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Victoria have been boosted by the inclusion of Brad Hodge and Mick Lewis in their 12-man squad for the Ford Ranger Cup match against New South Wales at the MCG on Wednesday. But the Bushrangers will be without Shane Harwood, who is expected to miss two to three weeks with a calf injury.Hodge has recovered from a quadriceps strain and Lewis from a hip muscle injury. Both found form immediately upon their return in the Pura Cup game that finished on Monday, with Lewis claiming eight wickets and Hodge scoring 88. Grant Lindsay has been omitted from the one-day team.New South Wales have named Matthew Nicholson and Aaron O’Brien in their squad, while Jason Krejza and Aaron Bird, who has been reported for a suspect bowling action, have been left out.Victoria pulled off a remarkable win when the two sides met at Canberra last Sunday, thanks to centuries from Cameron White and Michael Klinger. Both sides have three wins this season and victory on Wednesday will put one state a step closer to catching competition leaders Queensland.Victoria squad Michael Klinger, Jon Moss, Brad Hodge, Cameron White (capt), David Hussey, Aiden Blizzard, Rob Quiney, Andrew McDonald, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Clinton McKay, Mick Lewis, Darren Pattinson.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Ed Cowan, Simon Katich (capt), Brad Haddin (wk), Daniel Christian, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, David Warner, Nathan Hauritz, Matthew Nicholson, Nathan Bracken, Scott Coyte.

Rafiqul Alam, Bangladesh’s newly-appointed chairman of selectors, has said pumping more money into domestic cricket is the easiest way to improve the game at that level.”I rather think that if domestic cricket is spruced with more money, competition will go up and there will be more close matches,” Alam told the ,a Dhaka-based newspaper. “The first-class competition [National Cricket League] should be taken seriously by all concerned,” he said.The Bangladesh board has set up a ten-member committee to review the structure of the domestic game as it feels the weakness of domestic cricket is hampering Bangladesh’s performance at the international level.Alam, who replaced Faruque Ahmed in the selection panel, outlined the goals for his two-year tenure. “My personal point of view is that we should have a short-term goal and that should last three to four years, if not more.” He said Bangladesh had shown considerable improvement in one-dayers over the past few years and should continue to build on the positive work to progress further.The side also has the potential to do well in Tests, according to Alam, and should aim at pushing the game to the fifth day and getting more draws out of their opponents.”We have pushed teams like Pakistan [in 2003], done well in West Indies [in 2004] and almost won against Australia here in Fatullah last year,” he said.Alam played two one-dayers during the tour of Sri Lanka in 1986. He was also a match-referee with the board and has been involved in coaching as well.

Zimbabweans 304 for 4 (Rinke 104, Taylor 80) beat Antigua & Barbuda 253 (Joseph 46, Mupariwa 3-30, Dabengwa 3-49) by 51 runs
ScorecardA hundred from Piet Rinke, who also top-scored in the tour opener, and a breezy 80 from Brendan Taylor guided the Zimbabweans to a morale-boosting 51-run win in their second warm-up against Antigua and Barbuda at Antigua’s Jolly Beach ground.Rinke, whose no-holds-barred approach made a mark in the recent series against Kenya, attacked from the off on his way to 104, and was third man out when the score was 191. If the hosts hoped that his departure would stem the flow, they found that Taylor, the side’s most experienced batsman, took up the cudgels.Faced with a daunting target, Antigua and Barbuda were given a good start by Ralton Philip and Sylvester Joseph, but both fell within two overs and thereafter the innings never regained sufficient momentum to seriously worry the Zimbabweans.Keith Dabengwa and Tawanda Mupariwa shared six wickets, and the only real concern was the poor form of strike bowler Edward Rainsford, whose four overs were hammered for 33.

