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Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, said he would be looking to bring imagination into his captaincy as he directs the hosts’ bid to win the Twenty20 World Championship starting next week.”When one-day cricket started it was very different to how it was played now, it has developed a lot. And now we are at the start of Twenty20 cricket and everything will be different as well,” Smith said.”Tactics are obviously going to be very important. Captains are going to have to bring some imagination into the game,” Smith said. “Players who are unorthodox and can think on their feet will be crucial, and captains are going to need to trust their players and allow them to just go out and play.”We are very excited about the tournament because we’ve had quite a long break since the World Cup. And I’m excited about the side we’ve got because it’s a mix of youth and experience and we’ve got some guys who’ve done very well in domestic Twenty20. Hosting the inaugural tournament is an awesome opportunity for us and I think we’ll be seeing the next generation of international stars coming to the fore.”Coach Mickey Arthur said the South Africans would spend the week before the tournament starts on September 11 working hard in training.”Graeme and I have a pretty good idea of what we want for the tournament and hopefully we will confirm that during this week,” Arthur said. “We have a pretty intensive programme lined up to assess exactly where we are.”We haven’t won a major ICC event since unity and this is a huge opportunity for us to get the country behind us and to win a substantial event. It is attainable if we play to our full potential.”

Richie Richardson and Andy Roberts, former players, have hit out at the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) for its stance on negotiating a contract for retainer fees with the regional board.Richardson said WIPA was pushing for too much money while Andy Roberts said the players’ association has been dragging its feet in meeting with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to discuss the contract. The WICB, after negotiations went beyond their first deadline of last Friday, have now proposed a further meeting with WIPA tomorrow with a new deadline of May 3 for the players to sign its offer for retainer contracts.Richardson said the players are failing to understand the plight of the regional game. “It is really sad the state of affairs of West Indies cricket at this present time,” Richardson told a local radio station yesterday. “We are all aware of what we are going through and rather than us getting together and trying to restore our cricket as quickly as possible we continue to fight and argue for things that should not be a priority in West Indies cricket.”Cricket is bigger than the players. The board and I think that in the interest of the fans and West Indies cricket we have got to really quickly sort out our problems and get on with playing and get the game going, get the fans happy and try and restore our cricket.”We are right down at the bottom of the table and yet our players are demanding big money. I don’t like to compare time but when we played we fought for a lot of things. We fought for better treatment of the players, for improvement in payments and things like that. If we were to adopt the same attitude that the players were adopting today we would have never gone out on the field of play because there was hardly any money.”But our priority was to go out there and play for West Indies, to go out there and represent the millions of fans who depend on us to keep them uplifted throughout their daily lives. Today the priority is money and it is really sad because it is destroying West Indies cricket.”I think the board needs to be a bit stronger. At the end of the day the board can only offer what it’s capable of offering to the players,” Richardson added. “Just take it or leave it. If they don’t want to go out there and play cricket I’m sure there are a number of players who want to go out and play. We’re not winning anything so you might as well go out there and invest in young players who want to go out there and play for their country and groom them and maybe in five, 10 years we will have a much better team.”Roberts, a former player and coach, said both WICB and WIPA should share the blame for the impasse, which has been raising its ugly head repeatedly.”It seems as though this is a problem we are seeing every tour West Indies have embarked on within the last year or so, whether it’s a home series or away series,” Roberts said. “I’m not casting the blame entirely on WICB and I’m not casting the blame entirely on WIPA. But I believe the CEO for WIPA has some ulterior motives because I cannot see every time you wait until the final hour before you decide to come to the bargaining table. If there’s any hiccup we are back to square one again. We have to find a team if the players decide that they are not signing any contract on Tuesday. Where do you find the top players from?Roberts also castigated the WICB. The players are to blame but the board has contributed to the problem. Check some of the salaries of some of the administrators.”

