is another thing. The personresponsible for the school that burned down in Tamil Nadu yesterday was removed from his position. Does that mean he was responsible for the fire? I don’t think I or anyone else has a right to make a judgment on a person till the courts make a decision.”According to Ray Illangakoon, Sri Lanka’s media manager, “Sri Lanka Cricket has no problem giving Mr Azharuddin accreditation as a media journalist as he has not been banned by the ICC.”The ICC, meanwhile, made it clear that it would not stop any cricketerfrom working in the media as a reporter, columnist or commentator. “Weregulate accreditation for ICC tournaments and ensure anyone connectedor found suspicious of corruption isn’t allowed access to restrictedarea,” Jon Long, an ICC spokesman, was quoted as saying in an Associated Press report. “But the ICC doesn’t necessarily approve accreditation at all matches.”Wasim Akram, who was fined 300,000 Pakistan rupees and censured for his alleged involvement in match-fixing, is also in Sri Lanka commentating on the series for ESPN-Star Sports, and has been working in the media for some time now. He has always denied any involvement in match-fixing.

Mis-Teeq, will entertain spectators on the opening day of the competition, Friday 13 June, at the Hampshire v Sussex match at the Rose Bowl. They will be supported by D’Side and United Colours of Sound. A capacity 9,000 sell-out is anticipated for the match, which will be televised live by Sky Sports.Tickets for the opening game at the Rose Bowl can be bought from today by telephoning:0870 243 0291.Ticket prices are £15 for adults and £10 for under sixteens.

Band informationMis-Teeq – made up of three girls Alesha 23, Sabrina 23 and Su – Elise 20 -are a UK garage / R’n’B band who have had four top ten singles to date.Their debut album Eye Candy, reached number five in the album charts earlier this month. The band won the ‘Best Artist’ award at last year’s UK GarageAwards.D’Side – are already following in the footsteps of two other famous Irishfive-piece boybands (Westlife and Boyzone) by launching their career bywinning ‘Best New Act’ at the Smash Hits Awards. Their debut song,’Speachless’, went into the top 10 last Sunday.





Twenty20 Cup – Background informationThe Twenty20 Cup, the first brand new competition for county cricket since 1973, replaces the old Benson and Hedges Cup. It is cricket on fast-forward- 20 overs-a-side bouts contested over just two hours 45 mins and staged during the longest summer evenings in June. (Opening matches are on Friday 13 June).Games start at 5.30pm, the action is conveniently timed for the post-school and office audiences.The 18 First Class Counties are split into three regional groups of six teams each, with the three group winners and the best runner-up progressing to a Finals Day at Trent Bridge on Saturday 19 July. Aside from the on-pitch action, off-the-field entertainment will include live bands, replay screens, BBQ zones and karaoke machines, with musical instruments and fancy dress codes encouraged to help create the perfect evening out.A new prize money structure will be implemented to encourage both team victories and individual performances. The Twenty20 champions will receive£42,000, the runners-up will get £21,000 and the losing-semi-finalists £10,000. Extra incentives will also be made to the best performing individuals with cash prizes of up to £1,500 going to the best performing batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders.npower is the first official partner of the Twenty20 Cup. More officialpartners are anticipated.Match details and ticket information can be found atwww.ecb.co.uk/twenty20

It was a fairytale ending for the team that traveled the longest distance to play the MRF Buchi Babu Trophy 2001.Matthew Bell led the New Zealand ‘A’ team to triumph on Thursday the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Although unable to win the three-day match outright, the New Zealand ‘A’ team were crowned champions by virtue of a first innings lead. Having amassed 486/7, declared the Kiwis dismissed the Cricket Association of Bengal XI for a mere 214.It was a display of all-round strength that the tournament organisers would be proud of. With the bat there were strong performances from Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent and Hamish Marshall who all made centuries. With the ball it was big man Jacob Oram who triggered the CAB XI demise, scalping three top-order wickets. On the final day, however, it was leg-spinner Brooke Walker, who stole the show, picking four wickets in just 7.5 overs.CAB XI began the day on a disastrous 74/5. There was really nothing they could do to prevent a New Zealand victory. Sanjeev Sanyal (73 runs, 110 mins, 77 balls, 13 fours) delayed the inevitable, but could do nothing to boost the morale of his team. When Walker claimed the wicket of SS Paul with the CAB XI score on 214, it was all over.The New Zealand ‘A’ side got some more batting practice in, notching up 90/3 in 31 overs. Having not enforced the follow on, Matthew Horne (46 not out) managed to spend some time out in the middle.

