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Injured South African opener Loots Bosman has been forced to withdraw from the ICC World Twenty20. Announcing the unfortunate news, Norman Arendse, the president of Cricket South Africa, said a replacement would be named only after it has been approved by the ICC’s technical committee.”The medical report left us with no alternative,” Arendse said. “Loots has had a stand-alone record in this form of the game in South African cricket and he was desperately keen to play.”But we have to look at the bigger picture, particularly as it affects his long-term career. Neurological injuries can take on career-threatening proportions and, had Loots got hurt again in the tournament, he could have been put out of action for far longer than the six weeks’ rest recommended by our team of medical specialists.”Bosman had hurt his lower back while attempting a catch during the ODI series against Zimbabwe last month. He has an impressive record in domestic Twenty20 competitions with a strike rate of nearly 150 and is one of only three South Africans to have scored a century in this format.

ScorecardScotland have a scent of victory against Namibia in Windhoek despite a career-best six-wicket haul from Kola Burger. Half centuries from Fraser Watts and Qasim Sheikh enabled Scotland to reach a lead of 236, then John Blain struck three blows late in the day to leave the home side struggling.After an opening day when 20 wickets fell it looked as though a similar pattern would unfold again as Douglas Lockhart fell in the first over. Watts and Sheikh then produced the first period of the match where the bat dominated, adding 111 in 41 overs.But the fall of Watts, lbw to Burger for 54, began another collapse as nine wickets went for 100 with Burger claiming the key duo of Ryan Watson and Gavin Hamilton in consecutive balls. Craig Wright, at No. 9, was the only other batsman to reach double figures.There was something in the pitch throughout, so chasing 237 was never going to be an easy task and Namibia made an unsteady start. Blain immediately set to work adding to his first-innings haul of 5 for 48 dispatching both openers and Gerrie Snyman with just 16 on the board. Sarel and Louis Burger managed to negotiate the final passage of play to leave a tense third day in prospect.

Jacob Oram, trying to figure out just how his worth was perceived to be $US675,000 for the Indian Premier League’s Chennai franchise, the Super Kings, says his priority is still with New Zealand. While he was very excited to be a part of the inaugural Twenty20 tournament, whose eight teams were finalised in a much-hyped auction in Mumbai yesterday, Oram remained unsure about the extent of his participation.The 44-day competition, starting on April 18, clashes with New Zealand’s tour of England and Oram was waiting for details to be worked through with New Zealand Cricket. “Playing for New Zealand and the English tour is priority No.1,” he told the website sportal.co.nz.”It is massive money they are throwing around and the IPL have stated that this is here to stay and everything around the IPL has just been out of the top drawer so while it is going to be great opportunity and experience to be part of it for me No.1 is still going to be to go back and play for New Zealand.””I’ll need warm-ups in England. I’ll need preparation that is the same as for other tours which is to get myself right for Test matches which is every cricketers’ No.1 goal.”Oram said that his view was shared by Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum, who have also been snapped up by IPL franchises. “I don’t want to get into a situation where I turn up two or three days before the Lord’s Test and have egg on my face because I’m not prepared for a Test match because they are two totally different games.”I would need to prepare as I would any other Test match which means I get overs under my belt and time at the crease,” he said. “”It changes your life and security for us for the future and family, if that comes around, so it is a massive shift in my whole life.”Oram, who will be play alongside the likes of Stephen Fleming, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini and Michael Hussey for Chennai, felt the atmosphere in the dressing room would be something to look forward to.”I’ve never been in a situation where that sort of money is being thrown around or talked about and to be right in the mix of it is quite surreal…and pleasant,” he said. “We were just sitting at the hotel having a few beers celebrating Jamie’s [How’s] wonderful knock, the wonderful game that it was.”We were getting second-hand information through friends and family. When I first head it I didn’t want to believe it until I saw it for myself in black and white on the internet and when I saw that it took my breath away to be honest.”