Ken Gordon leaves his two-year presidency of West Indies cricket with the Board on stable financial ground; with a developmental academy ready to go; a financially successful World Cup behind it; and an improved contract with chief sponsors Digicel now worth US$2.6 million per year.But Gordon also leaves having presided over an organisation lacking public credibility. This was his frank admission yesterday at the Hilton Trinidad where he faced the media for a final time as West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president.”Obviously, anything that’s good or bad is a reflection of my leadership. As far as the credibility problem is concerned, I don’t think that has made the kind of progress I would have liked,” he said. “Short answer is the West Indies Cricket Board in my view continues to have a credibility problem. But I hope that in the process of change which is ahead of us, that there will be a structural change to the Board to have it reflect a different quality of membership.”According to Gordon – making reference to instances of leaks to the press – the root of the Board’s credibility difficulties had to do with a lack of confidentiality, which he said had led to a “media circus”.”A big part of the problem is until you can run an organisation where the quality of people who are there will respect confidentiality, and you can solve problems internally, I suppose you will always have a credibility problem… This has haunted the West Indies.”One of the commitments we made was transparency. We’re trying to tell you what all the issues are. But that doesn’t mean you have to know when everybody fights amongst themselves to resolve issues. And I’m afraid, in the process, many things have also been manufactured.”Gordon also conceded that the relationship between his administration and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) had also been a failure.”We have not succeeded in bridging that gap on a sustainable basis and I had hoped after the first few months, first year, that we would have done so,” he said.”I’m not here to point fingers,” Gordon continued. “I’m only here to say that it is absolutely critical for West Indies cricket that that issue be addressed and finally solved… It really boils down to how you deal with personalities.”Gordon noted, too, that “a new man”, Julian Hunte, “has a chance to come in and [WIPA president] Mr [Dinanath] Ramnarine may prefer to deal with him. So that will take it forward”.Referring also to the stormy exchanges between Ramnarine and new WICB CEO Bruce Aanensen, reflected in recent media releases, Gordon said: “Mr Aanensen has had a vigourous start. And perhaps there are similarities between Mr Ramnarine and Mr Aanensen.”But, with Aanensen seated at the head table listening, he expressed confidence that “once they have gotten over the initial flaring, things will settle down. Because one thing I’m certain of is, they both have West Indies cricket at heart”.Gordon, the former media magnate and government minister in the NAR administration, leaves this latest office, keen, he says, to “learn to be” the grandfather he has not quite been.And having previously been asked to reconsider his offered resignation during the World Cup in April, Gordon suggested his job in West Indies cricket is now done. “When you are involved in making serious change, there is fallout that must inevitably occur. Popularity is not one.”Obviously, people get upset with me. I understand that. I’m not here for a career. I like to think with what we have set out to do largely is putting a foundation there. But I also recognise that, in the process, there has been so much fallout, even among a pocket of my own members, that perhaps it’s better to get somebody else to take it to a different level. I have been there with it up to a certain point, now let somebody else take it forward.”And asked to reflect on his leadership style during his somewhat controversial tenure, Gordon said, had he to face the bowling all over again, there would be an adjustment in strategy.”Obviously I would have attempted to perhaps temper some of my approaches a little more. But you see, when you have what looks like a house of cards around you, it’s very difficult to be always as considered as you should be.”He said “in the light of what I have experienced”, he would use “more personal consultation perhaps rather than just consultation at the board level; making the time to do that. Maybe some people may have understood a little more clearly”.

