Inzamam-ul-Haq has received a one-Test ban for showing dissent against umpiring decisions on the last day of the Bangalore Test.Saleem Altaf, the Pakistan team manager, clarified that Inzamam had been pulled up for two instances of misconduct. “We had a hearing with the match referee, Chris Broad, for two counts of excessive appealing and dissent. On the first count, he has been fined 30% of his match fees and on the second, a level two offence, he has been given a one-Test ban.””As captain he has to set an example for others to follow,” said Chris Broad, the match referee, in a release issued by the ICC. “Following the incident that happened in the ninth over of the innings, Inzamam was warned about appealing by the on-field umpires. In addition, I went to the Pakistan dressing room at lunch and requested the Pakistan coach to pass a message on to his team about the manner of their appealing. This means that when this second incident happened he knew he should not have reacted as he did.”Pakistan ended up winning the match by 168 runs, but Inzamam was visibly miffed when a couple of caught-behind appeals against the Indian openers were denied on the first session. Gautam Gambhir was lucky to survive – the snickometer clearly showed contact between bat and ball – but the decision in favour of Virender Sehwag seemed a good one. Inzamam was especially upset after Sehwag was ruled not out, charging past the batsman and shaking his hands in anger.Altaf indicated that the Pakistan board would take a decision on whether or not to appeal against the verdict. If the decision stays, then Inzamam will have to sit out of Pakistan’s first Test on their tour of the West Indies.

Brian Lara has expressed his disappointment over his mode of dismissal despite producing a glorious 176 to lift West Indies to 292 for 7 on the first day of the third Test against South Africa in Barbados. Lara, who had engineered a fightback in the previous Test in Trinidad, motored to his 28th hundred after walking in at 12 for 2.”I’m more disappointed with the shot this afternoon than the [second innings] shot in Trinidad,” Lara was quoted as saying in The Nation. “Our plan after tea was not to lose a wicket, to end the day with at least two recognised batsmen out in the middle and we didn’t do that … . With four or five overs to go I should have played a better shot.”Lara, who arrived at the crease with West Indies reeling, was dismissed by Nel in the 87th over when he inside edged onto his stumps, followed by Dwayne Bravo – the only recognised batsmen left – and thereby gave South Africa the upper hand. “Someone needed to stay out there for the entire day,” Lara lamented. “As a batter, you can’t get a hundred every time you go out to the middle, but you can try. I laid the foundation, I tried to prepare myself for a proper innings today.”This is what I relish,” he said. “I relish the opportunity to go out there, assess the situation. It doesn’t matter if I’m not captain.” Lara, along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, his captain, resurrected the innings with a 138-run partnership, and admitted that he also needed play a leader’s role. “I’m 35 years old, going to be 36 very soon. I am actually a leader in the team. I’ve got to try to show the way with the bat and in the field and anything that Shiv wants in terms of help, I’ve got to be able to assist him with it.”Speaking about his team’s game plan, Lara said that the bowlers should try and limit the South Africans to under three runs an over. “If we get in 100 overs and we can get them out within that period of time, they must not be in excess of 300 runs. That should be our aim.”

West Indies have recalled Brian Lara for the two-Test series against Pakistan, starting on Thursday in Barbados. Ian Bradshaw has been included in the 13-man squad for the first time, following his consistent efforts in the one-day internationals, while Devon Smith, Reon King and Corey Collymore also return.Xavier Marshall, Dwayne Smith and Pedro Collins are the players omitted from the current one-day squad. Devon Smith’s call comes after he was omitted from the Test side following the first Test against South Africa in Guyana, while Collymore has been a steadying influence on the West Indies attack during the one-day games.Joey Carew, convenor of the West Indies selection panel, said: “This is a new Test series and the team has to begin concentrating on getting the winning habit, so we are looking forward to a successful series.”Carew expected a renewed approach from the team, and believed that Lara, who was rested for the ODI series against Pakistan, would add another element to the team. “He is rested and will return invigorated,” Carew said. “As the senior player in the team and the leading personality in world cricket, he will also inject a deeper sense of professionalism.”Squad Shivnarine Chanderpaul (capt), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Courtney Browne (wk), Ian Bradshaw, Daren Powell, Reon King, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards.