One of the most arresting images from this match came a few minutes after the end. Harbhajan Singh, tricolour in hand, sprinted onto the field to join his ecstatic team-mates and quickly merged into a group jumping up and down. For a brief moment, before the support staff arrived, it was about white clothing, blue caps and a national flag.This has always been a close-knit unit but it’s obvious that defeat in Sydney, and subsequent events, brought them closer. The scorecard shows that the spoils were divided equally (there wasn’t a century nor a five-wicket haul) but there was so much more to suggest a beautiful bond. Like at Nottingham last year, this was a band of musketeers rallying around each other.Sample this for team effort: Ishant Sharma has bowled seven overs, RP Singh, ready to take over, has his cap and jumper off, Anil Kumble chats to Virender Sehwag, hears that Ishant is used to long spells in domestic cricket, Tendulkar joins in, RP too, Kumble realises Ponting is on strike, and hands the ball to Ishant. One ball later they’re all back together, this time celebrating Ponting’s wicket.Wickets came at the right time, largely because the bowlers didn’t waver. Rarely have three Indian fast bowlers bowled so well in partnership. Ishant stood out this morning but his effectiveness was enhanced because neither RP Singh nor Pathan gave much away opposite him. The run-rate was in control and, more importantly, the ball regularly hustled the batsman. No bowler was dominated and the fours were largely because of some outstanding batting on view.It’s tough to zero in on any one critical moment: RP Singh’s ball to trap Michael Hussey was as important as Ishant’s straighter one to get Ricky Ponting or Kumble’s fizzer to outdo Michael Clarke, or Sehwag’s beauty to nail Adam Gilchrist or even Irfan Pathan’s away-goer to beat Stuart Clark. Kumble has long insisted that India possess the bowling attack to thrive on any pitch and his troops showed how swing and seam could be far more lethal than pace.”As long as you are confident it doesn’t matter what sort of surface you bowl on,” said Kumble. “It’s important to stick to a plan and repeat it again and again. We’ve played enough cricket to understand how to adjust accordingly.”Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were always on hand for advice, Rahul Dravid had a word or two to offer between overs, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, apart from his chattering behind the stumps, seemed to inform everyone about the direction of the breeze. It was fitting that the slip fielders were standing so close to each other, almost indicating the glue binding the team. When RP Singh hurried Clarke with a bouncer, striking him on the bat handle, Pathan ran in about 30 metres, from mid-on to the batsman, to urge everyone on. That was how desperate this team was to claw their way back.Team work is tough to quantify but a few pointers help: like in recent triumphs, the tail played a big hand, the batting order put together nuggety cameos, and the training sessions were joyous and sprightly. When Tendulkar dropped Andrew Symonds in the first innings, Dhoni’s reaction was instructive: he rehearsed how he could have gone for the catch, as if to say it was his. It wasn’t but it was a signal that he was on hand to help.The spirit seemed to infect even those not fully on board. India began the day with an intense session of catching practice. Gary Kirsten, the coach-in-waiting, whacked ball after ball in the air and made them practice taking skiers. “He’s been positive throughout, a great help in the dressing room,” Kumble said. “Having played against Australia, having played in Perth, he provided some valuable inputs. He’s been exceptional.”The end was reminiscent of the Kingston triumph in 2006. Like then, two lower-order batsmen were in belligerent mode and clearing the field almost at will. Catches were dropped and runs were leaked. The bowling plan partly went awry. But the effort was never found wanting. If it was Kumble who crashed through Dwayne Bravo’s defences then, it was Pathan out-doing Stuart Clark here. Like at Sabina Park, the stands at the northern end of the ground were packed with Indian supporters. Like then it was a must-win game and like then it was a side that just refused to give in.

