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The ICC has announced the suspension of the Project USA initiative due to concerns over the governance of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA). Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, said that outstanding issues had not been dealt with in a satisfactory manner by the association.”The ICC is not satisfied that the USACA is meeting its obligations to review and restructure its governance to meet the needs of Project USA, and as a consequence Project USA is now suspended,” Speed said in a press release, adding that the future of the tripartite initiative between the ICC, the West Indies Cricket Board and the USACA would now be discussed by the ICC board.”We have witnessed the unseemly and public debate surrounding the USACA elections. At this stage we are not able to recommend to the ICC Full Members that they participate in Project USA given the unsatisfactory state of governance in the USA. I will now be preparing a report on the status of this project for consideration by the ICC board at its next meeting.” The ICC board is due to meet in New Delhi on March 17-18.The news comes less than a month after a leaked letter from Ehsan Mani, the ICC’s president, and Speed slated the way the USACA was being run. “We have seen numerous sporting organisations in various states of disarray throughout our period of involvement as sports administrators,” they wrote. “We have never seen a sporting organisation that combines such great potential and such poor administration as USACA. From our observations, much of the blame for this lies with the current office bearers of USACA including yourself. We question whether the current administration of USACA can play any constructive role in taking the game forward in the United States.”They also warned that they would not shy from suspending Project USA if certain issues were not resolved, adding: “We have now been approached by other countries that would like to replace USA as the preferred partner of ICC to deliver international cricket matches.”But instead of getting better, matters grew worse, culminating in the suspension of the USACA’s elections and growing in-fighting among officials. Negative comments attributed to Gladstone Dainty, the USACA president, criticising the ICC would hardly have helped, even though Dainty subsequently denied them.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to release Wasim Bari, the current chairman of selectors, for a two-year period to work as a full-time, paid national selector. The request comes in the light of the recent decision by the board’s ad-hoc committee to have a national selection committee comprising full-time professional selectors.Shaharyar Khan, the PCB’s chairman, told reporters a letter had been sent to PIA. “We have decided to have a paid national selection committee soon. But it is wrong to give the impression that the current selection committee headed by Bari and including Iqbal Qasim and Ehteshamuddin is going to be sacked.”The selectors have done a good job and we are giving them the choice to continue to work as paid selectors. This is why we have written to PIA asking them if they can release Bari for a two-year period to work as a paid selector on a full-time basis.” Shaharyar did, however, make it clear that if PIA didn’t release Bari then obviously the board would have to look for other candidates to form the new-look selection committee.Bari has been involved in various capacities on the selection committee for seven years and is employed presently as director administration in PIA. The seniority of his position and the responsibilities it carries has often left him open to the criticism that he hasn’t been able to devote enough time to his selection role. This has been the reason behind the board’s decision to appoint full-time selectors.In case the proposed arrangement with Bari doesn’t work out, sources close to the board reveal that former Test players Zaheer Abbas and Talat Ali will be in the fray to head the selection committee.

Cricket Australia wants to host two three-Test series against West Indies and South Africa and shoehorn a Twenty20 competition into next summer’s program. James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said CA planned to downgrade the traditional five-Test series against West Indies to three and give Hobart its first Test since 2000-01.”All we can really say at this stage is we are working towards a six-Test summer next season, but in terms of how that falls and where the matches fall, it’s way too early to be confirming that,” he said. Sutherland said scheduling made it too difficult to stage a five-Test series against West Indies. The last time West Indies visited for a Test tour they lost 5-0.Sutherland said CA would try to find a “window” to host a domestic Twenty20 tournament. “When that might be is debatable and there are differing views around the country on when the best time of the year might be,” he said. “It’s something we’ve got to explore over the next couple of months.”The extra matches add to the demands of players already worried about the expanding fixture list. As the world’s top Test team, Australia will figure in a one-off match against the Rest of the World in October, and the series also includes three one-day matches.Australia will then face New Zealand in the best-of-three Chappell-Hadlee Series before the home Tests. Sri Lanka are expected to join Australia and South Africa in next summer’s VB Series because West Indies are playing in the current competition.

