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John Wright, who coached India to their historic series victory in Pakistan last year, believes that Sachin Tendulkar will be fit to take on Inzamam-ul-Haq’s side when they arrive in India later this month. Tendulkar has struggled on and off with tennis elbow since August last year, and has played no part in the domestic season after returning home from the tour of Bangladesh in December.Wright said that Tendulkar was targetting a Duleep Trophy game which starts on February 22 to make his long-awaited comeback, with the first Test against Pakistan starting on March 4. A Reuters report quoted Wright as saying: “I spoke to Sachin yesterday. He has started doing exercises and we are hoping he will get better quickly. We’re very keen to have him.”Some reports last month had suggested that Tendulkar’s participation in the marquee match-up was in doubt, but Wright suggested that the situation had improved considerably since.Tendulkar said last month that he was unsure whether he would be ready for Pakistan but Wright said he was optimistic. The other injury cloud for the Indians has been the withdrawal of Irfan Pathan from the Challenger Trophy, but according to Wright, the decision not to play him and rest the side strain was a precautionary one.Tendulkar’s progress is being eagerly monitored across the border. New agencies quoted Saeed Anwar, one of the stalwarts of Pakistan’s last tour to India in 1999, as saying: “I know every Pakistan supporter will be hoping that Sachin doesn’t play while the Indians must be praying for his speedy recovery.”I mean that’s natural. A half-fit Sachin is also a threat to the opponents. He is such a big influence that his presence in the dressing room motivates his team and keeps the opponents under pressure.”

Alan Mullally, the former England left-arm seamer, has announced his retirement from first-class cricket. He played 19 Tests between 1996 and 2001, while having stints at Leicestershire and Hampshire, after beginning his professional career in Australia with Western Australia in 1987.Mullally, 36, has suffered a series of injuries this summer which have meant he has played only three National League matches. Paul Terry, the Hampshire coach, told : “A few little injuries have slowed Alan down and it’s probably the right time to retire.”Terry added: “He has been a great servant for Leicestershire, Hampshire and England and he’s been a really popular bloke in the dressing room. His humour will be missed.”Mullally made his England debut against India in June 1996, at Edgbaston, and took 58 wickets in Tests. He also claimed 63 scalps in 50 ODIs and, for a time, was a ranked as the fourth best limited overs bowler in the world. In his first-class career he finished with 708 wickets at 28 apiece, including a best innings haul of 9 for 93 against Derbyshire in 2000.

Scorecard

Brilliant hitting by Stephen Fleming took New Zealand to a resounding victory by nine wickets over the FICA World XI at Jade Stadium in Christchurch with nearly 34 overs to spare. Fleming went on a one-man wrecking mission as he raced to a century off 54 balls, with his last 50 runs coming in ust 19 deliveries. He struck seven sixes off Muttiah Muralitharan to bring up New Zealand’s 100 in only the 12th over.Fleming saw plenty of Muralitharan during his innings of 274 in the last Test series played between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 2003. He showed Murali no mercy here , playing a large part in his sorry figures of 0 for 57 in only 3.1 overs.Fleming’s batting reached the heights it did during his innings of 134 against South Africa in the 2003 World Cup. He reached his century with nine sixes and nine fours, and hit one more four before holing out to Craig Spearman for 106. Such was his dominance that Nathan Astle seemed a passenger with his unbeaten 36, which came at almost a run a ball.The damage was done earlier, when Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills scythed through the World XI’s top order after Shane Warne had chosen to bat first. Both Tuffey and Mills took two wickets apiece as the World XI slumped to 20 for 4. But Jonty Rhodes, out of cricket since September 2003, and Graeme Hick, who hadn’t played since the end of the last English season, effected a mini-recovery. They added 79, with Rhodes scoring 36 and Hick 44. Warne hit out for 26 as well, but after the fast bowlers did the damage at the top, Daniel Vettori swept through the lower order to take 3 for 33 to dismiss the World XI for 158 in 39.3 overs.Tuffey took 2 for 25 and Mills 2 for 30. There was a special cheer when Jeff Wilson, a double international, took Hick’s wicket to end with 1 for 27 off seven overs, his first wicket at this level since 1993.Off the field, much of the attention centred around the good cause which the match was supporting – to raise funds for the tsunami victims in South East Asia. The takings from the game came to $NZ506,233, and it supplemented a sum of $NZ700,000 that had already been pledged.The only sour note was provided by the arrest of five people for drunk and disorderly behaviour, and another spectator – also inebriated – trying to run off with a collection bucket. Those around him caught him and handed him over to the police.The second match will be played in Wellington on Monday, with the final game to follow in Hamilton two days later.

