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The two champagne bottles found in Bob Woolmer’s room were passed on to him by Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistan’s assistant coach, who had left them in his hotel room, according to Pervez Mir, Pakistan’s media manager during the World Cup.The possible significance of the champagne emerged earlier in the week with a report in suggesting that Woolmer may have been poisoned by weedkiller after traces were found in his stomach and on a champagne glass.Mir told the Pakistani TV channel ARY, with whom he is employed, that Talat Ali, the Pakistan manager, was a witness to the bottles being passed on to Woolmer in the team hotel in Jamaica.Mushtaq, in Lahore on a brief visit, reacted sharply to the development, explaining to reporters later that there was nothing in the incident and that he had already explained the position to the police. Mushtaq revealed that the the bottles were given to him by a friend for the team’s liaison officer. They were left in his room as the liaison officer was not around at the time.”In the meantime, Bob came to my room to inquire about my health since a ball had hit me in the face during nets on the same morning,” Mushtaq said. “Woolmer asked me for the bottles and I gave him since the liaison officer was not there and I am not fond of liquor at all. The entire incident happened in front of some players who were sitting in my room when Bob came.”Mir, who had been questioned by the Jamaican police along with members of the Pakistani team before they were allowed to fly back home, said that he had not spoken to the police about the bottles. He maintained that Mushtaq would have given the bottles to Woolmer in “the best of spirit and as a matter of goodwill”.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) refused to comment on Mir’s statement, saying that it had no official communication from the Jamaican authorities. When contacted, Talat Ali said that he could not understand all the speculation surrounding the case. “All I can say is that this is a police case and we all recorded our statements with the police in Jamaica. Saying anything on this issue will only add fuel to [the] fire.”Mir said he did not know who the guests of Pakistani origin were and was not sure whether Mushtaq knew them. He added that journalists were stretching the issue too far and reiterated that the police had not questioned him on this issue.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Muttiah Muralitharan was outstanding on the fourth day with figures of 8 for 70 as Sri Lanka stormed home © Getty Images

Muttiah Muralitharan wanted to make what might be his final Test in England one to remember. He achieved that in stunning fashion at Trent Bridge with a haul of 8 for 70 as Sri Lanka stormed to a 134-run victory to level the series, ripping through England with a mesmerising spell which brought back memories of his first Test in this country – when he took nine at The Oval in 1998.Muralitharan was on for all ten – having previously twice fallen one short in Tests – but that feat disappeared when Matthew Hoggard was run out. His third nine-for also went begging when the last wicket fell to Sanath Jayasuriya, but that will be of little consequence to Muralitharan who just beamed with pride having steered his team to a stunning result. Once he’d got started on England, breaking the encouraging opening partnership of 84 between Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss, there was no stopping him. He claimed six during the afternoon session as England went from hopeful to hapless.The target of 325 always left England a mountain to climb, although they started positively with Strauss and Trescothick making steady progress either side of lunch. Jayawardene went into a holding pattern for all his bowlers, apart from Muralitharan and it was surprising to see relatively defensive fielding settings. But Sri Lanka have had a gameplan and stuck to it during this match.The tactic of keeping England quiet worked in the first innings and Jayawardene was banking on the same method second time around. The plan came together in fine style. Muralitharan duly made the breakthrough when Trescothick played back to another perfect doosra that skidded through and clattered the offstump. He was unsure at first, appealing for lbw, but quickly joined his team-mates in celebration.Sri Lanka should have had another moment to enjoy when Alastair Cook, on 1, thin-edged Jayasuriya but Kumar Sangakkara couldn’t hold on. However, they didn’t have to wait long before Muralitharan created mayhem. Before the clatter, Strauss registered his first half-century of the series from 88 balls; but you sensed that something was about to give.