The ICC has told Sunil Gavaskar that he would have to quit from the post of the chairman of the cricket committee if he wishes to continue as a media columnist and commentator to avoid a potential conflict of interest between the two roles.Gavaskar was told “very clearly” by Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, during a meeting between the two in Dubai on Wednesday that the ICC expected a final decision. The ICC’s cricket committee will meet on May 5-6 and Gavaskar has been given the same deadline. The ICC board will review the issue at its next meeting, during the ICC Annual Conference week, between June 29 and July 4.Speed had last week been authorised by the ICC board to ask Gavaskar to choose between the two roles. “That situation still stands, and Gavaskar will have to convey his decision to the ICC after the cricket committee meeting,” an ICC source told Cricinfo. “The message was conveyed very clearly to Gavaskar. But the meeting, as such, was held in a cordial atmosphere. Speed and Gavaskar have been working together for so long, that was not a problem.”The issue of a potential conflict of interest came up in the aftermath of the Sydney Test between Australia and India last January, when Gavaskar criticised match referee Mike Procter in his newspaper column for banning Harbhajan Singh for alleged racial abuse.After the ICC’s executive board meeting in Dubai last week, Gavaskar criticised the boards of England and Australia in another syndicated newspaper column. “Gone are the days when two countries, England and Australia, had the veto power in international cricket, even though the dinosaurs may not open their eyes and see the reality,” he wrote. “The cricketing world has found that India has no longer a diffident voice but a confident one that knows what is good for its cricket, and will strive to get it.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

This has been a match of partnerships, right from Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Sami’s rearguard action to the VVS Laxman-Mahendra Singh Dhoni stand that resurrected India on Friday. On the third day an opening partnership for Pakistan, unlikely as that sounds, set the stage, but the spin pair of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh picked up four wickets in the span of 47 runs to peg them back. And once again, it was a partnership, Misbah combining with Kamran Akmal, that restored the balance, with a rush of runs in the dying moments of the day taking Pakistan to 212 for 5, a threatening lead of 167.The momentum has swung both ways in the course of this game, and when play began on the third day, the balance was delicately poised. Danish Kaneria decided to rudely upset it, picking three of the four wickets to fall, bringing the curtain down on the Indian innings for a lead of only 45. VVS Laxman was unbeaten on 72, the top score of the Indian innings, but he made little effort to shield the tail, and this meant a rather quick end to proceedings.Anil Kumble, leading the side, and fresh from a Test hundred in his last match, against England at The Oval, can usually be counted on to resist. And he did not throw his wicket away. Rather Kaneria got one to bounce and turn a bit extra and the ball went off the shoulder of Kumble’s defensive bat straight to first slip. The rest of the tail, however, did not even attempt to fight.Harbhajan Singh was bowled attempting to flick Sohail Tanveer across the line, Zaheer Khan hit one six and then scooped to mid-off aiming to hit the ball out of the ground once more, and Munaf Patel swept off the stumps without having much idea where the ball was, trapped plumb in front. Laxman, through all this, was batting assuredly, but had not farmed the strike, and made 15 of the 48 runs added, pushing his own score to 72 not out as India closed on 276.A first-innings lead of 100 and over, with so much time left in the game, would have put India in control, but their lead of 45 left the door open for Pakistan to come back into the game. Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed stormed through this door with an aggressive opening partnership. While not necessarily looking to clatter every ball out of the park, the intent was positive from both openers.

