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Dilip Vengsarkar, the BCCI’s former chairman of selectors, has said he will respond to Sourav Ganguly’s criticism of his selection committee at the end of India’s series against Australia and give him “more than what he asked for”.”I won’t answer him now as this is not the right time because India are in the middle of a Test series [against Australia] and it might affect the focus of the team,” Vengsarkar told .Ganguly had criticised the selectors saying if the new selection committee had been in place three years ago, today his situation would be different. “If there is a gun to your head all the time, how long can you bear this?” Ganguly told a Bengali daily. “I was tired of being humiliated again and again. I don’t want to play cricket at the mercy of others.”Ganguly was dropped from the Indian squad in 2006 for the home series against England and the tour of West Indies but made his comeback during Vengsarkar’s tenure that December on the South Africa tour. Ganguly said what hurt him more than being overlooked for India was the exclusion from the Irani Cup last month.Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain, said Ganguly’s outburst was understandable but untimely.

Zaheer Abbas, the former Pakistan captain, has requested the PCB and the government not to hold any matches at night in the country in light of the current security situation. Abbas offered his suggestion at a meeting of the sports ministry held at the weekend, and his comments follow the postponement of the Champions Trophy, which was to be held this month, after several teams pulled out over security fears.Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, to be held from October 4-8 in Lahore, will feature night matches. “Well, my views are simple and I have told the meeting night cricket these days is not advisable because of the security problem,” Zaheer told . “My viewpoint is that in the prevailing circumstances, God forbid something happens in these night matches, it will lead to a lot of chaos, which would be bad for Pakistan cricket as teams are already not willing to come to here.”In March, Australia had earlier postponed their tour of Pakistan to 2009 over security concerns. They are currently touring India for a four-Test series but bomb attacks in some of the cities they’re playing in raised the issue of the tour going ahead as scheduled.New Delhi is the venue for the third Test starting October 29 but recent attacks in the city have raised doubts over the safety of the players. Cricket Australia stated that they would await a report from their security experts before making a decision on a venue change. Though the tour isn’t at risk at the moment, Abbas felt another attack might lead to a pullout.”The Australians appear satisfied with the security provided to them,” he said. “But actually they are very much concerned about the blast in Delhi and I think if such an incident is repeated they will leave the place.”

How will the pitch behave? It’s the question everyone, and not just the punters, wants answered on the eve of a Test. You can go to some venues and know what to expect: the ball will bounce in Durban, swing at Headingley when Leeds is cloudy, and turn in Kandy. The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, however, isn’t easy to characterise unless you want to paste an ‘India struggle to win here’ label on it.India’s last victory in Bangalore was the match against New Zealand in 1995 and, since then, they’ve lost four – two against Australia – and drawn a couple. The last Test here, against Pakistan in 2007, was played on a brand new surface. That match was destined to be drawn after both teams posted massive first-innings totals on a flat track. However it came apart in the final session of the fifth day and offered variable bounce to Anil Kumble who bowled seam up and took 5 for 60. Pakistan lost four wickets for ten runs but were saved by the fading light.Australia will begin their tour of India on the same pitch but the curator said it was unlikely to offer the same variable bounce. The trouble that Pakistan’s batsmen faced was because of the new pitch, made with Mandya clay, but it had settled during the past year. The surface was hard but mostly dry. The daily showers leading up to Thursday hadn’t affected the preparation of the surface.Bangalore was also one of the more bowlers-friendly venues during the IPL when bowlers were being destroyed in other parts of the country. The pitch was one of the fastest on the circuit and the bounce and seam movement it offered kept free-swinging batsmen in check. The hardness of the surface combined with the possibility of cloudy skies could give the fast bowlers some mileage while the ball is new.”It’s [the pitch] obviously been watered yesterday afternoon, you can see that the pitch has changed a bit,” Ponting said on the eve of the match. “I was speaking to Greg Chappell and he thinks it’s the best one he’s seen here in Bangalore.”It’s nice and hard so I’d imagine it would be a very good batting surface for the first couple of days. With the weather being as it is [overcast and humid] it might swing a bit more than usual. It will probably take until very late in the game before it starts to spin too much or have variable bounce.”Ganguly, however, had put forth a different view a day earlier. “This will turn obviously as the Test match goes on,” he said. “But the Bangalore wicket has been a bit different over the years. It might get a bit up and down on the last two days. That’s what happened against Pakistan last year. It must have settled down but I’m sure there’s going to be spin for the bowlers.”Kumble didn’t offer his opinion on the pitch but he did say that he would “bowl accordingly” if last year’s seam-up strategy was required.

