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New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive, Martin Snedden, has dismissed suggestions of tension between the national team’s coach and captain after making a special trip to check all was well in the squad. Snedden departed for London satisfied that the team had moved on from the desperate low of the 3-0 Test series loss to England, and that John Bracewell and Stephen Fleming were a happy coach-captain duo.In England for a week of International Cricket Council meetings, Snedden arrived early to ease his mind on the state of the team, and spent three days with them in Manchester and Birmingham. He described the recent suggestions of a Bracewell-Fleming rift, made on television and in print by the former England captain, Michael Atherton, as “rubbish” and “mischief-making”.”I think Atherton has got absolutely no basis whatsoever for those comments,” Snedden said. “I’ve spent a lot of time concentrating on that issue while I’ve been here just to satisfy myself that there is nothing happening that I didn’t know about. I’ve enquired carefully around the team as well as talking pretty strongly to John and Stephen individually about it, and I don’t think there’s the slightest indication of that at all.”They’ve got an excellent working relationship,” he continued, “they complement each other really well. Like any situation, they’ll both learn a bit out of this. John is only six months into his first international assignment, so he’s going to reflect on this afterwards and I’m sure he’ll take some lessons out of it, as will all of us.”

In an effort to revive truncated cricket ties with Pakistan, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said that it will seek its government’s permission to play Pakistan at neutral venues. Rajiv Shukla, a cricket administrator and a Member of Parliament, said that the board would soon approach Mr A B Vajpayee, the Indian Prime Minister, with the request.The Indian government had banned bilateral cricket with Pakistan since 2000, in protest against alleged Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the disputed state of Kashmir. However, the Indian team is allowed to play Pakistan in multi-national tournaments, as in the recently concluded World Cup. Direct sporting relations continue between India and Pakistan in other sports such as hockey.Earlier in March, the Indian government had overruled another request from the BCCI to resume bilateral matches with Pakistan. The BCCI claimed that it could be heavily penalised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for failing to fulfill commitments. In an embarrassing contradiction, the ICC promptly denied such a possibility, maintaining that it will not hold individual boards accountable for governmental decisions.But with big money at stake, both the Indian and Pakistani cricket boards have increased their lobbying with the Indian government. “We want to somehow resume bilateral cricket,” said Karunakaran Nair, the BCCI secretary. Nair said that senior board members would discuss the issue by the end of May. The matter is also expected to be discussed at the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF) meeting in Dubai next week.

Essex skipper Ronnie Irani steered his side to their third NUL win of the season with an unbeaten 56 that helped secure a four-wicket victory over Middlesex with more than six overs to spare in their day/night match at Colchester.Chasing a target of 174 for victory on a slow pitch, the home side started positively and had reached 48-2 in the 14th over but the loss of two wickets in three overs to Chad Keegan put Middlesex back into contention.Stuart Law and Ronnie Irani combined for a significant partnership worth 70 runs in 79 balls as they pushed the singles to the deeper set fielders. Law had just reached his half-century with a splendid lofted drive over mid off when he tried a repeat stroke and was caught to give Keegan his third wicket and leave the home side 123-5 with 16 overs remaining.Keegan finished with figures of 3-28 but Irani continued to prosper and took 12 runs from an over from Tim Bloomfield to put his side in sight of victory. The re-introduction of Simon Cook into the attack produced immediate reward with Paul Grayson caught for seven but with only 18 runs required, Irani was in no mood to be denied.He reached his half-century with a boundary off Paul Weekes and in the next over struck his fourth boundary and the winning runs to lift Essex off the foot of the Norwich Union Second Division table.For the visitors, opener Andrew Strauss has batted steadily to score 59 although he utilized 30 overs and once he had been dismissed, the innings relied on a partnership of 48 in 12 overs between Paul Weekes and James Dalrymple to give the total some substance. Weekes struck two boundaries in his 36 whilst his enterprising partner collected an unbeaten 38 from 39 deliveries.

