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Steve Rixon, the former Australia wicketkeeper, has been sounded out as a potential coach of Pakistan. However, Rixon said the unexplained death of Bob Woolmer had left him in doubt whether he wanted the job and he has not officially applied.Pakistan’s board was reportedly impressed by Rixon’s successful stretch as New Zealand’s coach from 1996 to 1999, and specifically his work with the captain Stephen Fleming. Rixon said whether he put in for the Pakistan position might depend on what police uncovered about Woolmer’s death in Jamaica at the World Cup.”They [Pakistan] have made contact with me, I have spoken to them,” Rixon told Cricinfo. “I haven’t indicated whether I’m interested yet. I’m finding it extremely hard to get over the fact Bob Woolmer is no longer with us, to be honest. I’d never say never, but I’ll be interested in the results of the inquiry.”As well as Pakistan, there are still senior coaching vacancies in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Without naming specific nations, Rixon confirmed he had “spoken to a few different countries” but had not committed to applying for any of the roles.Rixon, who is based in Sydney, said coaching on the subcontinent would be a very different challenge, if he chose to pursue it. “It’s something that’s not grabbing me and saying ‘you’ve got to come and do it’,” Rixon said of a potential move to Asia. “But who knows? This interest might be the spark that gets me there.”Rixon spent two years at the helm of Surrey from 2004-05 and has also had two separate stints as the coach of New South Wales. He hoped to return to the international ranks as John Buchanan’s replacement this year, although Australia instead chose Tim Nielsen.

Aaron Phangiso, the left-arm spinner who has played 16 ODIs and nine T20s for South Africa, has apologised after being prevented from boarding a flight for being drunk and unruly.The incident took place on October 26 last year, after South Africa beat India in an ODI series and the squad was on their way home, but news of Phangiso’s behaviour only broke on Sunday, in Afrikaans newspaper . CSA has confirmed Phangiso was sanctioned in late November but did not reveal the nature of the punishment.”We confirm that Aaron pleaded guilty to contravening our player code of conduct and has been sanctioned,” CSA said in a statement. “The punishment for that incident was handed out last year, and that issue is now in the past.”It is unclear whether the sanction meted out to Phangiso involved a fine or match ban but he was the only player from the victorious series in India who was left out of the squad to play England.Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors, said he was not aware of the airline incident, having previously explained the decision as being based on conditions. “Imran [Tahir] is our No. 1 limited-overs spinner and in India we were trying to see who we could use with him, whether that was Aaron or Eddie [Leie],” Zondi said. “But in home conditions, we don’t need more than one specialist spinner and we also have JP [Duminy] in the squad, who can do a job.”Phangiso revealed what took place after the victory in his apology. “We were celebrating a one-day series win in one of the toughest places to play, and I obviously had one too many drinks,” he said.He “behaved poorly” by insulting flight attendants and other passengers on the flight from Mumbai to Dubai and was prevented from boarding the second flight from Dubai to Johannesburg. “The Emirates staff in Dubai explained that I had to stay behind and sober up, and I completely understand their reasons,” Phangiso said. He then caught a later flight back to Johannesburg.Phangiso has vowed to try and earn back his place in the national squad, with a view to playing in the World T20 in March.

Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman, has been made the vice-captain for New Zealand’s tour of South Africa.The squad’s general manager, Lindsay Crocker, said McCullum had displayed ‘leadership qualities’ on and off the field during New Zealand’s ongoing tour match against a South African Invitational XI at Bloemfontein. He scored a vital 46 and was involved in a 100-run stand for the seventh wicket with captain Daniel Vettori to take New Zealand to 318.”He gets around the other players and keeps them involved with what’s happening. He was an obvious candidate for the role,” Crocker told , a Wellington-based website, adding that the role was only for this tour and would be reviewed on a series-by-series basis.New Zealand had not named a vice-captain when they flew to South Africa but McCullum was considered to be in the core group of the 15-man squad.