Stephen Fleming will captain Nottinghamshire during the 2005 season. Fleming, 31, had been in talks with Surrey, but they pulled out of negotiations with New Zealand cricket when it was decided that his availability would not be sufficient to fulfil the job that would have been desired of him.Fleming, who already has some experience of county cricket after stints with Middlesex in 2001 and Yorkshire last summer, will be free to play for Nottinghamshire almost all the summer, with New Zealand playing in a home Test and one-day series against Australia in March. That will be followed by a five-month break before New Zealand’s trip to Zimbabwe in September, although the exact dates for that tour are yet to be confirmed.”It is a real coup for Nottinghamshire to sign the world’s leading captain, and one of the best batsmen in international cricket,” said Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket. “Stephen will bring fresh ideas and challenges to our players, and will demand international level standards of performance which will help bring out the very best in both our young players and those aspiring for international honours.”Fleming, meanwhile, said that he was looking forward to joining Nottinghamshire next season, and pointed out that the club already has strong links with New Zealand cricket. Sir Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori and Nathan Astle have all played for Nottinghamshire in the past.”I enjoyed my previous experience of county cricket, and have harboured an ambition to captain a leading English county team,” said Fleming. “Nottinghamshire proved they are one of the up and coming counties with double promotion last season, and Trent Bridge holds special personal memories with my Test century on the ground this summer.”The facilities are world class at Trent Bridge,” added Fleming. “I was impressed with the ambition and the plans outlined by Mick Newell and I look forward to joining the club in April.”Fleming will take over from Jason Gallian, who had been captain since 1998 and has been awarded a benefit year in 2005. Gallian has also signed a contract to play for Nottinghamshire until at least the end of the 2007 season.”As soon as it became likely that Stephen would sign, the question of the captaincy was discussed,” he said. “As he is arguably the best captain in world cricket, I offered to step down. I have a good few years left and I am sure that I will learn something playing alongside a player of his capability. After such a successful season leading Nottinghamshire to promotion in both competitions, I look forward to being part of a team that will hopefully win more trophies next season.”Newell, the man responsible for luring Fleming to the club, has also signed an extension to his contract as director of cricket.Speaking about his extension, Newell said: “I am grateful for the confidence and support which the club has demonstrated by extending my contract and I am focused on bringing more trophies back to Trent Bridge during the next two years.”In order to be competitive I needed to further strengthen the squad and the signing of Graeme Swann and Stephen Fleming demonstrates our ambition for next season.”

Sachin Tendulkar, laid low by an elbow injury, recently admitted that his style of batting had changed. “When you play for a long time, it is natural,” Tendulkar told Sambit Bal in a freewheeling interview from the October issue of Wisden Asia Cricket. “Changes are going to take place and you always try and make changes to become a better player. The basic idea is to cut down on the risky shots and try and be as consistent as possible.”But Tendulkar has not taken lightly to criticism about the way he has batted in recent times. During the Asia Cup he came out strongly against suggestions that he was not enjoying batting any more: “I thought too much was being said about it and unfortunately guys who have played cricket themselves were making too many rude statements. Someone who has played should definitely understand that there are things like team meetings and team plans. It’s not all about what my natural game is, but about executing a team plan. I should be doing what the team wants me to, and not what someone sitting 85 yards away in the commentators’ box feels. You can’t be talking about what the country should be doing and then focus on an individual. There is no question that it is a team game, and it is the responsibility of all 11 individuals to execute a team plan on any given day.”Tendulkar also disagreed with the suggestion that he was batting too cautiously at the moment. “I really don’t know how to put it across, because I can never make everyone happy. If I play a big shot and get out, some people will say, what’s the need to do that when there are so many strokeplayers around, can’t he just try to play 50 overs? I feel I should play the way I think I should play and not according to how XYZ feels. There might be a day when we need 100 runs in the first 15, and I will bat differently.”Whatever way Tendulkar bats, there will be some disgruntled fans about. “It’s very easy to say that you should go out and play your natural game, but sometimes you end up taking plenty of risks, and if you get out doing that, people start talking one way. And when you try to do what the team has planned, they think differently. So it is difficult for any player to keep outsiders happy. We have to think about what the team has planned. As long as I know I am doing the right thing, I don’t need to worry about what people are saying.”People keep saying, ah, he is not playing the same number of shots as before, but if you look at the strike rate you’ll see I’m scoring at the same pace, just scoring in a different way. As you spend more and more time in the team, your role changes. It cannot be what it was 15 years ago or seven years ago. I don’t think there is any player in the world who has played in the same gear throughout his career.”Tendulkar also looked back at his captaincy days with some regret. “The day I gave in my resignation [from captaincy], I have never thought of it after that. I felt we were not all heading in the right direction and it was affecting me as a person. I couldn’t switch off at all. Even ten days after a match I would still be thinking about why this happened and why that happened, and it started affecting me as a person. Not as a player, as some people pointed out, because I scored over 1000 runs in both forms of the game that last year. Also, I felt there was lack of support from every direction.”Tendulkar now admits that he did not see eye-to-eye with the selectors. “Yes. I was not happy with the selectors at all. It just didn’t work out. They had different ideas, I had different ideas. The only thing is, I had to go in there and play with their ideas.”And, while it might be the ultimate ambition for many players, captaincy isn’t that a big a deal with Tendulkar. “Captaining India was obviously a great honour for me, but it wasn’t the ultimate thing for me. The ultimate thing was to play cricket for India and at that time, when I was removed from captaincy, I said in my statement that you can stop me from leading India, but no-one can stop me from playing cricket. Playing cricket is the ultimate thing in my life.”

