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SUPPORT FROM THE UKGood luck to the Zimbabwe Cricket Team in the forthcoming World Cup.You have the support of many people in Zimbabwe and abroad who believe that Zimbabwe sport is multiracial and unifying and very different from South Africa during the apartheid era when the boycott there had to do with the way in which sport was organized around racial lines.I hope you play well and I am sure the events will bring much needed profit for Zimbabwe’s tourism industry and moments of joy for everyone despite people’s political differences.George Shire (London, UK)THE ONE-DAY COMPETITIONAnother excellent and informative edition of ZCO, well done.The Faithwear one-day tournament seems to be a hit this season which can only be good for Zim cricket. Again, as in the Logan Cup, Mashonaland look certain to dominate. Do you think this is a good thing, or maybe next season should the ZCU look at equalling the teams, as any team in the world with the Flower brothers and Blignaut in would be a handful! Is ZBC showing live coverage of this competition in Zim? Seems a shame if they are not!Just a quick query on the CFX academy selection. I think it would do Masakadza good to play a season with them even though he is competent player already. It would perhaps iron out a few of his weaknesses that exist in his game and showed in the Pakistan series. Does his University holiday allow him this or is the timing wrong?Being a proud Zim in England, does Faithwear sell replica Matabeleland coloured tops!!?Nick Byas (Zim in England)Reply: I think the Mashonaland domination is unfortunate, but difficult to avoid. Already the other provincial sides have several Mashonaland players in their ranks who have no connection with the province they are representing (such as Alistair Campbell, Gavin Rennie and Henry Olonga), but Mashonaland have kept their strongest players, and perhaps that needs to be looked at.No, ZBC have no interest in live coverage of these matches, but I suppose it is hardly possible considering the expense involved and the economic situation. Hamilton Masakadza would rarely be available for the CFX Academy, but may perhaps attend once he graduates. Concerning Matabeleland coloured tops, perhaps contact the Matabeleland board at [email protected] and see what they can suggest.

The recommendations made by the probe committee, which looked into the alleged mismanagement of funds at the BCCSL.The probe committee appointed by the minister of sports Lakshman Kireiella, handed over it’s initial report last Friday. The committee headed by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya and comprised of Priyantha Algama, Maxi Wijetilake, M. Sivaratnam, and Sunil Abeyratne started the investigations on the 1st of this month and ended the findings on the 15th.In a media release published yesterday the committee had recommended six recommendations in it’s report.

Recommendations.

• 1. Every single member of the dissolved Executive Committee be made responsible for the gigantic sums of money spent in constructing the stadium from the funds of the BCCSL, for having spent such a colossal sum without any right, title or interest in the land.
• 2. Therefore, we recommend that the land be acquired by the Government after paying compensation which will be deposited with the Public Trustee.
• 3. The constitution of the BCCSL be amended so as to prevent any one power group, being elected to power, with unfettered power.
• 4. The Minister of Sports to have power, if deemed necessary to appoint any person to look into the property and legality of the decisions of the Executive Committee and a representative of the Treasury to prevent gross abuse of financial irregularities and mismanagement.
• 5. As provided by the Sports Law, the accounts to be audited by the Auditor General.
• 6. Sports Law to be amended to include the property, and the funds of the BCCSL and all sports bodies be deemed to be public property.

Rangers’ January signing Amad Diallo may not be ‘up to it’ at Ibrox, Frank McAvennie has told Football Insider.

The lowdown

With three days of the January transfer window remaining, Rangers signed Diallo on loan from Manchester United until the end of the season.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst inherited the squad of his predecessor Steven Gerrard in the autumn, but this was one of four incoming deals he sanctioned in January as he looked to put his own stamp on the squad.

Diallo made a flying start for the Gers, scoring just five minutes into his debut against Ross County on 29 January.

But Van Bronckhorst then substituted him at half time against Celtic, with Rangers 3-0 down, after he lost five of the six duels he contested and conceded possession 12 times.

He’s only played 22 Scottish Premiership minutes since, and has watched all the Europa League knockout action from the sidelines.

The latest

McAvennie stressed that Diallo has the ability but says he may have encountered something of a culture shock.

And he feels it’s fair to question the wisdom of the signing in light of what we’ve seen so far.

“It’s a different game up here,” he said. “In England, players will take the ball. In Scotland, you take the ball and the man.

