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One match into his rehabilitation at the Ranji Trophy level, things haven’t changed much for Irfan Pathan junior. He failed to get into rhythm with the ball but his batting, when Baroda were in danger of losing the match, would have done a specialist Ranji batsman proud. His aggressive 82 – off 100 balls, with six sixes and three fours – took Baroda from 52 for 4 to a successful chase of 172 and a spot in the semi-finals.Starting the day at 17 for 1, Baroda faced sensible bowling from Uttar Pradesh, whose plan was to make Baroda graft for every run. Helped by their superior fielding, UP gave away only 35 runs in the first 15.4 overs, as three Baroda batsmen panicked and gave their wickets away. In walked Pathan, to shouts of ‘get him, he’s under pressure’, from the UP bench, two of them being former India team-mates. He had four overs to negotiate before lunch, and he looked good in those four overs.After lunch Pathan first picked on the most successful and threatening UP bowler, Praveen Kumar. He walked down the wicket, much like Matthew Hayden does, made room and lofted Kumar over extra-cover for his first six. In the next over, he stepped out to Piyush Chawla and lofted him for another six, this time into the sightscreen.These were followed by singles, revealing a plan to the onslaught. In the next over Pathan hit perhaps the shot of the match: Just a punch from the back foot, no follow-through of the bat involved. It sped through the covers for four, and announced the presence of a good batsman at the crease. That was not the end of the onslaught; he took a four to extra-cover, and a six over wide long-on from Chawla’s next over.In a matter of four overs the game had turned on its head, but then Jacob Martin played an irresponsible shot – a loopy square cut straight to point. This is when Pathan’s experience of having played in tight situations at international level came in handy. He started taking most of the strike, either running a single on the fifth or sixth ball, or clearing the field that had come up for the last two deliveries of the over.Himanshu Jadhav did not score off the first 25 balls he faced, yet the scoring rate did not fall; the tension in the dressing-room did not resurface. Pathan slowed down as he moved beyond his fifty and once he had brought Baroda close enough, he shifted gears again. He hit Kumar for back-to-back sixes over extra-cover, the second one of which was caught superbly by Umang Patel, former Baroda offspinner, sitting in the stands. Chawla was hit for another huge one over cow corner. Winning runs, though, quite fittingly, came from Jadhav’s square cut. Jadhav had been given out obstructing the field in the first innings and Baroda were not pleased that UP had gone for the appeal.Baroda defended their lead in the points table of Super League Group A and UP moved one step closer to relegation. With Tamil Nadu tied with UP at four points, the final league match – against different opponents – will be a close fight for the bottom-of-the-table.Today, though, was largely about Pathan, the best batsman on either side. Yet he will know that there’s more to his return from South Africa. At the end of the day he told Neo Sports that just bowling in the nets had not been helping him and he needed longer spells in match conditions. He was not happy with his bowling in the first innings, but said he had improved through the match. At times he was pleased with the swing he got, especially in the three-over spell before lunch on day three. But happy as he is with his batting, he knows it will take some time to regain the bowling form.Six-hitters Inc.If going for sixes were an objectionable addiction, Atul Bedade would have been an important member of Six-hitters’ Anonymous. Twelve years after having played his last ODI and three years after retiring from all cricket, Bedade is now a Baroda selector and, watching his side play here, he remembers how he hit 12 sixes in his 91-ball 150 against Punjab in 1993-94; six-hitting, it can be safely said, fascinates him as a topic. He chats about Amol Muzumdar’s batting and moves on to Sachin Tendulkar’s captaincy and how he expected everyone to perform at his standards. These expectations were the main reason he did not do as well as a captain as he could have. Brian Lara had a similar attitude in his first stint but he has matured and now understand his players better. Put it to him that he handles players like Chris Gayle much better now and Bedade’s eyes light up. Pointing towards the pitch, he says, “Only two people have hit the ball out of the ground from there, Gayle and I. He had ruined L Balaji’s debut. I loved that innings. What a guy he (Gayle) is… I remember their team coming here, they visited my office. And Gayle came and sat with his feet on my granite table. I have never let anybody else do that…”Wanted: Bride for PathanBeing dropped from the side means different things for different people. For Irfan Pathan it apparently means an opportunity for his mother to get him married. According to a local newspaper, Bapor Samachar (meaning Afternoon News), Pathan’s mother has in the past tried to meet two prospective brides but Pathan has managed to talk her out of it. Now, though, she seems quite determined, the paper reports in a news item that’s accompanied by a picture which has Pathan’s face superimposed on the body of a man sitting on a horse.This reporter showed the paper to Yusuf Pathan, who believes that, by virtue of being two years older and still unmarried, he should get the first go. Yusuf sees the paper and, laughing, says, “They write anything.” If Yusuf’s reaction is anything to go by, the BCCI need not worry about making travel arrangements for Pathan and Mrs Pathan on the next tour. If Mr Pathan makes it back to the team, that is.Baroda, the city-state
Vadodara, home to the Baroda Ranji team, is one of three city teams in the Ranji Trophy, the others being Hyderabad and Mumbai – and with an area of 148.22 square kilometers, the smallest of the lot. Yet it boasts a proud Ranji history, having won it five times – the last in 2000-01 – and three times being runners-up. That’s a better record from some full-fledged states, with bigger catchment areas, and attracts cricketers from pretty far afield. Players such as Abhimanyu Chauhan, the former Baroda Under-19 captain who moved here from Chattisgarh to further his cricket ambitions. Chauhan explains how, despite being a single-city team, Baroda do consistently well. They have six grounds which, he says, are all very good. The infrastructure is even better. The club rivalry here is intense too. Alembic, run by Kiran More, and Hindu Gymkhana have a history of intense rivalry. The corporate cricket here is strong too, with Alembic, IPCL (Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited), and GSFC (Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd) being the three major teams. The corporate cricket, according to Chauhan, provides the contests and also the finances. And you just wonder what if Baroda, Gujarat, and Saurashtra played as one state team.