Adam Gilchrist will consider promoting himself to No. 3 as Australia struggle to decide on Ricky Ponting’s replacement for the first Test against India, which starts on Oct 6.Aware that he is close to bursting with responsibility as he combines wicketkeeping and the stand-in captaincy, Gilchrist could leap up from No. 7 after deciding to retain the stability of Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann at 4 and 5.While batting at No. 3 would increase the pressure on Gilchrist in his fourth Test in charge, it would also reduce the risk of his entering to the spin of Harbhajan Singh – who dismissed him four times in 2001 – and a ring of close-in fielders.Pushing Simon Katich up from No. 6 or introducing Brad Hodge, the uncapped top-order specialist, are also options for filling the spot of Ponting, who will miss the first two Tests with a broken left thumb.”Simon’s a very real chance and he’s grown up batting at No. 3,” Gilchrist said. “I’ve got an interest in batting there. It’d be tough work with everything that’s going on, but it’s an option. I’m reluctant to change the middle order, I like that stability there.”But the coach John Buchanan warned that if Gilchrist was swamped he would not move from his usual place: “If workload is an issue then there’s no way Gilly will bat at 3.”The chances of Gilchrist dealing with the extra task would improve if Australia batted first and he contemplated – then ruled out – adopting a floating position in the order. “I wouldn’t bat at 3 because I was captain and wanted to take control of the team,” Gilchrist said. “I would do it because I thought it was the right tactical decision.”Gilchrist has batted three times at No. 3 and at short notice against Sri Lanka at Kandy in March, when Ponting was injured, he blasted Australia out of trouble with 144. He was also elevated during the second innings of the final Test against India in the 2000-01 series, which he ended with scores of 0, 0, 1 and 1.

Bangladesh’s captain, Habibul Bashar, has been named in a preliminary Test squad of 21 players for the forthcoming series against New Zealand, after recovering from the broken thumb that ruled him out of the Champions Trophy.Bashar returned home on Wednesday night from Australia following a successful operation on his right thumb at the Avenue Hospital in Melbourne on September 6. Although he will not be able to hold a bat before the first week of October, he will nonetheless be joining in the fitness training, when the squad reports to the Army Stadium on Sunday morning.Bashar, Bangladesh’s leading batsman, will take back the reins from Rajin Saleh, who stood in against South Africa and West Indies, but was unable to prevent two heavy defeats. Bangladesh’s morale will, however, be boosted by the return of Mashrafee bin-Mortuza, their impressive young paceman.Mashrafee has not played international cricket since twisting his knee badly during the second Test against England at Chittagong last October, and is still in the early stages of his comeback. It is unlikely that he will be match-fit in time for the first Test, which begins at Dhaka on October 19, but there will be plenty opportunity in the weeks ahead for the selectors to assess his progress.Another man who hasn’t played a Test since Chittagong is Enamul Haq jr, who captained the Under-19 team in England recently, until a ruptured posterior cruciate ligament curtailed his tour midway through.Squad Habibul Bashar (capt), Rajin Saleh, Khaled Mashud (wk), Khaled Mahmud, Javed Omar, Mushfiqur Rahman, Hannan Sarkar, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Rafique, Manjarul Islam, Tapash Baisya, Faisal Hossain, Alamgir Kabir, Mashrafee bin-Mortuza, Enamul Haque Jr, Nazmul Hossain, Tareq Aziz, Nafees Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Talha Jubair.

