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After continuous suspense for the last 48 hours the Indian board’s AGM has finally begun in Kolkata. Central minister Sharad Pawar was nominated as candidate for the post of president by the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.All of yesterday, the opposing lobby supporting Pawar had accused the ruling dispensation under Jagmohan Dalmiya and Ranbir Singh Mahendra of trying to scupper the elections. With the leaking of Greg Chappell’s scathing email on Saurav Ganguly sent to the BCCI to a Bengali daily, supposedly close to Dalmiya, another dimension has been added to the snowballing crisis in Indian cricket.But even as the AGM gets underway the Dalmiya-Mahendra faction have filed a petition at the Calcutta High Court seeking its adjournment. Their argument is that the three observers appointed by the court do not have the right to overrule decisions made by the board president at least in the conduct of the AGM.On Thursday, the Kolkata High Court had stayed the AGM which was originally scheduled for 12.30 PM yesterday. Justice Soumitra Sen ruled that a three member panel – comprising former chief justices of India K N Singh and M M Punthi, and retired Supreme Court justice S C Sen — will act as observers and preside over the election process.The AGM did assemble briefly yesterday with one of the observers — Justice S C Sen — in the chair but was later adjourned. The official version is that the meeting has been adjourned and will be held again after the other two observers arrive in town. The opposing lobby has, on the other hand, said that the meeting could only have been “adjourned” if it had been convened in the first place.In his ruling Justice Soumitra Sen has ordered that all disputes regarding eligibility and disqualification of voters for the BCCI elections would be decided by the three-member panel before the election begins. In case of differences in opinion among the observers, the majority decision would be valid, the judge added. According to Justice Sen the entire problem is a result of the absence of specific and clear election rules.Pawar, who had lost a closely-fought election to the present incumbent Ranbir Singh Mahendra last year, has decided to contest again.According to PTI, Farooq Abdullah, president of the JKCA which has nominated Pawar, “A good consensus was worked out 15 days back. It was decided that Mahendra will continue for another year following which Pawar would take over the reigns in 2006. The Dalmiya group initially agreed to it but later went back on its word and said that they wanted Mahendra to be in the post till he completed his three-year tenure.”Earlier, the Madras High Court had dismissed a petition filed by a Chennai-based club thus initally paving the way for the elections to be held today itself.The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, run by AC Muthiah, who are opposed to the present dispensation run by Dalmiya, had moved the Madras High Court to pre-empt Mahendra from crucially tilting the scales by being both chair and candidate for the AGM. But the Kolkata-based Kalighat Club, affiliated to the Dalmiya-led Cricket Association of Bengal moved the Calcutta High Court and got it to appoint an observer of its own.

A flaw in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) player contract has allowed Muttiah Muralitharan to go scot free from being handed out a stern punishment. When the SLC Executive Committee met on Tuesday to take up the issue of whether Muralitharan had flouted his contract by speaking to the media without prior permission, they ran into a snag.It was discovered that the player’s contract did not specifically mention any course of action or warning to the player if he violated its clause. What it said was that a player should first obtain permission from SLC before expressing his views to the media. In this regard SLC were helpless to initiate any course of action against Muralitharan.”We got a lawyer to go through the contract before we took any action. The contract was very vague. So we decided against taking any course of action,” said SLC president Mohan de Silva.De Silva said that SLC would caution Muralitharan and remind him to comply with his commitments with SLC in the future. De Silva said that the necessary amendments would be made to the contracts when they come up for renewal in February next year.Muralitharan is one of ten players contracted with SLC on a yearly basis. He got himself into troubled waters when he aired his views on the International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket committee’s recommended increase of tolerance level to an Australian radio station. The ICC committee decided to raise the level to 15 degrees for all bowlers which automatically allowed Muralitharan to bowl his currently banned ‘doosra’ delivery.The station quoted Muralitharan of accusing Australian fast bowlers Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie as ‘chuckers’, an allegation which the Sri Lankan spinner has denied saying his comments had been misinterpreted.This statement the SLC accepted after Muralitharan had written to them explaining his side of the story. Muralitharan with 532 Test wickets is chasing Shane Warne’s world record of 549 wickets. He is currently in Melbourne with his surgeon Dr David Young who will decide when he can turn his bowling arm over after it had undergone an operation to remove a cyst which was causing him a lot of pain. Muralitharan has been out of cricket since pulling out of the second Test against South Africa at the SSC on August 11. He is hopeful that he can make a come back to international by January next year in time for the second Test against New Zealand. But everything depends on the outcome of his meeting with Dr Young.

