Even as the Indian board remains inflexible over the Indian Cricket League (ICL) , the federal railway minister and Bihar Cricket Association president Lalu Prasad Yadav today openly backed the ICL, saying the million-dollar tournament could be played in stadiums owned by his ministry.Railways, the ministry’s side in the Ranji Trophy, have won the tournament twice in the past five seasons and own around 50 grounds across the country. That could come in handy for the ICL who face a lack of venues to stage the league. Most cricket grounds are owned by local cricket associations, and the BCCI has discouraged any sort of interaction with the ICL.Yadav described the ICL as a “good initiative” and said competition was good for the game. “The parallel league is a good thing for those who complain that they were not selected or were ignored. This competition will be good for spotting good players.”We will definitely allow them to play in our stadiums. We will charge money for it.”The board said yesterday that cricketers associating themselves with other organisations would not be entitled to any benefits from the BCCI or “be connected with any of its activities”. Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, had last week threatened to impose life bans on players who joined the unofficial body.

Ottis Gibson continued his age-defying season with 7 for 46 as Durham and Worcestershire traded blows at Chester-le-Street. Seventeen wickets fell in the day, but thanks to half-centuries from Michael Di Venuto (50), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (54) and Gordon Muchall (62 not out) , Durham edged into the lead as Gareth Batty grabbed five. Worcestershire were in early trouble against Gibson and slumped to 50 for 4. Graeme Hick (64) and Steven Davies (26) added 60 before Paul Wiseman broke Gibson’s monopoly on wickets. But Gibson was soon back into it, ending Hick’s counter-attacking 65-ball innings. Nadeem Malik began Worcestershire’s fightback, but the key wickets fell to Batty. Any runs that Muchall and the tail can add in the morning could prove vital.Glen Chapple revived Lancashire with a rapid 88 at Canterbury after Kent threatened to take a significant lead. Lancashire slipped from 127 for 1 to 179 for 5 before Chapple joined Stuart Law (66) in a sixth-wicket stand of 118. Chapple dominated by clubbing five sixes and 10 fours in his 81-ball innings, a season-best for the allrounder. With a century in sight he was bowled by Martin Saggers, who led Kent’s attack with 4 for 43 off 25 overs, and two further wickets leaves the game shaping as a one-innings contest.

Stephen Fleming struck his third century of the season as Nottinghamshire enjoyed a profitable first day against Middlesex at Lord’s. He reached his hundred off 142 balls and added 188 with Mark Wagh, who struck 92 before falling to Tim Murtagh. Middlesex’s bowlers stuck to their task and fought back as Nottinghamshire went from 245 for 2 to 346 for 7 either side of tea. However, Chris Read’s jaunty 47 held the lower order together and guided his side towards 400.

Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs are making progress following theinjuries they picked up in the opening ICC World Twenty20 matchagainst West Indies at Johannesburg, but Gibbs may not be risked forwhat is now a dead game against Bangladesh on Saturday.The South African team arrived in Cape Town on Wednesday and are preparing for back-to-back matches at Newlands over the weekend. Smith, who picked up a soft tissue injury to his right hand after taking a blow from Daren Powell, didn’t bat during the team’s training sessionat Bellville. Coach Mickey Arthur hopes he will have a hit on Friday and admitted losing both Smith and Gibbs would be a significant blow.”They are two of our most experienced players and they are in good form at the moment so it is a little bit of a concern but we are confident of having them ready for Sunday,” he said, adding that AB de Villiers is likely to remain at No. 3 with one of Gulam Bodi or JP Duminy replacing Gibbs as opener against Bangladesh.After playing the tournament’s opening fixture in the high-scoring conditions at the Wanderers, Arthur is well aware his team will have to adjust quickly to new conditions in Cape Town. “We spoke about what a good score was a lot during our warm-ups matches and we thought 170-175 might be about right but we had to adjust that, especially on the highveldt. But down here I think the scores are going to be slightly lower.”I was really pleased we could get a practice today and we saw whenthe guys batted today that they need to hold their shape more. Withthe ball you have to be pinpoint-accurate and even the fielders needto adjust. That’s why today was very important.”Despite being set an imposing target of 206 against West Indies, South Africa cruisedhome on the back of Gibbs’ 90. Athough Arthur believes that batting secondis an advantage in Twenty20s, he thinks the situation will be more variable at Newlands.”Batting second allows you to manage your innings a lot better,” hesaid. “You know exactly what you are chasing so it does become easier.I think down here at Newlands it could be slightly different and youcan put pressure on by putting a big score on the board because thewickets are slower.”Although there is now nothing riding on the Bangladesh game other thanpride, and some prize money, momentum in such a compacted tournamentis vital and South Africa will need to remain focused. After watchingtheir neighbours, Zimbabwe, overcome Australia on Wednesday, Arthur iswell aware that the gap between sides is narrowed in Twenty20. “Youcan’t take anyone lightly. It does become a little bit of a lotteryand class-wise the teams coming a little closer together.”

