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Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, has appealed against the six-match ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council for India’s slow over rates in the current one-day series against Pakistan. A media release confirmed that the ICC had received formal notice of the appeal late afternoon London time.This means that Ganguly is eligible to play India’s fifth one-dayer against Pakistan at Kanpur on April 15. Under the code of conduct the ICC will appoint a commissioner to adjudicate the appeal within 48 hours. After this commissioner is appointed, and hears from the relevant parties (including Chris Broad, the match referee who imposed the ban) he has seven days to reach his verdict. The appeals commissioner has the power to increase or decrease the penalty as he sees fit.The ICC has not yet announced who the commissioner will be, but the person will be drawn from the following list: Michael Beloff QC, Chairman of the ICC Code of Conduct Commission, Richie Benaud, Sir Oliver Popplewell, Tim Castle, Gamini Marapana, Justice Albie Sachs, Justice Anthony Lucky, Clive Barnes.This will be the second time Ganguly has come before an appeals commissioner. The last time around Tim Castle adjudicated when Clive Lloyd, the match referee, handed Ganguly a two-Test ban in November after India failed to bowl their overs in time in the Platinum Jubilee one-dayer against Pakistan at Kolkata. On that occasion Castle set aside the ban.

Bangladesh have suffered an injury blow three days ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo. Tapash Baisya, the right-arm fast bowler, has been ruled out of the series after failing to recover from an ankle injury, which was aggravated after playing the third one-dayer.Baisya, who was originally not included in the one-day squad due to this injury, was sent to Colombo as a replacement for Mashrafe Mortaza – who had failed to recover from a back spasm. Tapash hit 54 in the drawn three-day practice match, and bowled only 11 overs as his ankle began to trouble him again.”While bowling yesterday, he had a reccurrence of his ankle injury that he suffered during the England tour,” Paul Close, the Bangladesh physio, was quoted as saying in . It is at such a level that we couldn’t keep him in the tour. He has a small bony spur on his heel, so it’s not something that happens in one incident. It’s something that happens over a period of time. It is an injury that commonly will get better and has a re-occurrence, so when we return back to Dhaka, we will be arranging a specialist review with him.”Speaking about his recovery time, Close said: “This is the second bad episode that he has had. We are looking at around eight weeks for him to recover. But I can’t say more until we can make a really good assumption after the competition. There will be rest [for him] and strengthening of the area, maintaining his fitness, conditioning and we will review the injury.”The selectors are yet to name a replacement for Baisya, who is the third player to be forced out of the series after Rajin Saleh, the middle-order batsman, and Mortaza. These injury blows have weakened Bangladesh’s bowling attack ahead of the first Test on September 12.It will now have to rely on the inexperience of Shahadat Hossain, who has played just one Test and is yet to take a wicket, and Syed Rasel, the left-arm debutant. Talha Jubair, the medium-pacer who last played a Test in December 2004 against India, is likely to be the third seamer picked.