The four “rebel” Zimbabwean cricketers selected for the first Test against Sri Lanka, which starts at Harare on Thursday, have pulled out of the match after the Zimbabwe Cricket Union refused a request from the 15 disaffected players for independent arbitration.Heath Streak, Trevor Gripper, Sean Ervine and Ray Price had been named in a 17-man squad, but their decision to withdraw left Zimbabwe with a squad of only 13 to choose from. Mark Vermeulen and Vusumuzi Sibanda were later omitted from the final eleven – Vermeulen being ruled out on medical advice.”The ZCU did not accept our proposals and we do not accept theirs,” said Grant Flower, one of those to have initiated the boycott in April. “There is simply no agreement, and on that basis the four chosen for the squad are withdrawing. They have fully agreed to that.”Vince Hogg, the ZCU’s chief executive, said: “I am extremely disappointed by their decision. It is very sad that it has come to this.”With Stuart Carlisle, Craig Wishart and Andy Blignaut not considered for the squad, Zimbabwe now face the harrowing prospect of going into the Test series with more or less the same side that was routed 5-0 in the one-day series.”We’re back to square one, we are boycotting again,” said an unnamed player earlier, after they threw out the ZCU’s offer of non-binding mediation. “In effect, we’ve had three weeks of mediation, and we believe arbitration is the only route. We’re meeting at 10am tomorrow [0800 GMT on Wednesday] to write what will hopefully be our final letter, to say we’re rejecting this.”The players had resumed training as an act of good faith, and Streak – Zimbabwe’s former captain – had declared his willingness to play if the ZCU acceded to the rebels’ requests. But according to a report in The Guardian in London, a source was quoted as saying that the board was not going to be seen to be “bowing down to a bunch of whites – their egos won’t let them”.”It was unnegotiable that this matter had to go to arbitration to give it the seriousness and the respect it deserves,” said Chris Venturas, the lawyer representing the players. “Mediation doesn’t assist in any way. Regrettably, [the ZCU] feel they will pacify us with a mediation process. Even if the mediator finds in our favour on all three points, the ZCU don’t have to abide by his ruling.”The players have made it clear that they do not trust the ZCU to honour any assurances it gives. They have been given until May 7 – the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka – to end their boycott, but face being fired if they are still holding out at that time.”Most of us are almost at the point where we wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they just fired us,” one of the players is quoted as saying. “We’re not getting through to these guys. If they say they want to mediate, maybe they think we’re bloody fools. They’re just not getting us. Mediation is going to take another three weeks, and Zimbabwe cricket can’t afford that.”We’re all sick of this, but we’re standing strong together. It’s very simple: arbitration with those three points and we’re all back.”Zimbabwe team for first Test
1 Dion Ebrahim, 2 Brendan Taylor, 3 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 4 Tatenda Taibu (capt and wk), 5 Elton Chigumbura, 6 Alester Maregwede, 7 Prosper Utseya, 8 Mluleki Nkala, 9 Blessing Mahwire, 10 Douglas Hondo, 11 Tinashe Panyangara.

Two days after The Oval fiasco Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has said the conclusion to the fourth Test was “hugely regrettable”, but he insisted it was not the organisation’s role to overrule any umpiring decision. As expected, Speed has supported the umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove in their “correct” move to award the game to England when Pakistan did not return to the field after tea following a five-run punishment for ball tampering.”It is not the role of the ICC to overturn the decisions of on-field umpires, the ultimate arbiters of the game,” Speed said in a statement. “In this instance the decision to award the match to England was the correct one under the Laws.”Speed also confirmed the ICC had received a letter from the Pakistan Cricket Board expressing its concerns over the appointment of Hair to matches involving the country. “This is the first time they have put them in writing, even though they have previously been invited to do so,” Speed said. “However, it remains the role of the ICC and not our members to appoint umpires to Tests and one-day internationals.”Sunil Gavaskar, the chairman of the ICC’s cricket committee, and Speed select the officials for each series on recommendations from the body’s cricket department. “The appointments are made without fear or favour and are based on the performances of the umpires in international matches,” Speed said.Speed also said it was important to remember that Friday’s hearing, when Inzamam-ul-Haq will face ball tampering and disrepute charges, was purely a playing issue. “It is not a political, racial or religious matter but a cricketing one,” he said. “We have no vested interests in the outcome of the hearing but what we expect is that it will be fair and will illustrate our processes are suitably robust to deal with these issues.”

