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Australia’s bowling stocks could receive a much-needed boost with Brett Lee eyeing a return in next week’s fourth Test following a rib injury. Lee’s comeback from ankle surgery was interrupted when he suffered the problem during a tour game before the opening Test in Cardiff, but he has been operating off an abbreviated run-up in the nets for a week and is growing in confidence.”I want to be going flat out by day five here, so I’ve got two more days to go,” he told CA TV. “I had a really good bowl today, I’ll go a little bit harder tomorrow, then hard on the fifth day and hopefully be back to full pace then.”Australia’s attack has been below its best in this series and has suffered from the absence of the real Mitchell Johnson. While Johnson has taken eight wickets, his line and length have been inconsistent and the England batsmen have enjoyed his fare while taking a 1-0 lead.Despite the problems, Australia’s selectors have kept faith in the Johnson-Siddle-Hilfenhaus combination, but that will change if Lee can prove his fitness. “I’ve been bowling now for over a week, purely off about two or three steps,” Lee said. “The second last session, today’s session, was the first time I tried to let the ball go at over 50%. I got up to 65-70%, maybe 80% on a couple of balls.”The selectors would prefer Lee was trialled in a tour match, but there are only three days between the Edgbaston game and the fourth Test in Headingley, which starts next Friday. “It’s just a matter now of making sure the rib feels okay,” he said. “It feels good so far so we’ll just see how it goes.”

Mark Footitt, the left-arm fast bowler, has been released from his contract at Nottinghamshire.Footitt, 23, played against Oxford UCCE in June this year, but has failed to be included in the first team since.”It’s a shame things haven’t worked out for Mark, but hopefully he will have the opportunity to go on trial with another county before the end of the season and get a fresh start,” said Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire director of cricket.Footitt took 23 wickets from nine first-class matches with Nottinghamshire, but suffered with injuries, including a bulging disc in his back which ruled him out of last season.

Aamer Sohail has quit as director of Pakistan’s National Cricket Academy (NCA). The former Pakistan captain and opener cited personal reasons for his resignation, with differences with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt thought to be at the root of the problem. The board has appointed Haroon Rashid as acting director with immediate effect.”I can confirm that I have decided to resign from the post of director of the National Cricket Academy and game development with immediate effect,” Sohail told Pakpassion.net. “I have resigned due to personal reasons as I wasn’t enjoying the job any longer and getting any sort of job satisfaction out of the role.”Sohail, who was appointed to the post in November last year replacing Mudassar Nazar, played 47 Tests and scored 2823 runs at 35.28, along with 4780 runs from 156 ODIs at 31.86. His decision to quit comes a month after chief selector Abdul Qadir put in his papers because of differences with the board’s top brass.Earlier this year, Javed Miandad resigned as PCB’s director general due to differences about the exact scope of his work. However, Miandad was back at his post a few weeks later after a meeting with Butt.

Mohammad Yousuf made a seamless return to international cricket this week with a polished century in Galle, and his comeback has become sweeter still by reaching the top of the ICC Test rankings. This is the first time he has been officially ranked the leading Test batsman.Yousuf, who hadn’t represented Pakistan for nearly a year after signing up with the unsanctioned ICL, pushes his captain, Younis Khan, to second spot. Another player sliding in the rankings is Sri Lankan captain, Kumar Sangakkara, who slips two places to fifth. Mahela Jayawardene, at No.6, is the only other batsman from either side to feature in the top 20.In the bowling charts, injured Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s lead over Dale Steyn at the top of the ranking was cut to two points.And in the women’s one-day bowling rankings, England left-arm spinner Holly Colvin jumps into the lead after taking seven wickets in the 4-0 rout of Australia. She takes over as No. 1 from India’s fast bowler Jhulan Goswami. England, the world champions, now have five bowlers in the top ten.

