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On a day when England needed to be firing on all cylinders to preventAustralia taking control of the fifth and final Test, Andrew Flintoff’scontribution with the ball was a cause of concern. Despite taking the newball, he bowled just six overs in the day in two three-over spells – one ofwhich was interrupted by lunch – to raise further fears about histroublesome left ankle.England nevertheless insisted that all was well. “His ankle is fine,” saidEngland’s leading bowler of the day, Steve Harmison, whose sentiments weresimultaneously expressed by the England press officer sat beside him. “Itwas just that myself and Jimmy were bowling well and the rain break came ata good time for us.”Even so, Flintoff’s absence from the front line of the attack was apuzzlement – especially on a day when England were lacking the services oftheir most consistent performer of the tour, Matthew Hoggard, who failed afitness test before the start of the match.”When you lose your best bowler of the series it’s up to the other bowlersto step up a little bit and hopefully that’s what we’ve tried to do,” addedHarmison. “Jimmy bowled well. Monty bowled well and I felt I got better asthe day wore on. It’s nicely poised, and it’s a good time to have a breakand recharge the batteries and come back tomorrow.”Glenn McGrath is another man who knows about bowling through the pain of asore ankle, having undergone similar surgery to remove a bone spur inOctober 2003 . “I’m not sure how Freddie’s going at the moment,” he said. “Iknow I felt great until I snapped one of the other spurs off.”But bowling’s a funny thing, and it’s amazing how much pain you can bowlwith. It’s only in between the overs that you really feel it. I’m sureFreddie will keep going, and keep hitting the deck.”It was a day of disappointments for Flintoff, after earlier falling short ofhis second century against Australia. “He was batting well and we’re alldisappointed for him,” said Harmison. “Australia bowled in good areas anddidn’t give us much to hit, and they tried to starve him of the strike asmuch as they possibly could. Perhaps we [the tail] could have got a few moreand helped Andrew get us up to 300 or nearer 350.As to Flintoff’s general morale, as a gruelling series draws to a close,Harmison said: “I don’t think he’s taken it any more personally than therest of us do. We’re all disappointed, despondent and devastated. At the endof the last Test that dressing-room was horrendous, it was not a very niceplace to be. But you have to put a brave face on and you have to show a bitof fight. I think Fred took it on the chin a bit more than anyone else ascaptain. But he’s trying his best and we’re all trying to win this Testmatch for England.”Subject to fitness, Michael Vaughan is waiting in the wings to take over forthe one-day series, but Harmison was adamant that his friend was not keen tohand over the reigns. “I think Fred will be very disappointed if he’s notcaptain for the one-dayers, if that’s what happens.”He just loves captaining England. There is no better job in AndrewFlintoff’s eyes than being captain of England, but if that happens ithappens. I’m sure he’ll fall into line – as he would if Andrew Strauss hadbeen named captain for this series.”

Allen Stanford and his 20/20 board of directors have invited thewinners of the World Twenty20 in Johannesburg to play a one-off,$5million, match at Stanford’s ground in Antigua. The game ispencilled in for June 29 against a Super Star Team selected from theplayers taking part in the 2008 Stanford 20/20.”Since this is the first World Twenty20 and that is the format of ourtournament we felt it was fitting to have this team come and play ourSuper Star team next year,” said Stanford. “It will be the perfectculmination of our 2008 Stanford 20/20 programme [which takes place inJanuary and February 2008].”Because Stanford can’t invite a Full Member of ICC to play in thematch, the official invite will come from the West Indies Board. “Mr Hunte [thePresident of WICB] will actually be making the invitation on behalf ofStanford 20/20,” Stanford told Cricinfo during an event in Johannesburg. “We are going to invite the winner to come to Antigua for one night and play one game for $5m, winner takes all.”However, if India wins at the Wanderers it may not take up the offeras it has said it is unwilling to enter into a private event. Stanford has therefore made a contingency plan. “If the winner of this game chooses not come we are going to ask Australia as a back-up.”But this match has only come about as a compromise after Stanford’sinitial plan for a quadrangular event – involving Sri Lanka, India,Australia and South Africa – was scuppered by the TV deal between ICCand ESPN-Star.”What we wanted to do was invite Sri Lanka, India, Australia and SouthAfrica to come down and play on Friday, Saturday and Wednesday, and then you come out with a winner who then plays our Super Stars the following Saturday,” explained Stanford. “I called it 20/20 for 20 – $20million dollars for the winner. But because EPSN-Star are locked into this big contract with ICC it eliminated me getting fourteams.”We needed to get their permission and had a meeting scheduled here inJohannesburg with them, but they didn’t show up. Now I think it isgoing to be too big an issue to get ready for this year, because ourtournament starts in January so we optedfor this one-off game. We wanted the four-team play-off but there is alot of bureaucracy.”Stanford is in Johannesburg with nine of his board members includingJoel Garner, Michael Holding, Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes.Although the meeting with ESPN-Star fell through, they met withMalcolm Speed and ICC members in what Stanford called “constructivemeetings” although the feeling between the two is still strained.