Ricky Ponting says Cricket Australia should not attempt to make itssponsorship deals globally recognised if such a move would stop currentAustralian players joining the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Australianboard is concerned that its players might endorse products that clash withits own deals, as part of their IPL agreements.However, the IPL chairman Lalit Modi said the league would press onwithout Ponting and his men if Cricket Australia pursued worldwidesponsorship protection, and Ponting was not keen on that possibility.”There are already some globally-protected sponsors of Cricket Australia,there are a couple of them,” Ponting said.”I don’t think Cricket Australia would be able to make any of their othersponsors global sponsors … If they tried to do that I’m sure theplayers’ association would have something to say about it. It would be alittle bit unfair if that was the case.”Ponting and his team-mates stand to earn significant pay cheques forjoining the IPL and they would be understandably frustrated if theiragreements fell through. He saw no reason for Cricket Australia not toclear players to take part in the league.”It’s a domestic competition, as county cricket is,” Ponting said.”There’s never been any worry about Cricket Australia releasing guys to goand play county cricket. That’s the reason Cricket Australia backed it allin the first place, because it was a domestic tournament and it wouldn’tbe actually taking Australian players away from their domesticcompetitions or the Australian team.”However, the chances of seeing Ponting and his men representing IPLfranchises this year depend largely on whether Australia’s scheduled tourof Pakistan goes ahead, as the trip would clash with the Indiantournament. Ponting said with the exception of the retiring AdamGilchrist, who looks set to play, the Australians hadshelved all thoughts about the league for the time being.”I haven’t even thought about the IPL,” Ponting said. “We’ve had a lot onour plate over the last few weeks. The likelihood of us Australian playersbeing able to play this year anyway was pretty minimal. We’ll worry aboutall those other outside distractions, if you like, once this summer isover and done with.”

At the start of the season Australia were intent on retaining their world-beating status and by the end were just trying to limit damage. With much hindrance from a committed opponent, they failed with both aims. The No. 1 one-day ranking will be lost to South Africa if they beat Bangladesh 3-0 this month and the drop would be another dent for a team that has struggled with its identity since the fractious Sydney Test.In the first week of the New Year Ricky Ponting won a world-record equalling 16th Test in a row and was preparing to head to Perth for what should have been the easiest contest of the series with India. Instead it became the most difficult due to a mix of public reaction to Sydney, a flat surface and a touring team that had been galvanised during their threats to take all bats, balls and briefcases home. Australia lost at the WACA and over the next two months were mostly unrecognisable from the all-conquering outfit of 2007.How much Australians turned against their national team is hard to gauge exactly, but the players were shocked when large sections criticised their overall performance at the SCG. The Test ended in the most remarkable result but was instantly over-shadowed by a rash of controversies. Following team discussions covering behaviour and attitude, the side retained its spirit-of-cricket pledge and vowed to be “hard but fair” – the same way they believed they had always performed.Australian players in the Perth contest said it was the quietest Test they had ever been part of due to the fear of offending. Australia lost in four days, the streak was over and the aura slowly diminished. Having shed a quartet of outstanding competitors the previous summer, Australia had actually done well to keep things together for so long. Adam Gilchrist’s departure, which he revealed during the draw in Adelaide, will make things much harder as they try to recover ground and mojo.While the Test series was a success despite the swing in the final two games, Australia’s CB Series stumbled towards disaster even when they were winning. Four bonus points were collected by the home team, but the fringe benefits flattered an outfit that was struggling with fatigue, a range of issues that never seemed to disappear, a wobbling batting order and an underperforming captain and key allrounder. A more vibrant Indian side was not brought down by the various controversies, which seemed to act as spurs instead of weights.If Ponting and Andrew Symonds had completed merely average returns things could have been different. Instead the pair, which was heavily involved in the Indian Premier League developments, combined for only 365 runs in ten matches and the bowlers could not sustain their miracle escapes in the two matches that mattered most. Nathan Bracken, who is now a one-day specialist, was incredible in capturing 21 wickets and the Man-of-the-Series award, while Brett Lee was inspirational until the finals, when he looked as tired as a new parent.In a three-team tournament Australia needed more from than their batsmen than finishing fifth (Gilchrist), sixth (Michael Clarke), seventh (Matthew Hayden) and eighth (Michael Hussey) on the run list. It was the lack of output that resulted in the absence of the series trophy for the second year in a row. A 2-0 defeat was an appropriate outcome and something the players accepted.India irritate Australia’s senior men in a way no other team can manage and the uneasy relationship adds to the home side’s confusion. Australia knew they should have been better than their eclectic opponents, but they were unable to remember the valid reasons why.The age-old talk became nasty by modern standards and India’s new breed had not been kicked around in previous series. Big-name reputations didn’t matter and Australia’s substance went missing. The future will be fascinating as the players wrestle with their outlooks while battling opposition sides that will now give themselves a serious chance of winning.