“It’s frantic, you get no time on the ball. Diallo doesn’t have the time to run with the ball, it can be a shock to a player.

“He’s only a young boy and he has bags of talent but maybe Van Bronckhorst doesn’t trust him.

“There are loads of options for Rangers in that position so if you aren’t up to the job, you won’t play.

“It just makes me wonder why they signed him if he’s not up to it.”

The verdict

This was a signing that felt like it could go either way.

Diallo had showcased his immense potential at youth level, notching 28 direct goal contributions in 46 appearances for Atalanta’s Primavera side.

But, on the other hand, he’d only made 14 senior appearances for La Dea and Manchester United combined.

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Rangers haven’t committed to an expensive mandatory purchase option, so from that point of view it was still perhaps a risk worth taking, but it hasn’t paid off so far.

As McAvennie says, Van Bronckhorst simply seems to have very little trust in him.

After all, BBC Sportsound pundit Derek Ferguson has accused him of looking ‘half-hearted’, while journalist Andrew Dickson described his attitude as ‘really poor’ after he allegedly backed out of a challenge against Dundee United.

If the commitment isn’t there, then he can’t expect to play in important games.

In other news, this BBC man drops a transfer claim on Cedric Itten.

	Matthew Hayden took a comfortable catch off Virender Sehwag, but dropped Mahendra Singh Dhoni © Getty Images

Best and worst
Sourav Ganguly was asked about Brad Hogg’s bowling during the Sydney Test and said “he’s not the worst”. By then he was already on top of Hogg’s dismissal list, and today he fell to the wrist-spinner for the fifth time in his career and the fourth occasion in the series. Hogg, who is playing his sixth Test, has struggled to remove any other Indian, but has Ganguly’s measure.More slip-ups
Australia’s slip catching woes were supposed to be fixed by the return of Matthew Hayden at first slip. Things looked good when Hayden accepted a comfortable take off Virender Sehwag, but late in the day he spilled one that went straight to him from Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s edge. Dhoni was 3 and survived until stumps.Rauf justice
Umpires can’t escape the extra scrutiny since Sydney and Asad Rauf had a troubled start to the Test. Two lbws should have gone the Australians’ way – Mitchell Johnson’s shouts to Rahul Dravid on 3 and Sehwag on 53 were adjacent – but they were not complaining when Hogg picked up Ganguly. Although the ball was spinning away from off stump when it hit Ganguly, Rauf was convinced and added it to his growing list of errors. Fortunately there was not much for him to judge over the final third of the day.Tweak at the top
India’s decision to play five bowlers and leave out Wasim Jaffer meant another change at the top. Dravid had filled the breach in the opening two games but it was Irfan Pathan who walked out here. It was only the third occasion he had opened in a Test, but he seemed comfortable, pushing his first ball for four through square leg. He was beaten a few times, especially against Johnson, and fell nicking to one that moved slightly away.Three in three
It took him 18 balls to get off the mark but Sachin Tendulkar quickly made up for lost time. He announced himself with a glorious front-foot drive off Brett Lee before smashing three consecutive fours off Johnson: the first was drilled to the mid-off fence, the next sliced past gully and the third, the icing on the cake, bulleted through cover. Suddenly he was 16 and motoring towards his 39th century.Perfect set-up, clumsy drop
Lee should have had VVS Laxman on 37, especially given the way he set it all up. Returning for his third spell, he was lashed for four behind gully before slipping in an inswinger that had Laxman pushing and thundering a quick outswinger that produced the edge. Fired in at 145kph, it flew to Adam Gilchrist’s right, but he was too late to take off and could only parry the ball in front of the slips.

Mark Waugh: “Gilchrist is that good a player, he can score runs without trying to overhit the ball” © Getty Images

