The $5 million winner-takes-all Stanford 20/20 SuperStar game between West Indies and South Africa due to be played on November 10 is unlikely to be resurrected despite comments from Shaharyar Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), that his board would be willing to “bend over backwards” to accommodate the match.The 20/20 game was officially cancelled earlier this week after it emerged that the PCB were unable to shift dates of the West Indies’ tour to Pakistan, which begins with the tourists’ arrival on November 7, two days after the end of the Champions Trophy in India. The first Test is scheduled to begin on November 11.But according to the Barbados-based The Nation, Shaharyar is willing to adjust the schedule by a few days to accommodate the match. Shaharyar revealed that he learned on Monday that the PCB had informed the WICB it was unable to shift the original dates, as requested.The WICB subsequently released a statement announcing their pleasure at the PCB’s stance to accommodate the WICB and shift the dates for the tour. Ken Gordon, the board president, said, “This is very good news to me as we have tried to keep our commitment to do all within our power to shift the tour dates. In fact, I wrote several letters to the PCB and clearly these have finally swayed the Pakistan board in our favour. As soon as I get formal confirmation of the PCB’s decision, I will convey it to Mr. Stanford. I hope it is not too late to reinstate the game against South Africa.”However, Allen Stanford, the businessman who conceived the SuperStar game, released a statement soon making clear his displeasure with the way the matter had been handled by the WICB and stating that the game was definitely off.”The cancellation of the Super Star match was based on a letter written by the president of the WICB, dated August 25, in which it was conveyed that there was absolutely nothing that could be done with the dates for Pakistan and that Ken Gordon, as quoted in his letter, had conveyed his disappointment to the PCB Chairman, Shaharyar Khan.”After receiving this communication from Gordon and realising the level it had gone to with the PCB and much contemplation on the issue, the extremely difficult decision was made to cancel the match. Subsequent to this, South Africa was informed, agreements with suppliers were cancelled and the Super Star squad that were training in Antigua were informed and the camp was discontinued because of the irresolvable issue with the Pakistan tour dates.”At this stage it would be unprofessional to reinstate all of this to accommodate what appears to be a lack of efficiency and miscommunication on the part of the WICB, the very organisation who assured us the dates could be accommodated.”As things stand at this stage, the match is off; a PCB official confirmed to Cricinfo that the tour is scheduled to go ahead as per the original itinerary. But Shaharyar was due to contact Gordon from London to discuss the matter further and we may not have heard the last of this.

The row between Clive Lloyd and Michael Holding over the reasons for Holding’s resignation from the West Indies board’s cricket committee shows no sign of letting up.On Wednesday, Lloyd, who is chairman of the committee, issued at statement in which he said he had no issues with his former team-mate and that he saw “nothing to be gained by continuing this matter”. He added: “I believe we should now focus on what each of us can do individually to take West Indies cricket forward.”Holding, however, told Cricinfo that his resignation had nothing to do with the cancellation of the Stanford Super Star match, as has been implied. “My resignation letter was dated August 26 and it’s on record that the match was cancelled some time after this date. All one has to do is go back and read my resignation letter and they will find the reason.””It’s unfortunate that Mr Lloyd can’t remember my reason. It seems he continues to have memory lapses, since the letter was written to him and he surely must still have a copy.”His statement says he wishes to move on,” Holding continued. “Well, that is easy for him to say, but since he contributed to Ken Gordon and the WICB’s first press release with his erroneous quote that he never resigned from the original cricket committee, as it was never accepted by the WICB directors, and only I resigned, he needs to correct his utterings first. If the committee members were never accepted by the WICB directors, why was it necessary for me to resign?”Those are your words Clive, not mine. Be man enough to admit you were wrong or mistaken or forgot the incident, whichever you choose, and then we can move on. Don’t be afraid to offend anyone with your admission. If anyone is offended by the truth, then we know where they stand.”

Cricket Kenya has named a 14-man squad for the Intercontinental Cup tie against Bermuda which starts this Sunday at the Nairobi Gymkhana.The main surprise is the recall of 33-year-old Lameck Onyango who has been sidelined by a knee injury. His international record hardly warrants another chance – in five ODIs he has made 30 runs and taken one wicket, and his last appearance was four years ago when he batted at No. 11 and was not asked to bowl.Morris Ouma and David Obuya are likely to open the innings in place of Kennedy Otieno, who is playing club cricket in Australia.There is a youthful look to the side, however. Tanmay Mishra, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Maurice Ouma and Hiren Varaiya will return from South Africa, where they have been attending a four-week Winter Training Camp in Durban, in time for the match.Nairobi has been hit by heavy storms and flooding all week, but the groundsman at the Gymkhana said the match was not in doubt. “It’s been very dry underground and that is why the outfield is still dry. I will only be worried if there is heavy rain for five days. As for the square, we have enough covers to protect it.”