We’ve seen plenty of politics in cricket, and now it’s time for some cricket in politics. The Times of India reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the biggest political party in India’s ruling coalition, has made a new television commercial using the recent victory in Pakistan to underscore its “feel-good” theme. It consists of a montage which intersperses images of the Indians playing cricket with those of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India’s prime minister.The report says: “The film is a collage of footage of Wednesday’s match [the final one-dayer at Lahore], juxtaposed with Vajpayee’s image and a few words of inspiration. ‘Hamare cricket team ko badhai. Hamare gyaraan bharatiyon ne match bhi jeeta, dil bhi.‘ [‘Congratulations to our cricket team. Our 11 players won not just the match, but also our hearts.’]”The punchline is: “Gyaraan bharatiyon ne croron ka dil jeeta. Sau karor mil jayen tho hamein kaun hara sakta hai?” [“Eleven Indians won millions of hearts. If a billion Indians get together, who can defeat us?”]* * *The Bombay Times, the Mumbai supplement of theTimes of India, covers parties as well, but not the political kind. So their front-page headline, “Oh bod, they’re hot!”, is hardly surprising. They have carried out a nationwide poll to see which cricketer from the just-concluded series is considered the sexiest by Indian women, and is, as they term it, “Mr Indo-Pak”.Rahul Dravid, needless to say, comes first. The report says: “It was Dravid because he was ‘sublimely sexy’, ‘cute’, ‘cool’, ‘choclatey’, ‘Mr Nice Guy’, ‘rock solid’, ‘dear dependable’ [and] ‘intriguingly innocent’.”The only Indian city where Dravid did not win was Lucknow, where he was beaten by Yuvraj Singh and Shoaib Akhtar. The overall second position went to “wild, untamed, sweaty, flighty Shoaib Akhtar, who makes you wish you were cave woman. And he? Cave man!”* * *How did Pakistan’s players cope with their defeat? The Times of India reported that Inzamam-ul-Haq said his prayers and went home to be with his family, insisting that nobody turn on the television. The report said that “Inzamam’s father, who is also known as ‘peer saab‘ for delivering religious discourses, spoke to his son on life’s cause-and-effect theory.”Shoaib, the report said, “left past midnight in a black long-sleeved T-shirt and sand-busted jeans. Obviously he wasn’t in the best of moods, and didn’t eat too much. As one team-mate said, ‘more than the loss, he was stunned by the six that [Lakshmipathy] Balaji hit off him’.”Yasir Hameed and Shabbir Ahmed, meanwhile, argued about tactics, watched the Indian hit Kal Ho Na Ho, and “moved on to a game of darts”.* * *Vadodara [formerly Baroda], where Irfan Pathan lives, was throbbing with festivity as Pathan bowled India to victory. The Times of India reported: “As soon as India’s victory was announced, people started flocking Mandvi and the Jumma Masjid, where [Pathan’s] family stays, shouting ‘Bolo Irfan ki jai, Bolo Bharat Mata ki jai’. [‘Glory be to Irfan, glory be to Mother India.’] At one point, there were so many people in the narrow bylane that the three policemen stationed outside his house were not enough to keep the crowd at bay.” The picture accompanying the piece showed Pathan’s father, Mehboobkhan, waving the Indian flag on the roof of his house, as crowds below cheered him on.There were similar scenes outside Mohammad Kaif’s house in Allahabad. The Times of India reported: “Outside Kaif’s Cooper Road house, in Civil Lines, there was a riot of colours and crackers. Several fans had come out wearing Team India’s blue. Some of them had painted their faces in tricolours. [A] few sang the famous Lagaan song, ‘baar baar haan, bolo yaar haan’, while jiving gleefully.”* * *Pakistan’s newspapers, Dawn and the Daily Nation among them, carried reports that some former Pakistan Test players were unhappy with Rameez Raja, the chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board, for sending them low-priced tickets for the fifth one-day international at Lahore. Imtiaz Ahmed, Saeed Ahmed, Mohammad Ilyas and Ijaz Butt were given tickets to one of the cheaper stands, worth Rs500, and they refused them. Even these tickets came only an outcry in Pakistan’s media after the players were not invited at all for the fourth one-dayer, which had also been in Lahore.Imtiaz said that he was a life member of MCC, which sent him tickets for every international or county match played at Lord’s. He was upset that their own board was treating them so shabbily.During the match, Wisden Cricinfo had reported that Fazal Mahmood, a Pakistan legend, was upset at being given a ticket to one of the cheaper stands – especially when one of the plushest stands in the stadium is actually named after him.* * *The Indian Express carried a feature on Nadeem Ghauri, the Pakistani umpire who officiated in the just-concluded one-day series. Ghauri, when asked what was his most memorable moment during the final, replied, “Giving a great batsman like Sachin Tendulkar out. The nick can easily get lost in our countries when you have 20-25,000 people shouting. This is quite unlike England or Australia, so it becomes difficult to give batsmen out.”According to Ghauri, the key, in such noisy situations, is to look at the batsman, to see “if he looks back at the wicketkeeper or down at the crease. But I picked it up when I saw the ball passing Tendulkar’s bat, and the moment I saw Tendulkar’s head looking downwards, I made up my mind. He walked even as I made the decision. That is the greatness of the man.”