Marcus Trescothick is cleaned up as Muralitharan’s first victim of the innings © Getty Images

In a very similar manner to his first-innings dismissal at Edgbaston, Cook was trapped by the doosra then Strauss departed as his edge bounced off Sangakkara’s glove in the direction of slip. While England had Kevin Pietersen at the crease – damaged hamstring and all – there was still hope. Not for long. Pietersen won his battle with Muralitharan hands down in the first two Tests; here it has gone convincingly the other way.Pietersen sashayed down the pitch but only succeeded in getting a faint glove – via pad – to short-leg. It was the strike Sri Lanka wanted but more was to come when Andrew Flintoff fell to a thick inside-edge to complete a miserable match with the bat. Tillakaratne Dilshan made it a hat-trick of catches with the best of the bunch when Paul Collingwood jabbed down on the ball, got the bottom of the bat, and it bounced up from the toe of his boot. Dilshan lunged forward and to his right to get his hand underneath the ball to take a sharp catch. The wickets came in such a rush that each celebration hardly had chance to die down.Geraint Jones became No. 7 for Muralitharan and all eyes were turning to the magic complete set – achieved only twice before in Test cricket by Jim Laker and Anil Kumble. But it wasn’t to be when Hoggard was brilliantly run out by Chamara Kapugedera from midwicket with only a single stump to aim at. Jon Lewis quickly joined the procession back to the pavilion and it appeared that Muralitharan would finish how he started in England – with a nine-wicket haul.However, after some defiant and loudly cheered blows from Monty Panesar, Jayasuriya capped his comeback Test with the final wicket and Sri Lanka could celebrate one of their greatest triumphs. Panesar’s late boundaries – including a swept six off Muralitharan – completed an encouraging performance on a personal note after he’d earlier secured his first five-wicket haul. But the day was all about one man – who never knows when he is beaten – and a team that carries the same fighting qualities.

Marcus Trescothick b Muralitharan 31 (84 for 1)
Alastair Cook lbw b Muralitharan 5 (104 for 2)
Andrew Strauss c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 55 (111 for 3)
Kevin Pietersen c Dilshan b Muralitharan 6 (120 for 4)
Andrew Flintoff c Dilshan b Muralitharan 0 (120 for 5)
Paul Collingwood c Dilshan b Muralitharan (125 for 6)
Geraint Jones b Muralitharan 6 (132 for 7)
Matthew Hoggard run out – Kapugedera (136 for 8)
Jon Lewis lbw b Muralitharan 7 (153 for 9)
Monty Panesar lbw b Jayasuriya 26 (190 all out)

Chamara Kapugedera c Cook b Plunkett 50 (287 for 8)
Lasith Malinga b Panesar 22 (320 for 9)
Muttiah Muralitharan c Strauss b Panesar 2 (322 all out)

Scorecard

Uplifting: Shane Warne and Michael Clarke celebrate victory© Getty Images

Australia romped to a thoroughly convincing victory, although later than expected on the final day, in the opening Test of the four-match series at Bangalore. An entertaining ninth-wicket stand delayed the inevitable, but with the skies completely clear, it was always going to be a matter of time. The end came 44 minutes after lunch as India were crushed by 217 runs.The Indian top order collapsed last night, and with just four wickets left, only the last rites were left. Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan batted in unfettered fashion and gave the Sunday crowd a lot to cheer. Both went about dismantling Shane Warne’s figures as his march towards the world record was halted. Warne went wicketless all morning, and will have to wait until Chennai for another chance to eclipse Muttiah Muralitharan’s tally.At the start of the day, though, the Indians waged a grim battle. Rahul Dravid faced only Warne while Pathan kept out Michael Kasprowicz at the other end. The only scoring shots in the first 12 overs were Dravid’s two fours off Warne and, like last night, he refused the singles. Pathan survived a large dose of fortune in the sixth over of the morning, edging an attempted drive off Kasprowicz, as Michael Clarke grassed a tough chance diving to his left at second slip. The rest of the time, though, Pathan got behind the line of the ball and blocked confidently.The Australians did their bit to break up the rhythm of the morning, and Adam Gilchrist’s juggling of bowlers and ends finally paid off when Kasprowicz nailed Dravid in the 14th over of the day. The ball pitched outside off, cut back in and trapped him lbw for 60 (118 for 7).

