Angelo Mathews has hailed man-of-the-match Milinda Siriwardana as a “great find” following Sri Lanka’s 72-run victory over West Indies which sealed a 2-0 whitewash.”Milinda is a great find for us – he has contributed with bat, ball and on the field,” Mathews said. “He’s been a brilliant player in past couple of months in ODIs, and coming into Test arena showed no nerves at all. He was just cruising through with his batting. His bowling also came in handy, we needed someone who can bowl a few. He is more than a part-timer.”Siriwardana top-scored in a low-scoring match, striking 68 from 111 balls in the first innings, and 42 off 60 in the second. His left-arm spin was also instrumental to the win, as he took two wickets in the first innings, and three in the second to finish with a match haul of 5 for 51. Each of his victims had batted in West Indies’ top seven.Good outings in his debut T20 and ODI series in July against Pakistan had helped put Siriwardana in the Test team. He will now be considered for longer stints in all three formats.Siriwardana’s inclusion had allowed Mathews to go through the series without having to bowl himself – which allowed him to continue recovering from an ankle complaint. Having claimed two wickets in the Galle Test as well, Siriwardana has seven Test scalps at an average below 18. He has 136 first-class wickets at 30.16.”We needed someone batting in the middle order to roll his arm and Milinda has improved dramatically in the past few months with his bowling,” Mathews said. “He’s worked really hard with Piyal Wijetunga, the spin-bowling coach. The effort he put in at the nets is unbelievable. He deserves what he got today. He’s had a brilliant match and I hope he will go from strength to strength.”Siriwardana was largely chosen for his batting, although, he maintains that he would like to progress in both disciplines. He had scored 1 on debut in Galle, but said he did not allow that to dent his belief in his batting.”Batsmen do fail sometimes – that’s a normal thing,” Siriwardana said. “I didn’t think of my debut as a special game – it was just one match. I had a lot of confidence coming into this match, thanks to the practice sessions.”He had earlier set himself firmly on the path to a Test debut by hitting 1144 runs at 67.29 in the 2015 Premier League Tournament. “Earlier maybe I was considered a limited-overs player,” Siriwardana said. “But in the recent domestic season, I made a few technical adjustments and showed I could do well in the longer format as well.”I had more runs than anyone else this season. I think I got the perfect opportunity at the right time. A player should get that chance when he’s scoring runs, so I got that. I’m not disappointed I didn’t play internationals earlier.”Siriwardana also broke a key partnership in West Indies’ innings, when he had Shai Hope stumped. Hope and Darren Bravo had put on 60 together, and moved West Indies to 80 for 1 in pursuit of 244. Mathews, though, said he was not overly worried by the stand.”From the very first day the pitch had started turning, so we knew that the conditions were only getting worse,” Mathews said. “We didn’t start too well today and bowled badly, but came back into the game after Milinda got a couple of wickets. (Rangana) Herath’s two wickets in one over – dismissing Bravo and Denesh Ramdin – was crucial.”

The third day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal between Hyderabad andKarnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday began with an air ofexpectancy hanging around as VVS Laxman resumed his innings at346. Karnataka went in straightaway for the third new ball after 180overs and Laxman got to his 350 in the second over of the day with his52nd boundary. Ganesh was bowling to him with four men patrolling thefence but the wide arc between deep backward square and mid on wasopen country. Laxman just eased one off his legs through mid wicketand the ball trickled to the boundary before the two convergingfielders could reach it. Fiaz Ahmed was gaining in confidence at theother end, swatting a short one from Ganesh to the mid wicket fence.But Laxman’s long hand ended at 683 when he mistimed a pull off Prasadto deposit it tamely into the hands of substitute KN Ramesh at midon. His 353 (559 balls, 758 minutes) included a startling 220 runs infours and sixes. Hyderabad decided to rub salt in the open gushingwound by prolonging their innings further and both Fiaz and NP Singhpicked up more boundaries. Prasad got his fifth wicket of the inningswhen he had Fiaz caught behind by Thilak Naidu for 31 upon whichAzharuddin finally decided to close shop just under an hour into themorning session with the scoreboard reading 711/8.Hyderabad’s new ball duo of NP Singh and Fiaz Ahmed started with aflurry of no balls. A loud shout for a catch at forward short legagainst Arun Kumar was turned down as he played forward with bat andpad close together. Mithun Beerala wasted little time in gaining theascendancy as he punched Fiaz to the cover boundary off the backfoot. Beerala had a lucky break when