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Glenn McGrath, the Australian fast bowler, will miss the second match of the ICC Super Series in Melbourne on October 7. Chris Gayle, the West Indies opener, has replaced Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, in the 12-man World XI team, in a game which they have to win to stay alive in the three-match series.McGrath has been rested because he experienced tightness in the legs at the end of the first game after taking 2 for 13 in seven overs. He will be replaced by Stuart Clark, the New South Wales fast bowler, who will be making his debut as the 153rd player to represent Australia.Afridi was the Supersub in the first match and replaced Muttiah Muralitharan at the end of the first innings. He didn’t get a chance to bowl and managed only 2 with the bat before attempting a mighty hoick across the line and falling lbw.Australia
1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Michael Hussey, 8 Shane Watson, 9 Cameron White, 10 Brett Lee, 11 Nathan Bracken, 12 Stuart ClarkWorld XI
1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Brian Lara, 6 Rahul Dravid, 7 Kevin Pietersen, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock (capt), 10 Daniel Vettori, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan, 12 Shoaib Akhtar

A low scoring affair between Pentasoft and Combined Districts XI sawthe Chennai software company notch up an easy victory in the Moin udDowlah Cup at Hyderabad. Combined Districts’ skipper Vishnuvardhan wonthe toss and decided to have a bat. Although he won the toss there waslittle joy for Vishnuvardhan. His openers got off to a dreadful start,with Venu losing his wicket to Tamil Nadu all rounder Sadagopan Maheshin just the 4th over of the day.One drop batsman Mohamood Ali got to 5 before he was cleaned up byPavan Kumar. Another Kumar, this time Sathish, got rid of openerNaveen Reddy and Combined Districts XI were in a spot of bother at30/3. The spot of bother got progressively worse as 30/3 became 39/5.Wickets were shared around as Combined Districts slumped to 110 allout.Chasing 111 from 50 overs was never going to pose any problem for abatting line up that boasted the likes of Sadagopan Ramesh, ShivSunder Das and Hrishikesh Kanitkar. With just one wicket down,Pentasoft cruised to a nine wicket victory. Ramesh (67) and Das (25)were unbeaten at the crease as the target was overhauled with 29 oversto spare. Ramesh’s knock of 67 came off just 71 balls and included 10sweetly timed hits to the fence.Not one to be left behind, Das helped himself to an easy 25 (33b,2×4). Pentasoft have a number of stars in their side, and are bound tobe stretched further by opposition stronger than Combined DistrictsXI.

Kenya are hoping to be able to appoint a new coach within the next six to eight weeks, according to Samir Inamdar, the Kenya Cricket Association chairman.Kenya have been without a full-time coach since Andy Moles quit in February, but Inamdar revealed that they had received 28 applications from across the globe. He said the KCA had set up a committee which will shortlist six applicants.”The interview will be conducted by me, or in my absence the vice-chairman, Shamji Patel, together with Nasoor Verjee, David Waters, Sukhbans Singh, Tom Tikolo and the ICC high performance manager, Richard Done,” Inamdar told the Nation newspaper. “After the interview the names will be whittled down further to possibly two for face-to-face interviews possibly before the end of the year.”Mudassar Nazar, the former cricket academy manager who has been coaching the national team on an interim basis, is one of the applicants. Others are thought to include at least one former coach of a major national side.The hiring of a national coach is expected to result in the formation of a Kenya A and Under-19 squads to act as feeders to the national team.