Four days before the first of their three Tests against South Africa, the West Indies should have been engaged in their last chance for meaningful match practice against South Africa A in East London.Instead, chastened by their ten-wicket defeat in three days on Friday, they took an early coach ride to Port Elizabeth, arriving in time for a couple of hours of practice on a warm, cloudless afternoon at St George’s Park, the venue for the Test that starts on Boxing Day – and, as any scrap of encouragement is welcome, also their victory over South Africa in the 13-overs-an-innings Twenty20 international a week ago.The sight of captain Chris Gayle participating in every discipline raised hope that his right hamstring, torn in the second ODI in Zimbabwe, would be deemed sufficiently healed by physiotherapists Jacqui Mowat-King and CJ Smith for him to lead the team in a Test for the first time and, just as critically, to take his place at the top of the order.His movements are, without overstating the case, measured at the best of times so it is impossible to make out the extent of his progress. But he is so vital to the fragile batting that he will almost certainly turn out if at all possible.The attention of new coach John Dyson and his associates, Hendy Springer and David Williams, needs to be directed rather on the mental than on the technical and physical.The failure of the batting in both innings against South Africa’s reserve fast bowlers presented an immediate challenge for Dyson, the Australian who has been with the team only since its arrival from Zimbabwe two weeks ago.Monde Zondeki, tall, slim and sharp, has regained the form and fitness that gained him Test selection in 2003, aged 21, and a tour to the West Indies in 2005 when he numbered among his victims Brian Lara for 4 in the Antigua Test that featured four hundreds for either side.Even though he was the first to 50 first-class wickets for the current [South African domestic] season in the West Indies match [earlier than any previous South African] and as well as the experienced Charl Langeveldt might have bowled, they are not in the class of the Test quartet of Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Shaun Pollock and, the fastest and most threatening, Dale Steyn.Steyn, with a little help from the others, so destroyed New Zealand with 20 wickets in the two Tests in Johannesburg and Centurion last month that they were routed for totals of 118, 172, 188 and 136 and were beaten in four days by 358 runs in the first and in three days by an innings in the second.Events in East London have reinforced general opinion here that the coming Tests will follow the same pattern.South Africa have moved up to No. 2 behind Australia on the ICC Test rankings but are keen to pull clear of India and Sri Lanka with whom they are level.They can be expected to be as ruthless as they were in their two previous home series against West Indies that yielded eight wins in nine Tests with the other drawn. Yet their former captain, Kepler Wessels, has held out some hope for the West Indies to at least make a fight of it.”The best opportunity for the West Indies will be in the first Test,” he wrote in his newspaper column on Saturday.With Graeme Smith rested on medical advice after the ODIs against New Zealand and Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Hashim Amla, Nel and Ntini all excused from duty for their provincial sides since the New Zealand series ended three weeks ago, Wessels warned South Africa “might be a bit rusty”.”They may also regard beating West Indies as a formality so it is important from the touring team’s point of view that they start well and make an impression,” he said. “Once South Africa hits its straps, it will need a special effort for the West Indies to compete.”The problem is that the “special effort” demands attributes palpably lacking in West Indies teams for more than a decade. “The key for the West Indian players will be mental strength and physical toughness, as well as good discipline and a high work ethic,” Wessels wrote. Such a sudden transformation would be nothing short of a miracle needed to make the match, and the series, a real contest.

A fine unbeaten 142 by Amit Pagnis and his unfinished third wicket partnership of 147 runs off 57.4 overs with skipper Abhay Sharma (61) helped Railways score 267 for 2 wickets in 90 overs at the end of the first day’s play in the Central Zone Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh at Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi today.Abhay Sharma won the toss and decided to bat. Pagnis, who joined Railwaysfrom Mumbai this year, opened the innings with Sanjay Bangar. The two put on 91 runs before Bangar was caught by debudent wicket keeper Gurucharan Singh off the bowling of JP Yadav. Bangar scored 41 off 64 balls with the help of 4 fours and a six. Murli Kartik was out for 8 off JP Yadav.Pagnis completed his century in 4-1/2 hours off 218 balls with the help of 15 fours and 2 sixes. By close he had batted six hours, faced 308 balls and hit 20 fours and two sixes. Sharma had faced 162 balls, hitting six of them to the ropes. Not even the new ball taken at 260 for two after 84.5 overs, made any impression on the two batsmen.For MP, medium pacer JP Yadav took both the wickets conceding 65 runs off25 overs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out