The South African players were fined 5% of their match fees – Graeme Smith, their captain being fined 10% – for a slow over-rate during the second Test against West Indies in Cape Town.Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, imposed the fine after South Africa were ruled to be one over short of its target after time allowances were taken into consideration.In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct regulations governing over-rate penalties, players are fined 5% of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.South Africa won the match by seven wickets to square the series 1-1. The next Test, to be played at Kingsmead in Durban, begins on January 10.

The India selectors, while picking the one-day squad for the forthcoming tri-series, could face a dilemma between choosing from the present and planning for the future. Conditions in Australia might tempt them to pack their side with experience, but they will also know that it’s the best time to throw a few rookies in the deep end.Rahul Dravid has rediscovered some form in the Tests and would no doubt be an asset in the middle order, but whether the selectors want to look back at this point, having dropped him for the home series against Pakistan, remains to be seen. There’s a case for considering VVS Laxman too, considering the fine form he’s shown in the Tests, but that seems only a remote possibility at the moment.The selectors will also have to take a call on Sreesanth and Munaf Patel, the pair of injured fast bowlers who couldn’t make it for the Tests. Neither has resumed domestic cricket so far, but reported at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to Dav Whatmore on January 18. Any decision on their selection will not be made without taking into consideration their NCA report. At any rate, reinforcements will be welcome, as the attack has already been depleted with the absence of Zaheer Khan, ruled out because of a heel injury.Most who took part in India’s one-day series against Pakistan will be expected to retain their spots. Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma would be expected to make the cut – despite not doing much in the domestic circuit [Uthappa has scored 188 at 26.85, Rohit 191 at 27.28]. The selection of Gautam Gambhir, who has cracked three centuries in the Ranji Trophy [two of them match-winning ones in the semi-final and final] could well depend on the condition of his shoulder. Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and Cheteshwar Pujara could also be considered, especially given their good domestic run.Praveen Kumar, the debutant in India’s last ODI, boosted his chances with a fantastic bowling effort in the Ranji Trophy final, when he took eight wickets in an innings. Irfan Pathan should be the other allrounder while Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik will be the first-choice spinners. Piyush Chawla had made a good case of himself as an allrounder in the earlier half of the season, but has been ordinary in the semi-final and the final, especially with the bat.

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.

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.

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.”

The ICC is looking at a speedy resolution to the search for its next chief executive officer, with Imtiaz Patel declaring on Sunday that he had withdrawn interest in the position. Its four-man recruitment committee may discuss the issue as early as this week and Cricinfo has learnt that Haroon Lorgat, the former convenor of Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) selection committee, has emerged as a strong candidate for the post.Lorgat has already received a preliminary inquiry for a possible meeting with the ICC this week. “It’s very premature to even talk about this subject,” Lorgat told Cricinfo. “But obviously if the job is indeed offered to me, I would consider that a great honour.”Incidentally, the other significant candidate in the ICC’s shortlist is also a South African – Dave Richardson, the former wicketkeeper, and currently the ICC’s general manager, cricket. “In fact, we have been fortunate to have several high-calibre candidates on the shortlist, all of whom bring something slightly different to the table,” the ICC president-elect, David Morgan, said.Lorgat, 47, headed CSA’s selection committee for three years till the 2007 World Cup. A qualified chartered accountant – whose roots, like Patel’s, are in India – and formerly a senior partner in Ernst & Young, he is currently on the board of Kapela Investments, a private venture he set up last year with five other associates.The next CEO will be picked by a recruitment committee that includes Morgan, Ray Mali, the ICC president, Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president and Morgan’s chosen successor, and Creagh O’ Connor, the chairman of Cricket Australia.”Once the recruitment committee has identified a preferred candidate, it will make a recommendation to the ICC executive board with a view to confirming the appointment at the earliest opportunity,” an ICC spokesman said.The new CEO will take over from Malcolm Speed, who steps down from the position after this year’s ICC Annual Conference, which will take place between June 29 and July 4.Even as the ICC moves to replace Speed, there is also a deep sense of disappointment at Patel’s decision – especially after his participation in the recruitment process, which included a detailed interview. Patel is understood to have reiterated his interest in the job, which is believed to have involved an annual salary package in excess of US$500,000, when Morgan spoke to him just before announcing his name as the “preferred choice” during the board meeting in Dubai last month.”We need to remember that this is not a minor appointment that is being discussed and it was obvious that a fair amount of groundwork was put in before the preferred choice was announced last month. There is a deep sense of disappointment about how things have turned out after that,” said a source.