As Herschelle Gibbs prepares to face Delhi Police’s questioning in connection with match-fixing allegations, South Africa have sought early disposal of the case, saying a ‘sword’ should not hang over the cricketer’s head indefinitely.”It is a matter of Delhi Police and we as government would not want to interfere a great deal in the legitimate legal process,” Francis Moloi, South African High Commissioner, told PTI regarding the questioning of Gibbs when he comes to India next month to play in the Champions Trophy. “However, we would want processes like these to have some form of finality,” he said, stressing on the need for an expeditious conclusion of the case.”Frankly, we can’t have this issue hanging like a sword for a long time. Speedy resolution of the issue will be most welcome so that we get on with the business of cricket which people of India love a great deal,” Moloi added.Delhi Police in 2000 claimed to have uncovered a match-fixing racket involving top players, including the then South Africa cricket captain, the late Hansie Cronje, as well as Nicky Boje and Gibbs.Boje and Gibbs have so far not been questioned as they have avoided visiting India. Delhi Police has maintained that their quizzing is essential in the case. On his part, Moloi said South Africa respect the legal processes in India and feels that “whatever is there must be laid on the table”.Gibbs, who will tour India with his lawyer, will not come with the team but will join his team-mates a few days later. He is likely to leave for India from South Africa on October 11 and be questioned on October 12 and 14 by the Delhi Police, according to cricket officials in South Africa. He has previously opted out of two tours of India, in 2004 and 2005.

Close India 284 for 3 (Tendulkar 73*, Laxman 29*) v Australia
Scorecard

The young apprentices served up a fine entrée in the final Test between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and then the modern masters got down to the task of preparing a substantial main course. As at Melbourne, Akash Chopra and Virender Sehwag set India up nicely with a century opening partnership. But the middle order did not squander the platform they had been gifted, and India finished the first day on 284 for 3. Sachin Tendulkar, the subject of much unseemly media speculation, constructed partnerships of 66 with Rahul Dravid and an unbeaten 90 with VVS Laxman on his way to an ominous 73 not out.The day began fittingly for a man who relishes the uphill battle. Steve Waugh lost the toss and watched the Indian openers tot up 98 runs before lunch. They spluttered to a start rather than roared to one. On a good bouncy pitch, Chopra and Sehwag began tentatively, playing and missing, prodding and poking, unsure of quite how to handle the swing and seam movement that Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie generated. Gillespie, back from injury, had trouble with his line, frequently bowling wide of the off stump, or on the batsman’s legs. Lee was quicker and more accurate, and any early breakthrough appeared likely to come from him.Then, in the space of two heartbreaking overs from Lee – heartbreaking for the bowler – the momentum shifted. First, Chopra edged a beautiful away-swinger and was caught behind – off a no-ball. The next ball was legitimate, and Chopra edged again, straight to Simon Katich at gully – Katich fumbled, and dropped it.Sehwag added sodium chloride to Lee’s lesions a couple of overs later, and again, a no-ball started it. Lee overstepped and dropped one wide outside off, Sehwag slashed over backward point for six. Lee overcompensated, drifted down leg, Sehwag clipped him to fine leg for four. Lee got his line right in the next ball, but not his length, as Sehwag punched a fuller ball in the corridor to the cover boundary. Singles followed, and 18 came off that over. Lee had been hit out of the attack.Chopra found his groove as the game went on, as his shot selection grew more assured, and fortune gave way to fortitude. Sehwag, meanwhile, opened up as the ball grew older. His aggression bordered mostly on the right side of recklessness; he put away most loose balls that came his way, but didn’t try any wild strokes against the good balls. When he did flash, he flashed hard.Just when Sehwag seemed set for another big innings, he edged a good-length ball from Gillespie after lunch, and was caught behind for 72 (123 for 1). Shortly after that, Lee earned a fine wicket. First, he unleashed a bouncer at Chopra, which Chopra left alone. Then came the yorker, which Chopra dug out superbly. Then, the faster inswinging yorker, which left Chopra clueless as it crashed into his stumps (128 for 2). Chopra had made 45 – once again, the openers had given India a good start. What would Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar make of it?Tendulkar, an irresistable force for so much of his career, was an immovable object. He played a solid and compact innings, with few expansive attempts to drive, and no expensive uppish slashes. He got his boundaries with the minimum of risk – as when he opened his account off a slightly underpitched yorker from Lee, meeting it nonchalantly with the full face of his blade, in a perfectly timed push to the long-on boundary.Dravid, at the other end, was his usual unyielding self, immaculate in his responses to every question thrown at him – from balance to footwork to every microscopic detail of technique. He was serene yet busy, solid yet fluid, and he outscored Tendulkar during their partnership of 66. He was clinical against loose bowling, much of which came, during his stay at the crease, from Stuart MacGill.Dravid cut and on-drove MacGill for fours in the first over after tea, then flicked and off-drove him for two more boundaries in his next over, and then chose the otherwise controlled Nathan Bracken for punishment, square-cutting him ferociously when he pitched short and slightly wide. But as in the first innings at Melbourne, he was out against the run of play, caught on his crease by an incutter from Gillespie for 38. At 194 for 3, India were on the same slippery slope as towards the end of the first day in the last Test.But Tendulkar and Laxman, promoted in the batting order above Sourav Ganguly, kept climbing. Tendulkar opened out as he grew more comfortable, using his wrists to work balls on off and further inside to the leg side, rocking back to punch or pull anything short. He did not allow the comfort with which he was playing to relax him, and played no loose strokes – though MacGill did fox him a couple of times, inducing edges that did not go to hand.Laxman’s last innings at the SCG was the gorgeous 167 in 1999-00, when he had nothing to lose. Today, he gave nothing away, as he settled in for the long haul. He found occasion to play his staple shots, the wristy flick to midwicket and the inside-out cover-drive, but was more a gatherer than the hunter he had been in his last Test here.In the previous Test, India’s middle order had made a meal of the start they had been given. But these men had worked too hard and dreamed too long of victory in Australia, and they batted as if they would not let anything come in the way of their just desserts.Waugh, no doubt, had other plans up his sleeves. After all, this was his party.