Daniel Manohar at forward shortleg instinctively got his hands to a flick off NP Singh but wasn’table to hold on. Azhar brought on Venkatapathy Raju from the BEML endin the eighth over and both batsmen treated him withcircumspection. The seam bowlers continued to be plagued byoverstepping and with Beerala playing some elegant drives through theoff side, Karnataka had galloped to 84/0 in 17 overs at lunch.Arun Kumar cover drove Satwalkar to the fence to bring up the hundredof the innings and complete 3000 runs in his 45th Ranji match. Beeralahas been very much the form player for Karnataka in this, his debutseason and he beat Arun Kumar to his half century by picking the gapbetween mid on and short midwicket to precision. He also favoured thecut shot wide of point. Kanwaljit Singh was introduced belatedly intothe attack and in his fifth over he got the break as Beerala flickedone straight into the hands of Azhar at short midwicket for 74.Arun Kumar followed him back to the pavilion at 190, caught at thewicket off Kanwaljit for 71 although he seemed visiblydisappointed. Rowland Barrington (52) and Vijay Bharadwaj (38)steadied the boat with an unbroken 79 run third wicketpartnership. Azharuddin came on to bowl his off breaks with sevenovers to stumps and a chest high full toss was stroked to the coverboundary by Barrington who duly completed his fifty. Bharadwaj had astroke of fortune when he played forward to Raju but was unable tosmother the spin and the ball flew to Nandakishore at silly point whoput it down. But he regained his composure with two boundaries to longon and long off in the same over.In any other circumstances, Karnataka’s final score of 269/2 wouldhave been redoubtable but in the context of the match it was a meredribble in the canvas. Karnataka will be soothened by the memory of aRanji Trophy match some eighteen summers ago when they conceded afirst innings lead after making 700 plus but it doesn’t happen toooften to inspire confidence. The conditions here are still perfect forbatting though. The bounce is good, the ball is coming onto the batwell, the wicket is still holding up and is taking turn only inpatches but not consistently enough to trouble the batsmen.

Hampshire gained their second championship victory of the season when they defeated Durham (for the second time) by 6 wickets with some 14 overs to spare.Two early morning declarations, a circumstance of two captains, determined to make something of a game ransacked by the weather.In the early play Simon Katich reached the milestone of 1000 first-class runs for his adopted county. He may have been a little embarrassed to have achieved this with a pull off makeshift bowler Adi Aymes, but no less a mean achievement.Simon Brown took the wicket of Giles White first ball of the innings, having him caught at forward short leg, after setting Hampshire 291 to win in a minimum of 91 overs. This gave him his 500th first-class wicket for Durham.The early success was however short lived as the home bowlers toiled. Jason Laney and Will Kendall stroked the ball well in a partnership of 98 that was broken just after Laney had reached 50, adjudged lbw to Brown. Kendall and skipper Robin Smith then put together a century stand, when on the stroke of tea; Smith was lbw falling into a straight one from Killeen.After tea, Kendall now partnered by Lawrence Prittipaul powered his way to his century. Prittipaul was out for a sparkling 35 as Hampshire coasted to their clean sweep over Durham in all competitions this season.Kendall’s century included 16 fours; it was his second of the season and his fifth for Hampshire.The victory keeps alive Hampshire’s slim hopes of retaining their first division status.Durham whose hopes were perhaps higher, now have just the match against Surrey at The Oval next week to salvage their season.

Half centuries from Parag Das and Rajesh Bora helped Assam to a useful272/9 on the opening day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy clash againstBengal at Maligaon. Assam are playing their first match while Bengal arefresh from an innings victory over Tripura last week.Assam skipper Zakaria Zuffri won the toss and elected to take strike. Theright-left opening combination of Parag Das and Subhrajit Saikiaestablished an early dominance by piling on 127 first up. Bengal howeverregained the initiative by grabbing four wickets in the space of 13 runs.Off spinner Saurashish Lahiri, a trainee at the National Cricket Academy,collected three of those scalps while veteran left arm spinner UtpalChatterjee chipped in by removing Das for 68 (147 balls, 13 fours), whichturned out to be the topscore for Assam.Rajesh Bora resurrected the innings with a brisk 55 (73 balls, 6 fours, 2sixes) and built two useful partnerships in the middle order to help Assamto 257/5. Another collapse followed as four wickets tumbled for 15 beforestumps were drawn three overs early due to bad light. The last wicket pairof Sunil Subramaniam and Javed Zaman will resume battle on Monday. Lahirifinished with 4/65 while Chatterjee returned figures of 3/50.