In his first interview since Zimbabwe’s rebels announced that they were ending their protest against their board, Heath Streak has said that little has changed inside Zimbabwe despite the ICC’s recommendations which formed part of the findings of the racism hearing.Although the ICC ruled there was no evidence of racism inside Zimbabwe Cricket, it made a number of recommendations as to the way the board should operate. “The irony is that at the end it gave the stamp of approval to the recommendations we had been making all along,” Streak told Australia’s Radio Sport 927. “I think that if the ICC wants to be what it is meant to be, it should be policing these because we haven’t seen any changes.”Streak said that two of the major issues had not been addressed: “The restructuring of the selection panel, so it has people of knowledge and experience, and outstanding issues concerning some of the board members who have been involved in accusations of racism.” He might have to wait – although the ICC’s recommendations were a key part of the report, it appears that it has no powers to enforce them.And Streak was particularly critical of Peter Chingoka, the board’s chairman. “The irony is that he is a weak character,” he explained. “I put a lot of blame on him for allowing this to go as far as it has. If he had cricket at heart then he wouldn’t be accepting gratuities of £50,000 when grass-level cricket is in crisis and clubs are collapsing. He needs to wake up and smell the coffee.”Chingoka admitted taking a bonus payment during the last financial year, a revelation that caused anger at the board’s AGM in August. There have been reports, as yet unconfirmed, that he has been paid another bonus in recent weeks.Streak told Radio Sport 927 that he had been offered a new contract by Zimbabwe Cricket, albeit on a lower salary and conditional on him dropping his complaints. “I was offered a contract but the fact was that nothing had changed. They wanted me to pull out of the racism enquiry which was just about to happen … since then I have heard nothing.”I do see myself playing for Zimbabwe again, but there need to be changes. I think those recommendations need to be put in place and then maybe there is a future for not only myself but others to return to the fold in a situation where there is no racism.”But Streak’s relationship with the board remains strained. Earlier this month he agreed to coach his province Matabeleland for nothing, only for the board to intervene and demand that he stand down.As it is, Streak has only one match pencilled in before he resumes playing for Warwickshire next April – against England. “I have a game on December 8 playing for Nicky Oppenheimer’s XI in a warm-up match in South Africa,” he said. “But who knows?”

Welcome to our regular update of news from the non-Test nations. This week an American official tells us why the USA shouldn’t change their squad for the ICC Champions Trophy; why the World Cup qualifying series is important to both winners and losers; and there’s some news from Malaysia:No new blood for USA
The chairman of the United States Cricket Association selection committee, Akthar “Chik” Masood Syed, does not anticipate any changes to the national squad for their ICC Champions’ Trophy campaign in September in England – even though his captain, Richard Staple, called for an infusion of youth in the pace-bowling department, in last week’s BTTW.”I don’t see any changes at this time,” said Masood. “The selectors put together the best possible team. We look at players because of their ability not their age … I don’t believe in a young player replacing a senior, experienced player simply because he is young. I personally don’t believe in changing a team if you are winning.”Masood added that an injection of younger talent had taken place during the ICC Six Nations campaign last month. “It is important to realise we replaced five members of the team that won the Americas Cup with players aged under 27.”Meanwhile, Masood and Staple both clarified the reasons for Amer Afzaluddin’s exclusion from the starting line-up in Sharjah. “Amer did not get the chance to play because both of the openers performed very well in every match,” said Masood. “I believe if Amer was an allrounder he might have played in place of Jignesh Desai or Ajaz Ali.” Staple added that the pre-tournament injury to their first-choice wicketkeeper, Wasim Khan, was an additional factor. “Amer was originally slated to open,” he said, “but when Wasim withdrew a place had to be found for Mark Johnson, who opens.”Maldives join south-east Asian tournament
The Maldives have applied to compete in this year’s Tuanku Ja’Afar Trophy, the most prestigious trophy in south-east Asian cricket. If their application is successful, the Maldives will become the fifth team in the competition, alongside Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore, the hosts. It would also be the first time a team from outside south-east Asia has participated in the annual tournament, which will take place between May 12 and 16.The trophy will have added significance this year, as it will serve as a practice tournament for the ACC Trophy, a World Cup qualifying event, which takes place from June 12 to 22. For Malaysia, however, their immediate focus is their opening Intercontinental Cup match against Nepal in Kathmandu (April 23-25), and the Malaysia Cricket Association will announce their team next week.Such is the importance of the Intercontinental Cup and ACC Trophy, the Malaysian board has suspended the Carlsberg Premier League, to enable the national squad to undergo intensive training. Ther defending champions, Negeri Sembilan, lead the table with six points from six matches, while Selangor, Perak and FTCA are close behind with four points. Perak and Selangor still have matches in hand, while Penang are trailing after playing four matches.Bahamas qualify for Americas Cup
The Bahamas have qualified for the Americas Cup tournament, which takes place in Bermuda from July 5 to 11, after winning last week’s Americas Affiliates tournament in Panama. The Bahamians went undefeated in four matches and finished ahead of Panama, Belize, Turks & Caicos and Suriname.The find of the tournament was the 16-year-old Belize opener Conway Young, who made the highest score of the event (118) and also topped the runs table with 186. As a World Cup qualifier, this tournament offers a fleeting spotlight for players such Young who cannot aspire to Test cricket – although he can now boast that he’s played in a World Cup match.For the first time, the tournament also provided international exposure to Belize, Turks & Caicos and Suriname. And as Suriname’s captain, Raj Narain, explained, the event provides a benchmark for these aspiring nations: “In our competition back home, there are hundreds scored every week and we have been bowled out cheaply – but this has given us an idea of where we stand and the level we need to work towards.”Victory in defeat for Rwanda
Botswana have progressed to the African Cricket Association Championships, after finishing second in the African World Cup Qualifying tournament in Benoni in South Africa. However, the tournament’s other big winners were Rwanda, for whom it was a victory just to be there. About ten days before the start of the tournament, all the countries were slugged for a US$5000 entry fee. “The weekly wage in Rwanda is around US$1,” revealed Charles Haba, a Rwandan official. “But our players paid our own way there, some contributing up to US$200.”Following the late withdrawal of Morocco, South African Country Districts were invited to make up the numbers … and duly won the event with ease..

