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Justin Langer is not the only one being tested after he was concussed while batting in his 100th match against South Africa last month. Langer’s helmet, which was struck as the batsman turned on a Makhaya Ntini bouncer, has also been sent to the manufacturer for investigation in a bid to make future models safer.Langer, who was unable to continue in his milestone match after being hit from the first ball of the innings at Johannesburg, gave the helmet to Cricket Australia to pass on to Albion Sports. “Hopefully they can find out why, when I was hit flush on the head, it split the skin through the helmet and I needed stitches,” Langer, 35, told . “I was so severely concussed that I think it is important they have a look at it. I missed basically three Tests as a result. I’m not sure if they can add any further protection.”Despite regular examinations, Langer is still waiting for a full health clearance, which should take another two weeks. He suffered headaches for two days after the incident and considered retiring, but decided he wanted to try to reclaim the Ashes before walking away from the game.Langer has received many blows in the head while batting and fielding, and he said the Ntini bouncer was the worst of his career. “Obviously it hit me absolutely in the wrong spot,” he told the paper. “I think the protection is excellent. It’s very unusual these days to be hit in the helmet and to end up with concussion. It was a freakish incident. [The helmet] might have saved my life and saved my career. It could have been a lot worse.”Ross Barrat, the Albion sales and marketing manager, has spoken to Langer about the impact and said the helmets went through rigorous testing. “We did discuss a few things, a few options, he was very good,” Barrat said. “The development of helmets can be a timely process simply because of the testing they have to go through. At the end of the day we are making a safety device.”

Queensland have given Shane Watson a boost in his bid to be an international top-order batsman with Jimmy Maher dropping from opener to No. 4 in the first-class arena this season. Maher is in his final campaign as the Bulls captain and has reduced his duties further to encourage the state’s emerging talent and Watson, who has signalled his desire to replace Justin Langer in the Test team.”It will be a tremendous opportunity for Shane to state a case for international honours,” Maher said of the move. “It also gives the young guys in the squad – Ryan Broad, Greg Moller, Chris Simpson etc – better opportunities.”However, Watson will have to wait for his first match of the home season as he recovers from a hamstring injury sustained during the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. He is expected to be available for the games against New South Wales starting on October 24.Watson’s unavailability means Maher will open with Broad in Wednesday’s season-opening FR Cup fixture against Tasmania at the Gabba. Maher, who intends to continue as a batsman for a couple of years, wants to ensure a smooth transition when the squad’s large group of experienced players starts to stand down.”When I came into the squad I knew what was wanted of me and the Mahers and the Loves may not be around for a long time,” he said. “It’s best while we’re still here that we’re able to offer advice.” Martin Love is due to come back in November following two knee operations.One player who will benefit from Maher’s move is Broad, who impressed when posting 111 against Stuart MacGill on a final-day SCG pitch at the end of last season. Broad will play his third one-day match against the Tigers and was relieved Maher was dropping down the Pura Cup order.”I’d heard the rumours,” he said, “but it’s great that it’s official.” The Bulls will announce the side for Friday’s Pura Cup match against the Tigers on Wednesday.Tasmania’s bowling attack has been struck by injuries to Damien Wright and Luke Butterworth while Ben Hilfenhaus is on national duty. “They have stitched us up a few times in the last few years and the boys aren’t happy,” Maher said. “Now with Hilfenhaus out, let’s see how good their depth is.”Mark Divin, the allrounder, is in line to make his one-day debut two seasons after moving from the ACT. Chris Duval, who is originally from South Australia, is eyeing a first-class debut on Friday as he joins Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves and Adam Griffith in providing cover for Hilfenhaus.Queensland FR Cup squad Ryan Broad, Jimmy Maher (capt), Clinton Perren, Aaron Nye, Michael Buchanan, Craig Philipson, Chris Hartley (wk), Nathan Reardon, Chris Simpson, Ashley Noffke, Grant Sullivan, Andy Bichel.Tasmania FR Cup squad Michael Di Venuto, Tim Paine (wk), Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, George Bailey, Daniel Marsh (capt), Dane Anderson, Mark Divin, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith.Tasmania Pura Cup squad Michael Di Venuto, Tim Paine, Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, George Bailey, Daniel Marsh (capt), Sean Clingeleffer (wk) Mark Divin, Brendan Drew, Chris Duval, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith.

