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Mohammad Asif’s fate remains in the balance with Nadeem Akram, the PCB official handling the case, set to return home from Dubai where the fast bowler has been detained since June 1 for the possession of an illegal substance.Akram said an official from the Pakistan embassy in Abu Dhabi will handle the case and was optimistic about Asif’s release.”I am returning home tonight, but I am hopeful of an early release (for Asif),” Akram told . Though Asif’s lawyers are continuing to pursue the case, Akram said there was no word from the Dubai Attorney General or the public prosecutor’s office on whether to press charges against Asif or deport him.Asif had appeared before the chief prosecutor on June 5, where he made his statement. He had appeared before the court two days later, following which the public prosecutor’s findings were referred to the Attorney General. The PCB yesterday quashed rumours that the Pakistan government had gotten involved with the case.

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced that Gerard Elias, QC, the Chairman of the ECB’s Discipline Standing Committee, has decided that no disciplinary action will be taken against Darren Gough over his recently reported public criticism of ECB Chairman, Lord MacLaurin. He has, however, today written a private letter to Darren Gough regarding his comments.The ECB also confirmed that Mr Elias was not asked to consider any aspect ofDarren Gough’s and Andrew Flintoff’s alleged behaviour at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre prior to the Ashes tour. The ECB has not received any formal complaints in this regard, despite newspaper speculation to the contrary.

Sri Lanka, easily the best side of the Morocco Cup 2002, were given a fright by Mark Boucher and Boeta Dippenaar in a remarkable stand of 101, retrieving the situation from 91 for 6 to 192 for seven. But Sri Lanka prevailed by 27 runs, with nine balls to spare.His dislocated right shoulder all strapped up after a fall in the third over, Sanath Jayasuriya still came to receive the trophy with a wall-to-wall grin. He also walked away with Man-of-the-Match and Man-of-the-Series awards. Waqar Younis received the Man-of-the-Series for Pakistan.Sri Lanka’s confident march to the title here raises their status to co-favourites for the ICC Champions Trophy. And Pakistan must take note of this, for they play their all-important opener at Colombo against the hosts.On their way to victory, Sri Lanka too had faltered, gathering only 235 after they seemed to be coasting to a far higher total. But their bowlers made up for that lapse, by getting amongst the wickets early on. As a result, despite a courageous partnership for the seventh wicket, the South Africans were never in the hunt.The Proteas’ intentions were aggressive, but their application flawed. Promoting Lance Klusener to open the innings with Herschelle Gibbs meant that they wanted runs at a brisk rate at the start. But Sri Lanka got two wickets inside the first six overs and another in the 13th over to upset their best-laid place. There was, however, a major reverse for the Lankans as well. They lost their captain Sanath Jayasuriya through an injury, dislocated right shoulder that thudded into the ground after catching Gibbs at mid-off off Chaminda Vaas.The Sri Lankans missed Jayasuriya’s influence in the field, not to mention his left-arm slow bowling, also not visible.With Gibbs gone, Klusener tore into Palsathi Gunaratne, clouting him for four at square leg and six over mid-wicket. Marvan Atapattu, in charge as Jayasuriya was rushed to the hospital, promptly relieved Gunaratne next over, bringing on Dilhara Fernando from Cap Spartel end. He bowled what must have looked like a mouth-watering full toss to Klusener, but it dipped at the last moment, hit him on the pads and umpire Simon Taufel had no hesitation in adjudging him leg before.Vaas had another scalp in his seventh over, as Graeme Smith dragged him on to his stumps to make it three for 52. Their misery was compounded from here. Atapattu, having a great time in the field, caught Jacques Kallis (24, 36 balls, 3 fours), the most authoritative of South African batsmen, top edging a sweep off Chandana at square-leg, and followed with the run-out of Jonty Rhodes from long-on.With half the Proteas side back in the pavilion at the halfway mark, and only 89 runs on the board, the asking rate pushing close to six an over and Muralitharan not yet on, the writing was pretty much on the wall. He was given the 26th over, and immediately made it six for 91, clean bowling Nicky Boje through the gate with a straight one.Mark Boucher and Boeta Dippenaar (53 runs, 98 balls, 2 fours) turned things around in a brave stand of 101 off 112 balls, taking the Proteas within a hand shake’s distance to glory. But Dipennaar got out trying to hit Gunaratne out of the ground, with Jayawardene taking a good catch at long-off. Pollock was run-out shortly afterwards, and Telemachus was bowled by Murali. Boucher (70, 65 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) too perished, guiding Gunaratne into Sangakkara’s hands, bringing the Proteas’ late charge to a close in the penultimate over.Earlier South Africa came back to contain Sri Lanka to 235 for seven, far fewer than they would have expected when they were cruising at 119 for one in the 22nd over. Once their top two batsmen were dismissed, Sri Lamka made just 116 runs off 227 deliveries.Sanath Jayasuriya (71, off 71 deliveries, 10 fours, 1 six) had got them off to a brisk start, first with Marwan Atapattu (25, 40, 3 fours) and then Kumar Sangakkara (40, off 54 deliveries, 4 fours). With the first and second wicket adding 78 and 41 runs, they were ideally placed for an imposing total. More so as the South Africans had used seven bowlers and yet were unable to stem the flow of runs.But Jayasuriya, having scored his 50th fifty in 230 one-day-internationals, lofted a Boje full toss in the direction of long-off, straight into a running Donald’s hands at long-off. Yet again, Jayasuriya had thrown it away when he seemed destined for greater things. But his stay on the crease was still a highly productive one, and it provided the Lankan innings the impetus.Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva, the maestro who had taken 151 runs in two league games against the Proteas without being conquered, had another productive stand of 48 for the third wicket. But Kumar Sangakkara holed out to Boeta Dippenaar at deep squre leg after lofting Nicky Boje over extra cover fence. From here on the Lankans found it extremely difficult to get runs at a reasonable rate and keep the partnerships going.Aravinda de Silva was batting well, but seemed to be a touch restless. He charged down the wicket to Kallis, sent him soaring over extra cover for a six, but then offered a simple chance to Mark Boucher on a short delivery.With de Silva gone, the South African bowlers, who had seemed so helpless early on, seized the opportunity and choked the Lankans for runs. And though Donald went for 11 runs in the penultimate over, the rest was mostly a crawl, as only 37 runs came between over No 31 and 41, 42 off the last 10 overs.