Barry Jarman, the former ICC match referee, has made a startling revelation that he once confiscated a ball from the South African team, which was being coached by Bob Woolmer, because he suspected that it had been tampered with. The incident happened during a one-day international against India in 1997.Woolmer, the current Pakistan coach, was a part of the controversy at The Oval Test against England recently, when Pakistan forfeited the match after umpire Darrell Hair accused them of ball tampering.Jarman said he noticed that the ball was being scratched by two fielders who would rub sweat into one side of it, and as a result generate plenty of swing with a ball which was just 16 overs old. His suspicions grew when he noticed the ball being thrown to the same fielders regularly, though he preferred not to reveal their names.”The ball is only 16 overs old yet one side has been tampered with and you can see where they have run their thumbails down the seam which opens up,” Jarman told . “The open seam (which caught the sweat) meant one side was heavier than the other.”I saw Allan Donald (who he insisted was not one of the players tampering with the ball) all of a sudden start swinging the baIl everywhere on the television and I thought ‘hullo, what’s going on here?'”Jarman took action immediately and instructed the umpires to replace the ball, much to the displeasure of Woolmer, who stormed into Jarman’s room to demand an explanation. “I said ‘your guys are stuffing around with the ball, mate’. I told him who it was and he went out with his tail between his legs. I said to him ‘if you really want to make something of it I can give it to the press and we’ll see what happens then but I will just give you a warning to cut it out’. The two players later came up to my hotel room and apologised.”Jarman confiscated the ball and has kept it with him ever since, producing it yesterday to prove his statements. “I kept the ball by mistake because the game finished and it was just sitting there so I took it back to the hotel.”He also backed Hair’s firm stance at The Oval and admired the honest manner in which he had conducted himself in the past. “I really admire Darrell Hair for what he’s done in England,” Jarman said. “He is a guy who tells the truth and is suffering for it. He is one of the best, an umpire who can lie straight in bed.”

Rohan Gavaskar’s inclusion ahead of Mohammad Kaif – poor county stint notwithstanding – and Sridharan Sriram seemed a bizarre choice, given that his name has never been part of discussions regarding Test match probables.Sriram has more reason than most to rue his wretched luck after a couple of seasons when he has piled on the runs in domestic cricket. There was a touch of class about his batting in the Challenger Trophy, though to be fair, Gavaskar also acquitted himself admirably.For Shiv Sunder Das, Gautam Gambhir and Kaif, being left out is a terrible blow, and it calls into question their chances of playing against New Zealand. For Kaif, who was the toast of India just over a year ago after his heroics in NatWest Series final, it’s back to the practice pitches if he fancies himself as anything more than a one-trick pony.The two Bs, Laxmipathy Balaji and Amit Bhandari, appear to have nudged ahead in the pace tussle. With Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra still far from certain to get on the plane to Australia, they’ll never have a better chance to impress. But first they have to pass the Sachin Tendulkar test in Chennai, and that’s never easy, even when the first swallow of summer’s flying overhead.