Shane Warne probably has only one more day of Test cricket but when he arrives at the SCG on Friday he won’t be sad. “Not at all, I’ll be happy,” he said. And he hopes his mood improves with Australia’s second Ashes cleansweep in the history of the rivalry.Only when the game is finished and he’s sitting with his team-mates will he get reflective. “I might be a bit sad in the dressing room over a beer,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be crying or anything. My body is telling me it’s time to go, my body is telling me that for sure.”There are only five England batsmen left for Warne to target and with the visitors owning a lead of 12 his final bow is imminent. He sits on 708 wickets and the fast bowlers have been so impressive in this game there will be few opportunities for Warne to add to his tally.Warne collected Andrew Flintoff two overs before stumps when he was stumped by a fine piece of work from Adam Gilchrist, who removed the bails milliseconds before Flintoff’s back foot pushed down over the crease. “It was a pretty big moment so to get him was handy,” Warne said. “It was a pretty good ball too.”Despite his lack of bowling opportunities, Warne’s supporters at the SCG had a long time to wave at him when he made a bright and crucial 71, which included two sixes and nine fours from 65 balls. He started with a four and a six from his first two deliveries from Monty Panesar, survived a caught behind appeal later in the over and quickly began a sledging session with Paul Collingwood.Warne was heard on radio to tell Collingwood, who was fielding at first slip to Panesar, to give back the MBE he earned for being part of the 2005 Ashes success. When asked whether he thought Collingwood would take the advice Warne smiled. “I probably told him enough times he might think about it,” he said. “It’s up to him.”The advice he received from slip fired his concentration – he had told Collingwood the barbs inspired him as early as the second Test in Adelaide – and he was also fuelled by a couple of Red Bulls to avoid a sleepy start. “I was pretty pumped up,” he said. “It’s my last game, I didn’t have much to lose. Every run was crucial and I actually started to think about batting and tried to concentrate.”He picked up his 12th Test half-century and when Glenn McGrath arrived he gave up hope of reaching his first hundred. It is the only thing missing from a wonderful career.”I couldn’t have asked for it to go better,” he said. “I’d like to think I’ve repaid everyone for what I’ve bought to cricket. I’d like to think I’ve made it entertaining, I’d like to think I made it pretty cool. People have enjoyed watching the team play and me play. I’d like to think it’s been enjoyable.” It has.