Jacques Kallis will miss the second Test against England which starts at Lord’s on Thursday, but will return in time for the third Test which starts at Trent Bridge on August 14.Gerald de Kock, the South African team spokesman, broke the news. “We don’t know yet when he will be rejoining us but he will be back beforethe third Test,” he said.At the same time it was announced that Andrew Hall, a member of SouthAfrica’s one-day party but not originally included in the Test squad, had been called up. Hall, 28 on Thursday, has been playing county cricket in England for Worcestershire.

THE Zimbabwe Board XI got off to a flying start in this season’s United Cricket Board of South Africa Bowl competition with wins over North West B in both the three-day and one-day matches played atFochville from November 2.The Board XI won the three-day match by three wickets. North West elected to bat on winning the toss and were all out for 301 in 95.1 overs in their first innings. Former national team pace bowler Brighton Watambwa, making a return to competitive cricket after a four-month absence due to injury, was the pick of the Board XI attack, taking four wickets for 65 off 19.1 overs.Spinner Raymond Price, who left South Africa soon after the match to join the national team in Bangladesh, took three for 77 off 32 overs. The other three wickets went to captain Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Campbell Macmillan and Barney Rogers.In reply the Zimbabwean side made 309 in 84.2 overs, to take a first innings lead of eight runs. All-rounder Dirk Viljoen was the best batsman with an unbeaten 122 from 208 balls while batting at number five. He hit three sixes and 13 fours in 149 minutes.The second-best contribution came from number eight batsman Alester Maregwede who scored 55 off 82 balls, hitting nine fours. Opener Mark Vermeulen hit eight fours on his way to 39 off 55 balls.North West B declared their second innings at 326/8 after 85.4 overs for a lead of 318 with number three batsman Craig Light scoring 106 off 168 balls and opener G Cilliers falling one short of a century. Macmillan took three wickets for 88 off 26 overs while Mbangwa and Price claimed two wickets each.Set 319 to win, the Zimbabwe Board XI reached the victory target for the loss of seven wickets in 63.3 overs. Opener Gavin Rennie scored 93 runs off 126 balls while former national team opener Alistair Campbell made 60off 88 balls. Rennie and Campbell made 131 for the third wicket. Maregwede, elevated to number six, made 65 off just 59 balls and hit three sixes and eight fours.On November 5 the two teams met in a one-day match at the same venue and the Zimbabwe Board XI posted a comprehensive ten-wicket win in a match which saw only six batsmen at the crease during the day, four of them scoring centuries.North West B won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 254 for two off their allotted 50 overs. Opener Willie Dry finished unbeaten on 117 off 128 balls while fellow-opener van Niekerk scored 110 off 131 balls. The only two wickets to fall were claimed by Macmillan for 42 runs off eight overs.The Zimbabwean side needed just the opening pair and 263 balls to get the victory target of 255. Campbell was not out on 112 off 130 balls, smashing two sixes and 13 fours. Fellow-opener Vermeulen was more ruthless and finished unbeaten on 122 off 123 balls. He hit a six and 16 fours on a terrible afternoon for bowlers.

