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South Africa face an injury crisis as they prepare for the first ICC Champions Trophy semi-final against either India or England on September 25.Veteran fast bowler Allan Donald (ankle), Shaun Pollock’s new-ball partnerAlan Dawson (calf) and left-arm spinner Nicky Boje (finger) are all struggling to be fit for the crucial match.After permission from the ICC, the selectors have called up veteran fast bowler Steve Elworthy and Eastern Province spinning all-rounder Robin Peterson as cover, swelling the squad to 16.Elworthy, 37, is an experienced campaigner, having played 38 ODIs taking 42wickets at 28.81. Peterson, 23, would be making his debut if selected.Donald is suffering from a long-term ankle injury, which has traditionallybeen managed by six-monthly cortisone injections, and could still play inthe semi-final with painkillers.Dawson tweaked his calf during at a practice and then aggravated the injuryduring South Africa’s final pool game against Kenya.Coach Eric Simons said, “Dawsy is a fast healer, and we are still hopefulthat he could play, but it is far from certain that he will.”Boje is doubtful too, having sustained a hairline finger fracture whilst fielding off his own bowling during South Africa’s opening game against West Indies.

SYDNEY, Oct 12 AAP – A Law-less Queensland will be out to heal an eight month old scar when it plays defending ING Cup champion NSW in the opening interstate cricket match of the new season at North Sydney Oval tomorrow.Three changes were made to both the teams which contested last season’s final back in February with each side under new leadership.Former Western Australia skipper Simon Katich was immediately installed as NSW captain and came into the side for Mark Higgs, who moved to South Australia.Spinner and last summer’s leading ING wicket taker Stuart MacGill and paceman Don Nash were recalled to the NSW side after missing the final while fast bowler Stuart Clark was unavailable due to injury and batsman Matthew Phelps dropped.One day international batsman Jimmy Maher took over as Queensland skipper from Stuart Law who stood down at the end of last season, and then lost his place in the side to Brendan Nash.Young pacemen Scott Brant and Damien MacKenzie, both of whom made their debuts for the Bulls last season, were also recalled to the side in place of fast bowler Joe Dawes and Nathan Hauritz.All-rounder Andrew Symonds made it clear Queensland was still smarting from its 19 run loss to NSW in last season’s final at the Gabba back in Feburary.”We didn’t play real well, it was just one of those days, they got the better of us. We’ve still got a scar which we want to stitch up and fix and hopefully we can do that on Sunday,” Symonds said.”We’ve had a good preparation, a good camp on Stradbroke Island last week and we’ve got a couple of new faces which should be refreshing for us and hopefully we can lead the way in this competition.”While Law failed to score a single 50 in each of the Bulls’ last two ING campaigns, both of which he only averaged 14 in, his demotion came as a shock to team mates and opponents alike.”He’s obviously been a fantastic player for them and their most successful captain in state history, so he will be a big bit out of their side because he’s a very good one-day cricketer and proven himself over many years,” Katich said.”But I guess that gives an opportunity to one of their younger guys, so it will be interesting to see how they go without him.”NSW all-rounder Shane Lee, who captained the Blues to back-to-back ING titles over the last two seasons said the Bulls would still be very competitive and well organised without Law.”They’ve got plenty of depth, so we definitely have to be on our game. Looking at the teams on paper we probably go in as favourites, but in-one day cricket that doesn’t mean too much,” Lee said.The teams for tomorrow’s match are:NSW: Simon Katich (captain), Corey Richards, Brad Haddin, Michael Bevan, Michael Clarke, Shane Lee, Dominic Thornely, Don Nash, Stuart MacGill, Shawn Bradstreet, Nathan Bracken, Grant Lambert.Qld: Jimmy Maher (capt), Martin Love, Lee Carseldine, Clinton Perren, Andrew Symonds, Brendan Nash, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, Scott Brant, Damien MacKenzie.

