Two International Cricket Council officials have returned to Kenya to continue their investigations regarding match-fixing in connection with the Maurice Odumbe inquiry.The Kenya Cricket Association banned Kenya’s former captain Odumbe for five years in August for having inappropriate contact with a bookmaker. And the ramifications of the evidence given by Katherine Maloney, Odumbe’s estranged wife, continue. It was her testimony which proved so damning to Odumbe and prompted the current investigation. It is the second time that the officials, Martin Hawkins and Alan Peacock, have visited Nairobi after many of the 10 squad members from 1999 and 2000 declined to be questioned during their first visit in November.”I can’t go into details of the interview,” the players’ representative Allen Kosgey told the Reuters news agency on Monday. “All I can say is that the ICC investigators started investigating my clients which they will do throughout this week. They are interviewing two players per day and they should dispense with the exercise by the end of the week. I must add that the players and I are happy and satisfied with the line of interview. We are co-operating with how they are going about their business.”It is understood that the questions will centre on the LG Trophy which was held in Nairobi in 1999.

Steve Waugh could conceivably coach South Africa when they tour Australia in the next southern summer for three Tests and a one-day series. Such an unlikely scenario has become a possibility after Graeme Smith, South Africa’s embattled captain, admitted that his side – which has plummeted down the world rankings – could benefit from Australian expertise.With Ray Jennings, the current coach, looking increasingly unlikely to get a contract extension in May, it’s believed that Waugh and two other Australians, Tom Moody and Geoff Marsh, are the frontrunners for the job. Marsh coached Zimbabwe from 2001 to 2004 after having plotted Australia’s charge to World-Cup victory in 1999. Moody currently coaches Worcestershire.Waugh ended a glittering career last January against India, making 80 in the final innings of a 169-Test journey, and has since expressed a desire to remain involved in cricket. When the cricketing community organised a fund-raiser for Asia’s tsunami victims last month, Waugh did his part by coaching the World XI against their Asian counterparts. reported that Waugh would be open to the idea of guiding South Africa out of the wilderness. It quoted Robert Joske, Waugh’s manager, as saying: “It is something we would consider. Our management philosophy is that we consider every offer that comes across the desk.”We haven’t heard from South African cricket authorities in relation to the job. But if an approach was made, or the opportunity arose, we would definitely sit down and talk it through. We have a strategic plan that we have put together for Steve’s retirement and our approach is that every valid approach that comes our his way should be seriously considered.”South Africa lost a home series against England for the first time in 40 years last month, and recent tours to Sri Lanka and India also ended in painful defeats, a far cry from the days when they were pushing Australia for the number-one spot.

If bygone generations of Indian fans were openlyenthralled by – and secretly coveted – an unendingline of Pakistani pacemen, so too will this generationof Pakistani fans come to appreciate and marvel at thecurrent generation of Indian batsmen and envy them. Ineach case, the enchantment, the fascination has been aderivative as much of their wondrous skills as aglaring paucity of similar resources.Who, for instance, in the Pakistani line-up, can matchthe sheer ballast of Virender Sehwag? Against Pakistanin this series, Sehwag has pillaged runs. Today, withminimum foot movement and fuss, as his is wont, andmaximum hand-eye coordination and threat, as is hisnature, he cut and drove at will, usually audaciouslyand imperiously.Arguably Inzamam-ul-Haq, now at his peak, possesses themastery over conditions and bowling as SachinTendulkar once did. Tendulkar provided a brief glimpse of his skill,passing his 10,000th run and compiling a composed 40thTest fifty. But the one batsman, the glittering jewelin a lavishly studded crown, that Pakistan must cravefor the most is Rahul Dravid.Last year, when Dravid compiled that immense 270 atRawalpindi, Yasir Hameed, standing at point, dropped asitter on 71. Hameed confessed later, onlyhalf-jokingly but revealingly, that he was takinglessons in watching a master at work. Those two daysin Rawalpindi, the sun beat down relentlessly, muchlike Eden Gardens today. As much as the heat, Dravid can be sapping on opposition bowlers.Ball after ball he repels with a painstakingly,composed and studious defense, standing up straightand tall for anything short and crouching forward toswat any mischief in the bounce or movement for fuller-length deliveries. And just in case he still getsbeaten by either, he brings soft hands into play,killing off any unnecessary edges. On this base, hebuilds.His first boundary against Abdul Razzaq was special,leaning into a wide, good-length delivery and drivingthrough just wide of mid-off. To bring up his 19thcentury late in the afternoon, he saved his best. WhenMohammad Sami, beginning an energetic spell, pitchedwide, he got down on one knee to steer through thecovers. Next ball, to bring up the landmark, he leantdown on a ball drifting onto middle and, with astraight bat and a twinkle of the wrists, drovebetween mid-on and midwicket. Many batsmen,particularly from this part of the world, would haveput it squarer, with exaggerated and more supplewrist work, but not Dravid.When he got something short enough, he recoiled;crouch down, step forward then lean back, move andposition the feet wide enough for balance, and uncoila cut, late or early. For effect, to highlight theextent of his mastery perhaps, he nonchalantly pickedup a legspinner from Kaneria outside off-stump overhis head for six, a rare result of any Dravid shot.For much of the day, there was little Pakistan’smeagre resources could do but watch the masterclass,hoping maybe to pick up a tip here or there. They werecommitted in the field and although their bowlingcurrently is unlikely to be anyone’s object of envy,you can’t fault it for perseverance. Shahid Afridiadded an unlikely chapter to the story of his recentredemption, hurrying batsmen, mixing his spin and paceand running onto the pitch twice for added drama.Supported well by Razzaq and, towards the end of the day, by Sami, they made up for an understandably fatiguedDanish Kaneria.But most noticeable, and as a parting thought,consider this. Pakistan’s fightback in the finalsession occurred without Inzamam on the field andYounis Khan as stand-in. You can put it down tocoincidence, as something that just happens incricket, or you can conclude that Pakistan’s rewardsin the last session were the result of theiremancipation from Inzamam’s lethargy as a leader.Certainly the verve and visible enthusiasm with whichYounis ran around the field, marshallingfielders, setting fields and talking regularly, almostexcessively, to his bowlers, contrasted starkly withInzamam. Was his vibrancy infectious enough for theteam to respond in kind and haul back what could havebeen a desperate situation? Or was it justhappenstance that this team, which in any case hasdeveloped a will to fight, most memorably and recentlyin Mohali, did so with Inzamam off the field?