Scorecard
A seven-hour 165 from Simon Katich was not enough to earn New South Wales the lead against Western Australia after Brad Hogg wrapped up the Blues’ innings with 38 runs still required. Katich and Matthew Nicholson put on 84 for the eighth wicket to give their side hope but the Blues lost their last three wickets for 13 to hand the Warriors first-innings points. At stumps Chris Rogers and Clint Heron had helped Western Australia extend their lead to 188.Katich and Beau Casson started the day with plenty of work ahead of them at 6 for 196, needing 352. Things looked even more grim for the Blues when Casson was caught behind off Hogg for 12 but Nicholson dug in with Katich for nearly two hours, advancing the score to 301 before he was bowled by Ben Edmondson for 38.Thirteen runs later Hogg effectively ended the New South Wales resistance when he lured Katich, who had struck 20 fours and one six, into giving Adam Voges a lofted catch at deep mid-off. In his next over, Hogg picked up the final wicket when Stuart MacGill (0) skied a catch to Shaun Marsh at cover.With just under a day-and-a-half to play, Rogers quickly set about establishing a target, racing to a half-century from 58 balls. It was the fifth time he had passed fifty in seven Pura Cup innings this season and reminded the Australia selectors that Phil Jaques was not the only opener knocking on the door for a place in the Test team. He was eventually out to Casson for 73, which included seven fours and one six.Marsh was run out for 2 but Heron and North continued to frustrate the New South Wales bowlers and took the score to 2 for 151 at stumps. North was on 29 not out and Heron was unbeaten on 45.

Though it ended badly, with a 127-run hammering in Australian hands, BrianLara was fairly satisfied with West Indies efforts over the pastfortnight. And though they have to pre-qualify to defend their ChampionsTrophy crown, Lara was confident that those three matches would help theircause before they came up against the big boys.”I thought in the first half of the game, in the field, the guys workedreally hard,” said Lara, when asked for his thoughts on the match.”Unfortunately, we didn’t get things going in the second half. We lost toomany wickets early on, and put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We havecrumbled in the past in this tournament, and it happened again this timefrom the beginning.”Getting to the final was a plus. We’ve got a week in Malaysia beforegetting to the ICC [Champions Trophy], and we’re going to be trying ourbest there. We are the defending champions and we have to go into that full ofbottle, full of zest, and do ourselves proud.”Lara reckoned that the format might even play into West Indian hands. “Isee it as a good way of going into the tournament,” he said. “Australia,England, and Pakistan will arrive for their first game, but we willalready have had three games going in. That’s a slight plus.”Qualifying for the final here, ahead of a higher-ranked Indian team, wascause for satisfaction. “I do feel that being second-best against twoteams rated higher than us was a good effort,” he said. “I still haveconfidence in the guys, and it’s just a question of working on thephysical, mental, and technical aspects of our game.”It also pleased him that West Indies beat both Australia and India duringthe fortnight even with some players patently out of form. “Some guys arelimited in their skills, and they want to work and enhance their game asmuch as possible,” he said. “We have two or three coaches. We’ve gottrainers, physios, and everyone trying to gel together and ensure not onlythat we win tournaments, but that we get better.”Despite a brittle middle order, Lara was optimistic when asked whatpositives he took from the tournament. “I think Dwayne Smith – we justneed to get his batting together,” he said. “You can see he’s apower-hitter, but we need to get him to spend more time in the middle. Ithink Jerome Taylor improved as the tournament progressed. Chris Gayle hada pretty good tournament. We’ve got five or six in and around form. Thereare other players we have to massage and get together. I still believe inthem.”There was also no fuss over his own dismissal, given out caught after thebat had brushed the pad. “Of course I was disappointed to get out, but thesethings happen,” he said. And though he trudged back slowly, Lara suggestedthat he certainly hadn’t been angling for a recall to the middle. “Whenthe umpire gives me out, I’m not going to go back,” he said, perhapsreferring to the Sachin Tendulkar incident on Friday evening.They may have come up well short today, but on placid Indian pitches withlightning fast outfields, the West Indian batting remains capable ofshocking anyone. And if they can get Corey Collymore fit and into rhythm,they’ll be dangerous floaters in a draw that has several teams strugglingfor a semblance of form.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has issued notices to Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, the BCCI, Pepsi and Sony Television for a commercial featuring a child who supplies the Indian team with soft drinks.The petition was filed by a social worker who believed that the commercial depicted child labour. She said that the television spot violated articles of the constitution. The Justices presiding over the case asked for a detailed report on the matter.