Scotland captain Preston Mommsen admitted his side was feeling the after-effects of the World Twenty20 Qualifier, but said he was relieved after Scotland’s tense three-run win over Nepal on Wednesday.”There’s no doubt we were under pressure,” Mommsen said after the win. “They certainly put us under pressure. They batted well and they ran well. I think it was a combination of a few things and one of those things was fatigue and the end of a long campaign. Today that was always going to be a challenge for us, getting up for this game. We wanted to make sure we didn’t take this Nepal team lightly. We know they are capable and they showed that they are capable today. We’ll have to go away and do some more homework and make sure we come back even stronger on Friday.”Nepal were in the middle of a 139-run partnership with eight wickets in hand in the final two overs needing 25 to win before Gavin Main sparked a slide of three wickets in four balls by removing Nepal captain Paras Khadka for 70. It was 20-year-old Main’s maiden List A match and his freshness proved to be the key after having sat on the bench during Scotland’s entire World Twenty20 Qualifier campaign. Mommsen said despite Nepal’s strong position he was confident Scotland’s experience would help them in the end.”I think there were certainly signs of tiredness toward the end,” Mommsen said. “It’s been a long three or four weeks for us and I think at the end of the day we are just very happy to get the points and move on. I didn’t ever feel like we were going to lose the game, but it was far too close than we would have liked. I still had faith in our bowlers to come back and nail our plans.”Mommsen, who scored 78 off 62 balls, credited Con de Lange, who scored his maiden 50 for Scotland, with propping the team up after Nepal had Scotland in trouble at 101 for 5. Their 113-run sixth wicket stand lifted Scotland out of trouble and took them to a winning score as the hosts scored 86 runs in the final seven overs to finish on 235 for 7 in 36.”Obviously it was a slightly tricky period when I came in so to get through that initial bit of hard work was good and then to try to capitalize toward the end. I thought Con also batted nicely and together we put on quite a nice partnership there. That was his first 50 for Scotland so he batted well and adapted really well to conditions. I think we did really well in the end to post the score that we did.”Khadka said after the match that he felt Nepal’s cautious start did not cost them in the end. Opener Anil Mandal scored 100 in 93 balls, with his second 50 coming in just 32 deliveries. However, Mandal and Mahesh Chhetri only scored one boundary in the opening seven-over power play of the chase, reaching 24 for 0.”We had a plan that we’d build up the innings slowly but steadily and accordingly move from there,” Khadka said. “It could be a slow start, it could be a fast start but in the end it was a matter of one ball. Had the result gone in our favor, things would have gone well and we wouldn’t be talking about that. This is what it is. As long as you play the game we have to take the other side of the story and today unfortunately we couldn’t cross the line.”The Nepal captain was reasonably positive though despite the defeat. After a rough tour of Ireland where they secured a lone victory over USA in their opening match of the World Twenty20 Qualifier, taking this match to the end was an indication that his side had greater confidence in their skills in the 50-over format.”We came very close. It was a very good game altogether. I think both teams played equally well. Scotland after being [101] for 5 managed to put up a decent score and we put up a fight until the last ball but unfortunately we couldn’t pull it off in the end. It was just a matter of one ball. Sometimes I’d say this is what cricket comes down to. When you play good teams, it’s just a matter of those small margins.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board has cleared batsman Umar Akmal’s selection ahead of the upcoming three-match T20 series against England in the UAE. Umar had been left out of the T20 squad and was handed a show-cause notice for “bringing the PCB and Pakistan Cricket into disrepute” after a news report emerged that he was involve in an “immoral activity”.Local newspaper had reported that some cricketers allegedly attended a party in Hyderabad and were caught in “immoral activity” during the third round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match between Hyderabad and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited. The PCB suspected Umar, along with Hyderabad player Azeem Ghumman, was involved in the activity and approached the local police to check if there was any report registered against him, but found nothing concrete to charge any player, and decided to clear Umar’s name for national selection.”Subsequent to his being cleared by the inquiry initiated by the PCB’s security and vigilance department with regard to media reports of an incident in Hyderabad, Umar Akmal has been inducted in the T20Is squad against England,” a PCB release said. “Meanwhile, Iftikhar Ahmed has been called back to make way for Umar Akmal.”Umar has been an automatic selection in T20s but was left out of the original squad hours before the announcement on instructions from the PCB.Allrounder Imad Wasim, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the three T20s after not recovering sufficiently from the fracture injury to his left little finger. Bilal Asif, another allrounder, was therefore retained in the T20 squad. Imad injured his finger in October during a QEA match in Islamabad and was subsequently advised rest for three weeks.”I don’t think there is enough healing to allow him to play international cricket at this stage for the fear of further damaging the joint,” Dr Sohail Saleem, head of PCB’s Medical & Sports Sciences, said in a statement. “I will wait for another two weeks for another review. So, unfortunately his prospects of representing Pakistan in T20Is against England are non-existent. Meanwhile, he has been advised to stay in NCA to work on his fitness.”