Inzamam-ul-Haq has had his second run-in with the ICC match referee, Chris Broad, in the space of a fortnight, after receiving a reprimand for his reaction to being given out in the second one-day international against India at Visakhapatnam.After the third Test in Bangalore last month, Inzamam was suspended for one Test and fined 30% of his match fee for showing dissent against umpiring decisions. This time, he has escaped with just a slap on the wrists, after reacting angrily to his run-out in a match that Pakistan went on to lose by 58 runs.Inzamam pleaded guilty to an "abuse of cricket equipment" when throwing his bat towards the pavilion after being dismissed. He was found to have breached Level 1.2 of the ICC Code which relates to "abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings".The hearing took place when players and officials arrived in Jamshedpur for the third match in the series."As captain, Inzamam must learn to set the example for his team to follow," said Broad. "The player has apologised for his actions and I hope that we will not see this repeated." All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50% of a player’s match fee.

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Sunny Singh completed a fine hundred and put Haryana on the road to the Plate Group final. Sunny’s tenacious 137 and valuable contributions from the lower order took Haryana to a healthy 453 in the semi-final against Jharkhand in Chandigarh. Sachin Rana stroked a plucky 83 and had two good partnerships with Ajay Ratra (40) and Amit Mishra (47). The day got better for Haryana when they snapped up two Jharkhand wickets in the four overs that they got before stumps.
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It turned out to be another damp day at Dharamsala with only seven overs of play possible between Himachal Pradesh and Services. Himachal were 9 for no loss when play was called off due to bad light. In case there is no result in the game, the winner will be decided by the toss of a coin.

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.

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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).

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.

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.

An ICC summit meeting on throwing, involving five former players and the world’s leading experts on biomechanics, will convene on October 25 and 26 in Dubai to review the current regulations after the completion of in-depth research into one of the game’s most emotive topics.The five former players – Angus Fraser, Michael Holding, Tim May, Aravinda de Silva and Tony Lewis – will probe into research and make recommendations to the ICC Cricket Committee, chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, which is due to meet on November 9 and 10.The sub-committee is expected to conclude that the ICC’s current tolerance levels should be increased after laboratory and match analysis has shown that a considerable number of international bowlers are presently exceeding the permitted levels of arm-bend.The ICC’s current tolerance levels for arm-straightening permit spinners to bend the albow by five degrees, and fast bowlers ten degrees. The tolerance levels were introduced in 2002 after scientific research indicated that the vast majority of bowlers broke the game’s rigid throwing law.The highest-profile casualty of the current system is Muttiah Muralitharan, who was stopped from using his doosra – a disguised legbreak delivered from the back of his hand – after laboratory research indicated that his arm bent by some 14 degrees when he delivered it.This was later reduced to ten degrees after remedial action at the University of Western Australia, but Muralitharan still exceeded the ICC’s tolerance levels. Muralitharan’s arm straightens by an average of three degrees when he bowls his stock offbreak.But preliminary results from the latest research completed by Paul Hurrion, a UK-based sports scientist, during the ICC Champions Trophy – where video footage of the world’s leading bowlers were recorded and analysed by super-speed cameras – indicate that Muralitharan’s arm-bend is moderate in comparison to some bowlers.The conclusions of a secret report conducted for Cricket Australia by Dr Marc Porter, who analysed top-level fast bowlers from five countries in competitive match conditions over an 18-month period leading up to March 2003, revealed that 14 of the 34 deliveries analysed exceeded the ICC’s ten-degree tolerance limit.Further research carried out in New Zealand on spinners and research by Bruce Elliott from the University of Western Australia has also revealed the extent of the rule-breaking under the present system, and the scientists are expected to recommend that tolerance levels be lifted immediately.Scientists at the meeting will also debate the theory behind the ICC’s sliding tolerance levels on the basis of ball speed. The University of Western Australia has argued before that this may discriminate against spinners, such as Muralitharan, who have a similar arm speed to faster bowlers.Cricket sources are predicting the adoption of a flat-rate 15-degree level of bending for all bowlers, which will allow Murali to continue using the doosra when he returns to international cricket at the end of the year.The decision of the ICC Cricket Committee will be ratified by the executive board in a telephone conference in late November or early December.However, although Muralitharan is set to be cleared, the controversy is unlikely to blow away completely, because some other high-profile international bowlers would, according to the latest research which has a five-degree error margin, also exceed the new 15-degree tolerance level.

