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Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket (NZC), has said that his board would prefer the ICC’s post-2012 Future Tours Programme (FTP) over a proposed Twenty20 Southern Premier League (SPL) along with Australia and South Africa. Vaughan suggested that the ICC’s bilateral engagement schedule was more financially rewarding for New Zealand than the SPL.”I don’t want to put a full stop on it and say it won’t happen but if you want to have an IPL, Champions League, SPL and bi-lateral tours, something has to give,” Vaughan told the . “In its current state, the FTP looks very attractive to us, so it would be of considerable financial sacrifice to us to try to carve out an SPL. The FTP is not locked in yet, so it is difficult to make a definitive statement.”NZC commercial manager Peter Dwan said if the FTP did allow for the SPL to be held in October then Australia, South Africa and New Zealand would have to reduce their international commitments. “Even so, you can have all the desire in the world to make it [the SPL] happen but it might not be feasible under the new programme. The FTP will have a significant knock-on effect,” Dwan said.The SPL, involving franchises from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, was proposed last year and was due to kick-off in 2011 but media reports have subsequently claimed that New Zealand will not be fielding any franchises or hosting games.The current FTP lapses into 2012 and there have been some, like Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations chief executive Tim May, who have said the ICC and its members should rework the FTP to reduce international fixtures and create windows for domestic events such as IPL, which involves international players.

All 15 members of Pakistan’s team for the World Twenty20 have confirmed their participation in next week’s the RBS Twenty20 Cup. The five-day 13-team domestic tournament kicks off on May 25 in Lahore.Defending champions Sialkot Stallions will be led by Shoaib Malik, and Pakistan captain Younis Khan is in charge of Peshawar Panthers.The popular Twenty20 tournament will have 18 matches, and has a prize money of 4.44m rupees (approx US $55,000), and will help fine-tune Pakistan’s preparations for the World Twenty20 in England next month.”We are very optimistic that this tournament will also be a great success,” Sultan Rana, PCB’s director cricket operations (domestic), said while announcing the tournament schedule. “We look forward to further strengthening cricket at the domestic level thus providing more players at the grass roots level with opportunities to perform and qualify for cricket at the international level.”

Devon Malcolm, the former England fast bowler, has criticised Steve Harmison’s outlook and believes he should not have an ECB central contract. Malcom attacked Harmison’s attitude as being ‘too comfortable’, saying the fast bowler lacked the necessary drive to play for his country.”I don’t like the way Harmison speaks at certain times. You shouldn’t give guys like Harmison a central contract. I’m not speaking out against central contracts per se but there are certain characters that make up a team and there are certain ways to manage them,” Malcolm wrote for website. “How I’m reading it at the moment, it doesn’t matter to Harmison if he doesn’t play against West Indies or Australia because he’s still got a central contract. At the back of his mind he’s an England player.”Malcolm, who took 128 wickets in 40 Tests, was scathing of Harmison’s attitude. “As a fast bowler you’ve got to get out there and show you want to play. It seems as if he’s too comfortable. Fast bowlers are not comfortable people,” he said. “You’ve always got to be striving because you know you’ve got to be a firestarter. You’ve got to be a force, mentally and physically. You’ve got to have the confidence to be in the opposing batsman’s face.”Steve just seems a little bit fragile at the moment. The simplest little thing knocks him off line. It seems he still hasn’t fully recovered from that first ball he bowled in the last Ashes series. I’ve never heard Steve say that was a terrible day.”Harmison, 30, was dropped for the Test at the Kensington Oval after two lacklustre performances in the Caribbean series, and question marks were being raised as to whether to can rekindle the required pace and hostility to lead the attack. According to Malcolm, Harmison should never play for England unless he had use of the new ball.”He should have the confidence to say: ‘I want that new ball. As an out-and-out fast bowler that should be my right,'” said Malcolm. “Harmison as second-change. No way! You’re hiding him like that. The opposition sees the guy who is meant to be your quickest bowler is not taking the new ball and it’s a psychological advantage.”