Irfan Pathan made an impressive half-century, showing solid defensive technique and prudent shot selection© Getty Images

With Dravid gone, the tailenders played with unrestrained freedom and delayed the inevitable by a few hours. Pathan blasted two massive sixes over midwicket as he shimmied down the track, the second of which was taken brilliantly on the pavilion balcony as one of the spectators leant over the railings and clung on. He also pulled off some delicate sweeps and smart nudges and padded away a few balls from Warne with calm authority.Harbhajan joined in the fun by slog-sweeping Warne over midwicket. They added 72 rapidly before lunch, and went on to break the record for the highest ninth-wicket stand for India against Australia.Jason Gillespie ended the revelry a few overs after lunch, soon after the new ball was taken, as Pathan (55) played back to one that pitched on a good length. The ball kissed the outside edge and Adam Gilchrist did the rest (214 for 9). Harbhajan swished around a little longer, smacking one off McGrath that landed inches in front of the extra-cover fence, before a top-edged hook went straight to long leg.The batsmen were also largely helped by the attacking fields that the Australians set, with a number of men in the catching zones, and there were a few edges that landed in vacant areas. This was the only time in the game when the Australians didn’t mind conceding a few easy runs, as they had choked the rest of the batsmen with their disciplined approach.

Anil Kumble loses his off stump© Getty Images

Glenn McGrath carried on from where he had left off in the tour game in Mumbai, and was near-impossible to score off, while Kasprowicz’s ability to vary seam, length and pace left several batsmen clueless. The Australians religiously practised bowling at one stump before the start of each day’s play, and that was exactly the line that they consistently achieved throughout the game.The batting in the first innings had helped Australia seize the initiative as Clarke, Gilchrist and Simon Katich handled the spinners with ease. They didn’t find it as easy in the second innings, though, with Harbhajan teasing them with a magnificent spell. That, apart from the lower-order batting, is something that India will take with them to Chennai. The other departments, though, need some serious oiling. These may be early days yet, but Bill Lawry’s team of 1969-70 may just be shuffling in their seats.

According to , Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has indicated that the board is considering hiring specialised coaches to improve the national team’s performance."We are seriously considering hiring not only a bowling coach, but also a fielding expert and a physical trainer as well to overcome weaknesses in these departments," he said, with reference to a below-par performance in the last game. "But we cannot do it all of a sudden, as it would take some time to implement these decisions. Hopefully, we will be making some decisions after the India series."* * *Javed Miandad is not enamoured with the idea of a bowling coach, and says that the will to improve can come only from within, reports the Press Trust of India (PTI)."What can a bowling coach do when the player himself does not want to improve? A coach can only offer guidance from outside. It is up to the bowler to improve and overcome the flaw," said Miandad. "Bowlers like Imran, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis used to work hard at the nets and sort out their problems. The current lot of bowlers need to work harder and show some discipline."However, the The News quoted Miandad as saying, "We might have to think about seeking specialist help if this problem [of wides and no balls] is not contained soon."Earlier, Imran Khan had questioned whether a batsmen-dominated management team could help Pakistan’s bowlers, suggesting that a bowling coach would prove beneficial.* * *Omar Kureishi jumps on to Imran’s side of the bowling-coach bandwagon in his latest piece in The Indian Express. Writing about the lack of bowling discipline, he states that in their quest for wickets, the bowlers gave away too many runs.He suggests that Wasim Akram could be a bowling coach, but the PCB was uncomfortable with him around. And since Waqar Younis hadn’t yet given up hope of playing for Pakistan, that option was out. Instead, Aquib Javed made for a worthy bowling coach, as he had worked well at the junior level. But while Mohammad Sami and Shabbir Ahmed could benefit from his experience, would Shoaib Akhtar care to listen?Kureshi reckons that Javed Miandad considers the appointment of a bowling coach a threat to his authority, and writes that Miandad would do well to reconsider, because his confidence – bordering on overconfidence – was blinding his judgement.* * *While Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif were building a partnership during the fourth one-dayer, superstitions were rampant in the Indian dressing room. The Indian Express found out that VVS Laxman could not leave his seat till the game was over, while Yuvraj Singh was ordered to stay horizontal on the massage table until the game was sealed. Amrit Mathur, the media manager, was persona non grata in the dressing room while the match went on, because of the belief that a wicket would fall if he were around.* * *Part of Rahul Dravid’s match preparations centre on visualising his success, according to The Times of India. Dravid’s biographer, Vedam Jaishankar, was quoted as saying, "He replays all the games that he has played against the opposition. He then keeps thinking of all his best moments and the shots that he has hit against them until he starts feeling good. I’ve seen Rahul since his school days. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a club game, a Ranji or an international match. He follows the same routine."* * *Sourav Ganguly had a night out after India beat Pakistan in Lahore, with two friends and a plainclothes security guard for company. Rediff reported that Ganguly stopped by Food Street, and gorged on kebabs and chicken. He then posed for photographs and signed autographs, and the crowd warmed to him, despite their team having been beaten just a few hours earlier.While much was made of the boredom the players would encounter due to a thick security blanket in Pakistan, a number of team members have gone shopping and sightseeing. However, Sachin Tendulkar fell victim to a more common danger – daylight robbery. He paid 1000 rupees for a pair of Peshawari slippers that were worth only 300 rupees.