Matthew Hoggard will have his back injury reassessed on Monday and is a doubtful starter for the second Test against India at Trent Bridge, starting July 27, after an MRI scan revealed irritation in a disc in his back.Hoggard was ruled out of the first Test currently underway at Lord’s after being sent to hospital following a back spasm. “His rehabilitation will be closely monitored over the next five days and he will be re-assessed by ECB medical staff on Monday,” the ECB said.”I feel mightily peeved,” Hoggard said in . “I bowled three balls and couldn’t run in to bowl any more. I kicked some stumps — not too hard or I could have ended up in traction — and realised straightaway that I wouldn’t be playing in the Test match.”Chris Tremlett was called up to replace Hoggard and made his debut today at the expense of Stuart Broad, the young Leicestershire fast bowler who many had tipped to play ahead of himEngland are now left without a single member of the 2005 bowling attack that won the Ashes. Andrew Flintoff is continuing his recovery from ankle surgery, Simon Jones is still only appearing in occasional one-day matches for Glamorgan and Ashley Giles is ruled out of another summer. It will also be the first time since the Oval Test against Australia in 2001 that none of Hoggard, Steve Harmison or Flintoff have lined up in a Test.However, Michael Vaughan would rather view the situation as a challenge than a concern. “It’s new and exciting to see,” he said. “It’s a brand new attack with no Harmison, Flintoff, Giles or Simon Jones. We had a great attack in 2005, but it’s new and exciting for us all to see how they react to playing in front of a lot of people, against a very good batting team. It’s going to be a great challenge for whoever plays.”While England have suffered a run of injuries to their bowlers in the last couple of years, Hoggard remained a constant member of the attack for 40 consecutive games until missing the final Ashes Test at Sydney in January. Since then he has also been hit by a run of injuries and missed two Tests against West Indies after picking up a groin strain at Lord’s in May.

Mohan de Silva, a former president and secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, and Jayantha Dharmadasa, the current interim chairman, will both be standing in the forthcoming cricket board elections to be held on July 15. De Silva and Dharmadasa will be competing with Minister Sripathi Sooriarachchi for the highly coveted position of board president.De Silva – closely aligned with former president Thilanga Sumathipala in the past – was proposed for the elections by the Cricket Committee of the Sinhalese Sports Club. The club also proposed Michael de Zoysa and Nuski Mohomed as board secretary and treasurer respectively.De Silva’s likely backing by Sumathipala makes him the clear frontrunner to win the elections. Sumathipala and his allies have won all the elections contested since the 1996 World Cup. Their terms of office have been broken only by periodic Interim Committees appointed by the government.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Daniel Vettori got into his stride early and wrecked Bangladesh with a superb spell of 6 for 28 as New Zealand romped to victory by an innings and 99 runs at Dhaka. Not one batsman had an answer to Vettori’s loop and bounce as he reduced Bangladesh’s second innings to a shambles in a few hours of mayhem. He was ably assisted by Paul Wiseman, as both spinners exploited the dry Bangabandhu pitch perfectly. It was especially satisfying for Vettori, who claimed his first five-wicket haul since November 2001.Rajin Saleh had played a painstaking knock in the first innings, but Vettori prevented a repeat in his first over. Making the ball fizz, he sneaked one past Saleh’s defensive prod and Brendon McCullum, the wicketkeeper, went up in celebration (41 for 3). Replays showed that Saleh did not get a snick. But there was no doubt about the other dismissals. Vettori had Manjural Islam Rana in two minds, and a hopeless prod resulted in a loopy catch to Mark Richardson at silly point. Then, Mohammad Ashraful (26) fended off a nasty lifter to Scott Styris at slip, while Tareq Aziz padded up to an arm ball (122 for 9).Meanwhile, Wiseman played the support act to perfection. He first ran out Nafis Iqbal (49) with an accurate throw, and then got among the wickets himself. Alok Kapali edged on to McCullum, while Khaled Mashud played a delivery straight to Styris at leg slip. Mohammad Rafique flailed valiantly, hitting 24 off 18 balls before edging the ball to slip just after lunch.The complexion of this game changed on the third morning, when Bangladesh failed to limit New Zealand, who fought hard to put up a respectable total and finally ended up with an imposing 402. What seemed a contest at one stage slowly descended into a rout.