Western Australia’s new leadership group of Marcus North as captain and Tom Moody as coach will face their first test with a Ford Ranger Cup match against New South Wales on Friday. North led the side on and off last season but this week’s Perth outing will be his first since he was permanently handed the reins.The Warriors have named a 13-man squad to take on the Blues with no new faces since last summer. Adam Voges, who is the state’s new vice-captain, has been listed to play although he has spent the past fortnight in India as cover for the Australian ODI team.Western Australia’s top order was one of their strengths in 2006-07 and the key players will be present again on Friday – Justin Langer, Luke Ronchi, North and Voges. The Warriors finished third on the FR Cup table last season and were one win short of a place in the final.Squad Justin Langer, Luke Ronchi (wk), Marcus North (capt), Adam Voges, Chris Rogers, Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Sean Ervine, Shawn Gillies, Aaron Heal, Brett Dorey, Steve Magoffin, Ben Edmondson.

ScorecardCanada lost 6 for 53 in a dramatic collapse on the third day to put Namibia in control of their Intercontinental Cup match at Windhoek.Resuming on 233 for 4, Canada lost two quick wickets to Ian van Zyl before Gerrie Snyman mopped up the tail. Snyman, the 26-year-old medium-fast bowler, ended with the impressive figures of 4 for 63. Mohammad Iqbal’s lone effort, a brilliant 140, wasn’t enough for Canada to save the follow-on.They didn’t fare much better in their second innings either, losing Abdul Jabbar and Qaiser Ali cheaply. But Iqbal found support in Trevor Bastiampillai, with whom he put on 125 for the third wicket before Bastiampillai was caught behind for a composed 63. One wicket brings two – or in Canada’s case, three or four in quick succession – and Iqbal was left stranded while his middle and lower orders collapsed around him.At stumps, Canada led by just 40 runs.

Mark Gillespie has been named in New Zealand’s 12 as they go into the second Test of this brief series on the back of a thrashing at the Wanderers with a host of injury concerns. They are without the crocked Shane Bond, but Stephen Fleming has been included in the squad, despite suffering from injury.If Gillespie makes the final XI this will be his Test debut for New Zealand. Gillespie, the fast-medium bowler, made his one-day debut at the tail-end of 2006 and has since played Twenty20s for New Zealand.Fleming was struck on the elbow in New Zealand’s second innings in Johannesburg and is also suffering from a problem with his thumb. Even with him the tourists’ batting looked paper thin, and if he has to sit this game out it is hard to see where substantial runs will come from.New Zealand had already been forced to summon Kyle Mills and Jamie How to cover for an assortment of injuries. Jacob Oram is suffering from a hamstring strain while Michael Papps is struggling with a gastric illness.The spotlight was briefly on Matthew Sinclair, who recently rattled off 243 for Central Districts in a State Shield match against Otago. But New Zealand’s selectors, who have been reluctant to depend on Sinclair, chose to go with How instead.Mills and How arrived in South Africa on Monday but the New Zealand camp was reluctant to thrust them straight into action so soon after arrival. “Ideally we would not want to use them because they arrive today,” Lindsay Crocker, the team manager, said. “But they are here as cover for the Test squad so they will be eligible for selection.”Mills appears likely to play as the pitch is expected to aid the faster bowlers. “Kyle Mills comes into the equation because he can bat, although to a lesser degree than Jacob [Oram],” said Daniel Vettori. Bond, who once again succumbed to injury – this time torn stomach muscles – has flown back home.South Africa are a much more settled side and they will name an unchanged XI, so Shaun Pollock again misses out. This also means Boeta Dippenaar and Neil McKenzie, who were in contention for spots, have to wait a while longer.The selectors have stressed the need for continuity. “We want continuity and, with the squad winning Test matches there is no reason to start making changes,” Joubert Strydom, the convenor of selectors, said after the end of the first Test. He also dismissed claims that Graeme Smith, the captain of the South African team, was under any pressure after twin failures in the first Test. “Statistics show that Graeme is still a highly effective performer, and we are not in the least bit worried about him.”South Africa’s coach Mickey Arthur, however, said they retained some concerns about playing New Zealand, despite the injuries to their opposition. “We still have enormous respect for them as a team, they are a team of fighters and I certainly expect them to bounce back hard.”A team is most vulnerable when they’ve just won and we’ve had quite a winning streak. So I’ve done quite a bit of talking this week, telling the guys to keep their feet on the ground and warning them to be on their guard.”South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 AB de Villiers, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Andre Nel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.New Zealand (probable) 1 Craig Cumming, 2 Michael Papps, 3 Stephen Fleming, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Iain O’Brien, 11 Chris Martin.