Stephen Fleming hits out on his way to an unbeaten 112
©AFPLocal predictions that New Zealand might wilt in harsh Sri Lankanconditions proved overly optimistic on an attritional opening dayof this two-Test series at the P Saravanamuttu Oval. The heatwas stifling, baking the smattering of spectators housed in themetal-roofed pavilion, but the pitch was pancake flat and SriLanka’s quartet of spinners made little headway against thevisitor’s stubborn pair of left-handers, Mark Richardson andStephen Fleming.Brought together by the early loss of Matt Horne, they profitedfrom some butter-finger catching and crawled along in the firsttwo sessions – scoring 66 in the morning and 73 in the afternoon- before turning the screws slightly in the evening.A breakthrough with the new ball by Chaminda Vaas – who hadotherwise had a relatively innocuous day, failing to swing thenew ball or reverse the old – immediately after the last drinksbreak pulled the home side back into the game, but by then,Fleming and Richardson had extended the partnership to 172 – ateam record for the second wicket against Sri Lanka, surpassingthe 141 by Bryan Young and Horne in 1996/97.Fleming, who prior to the match had called for his senior playersto shoulder responsibility in the absence of key middle-orderplayers, led from the front. During the first two sessions, he wasrarely fluent, content just to keep Sri Lanka’s spinners -especially the probing Muttiah Muralitharan – at bay. But duringthe final session, he started to assert himself, eventuallybringing up his fifth Test century with a cover-drive for four. Hefinished the day on 112 from 248 balls.”The aim is to get a big score tomorrow and definitely have a go at the SriLanka batsmen sometime in the afternoon,” Fleming explained. “Muralitharan was difficult to play as usual, but I have told my batsmen to watch him carefully. I am happy with my century, but a lot more needs to be done on the second day.”Richardson pulled his hamstring in the first session and battedthroughout the afternoon with a runner – meaning that poorHorne faced an evening of rehydration despite scoring just four -anchored the innings, carrying through his good form from thewarm-up matches when he had scored 106 and 93. He alsolooked set to reach three figures, although he had virtuallyground to a halt against the spinners.Patient and unflustered throughout – even after being rattled onthe helmet by a skidding Vaas bouncer in the afternoon – heeventually chopped one on to his stumps, having occupied thecrease 325 painstaking minutes for his 84 (192 for two).It could have been different for Sri Lanka, who were left to rueanother fumbling performance in the field. Richardson the chiefbeneficiary, was dropped first by Mahela Jayawardene at firstslip when he had made 34 – a regulation chance – and then on63 by Romesh Kaluwitharana, playing his first Test for two years.Fleming, too, had moments of alarm, edging between slip and thewicketkeeper in the morning and pulling within inches of a divingKumar Sangakkara at mid-wicket later in the day.In all, it proved to be a frustrating day for the new captain,Hashan Tillakaratne, who stamped his authority early on byensuring his players wore their traditional caps during the firstsession. Unfortunately, the dropped catches exposed the sameproblems faced by his predecessor: the lack of penetrativesupport for Muralitharan.The offspinner caused problems throughout the day but after 27overs of effort, he left the field wicketless. The other spinnerswere economical but far less threatening.Horne’s wicket was the only one to fall in the first two sessions,a first Test victim for Prabath Nissanka, the 22-year-old fastbowler with rickety knees and tree-trunk thighs, who bowled animpressive spell first up. Horne appeared to have weathered thenew ball, digging in for 44 minutes, before being surprised bysome sharp bounce from Nissanka. He fended off a sharp chanceto short leg, where Dharmasena clung on to a fine one-handeddiving catch (20 for 1).And that was pretty much all Sri Lanka had to celebrate for along while thereafter. Advantage New Zealand, after a day whenaggression was firmly pushed into the background.