Talk has already begun of how difficult it will be for Sri Lanka to fill the Kumar Sangakkara-shaped hole in their side, but for now there is a Test series on the line, and a successful farewell to be delivered.Angelo Mathews said the match would be sentimental. Sri Lanka, though, have usually been adept at channeling their emotions, rather than becoming mired in them. Muttiah Muralitharan had a victory in his final Test. Mahela Jayawardene was no different. Sri Lanka’s XI is light on experience, but following the stirring victory in Galle, belief will have risen that Sangakkara can be seen off the same way.If there is one thing Mathews can be relied on, it is keeping both feet on the ground. In Galle, Sri Lanka careened haphazardly to victory, and Mathews has not forgotten that they could have wound up at the bottom of a cliff. The hosts lost five wickets for less than 100 in both innings, and were guilty of dropping three catches, missing another, and failing to collect what seemed an easy run-out. The bowlers emerged with credit, but Tharindu Kaushal will want to cut out his loose deliveries, and the quicks will want to be more penetrative, particularly in the first innings.”We can improve a lot when it comes to all three departments,” Mathews said. “India had us by our throats for two-and-a-half days and the courage and the character the boys showed was unbelievable – to come back within three sessions to win the game. Now we have already shoved that under the carpet and it’s history. We’ve got two more games to go, we’ve got to play very good cricket to beat India.”Sri Lanka will likely leave their batting order untouched, but their attack has changed almost every match in the last few months, and it will be no different in this game. True to form, Nuwan Pradeep delivered some excellent spells in Galle, then promptly parked himself under an injury cloud. A hamstring niggle will likely keep him out of this match, Mathews said.In the wings is Dushamantha Chameera – Sri Lanka’s stick-thin fast-bowling hope. There were worries he would struggle to find his place in the top attack given his limited first-class experience, but these were unfounded. He has almost immediately begun following in the footsteps of the senior Sri Lanka quicks. Following an encouraging debut against Pakistan, he got himself ruled out through injury, for the following six weeks. The side strain has now adequately healed.”Unfortunately Chameera got injured when he played his first game against Pakistan,” Mathews said. “But he is back, and has got a lot of pace. He bowls 145-plus consistently. He is very exciting, and I’m extremely happy to have him back fit.”There was hope that Sangakkara would push his batting average towards 60 in his last four Tests, but having crossed fifty only once in his six most recent innings, Sangakkara’s numbers have headed south in the staggered last gasp of his career. His fans will want a Bradman-equalling double-ton, though the P Sara is one of the tougher batting pitches in the world.”From what I can see he just wants to score a hundred tomorrow,” Mathews said. “He’s worked extremely hard and is so determined to do that and we truly wish and hope he does that.”The best farewell we can give him is to win his last Test. I don’t think he expects anything else from us. We are trying our best to do that.”

Australia vice-captain Tahlia McGrath has admitted she is going through the toughest period of her career, low on confidence after a difficult World Cup.Left without a ODI or T20 World Cup trophy for the first time in eight years, Australia return to the field in February with a home multi-format series against India.Dumped out of the ODI World Cup by eventual-champions India in the semi-finals last month, Australia’s next global event is a T20 World Cup in England in June.McGrath finds herself at an interesting juncture, having deputised for Alyssa Healy and led the team 15 times since 2022. She and Ashleigh Gardner are the two main options to replace Healy as captain when the wicketkeeper retires.But at the same time McGrath is open with her own form struggles, after limited opportunities with bat and ball in a World Cup where she scored 69 runs at 13.75.”Cricket’s a pretty brutal game and it’s very much based around confidence,” McGrath said.  “And when it’s not going your way, the world gets pretty big on you. I definitely underperformed and felt the pressure a bit.”Asked if it had been the toughest period of her career, the 30-year-old indicated it was.”Probably. I think you add captaincy into that, you add time away from home,” McGrath said. “And, obviously, when you lose a World Cup, it’s pretty hard to get over as well. It’s been a challenging time.”As much as I was doing everything possible to get us playing some finals cricket [in the WBBL], I was hanging out for a bit of a break.”McGrath opted against nominating for next month’s WPL in India, allowing her a rare stint with South Australia before the multi-format series against India.She has also refrained from picking up a bat since the WBBL ended a fortnight ago, ahead of 50-over cricket resuming for South Australia next month.”It’s properly distancing myself at the moment,” she said. “There’s not much point in me picking up a bat.”I wouldn’t achieve much. So, it’s get away from the game, go for walks along the beach, play a bit of golf, see some friends and family.  And just refresh, get that energy back and put in the work after Christmas.”McGrath has spent the past year adapting to playing as a No.7 in ODIs and No.6 in T20Is, leaving her batting in just half of Australia’s World Cup games. But the desire remains to go back up the order, where she has previously starred.”I’m a very team-first person, and love being in the XI and contributing,” McGrath said. “I haven’t quite nailed that No.7 spot, so I probably need to go away and do a bit of work on that and make that my own first of all. Then once I can do that, try and get myself up the order.”

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.