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar believes beating Australia in the limited-overs series in the UAE would help send a strong message to other nations to tour Pakistan. “If we beat Australia we can send a strong message that we are a good side and they should come (to Pakistan) and play against us more often,” Shoaib said.Australia will be taking on Pakistan in five ODIs and a Twenty20 international to be played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai from April 22-May 7. A neutral venue was decided on because Australia had declined to tour Pakistan on security grounds, even before the terror attack on the Sri Lanka team last month in Lahore.”I know whatever happened (in Lahore) was not good for Pakistan,” Shoaib said. “(But) this coming series is a good opportunity for us to beat a strong team like Australia, which may help us in inviting strong teams to Pakistan and take our country out of isolation.”Shoaib, 33, passed a three-day fitness test last week before he was selected in a 15-man squad for the UAE series. Disciplinary and fitness problems restricted him to playing just two ODIs since November 2007, both against the visiting Sri Lankan team in January this year. It was the same opposition he played his last Twenty20 international against, in King City, in October last year.”Nobody can give a guarantee of fitness in international matches, but I have come into the side after passing a fitness test,” he said. “I want to bowl my full quota of 10 overs and enjoy fielding.”Australia have rested three players for the series – captain Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson – while Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee have been recalled.”Ponting is a great player and so is Hussey, they will surely be missed,” Shoaib said. “But Australia have some very good players like Shaun Marsh and Michael Clarke but if our bowlers bowl to their potential, we have a chance to win the series.”He also backed captain Younis Khan, who replaced Shoaib Malik in January after Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the three-match ODI series. “Younis is a very popular man in the dressing room. He does work very hard and leads from the front,” Shoaib said. “His captaincy is the best thing that has happened to Pakistan and I am very happy with him.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board’s “unprofessional thinking” for dropping three ICL players from its list of probables for the World Twenty20 in June after initially naming them in the squad. Inzamam, who is also captain of ICL’s Lahore Badshahs, said the Pakistan board and the selectors should have shown more respect to the three players who have represented the country.Inzamam also criticised the ICC’s move to implement stringent guidelines on unofficial cricket from June 1 to prevent future ICL models, and said the governing body was only scared of losing sponsorship money to independent organisers.On Tuesday, the PCB backed out of a potential face-off with the ICC by dropping three ICL players – Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan – from its list of 30 probables for the ICC World Twenty20 in June. Nazir and Naved-ul-Hasan played under Inzamam last season and Razzaq appeared for ICL’s Hyderabad Heroes.”The Pakistan board should not have announced the list if they were not clear about all aspects of the selection,” Inzamam told Cricinfo. “One day they announced the list, and the next day they reversed it. This is the result of unprofessional thinking by the board and the selectors. If the PCB didn’t have an ICC clearance, it had no right to name these players in the list and then tell them after a day that ‘Look, we don’t respect you’.”Asked about the ICC’s move to crack down on unofficial cricket, including imposing stricter rules and a proposed cooling period for players who want to return, Inzamam accused the governing body of adopting double standards.”The ICC is just scared that the money they generate from the game should not go to others,” Inzamam said. “The ICC is bothered only about that. During the days when there was not so much money in cricket, players used to play in tournaments which had no official status in countries like Bangladesh; the ICC had no problems. The ICC is just worried that their sponsorship money would splinter. The ICC is worried about ICL only because of the money, otherwise they know these players are only playing cricket and not committing any crime.”Reacting to reports in the Pakistani media that Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, was keen to include ICL players in the national team, Inzamam said it was the right way for a leader to think. “If Younis feels that with the return of ICL players, his team will get better or stronger, it’s absolutely the right thought,” he said. “The presence of players like Mohammed Yousuf, Nazir, Razzaq and Naved-ul Hasan will only strengthen the Pakistan team.”Pakistan’s next international engagement is a five-match ODI series and a Twenty20 against Australia in Abu Dhabi from April 22-May 7.

North Zone batsmen Aakash Chopra and Virat Kohli were fined for unsporting behaviour during their side’s 65-run loss to East Zone in the Deodhar Trophy on Saturday. Kohli was docked 50% of his match fees while Chopra was fined 20%, match referee Hemant Wasu said.Kohli was penalised for a heated exchange of words with Assam medium-pacer Dhiraj Goswami after being caught-and-bowled for 7. Goswami was reprimanded for his role in the incident but was not slapped with a fine.Chopra got his penalty for dissent; after being adjudged lbw by umpire Suresh Shastri, Chopra showed his bat to the umpire to indicate he had edged the ball.North have completed both their games in the league phase, and have one win and a loss. Whether they progress to the final on March 18 will depend on the outcome of the Group A match between East and Central at the Ravenshaw College ground.