Based on the 96-run first innings lead overPunjab, Madhya Pradesh qualified for thesemifinals of the Cooch Behar Trophy Tournament onThursday. On the final day at the Pune Club, theMP skipper SM Dholepure who lead the team from thefront with a fine 113, declared the first inningsat the overnight score of 341 for 9.Punjab scored 267 for nine declared in the secondinnings. The score was helped on its way by a 130-run third wicket stand between SP Singh (87) andBinwant Singh (63). Thereafter wickets fell inquick succession as OP Yadav (5 for 70) ran thoughthe middle order.Needing 172 runs for victory, MP in their secondinnings were 107 for 2 when stumps were drawn.After Sachin Dholpure (0) and Mohanish Mishra (15)fell early, N Ojha (44) and Jatin Saxena (48)ensured no further hiccups for MP with an unbrokenthird wicket stand of 63.

ATC fixtures finalised after BCCI clarification: DalmiyaThe former ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya on Wednesday said that the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had worked out the fixtures only after receiving BCCI’s clarification. Talking at a press conference in Kolkata, Dalmiya said “The fixtures were drawn up after receiving a clarification from the Indian Board. During the (Lahore) meeting, the BCCI had produced a clarification received from the Union Sports Ministry in response to its queries.” On the ACC’s decision to draw up the fixtures, Dalmiya said, “We were aware of the strain in cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. That is why we wanted something inwriting from the Indian Board. Since they had clarified our queries, we went ahead in finalising the fixtures”.Dalmiya said the Indian government, in its letter to the BCCI, had clarified that as per its general policy India could continue to play against Pakistan in multilateral tournaments at regular venues, including India and Pakistan. Dalmiya also released the copies of communication between the BCCI president AC Muthiah and the Sports Ministry. Earlier on Monday, the Union Sports Minister Uma Bharti pulled up the BCCI for making a “unilateral announcement” at the ACC that India would play against Pakistan.ACC to finalise compensation pact within two monthsThe Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF) chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya said the ACC would finalise the agreement between the four Test playing nations in the region to compensate for the losses suffered by the ACC, in the event of non-participation, within two months. Dalmiya said the decision to sign an agreement was mainly aimed at avoiding any embarrassment or losses to the ACC in the event of a country pulling out of a tournament. Talking at a press conference in Kolkata, the former ICC president said that the representatives of the four Asian Test playing nations would work out the agreement in detail before it is put in force ahead of the Asian Test Championship.During the conference, Dalmiya also said that the next edition of the Asia Cup would be held in Pakistan next year. “Pakistan will host the next Asia Cup but the fixtures will be announced later.”I know I am not a complete player: DravidIndia’s stylish middle-order batsman Rahul Dravid on Wednesday said he was far from perfect and was constantly evaluating his performances and bringing changes in his techniques. “I know I am not a complete player. I know that for a fact. You keep learning along the way. You learn every day. You try to grasp and may be try to put a few of those things in your game,” Dravid said in an interview to PTI in Mutare. He added “I am willing to listen to the criticism, look at it. If I feel it works for me, it makes sense for me, I would do something about it. If I feel it doesn’t make any sense, and somebody is criticising just for the sake of criticising, I forget about it. I have the ability not to think about it.”On playing down the order, the Karnataka player said “I have played alot at the number three position. There your job is to hold your endand ensure that you don’t lose too many early wickets to the new ball.Now that I am batting lower down the order, it may give me a littlemore opportunity to play a few more shots.”Replaying to another question, the Indian vice captain said “I personally feel we have got a good side. The fact that I play in the same side as (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Sourav) Ganguly and (VVS) Laxman gives me a lot of confidence. It takes a lot of pressure off me. Instead of being a deterrent, I think it (playing for India) has helped me and inspired me to play better.” Replying to a question on the Zimbabwe tour, Dravid said “I think we find the conditionson and off the field not to our liking. Maybe we don’t adjust to it. But then there are not many teams who win abroad.”BCCI’s decision to award sponsorship to IMG-TWI challengedThe BCCI’s decision to award the sponsorship right to IMG-TWI for the next three years was challenged in the Mumbai High Court by Gayatri Arts on Wednesday. Gayatri Arts, a Mumbai-based company which was one of the original bidders for the sponsorship rights, filed a petition seeking an injunction from the High Court on BCCI signing contract