Kapil Dev has challenged the Indian board (BCCI) to remove him from his position as chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for associating with the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The ICL was launched by the Essel Group a few months ago and intends to organise a Twenty20 tournament in October.Kapil, who joined the ICL’s executive board as its chairman and was sent a letter from the BCCI on the issue, told an Indian news channel, “I have already sent my reply to them. They can remove me from the NCA if they want to.”They only wanted me to contribute to the game of cricket, and when I am doing so they cannot challenge me. If I can do something for the game and the young cricketers through the Indian Cricket League, I will not budge.”Kapil also reacted to the BCCI decision concerning pensions for players joining ICL. “I did not go to them asking for pension, and if they want to stop it, what can I do? Let them stop it.”Kapil, India’s only World Cup-winning captain, didn’t know what made the BCCI see a potential rival in the ICL.”Why do they see ICL as a parallel or rebel body? The BCCI is trying to promote the game in India and if somebody else is pumping in more money why is it a problem with them?”This league can help the BCCI only. This can help Indian cricket and shape so many careers. What is BCCI’s problem?”Speaking to the same channel, Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the BCCI, made it clear that players like Kapil would have to make a choice. “We have decided not to recognise ICL in our Working Committee meeting as no state association was in its favour. We don’t want to promote anybody who wants to be a parallel body. We have a policy and there will not be any re-think on this.”Kiran More, another former player to join the ICL, had resigned from his post as secretary of the Baroda Cricket Association.

Mark Gillespie, the rookie New Zealand fast bowler, is optimistic about his abilities to contribute in tight situations during his side’s Champions Trophy campaign. Touted as a potential at-the-death bowler, Gillespie has been picked as cover in an injury-prone New Zealand side and has expressed an appetite for a challenge.”If I play, it’ll be for keeps and I’m excited about that. I’d love to get a run,” Gillespie, 26, told reporters. “Every outing is a crunch match in this tournament so you’ve got to be on your game every time you walk out on the park. It’s not as if there’s a few soft games for blooding a youngster, it’s not like that. But I like the challenge; I like the extra buzz and the excitement, and I especially like the thought of playing over here, where it seems that just about everyone is obsessed with the game.”Gillespie earned a call-up based on a decent State Shield showing and a good performance for New Zealand A in the Top End tournament at Darwin. In his first outing in India, he picked up 3 for 37 from seven overs in a warm-up victory against Mumbai yesterday, but remained unsure of whether he would play in New Zealand’s first match against South Africa on Friday.”I’ve had no indication of what, if any games, I might be considered for,” he said. “I haven’t given it much thought to be honest; just taking every day as it comes. I don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself. If I play, well great, but if I don’t I’m still getting a marvellous learning experience.”He also lapped up the Indian atmosphere and support: “It’s been pretty crazy; a new experience for me, definitely. They just adore cricket, the people over here. It’s amazing, no matter where you go there are crowds following you. I haven’t got any previous experience over here so I don’t know what’s normal. But people are just crazy about the cricket and the Champions Trophy right now”.

