The trial of the former Zimbabwean international Mark Vermeulen has been further adjourned until April 3, 2007.The defence and state both need to examine the medical reports and outcome of a brain scan on Vermeulen before the trial can commence. Two medical reports carried out by state specialists have already been received by the Harare provincial magistrate William Bhila, but a further brain scan is due at Harare’s Parirenyatwa Hospital ahead of the trial.Vermeulen is accused of setting fire to the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) boardroom at Harare Sports Club on October 30 ,2006. The fire destroyed the air conditioning system, curtains and carpet before it was put out by the Harare Fire Brigade. Vermeulen, 27, is also charged with setting another fire the following day, which destroyed property worth millions of dollars at the ZC Academy at Highlands Country Club in Harare.The thatched roof and trusses were destroyed, including computers, office accessories and video equipment. Also burnt were the playing kit and equipment of the national squad who were in camp at the academy at that stage while preparing for their end of year tour to Bangladesh.In the interim, Vermeulen has made a promising return to club cricket turning out for Old Hararians in the local leagues thanks to the relaxed bail conditions afforded to him by the courts.

Michael Hussey might be promoted up the order against Bangladesh in an effort to get him out of his uncharacteristic form slump. Hussey has had a miserable World Cup, with scores of 4, 2, 5 and 9, as well as 15 and 0 in the two warm-up games.Hussey’s opportunities have been limited by the success of Australia’s top order in the Caribbean and he has typically come in with only a few overs remaining. However, he also struggled to 9 against West Indies on Tuesday, when he began in the 36th over.The recent run of low scores is Hussey’s leanest patch since his ODI debut in 2003-04. In 65 matches he has recorded an average of 58.63 and developed a reputation as a fine finisher. Ricky Ponting said an in-form Hussey was crucial for Australia and the best move could be to let him bat earlier in the innings.”It’s tempting,” Ponting told . “I actually was going to do it in the Netherlands game. I spoke to him about batting up in my spot [No. 3] in that game. We sort of felt with where we were at, we should just keep pushing on.”Ponting said even though he didn’t want too much “tinkering” with his side, the move would be considered for the Bangladesh game on Saturday. “We’ve got a batters’ meeting and it’s something we will probably talk to Huss about then,” he said.”I know he’s a little bit frustrated. He can’t take a trick at the moment, either. He chopped one on the other day with a few overs left in the innings [against West Indies], and actually hit a really good shot in the South Africa game and picked the guy out at deep cover.”He’s had a few of those games in a row where nothing is going his way. It’s probably something he hasn’t had to deal with really in his international career. In both forms of the game, he has come in and had extended success. He’s just going through one of those little runs at the moment. If it’s going to take batting him up the order to change that around then it’s something we are going to have to consider.”

Scorecard
Orissa and Railways are two teams unlikely to attract crowds at the bestof times, with the likes of Debashish Mohanty, Harvinder Singh and SanjayBangar – all low-key players even when they played for India – being thebiggest stars about. And when Orissa who lost the toss and were put in,were kept down to only 101 for 8 in 20 overs, what little interest therewas died. There was a brief flutter of excitement when Railways went from 85for 3 to 87 for 7 in their chase, but by then the match as a contest hadended. Soon enough they knocked off the required runs with three wicketsto spare.It wasn’t as though one brilliant spell from a bowler caused havoc. Orissajust did not seem to have a plan over how to approach their innings, andall batsmen came – and went – swinging merrily. The wickets were sharedaround, and fell in clutches, with the spinners doing most of the damage.G Shankar Rao, the left-arm spinner, picked up 3 for 20, while KulamaniParida, the offie, grabbed 2 for 12.It was an utterly disappointing batting performance, with no batsman evenmaking a quarter-century, which could well be the ‘decent’ individual score in this form of the game. Only one batsman even made 20, and that was Niranjan Behera, who top-scored with23. From the start of the sixth over till as late as the fourth ball ofthe 16th over – which amounts to 70 balls – not a single boundary wasstruck.Sanjay Bangar began Railways’ chase well enough, carting the second andthird balls of the innings for a six over the bowler’s head and a fourpast point respectively. Off the very next ball, though, he edged to thekeeper. From then on it was the TP Singh-show all the way. He hit fourfours and a six in his 32-ball 40 that all but settled the game inRailways’ favour. When he fell with the score on 85, Paresh Patel strucktwice in as many balls, and then Behera prised out another wicket with thescore still on 87, and there was a bit of a flutter, but Baburao Yadav smacked15 to seal the deal with almost four overs to spare.
Scorecard
It was a quiet day all round in the competition, with Karnataka playing inthe morning, having lost to Punjab just the previous evening. Karnatakanotched up their first win, by four wickets, after winning the toss andsending Gujarat in. Parthiv Patel and Azhar Bilakhia got Gujarat off to aflyer, getting to 55 in just 5.2 overs before they lost their firstwicket.Bilakhia went on to make 62, a rare half-century in this tournament, offonly 47 balls with 6 fours and a six. Patel had made 26, but there were noother scores of note in the Gujarat innings. They stitched together 151, adecent enough score, but it proved to be too few.All eyes were on Rahul Dravid, playing his first-ever Twenty20 match, buthe barely created an impression. He lasted just 8 balls, scoring asolitary single, barely attempting a big shot in his stay at the crease.Robin Uthappa, another player whose game is ideally suited to thistruncated version of the game, failed once more, using up 16 balls for 6,before hitting a catch to Biswajit Solanki off Hitesh Majmudar.Fortunately for Karnataka though Deepak Chougule had no such problems. Heplayed a string of innovative shots and succeeded in getting the ball overthe wicketkeeper’s head for boundaries more than once, scoring an unbeaten41 from 36 balls with five fours. B Akhil (35) and R Vinaykumar (24)chipped in with vital contributions in the lower middle-order, seeingKarnataka home with 3 balls to spare.