Term it whatever you want – the law of averages, or an off day – but Chennai slumped to their lowest score after their batting order had taken a severe hit. They were shorn of three first-choice overseas players: their two highest runs-scorers, Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey, and an allrounder, Jacob Oram and the loss of this formidable trio eventually hurt.A strong batting performance against a bowling attack led by Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif would have boosted their confidence but they will now have to wait until Sunday, when they travel to Jaipur to take on Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals, to gain that belief.What the exodus has done to Chennai is erode their primary strength – the batting order. Delhi and Rajasthan, who are level with Chennai on four wins each, have bowling attacks to boast about but Chennai has largely ridden on its batting. Hayden and Co. have posted targets of over 200 twice so far, giving the bowlers the upper hand.Perhaps the replacements Stephen Fleming, S Vidyut and Albie Morkel just need time to get going. Vidyut, in fact, impressed with 54 off 37 balls on debut. His innings helped set a platform of sorts for Chennai were 102 for 2 in the 12th over and in a position to push for a score in excess of 169. However, watching the top order bat today inspired little confidence, certainly not as much as Hayden did, and the run flow was primarily due to a flurry of edges that fell safely behind square on both sides of the wicket.Fleming is bound to improve on his performance today, where he began slowly before cashing in on consecutive free hits against Yomahesh but he’s hardly going to intimidate bowlers like Hayden does with his muscular walk down the pitch followed by a powerful swat between midwicket and mid-on.Hussey, who was able to accumulate runs inconspicuously at a healthy strike-rate, and Hayden will be missed because they were able to bat lengthy periods and sustain aggression. Oram hasn’t had much of a role to play with the bat so far but his boundary-clearing abilities are proven and perhaps matched only by Dhoni in the Chennai outfit.What Chennai have to come to terms with for future matches is that they are now on a far more level playing field. When the tournament started their batting was far superior to most other franchises but they are now on par with most others.Moreover, their bowling attack hasn’t been the most economical in the tournament and, Murali apart, has a fast-medium sameness to it. Winning matches could get much harder for Chennai henceforth and the way their exceptional start to the tournament could prove to be the difference as the league stage approaches its business end.

Charu Sharma, who was removed as CEO by the Bangalore Royal Challengers on Tuesday, says he did not step down from the job as the IPL franchise said, but was “summarily dismissed”. Cricinfo has learned the decision was a result of discontent at the highest level since the team’s defeat in the first match of the tournament on April 18.”I am not a quitter, especially when the chips are down,” Sharma said in a statement. “The company has every right to hire and fire personnel. For details of why I was summarily dismissed from my duties, three hours before I was to board a flight to Kolkata for the next match, please contact representatives of the company.”Sharma, whose father died soon after the IPL started, said he’d taken the briefest of breaks at the time. Only the team owners can explain why he was sacked, he said, adding that he could “understand their disappointment at the team not being the fastest off the block”.The choice of Brijesh Patel as CEO was largely motivated by the fact that he is an accomplished cricketer and understands local conditions with the depth that is required, Vijay Mallya, the franchise owner, said in a statement. He also squashed speculation over the future of Venkatesh Prasad, the coach of the side, and said he was fully supportive of his role in the side.Bangalore, currently at the bottom of the IPL table with two wins from seven games, issued a press release on Tuesday night, which said Sharma “stepped down due to personal reasons” and had been replaced by Brijesh Patel, the former India Test player and secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which runs the game in the franchise’s home city.Sources close to Sharma confirmed that he was asked to quit on Tuesday afternoon by a senior official from United Spirits Limited (USL), the liquor company that bought the team. USL is owned by Mallya, the Bangalore-based industrialist who also owns Force India, a Formula 1 team.However, sources in the franchise told Cricinfo that the decision to sack the chief executive was the result of growing discontent at the highest level ever since Bangalore suffered a humiliating defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural IPL match in front of a record television audience and a capacity home crowd, including top ICC and BCCI officials, Bollywood actors and corporate leaders.”Quite a few harsh words were used that night to describe the team’s performance. And ever since then, serious questions were being asked at the top level within the franchise about the team’s composition and performance. Things turned nasty as the team continued to lose and there was even talk about whether the players were under-performing, and making a laughing stock of the owner,” the sources said.”In such a scenario, the franchise wanted to send a strong message that it was in control of the situation and the CEO was the obvious target. Sacking the players would have generated a wave of negative publicity, considering their iconic status,” the sources said.Mallya bought the franchise from the IPL council with a bid of US$ 111.6 million and then faced a barrage of criticism after the players’ auction where Rahul Dravid took the lead in picking the squad – including South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and India’s Wasim Jaffer – that has since been tagged as a Test XI.On Monday night, after the team’s fifth loss, Mallya is learnt to have been extremely upset and had a “very serious chat” with Sharma, before the franchise owner was “persuaded” to give the team “a small pep talk” during a party that followed the match against Kings XI Punjab.”The team was assembled and were told by Mallya he was still backing them. But it was clear that a major decision was around the corner,” the sources said. Around 3 pm the next day, Sharma was asked to leave by the franchise.On Wednesday morning, a senior player told Cricinfo that the team was rattled by the development, which he described as “a knee-jerk reaction” to the defeats with seven matches still left in the tournament. Bangalore take on Kolkata in the eighth of their 14 league matches, at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.”My role, as I saw it, was to constantly motivate, encourage, facilitate and respect the efforts of the cricket professionals in the team. And that is what I tried to do, sincerely, day after day – win or lose – in the true spirit of sportsmanship,” Sharma said.