Somerset Seconds have enjoyed a successful season in 2002, having won two out of their ten championship matches, to end in twelfth place in the championship table, an improvement of three places on last year. They won their opening match against Worcestershire and crushed Kent inside two days in the final game, as well as beating Gloucestershire in a three day friendly.Mark Garaway, who joined the club in November 2001 as Director of the South West Regional Academy and assistant coach in charge of the second team told me: " This has been a very enjoyable season for everyone, which is halfway towards achieving my initial objective, and because we have got a small staff at the club we have had to recruit from the Academy and from triallists."He continued: "One of the biggest compliments I had all season came from Scott Cunningham who played six games for us and scored some good runs. He said he felt very comfortable at the club because there was a good atmosphere in the dressing room, which he hadn’t found to always be the case at other clubs."Whilst Mark has been delighted with the results of the team, when he took over he didn’t expect to win too many matches because that wasn’t his main objective. "Second team cricket is a learning ground for young players and a stepping stone towards first team cricket. It’s about processing and learning, and the proof that has been Arul Suppiah who went out for Somerset Sabres up at Durham in his first game and did the business, which was very pleasing."The young players who have made up the side have given a good account of themselves. The coach continued: "Our biggest loss of the season was up at Warwickshire where both young James Hildreth and leg spinner Michael Munday played well against very experienced opposition. Faced with that situation they did let themselves down, and as a result the spin off has been the success of our Under 19’s side who won the ECB two day competition recently. The youngsters have grown up during the season and it has been fantastic for me to see them doing so well."Mark Garaway paid tribute to three of the players who have played such a major part in the teams success Graham Rose, Joe Tucker and Tom Webley. Regarding his senior player he told me: " Graham has been absolutely brilliant, and has willingly taken on the mentoring role for the younger players. It was good to see him do so well in the last game at Kent when he was returning from injury."I asked the coach to identify some of the young players who he felt had particularly impressed him this season. He told me:"Arul Suppiah is a serious talent who is desperate to play first team cricket. Michael Munday is a wholehearted leg spinner who has worked very hard on his batting and fielding this season He will shortly be spending sometime in the winter with Terry Jenner in Australia. Neil Edwards has come a long way this summer and has just been selected for the England Under 19 party for Australia. Gareth Andrew has had a good year and Michael Parsons has done well in his first year at the Academy. James Hildreth has looked very comfortable playing at Under 17 and second team level as has sixteen year old Richard Timms who scored 69 against Gloucestershire, he is very talented."The most pleasing aspect is that the sides that have been fielded by Somerset Seconds have been very young this season which is all looking very encouraging for the future of the club.