In a sign of how much of an issue fielding has become in Pakistan cricket – and it’s not as if the malaise is a new one – Wasim Bari, chairman of selectors, has said that cricketers intending to break into the national set-up will be considered only if their fielding is up to the mark.Speaking to the Karachi-based Bari said, “In modern day cricket, a player’s fielding ability has become a very important aspect and that is going to show in our selection process in the future.”Gone are the days when players could force their way into the national team entirely through batting and bowling performances.”After dispiriting performances in the field against India in the ODI series earlier this year, the seriousness of the issue has finally been acknowledged by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Bari’s comments are the latest recognition of how embedded the problem is.Jonty Rhodes, widely regarded as one of the best fielders of all time, is due to arrive in Pakistan in June for a two-week stint to work with the national team as well as coaches in the National Cricket Academy. Critics, though, have questioned the value a stint as short as this has for a problem that begins, essentially, at the grassroots.But Bari added that along with his selection committee, stricter guidelines would be adhered to when judging a player’s fielding skills when picking the national team. “I would like to tell our young cricketers that they should not expect a chance to play at the international level if they can’t field well. It is that important.”The whole concept of how you play cricket has changed in recent times. And it is not just the one-day version of the game. A team’s fielding performance is becoming a decisive factor in Test matches as well. Look at England, they failed to win against Sri Lanka because they fielded badly.”Though Bari tactfully refused to point out specific players in the team who were poor fielders, he pointed to the improvement in standards of almost every team in cricket as proof that even Pakistan can change. “Even teams like Bangladesh have achieved enormous improvement in this department of the game and that has really impressed me.”I am not saying this as a chief selector but as an ex-Test cricketer that one of the Pakistan team’s biggest flaws lay in it is fielding. Pakistan can become one of the world’s best fielding sides but that needs a lot of hard work.”

The West Indies Cricket Board has accepted, “with regret”, the resignation of its chief executive Bruce Aanensen after a meeting in Barbados on Saturday. Aanensen had sent his resignation letter to the board president on Tuesday.”The board recognises that the reasons given by Mr. Aanensen for his resignation relate to very complex and challenging matters with which it will continue to be engaged,” said the WICB. “After discussion and review, the board is satisfied that the president has acted in the best interests of West Indies cricket at this time.”Barry Thomas, the WICB’s chief financial officer, was expected to act as chief executive officer in the interim. Aanensen took up the position in February, replacing Roger Brathwaite, who stepped down in 2006.Aanensen was involved in a number of disputes with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) including the contracts issue during the build-up to the World Cup and the controversy over whether or not the subsequent tour to England was part of the ICC’s Future Tours Program.The appointment of Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the WIPA, as a director with the WICB and the new board president Julian Hunte’s decision to work with the WIPA to resolve all outstanding issues was thought to have precipitated Aanensen’s decision to relinquish his post.

13 – The number of times Sachin Tendulkar has fallen to Glenn McGrath in international cricket (seven times in ODIs and six times in Tests)67 – The number of runs India scored in their last ten overs108 – The number of runs Australia had piled up after 15 overs. India, at a similar stage in their innings, had made 57400 – Number of dismissals for Adam Gilchrist in ODIs (355 catches and 55 stumpings). Mark Boucher, in second place, only has 33166 – Sachin Tendulkar’s aggregate in his last six ODI innings against Australia, including this match150 – Number of ODIs Steve Bucknor has umpired in. Only David Shepherd (172) and Rudi Koertzen (156) have stood in more matches1975 – The last time no team from the subcontinent made it to the semi-finals of a major one-day competition1015 – The number of days since India last beat Australia in a one-day international