While Butt was merely translating his one-day form into Test runs, Hameed showed real promise, putting away loose deliveries almost unfailingly. Pakistan have juggled opening partnerships plenty in the recent past, but it is this combine that has looked the most likely to succeed, and even once put up 100 against Australia, the only such stand in the last three years.On the day they were well on course to building something big, having got a good measure of the fast bowlers. When Kumble introduced himself into the attack, perhaps a touch late, things changed. There was a hesitancy in the batting, a tendency to not commit fully and the partnership was duly broken. Hameed (36) pushed firmly to off, but failed to keep the ball down and Laxman plucked the ball out of the air just inches from the ground.The opening stand of 71 gave Younis a chance to express himself and he too looked to play aggressively, picking up boundaries against the spinners and fast bowlers. But the relentlessness of Kumble eventually won a positive result from Simon Taufel as a full ball struck Younis on the pad, getting past bat. Younis had made 23 in another mini partnership, but the pressure was beginning to tell on Pakistan, even with the score on 114 for 2.Mohammad Yousuf then began his occupation of the crease, and just as he looked set for a long stint, the late introduction of Harbhajan brought joy for India. Yousuf looked to drive Harbhajan’s first ball through leg and ballooned a catch back to the bowler. Then Kumble prised out Butt, who had made 67 vital runs. Bowling round the stumps Kumble floated in a googly that landed in the footmarks, Butt took the bait and flashed hard, edging straight to Dravid at slip.When Harbhajan added a fortuitous wicket to his kitty – Shoaib Malik dragged one that bounced a bit extra onto his stumps via pad – Pakistan had lost four wickets for only 47 runs. But luck soon swung the other way as Misbah edged Kumble straight to forward short leg only for Wasim Jaffer to fluff the simplest of catches. Perhaps taking that as a sign, Misbah gave up the dour prodding, leaving that to Akmal, and began to counterattack. He lofted Harbhajan over the long-on and midwicket, as the shadows lengthened at the Ferozshah Kotla. Stumps were drawn not long after, with Pakistan on 212 for 5. India won’t want the lead, which currently stands at 167, to swell into something much bigger, for chasing might just be tricky with Shoaib Akhtar steaming in.

The former Cricket Australia chairman, Bob Merriman, believes a Twenty20 tournament could copy the Super 14 rugby union template to lengthen the season and satisfy more spectators. Merriman, who will retire from Cricket Australia’s and Cricket Victoria’s boards this month, told the Age the proposal would not compromise Tests or ODIs.”I don’t believe we satisfy our customers,” he said in the paper. “On the other hand, the players say we have too much. Clearly there is a conundrum.”Merriman, who has been involved in cricket for 50 years, said the introduction of Twenty20 in England showed there were ways for better presentation over a season. “At the moment we are basically late November until early February – that’s terribly small,” he said. “In my view the venues are starved and if the venues are starved so is the cricket population.”He suggested a season running from October to March. “Rugby has done it terrifically well with Super 14,” he said. “It is an outstanding thing. Could you apply that to Twenty20 cricket?”The Super 14 competition involves teams from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia playing over a four-month season. Australia’s domestic sides will contest the two-week Big Bash Twenty20 tournament in December and January while the national side has fixtures against New Zealand in Perth on December 11 and India in Melbourne on February 1.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

There was no brave rearguard partnership, no stubborn resistance which delayed the inevitable on the third day in Wellington as New Zealand crushed Bangladesh by an innings and 137 runs in less than seven sessions to seal the 2-0 clean sweep of the series. New Zealand took four out of the required five wickets in 25 overs this morning, and with Tamim Iqbal nursing a broken thumb in the dressing room, the Bangladesh innings ended on 113 for 9.Bangladesh had saved their most feeble batting performance for their final innings of the tour. In Dunedin they had batted 46.1 and 83.1 overs in the first and second innings respectively. They were abject in the first innings at the Basin Reserve, surviving only 45.3 overs and it did not get much better in the second, in which they collapsed in 47 overs. The overcast, windy conditions and a pitch that offered plenty of bounce and lateral movement, which New Zealand’s seam attack exploited, simply proved to be beyond the Bangladesh batsmen’s abilities. Only Shakib Al Hasan, who had replaced Enamul Haque Jnr to strengthen the batting, resisted, remaining unbeaten on 41 but he too offered two chances to slip.The capitulation began in the first over of the day. Chris Martin got one to nip back into Habibul Bashar, who played outside of the line of the ball without moving his feet, and the leg before decision was easy for Peter Parker to make. New Zealand’s bowlers endured a barren patch of 13 overs before their next wicket and it was during this period that Shakib was dropped twice, on 19 and 29, off Iain O’Brien. He received his first let off when Matthew Bell dropped a sharp chance at second slip and it was Bell, again, who made no attempt to catch one that flew between him and first slip.Shahadat Hossain stuck around for 37 balls before fending away from his body and edging O’Brien to McCullum and an awful mix-up immediately after the drinks break left Sajidul Islam stranded half-way down the pitch to give New Zealand the eighth wicket.Mashrafe Mortaza, who was demoted to No. 11 yet again, and Shakib added 30 runs for the final wicket before Mortaza was splendidly caught by Mills, diving to his right at point, to end the game ten minutes before lunch. The last wicket had produced Bangladesh’s highest partnership, an indictment of how poor the batting performance had been.