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In Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh’s Vikramjeet Singh Malik and Ashok Thakur stunned Delhi to bowl them out for 75, after having themselves scored a creditable 343. Malik took 6 for 25, a personal best, and Thakur 4 for 45 as ten Delhi batsmen failed to make it to double digits, and Gautam Gambhir top scored with 13. Malik and Thakur were the only two bowlers used by Himachal as it took them 23.3 overs to wrap up Delhi’s first innings.Following on, Delhi scored more than half their first-innings total in four overs without any damage, as captain Virender Sehwag hit seven boundaries in his 19-ball 31.Earlier, Paras Dogra and Maninder Bisla carried on their consolidation job for Himachal; they added 99 runs for the sixth wicket. After Bisla got out for an even fifty, Dogra found company in Sarandeep Singh and the two added another 85 for the seventh wicket. Dogra was the ninth wicket to fall, for 81.
ScorecardM Vijay continued to torment the Saurashtra bowlers to finish unbeaten on 230 and K Vasudevadas scored a whirlwind century as Tamil Nadu’s declared at 531 for 2. The Tamil Nadu bowlers responded as Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, P Amarnath and R Ramkumar took a wicket each to leave Saurashtra struggling at 28 for 3. Runs were scored only off Yo Mahesh, as Amarnath bowled four overs and Ramkumar two without a run being taken.Resuming on 129, Vijay started from where he had left off on Saturday and added 101 runs. He was helped by quick scoring from the other end – an 82-ball 61 by S Badrinath and then a 114-ball 103 by K Vasudevadas. Apart from Sagar Jogiyani and Kanaiya Vaghela, Saurashtra brought on every player to bowl, but only Sandip Maniar and Rakesh Dhurv had success.
ScorecardNiranjan Behera score his first first-class century to take Orissa to an important first-innings lead against Hyderabad. Behera ended the day unbeaten on 102 to take Orissa eight runs ahead with seven wickets in hand. The other four Orissa batsmen got starts as well, with the lowest individual score being 24. Pinninti Jayachandra scored a quick 29 towards the end of the day and remained unbeaten along with Behera. Rashmi Parida, the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman, scored 44 to add 90 runs for the third wicket.Earlier Hyderabad added 39 to their overnight 201 for 8 as Debasis Mohanty and Sourabha Sehgal added a wicket each to their overnight tally of four and three wickets respectively.
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Anustup Majumdar and Arindam Das missed by six runs what would have been their second double-century opening stand of the season, but they left Bengal in a commanding position, ten runs behind Punjab’s 231 and with nine wickets in hand. Earlier Bengal had taken Punjab’s last three wickets for 31 runs to dismiss them for 241.Majumdar missed his century by one run, while Das ended the day seven short. The first-wicket stand lasted 63.3 overs as Punjab bowlers struggled for discipline, bowling 16 no-balls and giving a total of 27 runs through extras. VRV Singh bowled 10 no-balls and a wide in his 14 overs.