Adam Gilchrist was weary but not exhausted. His baggy green, sweat-lined and with a desperately faded coat of arms, was more ragged than its owner. Relieved and happy that his Test career was over, he had been sad enough at tea that he bawled his eyes out to his team-mates.At the back of the Adelaide Oval’s indoor centre his large family watched him say goodbye. A baby squawked a couple of times and Gilchrist choked up when thanking his wife and children for sticking by him. The extended members of the clan huddled beside the television cameras and were partly responsible for him walking away. Over the past couple of years the new additions made him understand how much his life had moved on.A simple dropped catch of VVS Laxman on the opening day was the sealer. The moment of clarity arrived between the ball hitting his gloves and the ground. He quickly looked up at the replay on the big screen.”It made me realise in the ensuing 10 or 15 minutes that that’s it,” he said. “I’m not moving quite as well as I have, not just on the field but in training and my fitness. I just realised I didn’t have the absolute desperation that you need to continue to maintain your standards.”Gilchrist’s wicketkeeping, which he felt he had to defend throughout his career because of the high-quality work of his predecessors, had slipped over the past month. “I don’t think anyone in this room has missed the fact that I did miss a few chances this series,” he said. “It was bugging me and I couldn’t understand why.”He was enjoying the team, the change in leadership, the new players and was thinking of retiring from one-dayers to extend his Test career. Everything changed with the sound of a ball bouncing out from two gloves. After 96 Tests, a world record 416 dismissals and 5570 runs, he has finished.There were so many groups of people waiting for him throughout the day that he must have felt like a bridegroom. India’s batsmen and Australia’s fielders lined up on the ground in the morning, allowing Gilchrist to run through them, a reception which was repeated for the final session. Two catches were added to his tally and he was ecstatic as his team-mates converged.Stumps were called early and there was no rush to grab a wicket, but there was an urgency to reach Gilchrist. He waved, he hugged and walked off first, his team-mates staying on the field and applauding in a gesture that was symbolic of the months ahead. They will miss him for many reasons.After speaking for 20 minutes about his highs and lows a group of first-aid workers cheered and waited for his autograph. He was looking forward to celebrating with his family, friends and team-mates, and trying to finish the dressing-room speech he had to stop when overwhelmed by emotion.The camaraderie, passion and pride of the side were the things that stood out most during his 12 years in international squads. “The way that legacy is passed on is the most glaring strength in Australian cricket,” he said, “and I’m certain I’m seeing it happen in other countries as well.”In a career of so many individual and collective medals he chose another group moment as his best. Australia hadn’t won in India for 35 years when he was thrust into the captaincy after Ricky Ponting broke his finger during the 2004 Champions Trophy. “From that moment on I started to get nervous and had a few self doubts and considered not taking it on,” he said. “To captain that team for the bulk of the series and be part of the leadership group that constructed that was the highest point and greatest achievement of my career personally.”The magnificent 149 in the 2007 World Cup final sealed a third successive trophy and the drawn-out nature of the tournament weighed heavily on Gilchrist. Five days before he left for the Caribbean his third child was born. As the event wore on he was lonely and a long way from home. “That was one of the most difficult parts of my career, getting through the World Cup,” he said. “To pick myself up [for the final] was very special.”Australian audiences have another six weeks to say their goodbyes as he joins the CB Series circuit. He wants to excite people, but when he sensed the crowd’s demand for something special in his final Test innings he fell to a loose shot on 14. “If I keep thinking I’m going to entertain,” he smiled, “I’ll get knocked over very easily.”Gilchrist’s international career began as a specialist limited-overs player and he was pleased it would wind down in the same format. “I’m thrilled the way it’s gone, that I didn’t pull out of one-day cricket and then extend my Test career,” he said. “One-day cricket gave me a chance to make a statement to the selectors and to the world. That filtered into Tests. To now play the last part of my career in one-day cricket, I am so excited about it.”Having thanked his coaches, a group of close team-mates and those who had supported him since he was child, Gilchrist was almost ready to go to his family. They exited first and he followed slowly, being interrupted at almost every step. In March he will re-join them for good.