with IMG-TWI or any other group. It will come up for hearing on June 1, reports PTI.According to Sham Dhumatkar, proprietor of Gayatri Arts, the three-year contract was awarded to his company which had made the highest bid of Rs 90 crores through a legal tender advertised by BCCI in a newspaper. BCCI confirmed the contract in a letter to the company on May 3 and gave it 48 hours to accept the offer. Accordingly, Gayatri Arts accepted the contract in a letter to BCCI, the petition submitted. However, on May 22 the BCCI’s marketing committee held asecond meeting in New Delhi and awarded the sponsorship to IMG-TWI after an open bidding.Laloo’s election to give boost to rural cricket: RabriThe Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi said the boys in rural areas of Bihar can now look forward to a better cricketing future following the election of Laloo Prasad Yadav to the post of the President of the Bihar Cricket Association. Talking to PTI, Rabri said “Despite having the ability to excel in the sports arena, rural boys so far remained in oblivion in Bihar. Now they can hope for a better cricketing future under the stewardship of Laloo Yadav.”The Chief Minister, who is the wife of Yadav, said her government was determined to provide enough opportunity for the development of sports in Bihar. She added “We will organise rural sports events and nurture talent.” Rabri Devi has already directed the sports department to organise sports meets at village, block, sub-division, district and state levels so that sportspersons could get the opportunity to exhibit their talents.

It was only a few days ago that a headline like that was confined to events of a purely cricketing nature, such as when England reached an all-time low by being bowled out for just 84 by Australia at Old Trafford to lose a match in the NatWest Series. What happened at Headingley on Sunday represented an entirely different situation. Cricket was secondary to the pitch invasion by over-excited elements of the crowd. That resulted in England captain Alec Stewart conceding the game to Pakistan and a steward being taken off to hospital having become the victim of the unruly mob.There was no doubting that Pakistan would have deservedly won. There were 10.1 overs to be bowled, six wickets in hand and only four runs to be scored when a large section of the crowd burst over the boundary rope as if the game had finished. Such was the scale of the pitch invasion, and with a steward lying near the wicket with internal and head injuries, the game had to be regarded as finished. Rather than going out again when the pitch was eventually cleared, Stewart decided that England would accept the inevitable and so the unique entry in the record books: “England conceded the match.”Stewart said “It was a sad decision but it was a decision I felt was right for the long term good of the game. For the sake of the players and the umpires, I felt it was the only decision I could make. Hopefully it will mean that we won’t see scenes like that again and the ICC will now take very, very strong measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”John Read, the Director of Corporate Affairs of the England and Wales Cricket Board, acknowledged the gravity of the affair. “It was an incredibly sad day for cricket in this country and we condemn unreservedly what happened,” he said. “We’re resolved to ensure that the grounds are as safe an environment as possible for the players, spectators and umpires and that these sort of things don’t happen in the future.”But what can be done? Heavy fines, like those imposed in Australia for similar behaviour? Extra security, with snarling dogs as seen in South Africa? Fences, as used in Asia? None are usually necessary in England, but there is a dilemma for the authorities. Both crowd invasions in this series have involved predominantly Pakistani supporters, yet most are British citizens. Unlike when there is crowd trouble at football, it is not easy to identify a target for sanctions and punishment.The decision to concede the match was a brave one, and seemed correct at the time it was made. However, it could prove to be a dangerous precedent. It might send the wrong signals to those who seek to affect the outcome of a match. The game at Headingley was as good as over and meant little anyway. It would not be the same in, for example, a tense match that could have implications on qualification for the final stages of a world cup. It should not be up to either captain to concede. There is no provision for that in the regulations and nor should there be. In such circumstances the ICC should have the powers to determine the outcome, including abandoning the match as was threatened at Edgbaston.The scenes there might have been excused a merely exuberant enthusiasm. Perhaps over-exuberant, but nonetheless borne of high spirits. So too, essentially, were those at Headingley, but this time a steward was seriously injured. Next time, someone might be killed. The warnings must be heeded before an unfortunate incident becomes a major tragedy. That is not a question of “if” but “when”. The effects that would have on cricket and the social structure of the country do not bear thinking about.