Hampshire and Warwickshire completed their second draw with each other in the space of a fortnight, when the home side held out with seven wickets down in their second innings.Jamie Troughton continued to add to his maiden first-class century to set up a tough target for Hampshire to chase when Warwickshire declared after an hours batting in the morning.He completed his 131 not out with 19 fours and a six, lasting just 184 balls as he single-handled took the visitors past the 300 lead barrier.Hampshire were set 303 in a minimum of 80 overs. But just as Hampshire set off on their task, the rain came to thwart them, taking 12 overs away and any real hope the home side would have had in successfully chasing.On the restart, Hampshire lost early wickets with openers Derek Kenway and Will Kendall being dismissed cheaply and in quick succession.A 48-run partnership from John Crawley and skipper Robin Smith looked like bringing the game towards a 5.30pm finish and a drawn match.However, four wickets then fell for 30 runs as the Warwickshire seamers took advantage of the overcast conditions to put the hosts within reach of an unexpected defeat, as they tottered to 115-6. This time the weather took another eight overs off the day to Hampshire’s advantage.They lost their seventh wicket with five overs remaining, but Giles White stood firm, scoring 10 runs from 58 deliveries in unison with Shaun Udal, who kept him company to hold for the draw.

The ICC Champions Trophy to be played in Sri Lanka from Sept 12 and the World Cup 2003, both are threatened with star players rebelling over marketing rights over which the controlling body of the game the International Cricket Council (ICC) wants to impose restriction on players who are contracted with rival sponsors of the ICC organised competitions.According to ICC spokesman Brendon McClements protection to ICC tournament sponsors was agreed by all the cricket boards in 2000 which helped them secure US$550m commercial rights agreement for its events through 2007. For the Champions Trophy and the next World Cup, US$102 miilion of this money will be distributed to the boards and the participating players, says the ICC man.However matters are still in a limbo because the deadline for the players to sign the contract to stick with the ICC sponsors has been ignored by Australia, England, New Zealand and Indiawho are most likely to challenge ICC’s stand and their attempt to encourage players to pull out of their existing contracts from the rival sponsors and advertisers.Tim May, Chief Executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association says that’ ICC’s demand is not only unreasonable but unlawful’ and the players could face legal action by their own sponsors if ICC forces them to pull out from what they call ‘ambush sponsors’.England and Australian players do not have personal deals or contracts which would clash with ICC four main sponsors, Pepsi, Hero Honda, South African Airlines and LG Electronics but their stand is that of principle. However, for the Indians who have an extensive marketing base, the matter is too complicated.Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and four other players have deals with Samsung,the rival of LG and if they pull out of it they may have to pay huge bills for legal action taken by Samsung. India are not naming the team for the Champions Trophy it in case the players refuse to sign the contract initiated by the ICC.There is a possibilty too that if the players do not co-operate with the ICC and their respective board’s policy they may be replaced by other players which indeed will devalue not only the Champion Trophy but also the World Cup, somthing the ICC can ill-afford that.ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed says.”If a player now finds that, through his own action he has to put his own commercial interest ahead of his ability to play for his country he needs to decide what is more important to him, the money or playing for his own country’.The ICC and the players are now on a collision course.