Abdul Razzaq, the Pakistan allrounder, says he has been released from his contract with the ICL. The news could not be confirmed with the ICL, which on Wednesday released 50-odd players from their contracts, but, if true, Razzaq would qualify for the amnesty announced by the PCB.”I have been released from my contract with the ICL,” Razzaq told Cricinfo. “I am available and willing to play for Pakistan.”It won’t be that simple: Unlike other boards that have announced an umbrella amnesty for players quitting the ICL by May 31, the PCB said it would consider selecting players on a case-by-case basis. “While permitting such players to play cricket, PCB will decide on case-to-case basis the penalties to be imposed and the time period for which they will remain banned,” the PCB said.Though the BCCI has put in place a ‘cooling off’ period of a year – whereby an ex-ICL player will only be eligible to represent India after a year away from the ICL – the PCB in effect, has left the door open for players to return sooner.The stance adopted by the PCB is understandable, given how badly it was affected by the ban on ICL players. Nineteen players from Pakistan signed up with the league, nearly half of whom, can conceivably represent Pakistan still. The defection took away nearly the entire bench strength of the national side. Key among them are the likes of Razzaq and Mohammad Yousuf, and even players such as Imran Nazir, who could well be part of a Pakistan line-up in one of the three formats of the game.The move by various national boards to offer amnesty to the ICL players was prompted by the BCCI’s offer to ICL’s Indian players that was made on April 29. Since then, the Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa boards have proceeded similarly.

Scorecard
The Bangladesh Under-19 players celebrate the series win•Bangladesh Cricket Board

A dramatic ninth-wicket stand of 55 between Abul Hasan and Shaker Ahmed helped Bangladesh Under-19 hold on for a nervy victory over Sri Lanka Under-19 with two balls to spare in the fourth ODI at the Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium.The win secured the series for the hosts, who took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-game series. Victory looked improbable when Sabbir Rahman (18) departed in the 35th over to leave the home side on 143 for 8, but Hasan and No. 10 Shaker had other ideas as they calmly kept the scoreboard moving.Eight runs were needed off the final over bowled by legspinner Matheesha Perera. Shaker took a single from the first ball and Hasan then swept the next delivery for four, the first boundary of their partnership. A couple was squeezed from the next ball and Hasan completed the winning single with a push to mid on.Choosing to bat, Sri Lanka U-19 lost captain Dinesh Chandimal off the fourth ball of the innings. The regular fall of wickets did not help their cause either as they finished on a below-par 197. Kushal Janith Perera provided the only joy in a dismal batting performance, scoring 68 off 83 balls, stroking five fours and a six en route. Abul Hasan, Noor Hossain and Sabbir Rahman were the pick of the bowlers, with two wickets apiece.The Bangladesh U-19 wasn’t too smooth either, as Shameera Weerasinghe picked up two wickets to leave the hosts struggling at 87 for 4. Chathura Peiris dented Bangladesh U-19’s hopes further by accounting for three middle-order batsmen, setting the stage for the final drama.The last match will be played at the same venue on Saturday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentaryAlastair Cook and Ravi Bopara punished West Indies on the first day at Chester-le-Street•Getty Images