Bournemouth were left disappointed and frustrated after rain rescued Southern Electric ECB Premier League rivals South Wilts from probable defeat at Lower Bemerton.South Wilts were in desperate straits, at 82-8, when a 4 o’clock downpour rain spared their blushes and denied Bournemouth only their second win in six weeks.”I’ve no doubt at all we would have won,” said skipper Matt Swarbrick.”We bowled and fielded well, particularly Paul Warren and Peter Waite, who caused no end of problems to the South Wilts batsmen on a damp, helpful surface.Both bowlers nipped the ball about – teenager wicketkeeper Chris Park having a field day, claiming his second five-victim haul of the season.It was Park, the Dorset Under-19 ‘keeper, who shattered Russell Rowe’s dreams of scoring a record fourth successive Premier League century.Rowe, the Southern Electric Cricketer of the Month for May, had made only ten runs before getting a nick to a delivery from Western Australian Peter Waite (2-31), who later had Rob Wade, the former South Wilts captain, caught behind.Constant rain interruptions made batting doubly difficult for South Wilts, who sank into deep trouble at 38-5.Warren (3-18), the ex-Somerset and Glamorgan bowler, trapped Jamie Glasson leg before on the back-foot, bowled Brendan Pauwells (who shouldered arms to an off-cutter) and forced Chris Newton to give Park his third catch behind.Tom Caines (21 not out) and Simon Woodhouse (21) staged a determined post-lunch rally, but a suicidal run-out – the batsmen unwisely took on Martin Miller’s arm – sank South Wilts back into the mire.Teenager Tom Webley, recently snapped up by Somerset, joined the Bournemouth attack and, thanks to Park’s glovework, removed Sean Little and Chris Steedon in successive deliveries.Park, 17, who has been having trials with Northants, bagged a stumping and a catch to take his season’s haul to 17 victims.But the efforts of the young wicketkeeper and Bournemouth’s “W” bowling formation were to no avail as a 4 o’clock rain storm wrecked any prospect of further play with South Wilts 82-8 .. and in desperate trouble.The matches at Bashley-Rydal (v Hungerford) and Calmore Sports (v Andover) were washed out without a ball being bowled.Burridge, the club whose notoriously wet ground suffered more than most from the heavy winter rains, were the only Southern Electric ECB Premier League side to complete a Division 1 match.They side-stepped the elements to inflict a 52-run defeat on Liphook & Ripsley, who suffered a fourth defeat in seven games.Burridge totted up 198-7 in 36 overs, with Paul Hawkins (51) and Dave Jackson (41) sharing a second-wicket stand of 86 after in-form Neil Cunningham had gone cheaply.Jon Francis (39) marked his return with a quick-fire knock as Burridge posted a formidable total, despite the attentions of Tim Wheatley (3-53) and Chris Wright (2-34).Liphook, requiring 159 off 28 overs after a tea-time downpour, promptly lost Steve Riley, but New Zealander Ben Jansen (25) and teenager Wright (21) added 49 for the second wicket.The visitors became disinterested as spinners Matt Godwin (4-29) and Paul Ancell (3-22) carved into their order and finished with 102-9, 57 runs adrift of their adjusted target.Third-placed BAT Sports had reached 156-3 off 37.1 overs when heavy rain forced the abandonment of their meeting with unbeaten leaders Havant at Southern Gardens.Richard Kenway (26) and Damien Shirazi (14) gave BAT a 57-run start before both openers were caught behind in quick succession by Simon Greenfield off the bowling of Shawn Gillies.But any prospects Havant had of carving significant inroads into the BAT top-order were denied by Australian Dave Carson, who is beginning to show the form he produced for Hambledon in the past two seasons.The University of New South Wales all-rounder, who plays alongside Australia Test opener Michael Slater in the powerful Sydney A-Grade competition, hit his third half-century in a week, scoring 53 not out before Havant achieved a third breakthrough.Dave Banks (21) was bowled by the left-arm spin of Stephen Foulger at 86-3, but Adam Hayes (22 not out) joined Carson in an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 70 before a 6 o’clock cloudburst ended play for good.Lymington’s scheduled Division 2 visit to Easton & Martyr Worthy was a weather casualty, as were the Premier Division 3 games involving New Milton, and Bashley (Rydal) and Lymington 2nd XIs.