National team coach Geoff Marsh arrived back in the country on 8 April and he would have, as of last month, started preparations for the much-awaited home series against current world Test and one-day championsAustralia. Marsh had made a stopover in Australia after Zimbabwe’s tour of India in March.However, the tour, which would have seen the Aussies arriving in Zimbabwe on 11 April, was cancelled by the Australian Cricket Board, who cited security concerns. Marsh, a former Australian cricketer and national coach, is disappointed that the tour was cancelled at the last minute.”It’s disappointing that Australia are not coming for the Test and one-day series. I think that everyone in Zimbabwe was looking forward to plying against the best side in the world. Certainly their (Australia’s) performances in South Africa have been outstanding and it would have been a great challenge for our players to play againstAustralia but, unfortunately, the tour has been cancelled.”The good thing is that we will be able to play them within the next two years and it’s something to look forward to. Great players like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath will definitely still be around because I think they still have a lot of cricket in them. Hopefully they won’t get any better by that time.”Marsh does not expect Australia to refuse playing their World Cup Group 1 match against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club in February. “The chances of them coming are very good. I don’t think there will be problems and everyone in Zimbabwe has to start looking forward to the World Cup, especially that we will be staging six games here inZimbabwe.”I know the national team players are looking forward to the winter break and getting themselves focused, fit and raring to go for the World Cup. First we have the ICC Mini World Cup in September prior to that and it will be a big build-up to next year’s event.”Quite a few of the players will be going to play winter cricket in England. The Zimbabwe cricket team has had a busy 12 months and I think that some of the players need rest. One of the things in cricket is that it’s difficult to get yourself fit in a cricket season so for some players it’s important that they spend time working on their fitness and getting themselves in good physical condition for the cricket coming up over the next couple of years.He added that he was impressed with the team’s performance in India, especially in the five-match one-day series. “We played some very good cricket and I thought that the fourth game was there for us to clinch the series three-one. We made 240 and had them three down for just over 50, but they then put up a good partnership, which we just couldn’t break.”The guys played well and really wanted to win the series. We played some good one-day cricket, which was pleasing from my point of view given the important one-day matches coming up over the next 12 months.”Following the cancellation of the Australian tour, Marsh will return to his home in Australia at the end of April and then return in July/ August to start preparations for next season, which starts with the ICCChampions Trophy in Sri Lanka in September.

Sachin Tendulkar hit a pedigree, unbeaten 75 to steer India to a three-wicket win over Sussex with seven balls to spare in their 50 overs a side day-night tour opener at Hove. His innings included two sixes, one off Will House over the mid-wicket boundary, and the other a straight drive off Mark Davis which just cleared the leaping Michael Yardy.Tendulkar played himself in carefully after India lost two quick wickets in the aftermath of a brisk opening stand of 60 between Dinesh Mongia and Virender Sehwag. Sehwag had skied a return catch to Kevin Innes for 30, and nine runs later Mohammad Kaif, who had made just two, was bowled by Yardy.Mongia then completed a half-century, sharing in a third-wicket stand of 57 with Tendulkar before falling to a one-handed catch by James Carpenter at short extra cover off House. Acting captain Rahul Dravid was then bowled by the same bowler for six to reduce the Indians to 144 for four.Tendulkar completed an unflurried half-century off 54 balls. He lost Yuvraj Singh, caught and bowled by Davis for six at 155-5 with 11 overs remaining, and VVS Laxman, bowled by Innes six overs later at 185-6, and Ajit Agarkar for five, lbw to Innes at 193-7. But Zaheer Khan then helped Tendulkar take India to the 200 mark and ultimate victory.Earlier Ashish Nehra made an impressive start to his first tour of England, with four for 27 from his 10 overs as Sussex made 203 for eight from their 50 overs.Nehra removed Michael Yardy for just five, played on with only 24 on the board, but Sussex recovered to reach 141 for three before Nehra took three wickets in three successive overs to reduce them to 155 for six. He bowled Bas Zuiderent for 13, had Bill House caught by VVS Laxman for five and then bowled Tim Ambrose for three.Opener Richard Montgomerie, who made 44 before being caught in the slips offZaheer Khan, and Murray Goodwin, who shared a second-wicket stand of 51 with Montgomerie, were the main batting performers for Sussex. Goodwin made 49 before he was bowled charging down the wicket at Virender Sehwag, who bowled eight tidy overs for 32 runs.Sussex lost their seventh wicket at 174 when Kevin Innes was run out for 10and then had Mark Davis bowled for 12 by Ajit Agarkar, the only Indian paceman to have toured England before, for the 1999 World Cup. James Carpenter finished unbeaten on 43 to take Sussex through to 203 for eight from their allotted 50 overs.