Auckland Cricket chairman Don Hattaway is not seeking re-election at Thursday’s annual meeting.The popular Hattaway has been chairman for the last five and a half years and a member of the board for seven years.”I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a board member serving the interests of Auckland cricket.”I have always believed that the game of cricket is for playing and that administrators should never overlook that fact. To this end, the move to strengthen grass roots cricket and the positive development of the State Aces and State Hearts has been particularly worthwhile,” he said.Acknowledging the success of the Auckland Hearts in winning the State Insurance Cup for the second time, and the number of talented young players in the Aces side, Hattaway said Auckland continued to make a substantial investment in coaching and development.”It is pleasing to see this investment reflected in the development of elite players and the continuing growth of coaches in Auckland,” he said.The development of a career path for coaches had been helped by the requirement that all premier and first grade cricket club sides in Auckland have a coach attached to them.This also helped lift the standard of cricket.”Whilst the standard of cricket varies amongst the teams the standard is improving and the trend is in the right direction,” he said.”During the past year one of the main areas of focus has been to strengthen the grass roots level of the game by encouraging clubs to improve their governance structure.”A professional management scheme has been developed and it is pleasing to note that this has been embraced wholeheartedly by the major clubs in Auckland,” he said.Hattaway said New Zealand Cricket was committed to supporting grass roots cricket and funds have been allocated to provide the necessary financial resource.”Although the board of NZC has not yet determined the timing of payment and how much each association will receive, the clubs are preparing their business plans for review by Auckland Cricket.”By making good use of the time available to properly plan for the implementation of the professional club managers’ scheme, it is anticipated that when final approval is given by NZC that we and the clubs will be ready to implement the scheme,” he said.

	India’s ODI side not to travel to Pakistan owing to a cramped schedule © Getty Images

The Indian board has decided to reject Pakistan’s proposal for a three-match one-day tour in mid-March. The Pakistan board had requested the BCCI for a series once the Australian tour was shortened but India felt their players’ schedule was too tight to accommodate another tour.”The players have had a long and strenuous tour of Australia and will return only on March 8 or 9,” Niranjan Shah, the board secretary told Cricinfo. “They have to assemble for the South Africa series on March 22. So it will be really tough to play three ODIs in between.”The series had been under discussion between the two boards following the hesitancy shown by Australia in coming to Pakistan as scheduled in March-April. It was decided recently that Australia’s tour – if it goes ahead – would be considerably shortened. Pakistan were then keen to utilise the free period in the first half of March.The Pakistan board, it is learnt, were confident that the tour would go ahead and had already began preparations for the three games, all scheduled for Lahore. The decision from the BCCI – taken by the office bearers today – was conveyed to the PCB chairman, Nasim Ashraf, by his Indian counterpart, Sharad Pawar.However, India are likely to tour Pakistan for a short one-day series before the Champions Trophy in September-October.