Back-to-back games are never easy and they are harder when played in hostile conditions like the Chennai summer. Asia have already won the Afro-Asia Cup and although Mahela Jayawardene, the Asia captain, said that they would take the last game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as seriously as the first two, you can be sure that a few players won’t mind a bit of rain to cool off. Rain, however, is unlikely.With hardly any time to acclimatise to the conditions in Bangalore and Chennai, fitness problems have mounted. Justin Kemp, the Africa captain, said that Albie Morkel, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher and Thomas Odoyo picked up niggles during Saturday’s game and with Loots Bosman still unwell, a final decision on the XI will be taken on Sunday morning.Asia were always a stronger side on paper, and as expected the series is already in the bag. Africa, however, have by no means disgraced themselves. Shaun Pollock took them within striking distance of victory in Bangalore and on Saturday, several dropped catches allowed Asia to get a few more runs than they should have. In both the matches so far, an inexperienced African team have had to chase in excess of 300 and on both occasions they have responded bravely.”Coming out of the African winter and with no nets, adjusting was a bit difficult. I think our guys did well,” said Kemp. “If you look at scores we could have won both. We have a young team with players without much experience. They [Asia] are a very experienced bunch. We have pushed them hard and there was a possibility we could have won both the games but hard luck.”Jayawardene also indicated that there would be changes to the Asian XI for the final game. Upul Tharanga, the Sri Lankan opener, could play; in which case, he is likely to replace his regular partner, Sanath Jayasuriya, who has a stomach complaint. Zaheer Khan went off the field with a niggle during Saturday’s match and there was a doubt over his participation on Sunday.”Zaheer’s is just a strain,” said Jayawardene. “We will have to speak to the physio and find out. It’s good that he stopped immediately and did not aggravate the injury. If he is not 100% [fit] he will not play. We have to take the third match seriously as the other last two matches. It will be nice to finish it of 3-0.”Yuvraj Singh hasn’t had an opportunity to play a long innings so far in the series and is likely to bat higher up the order on Sunday. He scored 31 off 30 balls at Bangalore and pummeled 30 off 13 deliveries in the first game at Chennai during the slog overs.With little at stake in the third one-dayer and packed international schedules ahead of several players, it’s unlikely they’ll push themselves too much. The young Africans, on the other hand, will be determined to go home with a victory to show for their toil. That, however, depends on how many of their key players are fit enough to face another humid Chennai evening.