John Wright has missed out on a place on New Zealand’s selection panel, with the existing four-member group reappointed for at least a year. Glenn Turner, Richard Hadlee and Dion Nash will again join the coach, John Bracewell, in choosing national squads.Justin Vaughan, the CEO of New Zealand Cricket, did not rule out making Wright a selector in the future but before he could be seriously considered he would need to spend time familiarising himself with the domestic players. Wright begins work for New Zealand Cricket next week, although his exact role remains unclear.”Many key selection decisions need to be made in the short-term before John has had an opportunity to view many of the New Zealand player pool,” Vaughan said. “We felt he would be best to reacquaint himself with the players in New Zealand before any decision is made on whether he should be included on the panel.”Although the current selectors survived the review process, there has been a change to their tenures. A staggered system will mean selectors are offered two-year terms after which they can reapply, with no more than two members retiring in any given year to allow continuity in the decision-making process.Hadlee and Nash have initially been given one-year deals to begin the rotation, while Turner and Bracewell are on two-year contracts. “Richard, Dion and Glenn have the skills and knowledge we want in our selection panel, and we are very happy to retain their services,” Vaughan said.

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In the end, there was a tear in his eye, and he left to a warm round of applause from journalists, not all of whom had been always adoring. Brian Lara’s final press conference was a mammoth affair and, among many memories, it carried enough hints about the circumstances that hastened his departure.”At least I had the opportunity to say goodbye”, he said, “I saw Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, all these guys wanted to go that little extra step. Unfortunately they were not granted the opportunity to.”Lara chose not to answer directly what changed his mind about touring England as a Test player, but he repeatedly made it clear it had been his plan to tour. “I sat with the selectors in Antigua to pick the team for England, and of course I picked myself.”What had changed then? “West Indies cricket is at a stage where change is necessary,” he said, “We are most likely going to have a young captain, someone under the age of 30 years, and he will need to mould this team with the support that he needs.”I just thought there is no need for me to be out there. Physically there is nothing much I can do to help at present. It’s just a matter of allowing the team that change that is needed. Maybe this is just one of it. Maybe there is a lot more to take place. But I just see no reason for me to carry on at this present time.”Lara sometimes cut a slightly lonely figure on the field during his last match. There was a hug with Chris Gayle as the two crossed paths when Gayle was returning to the pavilion, but only Dwyane Bravo, a fellow Trinidadian whom Lara has nurtured, demonstrated his affection enthusiastically. English players welcomed Lara with a guard of honour when he came to the crease but there was no such salutations from his own team at the end of the day. On his last day at Sydney, Steve Waugh had his final parade on the shoulders of his team-mates; Lara hurried through stairs, past his team-mates, and disappeared into the Garfield Sobers Pavillion.Earlier in the day, he had been run out when Marlon Samuels hit the ball to mid-on, charged off the blocks before retracing his steps. When asked if Samuels had said sorry to him after the game, Lara pursed his lips, fumbled for words, and said nothing. “It would have to be a yes, or a no. So I will leave it.”He wasn’t rancorous, but the warmth was missing too when the subject of captaincy and board came up. “I hold West Indian cricket dear to my heart”, he repeated often, and promised that he was “not lost to West Indian cricket”, but it was apparent that there was a lot he was holding back. “The time for that is not now”, he said every time he was asked what in his opinion was wrong with West Indian cricket.The subject of his captaincy came up more than once but Lara wouldn’t be drawn into a discussion. “What I have to do is just wish the team and the new captain all the best, and try to persuade the West Indies Cricket Board to ensure that the captain and the team have the support that is necessary from them.”You might see eleven individuals out there and of course we are criticised all the time after we have a bad performance. But West Indies cricket goes deep and unless we lay a proper foundation, you know you are going to get that sort of performance out in the middle. On one day we are spectacular and can score 418 runs to win a Test match in the fourth innings, and the next day we can’t score 60.

“About that captaincy thing, I have no reason to be worried about it anymore. I just want to move on. My support is always going to be there. I have had an open-door policy with the players. They all know my number and they can call me at any point in time, for anything at all and I will be there to support them.”His eternal regret, Lara said, was that West Indies remained an abysmal team for the last 12 years of his career. “The most unfortunate thing in cricket is not achieving what I set out to do from the very beginning: to be a part of a successful team over a long period of time. I had a little taste of it when I started in 1989, and up till 1995. The last 12 years have been very disappointing.”That in itself is the sort of disappointment I have had. I am just very thankful to be able to break all those records. It has been a great honour to play for the West Indies, to hold a bat and to spend 17 years in international cricket. That is something I am proud of.”Lara didn’t rule out the possibility of playing county cricket or getting involved with the game in some way. “Right now, I am going to take a break. Maybe a week, maybe two weeks. Then I will look at options. I not committing to anything, or ruling anything out.”But first of all, I just want to move back a little bit, relax and wake up tomorrow, or next week or two weeks from now, knowing I can do what I want. I can pick my daughter up and take her to school and do many different things that I haven’t been able to do in the past. The future is there and I will have a lot of opportunities in front of me. But there is no reason to rush into anything at this present time.”

