All posts by csb10.top

Shaun Tait, who took an indefinite break from the game, is feeling refreshed and planning to return without worrying about how fast he bowls. Tait, 25, walked away following his unsuccessful return to the Test team in January, citing physical and emotional exhaustion.”In the last two weeks I’ve started to feel like myself again,” he said after being named in the Australian Cricketers’ Association FR Cup team of the year. “I’m thinking about cricket more and thinking about playing cricket again. It’s a good sign.”The one big thing I have learnt about myself is I do enjoy cricket. It is a part of my life and will be a part of my life for the future.”Tait told the he was “feeling normal again”. “For a long time before I made the decision and then after, especially, I just didn’t feel normal,” he said. “It was all surreal in a way. It’s a hard thing to explain. You just don’t feel yourself.”After being picked for his third Test, against India in Perth, Tait went wicket-less and had a sore hamstring, which followed a long recovery from elbow surgery. “Obviously there’s a lot of stress on the body,” he said. “It started to affect me mentally as well.”I just wasn’t enjoying playing cricket. Even when I was back playing for the Redbacks I wasn’t enjoying it. I was just going through the motions for the sake of it. I was thinking everyone else is busting their guts except for me and I’m just not even feeling like playing when I’m playing for my country.”Australia’s next domestic season begins in October and at the moment it looks like Tait will be part of it with South Australia. He has not set a return date but when he comes back he will have a different approach. “I’m not going to worry about the speed gun as much as I used to,” he said.”I’m my own worst enemy. Everyone talks it up. Everyone looks at me for one reason. That I can bowl fast and that’s it. I’m going to work on other parts of my game as well.”Tait has also received advice from Brett Lee. “His trick was bowling better lines and just worrying about being a mature bowler rather than trying to be the fastest bowler of all time.”

Ravindra Jadeja’s double-century underpinned Saurashtra’s dominant batting performance against Jammu & Kashmir in Rajkot. Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 150 overnight, struck another 51 runs, while Snell Patel, who resumed on 31, ended up with 94 as Saurashtra racked up 624 for 7 before declaring their innings. Jammu & Kashmir openers Ahmed Bandy and Shubham Khajuria could not build on starts, while Pranav Gupta and Ian Dev Singh were sent back cheaply. The side finished on 103 for 4, with Parvez Rasool, their captain, unbeaten on 23. The left-arm-spinning Jadejas – Ravindra and Dharmendrasinh – combined to take all four wickets, the latter accounting for three of them.Chirag Gandhi’s unbeaten 91 gave Gujarat the first-innings lead against Kerala in Nadiad. Gujarat began the day on 60 for 2 in response to Kerala’s first-innings 208. With Gujarat at 164 for 6, either team could have taken the lead, but Gandhi ensured the hosts would be that team, striking 12 fours and a six in his 142-ball knock. He found support from Rujul Bhatt with whom he added 90 runs for the seventh wicket. Gandhi is in the middle of an unbroken last-wicket stand of 28 with Siddharth Desai, who is yet to contribute a run. MD Nidheesh and Jalaj Saxena took three wickets each for Kerala.Tajinder Singh’s maiden first-class century shored up Rajasthan to 423 in their first innings against Jharkhand at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Tajinder resumed on 66 in the company of the overnight centurion Amitkumar Gautam, who scored just four more before being dismissed. Tajinder finished with 134 with the help of 18 fours and a six before becoming the ninth man dismissed. Rajasthan were also aided by contributions of 35 from their captain Pankaj Singh at No. 10 and an unbeaten 18 from their No. 11 Khaleel Ahmed. Jharkhand lost their openers early to be reduced to 15 for 2 before Saurabh Tiwary (56*) and Virat Singh (28*) rescued them with an unbroken 82-run stand.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChris Gayle’s 12-ball half-century was the lone bright spark for Melbourne Renegades as their BBL campaign came to a grinding halt•Getty Images