Australia’s decision to hand substitute fielding duties to Grant Baldwin, the team’s massage therapist, has been a subject of criticism over the first two days of the day-night Test in Adelaide. His performance was scrutinised by television commentators after a couple of fumbles in the field.At the end of the second day, Australia said they would not use Baldwin as a fielder any more and had drafted in South Australia’s Sam Raphael for substitute duties.Baldwin, 28, is also the assistant to the Australian team manager, Gavin Dovey, and replaced the injured Mitchell Starc midway through the second session on the opening day of the Adelaide Test. Baldwin had played for Victoria’s second XI between 2006 and 2008, and is a regular participant in Australia’s fielding sessions at the nets.The decision to use Baldwin was made after both James Pattinson and Steven O’Keefe were released from the Test squad to play for their respective states and, with a full round of Sheffield Shield matches taking place, Australia were left with the choice of fielding a current state second XI player, or drafting in Baldwin.Three local cricketers, none of whom have first-class experience, were available but the Australians were concerned the pressure of fielding in this Test may have been too much for inexperienced players. The fact Baldwin was already with the team and considered capable of doing the job were the deciding factors.”Grant’s played second XI cricket for Victoria and he’s fielded for us before on tours,” said Josh Hazlewood after the second day. “We’ve got three young guys here who haven’t played first-class cricket, I think we’re getting a guy in tomorrow who has played for SA, so it’ll be good to get him out there. We thought Grant was probably the best option. It’s quite a pressure situation out there in front of 40,000, so with those other three guys not playing first-class cricket before, we thought it was the best case.”

The Ranji Trophy quarter-final match between Jharkhand and Mumbai is likely to be shifted out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in keeping with the BCCI’s attempts to ensure none of the World T20 venues are “fatigued” ahead of the tournament.While none of the other six World T20 venues has been allotted a Ranji Trophy knockout game, the KSCA has requested the BCCI to move the quarter-final out of Bangalore. KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel said it was done with a view to give the curators enough time to prepare the pitch ahead of the World T20.”We are going to give rest to our wickets,” Patel told ESPNcricinfo. “There is also the junior team which wants to have a camp here. We don’t have enough time to prepare the wickets for the World Cup, so we have requested the board. We are waiting for the board to respond.”While the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is slated to host three Super 10 matches, none of the other venues for the Ranji knockouts – Visakhapatnam, Valsad, Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium), Vadodara, Cuttack and Pune – has been allotted any World T20 games. The Chinnaswamy Stadium had also played host to ten matches in the Vijay Hazare domestic 50-over competition recently, including two quarter-finals, a semi-final and the final.A BCCI source said the board was keen to make sure the pitches didn’t suffer from the after-effects of a long cricketing season. “The World T20 begins after a whole season of cricket,” the source said. “The idea is to rest the pitches and let them recover from fatigue so that they are ready for Twenty20 cricket. The BCCI is very keen to make sure the pitches are fresh and ready when the World T20 begins. That is why centres that are not hosting the World T20 have been given the Ranji knockouts, like Pune for example.”On the nature of pitches for the World T20, the source said the BCCI was intent on preparing pitches that were “conducive for T20 cricket.” “It should allow for runs to be scored with good bounce and carry,” the source said. “That is the specific instruction from the BCCI.” It is understood that there have been elaborate discussions on the pitches and overall ground conditions, and preparations are expected to go on for the next two months.Patel, while indicating that the match between Jharkhand and Mumbai would be televised, said the KSCA hadn’t offered any suggestions of an alternative venue. The BCCI source, however said, Mysore was the likely replacement. Alur, another venue in Karnataka, hosted a number of matches in the Vijay Hazare domestic 50-over competition recently, but Mysore is considered better equipped to handle the logistical challenges involved in broadcasting a game.