Close
ScorecardSri Lanka A began their tour of New Zealand soundly in their three-day game against Otago at Molyneux Park in Alexandra. After winning the toss, they racked up 308 for 6 against a near-full strength Otago attack: Ian Daniel top-scored with 94.Otago’s bowlers could not take advantage of the cool and overcast conditions, and the Sri Lankans got stuck in. As the day went on, sweaters made way for towels as the temperature rose more to the Sri Lankans’ liking.While Daniel struck 15 fours in his innings, Thilina Kandamby, the tourists’ vice-captain, settled in and thumped 64 with a six and eight fours. Jehan Mubarak, another batsman of whom much is expected, played himself in but was run out for 42. At the end of the day, Bathiya Perera was unbeaten with a steady 43 not out.Bradley Scott and Nathan McCullum were the more successful bowlers for Otago, with two wickets apiece.

Neil Manthorp highlights the problems facing South Africa’s selectors as they search for the next generation of fast bowlersOne of South African cricket’s proudest traditions goes on trial at Edgbaston and there are more than a few doubters who believe Graeme Smith’s team lack the ability to maintain it.Whatever the results over the years, South Africa have always had fast bowlers who made life uncomfortable for opposition batsmen and made them work hard, mentally and physically, for their runs. Is that now the case? Many ask the question and, increasingly since the team arrived in England, many say not.South African cricket was never always strong, despite the last seven or eight years when it has presented the best – and perhaps only – viable challenge to Australia’s dominance. But the one constant in the last 40 years has been the depth of fast bowling talent in the country. Now that appears to have diminished.As far back as 1997 Makhaya Ntini was heralded as the ‘new Allan Donald’, and he may still be getting there. But Donald enjoyed the best back-up support in the world in those days, and now the new captain, Smith, looks in vain for a man to add his own fire to the pace and hostility of Ntini.During isolation from the world game the country’s domestic game was scattered with world-class pacemen good enough to have graced any international line-up, a possibility that some considered during the 21-year isolation from international competition between 1970 and 1991.Even before the ‘rebel’ years in which quicks like Garth Le Roux, Vintcent van der Bijl, Mike Procter and Clive Rice graced the English county scene with unqualified success, the SA tradition of match-winning fast bowlers had been carried into the 1950s by Peter Heine and the 1960s by Peter Pollock.By the time of readmission to the international stage, South Africa had a wealth of fast bowling talent at their disposal and, led by a rampant Allan Donald, bowled rather than batted their way to the World Cup semi finals in 1992. Meyrick Pringle, Richard Snell, Brian McMillan and the late Tertius Bosch were Donald’s lieutenants in those days and they were quickly followed by Craig Matthews, Fanie de Villiers and Brett Schultz. Heck, fast bowlers were so thick on the ground as the 1990s came to an end that even the side’s best batsman, Jacques Kallis, could bowl at 145 kilometres an hour.But now Kallis is at home in Cape Town and that is just the beginning of the problems. Whisper it, Englishmen, because he may yet haunt you, but Shaun Pollock’s lack of pace means batsmen can play him on the front foot and his wicket taking deliveries can be largely left alone. It may still be devilishly difficult to score off him, but survival is far less of a challenge than it was.Ntini is now Smith’s banker – loyal, fast, aggressive, fit and willing to bowl 30 overs a day, even more. It isn’t even worth thinking about what might happen to South Africa’s attack should he break down or have a bad day, or two. Pollock and Ntini cannot, of course, bowl all day. So what happens then?Two out of three pacemen, with a collection of two Test caps between them, will provide the back-up. Charl Willoughby is a left-armer who can swing the ball, at no great pace, but bagfuls of wickets for Basingstoke in the English leagues ought not leave Marcus Trescothik and Michael Vaughan quaking in their boots. He has one cap, against Bangladesh in Chittagong, to his credit. He took one wicket.Dewald Pretorius also has one Test cap, earned against Australia 18 months ago when he was belted all over Newlands in Cape Town. He is a big-hearted trier who also has one Test wicket.And finally there is Monde Zondeki, who has neither a wicket nor even a cap. But he has got pace, and plenty of it. The trouble for South Africa’s selectors is that he has also just recently recovered from a serious shoulder injury, albeit his non-bowling shoulder, sustained in a car accident shortly after SA’s ignominious exit from the World Cup in March this year. He has played just 14 first-class matches and claimed one five-wicket haul, against Somerset last week.Omar Henry, South Africa’s national selection convenor, hasn’t got much to choose from. “Any one of these guys could make a name for himself in England. They might grab their chance with both hands and establish themselves straight away. They all have the potential, that’s why we picked them,” Henry said before joining the squad two weeks ago. But his confidence was countered by his admission that he was, well, ‘on a mission’.”There is a fast bowler out there, somewhere in South Africa, who will make us all proud by winning matches and taking over Allan’s crown," Henry said. "He might even be in the squad at the moment, but if he isn’t then I will find him. I will not rest until I find him. We have a proud tradition of fast bowlers and we will live up to it.”That may be so, but the ‘here and now’ reality of South Africa’s tour is that the word ‘popgun’, never applied to a South African attack since readmission in 1991, may be closer to making its debut than ever before.