Melbourne Renegades needed to chase down Adelaide Strikers’ 170 in 16 overs to set up a rematch in a Big Bash League semi-final at Adelaide Oval on Thursday. An outrageous 12-ball 50 from Chris Gayle, equalling Yuvraj Singh’s fastest-ever T20 half-century, looked to be carrying them to an unlikely victory, before the Strikers’ spinners fought back to strangle the Renegades, who at one stage lost seven for 37, and win the game. As a result, Sydney Thunder qualified for their first semi-final in BBL history.Gayle had 51 of his team’s first 60 runs, including seven sixes. But by then, Renegades had already lost three wickets. Tom Cooper – who had watched Gayle pummel four consecutive Greg West deliveries for four sixes in the innings’ first over – was the first to go when he nicked the first ball off Michael Neser to the wicketkeeper. Travis Head then dismissed Cameron White and Dwayne Bravo off consecutive deliveries to derail the chase.

Cloud of uncertainty over Jayawardene

Adelaide Strikers coach Jason Gillespie remains unsure whether Mahela Jayawardene will be fit to play in the semi-final against Sydney Thunder at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Jayawardene missed Strikers’ last two games with a quadriceps tear sustained while making 53 against the Brisbane Heat on January 8.
“We’ll be monitoring him,” Gillespie said. “He’s started running in the last couple of days and is not fully fit right now, but he’s building up and is getting stronger every day and will make a call when that time comes.
“You want Mahela fit, but we won’t play any players who aren’t fit, and he needs to prove his fitness, as does everyone in the squad. We will just wait and see come Thursday, speak to the physio and the doc and make a judgement call on that.”

It was a truly scintillating passage of hitting from Gayle, and one that had been brewing. Throughout the competition, he has looked far more comfortable chasing than setting a target, and he has become well-acquainted with Docklands Stadium’s short square boundaries. After West was tucked to deep-midwicket for two, followed by a defensive stroke, Gayle let fly, pulling a short ball over cow twice, then flicking one behind square and then over long-on, all for six. He hit the first two balls he faced from Ben Laughlin for six too, a wide full toss over long-off, then the resultant free hit was sent to cow corner. Head’s first ball, bravely flighted, also went the distance over long-on to bring up Gayle’s half-century.Head – who could only manage a duck on the day he was called up to Australia’s T20 squad for the first time, exhibited his all-round ability. He had two in two as Cameron White and Dwayne Bravo fell off successive deliveries, but Gayle didn’t back off, hitting him nonchalantly over long-off. Then came perhaps the biggest moment of the evening as he cramped Gayle for room as the top edge was well pouched by Tim Ludeman, the wicketkeeper.With Gayle gone, there was a feeling that the Renegades had already sunk, even though Peter Nevill kept pinching boundaries. But he was run out by sharp work by Brad Hodge before the tail, that looked to hoick the spinners into the Tasman, came a cropper. Some late heave from tail-enders Nathan Rimmington and Cameron Gannon proved in vain as they lost by 27 runs.In truth, Renegades did not deserve to qualify. They failed to win a game at home, and regularly failed to capitalise on good starts, and, like Gayle himself, struggled badly while batting first. They bowed out with fewer wickets than any BBL team in history, 32, having particularly been unable to pick up wickets in the first ten overs. Here, as Strikers casually compiled a professional 170, they made it to halfway 82-0, thanks to some powerful hitting from Jono Dean.Dean, who hit four sixes, fell in the 11th over, top-edging a Bravo slower ball back to the bowler. Head was caught deep in the legside next over. Before they realised, Xavier Doherty quickly snared Alex Ross and Tim Ludeman, who had played attractively after recovering from a slow start. Hodge and Jade Lehmann came together to share a vital 45. Lehmann pulled and square drove impressively before falling in Rimmington’s final over, while Hodge was canny as ever, his innings full of short arm jabs and bunts over square leg.Thunder, watching this game as a squad in Sydney, will have breathed easy when Gayle fell, and they travel to Adelaide for Thursday’s semi with no fear; their record as the only team this season to beat the Strikers is in tact.