Another day of heavy drizzle interspersed with spells of more persistant rain meant thatonly 25.2 overs were possible on the final day of Glamorgan`s tour match against IndiaA at Swansea. With the loss of so much time over the three days, it was predictablethat the game should end in a draw, but not before the clatter of 7 wickets today as theseam bowlers found the moist and overcast conditions much to their liking. Had it notbeen for this intervention by the weather, this game would surely have had a positive outcome.Morning rain meant that play did not start until 11.30 a.m.,and during the hour`s playbefore lunch, the Welsh county lost a further four wickets whilst adding 32 runs in 13overs, including a spell of three wickets in consecutive balls from Amit Bhandari andLakshmipathy Balaji.Adrian Shaw was the first man to go as in the fifth over he touched a lifting deliveryfrom Balaji to wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel after adding 56 in 19 overs with Mark Wallacefor the fifth wicket. The new batsman Dean Cosker did not last long as he edged the fifthball of Bhandari`s tenth over into the hands of first slip, and then next ball DarrenThomas was yorked. Balaji then bowled Mark Wallace with the next delivery from theMumbles Road End as Glamorgan collapsed to 117-8.But Robert Croft and David Harrison then added 19 runs in the next four oversbefore another heavy squall sent the players into the St.Helen`s pavilion for an earlylunch, and further drizzle meant that there was a further delay of 65 minutes.To the third ball after the resumption, David Harrison drove Bhandari to Amit Mishra atbackward point, and then in his next over Bhandari bowled Owen Parkin to finish withfigures of 6-38 – the best on the tour so far, and the seamer`s second five wickethaul against county opposition.With just 42 overs remaining, it seemed there would be an opportunity for the visitors to have furtherbatting practice, but Satyajit Parab was caught at first slip off the fourth ball of the innings,bowled by David Harrison. Then seven overs later another shower drifted in from Swansea Bay with IndiaA on 13-1, and the players left the field for an early tea.The precipitation caused another twenty minutes to be lost, and then when the players returned,another shower came in after a further 17 balls had been bowled, bringing an end to a contest where theweather was the only winner.