West Indies batsmen need to learn from the way the experienced Shivnarine Chanderpaul compiled his courageous century in the first Test, says their captain Ramnaresh Sarwan.Sarwan said Chanderpaul’s 18th Test hundred was one of the positives from the match and this, according to Sarwan, was something his team-mates should try to emulate.”Obviously, we’ve got a lot to take from this match. We’ve got Fidel [Edwards] bowling very well and Shiv’s hundred,” said Sarwan.Chanderpaul was floored by a painful blow on the back of the helmet by Australia fast bowler Brett Lee which left him in a daze, but got up and went on to make 118 after receiving on-the-field treatment.”I thought he showed a lot of determination and courage. It is important that we try and take a page out of his book in the way he batted and we got to continue to be positive,” Sarwan said.He was also happy with West Indies’ fielding. “It is the best I have seen us field in the longest while.”

Cricket World Cup office – Zimbabwe
e-mail [email protected]
Phone: 263-4-791289
Fax: 263-4-791282
Physical address:
Ground Floor
Bowls Pavilion
ZCU Headquarters
Harare Sports Club
Cnre 5th / Josiah Tongogara Avenue
Harare
ZimbabwePostal Address:
PO Box 2739
Harare
Zimbabwe

An unbeaten 92 from left-hander Sewnarine Chattergoon guided Guyana to a healthy 230 for four at the end of the first day of their three-day Busta Cup semi-final against Leeward Isles.In the morning, Guyana skipper Carl Hooper won the toss and elected to bat. Chattergoon and Azeemul Haniff made a steady start, adding 66 for the first wicket before Haniff was dismissed for 23.Lennox Joseph Cush and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who were the next two batsmen to follow, did not make significant contributions – Cush making 15 and Chanderpaul just 17.Then, followed, the tragic run-out of Ramnaresh Sarwan for no score; Guyana had suddenly slumped to 144 for four. But Hooper, who replaced Sarwan, was in fine touch.Combining well with Chattergoon, the skipper ensured that his side ended the day on a healthy note. When stumps were drawn, Hooper was batting on 52. Both he and Chattergoon will be hoping to carry on the good work and post mammoth scores in order to ensure their team a place in the final.

Practise and training, training and practise – that’s the recipe for Jeff Wilson over the next six months as he prepares to resume his cricketing career.Wilson retired last week from all rugby having played 60 test matches for New Zealand and 230 first-class games. He is the leading try scorer in tests for the All Blacks with 44 and touched down 151 times during his decade in the game.Now with a view to playing cricket again at the highest level, Wilson has discussed a winter training regime with State Otago Volts coach Glenn Turner and has already enjoyed an informal practise session at Otago Cricket’s high performance centre in Dunedin.Turner said working with Wilson will be an interesting exercise.”I’m looking forward to learning how rugby operates in areas of commonality and what might be useful for us to incorporate into our work,” he said, clearly referring to attitude and professionalism.Otago Cricket’s chief executive Graeme Elliott also met Wilson this week where he was able to discuss what requirements the former One-Day International player had for the winter. Elliott reinforced Otago Cricket’s delight in having a player of Wilson’s calibre again available to the association’s selectors.”Jeff is exceptionally keen to be involved,” Elliott said.”It will be a tough process for him, getting his body into cricket shape again after so long away from the game. But it’s a challenge he’s set himself and Glenn and he have already confirmed a schedule.”We’ve told Jeff we will do everything we can to ensure his return to the game is as smooth as possible and I know New Zealand Cricket feels the same way,” he said.Wilson represented New Zealand as a 19-year-old in the home one-day series against Australia in the 1992/93 season, several months before his All Black debut. He is the only one of the seven ‘double’ All Blacks to have achieved that feat while a teenager.

