Sourav Ganguly was remarkably relaxed for a man whose team had just suffered a sound thrashing against an A team. He, more than anyone else, knows the fickle nature of cricket, especially the shorter version. There was an unreal air about the Karachi one-dayer, with the Indian team being cocooned throughout their stay by security of the highest intensity. Yet this gives the team a chance to stay focused on the cricket. After all, they have little choice. As Ganguly put it, his tourism in Karachi has been limited to the airport, his hotel room, the cricket ground and, lo and behold, one swimming-pool.The last time India were in Pakistan for a series – in 1997 for three one-dayers, not quite 14 years ago as everyone parrots – Karachi proved to be a happy hunting ground. That fateful day, when India won by four wickets, is remembered for Rajesh Chauhan’s last-minute heroics, but it was Ganguly who laid the base with a confident 89. And, from Ganguly’s relaxed smiles, it’s clear that the warm-up match hasn’t dented India’s confidence significantly. “Morale is pretty much up. That was a warm-up game yesterday but there is no excuse. They played better than us when they batted. Tomorrow is an international game, it is a different ball-game.” One journalist began to suggest that Ganguly was worried about the bowling, and he nipped that in the bud with a quick quip: “Nothing is worrying me.”The National Stadium, like many others in Pakistan, is a big one. The boundaries are long, the surroundings wide-open. The drive to the stadium is a long one, and the heat is oppressive. That, more than anything else, will be a factor in the series opener. India’s bowlers have consistently suffered injuries, and Zaheer Khan’s performance (1 for 78 from nine overs with 22 extras) will have to be a concern, whatever Ganguly might say notwithstanding. Ashish Nehra, more out of the side than in it, is yet another worry, but he might still get the nod ahead of either Irfan Pathan or Lakshmipathy Balaji.Normally India never announce their team the day before a game, so it came as no surprise when Ganguly said that key decisions on the composition of the side would be taken only on the morning of the match. The batting line-up, if not the actual batting order, is well set, with the only choice being between Hemang Badani and Mohammad Kaif.This series has been preceded by so much talk about security, inter-country politics, goodwill et al, that it’s a massive relief that the games are finally about to begin. Finally there is talk about bat and ball, Pakistan’s fast bowlers versus India’s batting and, of course, Shoaib Akhtar v Sachin Tendulkar. Inzamam-ul-Haq was to the point, Javed Miandad chatty and witty, Sourav Ganguly laid-back, and John Wright measured, when they spoke to the press in the last two days. But none dropped any pearls of wisdom. With the number of press calls happening at the moment, that is hardly surprising.Yet, for India’s fans several key questions still remain unanswered. Is this bowling attack disciplined enough to hold down Pakistan’s batsmen? Will the batting line-up consistently put enough runs on the board to put pressure on the opposition? Will Tendulkar bat with the unfettered aggression he displayed at Centurion during the World Cup? Will Murali Kartik step up to the plate and be counted in the absence of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh? When either Simon Taufel or Nadeem Ghauri calls “play” and the first match of this series gets underway all questions will be answered.Pakistan (probable): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Yasir Hameed, 4 Yousuf Youhana, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Moin Khan (wk), 8 Shabbir Ahmed, 9 Saqlain Mushtaq, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Mohammad Sami.India (probable): 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 SouravGanguly (capt), 4 Rahul Dravid (wk), 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Murali Kartik, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.

The South African board today announced some modifications for South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka in July and August.The first change is the tour match that was originally scheduled to be played in Colombo on August 18 will now take place at Moratuwa. The fourth one-dayer, at Dambulla, will be played on August 28 instead of a day earlier, and at the same venue. The fifth and final game in the series has also been delayed by a day, and will now take place on August 31 at the SSC ground in Colombo.South Africa are to due to arrive on July 27, and will play two Tests and five one-dayers. They start kick off their tour with a three-day warm-up match on July 30. The first Test is on August 4 at Galle.