India’s Test captain Virat Kohli has come out in support of day-night Tests, even expressing his willingness to play with the pink ball. Test cricket, the long cherished traditional form of the game, will start a new chapter in its evolution when Australia and New Zealand play the inaugural day-night Test starting at the Adelaide Oval from November 27.In recent weeks, there has been a raging debate among players, administrators and fans on the feasibility of day-night Tests, particularly the challenges of reading a bright coloured ball during late evenings, and the difficulties batsmen are likely to face due to an exaggerated swing. The main reason to play day-night Test cricket, according to the ICC, is to promote the longer form of the game and arrest the fast-declining crowds at grounds.For Kohli, day-night Tests are both an experiment as well as a forward-looking step in the game. “It is a landmark Test,” Kohli said, speaking on the eve of India’s third Test against South Africa in Nagpur. “It is a big experiment. It is a big step towards changing something in Test cricket. I hope it works. I hope it can be another option as well.”I’m glad two teams have actually agreed to play an official Test like that as an experiment. Credit to Australia and New Zealand, both, that they have decided to do this. Hopefully it will be better for the game. It will be a step which we all might remember few years down the line. Let’s hope so.”Incidentally, Kohli is the first Indian voice, be it player or administrator, to give an opinion on day-night Tests. Kohli said he was open to playing such a match because he saw it as a positive step to promote Test cricket.”As I said, it is a step towards something. If it is officially put into place it will be something different, it will be something exciting. As cricketers we all should be willing and accepting of the fact that we need to step forward and contribute to the game however possible. If this is a step towards improving the excitement and the popularity of Test cricket, then I think every team should be in for it.”Kohli has never featured in a match involving a pink ball, so he said his opinions on the challenges were based on what he had heard recently from other players.”I have heard a few of the players giving feedback on playing with the pink ball. The only thing that they were concerned about is that during twilight it is hard to pick up the ball. During the day it was still fine. And at night it was okay as well, but when the floodlights are not sort of on and the sun is going down is when they found it very difficult.”

IPL season to begin on April 9

• IPL 9 will start on April 9, six days after the World Twenty20 final in Kolkata, and end on May 26

• Mumbai will host the IPL season-opener and final

• According to BCCI president Shashank Manohar, the player auction will be held in Bangalore on February 6

• He also said the franchises will take part in a two-day workshop in Srinagar, on January 13 and 14