Johmari Logtenberg, who it’s no exaggeration to call a batting sensation, has surprised the world of women’s cricket by suddenly giving up the sport for golf. More unexpected still is the fact that the cricket star, who averaged 422.50 in a domestic season and has been instrumental in the international set-up since the age of 14, has only just taken up golf on a whim and she doesn’t know if she will be any good at it.”I didn’t plan to play golf,” she told the Times of South Africa. “It was just a spur-of-the-moment decision”It seems an extraordinary move for the girl, still only 18, who had the cricketing world at her feet with two one-day international centuries and five fifties under her belt. Then again she didn’t earn any money from it – English counties offered to pay her travel expenses “I would have ended up playing for charity” – while a successful women’s golfer can earn a lucrative sum.With great hand-eye co-ordination, the one thing that perhaps will not raise eyebrows is that she’s already got a handicap of 12 despite these being early days where golf is concerned.She has enrolled at Gavan Levenson’s golf academy to improve her game further but if it doesn’t work out she hinted there would be a chance she could go back to cricket. “We’ll only see after this year whether golf is for me.”

Vince van der Bijl isn’t about to claim the credit for South Africa’s successful scramble to retain the services of Allan Donald, but the public will give it to him anyway.Alarm bells rang across South Africa at the weekend when Donald, the country’s most illustrious bowler with 330 wickets from 72 Tests, announced he had applied for the position of England bowling coach.That came hard on the heels of Gary Kirsten’s resignation as South Africa’s high performance manager. Donald, it seemed, had become disillusioned with his role as a specialist bowling coach in the same structure.The nation held its breath as van der Bijl, Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) general manager of professional cricket, and CSA chief executive Gerald Majola met with Donald in Johannesburg on Friday.The thought of Donald in an England shirt, coming on top of South Africa’s loss to England in last summer’s Test series and umpteen defections by South African first-class players to English cricket, would have been almost too much to bear. “That would have been enough to make anyone cringe,” Kirsten said. “He’s such a high-profile South African, it would have been a bit weird.”But if anyone could persuade Donald, whose wife is English and who built up a strong bond with England during his years with Warwickshire, to stay put it was the passionate, articulate van der Bijl. “C’mon Big Vince,” went the silent prayer.Mission accomplished: Donald said after the meeting that he remained committed to South African cricket. What did van der Bijl say to help Donald reach his decision?”You’ll have to ask him what made up his mind, all I can say is that we sat down and had an open conversation,” said van der Bijl, who nevertheless did not attempt to hide his satisfaction at Donald’s choice.”He knows what he can do for South African cricket, and I’m delighted he’s staying,” said van der Bijl. “He can be of great value because of his amazing wealth of experience in the heat of battle, he can impart that atmosphere and the attitude that is required to go to the top.”van der Bijl said Donald would also be involved when international bowlers lost form. The planning for Donald’s future role, van der Bijl said, was already underway. “We spent a bit of time mapping out the way forward for the high performance programme,” he said, “and the national academy for the coming off-season.”Donald said personal considerations had tipped the balance for him. “I made the decision to stay in South Africa based on family commitments,” he said. “I have three young children and to take them back to England and then back to South Africa again once that job is over would not be good for them.”Impatience, he conceded, had prompted him to consider switching his allegiance. “Maybe I was a bit hasty, but when the England job came up I wanted it desperately,” Donald said. “I hadn’t really thought about the long-term implications. My time will come coaching-wise, I must just be patient. But in the meantime I’m just going to get stuck in with the high performance programme, it’s all looking very positive.”Donald was satisfied with the outcome of Friday’s meeting. “CSA did indicate they would try and get me more involved with the national team and give me more of a hands-on role,” he said. “I’ll be chatting to [South African coach] Mickey Arthur when he gets back from Australia and hopefully I’ll be able to work with the national bowlers much more during the home Tests here.”

Maurice Odumbe’s future as an international cricketer is likely to be decided within a few days, as the judicial hearing into his alleged involvement with match-fixing begins in Nairobi today (July 27).Jon Long, the ICC project officer in charge of corporate affairs, said that Ahmed Ebrahim, the Zimbabwean judge presiding over the hearing, would conduct full-day sessions over the duration of the trial. “The hearing will hopefully last for five days, after which Justice Ebrahim will fly to Zimbabwe to prepare his report, which he will submit to the ICC Code of Conduct Commission,” he told AFP. “The news of a verdict will take days and not weeks.”Once approved by the ICC’s executive board, the report would then be sent to the Kenyan authorities, who would then take appropiate action against Odumbe.Odumbe came under the scanner after allegations of his involvement with a bookmaker in 2002, charges that he has vehemently denied. Odumbe’s defence has been that while he had dealings with an Indian, he was unaware that the person concerned was a bookmaker.Despite the controversy, the Kenyan selectors have gone ahead and named Odumbe in a provisional 30-man squad for the Champions Trophy. If found guilty, the penalty on Odumbe could range from a two-year suspension to a life ban.