Sanath Jayasuriya has insisted that the president of Sri Lanka played no role in his decision to end his retirement from Test cricket.Jayasuriya, the 36-year-old former Sri Lanka captain, who arrived in England on Saturday, could only watch from beyond the boundary at Lord’s while his erstwhile team-mates followed-on in the first Test after being bowled out for just 192 in reply to England’s first innings 551 for 6 declared.It is less than a month since Jayasuriya said he was quitting Test cricket in order to concentrate on one-day internationals in the build-up to next year’s World Cup in the Caribbean. But he insisted his decision to make himself available again for the five-day game was down to the newly-appointed chairman of selectors Asantha de Mel and not Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president .”Asantha de Mel is the chairman of selectors and he was the one who contacted me,” Jayasuriya said. “He was the one who changed my mind and after discussions with various people involved in my career I thought if the team and my country need me then my services are available.”Jayasuriya added that Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s coach, was fully supportive of his change of heart even though Moody appeared to have played little role in his decision. “I had a long discussion with Tom and explained I wanted to return and he was alright” said Jayasuriya, while Moody commented: “Sanath’s obviously had some deep thought about his decision to retire. If he’s fit and back in form, it can’t be a bad thing can it?”He’s a devastating player, he has been for Sri Lanka for many, many years. He’s obviously still a very key component to our one-day campaign and he was due here anyway in two or three weeks’ time for the one-dayers.”Him coming early, the positive is that he’s going to get used to English conditions a little bit earlier for the one-day series if not before then.”Jayasuriya is set to play in Sri Lanka’s next match, a four-day game against Sussex at Hove starting on Thursday. But he was uncertain if he would play in the second Test of the three-match series which is due to get underway at Edgbaston on May 25. “I’m here to play the next tour match and we’ll have to see how it goes from there,” Jayasuriya explained. “I haven’t played the longer version of the game for a few months now and I will need to settle in here because conditions are different.”However, with opener Jehan Mubarak making 0 and 6 at Lord’s, Jayasuriya could be back in Test action sooner than he thought, although he said he would not like to take the place of a younger player.

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.

India U-19s crushed their Pakistan counterparts by 174 runs in the third one-day match to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series at the Bagh-e-Jinnah ground in Lahore.The Pakistan U-19s put up another poor show with both bat and the ball, suffering their third defeat in a row, after having lost the opening tie by 82 runs and the second by just seven runs. The fourth and final match will be played on Sunday here at the Gaddafi Stadium.Put into bat by home captain Riaz Kail, the touring side were propelled by half-centuries from Tanmay Srivastava and Virat Kohli, totalling 298 for nine in the allotted 50 overs and then bowling out Pakistan for 124 in a ball short of 37 overs.Srivastava and Kohli revived a timid Indian start at 47 for two with a third-wicket stand of 152 runs revived the fortunes of the Indian batting after they were 47 for two. Srivastava’s 88 came from 114 balls with seven fours while Kohli’s 80 was made from only 92 balls, with nine fours.Tanvir Afzal, the medium-pacer, took three wickets for 45 runs in eight overs while fast bowler Raza Rehman bagged two wickets in ten overs for 58 runs.Pakistan’s batting suffered from the very start, collapsing to 38 for five as a variety of Indian bowlers extracted maximum support from a good wicket. Rana Adnan top-scored with 27 as did the last man Mohammad Naved.India’s legspinners contributed to much of the damage, captain Piyush Chawla and Sumeet Sharma each snapping up three wickets. Abu Nachim, the fast bowler, also chipped in with two cheap wickets.

Muttiah Muralitharan, who is currently recovering from shoulder surgery, has signed for Lancashire in 2005, although he will only play the first half of the season because of international commitments.Muralitharan played for Lancashire in 1999 and 2001 with spectacular success, snapping up 116 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 15. In 1999 he was voted the Player of the Year by the club’s membership after taking 66 wickets in seven games.”It’s great to have Murali on board again; he is an obvious leader in world cricket and will provide an added edge to the early part of the season,” Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s cricket manager, commented.Jack Simmons, the club chairman, added: “I’m highly delighted to have Murali at Lancashire for another season. He must be considered one of the best cricketers to have played the game.”Muralitharan was also chased by other clubs, including Middlesex, but he has retained a fondness for Lancashire after his previous visits and also developed strong friendships there, especially with Andrew Flintoff and Neil Fairbrother, his English agent.Muralitharan will be able to play until mid-July before having to return for a Test series with West Indies and tri-series also involving India in August. Sri Lanka will then tour Bangladesh in September.Several other Sri Lanka cricketers are keen to develop their games in England next summer, including Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who are working with Fairbrother to secure contracts.