There were no surprises in Ireland’s 15-man squad for the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa in April.The return of Eoin Morgan, currently on tour with England A in New Zealand, at the expense of Phil Eaglestone is the only change from the squad which won the ICC Intercontinental Cup in South Africa last November. Ten of the squad were in the Caribbean for the 2007 World Cup, and a seasoned side averages almost 60 appearances each.”The players have all worked hard and they all know what it means to play on the World stage,” explained coach Phil, Simmons. “They’ve had a taste of it, and they want to embrace it again. It’s also good to have a few newer faces like Regan West and Peter Connell coming in to keep it fresh and add something new.”With so much at stake in terms of qualification, and the associated financial rewards, there’s bound to be a lot of pressure games, and I think the squad that’s been selected is better placed than most to handle it. They’ve been in a lot of tough games over the years and acquitted themselves superbly. There’s a good balance to the squad, and having so many quality allrounders gives us lots of options.”William Portfield, who will lead the team, said he was happy to have a full-strength squad. “It’s a great boost to have Eoin Morgan back with us. We now have five players involved with English counties playing full time cricket, and that’s a great benefit. “We’ve pretty much covered all bases in terms of the players selected, and I think we’ll do well in the South African conditions. There’s a bit of extra pace and bounce usually in the wickets, and with Peter Connell and Boyd Rankin both bowling pretty quick, we have a good spearhead. Kyle McCallan and Regan West are both quality spinners, and we have a host of allrounders who are all slightly different in their own way.””I think we’ve been drawn in slightly the tougher group, but with the competition format, if we want to progress, we have to play well against all the top sides. I’d be confident we can progress and keep Irish cricket very much on the map.”Ireland squad William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Peter Connell, Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, John Mooney, Eoin Morgan, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Andrew Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Regan West, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.Reserves: Phil Eaglestone, Paul Stirling, Reinhardt Strydom.

Jhulan Goswami will lead India’s 15-member squad at the Women’s World Cup in Australia in March 2009. The selectors have made three changes to the squad that lost all five ODIs and a Twenty20 international in Australia in October-November 2008.Batsman Jaya Sharma and offspinners Nooshin Al Khadeer and Seema Pujare have been been left out, with Poonam Raut, Harpreet Kaur and Sravanthi Naidu taking their places. Medium-pacer Amita Sharma will be Goswami’s deputy for the tournament, which will be held in New South Wales from March 7 to 22.Shubhangi Kulkarni, the convenor of the BCCI’s women’s selection committee, saidfielding skills had been kept in mind when picking the squad. “The three youngsters, Kaur, Naidu and Raut are good all-round players. The selectors have kept their eye on Kaur since last year, when she played the Challengers and showed promise,” she said. “Naidu was in the Indian squad four years ago when she was 17. Raut is a promising offspinner and opening batsman, which is an area where we have had problems for a while.”Jaya and Al Khadeer had played all eight games at the last World Cup in South Africa, where India lost the final to Australia. Jaya scored 68 runs in the tournament and failed to perform on the recent tours of England and Australia, making 75 runs in eight innings. Al Khadeer, who has 99 wickets from 75 ODIs, had made a comeback for the tour of Australia after being overlooked for England and the Asia Cup last year, but is out again after taking three wickets in four games at an economy-rate of 5.51. However she was India’s leading wicket-taker in the series.Besides Goswami and Amita, the others in this team who were part of India’s squad at the previous World Cup are Anjum Chopra, Rumeli Dhar and Mithali Raj.India have been drawn in the same group as England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and would expect to make it to the Super Six stage – the top three sides go through. They have not had the best of lead-ups to the tournament: they have not won an international game in England and Australia after their emphatic display in the Women’s Asia Cup in May 2008.Goswami said the 5-0 defeat in Australia was an “eye opener”, and agreed that the fielding needed improvement.” We had a good camp at NCA last week with inputs from the likes of Dav Whatmore,” Goswami told . “There were a few glitches in our fielding but we have worked a lot on that and there will be another camp in Mumbai before we leave for Australia on March 1. It’s a big responsibility and I will give my best. I am confident that we will do well and at least be in the final.”India squad
Jhulan Goswami (capt), Amita Sharma, Mithali Raj, Rumeli Dhar, Priyanka Roy, Thirush Kamini, Poonam Raut, Harpreet Kaur, Anjum Chopra, Sulakshana Naik (wk), Anagha Deshpande (wk), Reema Malhotra, Snehal Pradhan, Gouher Sultana, Sravanthi Naidu.