Mohammad Al Sahariar scored a rousing counter-attacking hundred to help the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI secure a draw against the Zimbabweans in the tourists’only warm-up game before the first Test that starts this Thursday.Al Sahariar arrived at the crease with his side 57 for 5, still trailing by 149 with more than two hours’ play left, but he scorched to his first 50 from 28 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Although he slowed down after that, he reached his century off 114 balls which allowed him to forget the indignity of the second-ball duck he recorded in the first innings.Earlier the Zimbabweans, resuming for 384 for 3, continued to pile on the runs, as Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor both made half centuries before Tatenda Taibu declared on 522 for 3 – a lead of 206. Elton Chigumbura then struck immediately, removing both openers to reduce the BCB XI to 11 for 2 in the sixth over before Stuart Matsikenyeri, who scored his maiden hundred on the second day, chipped in with two more to have the BCB XI in trouble – but then the Al Sahariar whirlwind came to knock the Zimbabweans back in place.

Scorecard

Floyd Reifer, a proven performer under pressure, overcame persistent pain to pilot Barbados to a place in the Carib Beer Challenge final.Given the responsibility of batting at No. 3 for the first time in a few seasons, Barbados’ longest-serving player used his vast experience and showed steely resolve in compiling a precious century that lifted Ryan Hinds’ team to a hard-fought semi-final draw against Guyana. The left-handed Reifer, bothered by discomfort in his right wrist for the latter half of his innings, was the mastermind of Barbados’ effort in which they had the challenging task of either surviving the entire final day or attain a target of 282 on a Carlton Club pitch that remained good for batting throughout.At 249 for 5, with 45 minutes remaining, Barbados appeared to be heading for victory, but after the dismissals of Reifer and Ian Bradshaw, the run-chase was aborted with Patrick Browne and Ryan Austin batting through the final half-hour.There were other assistants along the way, but pride of place went to Reifer, whose 101, was by far his highest score of the season, his ninth first-class hundred and his fourth against Guyana and another important knock for Barbados either in a final or a semi-final.”I like big games. I like to play under pressure,” Reifer said. “Something happened today with my wrist, I can’t explain. My wrist got snapped in playing a particular shot. It was fairly painful, but I never let it stop me.”It was an innings with some luck for someone who has been at the wrong end of a few contentious decisions against him during the tournament. When he was 6, Guyana captain Reon King spilled the easiest chance of the match, a straightfoward offering at midwicket that many primary schoolboys would have fancied gobbling up.A few minutes later, the Guyanese, and even some Bajans beyond the boundary, were certain Reifer had edged a catch to slip off left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell, but umpire Goaland Greaves appeared to indicate he was unsighted by the bowler on his follow-through.Once those were history, Reifer grew in confidence to bat with the type of authority we know he can, but which he has seldom displayed in an otherwise disappointing season in which his previous highest score was 42. Eventually, he was caught low at slip to end an innings that lasted four hours and included 11 fours off 213 balls.There were telling contributions from the majority of those who batted. Browne, short of runs in recent matches, initially batted aggressively and then responsibly, occupying the crease for two hours for an unbeaten 39 after linking up with Reifer following a mini slump just before tea when three wickets fell for 14 runs.Openers Dale Richards and Wayne Blackman laid the foundation, adding 67 that offered encouragement to hometown fans. Richards reeled off eight sweet fours in 44 off 73 balls before gifting his wicket with a catch to mid-off off legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo.Blackman, many still questioning his place in the team, doggedly resisted for three hours to make 36 off 139 balls before flicking a catch to backward square-leg. Captain Ryan Hinds made 23 in an hour, but then under-edged an attempted drive off Neil McGarrell into his stumps. Just before he went, Barbados were 172 for 2, but the next few overs the match took a twist and Guyana were back into the contest.Dwayne Smith, relegated to No. 5 in an exchange of positions with Reifer, was once again the victim of an irresponsible stroke, an attempted slog-sweep in which he skied the ball to midwicket. And on the stroke of tea, Alcindo Holder dragged a ball into his stumps to create a few worries for Bajans.By then Reifer was 67 and battling the pain, but he remained firm in the company of Browne to allow Barbados to set up a showdown against Cup champions Trinidad and Tobago in the five-day final, starting on Saturday at Guaracara Park.