Sussex pace bowler Billy Taylor will miss the first two weeks of theseason after fracturing the little finger on his right hand in two places. He sustained the injury in his first training session after recovering from an ankle operation.

Although Brad Haddin was named Man of the Match after Sydney Sixers’ thrashing of Yorkshire at Newlands on Tuesday afternoon, the demolition was inspired by their gang of young quicks. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood combined to take 6 for 44 in 12 overs, with Hazlewood proving miserly in giving away just nine runs in his spell.”The beauty with the group we’ve got at the moment is they’re all so different, and if they get it right they’re definitely hard to score off in this form of the game,” Haddin said. “They all bowl well together. There are no egos with them, they’re happy to bowl when they’re asked to. We’ve got a good crop there.”Haddin was particularly effusive in his praise for the 21-year-old Hazlewood, who drew extra lift and carry off the pitch from the start of his spell to keep Yorkshire’s batsmen on the back foot. “I thought Josh was outstanding,” he said. “The big fella was very hard to play out there today, with the lengths he’s hitting.”Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale admitted that Hazlewood had adjusted very quickly to what he thought was a slightly green, spongy wicket. “Hazlewood came on and he adapted straight away, hit the pitch hard back of a length,” he said. “I thought the pitch was a bit spongy. It was quite hard to pick up the pace of the pitch early on, and he exploited that.”Haddin, on the other hand, insisted that the pitch had very little to do with his bowlers’ success. “It was a very good wicket today. These fast bowlers make the wicket look a lot different to other teams. Everything’s got to go to our bowlers, they did a very good job to put us in the position we got into today.”That position hadn’t looked too healthy when Starc’s radar went awry and he leaked 13 runs from his first over. Yorkshire will have seen a lot of Starc, who was their overseas player this season, and Gale suggested he would have been a welcome addition to their squad for this tournament.”His first over went for 13 and I thought we were going to take him down,” Gale said. “He’s a great lad, a great talent and he should’ve been at the top of his run bowling for us today, not them.”Gale also tipped Starc, who made his Test debut against New Zealand at the Gabba last December but has only nailed down a permanent spot in Australia’s limited-overs sides, for major honours in the future. “He’s one to look out for in the future. It wouldn’t surprise me if he goes all the way to be a world No.1 bowler in the short and the long formats of the game.”Hazlewood played a solitary ODI aged just 19, while Starc and Cummins have shared the new ball for Australia in a handful of Twenty20 Internationals. They’re all tall and quick, but ply their trade in subtly different ways and could well form the backbone of a potent Test attack in years to come. That is, if they’re all fit at the same time.”It’s very exciting,” Hazlewood said. “We had a little joke about it, that we’re all fit at the same time. It hadn’t happened yet, but it’s good now that we’re all together and we’re all fit and firing. This is only the second game I’ve played with Cummo [Cummins]. With all three of us in the same team, it was pretty good fun.”Haddin was quick to draw the focus from potential future Test pairings to the task at hand in this tournament. He was happy enough that the order had not come from Cricket Australia to rest any of his young quicks or, even worse, to get on a plane back to Australia as Shane Watson has been told to do.”I hadn’t even thought about that. We might have to turn our phones off,” Haddin joked. “I think we’d know by now. But I’m not resting the quicks. They can rest tomorrow.”It’s obviously a very good attack, and they all complement each other very well. What we’ve got to remember with these guys is that they’re still very young, and they’ve got a lot of cricket left in them. At the moment, they just want to learn. They want to keep getting better. These guys are challenging each other at training, and trying to get better and better.”