The Sanjeev Goenka-owned New Rising consortium and mobile phone manufacturer Intex have won ownership rights of the two new franchises in the IPL. New Rising have picked Pune as their home base, while Intex have opted for Rajkot.New Rising bid Rs minus 16 crore while Intex quoted minus 10 crore in the reverse bidding process through which the new franchises were chosen.In a short media briefing, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said a total of five bidders had entered the fray to bid for the ownership rights of the two new franchises that would replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who were both suspended for two years by the RM Lodha panel investigation the 2013 IPL corruption scandal. Harsh Goenka’s RPG group, Chennai-based cement major Chettinad Group and Axis Chemicals were the other three bidders.Under reverse bidding investors were encouraged to bid for lower than the base price of Rs 40 crore set by the IPL. This meant the BCCI would pay a maximum of Rs 40 crore from its central revenue pool to the new owner. The investor who bid the lowest price would eventually bag the ownership rights. Having bid in the negative, New Rising will now pay Rs 16 crore while Intex will pay Rs 10 crore to the BCCI per year of their contracts.Goenka has business interests spread across different domains such as power, information technology and media and entertainment. Goenka is also a part of the Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt.Ltd consortium that owns the football franchise Atletico de Kolkata in the Indian Super LeagueThe Delhi-based Intex Technologies specialises in manufacturing smartphones and consumer electronics durables, “I am personally a great sports enthusiast and a cricket lover. We have a great synergy with cricket,” Keshav Bansal, the director of Intex, said. “Nothing bigger than the IPL to connect with the youth, which is our target audience. Gujarat is a great cricket-loving state.”According to BCCI president Shashank Manohar the BCCI stood to earn profits of more than Rs 300 crore with the two new franchises declining to accept money from the central revenue pool.”What we had calculated was that BCCI pays them [franchises] approximate 70 crores first year out of the central revenue and next year it would be 75 crores. So that makes it 145 crore for one team. Now that 145 crore is going to be safe because they are not accepting that central revenue. Plus they are paying us 25 crore so 50 crores [across two years] more. That is the simple calculation,” Manohar said at the media conference.But purely financially this doesn’t seem very beneficial for the new franchisees. They look set to suffer losses and will likely relinquish any goodwill generated through two years of their existence as a team. After the two suspended franchises serve their time, they will come back into the IPL fold. Even if the BCCI raises the number of teams to 10 after two years, the new franchises will have to be won through a fresh auction.Bansal estimated Intex group will have to spend around or more than Rs. 100 crore per year on the players, stadiums, security, logistics, travel, the bid amount etc.Intex bid in minus for Rajkot while their other two bids for Visakhapatnam and Kanpur were in positive. “We knew the competition was going to be intense,” Bansal explained. “So we had a negative bid. We chose Rajkot for a negative bid because Gujarat is a cricket-loving state with a higher spending power. And more importantly Intex is the No. 1 selling Indian handset brand over there.”We just wanted to be associated with cricket. The window happens to be for just two years. After this if the BCCI wants to continue or raise new teams, why not? The first step was to get into this.”Manohar though, made it clear that the new teams can come in only through a fresh bid at the end of the two years, which will mark the end of the original 10-year franchisee agreements.Intex said that even if they got just two years they considered this a good investment and Bansal said he looked at entering the IPL as just an extension of his company’s association with cricket and the BCCI. “You have to see the synergy from the product and the brand,” Bansal said. “We are the official on-air sponsors for 2015. In India cricket is the biggest thing. The idea is to get the best out of that.”Asked whether New Rising was willing to suffer losses and look at entering the IPL as an investment, Subhashish Mitra, the executive director and group company secretary at New Rising, said the owners were looking at serving the sport.”We love the game of cricket. This is our humble way of getting associated under the great banner of BCCI. We will do our humble bit to support the game of the cricket in India. And this is the endeavour which has driven us to this humble initiative. We love the game of cricket as we love the game of football. This is a small gesture from our side to get involved with the great game of cricket.”The next step for both new franchises will be taking part in a player draft on December 15, where both teams will pick five players each from a pool of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals players. Having finished as the lowest bidder, New Rising will get to pick the first player from the 10-player pool. Intex will pick the second player and both teams will alternate thereafter.For the ten Super Kings and Royals players chosen, the BCCI has applied the same money brackets it put in place two years ago when the other six franchises were allowed to retain five players. The first player gets Rs 12.5 crore, the second Rs 9.5 crore, the third Rs 7.5 crore, the fourth Rs 5.5 crore and the fifth Rs 4 crore. An uncapped player stands to earn Rs 4 crore if he is picked. Irrespective of the IPL fee agreed between the franchise and the retained player, a fixed amount will be deducted from the franchise’s salary cap per player retained.Incidentally, at the franchise auction, all five bidders opted for more than one city from the nine available. The four bidders other than Intex all had Pune on their roster. New Rising bid Rs minus 11 crore for Nagpur. Intex also bid for Nagpur and Visakhapatnam, but quoted Rs 10 crore for each of the two cities. Chettinad, meanwhile, quoted Rs 27 crore for both Pune and Chennai. RPG bid Rs 17.88 crore for Pune and Rs 20.88 crore for Rajkot. Intex bid Rs 10 crore for both Kanpur and Visakhapatnam. Axis, meanwhile, quoted Rs 15 crore for both Nagpur and Kanpur and Rs 10 crore for Pune,The bidding process lasted for about an hour and was a two-part exercise: the first half involved determining the mandatory technical eligibility of the five bidders followed by a check on the the financial eligibility of the five bidders.