ScorecardThe Eagles crushed the Zimbabweans by nine wickets at Kimberley in the opening match, a Twenty20, of their South African tour. Though the margin of victory was vast, the South Africa coach, Mickey Arthur, pointed out today’s match was Zimbabwe’s first Twenty20 encounter.Despite Arthur’s eagerness not to highlight the weakness of the tourists, the reality was that it took the home side only 11.4 overs to knock off the required 104 runs, losing just the one wicket – Loots Bosman for 23 – on the way.Davey Jacobs, the 23-year-old right-hander, took the attack to Zimbabwe, crashing three fours and three towering sixes in his unbeaten 53. His 55-run partnership with Jacques Rudolph, who guided 22 from 18 balls, came from just 37 balls as Zimbabwe were beaten with 50 balls remaining.It was a poor warm-up for Zimbabwe who now face South Africa for three one-dayers, the first of which is at Bloemfontein on Friday. Arthur, while pleased with the Eagles’ performance, added a note of a caution about the Zimbabweans which seemed rather out of place. “They have come off a good win against Bangladesh in the 50-overs version of the game,” he said, “and they are obviously more used to playing the longer form of cricket. I expect them to put up a better performance on Friday.”Zimbabwe had some solace in the way they started their innings. Terry Duffin batted intelligently to reach 40 from 38 balls, taking his side to 79 for 1 before he was bowled by Victor Mpitsang. That opened the floodgates as a procession of batsmen succumbed to the desire to thrash every ball out of the ground. Elton Chigumbura lasted just two balls before he swished wildly at a full ball from Victor Mpitsang and had his off stump flattened. Thandi Tshabala held on to a stinging return catch to get rid of Stuart Matsikenyeri, and after his dismissal Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza fell to identical heaves that failed to clear midwicket. With the tailenders exposed, the spectators were treated to the bizarre sight of a slip cordon being brought in for the closing overs of a Twenty20 game, and Zimbabwe’s innings whimpered to a close in the 19th over. Tshabalala, Mpitsang and Roger Telemachus each took three apiece as Zimbabwe lost their last nine wickets for 24 in just 7.1 overs.While their bowling performance was marginally more professional than their batting, with such a small total to defend Zimbabwe never had the Eagles batsmen under any sort of pressure. Ed Rainsford worked up some pace and movement, but was no match for Jacobs or Bosman. Anthony Ireland, the medium-pace opener, appeared woefully out of his depth against batsmen with plentiful experience in this form of the game and was taken out of the attack after only one over. Tafadzwa Kamungozi and Timycen Maruma, both under 20 and both making their Zimbabwe debuts, were brought into the attack and as expected neither were any match for the batsmen.As Arthur said, this was Zimbabwe’s first exposure to this format at any level, and they were playing against a championship-winning side who have eight international players in their squad. At the same time, the extent to which the Zimbabweans were outclassed cannot be ignored. On the plus side, these games are mercifully short. Compared to this match, their one-day series against the full South African side will be like Chinese water torture for Zimbabwe fans.

The phoney war is almost over. After months – although it seems likeyears – of discussion and debate, England’s cricketers have finally embarked on the first leg of their three-month African safari. The players have arrived in Namibia, where the chairman of the national cricket association, Francois Erasmus, hailed their arrival as one of the biggest days in the country’s sporting history.”This is a big day for Namibian cricket,” he said. “In fact, it’s right at the top of the list other than playing in the 2003 World Cup. We’ve hosted Bangladesh twice, once when they were already a Test nation, but nothing as big as this. We have good players but players like Michael Vaughan and Darren Gough can promote the game here better than our players can.”The first leg of England’s tour (Namibia) and the last (South Africa) should be straightforward, off the field at least. But it was the Zimbabwe leg of the tour which attracted the lion’s share of the interest when Michael Vaughan and David Morgan, the ECB’s chairman, faced the media at Heathrow Airport.Comments attributed to Vaughan in recent days have indicated that there are many places he would prefer to be going than Zimbabwe, and there was a certain resignation when the inevitable questions came up. “I’ll be honest, I’m not looking forward to the Zimbabwe leg,” he admitted. “We do have a worry about what has gone on in Zimbabwe but our team has said it is safe for us to go.”The focus is already away from cricket,” he continued. “Any cricket tour you go on when you get more questions about non-cricketing issues, and the cricket is the second most important thing, is very disappointing.” Vaughan’s public face was very much in line with ECB thinking – not condoning what is happening in the country but maintaining that there was an obligation to play there.