Hampshire Academy achieved a new benchmark in their short history by outplaying and out-thinking their opponents, the reigning Southern League champions Havant, in their own back-yard, causing Team Manager Tony Middleton to enthuse over their “best win of the season” so far.Captain Alex Morris lost what appeared to be a vital toss and the young Hawks were inserted on a damp pitch resembling rolled Plasicine. However, the expected lavish movement was not forthcoming for the Havant seam bowlers and openers Alex Richardson (19) and Peter Hammond (31 in 83 balls, 1 six, 2 fours) did very well to establish a solid platform of 52 for the first wicket. Hammond, badly dropped behind the wicket on 17, produced arguably the best shot of the day: a huge six over mid-wicket off the bowling of Mackie Hobson (2-30), Havant’s best bowler on the day. Kevin Latouf (27) and Tom Burrows carried on the good work either side of lunch, putting on 72 invaluable runs after the Academy had faltered at 55-3. Burrows (69 balls, 5 fours) in particular showed the great ability to think on his feet; working out the areas in which to score runs on this type of turning pitch (square and behind the wicket), once the Havant spinners had been belatedly introduced into the attack. This was an attribute distinctly lacking in the home batting. A perfectly-judged cameo of 35 in 28 balls (2 sixes, 3 fours) by David Griffiths at the death of the innings gave the Academy further impetus, and probably turned the game – 39 runs coming in the last 3 overs. Most to suffer was the left arm spin of Phil Loat (3-70) as he disappeared for 27 in his last two overs. The Academy’s batsmen had succeeded in setting a very competitive target without the aid of Professional asistance in perhaps the most difficult conditions of the season so far.Evidence of just how much the pitch was assisting the spinners was shown when off spinner Mitchell Stokes (18-7-36-3) opened the bowling with Griffiths. Although the former kept it tight, the latter seemed out of sorts with the ball: former Hampshire Under 19 captain Steve Snell being quick to punish anything short of a length or over-pitched. The introduction of Charlie van der Gucht brought immediate success as Havant stuttered to 53-2, but the tea break saw the home side well placed at 82-2 with Snell still batting very well. However, the introduction of leg spinner Ian Hilsum (2-26) after tea caused Snell (58 in 59 balls, 10 fours) to lose his concentration and he became the first of five Havant batsmen in their top seven to be dismissed driving. 87-2 rapidly became 114-6, but despite a battling stand of 30 for the 7th wicket between captain Paul Gover and Bev Moynan, no other Havant batsman could manage to break into the twenties. Van der Gucht (4-41) bowled with more rhythm in his second spell and polished off the tail as the last four wickets fell for 8 runs in 36 balls, leaving the Academy meritorious victors by 70 runs and with 50 minutes to spare.

Close
Scorecard

A defiant century by Wade Seccombe and four quick strikes by the Queensland attack lifted the them out of a crisis and into control of their Pura Cup match against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval.Chasing 284 to win, South Australia were in deep trouble at 4 for 17 at stumps on day three, with Mark Higgs on 1 and Andy Flower on two. Michael Kasprowicz and Andy Bichel each took two wickets in a nine-over burst before the end of play, leaving SA on the ropes. They need another 267 runs to win, while Queensland were only six wickets from their first win of the season.A total of 17 wickets fell today. After SA resumed on 7 for 283, their innings was quickly wrapped up for 301, giving Queensland a nine-run first-innings lead, with Bichel taking 2 for 3 in three overs to finish with 6 for 61.The Queensland top order then self-destructed, with Jimmy Maher, Clinton Perren, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds and James Hopes all falling cheaply, leaving them staggering at 5 for 46 in their second innings. But Seccombe (115) and Stuart Law (72) led the Queensland fightback with a 138-run sixth-wicket partnership, with the pair continuing their good form after both made half-centuries in the first innings. Seccombe and a free-hitting Bichel (44) then added a 69-run seventh-wicket stand to help Queensland to 274 all out.”One thing we talk about as a group is a lot of belief in ourselves,” Seccombe said of the team’s ability to extricate themselves from trouble today. “We mentioned it prior to this game and always obviously believing we can pull ourselves out of any situation and win from any situation. Obviously we take that belief into everything we do.”Seccombe was given a life by Mark Higgs at second slip, who dropped a straightforward chance off Shaun Tait’s bowling, when he was on 12 and the score was 5 for 84, in what proved an extremely costly fumble. His match-turning century was his fourth in first-class cricket and his first against SA, and came off 185 balls, with 13 boundaries and a six.Greg Blewett, SA’s captain was hopeful they could stage a similar late-order recovery tomorrow to snatch the match. He said: “It would have been nice to have a few more wickets in hand tomorrow, but one good partnership I think and the game’s still up for grabs.”

Darren Thomas, who was injured in Glamorgan`s opening County Championship match at Derby will undergo a cartilage operation on his left knee tomorrowmorning (Wednesday) and the all-rounder is expected to be out of action for between three and four weeks.The game against Derbyshire also saw Michael Kasprowicz suffer a leg injury which will keep the Australian out of action for a fortnight, whilst Andrew Davies was also handicapped by a stomach bug. The youngster has recovered and Davies is in the Glamorgan party to face Hampshire in the County Championship fixture starting at Cardiff on Wednesday morning.