Geoff Marsh, the former Australia and Zimbabwe coach, has said that Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket in 2007 is a hasty decision. Marsh, who was coach in 2004 when a series against Australia was aborted due to player strikes, said the Zimbabwe Board XI’s 3-0 drubbing at the hands of an Australian Academy side was evidence that the country should not be rushed back into Test cricket.Kevin Curran, Zimbabwe’s coach, announced yesterday that his team would be ready for Test cricket in November 2007, for a home series against West Indies. Speaking to , Marsh expressed his concern after the young Centre of Excellence side hammered the opposition, which included some international experience, with ease.”That’s (against) our academy. So you’ve got to say, ‘Well, where are they at?'”, Marsh said. “They’ve got to be competitive. We’ve just sent a cricket academy side there and absolutely belted them. You would like to see Zimbabwe back in Test cricket, no doubt about that, they’ve got some terrific young talent in the system but they’ve just lost too many senior players. The whole thing is sad … I think next year is too early.”Marsh’s tenure as coach of Zimbabwe sadly coincided with the politicalisation of the national side, and the defection of many key players, and he chose not to extend his marginalised coach’s extention after it expired in 2004.Incidentally, Marsh’s son Shaun, was just one of a crop of Australian batsman to pick runs off the Zimbabwean side. Marsh made 170 in the first match, while Tasmania’s George Bailey hit consecutive centuries for the team led by Tim Nielsen – a contender to replace John Buchanan as Australian coach after the World Cup.Australia are due to tour Zimbabwe for three one-day internationals in June of next year.

The gloves are off in the battle for control of Zimbabwe Cricket, and it seems almost anything goes, with both sides in the dispute accusing the other of dirty tricks, and the newspapers clearly taking sides in the battle.Earlier this week, Macsood Ebrahim, the chairman of Masvingo and the head of national selection, told of how the ZC board was forcing pro-board loyalists into key positions in his province in a bid to oust him.On Wednesday, Ebrahim reported that Lazarus Zizhou, who had been suspended by the board in 2004, had arrived at Masvingo and said he was taking over as general manager under orders from Ozias Bvute, the controversial ZC managing director.Less than 24 hours later, Zizhou’s name was all over the newspapers, claiming that he had been racially abused by Ebrahim. “Macsood stormed into my office and threatened to remove me,” Zizhou told the Independent yesterday. “He called me a black c*** after I refused to produce my letter of appointment as he was demanding. I could not cooperate with him because he has no power to do so since he was booted out by the province.”While pro-board newspapers have claimed that Ebrahim has been ousted by his own province, that is disputed by many inside Masvingo.The timing of Zizhou’s allegation was suspicious, and while Ebrahim is not stranger to controversy himself, he has been at the heart of Zimbabwe’s attempts to push for racial quotas in the national side which made the claims all the more surprising.Today, Ebrahim’s supporters in Masvingo rallied behind him and issued a letter suggesting that, in front of five witnesses, Zizhou actually abused Ebrahim.How ZC deals with this remains to be seen. It is already under fire for not taking any action over allegations of racial threats made by Mashonaland chairman Cyprian Mandenge and provincial selector Bruce Makovah when they stopped a match in Harare. Last week, further serious allegations were made to the board over the conduct of Themba Mliswa, the chairman of the newly-created Mashonaland West province.There appears to be a concerted attempt to oust certain provincial chairmen following a meeting which produced a dossier asking ZC many probing questions and demanding an Extraordinary General Meeting. Aside from Ebrahim, Alan Walsh, the chairman of Manicaland, was reported dismissed after a fractious meeting, but again this is disputed by provincial officials.

Todd Murphy is in the mix to play in the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG after he was named as Australia’s replacement for the injured Nathan Lyon in their 15-man squad but coach Andrew McDonald did not rule out playing four quicks at the MCG as the selectors also debate the make-up of the top seven with Steven Smith confirmed to return as captain.Jhye Richardson is also in contention to play his first Test in four years, with Pat Cummins ruled out of the remainder of the series as he continues to manage his back injury. Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland are fit to play in Melbourne despite Boland copping a knock on the hip while batting in Adelaide. It appears unlikely that Richardson would leap-frog either Michael Neser or Brendan Doggett if Australia played a spinner but that could change if they opt for four quicks depending on how the surface develops over the next few days, with McDonald not ruling anything out on Tuesday.Lyon, who turned 38 last month, tore his right hamstring while fielding on the final day of Australia’s 82-run win at Adelaide Oval and Cricket Australia confirmed that he will be sidelined for “an extended period” after undergoing surgery on Tuesday morning, having seen a specialist in Melbourne on Monday. McDonald said that Lyon is going to face a “long” recovery.Related

