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Chennai and Bangalore will host the second edition of the Afro-Asia Cup in the second week of June, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced. The tournament is part of a gruelling schedule that awaits the Indians with non-stop action till the summer of 2008.With the World Cup ending towards the close of April, India head to Bangladesh for a short tour of two Tests and three one-dayers, followed by a full-length tour of England between July 7 and September 8. The tour includes three Tests, seven ODIs and a one-off ODI against Scotland. The Afro-Asia Cup will be held between the two tours.There will be the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and home Tests will finally return after a gap of nearly 17 months when India host Pakistan for a series of three Tests and five one-dayers. There won’t still be any respite as India head to Australia in November, followed by another home series.”We will go to Australia for a four-Test series and take part in a one-day tri-series with Sri Lanka as the third team,” said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary. “We will return on March 7. “Then we are hosting a three-Test series against South Africa,” Shah said. Later, the team departs for Pakistan for the Asia Cup.

Dimitri Mascarenhas, England’s only representative at the IPL, believes the recent spate of players around county cricket saying they have turned down offers to play in India is because counties haven’t given their permission rather than the players not wanting to go.Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara, who have both been in action for England Lions at the New Zealanders, have rejected IPL offers saying they want to concentrate on their international careers. After his first day hundred at The Rose Bowl, Wright said: “It was never really something I questioned at time, but it’s bad timing and all I want to do is play for England.””I read with interest that Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara turned down the IPL this week but, to be honest, it might not be that straightforward,” Mascarenhas said in his column. “I’m speculating here, but I reckon it’s more the fact that, at this late stage, their counties have refused them permission to go. I doubt very much whether the players themselves would turn it down.”I was lucky because my approach came at a much earlier stage and I was able to come to an agreement with Hampshire that kept everyone happy. English players will be here next year, believe me.”Mascarenhas’s stint with the Rajasthan Royals, alongside former Hampshire team-mate Shane Warne, ends on Sunday and he has yet to take the field for his franchise. Each team is only allowed to field four overseas players and Mascarenhas hasn’t been able to force his way past Warne, Sohail Tanvir, Shane Watson and Graeme Smith. However, he hopes to be back for the semis and final if Rajasthan, who are currently top of the table, progress to the knock-out stage.”I would love to come back for the finale at the end of May and negotiations are taking place between the Royals management and Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove,” he said. “I am very hopeful I will be able to help the Royals lift the inaugural trophy.”I haven’t had much of an opportunity to show what I can do here but if I am able to play in the semi-finals and final it would help earn me a bigger contract in next year’s event.”A Hampshire spokesman confirmed the talks were between Mascarenhas, Bransgrove and Paul Terry, the coach, about his possible return to the IPL.

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.

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.”

The Western Warriors made light work of KwaZulu Natal in the opening match of the preseason tour with a 79 run win. This limited overs pre-season clash played at the Kingsway ground in a northern suburb of the Western Australian capital city was supported well by the local community. The West Aussies won the toss and elected to bat first.Australian keeper Adam Gilchrist and Wanneroo local Mike Hussey played themselves in on a moist wicket but then hammered the attack. – Gilchrist especially. In the latter half of his innings ‘Gilly’ bolted from 25 to 101 runs before a drinks break was called and both batsmen retired with Hussey on 55 and WA effectively 2 wickets down for 163 from 33 overs.Dighton returned to the pavillion first ball after drinks. Then in his first WA game for quite a while Tom Moody took a few overs to get started but also picked up the scoring pace in the latter part of his innings, supported well by debutant Shaun Marsh. Moody miss cued high into the air and was caught at cover by former West Indian and KZN captain Eldine Baptiste after a flourish and having scored 55 runs just three balls shy of the end of innings. At the close of the innings Shaun Marsh was unbeaten on 22 and Rogers had been unable to score four down for 245.The KwaZulu Natal bowling seemed to be very inconsistent as they struggled with the soft conditions. A stand out performance from John Kent snapping up the only 2 real wickets of the innings. Kent was supported by his captain Baptiste and Veenstra who both bowled without a success.Chasing 245 Brown was very slow, surviving his opening partner Gobind’s early loss but falling in the 18th over LBW to the overlooked Nikitaras with just 8 runs to his name with the team total at just 44/2.Kent came in next and blazed away making 22 runs in a brief spell of 20 balls hitting a ball up for Michael Hussey to catch. Amla’s sheet anchor roll of 31 was useful but too little too late as KwaZulu Natal had floundered to 78/4 in the 25th over. Former South African test batsman Andrew Hudson was brief with 7 trapped LBW to big Jo Angel. Then the only high-light in them that followed was Pietersen with 30 from as many balls including 2 fours and 2 sixes. KwaZulu Natal slumped to be all out in the 47th over with 166 on the board.3 wickets each to Cary, Nikitaras and Harvey will send a strong message to the WA selectors. Angel performed solidly with his solitary wicket and Nicholson bowled freely but not waywardly and was unrewarded.The game was played in warm spirits, WA looked to be very focussed, while KZN were happy to enjoy their first outing inunfamilliar surroundings. Eldine Baptiste seems larger than life – an entertainer he keeps the morale of his troops high. And they will need it. Unlike Yorkshire who toured here for a preseason warm up at the end of the last Australian season, KwaZulu Natal are not being supported by club members and the players families whilst on tour. South African supporters living in Perth (of which there is usually no shortage) are urged to support this team at Kingsway, Wanneroo, tomorrow and at Lilac Hill, Caversham, this weekend, and in Broome on the 24th.