The millions offered by Antigua-based billionaire Allen Stanford may have won over the West Indies and England boards, but Michael Holding, the former West Indies fast bowler, has taken a contrarian stand, saying Twenty20 games won’t help revive cricket in the Caribbean. It marks a sharp turnaround from his statements in May, when he enthusiastically backed Stanford’s plans.”I’m not interested in being involved with Mr Stanford because I do not think Mr Stanford is telling the people what he’s really about,” Holding told the .The England team, as well as domestic Twenty20 champions Middlesex, will be involved in the week-long Stanford Super Series from October 25 to November 1. Stanford has on board a host of West Indian greats, including Garry Sobers and Viv Richards, but Holding said he won’t be present for the series. “I am not going to be involved in a farce,” he said. “He is telling people in the Caribbean that he wants to revive West Indian cricket but how is a week of Twenty20 cricket in Antigua going to do that?”In May, Holding had joined the board of the Stanford 20/20, the domestic Twenty20 tournament in the region, calling Stanford’s programme “amazing and comprehensive” and one that “encompasses funding for territorial development”.In this latest interview, he clarified his change of heart. “If what he started to do initially had been carried on, it would have benefited West Indies cricket because he was involved in the development of the game in various islands and donated money to them to improve their infrastructure,” he said. “That is when I was involved but now [that] Stanford has got into bed with the ECB he doesn’t need to do that anymore so he has abandoned it. He wants to promote himself and his companies, that’s all. If people can’t see that then I can’t help them, it’s their problem.”Holding said he doesn’t like the Twenty20 format. “I don’t think it is good for the game. Okay, it’s entertainment, but cricket is what made me what I am. Cricket gave me the lifestyle I have and cricket sent my children to school so I am interested in what is best for it, not just the entertainment value.”It has its place but it will be bad unless those in charge manage it properly and I do not think they can because they are blinded by money,” he said. “I can see Test cricket dying because of this. I am not saying how many years that will take but if I was a young cricketer now I would want to play Twenty20 because of all the money. Why would I want to play Test cricket? And that is very unhealthy.”Stanford himself has maintained that Twenty20, and not Test cricket, will attract youngsters and bring in revenue for players. However, while stating he would try to recover his investment in the Stanford 20/20 from the television rights, he maintained profits would go to the West Indies Cricket Board. In June, Stanford, who had stopped his funding to regional boards over their lack of accountability, resumed giving $15,000 to each board every month.Earlier in the year, Holding had quit the ICC’s cricket committee after its decision to change the result of the 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan from a Pakistan forfeit to a draw. “I will never get involved with any cricket committee or cricket board again for the rest of my life,” he said. “Never. I’ve had enough and I needed to move on. In my opinion, Pakistan and Inzamam-ul-Haq did the wrong thing in that match and I do not see why that result should have been changed for political expediency.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The Galle Test continued to amaze. The third day featured periods of heavyattrition, heavy artillery, then some attrition and some more artillery,and two wickets in two overs to cap it off. India managed to walk away with thehonours, thanks to a special two-wicket over from Anil Kumble andfifties by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Despite MahelaJayawardene’s calm innings and two late strikes by Sri Lanka, India moved towards a comfortable lead on a pitch that could be at its worst in the fourth innings.After India had secured a 37-run lead in the first innings, it was Sehwagwho drove home the advantage, continuing in familiar vein: he hitthe first ball he faced for a boundary. Nuwan Kulasekara got a repeat dosefour times in his four overs. Muttiah Muralitharan, introduced in the sixthover, was swept for a four in his first over and a six in his second.Ajantha Mendis, brought on in the 17th over, was cut for a four in hissecond over.Only Chaminda Vaas, who was faced mostly by Gambhir, escaped the treatment.Finally it took a special catch – fast and high, taken at short cover – by Tillakaratne Dilshan to dismiss Sehwag.Gambhir, who had made a slow start, then quietly took the front seat.He had scored two runs off 20 when Sehwag had 22 off 15, but when Sehwag gotout for 50, Gambhir had 39 off 65. His handling of Murali was exceptional:no more getting suckered out of the crease, he was almost always right tothe pitch of the ball. He slog-swept Murali, cover-drove him, and thencharged him straight down to reach his second fifty of the match – a first for him, as with Sehwag, who for the first time scored a half-century in a match where he had scored a hundred already.Post-tea, Sri Lanka came back, like India in the first session, andtightened the screws. Twenty-three runs came off the next 11 overs – thelast ball of which was a special one. Mendis’ offbreak startedoutside leg stump in the air, drifted further away, and broke big to beatGambhir’s pad and take the off stump. Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid attacked in response. Tendulkar, especially, stepped out and also employed the vertical sweep to the spinners.It would not be an overstatement to say that Dravid was helped out of hisbad patch by the batsmen around him. At one point, 2.3 overs afterGambhir’s dismissal, he had faced just 15 balls in the ten preceding overs, and 48 out of the 22.3 overs he had been out in the middle for. When Gambhir got out, he hadfaced Mendis’ three previous overs. But that Dravid was much more comfortable was evident from two cuts for four through extra cover in one over, and a lofted shot he struck stepping out to Murali.