Ravi Bopara became the first England batsman to score three Test centuries in consecutive innings since his hero and mentor Graham Gooch in 1990, while another of Gooch’s protégés, Alastair Cook, made an unbeaten 126, as West Indies were made to toil with minimum reward on the first day of the second Test at Chester-le-Street.By the close, England had moved effortlessly along to 302 for 2, with Cook still in situ at the close, his ninth hundred and first at home for two years. He and Bopara came together half-an-hour before lunch following the demise of Andrew Strauss, caught-behind for 26, and were not separated until five overs before the close, when Bopara was bowled through the gate by Lionel Baker for 108 by one of the few deliveries that moved off the seam all day.Under an improbably cloudless Northern sky, the scenario was reminiscent of England’s recent tour of the Caribbean, especially as England have now batted first in all seven of their Tests since February. Faced once again with a flat and lifeless surface, West Indies’ pacemen lacked both inspiration and drive, with even Fidel Edwards failing to raise his game, or his pace, until the arrival of the nightwatchman, James Anderson. Anderson survived, however, and even found time to carve a four through the covers to bring up England’s 300 and escape a duck for the 48th consecutive time in Test cricket.Today, however, was all about the Essex boys. Cook and Bopara may share a county, but they have little else in common as batsmen. Cook’s style is obdurate and awkward, dealing in shovels and drives and substance over style; Bopara is flashy and flamboyant, and his innings became increasingly showmanlike as he moved through the gears. West Indies found an answer for neither approach, as they ground through their overs in front of a sparse and soporific crowd, hoping against hope for inspiration to slap them in the face.Though Bopara took the plaudits, Cook deserved the credit. In Trinidad in March, he ended a run of more than 15 months without a century, and now made it two in three matches with a performance that was more effective than it was pretty. It was clear from his body language that all is still not right with his game, but the mental toughness was plain for all to see. He enjoyed a measure of good fortune on 23 when he inside-edged Baker past his off stump and away to the boundary, and he later fenced Chris Gayle just short of Devon Smith at slip. But after a sticky start Cook’s driving came out of its shell, and when he stepped down the track to belt Sulieman Benn through midwicket to reach three figures, England’s balcony erupted in appreciation of one very tough cookie indeed.Bopara, by contrast, had no technical concerns to distract him. Two years ago in Sri Lanka he completed an ignominious debut series with three Test ducks in a row. Now, in his next three visits to the crease, he has passed three figures each time, and his performances have grown in lustre with every passing shot.Fresh from his 143 in the first Test at Lord’s, Bopara a moment of alarm in the final over before lunch when he almost yorked himself while coming forward to Benn, whom he had just carved off the back foot for his first boundary of the day. But thereafter he was watchfulness personified against the spinner, who had come close to dismissing him lbw in the Lord’s Test as well, as he forced himself forward and watched every ball onto the middle of the bat.Bopara survived a couple of hairy moments against Baker, whom he clipped inches short of Shivnarine Chanderpaul at midwicket before being dropped down the leg-side on 51 by Ramdin. But on a blameless surface and with his concentration still intact, Bopara really showed his full range as the century loomed into view. At Lord’s he had been content to potter through the nineties, daydreaming about his celebration. This time he decided to take the Kevin Pietersen route. On 84, he laid into Benn, with four, six, four from consecutive blows, the last of which fizzed through the bowler’s fingers as he attempted a return catch. Two quick singles later, he punched the air in triumph, with another sizeable feather in his cap.Not for the first time, however, Bopara’s concentration faltered after reaching three figures. At Lord’s he was dropped twice on 100; this time he survived one tough caught-behind chance off Benn on 104, before Baker, who endured an erratic day, produced a pearler to peg back his off stump.Prior to that triumph, West Indies’ only uplifting moment came when Chris Gayle, under the cosh for his pre-match comments about the future of Test cricket, emerged with the scalp of Strauss, with whom he had been drawn into an unlikely war of words. Spearing down his off-darts having already sized up the surface, he tempted Strauss into a full-blooded slog-sweep, and a thin deflection off the gloves ended up in the gloves of Denesh Ramdin.There was little for West Indies to savour in the day, however, as England pushed themselves into a position from which to post a massive first-innings total and ensure that the Wisden Trophy, lost in the Caribbean over the course of five arduous Tests, returns home at the earliest and easiest opportunity.

John Dyson may still be wondering how he mis-calculated the Duckworth-Lewis target yesterday, which prompted England’s farcial one-run win in the first ODI, but Paul Collingwood is confident that his side’s first win of a gruelling winter can inspire them to greater success in the remaining four matches.Yesterday’s game was teetering one way and another, with West Indies needing 27 from 22 balls when the light was offered to the batsmen. They immediately took it and Dyson, animatedly beckoning them back in, was soon at the heart of an embarassing debate over the Duckworth-Lewis target. Unfortunately, he had failed to take into account the wicket immediately preceding the offer of bad light, meaning England sneaked home for a rare and greatly appreciated win from a match that could easily have headed West Indies’ way.”In whatever circumstances, we’ll take a win,” Collingwood told PA. “As we all know it’s been a long, hard winter for us – and we were looking to get that win just to boost the morale a bit. We’ve put in a lot of hard work and effort, whether that is on the pitch or in training, but we haven’t been getting the results sometimes you deserve – and obviously that affects confidence a bit.”When you win it does boost your morale, and we hope that’s the catalyst to bigger and better things. But it’s only one game, and we’ve got a few important games coming up – and tomorrow is now a big game for us.”Collingwood, who earned himself the Man-of-the-Match award after top-scoring for England with 69 and claiming Ramnaresh Sarwan’s wicket, was nevertheless sympathetic about West Indies’ situation yesterday evening.”These kind of situations don’t come along that often, and I think that was a once-in-a-blue-moon situation – with a wicket going down mid-over – so you can kind of understand the confusion,” he said. “To look at a Duckworth/Lewis sheet is quite confusing. I don’t know whether there is a better way of doing it to help the management and the players while they are on the pitch, but it doesn’t happen that often. All the people that turn up on the day want to see a proper game and want to see it finished in a proper manner, but that is what Duckworth/Lewis is in place for.”In years gone by, it was farcical – because usually the team who were batting second were always struggling to win the game. Duckworth/Lewis is a good system – it’s just that sometimes it’s quite hard to read.”Collingwood’s composure has been one of the winter’s highlights for England, but he struggled initially yesterday with a migraine which later required a painkiller. However, it came about slap in the middle of England’s batting Powerplay in which they only managed 17 runs and lost two wickets. In contrast, West Indies carved 52 in theirs – largely thanks to Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s barnstorming attack on Steve Harmison who was taken for 26 in one over. Nevertheless, Collingwood is confident England can redress the balance in the second ODI tomorrow.”They are going to come hard at us – they’ve obviously got a gameplan to come hard at us up front – but we managed to get (Chris) Gayle pretty early (yesterday),” he said. “They are a good one-day side; we know they have match-winners in their side. I thought the majority of the game the other night we controlled pretty well, but there was an area we should have improved on. We should have got another 20 or 30 runs.”