Sri Lanka Cricketers’ Association (SCA) is still in its infancy, but hasstarted well, have plenty of encouraging plans and look to be moving in theright direction. Their formation is clearly good news for national, club andpast players alike.Other Test nations established player associations long ago, but Sri Lanka’sonly started last December. Former Sri Lankan batsman Roshan Mahanama,Secretary of the SCA, admits that this has been a long overdue development.”Ravi Ratnayake, the former Sri Lankan fast bowler, was the one who firststressed on the importance of having an association for the cricketers. Thiswas about 15 years ago. He had all the documents details and everything, butunfortunately it didn’t come through as Ravi had to migrate to Australia,”said Mahanama.When asked as to the need for such an association’s, he answers: “We formedthis to look after the welfare of the cricketers. If you look at the majorcommercial bodies in the country they all have associations. Cricket is oneof the top five earners of foreign exchange, so we should have anassociation of our own.”Mahanama feels the welfare of the cricketers is not sufficiently catered tooat present: “I played for Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) in the one-daytournament last year and I realised none of our players were getting paid.”Now the English Players Association gets 300,000 pounds sterling from theECB and the Australian Cricketers’ Association gets 750,000 dollars fromtheir board, but we don’t get a single cent from the Board,” he says.He is, however, hopeful that the players will be offered greater incentivesin the future: “They are in the process of recognising us. I hope and praythey will. I am keeping my fingers crossed. But I must tell you that theSports Minister was kind enough to grant us SLR 100,000 through the SportsFund.”The CEO of the Cricketres’ Association, Don Anurasiri, the former Sri Lankanspinner, agrees with Mahanama that the players’ financial situation has toimprove.”The board pays some money to the clubs, but this money is not spent on thecricketers. Whereas in other counties this is not the case,” remarked Don.”So we would like to see some of the money given out by the Board going tothe cricketers, rather than for the development of the club”.Mahanama has ambitious plans for the future: “We want the clubs to get about15-20 players contracted and pay them a share of what they get from theBoard. Then we want to have an insurance scheme for the players andprogrammes like career guidance”In fact, the SCA envisages a time when they too will contribute to the wagesof club cricketers. In three years time Anurasiri hopes that: “We would beable to pay every club depending on their capabilities. We would be able topay some sort of money to the contracted players.”And for those that have had to retire from the game: “Many past cricketerswonder what they are going to do with themselves after they have retired. Ifthey are in trouble and need medical help or financial support, we want tobe there to assist them.”The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) has yet to recognisethe SCA, but members feel that it’ll happen sooner than later: “When we hada meeting a couple of months ago they said they can’t recognise us straightaway. They said they wanted to see what we are doing.”The SCA is keen to foster a progressive relationship with the board.According to Mahanama: “We have told them that we have to go hand in hand.We didn’t form the association to fight with the cricket board.The SCA has already made efforts to popularise the game in outstation areas.They played a six-side tournament in Matara recently that involved over 50past and present Sri Lankan cricketers. Last week they played a one-day gameagainst the Matale District Cricket Association in Matale. Both the effortsattracted large crowds and were considered a great success.A body that can represent Sri Lankan cricketers is long overdue in SriLanka. One only has to look at similar associations in the UK and Australiato see the immense contribution they can make towards player welfare. Theformation of the SCA is therefore a very significant development thatdeserves the support of all those connected with the game.