With the rain pouring down in the morning, South Africa’s plans for the first game of the tri series against Sri Lanka were thrown into disarray. Both Shaun Pollock, who has lower back trouble, and Makhaya Ntini, who has a hamstring strain, were scheduled to undergo fitness tests, but the wet and swampy conditions prevented that. At his press conference, Mark Boucher, the South African captain, reckoned that Ntini might just make it, though he was less sure of Pollock.Pollock was also slated to bat at No.5, and if he doesn’t convince the physio by tomorrow morning, Ashwell Prince, who led in the Tests against Sri Lanka is expected to come in. When asked whether the inclusion of Prince might affect the power play strategy, Boucher said: “No, in one-day matches these days, everyone needs to be able to hit the ball out of the ground.”He also preferred not to focus on South Africa’s atrocious record in Sri Lanka – one win dating back to 1993. “We have to put that behind us,” he said. “We’re ranked No.2 and we’re proud of that. Our last series win was against the World Champions [Australia], and I think our one-day cricket has certainly taken a step forward.”We went over to India last year, to play against a team that was in very good form. Everyone wrote us off, but we managed to draw the series [2-2] and even had the opportunity to win it.”Looking ahead to the Sri Lanka game, Boucher said that he expected the toughest of tests. “I’ve spoken to some of the other senior players as well, and we think that Sri Lanka is the second-toughest place to tour. They’re a great team in their own conditions, and they’re in very good form.”Boucher added that both his batsmen and bowlers would have to adapt to make the most of conditions that are poles apart from those in the highveld. “The batsmen try to play a positive attacking brand of cricket, and the bowlers have to realise that the area in which they have to land the ball is so much smaller than it is when they’re playing at home.”As their performances against India last year, and the famous 3-2 series win against Australia, showed, the team coached by Mickey Arthur are far from being a soft touch. And though injuries have reduced South Africa to outsiders in a three-team race, neither Sri Lanka nor India are likely to make the mistake of taking them lightly.

Sourav Ganguly has been included in the Indian squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka at Chennai. Ganguly, who was earlier stripped of the Test captaincy, was chosen in the team as a “batting allrounder” after a marathon meeting of the five-member selection committee in Chennai. Kiran More, the chairman of selectors, added that Zaheer Khan missed out because Ganguly would provide a bowling option.”We thought we’ll use him as a batting allrounder in the team,” said More while addressing the press. “We discussed it for a long time and after deliberations we decided to have him in the team as an allrounder. It will give more comfort to the team balance.” On his batting, More added that Ganguly had done well in Zimbabwe and scored a hundred in the Duleep Trophy too and that all the selectors were happy with his performance.Mahendra Singh Dhoni has replaced Dinesh Karthik as the wicketkeeper and More said that “Dhoni has taken us to a different level of cricket and he has a great future. He walks in at No.6 or No.7 and it’s always a danger for the opposition.” The selectors also retained VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble in the squad while Rudra Pratap Singh was rewarded for his consistent performances in the one-dayers.Zaheer and Dheeraj Jadhav, who were part of the Test team in the last series against Zimbabwe, didn’t find a place. “We discussed several names,” said More. “RP Singh has done well in the one-dayers and we have found a few young bowlers who are promising. If they perform well in domestic cricket, they will definitely get opportunities. We missed out on Zaheer Khan also. He’s performed outstandingly in domestic cricket and it was a tough call to leave him out. Also, we consider Ganguly as an allrounder, that’s why Zaheer Khan has missed out.”The one-day squad for the remaining two matches against South Africa remained unchanged. The team for the last two Tests against Sri Lanka will be named after the first Test.Squad for first Test against Sri Lanka
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Anil Kumble, RP Singh.Squad for last two ODIs against South Africa
Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, S Sreesanth, RP Singh, Jai Prakash Yadav.