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Meanwhile, Australia’s coach also said that the selectors face some difficult decisions around the batting order in Melbourne with Smith set to return at No.4 and putting a squeeze on the middle order. McDonald said he liked the Travis Head-Jake Weatherald combination at the top and was keen to maintain it. He also believed Usman Khawaja was back to his best in the middle-order and hinted that the 39-year-old could well keep his spot and potentially slide to No.5.”I’m not willing to say Uz will be a lock but what he’s done is he’s performed really well, [122] runs in that game at late notice,” McDonald said on Tuesday. “I felt as though he’s back to that attacking sort of play.”He’s still a good player, and age shouldn’t factor into any of our decision-making.”McDonald said that he would push for Carey to stay at No.6.”Alex Carey at six, I like what he’s doing there,” McDonald said. “So my assumption is, and I’ll have a little bit of a say in that, that he’ll stay six.”What that means for Cameron Green and Josh Inglis is an unknown. Green started the series at No.6 and has moved to No.5 in his last three innings but after butchering two starts in Perth and Brisbane he endured a tough game with the bat in Adelaide. McDonald was careful with his words around the 26-year-old allrounder.”The returns haven’t been there, but we’ve also seen what capabilities and the upside that he has and he’s an important part of what we’re setting out to achieve in the short-term and the long-term,” McDonald said. “He’s a very good cricketer, and I’m sure that his next opportunity, he’ll be able to show that whenever that may.”If the only spot for the allrounder was at No.7, that would open the possibility for a Beau Webster recall given he is clearly more comfortable in the No.7 role given his experience with Tasmania, albeit Green remains a key part of Australia’s future.Murphy, the 25-year-old offspinner, has been chosen as his replacement ahead of CA-contracted Matthew Kuhnemann, leading Shield offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli and four-Test veteran legspinner Mitchell Swepson.Murphy has taken 22 wickets at 28.13 in his seven Tests to date – all of them away from home – and has taken six wickets at 25.33 in his three Sheffield Shield games at the MCG for Victoria.If he plays in Melbourne it will be the first time Australia have selected a lone specialist spinner at home who isn’t Lyon in 14 years.Murphy replaced Lyon during the 2023 Ashes, playing at Headingley and The Oval as Australia’s sole spinner. He was part of a three-man spin attack alongside Lyon and Kuhnemann in his most recent Test in Galle earlier this year, but was left out of the second Test at the same venue when Australia opted for some extra batting and part-time spin from Cooper Connolly, with Kuhnemann’s left-arm orthodox preferred as the best tandem option with Lyon.Steven Smith will return to captain Australia•Getty Images

However, in home conditions Kuhnemann is not seen as Lyon’s clear understudy with left-arm orthodox traditionally having little impact in Australia. Murphy has bowled well this year after a difficult Shield season last season due to a shoulder issue.He has 10 wickets at 23.70, striking at 55.80, but has not bowled a lot due to the dominance of Victoria’s seamers. He was selected ahead of Rocchiccioli for the Australia A game in the recent game against England Lions in Brisbane where he took three wickets.Rocchiccioli, 28, can count himself unlucky having been the leading spinner in Shield cricket in recent years with his extra height and bounce proving a handful for Shield batters on his home ground at the WACA. He has 20 wickets at 28.20 so far this summer, striking at 53.30 after taking 38 at 27.71 last season.He has played two games at the MCG including for Australia A against India A last year and against Victoria last month, taking eight wickets at 23.50. Rocchiccioli only took three in the recent game against Victoria, with the home side’s spin-bowling allrounder Matt Short taking a match-winning 4 for 57 in the third innings while Murphy was away on Australia A duty.”It’s always pretty robust around when you’ve got three, three potential candidates, or even four,” McDonald said. “Todd’s been an important part of key overseas series. He played in the last ashes back in 2023, and we feel as though Todd’s back to to his best.”I spoke to Todd this morning, really excited for him to be back around the group. We’ve got some decisions make. I just had a look at the wicket then. Do we play spinner? Don’t we play spinner? We’ll work through that. But it was an interesting conversation with the spin depth we do have, which is full recognition to those also that were discussed.”MCG curator Matt Page said spin would play a role in the Test as it did in the Shield game last month and when Lyon and Travis Head took key wickets on the final day in the win over India.”We had a great Shield game here,” Page said. “We obviously had some really challenging weather leading to that. I think the pitch sat under covers for three days. It was really cool, which is not ideal for pitch prep. But the pitch did everything that we wanted it to. I think we had two fast bowlers get five-fors, a couple of guys got hundreds, and Matt Short got four in the [third] innings.”So for us, it’s about trying to give everyone a chance in the game at certain points. The Shield pitch has done that. I guess that gives us good confidence, leading into this.”Australia squad: Steven Smith (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.

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.