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The Pathan brothers wrecked Uttar Pradesh’s batting to help Baroda end the second day in firm control of the game. UP were bowled out for 209, a first-innings lead of 125. Yusuf was the more successful Pathan as he returned figures of 21.3-7-31-5, his third five-for in this season. Irfan played the support role with three wickets for 63.After UP had collapsed from 65 for 1 to 99 for 6, Suresh Raina staged a brief fightback in unison with Mohammad Amir Khan. But once Raina fell for 55, with the team score at 185, UP’s didn’t offer any resistance.Baroda played out the four overs before stumps without much incident.
ScorecardYogesh Takawale scored his first first-class century and with Kedar Jadhav took Maharashtra past 450 before Mumbai scored 113 for 2, thanks to an unbeaten half-century by Ajinkya Rahane.Takawale and Jadhav resumed their overnight partnership and took it to 146 runs before Jadhav missed out on a maiden century – he fell short by 19. Takawale followed him back, but by then he had scored 126 to put Mumbai on the back foot. Abhishek Nayyar took 5 for 100 for Mumbai.In reply, Rahane and Sahil Kukreja made a solid start, but Mumbai lost two quick wickets to be reduced to 77 for 2. Rahane and Muzumdar, though, batted sensibly after that and took Mumbai to stumps without any further damage.
ScorecardRobin Bist, Rajasthan’s right-hand middle-order batsman, missed what would have been a maiden first-class century by one run, as his team put up a challenging 393 runs before dismissing three Karnataka batsmen for 118. Bist, resuming on 62, went past his previous best of 69 and shepherded the tail to take the score to 334 for 8, when he got out hooking Vinay Kumar. Pankaj Singh and Mohammad Aslam then added 52 for the ninth wicket to further frustrate Karnataka bowlers. But for Sunil Joshi’s 6 for 83, things could have been much worse for Karnataka.Robin Uthappa started positively for Karnataka, but his dismissal for 55 triggered a collapse as three wickets fell for 36 runs.

It’s an honour to captain the West Indies cricket team anytime I’m asked, and therefore, when invited to do so for the upcoming tour to Zimbabwe, I readily agreed to serve in that capacity.I have always stood up to and enjoyed challenges and I think this series will be a great opportunity for me to continue in that vein and I will definitely try to make the best of it for the team’s benefit. It will be important to motivate the players, to ensure we play to our potential and deliver the maximum output in every match, starting with the first one-day international versus Zimbabwe tomorrow (Friday).I’m well aware that leading West Indies to victory over England in the one-day international series in England last summer would certainly have influenced the selectors’ decision to appoint me as captain for this assignment. It’s a position I don’t take lightly at all but, at the same time, I know that I need to maintain a calm frame of mind and not put too much pressure on myself. Overall, I am confident that I am capable of getting the job done and of handling the increased responsibility, particularly regarding on-field tactics.Captaincy of an international cricket team, especially one that’s endured mixed results in recent years as we have, is the kind of test that builds character. I expect that this experience will give me a lot more courage and even greater belief in myself and will be a positive step in my continued development – both on and off the cricket field.I’m quietly looking forward to this encounter and optimistic about the team’s fortunes as well as my own.Returning to Zimbabwe – I left Jamaica on Saturday while most of the touring party flew from the Caribbean on Sunday – is special for me and evokes several fond memories of past success and celebrations. It was the scene of my maiden Test century in July 2001 (175 at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo) and some good one-day knocks too.Naturally, I would love to pick up the rich batting form which I have enjoyed over here on previous tours. However, personal exploits – while very important – will be secondary to team goals. I cannot stress enough that we must not take Zimbabwe for granted. They can beat the best of teams on their day and the last thing we need is to fall victim to a bad case of complacency against a talented unit which has nothing to lose in front of their home crowd.We in the West Indies have the ammunition – including batting newcomer Brenton Parchment who has been in the reckoning for regional selection for a while – to defeat this opposition. Now, we just have to execute our plans and take our chances in batting, bowling and fielding.And I will be aiming to lead by example.