Brian Lara has said that he is ready to continue playing for the national side provided the West Indian board re-selects the squad for the first Test against South Africa and chooses the best team with an assurance from parties. Lara, and six others, had earlier been excluded from the squad for the Guyana Test owing to the sponsorship row between Digicel, the team sponsors, and Cable & Wireless, the players’ sponsors.According to a Press Trust of India report, in a letter to Roger Braithwaite, the Chief Executive Officer of West Indies Cricket Board, Lara said: “In the circumstances, where neither my loyalty to the players nor my loyalty to West Indies cricket can be denied, I confirm that I am ready, willing and able to continue participating in West Indies cricket, provided that, even at this late stage, the best team will be selected with an assurance from all of the parties that the outstanding issues would be brought to the table and discussed.”The exclusion of the talismanic Lara from the squad sent shock waves around the West Indies and even several South African players hoped for the issue to be settled at the earlier and the best team to be selected. Lara continued: “I would also like to see an amicable resolution to the outstanding issues in an atmosphere of mutual compromise and respect, which would all redound to uplifting the morale and pride of the West Indian people who are passionate about the sport.”The West Indies Players’ Association also backed Lara’s stand and the president, Dinanath Ramnarine, said, “WIPA strongly deprecates the manner in which the Board issued an invitation to Brian Lara to make himself available for selection to the squad for the first Test match.”

Michael Vandort, the Sri Lankan opener, will replace the injured Upul Tharanga for the first Test against Bangladesh which begins on June 25.”The selectors have called up Vandort to take Tharanga’s place for the first Test,” Samantha Algama, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) spokesman told AFP. “Tharanga’s progress will be monitored closely to see when he will be fit to play.” Tharanga suffered a hairline fracture in his right toe after being hit by a ball from Lasith Malinga during practice on Thursday.Vandort, who averages 51.22 in six Tests, would open the batting with debutant Malinda Warnapura after Sanath Jayasuriya was rested and Marvan Atapattu opted out due to personal reasons. Vandort, who played his last Test in England in 2006, made 38 in the three-day tour match against the Bangladeshis which ended in a draw in Colombo.

The abysmal showing and the humiliating experiences of the Indianteam in England in 1974 brought back hideous memories of the 1936tour. On the field the visitors went down to heavy defeats; offthe field there were numerous seamy incidents making it arguablythe worst tour ever undertaken by an Indian team.Sunil Gavaskar put it all succinctly when he wrote in : “It was a totally disastrous series and the tour wasone of the worst I had made. There was no such thing as teamspirit. Instead there were a lot of petty squabbles that didn’tdo anybody any good. The many incidents that gave the team such abad name didn’t help. It was all extremely frustrating.”And yet when the team landed in England in April, there were noindications that the tour would end in such an unmitigateddisaster. The nucleus of the 1971 side seemed very much intact.The captain was still Ajit Wadekar, the spin quartet was at itpeak and the batting remained strong. Sure, the Indians would betouring in the wetter first half and not in the drier second halfas was the case in 1971. This was one factor reckoned to beagainst the visitors. But not even the most cynical Indiancricket follower could have bargained for what really happened.England won the first Test at Manchester by 113 runs. But the endcame in the 13th of the 20 mandatory overs so it was after a gamefight that India went down. But in the second Test at Lord’s,India touched an all time low. They conceded 629 runs, which wasthe highest England total at the game’s headquarters and thehighest by them against India. On the third day, India repliedwith 302. Following on, the Indian batting touched rock bottom.In just 77 minutes, they were bowled out for 42, their lowestever Test score and the lowest-ever total at Lord’s. The marginof defeat, an innings and 285 runs was the second biggest thatIndia have suffered. From one disaster the Indians stumbled on toanother.In the third Test at Birmingham, India went down by an inningsand 78 runs inside three days and after taking only two wickets.This was only the third time that a team was winning a Test afterlosing only two wickets, the earlier occasions being in 1924 and1958. To cricket fans who had seen their team pull off two greataway triumphs in the West Indies and England in 1971 and thenfollow it up by defeating England at home in 1972-73 it was toomuch to swallow. The batting had crumbled, the fielding hadwilted and the famed spinners had been mastered.As if the heavy defeats were not bad enough, stories of riftsbetween players and factions in the team made the rounds. Therewere also unsavoury incidents concerning the team at a partyhosted by the Indian High Commissioner in London. And around thistime, shiplifting charges were made out against Sudhir Naik.In India, the mood was predictably ugly and there were stories ofWadekar’s house being stoned and the 1971 Victory Bat, erected atIndore to commemorate the triumph three years before, beingdefaced. As it to symbolise the lack of team spirit and thefactionalism, the players came back in batches.Predictably enough, there were very few gains. Gavaskar, GundappaViswanath and Farookh Engineer did reasonably well under thecircumstances. Gavaskar’s 101 in bowler-friendly conditions atOld Trafford is considered to be among his greatest knocks.Generally, however, the batsmen came a cropper against theswinging ball, their technical limitations being exposed. EvenEknath Solkar, the eternal fighter, found it difficult to getruns, averaging less than 20 while Wadekar with 82 runs in sixinnings, was a total failure.The bowling too was a disaster with the spin quartet anything butmenacing. Compared to the 37 wickets that Bishan Bedi, BhagwatChandrasekhar and Sinivas Venkatraghavan took three years before,this time the four of them shared just 15 and at enormous cost.The tour results also showed the team in poor light. Out of 18matches, three were won, four lost and 11 drawn. The team alsolost both the one-day internationals at the end of the tourincidentally the first two such games that India played. Gavaskarlived up to his reputation by getting 993 runs at an average of41.37. Naik, Wadekar, Viswanath and Solkar all topped the 700-runmark. But for younger players like Brijesh Patel and Gopal Bose,the tour was a disaster.Bedi emerged as the leading wicket-taker with 53 but Chandra’stally fell from 50 in 1971 to 26 this time and Venkat’s declinewas even sharper 63 to 18. And all of them including Prasanna,were very expensive. Abid Ali’s all-round showing was a minorsilver lining.Against such weak-kneed opposition, England had a whale of a timein the Tests. Mike Denness got hundreds in successive Tests, JohnEdrich, Dennis Amiss, Keith Fletcher and Tony Greig also hitcenturies, David Lloyd hammered an unbeaten 214 in only hissecond Test and Geoff Arnold (4 for 19) and Chris Old (5 for 21)caused the debacle at Lord’s. The rout was total, complete andabsolute and there could not be any excuses for such a feebleshowing.

