Inzamam-ul-Haq’s susceptibility against Anil Kumble has been brought up time and again during this series, but on the first day at Bangalore, there was no doubt about who won the contest. Of the 62 balls Kumble bowled to him, Inzamam scored 52 – that’s a scoring rate of almosr 84 runs per 100 balls; against the rest of the bowlers, the figure was only 66. Inzamam’s in-control factor against Kumble was 80% too – clearly, Inzamam had had enough of being called Kumble’s bunny.The most impressive aspect of Inzamam’s innings was his decisive footwork. His easy elegance makes it seem he has plenty of time for his strokes, and on a slow pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, that effect was further accentuated. John Wright and the Indian think-tank would also do well to study the number of times the bowlers allowed Inzamam to go on the back foot – off the 93 deliveries when he did that, he scored at more than a run a ball. When he played forward, his scoring rate was halved.Inzamam got off the mark with a drive through the covers, and he continued to pepper that region throughout his innings, scoring more than 25% of his runs there. The slowness of the pitch can also be gauged from the fact that only six runs came through point – most of the cuts which would have, on a faster track, gone towards point went much straighter as the ball came on to the bat slowly.

Michael O’Sullivan yesterday asked Cricket Australia to investigate state salary cap rorts and today resigned as Victoria’s chairman of selectors. Following the Bushrangers’ rejection of Matthew Elliott’s transfer request to South Australia, O’Sullivan said offers of player-assistant coach positions could lead to interstate poaching because of large pay rises for little more than an extra title.Ken Jacobs, the Victoria Cricket Association chief executive, said O’Sullivan, the Bushrangers coach in 2001-02, had resigned after three years chairing the panel to spend more time working in coaching. “Michael has been appointed coach of the Footscray Edgewater CC in the premier cricket competition and we wish him well for the future,” Jacobs said.O’Sullivan spent eight seasons as a selector and Jacobs said he had made an outstanding contribution to a time-consuming position. “His meticulous planning, dedication and knowledge have been important factors in the success of the Bushrangers,” Jacobs said.

Brian Lara has regained the No. 1 spot in the ICC world Test rankings after his magnificent century at Kensington Oval against Pakistan. Lara’s knock of 130 and 48 guided him from the second position and he displaced Jacques Kallis from the top of the heap.Lara’s captain, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, leaped five positions to No 8 after his knocks of 92 and 153 not out in the first Test against Pakistan, which helped his side to a much-needed win. The top five in the table were otherwise unchanged with Rahul Dravid at No.3, followed by Ricky Ponting and Virender Sehwag.In the bowling rankings, Glenn McGrath has maintained his top position, with Muttiah Muralitharan at No.2, followed by South African duo – Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini.

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50 overs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Marcus Trescothick scored his first century against Australia to guide England to a convincing nine-wicket win in the opening match of the NatWest Challenge. He and Andrew Strauss added 101 for the first wicket to lay the foundations, and Michael Vaughan completed the finishing touches with an aggressive half-century. England’s batting may have been impressive, but the bowlers wasted perfect conditions in the morning.Both openers rode their luck considerably in the opening exchanges as Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee produced probing spells. Trescothick was given a reprieve when he was caught at third man by McGrath off Lee, only to see the umpire calling no-ball.Strauss was making a conscious effort to play straighter, after being troubled by Lee in the NatWest Series, but he still wasn’t entirely convincing. Both Trescothick and Strauss were given plenty of opportunities to unleash their favourite pull shots as the Australian attack pitched too short – a trap that England’s bowlers had fallen into as well.Jason Gillespie is still struggling and went for 66 in his 10 overs while Shane Watson failed to maintain a consistent line and length before limping off injured after his third over. Ponting – following Michael Vaughan’s earlier example – used all the fielding restrictions in the opening 20 overs. Australia introduced their supersub when Brad Hogg replaced Matthew Hayden although, confusingly, Hayden remained on the field for Watson.Hogg made an impact with his third ball, as Strauss was brilliantly caught by Adam Gilchrist off an attempted reverse-sweep (101 for 1). Vaughan came in at No. 3 with the critics, once again, talking of his poor one-day record but he responded with his most convincing limited-overs innings of the season. The trademark cover-drive was in evidence and he ensured England passed the winning post in style, with some handsome shots off Gillespie and Lee.