It would have been one of their most extraordinary Test victories and for much of the final afternoon in Trinidad England looked as though they could pull it off. They roused themselves for a final effort to level the series, but as has been the case ever since they subsided for 51 in Jamaica, time ran out.The maths never gave them much of a chance: bowl West Indies out in under 66 overs for less than 240, when for the rest of the series the best they’d managed was to dismiss them in 89.2 overs for 285. However, James Anderson finally gained recognition for his unstinting efforts and Graeme Swann further elevated his status, as England found a combination of pace and spin that lifted the tension to its highest point of the series.”When we got them five-down there was enough happening to suggest it could happen,” Andrew Strauss said. “Taking wickets took a little bit longer after that and we always felt we were just behind where we wanted to be in terms of the time left available. But when that eighth wicket went down there was still a chance.”Even the close finish at the Antigua Recreation Ground it didn’t quite feel like this, perhaps because there had always been a belief that England win that game. Here it was a far more fanciful notion, even after Kevin Pietersen’s best innings of the series, yet suddenly the players and fans started to believe. When the penultimate ball was bowled and the victory hunt was finally halted there were England supporters nearly in tears. Sport does funny things to grown men.Even as they contemplate the loss of the Wisden Trophy for the first time in nine years, the England team should feel they have gained a lot from this performance. This is the sort of cricket of which they are capable. The intensity of the battle brought the best out of them, although Strauss was struggling to see beyond the loss of a series.”I’m pretty dejected really, more than anything because of the way we played today which was outstanding,” he said. “Kevin Pietersen put on an incredible partnership which gave us the opportunity to get more overs at them than we might have possibly thought at the start of the day.”To get them eight-down on a very flat wicket was an outstanding effort from our bowlers, who were tired at the end of a long series. I am very proud of the way the team played today, just dejected that we were not able to force a result.”Two wickets away from victory here and one in Antigua leaves England with endless what-ifs about this series. However, it was one crazy session in Jamaica that proved the difference. “That has ultimately cost us the series,” Strauss said. “That was a freaky situation where we played badly, we weren’t switched on, we got put under pressure and didn’t handle it properly.”We have to understand it is in those small margins in which Test matches are won and lost, and series are won and lost. We can’t afford to be on the receiving end of those sessions.”Strauss consoled himself with the fighting spirit his team showed to lift themselves after that embarrassment. They were shocked, hurting and down after the innings defeat but the batting responded in fine style, albeit on flat surfaces, to ensure they had a chance at various stages of the remaining Tests.”We were very low as a team in Jamaica, understandably after what happened,” Strauss admitted. “The guys were low after that and we played some very good cricket for three Test matches. The fact we were not able to force a result for any of them is disappointing, but I can’t fault the effort and we have learned a lot on this tour in terms of bowling on flat wickets and as a batting unit compiling big scores again, which is something we’ve not done for a while.”In the end, though, it was England’s inability to take 20 wickets that prevented them completing a comeback, although the make-up of the attack in Trinidad showed one of the possible ways forward for the future. One of Strauss’s strengths as captain is that he is realistic, something that didn’t come naturally to Pietersen, and he realises that England don’t possess the complete match-winner with the ball that would make his job so much easier.”The flatness of the wickets meant neither team was able to force the issue in those final three Test matches,” he said. “When you are 1-0 down in the series you want result wickets and we had three that forcing a result on was always going to be very difficult.”We got close and we don’t have a Shoaib Akhtar who can blast people out, or a Murali, so we have to be realistic enough to realise that if we’re going to take wickets consistently it has to be through pressure. If you apply pressure, even on flat wickets, you will find that teams will collapse eventually.”Without or without that killer presence in the attack, the men Strauss had at his disposal almost had enough skill, willpower and determination to pull off an incredible success. That they failed will hurt for a while, but tonight Strauss and his team-mates can feel proud of their efforts to try and pull something out of nothing.