ScorecardNew Zealand ended the third day of their tour match at Grace Road in the driving seat, but an injury to Craig McMillan, which left him doubtful for Thursday’s second Test, overshadowed their on-field success.McMillan was taken to hospital after being struck on his already-damaged left hand by Darren Maddy. Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand manager, said that an X-ray had shown a fracture, but it was unclear if it was just the old injury or whether the blow had compounded the existing damage.”We won’t know that until tomorrow when the two X-rays have been compared,” he admitted. “If it’s just a bruise then he should be reasonably okay for the Test. But if it’s a new fracture or re-fractured then we are back to square one again.”McMillan had made an effortless 43 when he had to retire, and the other New Zealand batsmen were equally untroubled by a below-par Leicestershire attack. Stephen Fleming fell five short of his century, bowled by Maddy via an inside edge, Chris Cairns kept the sparse crowd entertained with as 53-ball 62, and Daniel Vettori smacked 77 as Leicestershire brought on their part-time bowlers.Set an almost impossible 553 to win, Leicestershire reached 68 for 2 by the close.

Saturday, April 5, 2003:::
“There was a lot of euphoria for the way we played during the tournament and a lot of people (in the Government) are proud the way we played. We received a rousing welcome when we got back to Nairobi.” Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo
Source: The Gulf News, United Arab Emirates”I would be interested in having a chat. Whether I am interested [in the job] would depend on that chat. Coaching New Zealand would be my main ambition but any team that plays one-day internationals and Test matches would appeal to me.” John Bracewell, on being approached by Sri Lanka for the position of coach
Source: The Guardian, UK”I would rather look at someone like Sandeep Patil, who has done a wonderful job with Kenya. I don’t want to discuss the merits of a foreign coach but I know we too have the people to do the job.” Former Indian star Kapil Dev, on the issue of a foreign coach for India
Source: The Hindu, India”[It is] more daunting than trying to hit a first-ball six.” Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, on the prospect of making a speech in Bengali
Source: The Times of India, IndiaTuesday, April 1, 2003:::
“We are a very forgiving people. We feel that if the selectors recommend any player once, twice or three times, we should look at it,” West Indies Cricket Board president Rev. Wes Hall, on the appointment of Brian Lara as the new captain
Source: Ananova, UK
“We are the benchmark for other teams to aspire to, due largely to a thing called professionalism, which is what we all pride ourselves on,” Australia Test captain Steve Waugh
Source: BBC, UK
“Lara is a great player and he will no doubt fire up against Australia. He particularly likes facing Glenn McGrath. He likes to perform on the big stage, and playing Australia is as big as it gets for him,” Steve Waugh
Source: The Age, Australia
“I always thought that a batsman’s best years are between 28 and 36. At 30 I was looking forwards to the best years of my international career. But the selectors forced my hand and that was obviously not ideal for me,” Alistair Campbell, announcing his retirement
Source: Rediff.com