Former West Indies batsman Desmond Haynes wants a regional cricket academy to be set up in order to get West Indies cricket back up the ladder.Speaking at the “Rebuilding West Indies Glory” Sports Desk Symposium in St Anne’s, Haynes said, “Too much money is being spent by the West Indies Cricket Board by bringing in these coaches from outside, when we in the Caribbean can do a better job. If I had to make a choice, I don’t think I would appoint a coach of the West Indies team.”Let me tell you, as a former player, that when you reach the West Indies senior-team level, it is very hard to change a player. I think that the WICB should concentrate on cricket at the youth level and mould these players into winners.”I am saying that a cricket academy in the West Indies is very crucial to our success. The former great players might not want to travel with the team day in and day out but they may want to still assist the players. Remember, these guys have families and they would have travelled a lot during their playing days. Now they may not want to continue that but more importantly, I think that they will be better served at the academy than being around the Test team for just a few days before a match.”Haynes, 52, believes former players can add value to an academy by conducting clinics. “What can be done is that the WICB sets up an academy and allows former players to come in and host clinics in the different disciplines. This would work well and will be of tremendous help to the young players.””With the technology available to us right now, the coaches can sit at the academy and view videos of the players during their net sessions and matches and make recommendations to them. You don’t have to be on the spot to make a change.”Haynes added that a number of mini-academies should be set up in each territory for the younger players before they move on to the major academy.Deryck Murray, the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board and former West Indies wicketkeeper, believes the only way West Indies cricket can move forward is for officials to stop fooling themselves into believing that the team is in a rebuilding phase.Speaking at the same symposium, Murray said, “If we win a Test match in 2008 and people say that we have started the rebuilding process, then this is a disgrace to all the players who have worn the maroon cap before. We have a world record for a team in the rebuilding phase. We have been rebuilding for 15 years and the process still continues. The only time we would rebuild West Indies cricket is when we stop fooling ourselves and start doing the things that would take our cricket back up the ladder.”Another foolish thing some people say is that we would be back to winning ways because we have players with talent. Well, I have news for them, and that is, every country has talent and this means nothing if the talent is not turned into progress.”We in the Caribbean are always looking for the easy way out and this is doing us no good. What is needed at this time is for fans in the Caribbean to pressurise all stakeholders to ensure that they do the right things to initiate the rebuilding process.”Murray said the only way West Indies could start winning again was for the players to instill a measure of pride in their cricket.

Ryan Sidebottom was probably being a bit hard on himself when he announced that he was “bitterly disappointed” with his wicketless performance on the first day of the Lord’s Test against New Zealand, but when you’re the reigning England Cricketer of the Year, with a tally of 24 Kiwi scalps under your belt already, it’s only fair that you should set your standards high. Either way, he made swift amends after a good night’s sleep and a minor technical tweak, and duly swept through New Zealand’s tail with 4 for 5 in 9.2 overs.One of those victims was Jacob Oram, who applied himself gamely for a two-and-a-half hour 28, before Sidebottom undid him with a full-length outswinger that he nicked to slip. “He’s the best bowler I’ve faced at the moment, and I’m pretty keen not to face him again,” said Oram. “He’s bowling at a good pace, and swings it enough to cause guys trouble. If you’re able to swing it with accuracy, you’re going to be tough to play, and that’s the thing that strikes me the most about him. He’s right at the top of his game, and right back where he was in New Zealand, unfortunately for us.”Sidebottom was his usual modest self when discussing his performance, but admitted that – as the first anniversary of his Test recall draws closer – he now sees himself as the leader of the England pack. “Any bowler should think like that,” he said. “You’re playing Test cricket and you should put pressure on yourself. I see it as a responsibility, and I guess I’ve been around a bit more than Broady and Jimmy [Anderson]. It’s an added responsibility and one I’d like to take on.”It was Broad and Anderson who were England’s main men on the first day, sharing five wickets between them, and Sidebottom admitted that there had been some friendly jibes in the dressing-room after he had swept into the action today. “The lads were taking the mickey, saying I’d burgled a few wickets after all their hard work yesterday, which I agree with,” said Sidebottom. “I was bitterly disappointed with my performance yesterday, you’d like to back up Broady and Jimmy who bowled fantastically. New Zealand are strong in the middle order, but we think they got 50 runs too many in hindsight.”To Sidebottom’s credit, he was quick to identify why his performance had been slightly off the boil on the first day, and with England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson, on hand, he made amends immediately. “I didn’t run in with my arms enough yesterday, because when you do that they go into position rather than just being lazy,” he said. “But that sometimes happens, you can’t bowl well all the time. Maybe I was trying too hard as well in the first Test [of the season] at Lord’s. But I have no excuses, it was pretty poor from myself, and I wanted to come back today and bowl a bit better.”A feature of Sidebottom’s performance today was the number of short balls he bowled, particularly to Oram, who was pushed onto the back foot before being drawn forward again for his dismissal. “Today was a plan to be more aggressive and bowl a few more bouncers,” said Sidebottom, who suggested that Brendon McCullum in particular might receive a slightly more hostile reception when he comes out to bat in the second innings. “He’s a good player and he took the momentum away from us, but we weren’t as aggressive as we could be and we let him play a few front-foot shots. Although he’s quite good at hooking and pulling, no batsmen like it. It puts them off their play and the way they move their feet.”England’s day ended with Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss well placed in an unbeaten 68-run partnership, and Oram conceded that New Zealand were up against it in this match already. “We’ve got to make improvements or we’re going to be wiped off the park,” he said. “We didn’t enter the game hoping for a draw and we’re not playing for the draw at the moment, but they were probably as demanding as they were in New Zealand in the final two Tests there. They bowled with a lot more intent and the rewards came, but if the weather is overcast and drizzly, it’ll be an opportunity to chip away.”