More bad news comes the way of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) as an interim report by a governance committee, appointed by the WICB to examine the structures of cricket in the region, has recommended doing away with the board as it is currently constituted.In a wide-ranging report, the Patterson Committee, headed by PJ Patterson, the former Jamaican prime minister, and inclusive of noted Caribbean figures, Sir Alister McIntyre and Ian McDonald, observed that there were a number of negative perceptions about West Indies cricket, “which, whatever their validity, we consider it necessary to address”.The committee identified some of those perceptions as being that the WICB is administered inefficiently; sponsorship deals are perceived as flawed; finances are in shambles; and funding does not reach territorial boards.As a result, the committee said: “The West Indies Cricket Board should give way to a more representative body.”The report, the final version of which is due next month, proposed that such a restructuring could occur in one of two ways. The first was the replacement of the WICB with a West Indies Cricket Commission.This Cricket Commission, it was proposed, would include all the major interest groups – the territorial boards, players and officials, women, the Caribbean Community, the private sector and civil society and would have a chairman, selected after the Commission had been set up. It also recommended that there be a body of nominees – from the cricket boards, the governments, the West Indies Players Association, past players, the regional private sector and the media – to “identify, interview and nominate directors” of the Commission.It further suggested: “If final selection [of the directors] is to be dominated by the territorial boards, it should be limited to the list of names submitted by the nominating body.”The second proposal involved the WICB being run as a publicly-listed company on the regional stock exchanges, with directors accountable to shareholders, and with an annual general meeting. The committee noted this format would “help to raise much-needed capital and give the Caribbean public a sense of ownership”.However, the Patterson committee also warned that with such an entity, “there would need to be safeguards against appropriation of the board by special interests. Caps would have to be set, and the voting power so arranged as to avoid control ending up in the hands of a limited number of persons and corporations or result in a populist system which could stultify effective decision-making”. But it urged a clear delineation between the role of the board as a policy-making and monitoring entity and that of the management staff as the executing arm, regardless of the format.Additionally, the committee outlined ten steps it felt needed to be taken, “with immediate effect”, to give new momentum to cricket reform and development in the region. The steps, the committee said, could be introduced by mid-2008.Among the steps are the establishment of a cricket academy; the selection of a group of 15 players “for continuous retraining and development over the next 12 months”; and the drawing up of a business plan and budget for 2008-09.

If England’s cricketers need any counselling after a traumatic first day of the Ashes, then they should look no further than a certain member of their own camp. Ashley Giles’s career seemed dead in the water last summer, as he struggled to recover from a long-term hip injury, and when he did finally make it back into the team, a year to the day since his last outing, his selection ahead of Monty Panesar was universally panned.But it was ever thus with Gilo, and once again he took these indignities on the chin, wheeling away impassively to provide a rare semblance of control for his team. Eighteen overs for 51 plus the solitary wicket of Damien Martyn was hardly riches, but compared to some of the other returns on day one of the series, it was a comeback of Sinatra proportions.”It was fairly satisfying,” Giles demurred afterwards. “It’s been a difficult year, and I was nervous this morning. It’s almost a year to the day since I last played a Test match. But it was great to be out with the boys, and there’s no better ground or atmosphere to play in.”Giles’s selection, though widely speculated upon in the build-up to the match, still came as something of a surprise. He has not played any first-class cricket since the tour of Pakistan this time last year, and was even overlooked for England’s final warm-up match at Adelaide last week. “I take it as a huge compliment,” he said. “Monty played at Adelaide, I’ve been out of the team, and this is probably the most hyped Ashes series of all. But I was overjoyed last night to get picked for the side.”His selection was billed as negativity but, at the age of 33, Giles revealed he was still capable of learning new tricks, as he came in closer to the stumps with a remodelled action, and even ventured around the wicket on occasions. It was the second time in his career he had tinkered with his action, having deconstructed it on the tour of Bangladesh in 2003-04, with less immediate results. “I’m still in that match learning mode,” he admitted. “I was surprised my first ball bounced!”I’ve tried to get a bit closer around the wicket, be more consistent around the wicket and be more attacking but my pace is something I need to work on,” he added. “Because I’ve changed the angle of delivery I need to get my pace from other areas. I am still learning a lot about my action in matches. I hope it will develop and the action will get better and better.”Giles admitted that Panesar’s success had spurred him on in his rehabilitation. “It gives you a bit of a hurry-up,” he said. “I’ve always wanted and tried to get better, and it’s good competition. This last 12 months has given me the opportunity to work from a blank canvas. Having not bowled for such a long period I decided not so much to change things as improve things. At one stage I didn’t think I’d play cricket again, so it’s worked pretty well.”The two rival spinners hadn’t had much to say to each other before the match, however. “We haven’t spoken a lot,” said Giles. “Last night, Monty said good luck, I said hard luck, that’s all you can do. I’d back Monty all the way if he’d played ahead of me. But having been through what I’ve been through this year, I didn’t want to give up my cricket yet. I’ve got to work bloody hard.”The same could be said of the England team as a whole, but Giles was adamant they weren’t down and out just yet.”Things didn’t go as well as we’d have liked, but there’s plenty of spirit in this England camp. We’ll come out fighting and if we can get a couple of early wickets, we can get right in among them.”