Brian Lara has given Ramnaresh Sarwan a vote of confidence ahead of the final Test in Karachi from November 27, but stopped short of saying whether he would be recalled into the playing XI.Sarwan, 26, was replaced for the Multan Test with Runako Morton. Lara insisted that the move wasn’t “designed as a drop,” and that Sarwan still had a key role to play in the future of West Indian cricket. However, it was the first time in his six-year career that Sarwan missed out due to poor form.”First of all, let me say that Sarwan is one of the best talents of his generation, my generation and even the one before,” Lara said. “He is someone we look forward to having in the team. He is a leader, he is the vice-captain of the team and we expect a lot of him. The West Indies did not invest 64 Tests in him for him to be sitting on the side.”He will come back from this and come back stronger. It wasn’t designed as a drop. We just wanted to make him aware of the situation and come back stronger. We need him and we need him to take control.”Lara wasn’t willing, however, to disclose whether Sarwan would return for the final Test. As he’d said before the start at Multan, Lara maintained that the best combination would be selected. “We have to see what the surface in Karachi will be like and then decide,” he said. “Most importantly, we are 1-0 down and we want to level the series. The team out there will be the one that can do that. We want to play good cricket. We have to come out of this game against a team that beat us in four days and put them under pressure throughout.”

The Zimbabwe cricket board has backed Sharad Pawar’s nomination for the post of ICC president. Pawar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, had filed his nomination on Friday after the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) met in Singapore and agreed on his nomination.Pawar now has the backing of five member boards, including the Asian bloc of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The last date for filing nominations is January 1, and the BCCI was hopeful of getting the support of the West Indies board as well. The ICC will send the nominations received from Pawar and David Morgan, Chairman of the England Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to AC Muthiah, Chairman of the ICC Nomination Committee.The ICC will announce its successor to Percy Sonn in its annual meeting in London in July for a term of two years beginning 2008.

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South Australia’s season hit rock bottom as they capitulated to the Queensland pace attack and lost within three days at Adelaide Oval. A professional all-round performance from James Hopes and a gutsy half-century from the injured Shane Watson sparked the Bulls but the story of the day was the hosts’ inability to even be competitive, despite a ten-wicket match from Jason Gillespie.After both sides struggled in the first innings, Queensland showed why they are on top of the Pura Cup table, posting a second-innings 363. In reply, the Redbacks were all out for 104. Their top-order batting is a major concern, with Matthew Elliott, Cameron Borgas and Callum Ferguson continuing their poor form. The trio each average less than 30 in 2006-07.Andy Bichel did the damage early, taking 3 for 13, before Hopes rattled the middle order with 4 for 25. South Australia’s best partnership was the 24 added by the last-wicket pair Paul Rofe and Dan Cullen. So dominant were the Queensland fast bowlers that the legspinner Daniel Doran was not required to bowl throughout the match.Hopes had made 77 in the second innings and together with Watson, built a valuable 139-run partnership. Watson batted with a runner and scored 68 a day after sustaining a 5cm tear to his left hamstring. Clinton Perren was out for 80 early in the day, helping Gillespie snare 5 for 69 after taking 5 for 41 in the first innings. His match tally of 10 for 110 was his best in first-class cricket.