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has said his team will look to score at least another 50 runs on the fifth day of the deciding Test at McLean Park to extend their advantage. Gayle ended his three-year century drought with an unbeaten 146 and steered his team to a lead of 214 with three second-innings wickets in hand.”I will be looking to come back tomorrow and push on to see how many more I can get,” Gayle said. “We still have three wickets in hand so I will be looking for as many as possible.”We would probably look for another 50 runs and build from that. The pitch is still good for batting so we won’t be taking anything for granted.”Gayle shared a stand of 124 with Brendan Nash after the pair came together with West Indies in a spot of bother at 106 for 4. He began his innings aggressively but later dropped anchor to ensure his team to safety till stumps. He spent 40 balls in the 90s before finally reaching his ton, off 189 balls. He has occupied the crease for 434 minutes and this innings is so far the slowest of his eight Test centuries.”I had to make the adjustment from my natural attacking game,” he said. “The team required it. One thing I am delighted about is that I played the patient role, making them [New Zealand] come to me as much as possible.”Out of seven Tests in Napier, only two have produced decisive results. West Indies haven’t won a Test in New Zealand since 1995.

Graeme Smith has been surprised by Australia’s lack of clarity, but the only possible cloudiness in the South African camp has been caused by the celebrations from the peaks of success over the past two weeks. While the visitors have worn the smiles of hard-earned triumphs either side of Christmas, the hosts have been scrooging their way through the festive season while losing a rare series at home.The SCG is usually a parade ground for the Australians, but this time it will be a desperate fight to avoid a first clean-sweep defeat in a three-Test series in their backyard. While South Africa look down, Australian supporters are wondering how long it will take before they can stop peering up. For the third Test in Sydney, which is starting a day later than usual to give the players more rest, the evolution of the struggling side continues with two debutants in Doug Bollinger and Andrew McDonald.In the professional climate where the shoe size of every international is known alongside their favourite hitting areas, the South Africans are entering a blind date with Bollinger, the opening bowler, and the allrounder McDonald. It is a situation that is so unfamiliar to Smith that it is giving him flashbacks to his junior days.”It’s not often in world cricket that you arrive at a game and don’t know too much about the guys you’ll be facing with the new ball,” Smith said. “It takes you back to the days at school and club cricket when there was no television around.”Bollinger is a left-arm fast bowler who will start on his home ground and is capable of swinging the new and old ball while McDonald – the South Africans have seen him playing Twenty20 on television for Victoria – is a batsman who chips in with the ball. The selections were a shock for the visitors. “Having Ben Hilfenhaus in [the squad in] Melbourne and now picking Bollinger here probably shows a little bit of lack of clarity in terms of where they want to go,” Smith said. “That has surprised us.”Smith is not a man who would admit to fear, and given the recent performances of Australian players considered better than Bollinger and McDonald there is no reason to be scared, but he is wary. “We’ve got a few interesting challenges ahead of us in this game, a few unknown factors,” he said. “[McDonald is] one of them, Bollinger’s the other. We’ve got to make sure we really meet those challenges on the field.”The tourists, who spent New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour, have little else to worry about and named an unchanged side after Ashwell Prince’s cracked thumb did not heal in time. For the past two matches the South Africans have achieved new things, chasing 414 in Perth for the second-biggest pursuit in history, and beating Australia in Melbourne for their first series victory here. They are trying to ensure the final game will not be a let down.”It’s obviously difficult when you’ve had such great moments in the last two Tests to do it again,” Smith said. “The squad is quite calm. Each player is still hungry for performance. There’s a real motivation to win the series 3-0. That would be fantastic. That opportunity hasn’t come around for many teams often against Australia. Here we sit with that in front of us.”Life is much more difficult for the Australians. Ricky Ponting’s leadership has been questioned alongside the decisions of the selectors after 2008 concluded with series losses to India and South Africa. Matthew Hayden, the country’s most successful opener, has become a match-by-match prospect due to poor form and Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson are injured.The new collection has led to Australia breaking with the strange notion of not picking two left-arm fast bowlers in the same attack. (Chris Matthews and Bruce Reid were the last to be used together when they played against England in 1986-87.) While the change of angle will test the batsmen, the bowlers’ footmarks will also help the offspinner Nathan Hauritz, who will benefit from any help.”It’s not anything to do with looking to have two left-armers in the side, you’ve got to pick the guys you think are the best suited to the conditions,” Ponting said. “When you’ve got left-armers as well and you’ve got a right-arm offspinner in your side that becomes pretty handy.”At a team meeting before training on Friday the Australians outlined their goals for the year and focussed on a fresh start. “The culture that a lot of us grew up in was a very strong winning one and that’s what hopefully we’ve got to do for the younger guys coming into the side right now,” Ponting said. “I think it’s important that we move on from the last couple of weeks as quick as we can.”Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew McDonald, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Peter Siddle, 11 Doug Bollinger.South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Neil McKenzie, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Morne Morkel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.