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has been put on paid leave until his contract runs out on July 4.In a brief statement, David Morgan, the ICC’s president-elect, said: “This … is the result of a fundamental breakdown in the relationship between the CEO and a number of board members, including the president, over a variety of issues that include Zimbabwe.”David Richardson, the ICC general manager – cricket, will serve as interim CEO until Speed’s replacement, Haroon Lorgat, assumes the role at the ICC’s annual conference at the beginning of July.”Cricinfo has learnt that though Speed’s ouster was largely due to serious differences he had with Ray Mali, the ICC president, and Norman Arendse, the president of Cricket South Africa, over the Zimbabwe crisis, the chief executive’s recent comments on the unauthorized Indian Cricket League (ICL) had senior BCCI officials demanding that he leave the post.BCCI started pushing for Speed’s removal after he told reporters in Mumbai that the Indian board was yet to officially request ICC to ban the one-year-old ICL. Indian officials later claimed that the issue had been raised at various ICC meetings.Apparently, the decision to remove Speed was finalized informally during a meeting of some senior ICC board members, including a senior Indian official, on the eve of the Indian Premier League (IPL) launch in Bangalore on April 18.”There were many who were not happy with Malcolm’s confrontational style of functioning,” a BCCI official, who did not wish to be named, told Cricinfo.”We have removed him so what is left to say now,” said a senior official from the anti-Speed camp, who did not wish to be identified. “We were not happy with the way he handled the Zimbabwe situation, and his recent statements which implied that the ICL issue had not been raised officially within ICC.”Rumours had also been circulating for the last month that Speed had had a serious falling-out with Mali, following the ICC executive’s decision not to take any major action against Zimbabwe following an independent forensic audit carried out by KPMG, which the ICC has since refused to make available.Following the ICC’s meeting in Dubai in March, at which the decision to overlook the audit was taken, Speed refused to attend the traditional post-meeting media conference, explaining privately to the executive that he was not prepared to defend in public a decision with which he fundamentally disagreed. It had been the recommendation of the audit committee that senior ZC officials should have been referred to the ethics committee.In July last year, a confidential report by Speed and Faisal Hasnain, the ICC’s chief financial officer, was leaked, much to the ICC’s embarrassment and anger, in which Speed made a series of stinging attacks on Zimbabwe Cricket’s finances, concluding: “It is clear that the accounts of ZC have been deliberately falsified to mask various illegal transactions from the auditors and the government of Zimbabwe. The accounts were incorrect and at no stage did ZC draw the attention of the users of these accounts to the unusual transactions. It may not be possible to rely on the authenticity of its balance sheet.”Mali, who is a staunch supporter of Zimbabwe and of its officials, has not yet commented publicly on the situation it will be Morgan who fronts up at the press conference at Lord’s tomorrow.Mali is understood to have been incensed by Speed’s conduct and gained support from a number of board members as he successfully moved to have Speed sidelined for the remainder of his tenure. Although Zimbabwe has emerged as the key reason for the falling-out, it is understood that Speed’s recent statement that the rebel Indian Cricket League had approached the ICC seeking official recognition had also been used as an excuse to get rid of him.”At this point I am not in a position to respond to your question,” Mali told the when asked for the reasons the action against Speed had been taken . “But I will definitely do so in the near future.”Haroon Lorgat, South Africa’s former convenor of selectors, is lined up to succeed Speed as CEO, but said that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the development as he is not involved with the ICC yet. “This is something I don’t want to get into right now,” Lorgat told Cricinfo.