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Conventional wisdom dictated that Karnataka, having won the toss, would opt to field first on a seaming Eden Gardens wicket. Instead they chose to face the in-form Bengal seamers and paid heavily on a day that saw Ranadeb Bose (6 for 38) and Sourav Sarkar (4 for 24) wreak havoc with the new ball as Karnataka, which has relied largely on its batting strength this season, crashed to 89 all out in 38.5 overs.At stumps, Bengal were 121 for 4, holding a slender 32-run lead with Arindam Das and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (7) at the crease.Today’s effort saw Bose leapfrog to the top of the wicket-takers’ list in the tournament, with 44 this season, and Bengal’s steady reply gives them one foot inside the Ranji final.Yet it wasn’t easy; if Yere Goud & co succumbed to the nagging line and length and the pronounced lateral movement that is so characteristic of the Eden wicket, Bengal were staring down the barrel at 16 for 3. It took an adventurous, counter-attacking 63 from Rohan Gavaskar and a dogged unbeaten 45 from opener Das – and a fourth-wicket stand of 83 – to offset the efforts of Vinay Kumar (2 for 36) and debutant Srinivasa Dhananjaya (2 for 27).The day belonged to the Bengal pacers; this isn’t the first time this season that the Bose-Sarkar duo has run through stalwart batting sides. Yet, today’s carnage topped it all as Karnataka were in complete disarray on 18 for 6 at one point of time.Ignored for the World Cup probables, Bose couldn’t have chosen a better platform to prove a point to the selectors. His exploits began with the fifth ball of the opening over, the pitched-up incoming delivery squaring up Barrington Rowland (0), who nicked the ball to the keeper. It was, the bowler later said, the pick of his wickets.Over the next hour, the duo kept attacking relentlessly – Bose foxing the batsmen with sharp away-going balls, Sarkar making them sweat with darting inswingers. Had Thilak Naidu not freed the shackles with some lofted strokes square of the wicket en route to a 33-run cameo, Deep Dasgupta’s team would have dismissed Karnataka for far below 89.Speaking after the day’s play, Dasgupta was full of praise for his bowlers. “Honestly, I feel we exceeded expectations. It shows how good we’ve been this season.”For his part, Bose could barely conceal his delight and surprise at being asked to bowl first on such a juicy wicket – and also at the routcome. “We were confident of doing well with the new ball, but we never imagined that we will dismiss them for 89,” he said.He explained that he relied on the lateral movement to do all the damage. “I just stuck to line and length, and left it to the movement to do the rest. It worked because, firstly, we were relentless and piling up the pressure on the batsmen by not giving away easy runs. And Sourav also kept the pressure on from the other end.”

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Powered to 284 – their highest total of the tournament – thanks to hundreds from Wayne Blackman and Floyd Reifer, Barbados recorded an exciting four-run win over Jamaica at Kensington Park. Jermaine Lawson picked up five wickets and Brenton Parchment, the opener, stroked a quick 68, but there were few other positives for Jamaica as the visitors did their semi-final chances no harm.Asked to bat, Barbados lost two quick wickets to Lawson but Blackman and Parchment successfully staved off further threat with a 217-run partnership against an attack comprising mainly spinners. In just his second regional limited-overs game, Blackman hit nine fours and five sixes, and was severe on Odean Brown, the legspinner, whose three overs disappeared for 35. Reifer, in his 16th year of cricket, offered a stable hand at the other end. Cautious to begin with, he too opened up with four sixes en route to a 129-ball 112, his second at this level.Lawson, coming back from injury, was impressive at the start but copped some stick at the death. Offspinner Bevan Brown, who opened the bowling, gave away 58 from ten overs. It was carnage all around, with only Nikita Miller, the left-arm spinner, emerging unscathed with excellent figures of 10-2-19-0 in the middle overs.Jamaica got off to a flier, with Parchment and Lorenzo Ingram (36) adding 118 in 20.1 overs. Parchment slugged 11 fours and a six, but his dismissal – stumped off Ryan Hinds’s left-arm spin – sparked a collapse. Sharmarh Brooks, the rookie legspinner, removed Ingram and debutant Shane Powell and two run-outs accounted for Tamar Lambert and Dave Bernard. Wavell Hinds, the captain, hit 46 off 61 balls and ‘keeper Carlton Baugh an 18-ball 23, but the equation going into the last two overs was 35. The last two batsmen, the spinning Browns, clubbed 17 from the penultimate over, bowled by Fidel Edwards, and but having hit a six and a four from Kevin Stoute’s first five deliveries, Odean Brown was bowled off the final.It was Barbados’ second win of the tournament, pushing them into second place on nine points, one ahead of joint third-placed Jamaica after the penultimate round of matches.
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Narsingh Deonarine’s unbeaten 65 took Guyana to a six-wicket win at Albion and eliminated Leeward Islands from the KFC Cup. Chasing 234 after Shane Jeffers hit 100, Guyana had little trouble getting home, as Travis Dowlin (49) and Royston Crandon (40) added 75 for the second-wicket before Deonarine and Assad Fudadin (35*) added 100 to seal it in the 47th over.Guyana’s chase was marshaled by Deonarine, who was joined by Fudadin on 134 for 4. Deonarine, playing before his home crowd, hit six fours in his 77-ball effort. Their efforts masked the failures of Sewnarine Chattergoon (9) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (17).Batting first, Leewards owed their total of 233 to Jeffers’s 139-ball century, with nine fours. He added 82 for the third wicket with Sylvester Joseph, the captain, (36) as Leewards recovered from 24 for 2. Down the order, only Justin Athanaze (43) and Omari Banks (23) offered much fight. Mahendra Nagamootoo, the former West Indies legspinner, was the pick of the attack with 3 for 31.Their fourth consecutive loss ensured Leewards have no chance of reaching the semi-finals.
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Trinidad & Tobago maintained their unbeaten run in the KFC Cup with a two-wicket win over Windward Islands at the Wilson Road Recreation Ground. Chasing 235, the hosts were helped home by Ravi Rampaul’s unbeaten 40 and decent knocks from Jason Mohammed (39), Daren Ganga (36) and Gibran Mohammed (35).T&T got off well, thanks to a 55-run stand between Gibran Mohammed (35) and William Perkins (21). After they fell, Ganga and Jason Mohammed added 61 but five wickets fell for 68. At 194 for 8, matters were hot but Rampaul added 42 with Sanjiv Gooljar (5) to finish victory in the 44th over. His 39-ball innings, with one four and a pair of sixes, earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.Choosing to field first, T&T were boosted by fast bowler Richard Kelly’s dismissal of the openers, Andre Fletcher (0) and Miles Bascombe (2). Hyron Shallow (36) and rookie Ezekiel Francis (36) added 76 off 121 balls before Kelly returned to pick up top-scorer Liam Sebastien (41) and Rawl Lewis, the captain (24).It was T&T’s fourth straight victory in the competition.