Imran Tahir has joined Nottinghamshire until the end of the season, replacing Ben Hilfenhaus as the club’s main overseas player. Hilfenhaus returned to Australia last month after suffering a hip injury.Nottinghamshire will be Tahir’s fifth county, having previously played for Hampshire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire and Middlesex. He is expected to make his debut in the Royal London Cup fixture against Essex on Sunday and will be available to play in the Championship as well, either side of his South Africa commitments.”Imran is experienced, he’s played lots of cricket in England and we know how effective international-class spinners can be during the business end of a county season,” Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, Mick Newell, said. “We were always open to replacing Ben with a spinner, Imran was available and looks a good option for us.”We’ve started to play on some increasingly dry pitches this season, surfaces on which an extra spin option might help us win some matches. With the signing of Imran, we’ll have that in most of our matches between now and the end of the season.”Tahir is an experienced campaigner in county cricket, having taken almost 200 wickets across all formats for Hampshire, who he last represented at the back end of the 2014 season. He has also represented South Africa in Test, ODI and T20 cricket and was a member of the team that got to the World Cup semi-final earlier this year.”We see him as someone who can have success for us in both red and white ball cricket,” Newell said. “A world class legspinner is a valuable commodity to any side in any form of the game, particularly one of Imran’s quality and experience.”We’ve built some momentum with the cricket we have played in recent weeks. Hopefully this addition will help us maintain that through to the end of the season.”Nottinghamshire were joint bottom of the Championship at the end of June but have risen to mid-table after two wins from their last three games. They missed out on a T20 quarter-final after a rain abandonment in their final match but have started well in the Royal London Cup, with two wins and a no result so far.Dan Christian, who signed as Nottinghamshire’s second overseas player for the NatWest T20 Blast, has been filling in for Hilfenhaus during the Royal London Cup and will continue to be available when Tahir is on international duty. South Africa play New Zealand in two T20s and three ODIs between August 14 and 26, which Tahir is expected to be involved in.

ScorecardNazmul Hossain Shanto and Saif Hassan took Bangladesh Under-19s to victory•BCB

The Bangladesh spinners gobbled up eight wickets to bowl West Indies out for 114 and secure an eight-wicket win in the first Youth ODI in Mirpur.Left-arm spinner Saleh Ahmed Shawon took four wickets while offspinners Sanjit Saha and Saeed Sarkar took two each as West Indies were knocked over in 39.2 overs. Opener Gidron Pope made 31 off 41 balls with two fours and three sixes and Emmanuel Stewart added 30 off 66 balls, but seven of their team-mates fell for single-digits.West Indies’ hopes flickered to life when Bangladesh opener Pinak Ghosh fell in the second over to Obaid McCoy but Saif Hassan and Nazmul Hossain Shanto added 70 runs together in an unbroken third wicket stand and finished the game off in the 21st over. Saif made an unbeaten 39 off 68 balls with five fours and a six while Shanto’s 41 not out came off just 36 balls with six fours and a six.

Incoming South African selection convenor Joubert Strydom said that Jacques Kallis’s omission from the hosts’ Twenty20 World Championship squad was done in the light of the country’s “nightmare” schedule in the next 18 months.South Africa go to Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, England and Australia in the next 18 months and Strydom said: “Jacques is a crucial part of our Test and one-day plans and we don’t want to sacrifice him in the Twenty20 format”.Kallis, who has scored at better than a run-a-ball in his half-dozen Twenty20 appearances at domestic and international level, is a relatively slow starter at the crease and found himself in the middle of a storm over his perceived slow scoring during the World Cup.In 20-over cricket, Kallis would probably be best suited to moving up to the top of the order, but Strydom said South Africa had several other options for those positions and, although the allrounder’s bowling skills would be missed, it was not worth risking him in the competition.”Once we decided to rest Jacques, there was no debate about how heavily we rely on him as a bowler or whether he could bat up front ahead of quite a few guys competing for places there.”Strydom also explained the absence of any recognised death bowlers in the South African squad.”In 20-over cricket, if you’re bowling in the same area all the time, even the blockhole, it becomes very easy for the batsman. He knows which length to expect and he can line you up”We will be experimenting a bit. We will be using guys who take the pace off the ball, like Graeme Smith or JP Duminy, while also trying a guy like Morne Morkel for the death-type bowling. Because he is so tall, he bowls a different length to most bowlers and he is able to push the batsman back.”In limited-overs cricket now, you see guys like Shaun Tait and Lasith Malinga being effective when they bowl a bit shorter. A lack of bounce or excessive bounce is effective.”If you’re going to be aiming for the blockhole, then it has to be with pace and reverse-swing.”