Scorecard

Surrey slumped to the brink of relegation on the opening day at The Oval, on a day where their performance lurched from the mediocre to the abysmal.A match that could have gone down to the wire will become academic when Surrey lose their third wicket – unless by some freak of nature they reach 400 for 2. From next summer the Championship is changing to a two-up, two-down format and, on the evidence of this performance, Surrey are going to have a tough job climbing back up.Middlesex’s declaration on 404 for 5 – taking advantage of the bonus point system and rubbing more salt into Surrey’s wounds – left their London rivals needing to gain full batting points for less than three wickets to maintain any hope of maintaining their first division status.Surrey lost their quota of wickets before the close as, needing a faultless effort from their top order, they got off to shocking start when Mark Butcher was brilliantly run out by Jamie Dalrymple from backward point (7 for 1). It has been a desperate summer for Butcher, only making his belated comeback from injury in late August and then proving powerless to halt Surrey’s demise. Rikki Clarke was then trapped lbw, leaving Mark Ramprakash at the helm. At least he made his former club wait until tomorrow morning.The foundations for next season are already being put in place with the news that Mark’s father, Alan, has taken charge of the first team with immediate effect – a strange state of affairs considering that Steve Rixon, the previous incumbent, is still around the team. The strange timing of the announcement was played down by the club as just “the logical move” but Butcher would have been struggling to see the merit of it as he realised the size of the task in front of him.The current state of Surrey cricket is highlight by the fact that only one of their players – Clarke – will be involved with the England set-up in any form this winter. Clarke has secured an Academy spot but today his bowling performance was dire as he sent down three overs for 30 runs and was not trusted with another spell. He is a talented cricketer but Duncan Fletcher is big on attitude and Clarke’s will need to improve if he is to add to his international honours. On the other hand Middlesex’s batting order consists of three potential England stars and two of them played their part in taking Surrey to the cleaners.But the contributions of Owais Shah and Ed Joyce were contrasting, which gave some indication of how the two players feel about their winter rewards. Shah was widely tipped to gain a spot in at least one of the tour squads to Pakistan after topping 1600 runs. He has had to be content with an Academy spot and while the player himself has not made any comment to suggest he is unhappy, his innings suggested a certain amount of frustration.

There were a couple of uncontrolled heaves that betrayed an eagerness to make a point, but then his strokeplay returned to the crispness that has characterised his summer. He reached his fifty from 87 balls and was in no trouble against pace or spin – not that there was much to worry him in the fare that was offered. It was a surprise when Saqlain Mushtaq found a touch of extra bounce and Shah steered the ball into the hands of Scott Newman at short-leg (172 for 2).Ben Hutton also tucked into the loose offerings with as much timing as Shah; a rush of blood caused him to charge at Saqlain, missing the ball by miles, and got comfortably stumped (199 for 3). When Dalrymple edged his third ball to slip, Surrey were suddenly back in the match, a position that their bowling performance barely merited (200 for 4).But Joyce was already creating a feeling of permanency in the middle while Scott Styris was also into his stride quickly. While Shah may have wanted to prove a point about only making the Academy, Joyce’s stint at Loughborough – and a probable tour to the West Indies – will enable him to enhance his reputation. Throughout the summer he has been touted as a like-for-like replacement for Graham Thorpe – and on Thorpe’s home ground produced an innings right out of the same mould.Surrey’s plight was summed up shortly before Middlesex reached their 400 when Saqlain bowled Paul Weekes off a no-ball. In the next over Weekes swept a boundary to complete a full hand of batting points meaning a declaration would deprive Surrey two bowling points. There was one final matter to consider though, with Scott Styris unbeaten on 99. He was given the chance to reach his first century for Middlesex and duly obliged by working a single from the next ball – and promptly marching off to the pavilion.For Middlesex the day could not have gone any better, while Surrey will be scouring the tourist guides of Derby, Northampton and Bristol. It may be a father and son team taking this Surrey side into the future, but they are a long way away from making it a happy family at The Oval.