The Sri Lankan Under-19s are scheduled to play the U-19 squads from Bangladesh and India at home in July and August. They will first play Bangladesh in two U-19 Test matches before India arrive to take part in a triangular tournament after which they will also play two Tests against Sri Lanka.The Sri Lankan U-19 team, led by Sachith Pathirana, recently won a one-day tournament in Malaysia against the hosts and England.Ashley de Silva, the Sri Lanka U-19 manager, said that the focus of selection for the matches against India and Bangladesh would be on players who were eligible to play in the next U-19 World Cup which will be held in Malaysia in February 2008.

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.

Stuart MacGill will have surgery on his right hand on Thursday and is likely to miss at least the first two Tests of the series against India. He had originally been tipped to have an operation – on his problem right knee – but after two weeks of heavy scrutiny after his poor bowling in the Hobart Test a decision on his treatment has been made.”MacGill will undergo surgery in Sydney on Thursday for carpal tunnel syndrome in the right hand, a common problem that causes hand numbness,” Trefor James, the team doctor who examined MacGill in Melbourne, said. “The surgery is expected to keep Stuart out for four to six weeks.”Australia’s series with India begins on Boxing Day and the selectors will now have to decide between the spin of Brad Hogg or using four fast men on the drop-in pitch. “My gut feeling is that we have to pick our four best bowlers,” the Australia coach Tim Nielsen said in the Herald Sun. “It doesn’t matter if they are spinners or quicks.”MacGill’s problems severely affect the national team as he was meant to operate as the link man between the Shane Warne era and the next generation of spinners. MacGill is 36 and he faces a huge battle to prove himself after admitting he was unfit leading into the Sri Lanka series. He could be ready to return late in the four-Test contest with India, but there is also the option of waiting for the tour of Pakistan in March.”Although Stuart has had mild symptoms for several months, it only began to affect his bowling during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart last month,” James said. “The problem has been the subject of a thorough investigation and assessment since the Test.”MacGill has also been hampered by a serious knee condition but James ruled out any further surgery. He struggled in the series against Sri Lanka, managing to pick up five wickets at an average of 65.

The debt-ridden West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is expected to move out of the red thanks to profits from this year’s Caribbean World Cup.The additional money will provide a boost to the game’s development, according to Ken Gordon, WICB’s outgoing president. “The profit from the event will eliminate the deficit of the WICB and this augurs well for the future of West Indies cricket.”Gordon said that ticket sales from this year’s tournament 2007 World Cup were the highest yet seen. “We sold more tickets [672,000] than the last two World Cups in South Africa [625,000] and England [476,000] and garnered $32 million in ticket revenue which the ICC [International Cricket Council] has told us is the highest gate ever.”Gordon praised the organisers, though admitted that lessons were learnt and unanticipated events provided an extra challenge. The organisers have been heavily criticised, with many suggesting the tournament was the worst ever. Local fans were displeased with the high ticket prices and touring fans surprised by steep lodging costs across the islands. The tournament also suffered an early setback with Bob Woolmer’s death, the exits of India and Pakistan before the Super Eight stage and a farcical finish to the final.”The fact that we were able to effectively deal with the challenges is a credit to the excellent work and high quality of the management team. The staging of the Cricket World Cup was an experience we all take great pride in.”The directors are very satisfied with the overall results of the tournament. First and foremost is the fact that the region was able to deliver on its host agreement, satisfying all the important deliverables of this major undertaking.”This was always going to be challenging given the number of countries involved, the lack of infrastructure at the time when the region committed to the project and the relatively small size of our economies. But despite all this, the West Indies got the job done.”Gordon also suggested that the World Cup was a boon for sports infrastructure in the region. “Thanks to our governments, we now have 12 world-class cricket stadiums and 22 practice facilities for the further development of West Indies cricket – built on time and to specification.”Over 4300 volunteers and 3000 event security personnel were trained and deployed and we now have a cadre of over 500 West Indians trained and experienced in world games event management.”