Trevor Bayliss has been appointed coach of the New South Wales team until the end of the 2005-06 season.Bayliss will take over from Steve Rixon on May 3, after having been coach of the 2nd XI for the last four years – and taking them to victory twice in the national 2nd XI competition.”Trevor has demonstrated an excellent record coaching NSW under-age and 2nd XI teams,” said David Gilbert, the chief exeecutive of Cricket New South Wales. “He has the strong support of the NSW players, and was the outstanding candidate from those interviewed for the position. Trevor has a long association with Cricket NSW dating back to his debut in 1985-86, and we look forward to him guiding NSW over the next two summers.”Bayliss played 58 first-class matches for NSW. He had his best season in 1989-90, scoring 992 runs at 55.11, and was named the NSW Players’ Player of the Year. He captained NSW against Queensland in 1990-91.

John Bracewell, the Gloucestershire coach, has told the England management to stop blaming county cricket for the national side’s shortcomings. Bracewell, who leaves at the end of the season to coach New Zealand, accused England of having an excuse environment.After England’s 191-run defeat against South Africa at Headingley, Michael Vaughan claimed that county cricket was not tough enough to prepare players for Test cricket. But Bracewell said it’s time Vaughan and the management stepped out of their blame culture and stopped making excuses, and that they can start by looking at their rugby counterparts.He said, “They should sit down and talk to Clive Woodward and work out a similar environment to the England rugby side. There they have a no-excuse environment.” He continued, “If the England rugby team lose the World Cup it will be because of their players and not because of what’s been put around them. If we trip up at Gloucestershire we know it’s down to us. It’s our problem. Because we’ve been given the budget, the environment and the licence to do what we like.”But England haven’t bought into that. They’ve got the contracts they want, they take blokes out of games and they still blame the nursery of the game. It does annoy me. The England cricket team has an environment that offers them a lot. Not every cricket team in the world is gifted with the resources the England cricket team has.”Bracewell has led Gloucestershire to six one-day trophies in five years, including this year’s Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, in which they thumped Worcestershire by seven wickets in the final.

The South African board has announced it will meet in Johannesburg tomorrow to discuss reviving the cancelled tour to Pakistan. Gerald Majola, the chief executive, said he had received a letter from Pakistan offering alternative fixtures.A statement read: “Gerald Majola is to convene a meeting of the management committee of Cricket South Africa in Johannesburg on Tuesday to discuss the PCB proposal and to receive a full briefing from security consultants.”The South Africans originally called off the tour after a bomb blast in an empty Karachi office building on Friday night. They said the security in Pakistan had deteriorated to an unacceptable level, and offered to either play the series outside Pakistan or delay the tour until security improved. The Pakistan board, however, refused to play the series away from home.The revised fixtures miss out Karachi all together and have the option of excluding Peshawar. The South African committee will consult with their government, Eric Simons, the coach, and Graeme Smith, the captain, before making a final decision.”We made a decision on Saturday, based on information from our security consultants who had also been in contact with intelligence agencies,” Majola added. “That information was that the situation in Pakistan, particularly following a bomb blast in Karachi on Friday evening, meant that sending our team to Karachi on Sunday as planned would have constituted an unacceptable risk.”Majola said the his board would continue to assess the security situation and continue to look at it in relation to the proposed alternative fixtures: “We will continue to make every effort to find alternatives that do not pose an unacceptable level of risk to our national team.”Meanwhile, Rameez Raja, chief executive of the Pakistan board, said he was confident that the tour would still go ahead. “I talked to Gerald Majola and he has conveyed to me that they would find a positive way before Tuesday evening to reschedule the tour.”He added: “I am confident that the tour will go ahead with three Tests and as many one-day games as originally planned. They had misconceptions about Fridays blast that it was a car bomb and after talking to our security officials, they got the clear picture that the blast was not linked to terrorism.”

Craig Wishart will undergo an MRI scan at Adelaide on Tuesday to determine the extent of damage to his knee after injuring it in Zimbabwe’s warm-up match against Western Australia at Perth. Wishart twisted his left knee while batting and was unable to resume his innings.Brad Robinson, the Zimbabwean physiotherapist, said that the extent of damage would be known only after the scan. "At the moment the knee is swollen and sore and Craig has trouble putting weight on the joint. He had surgery to repair a torn cartilage in the same knee about five years ago but at this stage we cannot determine if this is a related injury or something entirely different."Zimbabwe play their third warm-up game, against Australia A, on January 7 at Adelaide, before starting their VB Series campaign with a match against Australia on January 11.

Gary Kirsten has been appointed as Western Province captain for the forthcoming season, with Ashwell Prince named as his deputy. Arthur Turner, the chief executive of Western Province Cricket Association, announced that a youthful squad of 21 players had been contracted for the season, with some being offered two-year contracts.Kirsten’s half-brother Peter has been given a two-year contract as coach of the senior side, while Barney Mohamed has also been given a two-year contract, to coach the B side and academy teams.Turner admitted that Gary Kirsten would not always be available for all matches because of his international commitments, but on those occasions, Prince would set up to the role, with Thami Tsolekile acting as vice captain.