Mark Waugh believes Adam Gilchrist must take more time with his batting as Australia search for their third World Cup in a row. Waugh, who opened with Gilchrist during the 1999 success, said if he scaled back his game slightly he could still be a force.”He is that good a player, he can score runs without trying to overhit the ball,” Waugh, who was named with Gilchrist in Australia’s all-time one-day team, said in the Herald Sun. “I think he has been too impatient. He has got to get through that first five or six overs. If he does that, he is one guy who can score heavily without even trying to.”Gilchrist stayed at home during the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after not posting a half-century in eight innings following his 60 and 61 to start the CB Series. The birth of Gilchrist’s third child will keep him in Australia while his team-mates depart for the Caribbean today, but he will be available for the first game against Scotland on March 14.Matthew Hayden and Gilchrist will be the first-choice pairing, but Hayden is also pushing to be ready for the opening match due to a foot injury. Hayden has worked with a podiatrist to design a big-toe cap that he hopes will stop further pain after being struck by a Mark Gillespie yorker in New Zealand.”My best-case scenario is to be back for the warm-up games and my worst-case scenario is to be back just for the first game,” he said on Channel 7. “When I return the main problem will be the pain. It will take a while for the swelling to go down.”Waugh said it would be important for both Hayden and Gilchrist not to feel like they have to push the pace in the Caribbean. “Both of those guys at the top have got so many good shots in their armoury,” he said, “they just need to be patient and the runs will come.”

Brett Lee has no plans to cut his pace © Getty Images

Australia might be employing a fresh opening-bowling combination in an inexperienced attack, but Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken are not setting small goals in South Africa. The pair wants to match the efforts of immediate predecessors Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath, who is missing to look after his sick wife.Lee will lead the fast men in McGrath’s absence and he wants to embrace the role without giving up any of his speed. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge and I don’t see it as any more pressure,” he said in . “Glenn is ‘Mr Consistent’. He has the line and length to make my job easier, but I won’t be changing anything and I’ll be trying to lead from the front.”Bracken will help his junior, state and international team-mate as they try to lift a raw band of back-up options with Mick Lewis, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson playing only 16 matches between them. “The way to keep improving is to know each other’s games better and try to get to where Glenn and Jason were as partnership bowlers,” Lee said in the . “Sometimes Glenn would go on the attack and Jason would pull it back a bit, and vice versa. Now we have to work out for this particular one-day tour how to get to know each other a lot better.”Bracken said he and Lee were complementary players. “Brett’s the sort of bowler that’s going to be attacking and at the batsman, which probably suits me a bit more than other guys because I’m trying to get the ball to swing,” he said. “If Brett’s attacking and being aggressive at one end and I’m doing the right thing at the other, it’s a good combination.”Ponting is happy for Lee to try to frighten South Africa’s batsmen, which he did on a couple of occasions in taking 15 wickets in the VB Series. “In England at different times he enjoyed it when Glenn wasn’t playing because he knew he was the guy who was the spearhead of the attack,” Ponting said in . “It’s important he remains that for us. When he’s bowling fast and swinging the ball it’s very difficult for any batsman.”We need him to keep doing that. We’ll have other guys around him that can do the tight job at the other end.”

Asim Kamal sweeps en route to an unbeaten 43© Getty Images

Pakistan made a shaky start on the first day of their tour game against the Board President’s XI in Dharamsala, closing on 165 for 5 after their batsmen failed to lay a solid foundation. Afterwards, Asim Kamal blamed the bleak conditions and the state of the wicket for their slow progress.”This wicket is slow and has a low bounce and the batsman can’t play many shots easily,” said Kamal, who was Pakistan’s leading batsman on the day with an unbeaten 43. But he acknowledged the fact his team would have to be ready for such slow wickets when the Tests gets underway next week. “Looking at it [the Dharamsala wicket] all of us are ready for the slow turners for the rest of the tour.”However, Kamal agreed that when on tours players have to be ready for these kind of varied conditions. “You’ve to be prepared to face different kind of wickets and situations when on a foreign tour.”Asked about the Board President’s bowling attack he made a dismissive remark, saying: “There was nothing extraordinary about the bowlers.”Kamal is fighting for a berth in the lower-middle order with Shoaib Malik, whose bowling action is currently under scrutiny from the ICC. But, according to their coach Bob Woolmer, he has a definite chance of making into the XI solely as a batsman. Kamal, who feels he comes up trumps when under pressure, left it to the team management to decide who was the best man for the job.Meanwhile, the Board President’s team suffered a setback when their offspinner, Ramesh Powar, suffered a finger injury on his bowling hand, while attempting to take a caught-and-bowled. He was treated by the Pakistan physio and is not likely to take any further part in the game.