Duncan Fletcher, England’s Zimbabwean-born coach, confessed he too had mixed feelings. He warned, however, that the five one-day matches should not be taken too lightly. “What I have learned is that you cannot say there are easy games in international cricket. There are five games to be won and that is what we are preparing to do.”Morgan looked weary, with criticism over the weekend by Darren Goughand Graham Thorpe still making the headlines. He insisted that there would be no official functions, adding that he would seek advice from the Foreign Office should the team be faced with any senior politicians during the trip.Asked why he and other officials from the ECB would be accompanying the side, Morgan said that it was “entirely appropriate we give this addedsupport on what clearly is an unusual tour”.

Mumbai 150 for 4 (Muzumdar 50*) trail Australians 302 for 7 dec (Martyn 71 retired, Hayden 67) by 152 runs
Scorecard

Damien Martyn’s 71 shone bright on a scorching second day of the Australians’ tour opener in Mumbai. Adam Gilchrist also gained some valuable batting practice, although in a sedate manner, before declaring the innings at 302 for 7. Mumbai had reached 150 for 4 by the close, mainly due to the impetus provided by Wasim Jaffer and Amol Muzumdar.Martyn’s innings brought a more relaxed air to the day’s play, unlike the shock-factor that Hayden induced yesterday. Relying on assured footwork and lithe wrists, Martyn nudged it around and, along with Brad Hodge, took the score past 200. Hodge, broad-shouldered and punching forcefully, didn’t face too many problems either and even creamed Ramesh Powar for two successive fours in the 14th over of the day – one off either foot and both through the extra-cover region. However, he was undone by the final ball of the same over. Some extra bounce forced him to prod towards the on side and Vinit Indulkar completed a simple catch at short leg (206 for 4).Michael Clarke was bubbling from the moment he walked out, until the silly mid-off fielder made him look … silly. Clarke got right to the pitch of the ball to block Nilesh Kulkarni, but his back foot was just out of the crease and Indulkar’s quick flick hit the stumps (227 for 5). Martyn then retired so that the lower order could get a hit, but Shane Watson muffed his chance with a golden duck. Expecting the ball to turn away, he shouldered arms to Kulkarni and was given out lbw (248 for 6).Gilchrist chose not to bat in top gear and knocked it around the infield. There were two straight sixes and a few bludgeoning sweeps in his 76-ball 42, and he was assured in his footwork against the spinners. The same couldn’t be said of Brett Lee, who had his fair share of problems against the three-pronged spin attack. He finally fell poking at an offbreak from Powar, handing Indulkar another easy catch at short leg to prompt the declaration.Mumbai’s reply was sluggish to begin with – the first four came in the 17th over – as Glenn McGrath bowled his usual metronomic line and length. Vinayak Mane fell to the first forceful shot that he attempted, to a short one from McGrath, as his mistimed pull resulted in a simple catch to Cameron White at square leg (6 for 1). Indulkar survived a couple of confident appeals for lbw against McGrath before his scratchy knock ended when he was trapped in front by Nathan Hauritz, the offspinner.Jaffer was much more composed, and bided his time against the fast bowlers. Though the boundaries were tough to find, he managed to pierce the field repeatedly and gradually grew in confidence against Lee and McGrath. The shackles were broken once the spinners came on, as Hauritz was greeted with two successive fours from his first two balls of the game as one’s mind went back to so many spinners who have been welcomed in a similar fashion in the past by Indian batsmen. Jaffer fell just two short of his fifty, inevitably to McGrath’s accuracy, as an incutter thudded into his pads and trapped him in front.Muzumdar also cashed in on the number of spinners that Gilchrist experimented with – Clarke, Simon Katich and Hodge – and chalked up his 50 in 92 balls. His partnership with Vinod Kambli at the end of the day contained some entertaining strokeplay as the Australians juggled their bowlers around, shifting the ends from which they were bowling while also interchanging between over and round the wicket.Lee tested out both batsmen with a few short ones and nearly had Muzumdar lbw with a swinging yorker late in the day. Watson had his moment of celebration on the point of stumps, as he trapped Kambli lbw. Kambli, though, was less impressed by the decision, and walked off steaming with rage, as if taking a cue from the weather all day.