Both sides batted poorly at The Oval with Surrey, 46-0 overnight, bowled out for 190 and Leicestershire following their self-destructive example in losing five wickets for 94.Surrey’s performance would have been more depressing still but for the batting of Ian Salisbury who came in when the score was 132-7 and top-scored with a resourceful unbeaten 36 which contained six boundaries.Surrey met early reverses when Nadeem Shahid cut Devon Malcolm to gully and Mark Butcher ran himself out seeking an unlikely single to Darren Maddy at cover. Then off spinner Carl Crowe, whose 4-47 was a career best, took a hand.He had Mark Ramprakash lbw shuffling across, bowled Ben Hollioake through the gate, had Adam Hollioake caught at fine leg sweeping and later had the left-handed Tim Murtagh caught at slip off one that turned away from him.Ormond nipped in to bowl Jon Batty, who offered no stroke, and Martin Bicknell, caught at leg slip, and he also dismissed No 11 Ed Giddins with a yorker after the last wicket had added 32 runs.When Leicestershire batted again Bicknell, though the game was dead, produced some high quality fast-medium bowling, his bounce and movement giving him the wickets of Maddy and Iain Sutcliffe, both caught behind, and Ben Smith, fencing to first slip.

Meeting in Mumbai, the national selectors announced on Thursday a 16-member Test squad for the tour of the West Indies in April-June. The tour will consist of five Tests and five one-day internationals.Prominent among the new faces is Dinesh Mongia, who recently got the Man of the Series award in the five-match one-day series against Zimbabwe. Also joining Mongia from that one-day squad is Ajay Ratra, who has been selected as wicket-keeper.It is worthwhile to note that the selectors have gone in for two wicket-keepers; Deep Dasgupta, whose batting has not concealed the fact that his stump-work is somewhat awry, has also been picked for the tour.If his wicket-keeping deteriorates further during the tour, his opening slot may fall to Wasim Jaffer, who is in the midst of a fine run of form in the Duleep Trophy. Jaffer, who made his Test debut against South Africa in 1999-00, played only the two Tests of that series before being dropped.Only two spinners in Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble have been picked. The pace attack consists of Javagal Srinath, Tinu Yohannan, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, with all-rounder Sanjay Bangar chipping in with his medium-pace.Mongia’s elevation to the Test level will mean that he will be unavailable to captain the India ‘A’ side in South Africa. Yuvraj Singh will take his place in the side, while Jacob Martin, previously named vice-captain, will lead the squad in Mongia’s absence.Squad to the West Indies:Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Shiv Sunder Das, Deep Dasgupta (wicket-keeper), Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Mongia, Ajay Ratra (wicket-keeper), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Tinu Yohannan, Sanjay Bangar

The BCCI remains firm in its demand of what it calls “realistic costs” of providing space and access for independent TV and radio commentary teams from Sky TV and BBC’s Test Match Special to cover England’s tour of India which is due to begin in early November.Officials have refused to make a statement on the matter but ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCCI has not signed any rights deals or contract with either Sky or TMS. The dispute of the amounts mentioned – £500,000 (US$806,000) for Sky and £50,000 (US$80,000) for BBC – has arisen because, for the first time, the BCCI holds production rights for the coverage of Indian cricket.Sky and BBC have signed sub-licencee agreements with Star TV which is the owner of “global media rights” of Indian cricket which will give them access to the world feed. As Star is not in charge of production, the arrangements to set up independent commentary teams and provide access to commentary boxes and independent studios must be made between sub-licencees and the production house, in this case the BCCI.A BCCI official, preferring anonymity, said: “It is not as if they have only asked for a commentary box. They have demanded a full control room, just like the one our host broadcaster has at every venue. If you have to create an additional space of 2000 sq ft, fully air-conditioned, it will bear a lot of cost. And neither the BCCI nor any of our affiliated units who would be hosting the match would bear the additional cost.”In the past, the TV channel that owned the rights, usually also controlled production. During tours by visiting teams, the cost of providing access and facilities to commentary teams from overseas was worked out between the production house and the foreign media channels. The “access fees” were worked out through mutual relationships between the broadcast and production companies. Costs have often been waived and even if the extent of the support required was substantial, the fees were arrived at following mutually-agreeable discussions.With the BCCI owning production rights to all cricket out of India, the visiting broadcast companies must independently negotiate costs over and above what it has paid the rights owners for sub-licences. Just after Star won its global media rights, a joint ESPNStar production team had made a pitch for production rights of cricket in India but had not won the contract.BCCI is not the only cricket board that owns production rights: Cricket South Africa’s global rights are sold to SuperSport but it keeps production under its own control. Under CSA’s terms, the Board has the final say on its commentary team for its home audience while IMG takes care of some of camera crew and graphics and also sorts out the agreements between independent visiting commentary teams.The fees being asked for by the BCCI from Sky and BBC for production costs have led the visiting broadcasters to suggest they may decide to provide independent commentary from their UK headquarters off a television set rather than live action at the venue.