In the remaining two Championship matches, there was an early finish at Hove, where Sussex showed signs of last year’s Championship winning form by polishing off Kent by an innings and 45 runs, while at Trent Bridge, Hampshire and Notts played out a high-scoring draw, with Michael Clarke scoring 103.Resuming at 99 for 3, Kent always had a tough ask on their hands, but once they lost Michael Carberry for the addition of only nine runs, it was near impossible. Mushtaq Ahmed and Mark Davis collected four wickets each, as Kent’s innings petered out to 243, with Matthew Walker top-scoring with 62.There wasn’t such an exciting finish at Nottingham, however. After Notts were bowled out for 612 in reply to Hampshire’s first innings of 641 for 4 declared, with Mark Ealham scoring 113 not out, Hampshire closed at 295 for 6. Clarke scored his first hundred in the Championship, while Dimitri Mascarenhas chipped in with 41 not out.

County Championship Division One

Scorecard
Day 1 report: Fulton and Smith take their lead from Key – The Times Online
Day 2 report: Dozy day by the sea for Kent – The Sunday Telegraph
Day 3 report: Sussex turn the screw – The Daily Telegraph
Day 4 report: Spin pair bolster Sussex fortunes – The Daily Telegraph

County Championship Division Two

Scorecard
Day 1 report: Crawley returns to his fluent best – The Times Online
Day 2 report: Crawley rolls back the years – The Independent on Sunday
Day 3 report: Batsmen hit back – The Daily Telegraph
Day 4 report: Notts sitting pretty – The Daily Telegraph

ScorecardSri Lanka A made it six wins out of six on their tour of England with a convincing win over Sussex at Hove. After Jehan Mubarak and Ian Daniel helped Sri Lanka A to 251 for 7, Sussex folded to 156 all out in 40.5 overs, with only Tony Cottey providing any resistance as Sussex went down by 95 runs.After Sri Lanka A were put in, they stuttered to 42 for 2 before Mubarak and Daniel put on a lively stand of 130. Mubarak scored 71, including nine fours and a six, while Daniel compiled a run-a-ball 68. Malintha Gajanayake chipped in down the order with 29 not out to help the total to a respectable one. James Kirtley, leading Sussex in place of Chris Adams, used eight bowlers in all, with Jason Lewry taking 3 for 39.In their reply, Sussex lost Matt Prior early on for 1 before Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin steadied the ship. However, Ranga Dias then turned the match on its head with three wickets in quick succession as Sussex lost three batsmen for one run. Goodwin was the first to go, bowled for 14, Robert Martin-Jenkins completed a dismal game when he was bowled for a duck, and then Montgomerie was caught for 32 as Sussex spluttered to 50 for 4.Carl Hopkinson was soon run out for 5, but Tony Cottey and Mark Davis put Sussex back on track with a fighting stand of 55 before Cottey was stumped for 53 – and that was that. The tailenders failed to make any impression, as the last three wickets fell for six runs with Davis left not out on 36.

Zee Telefilms, who bid a record amount for the BCCI’s television rights, have been approached by Turner International Asia Pacific to launch a global sports channel, according to the While the existence of the proposal was confirmed, Zee officials were unwilling to discuss details.Turner’s involvement is likely to boost Zee’s chances of receiving the highly contested rights, for the BCCI has said it will give the rights to the most suitable candidate. Considering that Zee and ESPN-Star Sports outbid other sports channels by a huge margin, it is quite possible that the BCCI will opt to award the rights to one of the two channels.The general perception is that though Zee had the highest offer, ESPN-Star has had more experience covering cricket. It’s still a factor that could turn the tide their way, though Turner’s unexpected proposal could tilt the scales in favor of Zee, who had bid Rs1200crore for the four-year rights, compared to ESPN-Star’s Rs1100crore.In India, Zee has been known more for movies and entertainment, but that hasn’t stopped other entertainment channels from receiving rights for cricket events. Last year, Sony’s Set Max, primarily a movie channel, broadcast the World Cup. Its approach to the game opened up new markets, and generated a lot of revenue. The BCCI realised this, and the TV rights were then estimated to be worth four times as much as they were valued four years ago.