Gary Brent, Zimbabwe’s medium-fast bowler, completes his international comeback by replacing Terry Duffin in Zimbabwe’s Champions Trophy squad in India.Duffin, who has missed Zimbabwe’s first two matches against the West Indies and Sri Lanka due to illness, has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament.Brent, 30, is flying to India on Wednesday to join up with his new team-mates in time for Zimbabwe’s final preliminary match with Bangladesh on Friday. He was part of the 15 rebel white players whose dispute with Zimbabwe Cricket led to the premature ending to their international careers.Brent, however, recently made himself available again and went on to sign a central contacta fortnight ago. He hit a timely century in club cricket for Harare Sports Club against Takashinga on Sunday.

Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand left-arm spinner, feels that it won’t be too long before young spinners start exploiting the International Cricket Council’s revised throwing law.Currently in Melbourne preparing for the Super Series one-dayers against Australia, Vettori said he firmly believed young spinners should start exploring the more relaxed ruling, which allows bowlers to bend their arms upto 15 degrees at the point of delivery without fear of being no-balled.The new law was adopted this year in an attempt to defuse the row over illegal actions, and particularly the controversy surrounding Muttiah Muralitharan, the legendary Sri Lankan spinner. Vettori said he supports the stance of the New Zealand Cricket Academy, which encourages young spin bowlers with unusual actions to explore their capabilities, rather than stick to traditional methods. Dayle Hadlee, the former New Zealand fast bowler who is currently a coach with the academy, said that NZC had performed something of an about-face on the question of borderline actions: “We’d see nothing wrong with one of our bowlers employing a doosra, as long as his action was within the legal framework. In fact, we’d encourage it.””I can’t see why a young guy coming through the academy who’s showing that sort of ability shouldn’t be encouraged to use it for every advantage he can,” Vettori told . “I can’t see it becoming a mass development within New Zealand because it’s rare enough to find someone who’s spinning it with their wrist, let alone someone who can also handle a doosra. But I think it will happen; it’s only a matter of time.”There’s been a bit of a stigma about it because it’s never been the done thing, but there are bowlers popping up all over the world doing it now, and the 15-degree law will only encourage more to try. I just think that if it’s within the laws and guidelines set down, then you’re almost obliged to tap into it, if only to keep pace with the rest of the world,” said Vettori.Vettori added that the doosra – the offspinner’s delivery that leaves the right-handed batsmen – was a very difficult ball to execute and landing it with any degree of accuracy required tremendous practice. “I’ve practiced it and can get it out occasionally,” he added, “but I find it comes back and influences everything else I do; it sort of has a domino effect on my action and rhythm and becomes counter-productive. So, having gone through the entire phase of working at it and practicing until I can bowl it, I’ve decided to shelve it and concentrate on what I know I can do well.”