However, just when India came close to seeming clear favourites, Vaasstruck with an offcutter, drawing Tendulkar out and getting an edge. In thenext over, Murali got a decision, via review, against Dravid thatleft the batsman irate. It was not, perhaps, the actual final decision that wasobjectionable – the offbreak pitched outside off and would have takenmiddle – but the inordinate amount of time taken by Jayawardene to go forthe review. Two wickets had fallen in two overs, the Galle Test had turnedonce more, and India were not the dominant side anymore.The first session, too, saw its fair share of twists and turns. It wasslow, but just as intense and gripping as the others, and perhapsmore crucial. Almost every over – before Mahela started farming strikefollowing a double-strike – featured a loud shout, or an edge that fellshort, or a sharp spinning delivery that missed everything. Kumble andHarbhajan bowled 24 successive overs in tandem, and but for a three-overspell by Ishant Sharma in the final session yesterday, they bowled 68overs at a stretch. Harbhajan took his unbroken spell to 37 overs, andthen started bowling immediately from the other end.Jayawardene, despite back-to-back wickets for Kumble and Harbhajan, kept SriLanka in the game. He was not affected by the spinning ball, thevariations in the bowling, and all that happened around him. There wereno free runs on offer; but he was cool enough to not try to hit himself out of thesituation. He managed a total of five boundaries in the session – MalindaWarnapura had hit four in one over yesterday. And once Prasanna andVaas fell in consecutive overs, he farmed the strike, getting goodsupport from Kulasekara as he did.In keeping with the narrative of the match, just when Sri Lankaseemed to have got the upper hand, another turnaround followed,with Kumble making his first impact of the series. Jayawardene, 14 short ofa deserved century, edged Kumble to Dinesh Karthik, and the game was back inthe balance. Although Jayawardene and Kulasekara frustrated India for 17.1overs, India had managed to keep the partnership down to 36 runs. Kumble andHarbhajan then proceeded to remove the next two – taking the last threewickets in seven balls – to get the lead, the importance of which, on thispitch, will surely be disproportionately higher than the actual number it consistsof.

Saleem Altaf, the PCB official who was sacked by the board only to be reinstated, will continue as director-special projects after Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the Lahore High Court’s order granting him temporary relief pending the resolution on the writ filed by his lawyers. The PCB had moved the Supreme Court against the lower court’s decision.During Tuesday’s hearing, Altaf’s legal counsel, Naeem Bokhari, contended that he was unjustly dismissed since having been appointed by Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf, who is also the patron of the board, he could only be removed the him. Bokhari also said that the termination letter given by the PCB to Altaf did not contain Musharraf’s approval, and that his contract was valid till the 2011 World Cup.The PCB, represented by attorney general Malik Qayyum, maintained that since Altaf was appointed for a three-year term (from 2005) on a contractual basis, he could be fired any time.Altaf, 64, was sacked on June 12 for allegedly leaking sensitive information to the press, a charge he had denied. The board had allegedly recorded a number of conversations he had with journalists during his tenure, which were played back to him before his services were terminated. He was then temporarily reinstated on June 25.

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.

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.”

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.

You know the English are getting desperate when they bring Kylie Minogue into an argument about cricket.That’s what Martin Samuel did in The Times today when he argued that England could have a better chance of beating Australia if they looked at other areas where their country was superior.Displaying the typical English knowledge of Australian culture that starts with Rolf Harris and ends at “Home and Away”, Samuel ignored chart-toppers like The Avalanches and The Vines to declare that English pop music was better.”Believe it or not, there are still some things the English do better than the Australians. Pop music, for instance,” he wrote.”Sure, that Kylie tune from a year back was catchy … It was No.1 for longer than Darren Gough’s been injured.”Anyway, the point is, who wrote it? Cathy Dennis. As English as they come. All the best stuff is ours. That’s why the Aussies spend so much time bragging about sports. Take it away and what else is there?”Warming to his theme, Samuel cites Men At Work as the other great example of Australian pop and “Aussie Aussie Aussie oi-oi-oi” as Antipodean lyrical genius.Samuel concedes that Australia has a great team.But he says English captain Nasser Hussain and his men should be focussing on the Australian weaknesses rather than behaving as if it was an honour simply to be on the same pitch as them.”Here’s the alternative view,” he said.”Justin Langer is a highly ordinary opening batsman carried along by an exceptional partner.”Darren Lehmann is no great shakes as a middle-order batsman and Andy Bichel, the first-change bowler, took two tailend wickets for plenty on his own Queensland turf.”As for his possible replacement, Brett Lee, if he’s so hot, how come he spent the weekend shaping up for New South Wales against Tasmania?”