So here we are, in probably the most isolated city in the world, looking forward to a Test which, for a while, threatened not to happen. The simmering cauldron of Sydney has been swapped for a balmy atmosphere in Perth. Clocks have been turned back two hours and the teams are making nothing but optimistic noises. The game, which we’re told is bigger than any individual, towers over the WACA.Now that the two captains have shaken hands and made up, we can focus on the game at hand. Australia are chasing a record and India are chasing the series. Chris Rogers is set for his home debut and Anil Kumble stands on 599 Test wickets. Australia haven’t lost a Test here in ten years and have been ferocious enough to win eight of their last ten on this ground (the other two ended in draws).So much has been said about the pitch that it’s a surprise there haven’t been any fumes emanating from the surface. This is the Wild West and fittingly Shaun Tait, ready with a gun-sling, returns to Tests after two-and-a-half years. Adam Gilchrist is wondering how far back he needs to stand to keep to him. Considering the hype, the four slip fielders might struggle to stay within the boundary line.Facing up to him, in all probability, will be Virender Sehwag, a cricketing version of Clint Eastwood. Local wisdom suggests this is exactly the kind of pitch he would like, one where batsmen can rock back and slash hard. Don’t expect too many front-foot defences; Sehwag’s brief would be to try and smoke ’em.Sehwag has not figured in a Test for more than a year but he would have taken some confidence from his hundred in Canberra. “He is a very dangerous player,” Ricky Ponting said, “but we have played against him and know what his strength and weaknesses are, we have plans to keep him under wraps.”India’s line-up is set to be re-jigged and bolstered. Rahul Dravid goes back to his customary No. 3 position and VVS Laxman is likely to walk in at No. 6. Irfan Pathan, who cracked a century in his most recent Test appearance, is likely to come in at No. 8. Yet it’s a mighty challenge they’re up against. They will have Tait and Brett Lee pushing them back before Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson draw them forward. Each can vary his lengths and all will draw on past experience to use the Fremantle Doctor, a swing-friendly breeze that blows across Perth.Australia have a new opening combination and a captain who’s yet to hit his straps, though the absence of Harbhajan Singh would come as some relief. Michael Clarke has done more with the ball than bat and Gilchrist, who blitzed a 57-ball hundred on this ground last year, is yet to explode. However, taking into account their knowledge of local conditions and ability to play off the back foot, you wouldn’t bet against a solid batting performance. India’s raw attack, consisting of a new-ball pair that has 12 Tests between them, will have their plates full.Despite all the portents India can take heart from one fact: they’ve recently pulled off surprises in bowler-friendly conditions abroad. Like in Headingley in 2002, Kingston or even Wanderers in 2006 and Nottingham last year, they have stood up and taken on the challenge.It would require the performance of a lifetime but India have travelled far to be here and distance may finally bring about some enchantment with this tour.India (likely) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Anil Kumble (capt), 10 RP Singh, 11 Ishant Sharma.Australia 1 Chris Rogers, 2 Phil Jaques, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Shaun Tait.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni says India’s batsmen need to rethink their roles inthe team after the side was bundled out for 74 in a nine-wicket Twenty20loss to Australia. Irfan Pathan was the only man who reacheddouble-figures and Dhoni said early wickets meant too many players wereforced into unfamiliar tactics.”We ended up [in a situation where] players who should have played their strokes were [forced to] play some other game, and guys who should have stayed there and given the strokeplayers a base played their shots and got out,” Dhoni said. The typically aggressive Dhoni had to attempt a rescue mission after India wobbled to 5 for 32, but could only manage a watchful 9 from 27 balls. Before Dhoni departed, Gautam Gambhirand Robin Uthappa were both caught when they aimed over the infield andRohit Sharma was bowled trying to pull a delivery that was much too full.”Somewhere in the middle, they forgot their roles and responsibilities inthe team,” Dhoni said. “We lost too many early wickets, and in the middle overs it was really hard to determine whether to go after the bowlers or just rotate the strikebecause on a wicket like this you cannot really defend 120 runs.”Dhoni was confident the loss would not affect his team’s mindset ahead ofthe CB Series, though his counterpart Michael Clarke said Australia nowhad the momentum. Clarke said as much as India’s mistakes, it wasAustralia’s precision that earned them their first Twenty20 win againstthe world champions.”The way we prepared, studied the Indian batsmen over the last fewTwenty20s that they’ve played, I think our preparation was spot on and ourexecution was exactly how we wanted it,” Clarke said. Australia and Indianow travel to Brisbane for the opening tri-series game on Sunday.