South Africa U19 v England U19 at Hove – match abandoned
Scorecard
South Africa secured the one-day series 1-0, after a second consecutive match was washed out at Hove.Yesterday’s match report – Wright’s hat-trick in vain as rain washes out second ODI
South Africa 190 for 7 (de Villiers 59, Wright 5-46) v England 8 for 0 – Match abandoned
Scorecard
Bad light and rain caused the abandonment of the second ODI between England and South Africa at Hove. South Africa lead the three-match series 1-0.On a day which was gloomy throughout, South Africa got off to a good start in an innings reduced to 32 overs, Abraham de Villiers (59) and Rieel de Kock (46) putting on 112 for the first wicket. Mark Turner broke the stand by removing de Kock for 46 and then Luke Wright took a hat-trick as South Africa slid from 112 for 0 to 119 for 5.Wright’s gentle medium-pace removed Francois du Plessis and de Villiers to catches in the deep, and he secured his hat-trick by trapping East Springer leg-before with a classic off-cutter. Wright was expensive – he conceded 46 runs in six overs – but he completed his five-for when Craig Thyssen was neatly stumped by Tom New.England faced just two overs before rain ended the match.The final game of the series is at Hove on Friday (August 29).

Former Australian seamer Damien Fleming has announced his retirement to enable him to take up a coaching role at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide.Fleming, 33, agreed to a two-year contract at the academy, replacing Wayne Phillips who was earlier this month appointed coach of South Australia. Fleming will join the existing team of Bennett King (head coach) and fellow senior coaches John Harmer and David Moore.Fleming said he agonised over his decision to retire after 15 years ofplaying first-class and international cricket. “It definitely wasn’t a black and white decision,” he explained. “I have had a week to wrestle over it, but it’s just a fantastic opportunity to get into coaching which I have had my mind on for a couple of years.”Fleming played his final first-class game last November before a shoulder injury brought his season to a premature end. He played in 20 Tests between 1994-95 and 2000-01, taking 75 wickets at 25.89. He also played in 88 one-day internationals.