Remember South Africa’s visit to India at the beginning of last year? Right, that was the Match-Fixing tour. And what about South Africa in the West Indies this year? Ah yes, the Dope-Smoking tour.OK, then, the players might have been a little too busy undermining their own achievements for comfort, but at least the administrators have got their heads screwed on the right way, haven’t they? Um, who knows? A sizeable section of the South African public has been persuaded that the real villain of the piece in the Hansiegate scandal is the United Cricket Board, aided and abetted by those nasty people in the media. The Devil’s role in the affair has been all but forgotten.And that’s not even to mention the slanging match that broke out last weekend between Percy Sonn and the man-who-would-be-UCB-president, Dr Mtutulezi Nyoka.If all of this suggests that the credibility of South African is at its lowest ebb since, at least, readmission, well, that’s probably not too far off the mark. All things considered, it would not be difficult to paint a picture of South African cricket as a sport riddled with avarice, animosity and personal ambition, with undertones of racialism thrown in for good measure. For once rugby and football have a realistic third contender in their annual challenge to see which sport most frequently and accurately shoots itself in the foot.All of which points to the annual meeting of the UCB, at the Wanderers Club on Saturday morning, being as important to the future of the game in this country as any since the two opposing forces of South African cricket joined together.This week has seen an election campaign as ugly as anything dreamed up by Tony Leon’s Democratic Alliance. Dr Mtutulezi Nyoka, whose experience in cricket administration stretches back three years, launched a succession of attacks on UCB president Percy Sonn which grew more virulent every time you turned on the television and radio.Sonn is no one’s idea of a meek and gentle man and his style of presidency has often left sections of the UCB wincing with embarrassment. It is also true that the UCB’s handling of the dope-smoking incident, in which Sonn played a central part, left a lot to be desired.But Nyoka’s challenge seemed to consist entirely of accusations, both professional and personal, and very little evidence was forthcoming to back up his charges. Sonn, for perhaps the first time in living memory, chose to be silent, in the circumstances the best thing he could have done.What has been bewildering about Nyoka’s approach is that he claims to base it on integrity and honesty while all the while trying to tear another man’s reputation to shreds. His behaviour has been extraordinary and it has had the effect of scaring the wits out of people who might otherwise have seen his bid for the presidency in a sympathetic light. Opinion in cricket circles this week tended to be divided between viewing Nyoka as someone either terminally naïve or a man who might well have lost his marbles.The damage caused by these shenanigans, however, has been considerable, to South African cricket generally, to the Gauteng Cricket Board who put him forward for the position and to the same transformation process to which he claims to be passionately committed.The harm done this week stretches further than simply disillusionment with the governing body. It is one of the oldest saws in sport that disruptions in the boardroom eventually filter down to performances on the field, and there is an urgent need for the UCB to redefine itself as an example of strong leadership.No one should gainsay the results of the national team since the 1999 World Cup. Since the crushing disappointment of Edgbaston, South Africa have won Test series against Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies with a draw in Sri Lanka thrown in for good measure.The problem is, however, two of the most notable successes – in India and the West Indies – have been clouded by waves of adverse publicity. The players have to understand that success is a double-edged sword, that the better they play, the more interest will be taken in them, on and off the field. This is what happens in the real world.Questions, unfortunately, have arisen regarding Gulam Rajah’s management style. A thoroughly decent, caring man, Rajah has always seen his role in terms of keeping the unpleasant realities of the outside world away from the team in order that they are able to concentrate exclusively on playing the game.This means that Rajah is often required to be Mom and Dad at the same time, twin, but conflicting roles. This has led to the argument that while Rajah should be allowed to continue in his existing role, a Board member should accompany the team, if only as a reminder to the players that there are issues out there broader than the simple matter of winning or losing. (It should be pointed out, by the way, that Rajah’s response to the dope-smoking incident was exemplary. He had nothing to do with the delay in public disclosure that led to the accusations of a UCB cover-up.)That there is some cause for concern was illustrated a few days ago when Jacques Kallis blithely announced that the national side would welcome Hansie Cronje back with open arms. And he claimed to be speaking on behalf of the team.Whatever the opinions might be of Cronje’s return to cricket, it would be difficult to find anyone either side of the divide who would not agree that the South African middle order would look stronger with Cronje batting at five. That, however, not the point. It simply does not seem to have occurred to Kallis that Cronje’s return might, in a worst-case scenario, result in South Africa being cast once again into isolation.This week the England Cricket Board announced with some glee that it had persuaded Rodney Marsh to cross the floor and run the English academy. Marsh, an Aussie down to his XXXX cans, was asked whether it would not bother him helping to restore the fortunes of Australia’s oldest enemy.Marsh’s response was that as a player he had been concerned with team and country. Now, however, he was more interested in the game itself. It’s a point of view the UCB, its presidential candidates and the South African team would all do well to bear in mind.