Close India 329 for 4 (Sehwag 195) v Australia
Scorecard

Virender Sehwag on the way to a scintillating century © Getty Images

A scintillating 195 from Virender Sehwag propelled India to a position of strength on a riveting first day’s play at the MCG. India posted 329 for 4, though once again without any contribution from Sachin Tendulkar, whose horror run with the bat continued. Sehwag dominated the first two sessions and much of the third, putting on 141 for the first wicket with Akash Chopra and 137 for the second with Rahul Dravid, but Australia fought back strongly in the last session, taking three wickets for 33 to check India’s progress.Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman weathered a hostile spell from Brett Lee at the end of the day’s play with the second new ball, and Australia could have actually had a fifth wicket when Ganguly spooned a catch back at Lee, only for the bowler to put it down. India would be satisfied with their position at stumps, and delighted with Sehwag’s majestic effort, a contribution that went beyond anybody’s expectations.Sehwag’s innings was one utterly characteristic of him, but on a scale much larger than anything seen from him in international cricket thus far. It included, on the credit side, 25 fours and five bludgeoned sixes, and on the debit side, two hits on the helmet, a reprieve off a run-out chance in the fifth over of the day, and further escapes just before lunch when the third umpire gave him not out off a close line decision, and just after the break when Simon Katich at point put down a chance off Nathan Bracken.Sehwag made the best of his good fortune, and batted with greater patience and discipline than he had previously in the series. His batting early in the morning was watchful, and marked by a number of excellent leaves against Bracken, his tormentor of the last few months. He played the quick bowlers almost exclusively off the back foot, cutting past point or over the heads of the slips, and driving down the ground when the ball was pitched up to him. The pick of his shots was a soaring six off Stuart MacGill’s second ball of the day, played inside-out over extra cover with a free and easy swing of the bat.His fifty came right on the stroke of lunch, with a flashing cut off Lee, and by the time he brought up his hundred, powering Brad Williams through midwicket, he had hit 16 fours and a six. After getting to the landmark, he upped the tempo without doing anything excessive – by his standards – hitting another six off MacGill and clubbing Steve Waugh into the stands in the last over before tea.The Indian batsmen followed the basic rule of giving the first hour of the day to the bowlers and then imposing themselves on the opposition. They made less than 30 runs in a testing first hour after Ganguly had won the toss and elected to bat, but they were 89 for no loss by lunch, and added another 130 runs in the post-lunch session, as Sehwag ran amok against some increasingly ragged bowling. Even though they lost three wickets in the last session, they added another 110 to the score. Sehwag made more than half the runs scored in each of these sessions.The only wicket to fall in the first two sessions was that of Chopra, popping a catch off bat and pad to Katich off MacGill when just three short of a well-deserved fifty. A sentry at the gates of a city under siege could not have been more watchful than Chopra, who took the sting out of the Australian attack with his three-hour long vigil, mixing patient defence with nudges and deflections.The Australians wasted a number of chances and half-chances through the day, most notably in the fifth over of the morning with Sehwag on just 4, when Lee missed the easiest of chances to run him out at the striker’s end, with both batsmen stranded on the other half of the pitch.If Australia were still in the game at the end of the day, it was partly due to luck, but also to a crucial breakthrough made by Waugh, playing his penultimate Test on the ground where he made his debut against India in the Boxing Day Test in 1985.Waugh gave himself an extended spell after tea, but India progressed to 278 for 1, with Sehwag the cynosure of all attention as he rattled along merrily and Dravid, coming off his two splendid knocks at Adelaide, having worked his way unfussily to 49. Then, against the run of play, Dravid was suckered by Waugh into aiming a shot at a ball well outside leg stump, and chipped a catch to a fielder precisely positioned for that stroke just in front of square leg (278 for 2). Since Waugh had spent a good part of his spell bowling short balls at the two batsmen with a fielder on the square-leg boundary, Dravid possibly failed to note, and adjust his play for, the fielder coming up.Waugh wasted no time in taking himself off and bringing on Lee to attack Tendulkar. Lee’s first ball to Tendulkar was a loosener down the leg side. Trying instinctively to work it to fine leg, Tendulkar appeared to get the faintest of touches with the bat as the ball brushed his pad, and was caught down the leg side by a diving Gilchrist (286 for 3). The only Tendulkar-like stroke seen during hisbrief stay at the crease came from Sehwag, who whipped a Williams delivery to the square-leg boundary with the distinctive flourish common to him and Tendulkar.Sehwag’s response to the loss of two quick wickets was to swing the first ball of a new spell from MacGill over midwicket for six. Waugh was now prompted into bringing on the left-arm spin of Katich, bowling with several fielders on the boundary. Sehwag, on 189, lashed a full toss beyond the boundary for his fifth six, and moved to within one stroke of his double-hundred. The next ball was another full toss, and in trying to repeat the stroke, Sehwag holed out toBracken at the long-on boundary (311 for 4). It was an utterly captivating innings, the highest score ever by an Indian batsman at the MCG.Wisden Asia Cricket