The ongoing matter of Javed Miandad’s resignation as director-general of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took an ugly turn at a senate hearing as the board chairman and Miandad traded allegations over the fiasco. Ijaz Butt admitted to the senate standing committee on sports that he had made a mistake in not settling terms and conditions with Miandad when he joined, but refused to apologise to the former captain, who was also present at the session.Instead Butt levelled a number of allegations at Miandad, claiming he wanted more money, that he interfered with selectorial matters and that he wasn’t a capable administrator. Miandad, visibly upset, denied the charges, claiming he would work on an honorary basis for the board if others did likewise.The issue of Miandad’s resignation had been brewing steadily in recent weeks and last week, senators decided to to get to the bottom of the matter, issuing summons to Miandad to appear. In a heated discussion, senators grilled the PCB chief over every little detail of Miandad’s hiring and eventual refusal of a contract. Miandad joined the board in November as director-general, though there was ambiguity over the nature of his role even then. He quit last month, after finally being offered a contract, the terms of which he wasn’t happy with.In particular, Miandad claimed that the nature of his role in the contract letter was significantly reduced from what he had initially discussed with the chairman. That, and not the salary, was what made him change his mind.Butt did admit there were ‘procedural flaws’ in the appointment of Miandad, leaving senators aghast that such an established figure was working at such a senior post without any letter of appointment or contract or indeed terms of reference for the post. “I admit it was our mistake as we didn’t sign a contract with Miandad when he was appointed as DG in December,” Butt said.Butt also claimed that Miandad was interfering in selecting the national team and had asked for a salary of 1.6 million rupees ($20,000) as opposed to the 500,000 rupees ($6,300) offered in the contract. “Miandad asked for a salary which we could not give to him,” Butt said. “I regard Miandad highly as a great cricketer but we can’t pay him more than what we had offered him.”But what must have irked Miandad the most – particularly given how close he always said he was to Butt – was Butt’s belief that he wasn’t a capable administrator. “I have the utmost respect for him as a cricketer and his achievements but he’s not capable of handling either financial ofadministrative matters of the PCB,” Butt said.Miandad’s claims that it was the role and not the money which was a problem were lent solid credibility when he produced an internal board memo circulated on December 4 last year. The memo, with Butt’s consent on it, makes various board directors, of game development, international cricket operations, domestic cricket operations, the national team coach, manager and chairmen of national junior and senior selection committees all answerable to Miandad. The message, at that point, seemed clear: Miandad was to be in charge of almost all cricket affairs.But when the contract was offered to him, Miandad was made head of domestic cricket operations and the department of game development only. “This job could be done by anyone and I feel it was not what I was actually promised by Mr. Butt,” Miandad said.Miandad also said he didn’t take any money from the board in his two-and-a-half month stint and was now even willing to work on an honorary basis – provided other PCB officials did likewise.The senators, mostly bewildered that such a situation could even arise, initially pressured Butt to apologise for the humiliation they perceived to have been heaped upon Miandad. Butt stood his ground and refused to do so, thus leading the chairman of the committee to suggest they both sitdown together privately and sort out the matter.”We believe that if you both could work together for the betterment of the game it will be good for Pakistan, so it’s better you should sit together and resolve this issue privately,” committee chairman Zafar Iqbal said.Before the meeting, rumour had it that Miandad may well find his way back into the board at a post he was happier with. After today’s mudslinging, that scenario has become less likely.