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Dwayne Bravo was one of the few who demonstrated his affection for Lara enthusiastically © Getty Images

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.

Lara: ‘I have no reason to be worried about it anymore. I just want to move on’ © Getty Images

“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.”

Gillespie: ‘The bowlers, we all love talking about our batting, and I’ve got a few bragging rights there now’ © Getty Images

Jason Gillespie has become the first Australian nightwatchman to score a century in almost 30 years and was in a state of shock after reaching the landmark.”I never expected it, never,” Gillespie told AAP. “Not in my wildest dreams, so it’s pretty surreal, pretty bizarre actually. I came off and there was [television commentators] Wasim Akram and Harsha [Bhogle] having a chat about my batting, and they had my wagon wheel up. That was very weird.”Gillespie punched Abdur Razzak through cover for four to reach his century. His previous best score at any level was 90 playing E grade for Adelaide in 1992-1993. “I’ve not even got a hundred in the backyard,” he said. “So it’s a bit surreal at the moment. I wasn’t nervous because I never expected to get in that position. I was loving it.”He was delighted that he had the highest score among his bowling team-mates. “Someone mentioned it yesterday and I thought they were on drugs,” he said. “I looked up at the dressing-room as soon as I passed [Glenn] McGrath’s score, 61. He’s been giving me grief about that for a while now so I was very relieved to pass that.”Then I had Merv [Hughes], he was up there and he had 70-odd, and Flemo [Damien Fleming] 70-odd and Pistol [Paul Reiffel] so ticked them all off. I managed to even tick off Warney [Shane Warne] today, too, which was cool. The bowlers, we all love talking about our batting, and I’ve got a few bragging rights there now.”Gillespie and Michael Hussey, who is on 93, added 154 runs for the third wicket before rain washed out the last session’s play on the third day. However, Gillespie admitted that it was his fault that Ricky Ponting was run out on 52. “He [Ponting] called me through and I was in my own little fog … I felt pretty ordinary for a while, I still do but these things happen in cricket,” said Gillespie. “It was my fault. I thought ‘Shit I better do alright here’. I felt shithouse.”So far, Gillespie has eight wickets in the series to go with his hundred but said that he wasn’t thinking about the Ashes later this year. “There are guys coming back. You know you’ve got Taity [Shaun Tait], Kasper [Michael Kasprowicz], Pigeon [Glenn McGrath] to all come back, so I’ll probably slide down the greasy pole again and bide my time. I haven’t really thought about it.”

The Indian women’s team will receive a tremendous boost when the merger finally happens © Getty Images

The proposed merger between the Women’s Cricket Association of India and their men’s counterpart is unlikely to happen in the near future, with the BCCI putting on hold a final decision on the matter. According to UNI, the BCCI is unlikely to decide on the matter during their working committee meeting on June 2 and 3.However, the BCCI, which had earlier postponed a decision on the matter without offering any reasons, will discuss the issue during the meeting. SK Nair, the BCCI secretary, told rediff.com website that an understanding would have to be reached on several organisational issues and conduct of tournaments before a merger can be announced.The merger, which would be as per the ICC rulings, has already taken place in England, Australia and New Zealand, while the ICC also merged with the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) this April. The ICC has also warned that the women’s team would not receive official recognition if the merger doesn’t take place.”The ICC has been insisting on the merger,” said Shubhangi Kulkarni, the WCAI secretary. “The ICC has said if we don’t merge then there is a possibility we would be left out. We have asked them for extension of time, which the ICC has granted and will run till April 2006. They said further action would be decided only then.”A merger will allow the women’s team to use the infrastructure and the facilities which are currently accessible only to the men. “They have made the game so big in the country,” Kulkarni said. “I hope that with the two boards merging, women’s cricket will also get the exposure and bring in more sponsors. Also, it will provide better coaching and training facilities [for the women]. The NCA [National Cricket Academy] trains coaches, so we’d basically want to avail such facilities where we have better players and better coaches coming through the system.” The Indian women’s team has been doing exceptionally well of late, and reached the finals of the 2005 World Cup.