MarcusTrescothick Photo CricInfo

England are struggling to avoid a serious batting crisis going into the first Test of their three-match National Bank series with New Zealand.Two collapses suffered against State Championship minnows Otago, their late arrivals from England all struggling for form and time in the middle, their leading batsman on the last day of their game against Otago, Marcus Trescothick, complaining of concentration problems and the prospect of no respite against a stronger Canterbury team in their next game starting on Thursday at Hagley Oval.The only point in England’s favour going into the Test has to be that New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond is still on the injured list.Trescothick admitted after today’s drawn game with Otago that he was tired after having played all of England’s one-dayers against India and New Zealand and in most of the other games on the Test section of the Indian tour.He was hopeful that he might be spared duty when Nasser Hussain returns to lead the side against Canterbury.”I find I’m not mentally switched on when I’m going out to bat.”I found that in the last two or three one-day games,” he said.It was a problem that needed to be assessed as soon as it happened to find out what was going wrong and try hard to put it right.”I’ve found it very tough to concentrate. I’ve been going out and working really hard in the nets, almost twice as hard as I normally do, trying to get it right but the mental side of it has been the problem and being able to concentrate properly,” he said.Trescothick said he had a similar problem last summer when scoring five centuries in six innings just before the first Test against Australia. He took a week off before the second Test and scored a century in the second innings so on that occasion the break had worked.It was a fact with the amount of cricket being played that this sort of thing happened.”If anything I need a bit more of a break than the constant cricket,” he said.However, his innings of 68 today in England’s second innings had been of some comfort to him as he found his batting rhythm returning and he was pleased with his shot selection.His newly-arrived team-mates from England did struggle to make an impact however and it would be tough for them to be ready in time for the Test.”Two games to warm up is all right for those who were here for the one-day games, the rest of the guys, I don’t know. Having come from England where there was no outdoor practice, it will be tough for them,” he said.While not dominating Otago, England had managed to “cover” them, he said and there had been some good opportunities for the bowlers to have a good, long bowl.”We should have batted a lot better than we did, we still came out of it OK,” he said.Leading bowler Andy Caddick did pick up seven wickets during the game and he had a good work out.”He’s still got a little bit of work to do – his rhythms were coming back the more and more he bowled. He came back right at the end bowling five overs, sometimes I’ve seen him and that’s the best time he bowls, when he is quite tired. Sort of running him into the ground almost, as he tends to get a bit more rhythm,” Trescothick said.

After winning the toss in the First Test and deciding to bat, we needed to bat well as it was a very good wicket, and a poor start would put us on the back foot straight away. In fact, we put up a very feeble batting display and 173 on a good pitch put us right behind the 8 ball. The bowlers responded well and at one stage it looked as though they might only get 50 or so ahead of us but Harbhajan Singh with bat in hand this time made a very important 66 to give India a lead of 145.We batted a little better second time around – Andrew Flower aided by brother Grant to the fore again. India needed 184 at the conclusion of our second innings, but injuries to Heath Streak (knee problem) and Henry Olanga (hamstring ) put paid to any realistic chance of us winning the game. In the end a comprehensive eight-wicket win for India was just reward.However, as the saying goes, it’s no use crying over spilt milk; we cannot dwell on the poor performance of our batsmen in the First Test, but make sure we get it right for the second one which starts on Friday. As happens very often when an innings goes wrong, there is over-analysis of technique and opposition. In this case there was none of that as we realised that we were dismissed by innocuous deliveries playing very poor shots, commonly referred to as soft dismissals.The Indians must feel very confident at this stage. They played some good cricket in patches and one thing I have noticed is that their fielding and intensity in the field has improved dramatically.It is common knowledge worldwide that when the Indians get on a roll it is very hard to stop them. It is getting to that stage now and we have to do something to combat this – watch this space.On a serious note, though this is a very important Test Match for us and probably more important for the Indians to collect their first away series win in something like 15 years. They are not going to get it without a fight and we are ready for battle!