The ICC is planning to test stump-microphone technology and conduct research into slow bowling during the Champions Trophy in England this September.Speaking at the tournament’s official launch in London today, Dave Richardson – the former South African wicketkeeper who is now the ICC’s general manager – outlined the plans. "For the second ICC Champions Trophy in succession we hope to be trialling various technological innovations to see if they help umpires in the decision-making process," he explained. "We are hoping to use the 2004 tournament to build on our testing into the use of stump-microphone earpieces that began in South Africa last year."The plan is for umpires to wear an earpiece that picks up the audio from the stump microphone as the ball passes the batsman. The trial will enable us to assess whether the microphone’s position closer to the action area will provide audible assistance in instances of thin nicks. This may also enable us to trial the deferment of no-ball decisions to the TV umpire to assess the impact this has on the on-field umpires as the microphones will offer two-way communication."Richardson continued: "Performance statistics over the last 12 months show that the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC umpires are operating at a correct decision rate around 92%, which compares to 94% in Major League Baseball. We are of the opinion that cricket is a more difficult game to umpire than baseball so if we want our umpires to attain a higher percentage of correct decisions we may need to take one of their usual responsibilities out of their domain. It should be stressed however that the no-ball element of the trial is contingent on the outcome of preliminary trials before the tournament."In the light of the recent controversy over Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action, the Champions Trophy will also be used to conduct research into the levels of tolerance needed by spin bowlers in the delivery action."This research is part of the ICC’s ongoing commitment to deal with the issue of suspected illegal bowling actions, and will be carried out by the human-movement specialist Dr Paul Hurrion," said Richardson. "The ICC’s view on technology in international cricket is that it will only be used in decision-making if it can provide conclusive answers, is practically feasible to introduce for all international cricket, will not have the effect of changing the essence of the way the game is played, and will not compromise the role of the onfield umpires."Both the stump-mike and spin-bowling initiatives have to be approved by the ICC’s chief executives committee, which meets in London in June.

Second Test, Day 4Nasser Hussain would sympathise. Against this Aussie vintage, it is tough enough to rack your brains for a Plan A, let alone cobble together a Plan B when the injuries and premature retirements start to kick in. And sure enough, by the end of yet another day of effortless Australian dominance, which began with a barely noticed century for Matthew Hayden, and finished with Stuart MacGill ripping the ball like a strongman’s telephone directory, West Indies were 300 runs and a million miles from salvaging the match.And yet, where Brian Lara remains, so too does hope. His heroics in 1998-99 have dominated the West Indian psyche in this series as surely as Ian Botham dominated England’s, post-1981. And then as now, the impact has been largely negative – success, it seems, is 99% inspiration, and 1% perspiration. Against Steve Waugh’s Australians, however, that attitude might be disturbingly close to the truth.West Indies have had two recent and contrasting precedents to guide them in this match, and both involve England. The first was at Brisbane last November, when in the face of an injury crisis, Hussain bullishly picked a team with five bowlers and six batsmen, only to fall immediately onto the defensive by choosing to bowl first on a belter. The second came eighteen months earlier at Headingley, when Adam Gilchrist, desperate to avoid a draw, got a little too cute with his declaration after England had been battered into submission for four days, and an enigmatic, stroke-playing lefthander (for Lara, read Mark Butcher) did the rest.That first lesson has already been taken to heart. With at least four first-choice players missing, there was nothing remotely bullish about the West Indian selection for this match – even Bangladesh would have been hard-pressed to be less attacking in the field. Three seamers, Dave Bernard’s 75mph peashooters and a host of ropey spinners managed three legitimate wickets in 200 overs, and owed the other four to umpire Asoka de Silva, who pulled off three dodgy lbws, as well as hoodwinking Ricky Ponting into a stumping by gazing towards the fine-leg boundary when the ball had nestled in the keeper’s gloves.As for the second lesson, well, only time – and MacGill’s duel with Lara – will tell. But suddenly, against a side that fears the draw as irrationally as an elephant fears a mouse, a method is beginning to emerge from the madness. If (with a microscopic `i’) Lara, Sarwan, Samuels, Bernard, Baugh and Drakes pull off the impossible, it would represent the greatest heist in the history of Test cricket, but by farting in the face of convention and ignoring all need for wickets, West Indies have somehow equipped themselves with the right tools for the job.MacGill’s first four overs this evening suggest that surviving until lunch will be a feat in itself, but MacGill is no Warne, and Lara’s only true nemesis, Glenn McGrath, is also missing from this match. In fact Australia are so undermanned in this series that they have even resorted to five bowlers for the first time since their run of invincibility began. Of course, that’s hardly an admission of weakness when Waugh himself is not required to bat, but it is nevertheless a clear break with recent tradition.Under Waugh’s bloodyminded leadership, and with John Buchanan’s mind-expanding presence lurking in the background, convention has long since flown out of the Australian window, and it has taken a recordbreaking run of defeats for the rest of the world to take the plunge as well. It may be clutching at straws to suggest that West Indies have a hope of winning this match, but that has been said of just about every defeat inflicted on Australia in the last four years, from Bridgetown and Kingston via Kolkata and Headingley. In overcoming these titans, defence may yet prove to be the best form of attack.