On his disappointment at getting out with a century in sight.
It was pretty hot and humid out there – it’s got to be up there with the hottest conditions I’ve ever played in – so there was a lot of fluid loss that I’d had to fight through. I’d done the hard part, so it was a bit disappointing to give it away. I guess I was caught a little in two minds, but then again, I was pleased to spend some time in the middle.On England’s early batting collapse.
It was a timely innings to a certain extent, as there was some extremely low bounce on occasions, and when that’s the case, clumps of wickets can fall at any time. But once you’re in it’s not so bad, as we proved with some useful partnerships between myself, Rikki [Clarke] and Gareth [Batty].Those conditions can be pretty exhausting. But that’s something we know we are going to face all over the world – here, in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Australia as well. But we’re trying to become a fitter cricket team, and if we do that, then we’ll be better prepared to cope.On keeping wicket in these conditions.
Well, I guess if you break 90 overs a day down into three sessions, then that’s not too bad – 15 overs an hour with the spinners operating as well, it isn’t a massive ask. I’m enjoying keeping to the spinners, in fact. I imagine that, come the Tests, a lot of overs are going to be bowled by Gareth and Ashley [Giles], and obviously when we’re batting we’ll see a lot of overs against us as well. It’s something we worked at, and it’s all part of the gameplan.On England’s tough fitness programme.
We tend to go to the gym every other day for weights sessions, and the pool is always there to improve your flexibility and to get your body temperature down. And then, of course, there are the ice baths … Nigel Stockill [the physiologist] has got us working hard. But we hope to be the best cricket team in the world by 2007, and as well as that, we hope to be the fittest. If we are the fittest, then we know we’re giving ourselves every chanceOn taking over the wicketkeeping duties from Alec Stewart.
Everyone knows that, whoever is to be the long-term replacement for Alec, he has to start making big runs straight away. Whether it’s at No. 6, 7 or 8, he has to be a focal allrounder – those are big shoes to fill. And from my point of view it’s going well so far. My aim in first-class cricket is to be as good as any top six batsman out there, but I’ve batted at 7 all my life and I feel comfortable there.I’ve only had two warm-up games, so it’s hard to tell whether I could be a No. 6 just yet. But I hope to develop my game to a point where, if the selectors ask me to bat at 6, I’ll be able to do a job. The Australian side sets all the standards at the moment, and with Adam Gilchrist averaging 50-plus at No. 7, I don’t think there’s any hurry to push me up the order. At the moment I aim to stay there and make big partnerships with the allrounders Flintoff, Clarke and Collingwood. That’s the structure of the side that we want.On his technique against the spinners.
My feet movement felt good today. That was something that was prevalent at the [ECB] academy. Rod Marsh had simple rules – if you can get down on your feet and take the guy on the full toss or half-volley, then do so. If not, then wait for him to drop short and then play him off the back foot, or just defend it.But with Duncan [Fletcher] there’s a very different way of playing spin, with his theories on sweeping and forward presses. These are the bits and bobs I’d like to incorporate into my game, because out here especially, the sweep is so important. You have to be quick on your feet and disrupt the bowler’s rhythm. I’ll let him talk you through it one day!

Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s coach, has the qualifications to become Australia’s next coach, says Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lanka captain. He fears Moody will return to Australia after the World Cup in 2007 and take over from John Buchanan.Ranatunga said Moody had shown diplomacy and savvy when dealing with a complex Sri Lankan cricket board. “With all the controversial things happening in Sri Lanka, it’s very, very important with the cricket board changing that you can deal with this as, all these things can affect the team,” Ranatunga told Melbourne’s newspaper. “I thought he has handled everything very well. He has done a good job so far.”Moody also fits the criteria that Shane Warne wants in the next Australian coach. “I don’t have a preference but I would like to see someone in the job who has international playing experience and understands actually what the guys are going through,” Warne said during a team camp earlier this week.Since becoming Sri Lanka’s coach in 2005, Moody has had several sucessful campaigns that include reaching the finals of the VB Series in Australia last summer, a drawn Test series in England and the subsequent 5-0 one-day series whitewash.Moody and Tim Nielsen, the coach of the Australian Centre of Excellence, are considered the leading candidates to replace Buchanan, who confirmed this week that he will quit after the World Cup.Ranatunga said he expected Cricket Australia to pursue Moody. “Normally after the World Cup there are a few changes. I am sure he will get an offer from Australia. That’s normal procedure – we train people, we get people in, then some other country will take them. I think he has been wonderful so far.”