MSK Prasad, the former India wicketkeeper, will lead a 15-member Andhra Ranji squad to take part in the Ranji Trophy Super League.Prasad was made captain after former captain Venugopala Rao shifted allegiance to Maharashtra. The team will also be without the services of KS Sahabuddin, who signed up with the Indian Cricket League.The player to watch out for will be Bodipati Sumanth, the former India Under-19 batsman, who impressed on the U-19 team’s tour to England in 2006. He scored an unbeaten 97 in the third one-dayer in Cardiff. Sumanth has played three first-class and five domestic Twenty20 matches for his state.The squad will be coached by former Test player, Syed Abid Ali, who had guided Andhra to the top of the South Zone in 2002-03, when the Ranji Trophy was zone-based.The squad’s 20-day conditioning camp in Visakhapatnam ends tomorrow.Andhra squad
MSK Prasad (capt, wk), Arjun Kumar, Mohammad Faiq, Gnaneswara Rao, Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna, I Raju, Prasad Reddy, Reddy, V Sandeep, Shankara Rao, Bodapati Sumanth, Marripuri Suresh, Satya Kumar Varma, P Vijay Kumar, Hemal Watekar
Coach: Syed Abid Ali

Sri Lanka arrived in Adelaide less than a week ago promising aggression and focus as they bid for their first Test win on Australian soil. On the day they landed, their captain MahelaJayawardene made it clear that to compete against Australia in any form they must be on the ball for at least four days of the five.In the first warm-up match against the Chairman’s XI in Adelaide, they could not even concentrate for four sessions as their fielding fell apart over the last two of the three days. Five catches were dropped, with Jayawardene culpable in two instances – missing sitters at second and leg slip. He admitted that it was a “bad habit” the players must shake off, but was keen to downplay the fielding and happy to put it behind them.”It was just a lack of concentration,” Jayawardene said after the game ended in a draw. “We’ve had a long chat about it yesterday and today as well. The guys concentrate a lot on the batting and the bowling but it’s just on the field it seems to not have the same kind of concentration which is a bad habit obviously. We just need to make sure we don’t get into these kind of things, especially when playing Australia.”He was candid, too, about his batting performance which involved a first-innings duck and a fair fifty, with both innings ending in the softest of dismissals, popping up on the off side. “The first innings was a shambles the way I got out. I just wanted to spend some time out there in the middle. The way I was hitting the ball, that was pretty good, but towards the end I was just trying to do a few too many things.”And he took away some positives – “The way Sanath [Jayasuriya] played and the way we handled the conditions. A bit of a tough start, losing a bowler [Chanaka Welegedera] early wasn’t the best thing because we didn’t want to tax a lot of guys as well, we just wanted to get them into a rhythm.”The biggest plus was Muttiah Muralitharan who took four wickets. Jayawardene confirmed Murali was “100 per cent” and would be rested for the warm-up. Malinga Bandara will come in to replace him for the tour match in Queensland. “He bowled pretty well, I was very happy withthat – all in all it was a good outing for us.”That may be, but Kumar Sangakkara was injured in the process – tearing his left hamstring while batting. Chanaka Welegedera also tore his right quadricep muscle and will have a replacement – Sujeewa de Silva – flown in for him, hopefully in time for the next tour match whichbegins on Friday.