This time 12 months ago Sussex were poised to secure their first County Championship title. A year later and things at Hove are a little different with a top-three finish the best the county are likely to achieve after a poor start to the summer.But the enthusiasm of Chris Adams, in his eighth year as Sussex captain, remains undiminished, and he has ended speculation that he was about to stand down by telling the local newspaper that he is keen to continue – if he is wanted.”Last year took a lot out of me,” he told the Sussex-based Argus newspaper. “I did seriously think about going out on a high. But that wouldn’t have been fair on the players or the club who have backed me and deserved some loyalty in return.”I have said to the club that I see myself doing the job as long as they want me to,” Adams continued. “If someone else stepped forward then I’d happily stand down, but at the moment I’d be delighted to carry on next year and maybe beyond. Who knows?”As there is nobody at Sussex who stands out as a rival, and budgetary restrictions rule out a big-name signing from another county, Adams’s position seems secure.”It can be very stressful at times, but it’s also hugely rewarding,” Adams added. “I love doing it and would be delighted to carry on. Obviously, in a year’s time if someone stood out we’d have to take a look at it again.”

Darren Lehmann has rejected talk of retiring after the Adelaide Test against New Zealand and wants to stay on until next year’s Ashes tour. Lehmann was picked for the first game ahead of Simon Katich and will look to secure his place on his home ground from Friday after making just 8 at Brisbane.”I’m definitely not retiring,” Lehmann told reporters as he arrived in Adelaide. “If I’m enjoying cricket I’ll keep playing and I certainly am enjoying playing – so there’s no thoughts of that in my mind at all.”Lehmann also said his team-mates had spoken to Adam Gilchrist, who has been under heavy scrutiny following his walking disagreement with Craig McMillan in the first Test. “We’ll support him in whichever way he goes and whatever help he needs he’ll get it,” Lehmann said. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, said the walking debate had been “blown out of proportion” and Gilchrist did not deserve to be at the centre of it.Despite playing several seasons for Yorkshire, Lehmann has never been on an Ashes tour and wants to make the trip next year. “That’s the whole goal,” he said. “I want to get there and play a full Ashes tour.”

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.

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.

Steve Waugh believes Brett Lee’s action has caused his tendency to spray beamers at opposition batsmen. As the controversy from his dangerous full toss at Brendon McCullum’s waist on Saturday continued, more former players joined the debate and Rodney Hogg said it was a deliberate ploy.Waugh, the captain who has seen Lee at his fastest, told the Courier-Mail his “flat-into-the-crease” action increased the likelihood of the higher delivery. “You have to take Brett’s word it was accidental,” Waugh said. “It has probably happened to Brett a couple of times because there is something about his action. He is flat into the crease. If he gets it slightly wrong bowling yorkers or low full tosses, if he slips or the batsman moves – there is a possibility he can get it wrong more than other bowlers.”Waugh said the beamer issue was delicate and if a bowler had deliberately delivered one there was no way his teammates would stand up for him. “It doesn’t matter what the bond of friendship is,” he told the newspaper. “It is the one big no-no. The one thing every cricketer abhors is a bean ball. It can seriously injure someone.”However, Hogg, the former fast bowler who played 38 Tests, said Lee’s ball at Auckland was “unacceptable”. “A bean-ball at the head is not a slip,” Hogg told a Melbourne radio show. “It’s a cold, calculated piece of the game. When you release a bean-ball, you are releasing it at a different part of your action. You have to release the ball earlier.”Hogg said the two beamers Abdul Razzaq bowled to Lee in the VB Series finals were also planned. “Razzaq and Lee had a confrontation up in Sydney and Razzaq was trying to make out that it slipped, but it didn’t,” he said. “Lee gave him a real good one back … but it’s not on.” Hogg said he bowled similar deliveries on flat wickets “to even things up” when there was “no rule that said you couldn’t”.Merv Hughes, Len Pascoe and Sir Richard Hadlee agreed with Lee that the McCullum blow was accidental. Hadlee said the ball “slips from time to time” and Hughes said a beamer was a “head-high full toss”.”If Brett wanted to hit a bloke in the head, he’s good enough to do it,” Hughes told the Sydney Morning Herald. “When you bowl at Brett’s pace, it only takes, say, his foot to be out of place just a little bit for the ball to go off line.”Pascoe told the newspaper it was his action that was causing the problem to re-occur. “If it had only happened once you might think it’s deliberate, but the fact it’s happened three or four times says to me that it’s his technique,” he said. “The margin of error for a bloke bowling that fast off 30 paces is very small. Your knee might collapse on release, your shoulder might drop a little, and that can lead to the ball going off target.”