Australia are in danger of being targeted as a team past its prime at the World Cup after the losses to England and New Zealand, according to Barry Richards. “Ever since England won the triangular series in Australia, a lot of people have been saying that Australia are going to come back even stronger,” Richards, the former South Africa batsman, told the . “I am not convinced.”A lot of the other sides see the Aussies as a team with stars of the past nearing the end of their careers. They now believe they can beat the Aussies – and none more so than South Africa and New Zealand.”Richards said South Africa were buoyed by their new No. 1 ODI ranking and were in a strong position to claim the World Cup for the first time. He believed the potential departures of a number of coaches after the tournament would increase South Africa’s chances.”Apart from Australia’s John Buchanan, there are four others in the exit lane: Bob Woolmer with Pakistan, Duncan Fletcher with England, Greg Chappell with India and Tom Moody with Sri Lanka,” Richards said. “The players know this and you have to wonder how it will impact on their preparations. How do you respond to a man who you know is leaving?”Richards’ comments came as Buchanan’s replacement, Tim Nielsen, confirmed he would not be travelling to the Caribbean as originally planned. He said it was vital he stay in his role as head coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, especially with a number of other assistants already heading to the World Cup with Buchanan.”We have got enough on our plate here at the Academy,” Nielsen said in the . “My responsibility at the moment is to make sure that is running as well it possibly can before those young kids come in here.”

The business end of the all-India Inter-State Twenty20 cricket tournament kicks off in Ahmedabad and Mumbai from April 15 with a host of national players set to participate. The Mumbai leg of the matches will be shared between the Wankhede Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium while Motera will host the Ahmedabad games.Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan will turn out for their respective state sides and their presence is expected to infuse much-needed spectator interest in the aftermath of India’s early exit from the World Cup in West Indies. In addition, several young players on the fringes of national selection will also get a chance to impress. The tournament should serve as a selection trial for the national selectors when they sit down on April 20 to pick the squad for the tour of Bangladesh beginning next month. The tournament runs till April 21, with two matches scheduled daily in the group stages.All ten qualifying teams have been divided into two groups of five each. Mumbai will host all Group A matches while all Group B games will be held in Ahmedabad. The Brabourne Stadium, which hosted a few Champions Trophy games last year, will host the final on April 21. The day games are scheduled to start at 09.30 local time while the evening games, under lights, will begin at 6.30 PM.Jharkhand and Delhi failed to qualify, which means that the big-hitters in Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag will not be seen in action. It took a while for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to embrace Twenty20 after several Test nations included it in their domestic fixtures. The upcoming Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September may have been the catalyst for the BCCI to slot a tournament of this format in an already crowded domestic schedule.Incidentally, India were the last Test nation to make their debut in a Twenty20 International, during the tour of South Africa last year. India beat South Africa by six wickets in a closely-fought game at Johannesburg, proving that Twenty20 is here to stay as far as India is concerned.