Paul Collingwood has given England an injury concern ahead of the first Test against New Zealand after suffering stiffness in his back and soreness in his right shoulder following Durham’s Championship defeat against Lancashire at Old Trafford.He is due to have an injection in his shoulder and an ECB statement said: “He will be assessed again over the next 48 hours.”The problem is in the same shoulder that Collingwood injured during the one-day series against Sri Lanka last October. He landed heavily as he tried to take a caught and bowled chance during the third ODI in Dambulla and required an injection. Although he continued playing, he didn’t bowl in the final match of that series.He again suffered discomfort during the New Zealand tour and needed another injection so any recurrence will cause a few worries in the England camp. His batting form this season has been poor with 32 runs in five innings, culminating in scores of 3 and 2 against Lancashire where he was dismissed by England team-mates James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff.Wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose wasn’t able to take up his position for Warwickshire in their Championship match against Derbyshire after waking up with a stiff neck. However, the move to keep him off the field was precautionary with the Test six days and he underwent massage treatment.

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya dismissed any security concerns and said his players felt at home after his side became the first international team to visit Pakistan since Sept 11 terrorists attacks in the United States.”We don’t see any problems here. The two boards have discussed all the issues and we trust them,” the flamboyant opener told Dawn at Gaddafi Stadium.Pakistan had to cancel five major international events in the aftermath of Sept 11 attacks in Washington and New York. New Zealand cricketers returned from Singapore, Champions Trophy hockey was shifted to Holland from Lahore, Pakistan Open squash was postponed, the seven-nation SAF Games were put-off and the West Indies refused to travel to Pakistan but fulfilled their international commitment in Sharjah.”We have never faced any problems coming to Pakistan. We were ready to come for five one-dayers [in October last year] but the tour didn’t materialize. We don’t see any problems and feel just like being at home,” Jayasuriya, who led Sri Lanka to victory in the three-Test series in 2000, said.Jayasuriya didn’t blame New Zealand and the West Indies for cancelling their tours to Pakistan saying the non-Asian countries didn’t understand the Asian culture and situations. “We the Asian and the rest think differently. The Asian boards enjoy different relationship and therefore, we are in more side of helping each other,” Jayasuriya said.Australia and the West Indies also forfeited their 1996 World Cup matches in Sri Lanka when they refused to travel citing security concerns. However, a combined team from Pakistan and Indian played a festival match to compensate for the losses and crowd dejection.”That’s precisely why specially the Sri Lankan board wants to support Pakistan at this moment. When we had a crisis [in 1996], both India and Pakistan came to our support. “That’s exactly why we are here because we want to help and support Pakistan,” Jayasuriya said.Sri Lanka’s Australia coach Dav Whatmore also brushed aside security fears. “Honestly, there is not a problem. The team is very glad and we are pleased to be here to participate in the Asian Test Championship final which is not a neutral venue by the way,” he said.”We are happy to come and support Pakistan. And here we are and let’s hope we have a good game,” Whatmore, in his second term with the Sri Lankans, said. Whatmore said had there been any concerns, their board would not have placed them in a position of anything other than safety.Whatmore, however, refused to comment if this tour of Sri Lanka would clear road for New Zealand to reschedule their tour between April 20 and May 18 and Australia go-ahead with their proposed visit in October.”I don’t want to be drawn into answering that question. What I would like to say is that Sri Lanka are here playing this Test match and we are very happy to do that. But I wouldn’t like to comment on decision made by any other cricket board,” Whatmore said.The Australian agreed that the championship had been devalued after India refused to take part and admitted that the debate would continue on whether actually any of Sri Lanka or Pakistan were the real Asian champions.”What you have said is a statement of facts that India hasn’t participate. And it does devalue the event to a point. But from time to time you have situations like this. “But what’s important is that the Asian Test Championship created only a few years back and is an interesting concept is being played,” he said.