Tom MoodyOn his overview of the dayIt was a good tough day of Test cricket on a good batting pitch and our guys fought hard throughout most of the day. A couple of bat-pads went close but were not taken. The West Indies showed a lot of character and batted well throughout the day. Chanderpaul continued the brilliant form he has had since taking over as captain. Morton showed some character and the young wicketkeeper Ramdin showed a lot of composureOn whether Sri Lanka were ring-rusty after a lay-offThere were some signs that the boys have not played Test cricket for a few months. We got better and better as the day went on and I’m sure that will continue as the game progresses. It is early days on a very good cricket wicket and we are looking forward to day two. The game is very much in the balance at the moment. We just need to hang in there and fight hard. When we get a chance to bat we have to make them payOn whether Sri Lanka may have taken West Indies lightlyYou can’t take any team lightly at this level and I know the boys weren’t taking the West Indians lightly.On Sri Lanka’s fieldingWe were a little bit sloppy in the field at times but nothing to send off any alarm signals.On Murali’s comebackI am not disappointed at all with Murali’s performance after an 11-month absence. He conceded just 56 runs from 29 overs and beat the bat on several occasions.On Malinga’s no balls and Wijekoon’s debutThat [Malinga’s no balls] is something we need to sit down and work on in practice. But he showed his great value as a strike bowler with a couple of crucial wickets. He is an exciting cricketer and this is an area where we can help to improve his game. I thought Gayan did a good job. He is playing in the side as an all rounder and he took a couple of wickets and shared some of the workload. He will also play an important role down the order with the bat.Denesh RamdinOn his debut performanceI was surprised that I did not have any butterflies. I just went out there and tried to be positive. It was a shame to not get a hundred but maybe I can do that in the second innings.On West Indies’ dayIt was generally a good day for us, although a couple got starts but were not able to go on. Hopefully, we can come back tomorrow and carry on.

A bill to make New Zealand’s tour to Zimbabwe illegal was rejected by the country’s Parliament in Wellington today. However, a Labour Government motion calling on New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to cancel the trip and asking the ICC to stop all international tours to Zimbabwe “while gross human rights abuses continue” was passed 110 votes to 10.The team departed yesterday and the parliamentary action was a symbolic one as the ICC has made it clear that NZC can only escape a US$2million penalty for not playing if the government makes it illegal to tour. The Green Party tried to submit the appropriate bill but it was blocked and the move was quashed by the prime minister Helen Clark.”Abrogating these rights is not an option for us,” Clark was quoted by . “Freedom of passage to and from this country is a basic right enjoyed by New Zealanders.”However, security issues could force the tour to be aborted and Clark told Parliament the team would face potential problems in Zimbabwe. “One cannot rule out a country in such crisis being a danger to people who visit, like cricketers, who can end up in the wrong place at the wrong time or in a place where there are violent demonstrations,” she said. “I consider it personally unwise to go.”Martin Snedden, the NZC chief executive, said they have a contractual obligation to tour under the ICC Future Tours Programme. “The Parliamentary motion does not change this,” he said. “The consequences of not touring are open ended and would be disastrous to all levels of the game of cricket in New Zealand.”Rob Donald, the Green Party co-leader, said the players would become pawns in the Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s power game. “Unless the tour is called off,” Donald said, “this will be seen as nothing more than waving a wet bus ticket at Mugabe.”New Zealand are scheduled to play a two-Test series against Zimbabwe and they arrive on August 4 after a training camp in Namibia. A triangular one-day tournament involving India is also planned.