The South African board has announced that Jacques Kallis will replace Nicky Boje as vice-captain for the next year. At the same time, Graeme Smith was re-appointed as captain for the next two years, which will take South Africa beyond the 2007 World Cup.”The appointment of a world class allrounder like Kallis as vice-captain will add much value to the team effort,” said Gerald Majola, the board’s chairman. “The extension of Graeme’s contract for another two years shows the faith we have in his abilities to lead the team from the front,” he continued. “He has brought commitment and a will to win and that augurs well for the future. We are confident he will take the team up the world rankings in both Tests and ODI’s, and present a formidable challenge at the World Cup.”The other major change was that Mustapha Khan, a former national player from KwaZulu-Natal, replaced Enver Mall on the selection panel. Mell has taken over as CEO of KwaZulu Natal cricket. Haroon Lorgat, originally added to the group, will continue officially in his capacity as chairman with Joubert Strydom as the third man on the panel. The trio will be joined by Smith and national coach Micky Arthur.Majola also announced the appointment of Vintcent van der Bijl as professional cricket general manager. “His appointment is part of our strategic plan to achieve the vision of making South African cricket a truly representative nation of winners,” he explained. “Vince has cricket in his heart and his head. He will be an asset to the professional structures we have in place. He will be reporting directly to me and will concentrate on professional playing affairs in terms of our strategic plans.”AB de Villiers was also added to the list of centrally contracted players.

For over twelve years now Curtly Ambrose has been putting the fear of God upbatsmen all over the world. But that will not happen for much longer as thissupreme fast bowler insists on bowing out of international cricket at the endof this series. It is of no surprise that this exceptional man does so havingtoday joined that exclusive, elite group of just four who have reached fourhundred Test wickets.Such illustrous cricketers as Sir Richard Hadlee, Wasim Akram and Kapil Devare in that group but leading it with 475 wickets is Courtney Walsh, the manwho has formed a most formidable bowling partnership with Ambrose. Betweenthem they have accumulated a staggering 875 Test wickets as they went aboutdemolishing the strongest batting line-ups over the years.Today they shared the five wickets that England lost for 105 by stumps andonce again, as is usually the case, the runs came more easily when these twostalwarts were replaced. For England, Graham Thorpe’s innings of 46 was theonly one of any note, but with 67 runs behind and five wickets remaining inthe first innings the match is evenly poised after the first day.The Headingley pitch lived up to its reputation of assisting pace bowlers butin the absence of low clouds – indeed, the first morning of the fourth Testwas greeted by a lovely blue sky which remained so for the rest of the day -Jimmy Adams decided to make first use of a wicket which had little grass. Hecertainly would not have wanted to bat last on the Headingley wicket whichdeteriorates rather than get any easier for batting.Although he lost Sherwin Campbell in only the third over, Adams wouldn’t havebeen unduly concerned until the score had reached 50 for 1 when things beganto happen for England.Craig White, who finished with his Test best figures of 5 for 57 and looksnow to be such an improved bowler, began an alarming West Indies collapse. Heswung the ball most effectively into the left handers and that movement wasthe basis of his first three dismissals.He brought one in sharply into Wavell Hinds who got a thin edge to it to becaught behind and struck again quickly in his next over when he trapped themaster batsman Brian Lara leg before. He drew him forward and moved the ballacross towards leg stump.After Darren Gough had removed Adrian Griffith, White again produced thein-swinger to Jimmy Adams who played on, via the inside edge. It reduced WestIndies to 5 for 60 before lunch and White had been instrumental in thatbatting debacle.It took an unbeaten half-century from young Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was ablysupported by Ridley Jacobs to halt the slide. Playing in only his fourthTest, Sarwan has shown tremendous potential since making his debut last May.This Test is already showing signs of a close finish.