The matchfixing saga has been one of the most long drawn andcontentious in the illustrious history of the glorious game we callcricket. Although the worst has probably passed, there is still enoughhanging in the air to cause concern at the headquarters of theInternational Cricket Council (ICC). The interim report of the ICC’santi corruption unit says, apart from India, no country has takenserious steps to tackle matchfixing, reports Dawn, a Pakistaninewspaper.The Anti Corruption Unit (ACU), headed by Sir Paul Condon, recentlyhanded over the interim report to Lord Griffith, Chairman of the ICC’sCode of Conduct Committee. The Dawn newspaper however, does notexplain how it got access to a report that has not been made public asyet. In addition, the Dawn does not quote any sources.According to the Dawn, the interim report states that countries likeWest Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand were not actingdecisively, even though there was increasing evidence that playersfrom these countries were involved in misdemeanors of this nature.When Pakistan toured New Zealand recently, coach Javed Miandad allegedthat matchfixing was still very much prevalent. The ICC too, seems toagree with this, if reports in the Dawn newspaper are to be believed.One must also keep in mind a couple of aspects. These allegations weremade by a man who had just been sacked. Again, The Dawn is known tocut corners on occasion. Recently, the newspaper leaked a report bythe Pakistan manager for the tour of New Zealand. Soon after the Dawnreport went to press, the comments referred to were denied by theFakir Aizazuddin.What is crucial in the report is that Condon and his team have foundthat the fixing and betting is not driven by greed alone. The reportallegedly has concluded that ‘some players, umpires and officials areso deeply involved with the criminal element they cannot stop cooperating for fear of their lives and property’. This brings theunderworld firmly into the picture, something that has been the worstfear of the authorities thus far.Although it is too early to draw any conclusions, with the report onlybeing leaked and not officially released to the public, one can besure that it will be yet another eagerly awaited document. First,there was the King Commission report in South Africa, based on whichHansie Cronje was banned for life. Herschelle Gibbs served out a sixmonth ban and returned to international cricket while Henry Williamswas let off with a warning.Then there was the Qayyum Report in Pakistan that found severalplayers guilty of malpractice of the kind that involved betting andmatchfixing. Salim Malik was banned for life while several otherprominent cricketers were fined.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report rocked Indiancricket, and as a direct fall out, Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Sharmawere banned for life while Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar and Ali Iraniwere banned for a period of five years.Apart from India, Pakistan and South Africa, none of the other Testplaying countries have come out with comprehensive reports on theirinvestigations thus far. Although players like Alec Stewart ofEngland, Brian Lara of West Indies, Mark Waugh and Shane Warne ofAustralia and Arjuna Rantunga and Aravinda de Silva of Sri Lanka havefigured in various investigations, the matter has rested there.The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) conducted its own inquiry anddeclared both Warne and Waugh innocent of matchfixing. For the act ofproviding information to bookies, the pair was fined.Examining the evidence, it does not seem entirely improbable that theinterim report of the ICC has indeed stated what has appeared in theDawn. The same newspaper adds that the report will be made public onMay 23. When that happens, Indian cricket’s administrators could be infor a pat on the back from world cricket’s apex body. It may berecalled that Condon had a word of praise for the CBI inquiry and theinvestigation conducted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India’sown watchdog K Madhavan during his visit to India last year.