New Zealand’s foreign minister has asked cricket’s world governing body to ban Zimbabwe from international tours because of what he called human-rights abuses by Robert Mugabe’s government.The New Zealand team is currently scheduled to tour Zimbabwe from next month and cannotcancel the tour without incurring a fine of at least US$2 million. “New Zealand Cricket may therefore be forced into a situation of having to tour Zimbabwe even if its members have moral objections to having to play cricket while, just kilometres from the grounds, people are having their homes destroyed and their basic human rights abused,” Phil Goff, the foreign minister, said in a letter to the International Cricket Council.In the letter released today, Goff asked the ICC to exclude Zimbabwe because of its demolition ofthousands of shacks and other homes that has left at least 200,000 people homeless. “The appalling human-rights abuses taking place in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored,” Goff said. “We are gravely concerned for the well-being of the people of Zimbabwe, and believe that it isextremely difficult to justify sporting tours going ahead in such circumstances.”He also asked the ICC to change its rules to allow any country to cancel a tour if gross human-rights abuses were occurring in the other country involved. The request had the overwhelming support of New Zealand parliamentarians and of the Australian government, he added.At its annual meeting last week, the ICC indicated it did not intend to change its rules toallow the New Zealand tour to Zimbabwe to be cancelled.

Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan batsman and captain, criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the removal of Zaheer Abbas as team manager for next month’s Champions Trophy in India. Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, announced yesterday that Abbas would be replaced by Talat Ali, a former Pakistan opener and ICC match referee.Quite a few former Pakistan players had criticised Abbas for not taking a proactive role in resolving the crisis at The Oval – in which Pakistan forfeited the Test to England following allegations of ball-tampering. However, Shaharyar had emphasised that Abbas’s removal had nothing to do with those events. Miandad, though, wasn’t very convinced, claiming that such a move would appear to hold Abbas responsible for the fiasco.”He (Abbas) has served Pakistan cricket like an icon and is still a hero for millions of cricket lovers worldwide,” Miandad told PTI. “By only removing him, the board has held him responsible for what happened during the Oval Test. There were a number of board members at the Oval on that day and what were they doing? Why only hold Zaheer responsible for what happened? They have disgraced a hero and it should not happen.”Miandad felt that Abbas was being used as a scapegoat in the incident.”What was Zaheer expected to do that day? What authority does a manager have? The chairman said afterwards the players were not aware of the time and that the umpires had called off play. Who is he fooling? Every player and coach knows the rules and there is a clock in the dressing room to remind players when they are supposed to be on the field.”

Rahul DravidOn getting back into the Test match scheme of things after a month of non-stop one-day cricketThat’s how international cricket is now. The [one-day] series happened very quickly, and we have to make sure we adjust and react quickly and change our mindset for the five-day game. It’s a challenge that most international cricketers face.On the likely team compositionWe’ve not decided on a final XI. That’ll be done tomorrow morning after assessing various factors like the weather. There’s clarity in my mind about the batting order, but I see no sense in revealing my strategy before the game.On the kind of challenge Sri Lanka would pose after being blown away in the ODIsI think they’ll bounce back. They’re a good team. We played very good cricket in those matches, and didn’t allow them to do so. We have to continue doing that.On Jayasuriya’s absenceLook, I don’t tend to worry about what the opposition is doing. There’s a danger of targetting one or two players and forgetting that they have other quality performers as well. Jayasuriya’s been a fantastic player for them, but we’re well aware that they have two or three young players who we need to watch for.On the threat posed by Muttiah MuralitharanMurali’s done well against us, but we’ve also had our share of success against him. I’d prefer to focus on how they will deal with Harbhajan Singh and Anil [Kumble] bowling in tandem.On whether Ganguly’s ability to bowl medium-pace might influence selectionSourav has been bowling a fair bit lately, and we will certainly be thinking of that as an option.On the pitchIt looks good, but might take some turn as the match goes on.On Sehwag not practicing yesterday and doing little work todayHe has a slight strain in his left shoulder. Nothing too serious. It was just a precautionary thing [to skip practice].On what he expected from the Chennai crowdIt’s always a great place to play. We’ve had some memorable matches here, and the crowd has always responded to good performances. It would have been very disappointing for them to see the ODI washed out, and I hope the weather holds over the next few days so that they get a good game of cricket.On whether having so many seniors back in the side complicated thingsIt makes it simpler. There are a few ex-captains there, and they will certainly help out with advice. I can’t do it all on my own.Greg ChappellOn how he approached his first Test in India as coachI know it’s a cliché, but it’s just another game. The cricket doesn’t change regardless of where you’re playing. The critical things, the basics, stay the same, and only the nuances change with the conditions.On Ganguly’s return to the teamIf he’s in the team, he will be a very important member. He’s fitted back into the group very well.

Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Bangladesh Under-19 captain who led the team to a third-place finish, wants to improve his overall skills before he vies for a place in the senior team. Miraz, scored 242 runs in six innings and also picked up 12 wickets at 17.66 to earn the Man of the Tournament award.”I just ended my career at the Under-19 level and like every other cricketer, I also dream to play at the highest level for my country,” Miraz said. “But this requires perseverance and hard work, and I want to develop myself as a better cricketer in the time I will get to transform myself.”It is a big achievement for me to win the player-of-the-tournament award; not just for me, but for the whole team and the nation too. Sixteen teams participated in the event and our team came third and among them I got the award. This is actually massive.”Miraz said that the Bangladesh team could have played the final but for an inspired West Indies side who beat them in the semi-final in Mirpur. Now he wants to move forward quickly and could possibly play for South Zone in the Bangladesh Cricket League first-class tournament.”We had a great unit too and deserved to win the trophy,” he said. “But a few mistakes cost us the [semi-final] match. We respected the West Indies but we had the confidence in us. We just couldn’t translate it into action.”I think there were expectations on me because I played well. I will need to hold on to the belief that I can carry myself forward. I am not satisfied with these achievements only. I want to go up the ladder and give some moments of happiness to my nation.”

The stage is set for another battle between the Senate’s Standing Committee on Sports and the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) top brass today with the focus of Senators shifting towards the board’s finances.The meeting that was requisitioned by the committee in a bid to probe the PCB’s bank accounts will be held this morning with Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, and Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operating officer, appearing before the Senators.While the PCB officials say they will be attending the meeting well-prepared, the Senate committee, according to one of its members, enjoys no such luxury. Some of the Senators are in fact fuming over the board’s lethargy over the matter and say that they are yet to receive the PCB’s accounts details.”We were expecting to receive the accounts details of the PCB at least four to five days before the meeting but are yet to get hold of any such document,” Senator Enver Baig told on Wednesday.The Senate committee has sought the PCB’s account details from 2004 onwards. The PCB bosses will chiefly be grilled by Senator Haroon Akhtar, who is regarded as a financial expert. A member of the opposition PML (Q) party, Haroon is a brother of the former commerce minister Humayun Akhtar.A top PCB official told this paper that the Senators will be provided with comprehensive details of the board’s bank balance.”We have nothing to hide,” said Naghmi. “The board’s finances are in good shape and will be presented before the Senate committee tomorrow.”Naghmi said the PCB devised its treasury policy for the first time in May 2007 following an approval of the ad-hoc committee which has been now been disbanded. “All our bank deals are governed by that policy,” he said.Giving details, Naghmi said the policy makes it clear that the PCB can only deal with banks that are given A or A+ status by the relevant authorities. “And it was also decided that the board will not keep more than 15% of its funds in one bank, which is why our accounts are spread over several banks.”The PCB has been criticised for putting its funds in several second-tier banks like Soneri Bank, MyBank, Bank of Khyber, NIB, Atlas and Habib Metropolitan Bank.Naghmi painted a rosy picture of the PCB funds saying that they are growing in a healthy manner. “In 2004, the average return on the board’s investments was 5% but currently it is 9%,” he said.However, it remains to be seen whether Naghmi and Ashraf will be able to convince the Senate committee that the billions of rupees in what is the most cash-rich sports body in the country are in safe hands.