Greg Chappell has praised the selectors for taking some brave decisionsbefore the series against Sri Lanka and said that the emphatic win was achieved due to theattitude, spirit and confidence that prevailed in the squad. Talking to Cricinfo before the last one-day international at Baroda, Chappell said that the team had been in need of reinvigoration and added that their tactical and strategic changes were successful because of the refreshingattitude of the new-look side.”The selectors showed a bit of courage going with a bit of youth for thisseries,” he said, “and I think they deserve credit for the couragein moving down that line because the team was really in need ofreinvigoration. And they took that calculated gamble and the players haverepaid them. We needed to change a few things and our tactics and strategiesneeded a good rethink. I think it would have been hard to do that with theold group. As a coach one thing that I do know is that you can’t teachanything to anyone who doesn’t want to be taught. If you’re not looking tolearn something, you’re really going to struggle. And the one thing aboutthese young guys is that they’re soaking up the information. They want toknow what more can we do to be better. And that attitude makes thecoach’s life much easier.”According to Chappell, the team hadn’t allowed Sri Lanka to play as well asthey could have and said that the youngsters should be judged by the mannerin which they went about their tasks. “Sri Lanka are still a formidable sidebut I think they’ve only played as well as we’ve allowed them to play. We’vebowled with discipline and persistence, fielded really well, battedpositively, built partnerships and continually put pressure on Sri Lanka. Idon’t think they were prepared for the reinvigorated team they came against.I’m not sure they are as bad as people are making out. I just think weoutplayed them and part of that was the way the young blokes went aboutdoing what they did.”He also felt that the spectacular success of promoting Irfan Pathanto No.3 in the batting order, during the opening game atNagpur, was a big factor in the outcome of the series. “The first gameprobably couldn’t have gone any better than it did,” Chappell said, “notleast of all in the choice of Irfan at No.3. We attacked the bowlers, theyweren’t expecting it, and they weren’t expecting Irfan to come in at No.3. Ithink that shook them a little bit. Then probably they might have spent sometime looking at tactics for Irfan at No. 3 and then [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni came in at No.3 inthe third game and was in fact even more successful. I think they struggledto recover from that and it gave our group a real shot in the arm.”Chappell also attributed much of India’s purple patch to Rahul Dravid’sinfluence, and thought that he’s done an impeccable job both as a batsman andas a captain. “Rahul took the job with gusto and he was obviously ready forit,” he said. “It was very important that it became his team. It wasn’t myteam but his team. I’ve said many times that the coach’s role is in helpingprepare the team and in working with the captain and supporting the captain.It’s the captain’s team and certainly on game days, he’s the most importantman. The support staff’s role is to take as much pressure off him during thepreparation period so that he’s got time to devote to developing his owngame and preparing himself properly. And the way he went about the lead-upto the first game, the way he captained the team in the first game and theway he played in that first game has had a huge impact on the team and ahuge impact on the result of this series.”Looking ahead to the five-match series against South Africa, starting onNovember 16 at Hyderabad, Chappell warned that it could be a hard-foughtseries. “We still have the home advantage but South Africa are a toughteam,” he said. “They don’t get beaten easily. The one thing they do is tofight hard and even when they’re down they’re dangerous. But if we can shockthem the same way we shocked Sri Lanka, there’s no reason we can’t push themback and make it hard for them to play to the best of their ability.”

The preparatory camp before selecting the Indian cricket team to play in the home series against Australia, will be held in Chennai from February 5 to 10.The BCCI secretary, Jaywant Lele, told PTI in Mumbai on Tuesday that the Challenger Series limited overs cricket tournament involving three teams, including the national team, would be held in Chennai from February 12 to 15.”Soon after the Challenger Series, the Indian team would be picked to play in the three Test matches,” he added. “However, the itinerary for the home series against the Australians, which is yet to be finalised, would be declared only on January 22 at Delhi,” Lele said. The probables for the series against Australia will be announced on January 29.

Languishing at the bottom of the table, Deccan Chargers were dealt another jolt when VVS Laxman, their captain, ruled himself out of the rest of the Indian Premier League after failing to recover from a hairline fracture just below his right wrist.”I was very keen to play in yesterday’s (Sunday) match and the coming one. But I found it nearly impossible to hold the bat and face even a tennis ball,” he said just before a practice session at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium after another visit to the orthopaedic surgeon.”It’s sad that I had to miss some of the matches. It is all the more disappointing since the injury came when I was getting into the groove,” said Laxman, whose right hand was encased in plaster.Laxman injured his wrist during his 52 in a losing cause against Bangalore and missed the games against Chennai and Rajasthan.