Worcestershire 172 for 5 dec and 337 for 4 (Smith 98*, Moore 65) beat Yorkshire 319 and 188 for 5 (Rudolph 92*, Rashid 73*, Ali 4-40) by six wickets
ScorecardWorcestershire registered their first Championship win of the season in superb fashion. Set 336 to win in 65 overs by Yorkshire at Kidderminister, they applied a mixture of courage and good fortune in racing home by six wickets with eight overs to spare, in what was inevitably a declaration match. It was a good team performance, with Ben Smith’s top score of 98 not out sealing the victory.Yorkshire resumed their second innings on a shaky 32 for 4. The day began with a wicket, as Doug Bollinger yorked Gerard Brophy for his overnight 13. Then the balance swung back in Yorkshire’s favour, as Jacques Rudolph and Adil Rashid responded aggressively. Rudolph produced many aggressive drives through the covers, one of them bring him his fifty off 63 balls, while Rashid, not content to rest on the laurels of his first innings century, looked like a specialist batsman as he played with vigour and maturity. The bowlers began to look innocuous as the batsman scored almost at will, but they did better than they had first time round in conceding only four extras, compared to 48. Kabir Ali this time lacked the inspiration to break through.Yorkshire, as desperate for victory as Worcestershire, declared at 188 for 5 and Worcestershire were left to score 336 to win in a minimum of 65 overs; some felt this generous on a good pitch, but the home team’s batting has not inspired much confidence this season.They were given a cracking start by Phil Jaques, who hammered 44 runs off 33 balls, mixing powerful drives with boundary snicks and actually having 40 on the board, out of 49, before his partner Stephen Moore, who had little of the strike, got off the mark. He was out in the ninth over (62 for 1), but his innings was crucial. It set the spirit for the run chase and Worcestershire never lost it.Vikram Solanki found some good form with a brisk 44, while Moore played the anchor role with 65. Graeme Hick helped with 31, including three fours in an over from Darren Gough, but the man to see the side home was Smith, whose place in the side had been questioned due to his poor form. He was left stranded on 98 at the end, denied the century he deserved for an innings full of strokes all round the wicket and superb running.Worcestershire did enjoy considerable luck, scoring quite a proportion of runs through edges that all seemed to reach the boundary, but fortune favoured the brave; Yorkshire, for their part, were at times sloppy in the field. Rashid was unable to follow his batting scores with bowling success; though the attack never fell to pieces, neither did it ever look dangerous.County matches are always difficult when much time is lost to the weather, but the two captains, Solanki and Gough, deserve credit for doing the best they could to turn a lemon into lemonade, and bringing about a good finish without reducing the play at any time to a farce. For Worcestershire, although still bottom of the table, the victory will lift their spirits; for Yorkshire, the result will almost certainly extinguish their Championship hopes for this year.