A minor shoulder injury has ruled out Daryl Tuffey from the remainder of New Zealand A’s tour to Sri Lanka. He will be replaced by Graeme Aldridge, a 27-year-old right-arm fast bowler, for the rest of the tour.Explaining the decision, Lindsay Crocker, the manager of the team, said: “We expected Daryl would have been fit enough to return to cricket in time for the last match, in two weeks. However, having Daryl out of contention for the next two games would have seen the squad one member short and with a busy season ahead, we decided it was sensible for Daryl to return home for rehabilitation.”Tuffey played just two of the five matches that New Zealand A played in the triangular tournament, which South Africa A won by beating the New Zealanders in the final. Tuffey missed out on the final, but did reasonably well in the two games he did play, taking four wickets at 20.75 apiece.New Zealand A will play three four-day games against their Sri Lankan counterparts, with the first of those games starting on October 7 at Kandy.

Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, says he is “worried” about the addition of Paddy Upton to Gary Kirsten’s coaching staff for India’s home series against South Africa, since the mental-conditioning specialist possesses inside knowledge on his key players.Arthur hoped Kirsten, the retired South Africa opener and the team’s former batting consultant, would do well as India’s new coach “except against South Africa”, but suggested that he was not so sure about Upton.”I am worried about Paddy Upton,” Arthur told Cricinfo. “I hope that he will respect the confidentiality of his relationship with the players, which is similar to a doctor-patient relationship because he has worked on the mental approach of most of our top six.”Kirsten took over as India coach on March 1 and recommended Upton to the BCCI, which is finalising the paperwork for a full-time contract.Upton, closely associated with Kirsten’s academy in Cape Town, has worked with most of the current South Africa players, including Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis. He was also South Africa’s biokineticist and fitness trainer in the mid-to-late 1990s, and a fitness trainer with the team from 1994 to 1998.”Gary is a genuine cricket man and I wish him all the best except against South Africa,” Arthur said. “Coaches analyse their opponents anyway so I not worried about his intimate technical knowledge of our players.”Arthur is currently in Bangladesh with his team for a two-Test series and three one-dayers. South Africa is expected to reach Chennai a few days after their Bangladesh tour ends on March 14, for the first of their three Tests against India.Asked to assess India’s performance during the recent Australia series, Arthur felt they had played particularly well. “They put pressure on Australia and seem to have developed a ruthless streak,” he said. Arthur, however, hoped that unlike in Australia, the forthcoming Test series would be “tough and uncompromising but played in the right spirit”.On the Indian Premier League, which follows the India series, Arthur said that while it was good for cricket, “there must be a window period for it in the international schedule.”

Sri Lanka will celebrate 25 years of their admittance as a full member to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by honouring the cricketers who played in the inaugural Test match against England in February 1982.The felicitation ceremony will take place at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium, venue of the second Test in the on-going series between Sri Lanka and South Africa. Coincidentally it was also the venue where Sri Lanka played their inaugural Test match against England 24 years ago.The celebrations will take place prior to the commencement of the second Test with the handing of memorabilia to the 12 players and officials who were part of the inaugural Test. The event is sponsored by Hatton National Bank who also sponsored the inaugural Test which England won by seven wickets.The players and officials who will be honoured at the occasion are: Bandula Warnapura (capt), Duleep Mendis (vice-capt), Sidath Wettimuny, Roy Dias, Ranjan Madugalle, Arjuna Ranatunga, Somachandra de Silva, Ashantha de Mel, Lalith Kaluperuma, Mahesh Goonatillake, Ajith de Silva and the late Anura Ranasinghe, Herbie Felsinger and K.T. Francis (umpire) and M Rajasingham (manager).