In the slew of announcements and news that appeared from the working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India emerged one vital snippet that should not go unnoticed. For the first time in its history the BCCI is taking its role in the development of women’s cricket seriously, and has announced that each player who was part of the women’s team that beat England and then won the Asia Cup would receive a bonus of Rs. One lakh (US$2000).While that does not seem like a lot given what their male counterparts earn, it is a significant sum for members of the women’s team, who barely earned anything from their victories. In the past, while the Women’s Cricket Association of India, run, for all practical purposes, by Shubhangi Kulkarni, a former Indian captain, did not register losses, they did not have the luxury of paying their cricketers well.Women’s teams stayed in dormitories and modest hotels and received little in way of match fees, and only on the odd occasion, through sponsorship support, did they receive daily allowances. But, after the ICC laid down a deadline for all cricket boards to merge their men’s and women’s administrative bodies, slowly but surely, a change came about. Kulkarni, secretary of the women’s association, had met Jagmohan Dalmiya, the then BCCI president, about a merger, but nothing came of it.Currently the new regime of the BCCI has worked towards appointing committees to oversee women’s cricket in India at various levels, incorporating existing officials of the women’s association. A significant step forward came when India toured England and each member of the women’s team received a daily allowance of US$50 per day, which is on par with what the men’s team receives.When the side embarked on their 40-day tour of England, each was handed travellers’ cheques and currency worth £1100 (US$ 2000), an unheard of thing in women’s cricket. Interestingly, Nike, who are the kit sponsors of the men’s team, were willing to extend their support to the women’s team, but could not do so as the Women’s Cricket Association of India had a pre-existing deal with Sahara until December 2007.When the women’s team toured England they drew the first Test at Grace Road, Leicester. Then they came back with a five-wicket win, to take their first-ever series win in England. Mithali Raj, the captain, and Anjum Chopra, the left-hand bat, starred in a first-innings score of 307. Jhulan Goswami, the fast bowler, then took 5 for 33 and reduced England to 99 all out. Following-on England made 305 thanks to a century from Charlotte Edwards, but India knocked off the required runs with five wickets to spare.Even then it was suggested to Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, that the team be given a bonus of some sort. But he preferred to wait for the Asia Cup and club the two, and his faith in women’s team paid off. India easily beat Sri Lanka in the final, restricting them to 93 before knocking off the required runs with eight wickets to spare. Now, the Indian women have got the rewards they deserve.

On McMillan’s batting: His technique has improved, he’s got the mistakes out of his system. He’s watching the ball, and playing it much later. He’s acknowledged that the enforced break had been to his advantage. I have contacted all the four century makers, either on the phone or on text.On the ability of New Zealand batsmen to handle spin: I would have settled for 400, but 630 is brilliant. The fact that we have been able to score so highly in Asian conditions, on this tour, and earlier in Sri Lanka shows that our batsmen have improved technically. It is particularly pleasing because the Indian spinners have had a complete hold over New Zealand batsmen. So many players scoring centuries is a proof of growing maturity.