As has often been the case in recent years, Pakistan’s build-up for a major international assignment has been disrupted by an off-field ruckus, and not for the first time a certain Shoaib Akhtar has held centre stage. Shoaib is now cooling his heels back home, and the victim of his alleged assault, Mohammad Asif, will have to lead the way with the ball as Pakistan look to end a run of underwhelming performances at the global level that dates back to 1999.Bat play: Few of the Scottish players are household names but some will remember Gavin Hamilton’s performances at the 1999 World Cup. The squad also has Dougie Brown, whose county career as an allrounder began 15 years ago. Neil McCallum and Ryan Watson, the captain, are others to watch for.For Pakistan, this is a step into the unknown, the first time in a decade that they have gone into a competition of this magnitude without either Inzamam-ul-Haq or Mohammad Yousuf. Shahid Afridi and Imran Nazir will lead the bludgeon brigade but just as vital will be the contributions from the two nudgers and accumulators in the middle order, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan.Wrecking ball: John Blain, who once tried his luck with Falkirk in Scottish football, and Craig Wright, the former captain, will be key with the ball, as will a young off-break bowler, Majid Haq, with roots in Pakistan.With Shoaib gone, Asif and Umar Gul will most likely be Pakistan’s new-ball pairing, with Iftikhar Anjum and Yasir Arafat providing the back-up. Malik, Afridi and Abdur Rehman are the spin options, and there could also be a place for the all-round abilities of Mohammad Hafeez.Keep your eyes on: Afridi should be a star in this format, as will Nazir. Pakistan also boast one of the strongest bowling line-ups in the competition, and this gentle opener will set them up perfectly for a tilt against India on Friday.Shop talk: “We have got a number of batsmen who can score quickly. That’s a great strength that we have. Someone like Afridi can get a 50 off 15 balls. He can hit the best bowling attack all over. We have a very strong battling line-up. They all play attacking cricket. If Pakistan play to their potential, they can be an extremely dangerous side.” – Geoff Lawson, the Pakistan coach, on his team’s chances.Pitching it right: Bright sunshine is predicted for Tuesday, and Pakistan’s bowlers will doubtless enjoy the pace and bounce on offer at Kingsmead. The batting looks less formidable, but it’s unlikely that Scotland possess the arsenal to ask too many questions.

TeamsPakistan (likely): Imran Nazir, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shoaib Malik (capt), Shahid Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Yasir Arafat, Iftikhar Anjum, Mohammad Asif, Umer Gul

Scotland (from): Ryan Watson (capt), Fraser Watts, Dougie Brown, John Blain, GavinHamilton, Navdeep Poonia, Gregor Maiden, Neil McCallum, Qasim Sheikh, Colin Smith (wk),Craig Wright, Dewald Nel, Gordon Drummond, Ross Lyons, Majid Haq

Ottis Gibson, the former West Indies fast bowler, has been named England’s fast-bowling coach. Gibson has been working with the England team on their tour to Sri Lanka, and has also been involved in the ECB Fast Bowling Programme at the National Cricket Performance Centre over the last four years.”I am delighted to be a part of the England team in a full time capacity as bowling coach,” Gibson said. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the team over the past few weeks in what has been a successful ODI tour of Sri Lanka.” England wrapped up the five-match ODI series 3-2, and the stand-out aspect throughout was the performance of the bowlers.”I feel I’m well equipped to take up the position as fast bowling coach,” said Gibson, who will continue to work within the Fast Bowling Programme under Kevin Shine, the ECB’s lead fast-bowling coach. “I’ve been involved with the ECB Fast Bowling Programme for a number of years now and have worked with both the senior England bowlers and several younger England bowlers. With the future looking so bright for England’s bowling stocks, I’m extremely excited by the prospect of working alongside Kevin Shine with such a talented group of bowlers in both the Test and one-day arenas.”Hugh Morris, the managing director of England Cricket, said: “The contribution Ottis has made to the ECB Fast Bowling Programme over a period of time has been outstanding and this has been further supported by his work with the England ODI squad in Sri Lanka recently.”Gibson had a superb season with Durham in 2007: he finished with the most number of wickets that any bowler has taken in a season for Durham, and was named Most Valuable Player and Player of the Year. Gibson’s international assignments with England this season will include a three-Test series in Sri Lanka in December, followed by a five-ODI and three-Test series in New Zealand early next year.