Scorecard
Rawl Lewis played a captain’s innings to lead Windward Islands to a four-wicket victory against Jamaica in the second round of the KFC Cup at the North Stars Cultural & Social Club on Tuesday.Chasing a revised target of 230 runs from 43 overs, after rain interrupted play, Windwards coasted home with 17 balls to spare, when Lewis slashed a searing cut off the left-arm spinner, Nikita Miller, to bring up his tenth four.Lewis finished with an undefeated 65 from 47 balls. He also hit one six that helped him to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, after his side dipped to 176 for 6 and had looked in danger of giving up the ghost.The long-standing wicketkeeper/batsman Junior Murray helped to set up the victory with six fours in his 53 from 77 balls. He batted through the later stages of his innings with a runner, after suffering cramps. Murray shared 70 for the first wicket with the left-handed West Indies opener, Devon Smith, who struck nine fours in his 43 from 29 balls.The West Indies fast bowler Daren Powell was the most successful of Jamaica’s attack: he took four wickets for 64 runs from seven overs. But his costly last over, in which he conceded 15 runs, nearly gave the match away.The opener, Brenton Parchment, and West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels had hit half-centuries and added 97 for the second wicket to pave the way for Jamaica’s total of 254 for 8 off 50 overs. Parchment hit eight fours and one six in a top-score of 65 from 102 balls, and Samuels hit 54 from 77 balls which included three fours and one six.Darren Sammy, who played a couple of limited-overs internationals for West Indies last year, was the pick of the Windwards’ bowlers with four wickets for 49 runs from ten overs. Smith then played some exciting strokes to give Windwards an enterprising start with Murray before he was caught behind off Dave Bernard Jr, top-edging a cut in the ninth over.Craig Emmanuel joined Murray and batted circumspectly to add 48 for the second wicket before he was caught behind for 21 in the 22nd over to leave Windwards on 118 for 2.

It has been one of the poorer aspects of South African cricket that for sometime they have been getting nothing out of their legendary former fastbowler Allan Donald. All that is set to change, however, following his appointment on Sunday as a specialist coach for the high performance programme, alongsidethe record-breaking batsman and former team-mate, Gary Kirsten.Donald, who was South Africa’s highest wicket-taker with 330 in 72 Tests,has been auctioning his considerable expertise mostly in England with hisformer county, Warwickshire. But now he will be ploughing his considerableexperience back into South African cricket.”It’s not nice working in another country, especially with the talent wehave here,” Donald said during the first one-day international between SouthAfrica and New Zealand in Bloemfontein on Sunday.According to Vintcent van der Bijl, the former Natal, Transvaal andMiddlesex bowling hero who is now Cricket South Africa’s general manager ofprofessional cricket, Donald’s role will be “coaching our young aspirants toensure they are Test-ready”.”I’ll be placing an unbelievable emphasis on intensity,” Donald said. “The intensity needsto be lifted in our franchises by some notches. It’s not true that our conveyor belt of fast bowlers has stopped. We have a list of 15 potential guys who I will be working really hard with. Especially fringe guys like Dale Steyn and Monde Zondeki, they can come up a notch or two.””We now have a balance between a batting and bowling focus in the highperformance programme and it’s great to have people who have just come outof the game,” Van der Bijl said. “We are delighted that one of the trulygreat fast bowlers, with all his expertise and, most importantly, Testexperience, is joining Gary Kirsten, who has an equally impressiveinternational pedigree. Allan is a master at his trade.”