Trescothick reached his 10th one-day hundred from 132 balls and it was an innings which emphasised the value of playing yourself in, rather than trying expansive shots from the outset as England’s top-order did at Lord’s. Australia’s bowling was ragged and Ponting was short of options – despite having Hogg on hand as his supersub. A final, thumping pull shot from Vaughan sealed the win with 23 balls to spare.But England would have been disappointed to be chasing as many as 220 after the frontline bowlers wasted helpful early conditions. Paul Collingwood was the surprise package, pulling the situation around, as he ran through Australia’s middle-order, taking 4 for 34 with his wobbling medium-pace.Gilchrist and Hayden had laid another solid platform before England fought back when Steve Harmison snared Gilchrist, well caught down the leg-side by Geraint Jones, who continues to hold onto anything which flies his way. Hayden never settled, scratching around for 17 from 47 balls, before picking out Kevin Pietersen at deep square-leg (68 for 2).England’s powerplay overs went by largely unnoticed with ball dominating bat for large swathes of the innings. Vaughan opted to use both sets of five overs straight after the initial 10, as the ball was zipping around and he was quite happy to maintain attacking fields. But it was not until Collingwood’s introduction as the fifth bowler that England took control. His first scalp was Ponting, who resembled a man batting with a toothpick after Harmison and Andrew Flintoff gave him a real working-over. He eventually top-edged to Pietersen at deep square-leg (107 for 3).The Australian batsmen clearly thought Collingwood was the bowler to exploit, but that attitude gifted England their next two wickets. Andrew Symonds wafted loosely outside off-stump and offered a simple catch to Trescothick at gully (116 for 4) and Michael Clarke became frustrated with Collingwood’s nagging wicket-to-wicket accuracy and played an ugly heave across the line (120 for 5). The proof that it was Collingwood’s day continued when Damien Martyn – who had gone about batting in his usual unflustered fashion – received a rough decision after he flashed at a wide ball (159 for 6).Not for the first time this summer Mike Hussey kept a cool head and, with the help of Lee, took 30 off the last two overs bowled by Flintoff and Darren Gough. Though 219 represented an impressive recovery, the sun came out to greet the England openers and, after a brief period of reconnaissance, they had few alarms. After all the talk of innovations the day was dominated by two traditional facets of the game – classy batting and swing bowling.

A one-day tournament so soon after the ICC Champions Trophy probably won’t excite many, but all three teams will have a point to prove when the Paktel Cup starts in Multan tomorrow, when Pakistan take on Zimbabwe. The peculiar tournament schedule means that the third team in the fray, Sri Lanka, don’t play a game until next Wednesday (October 6), but then will probably end up playing five matches in a row over 11 days.Going into the competition, Pakistan are probably the favourites. Since Bob Woolmer took over, there has been a noticeable change in attitude, and it has shown in the results as well – they reached the finals of the tri-nation tournament in Holland, eventually losing narrowly to Australia, and then beat India in the Champions Trophy. They’re still a work-in-progress side – the spineless collapse against West Indies in the Champions Trophy semi-final was a throwback to their old, erratic ways – but there have been enough positives of late to suggest that this might be a side which could realise its potential.There’s much at stake for Pakistan here. As the home team, there will be immense pressure on Inzamam-ul-Haq and the rest of the team, and any result other than a win in the final will be taken as a failure. Especially after the fiasco at the toss at the Rose Bowl against West Indies, a decision which still hasn’t been explained satisfactorily by the captain or the coach.Pakistan’s only realistic threat in the tournament comes from Sri Lanka, who have won 16 of their last 18 one-day internationals. That is a slightly misleading stat, though – five of those wins came against a second-string Zimbabwe – but their annihilation of South Africa in the five-match series was impressive, all the more so because Muttiah Muralitharan didn’t figure in any of those games.Murali will no doubt be missed – by both the Sri Lankan team and the spectators – but if the series against South Africa was anything to go by, the team is gradually learning to win without him. This series should be a good opportunity to give an extended run to Dilhara Fernando, who has finally regained full fitness after a string of back injuries. And in conditions that should be excellent for batting, expect the likes of Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Sangakkara and Jayawardene to come into their own.What of the Zimbabweans? No-one expects them to pull off a win, or even come close. Tatenda Taibu and his band have been game tryers, but it’s hard to see them being anything other than target practice for the big boys. Zimbabwe do get four games, though, in which to show the world that they can compete at the highest level. The tournament hasn’t yet begun, but come October 16 it’s easy to imagine Inzamam and Atapattu walking out for the toss in the final. Anything else will require a major miracle … or two.Squads
PakistanYasir Hameed, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Bazid Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Moin Khan (wk), Shahid Afridi, Naved-ul-Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Iftikhar Anjum.Sri Lanka Marvan Atapattu (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Saman Jayantha, Avishka Gunawardene, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana, Nuwan Zoysa, Dilhara Fernando, Thilina Kandamby, Rangana Herath, Kaushal Lokuarachchi.Zimbabwe Brendan Taylor, Vusi Sibanda, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Mark Vermeulen, Dion Ebrahim, Tatenda Taibu (capt & wk), Elton Chigumbura, Douglas Hondo, Alester Maregwede, Tawanda Mupariwa, Mluleki Nkala, Tinashe Panyangara, Edward Rainsford, Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer.

Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain, has received full support from the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) for the post of vice-president of the West Indies Cricket Board. Lloyd, who was originally contesting for the president’s post, lost the race to Ken Gordon, the former media manager from Trinidad. The annual general meeting of the WICB is scheduled to take place on August 6 and 7 in St Maarten.”Lloyd is highly respected and we decided to throw our support behind him,” Stephen Alleyne, the president of the BCA was quoted as saying in . “The general view is that with Gordon being the sole candidate for president, it was felt that the vice-president should be one with a strong cricketing background and experience, and would bring a cricketing outlook.”Alleyne also said that Barbados was the second country to support Lloyd, who was first nominated by his native Guyana. The other candidate for the vice-president’s post is Val Banks. “Lloyd has again shown his commitment to West Indies cricket by making himself available,” said Alleyne. “We believe strongly he would bring balance and coverage of all the issues of the game. His position as one of the finest West Indies skippers speaks for itself and his further involvement in other cricket development programmes and also as West Indies manager and ICC match referee demonstrated his appeal on the international stage.”

After the mediocrity of the third day at New Road, the final day was totally opposite with some good batting, bowling and fielding that saw the match going to a last ball draw.Worcestershire looked for quick runs in the morning at the risk of losing wickets, and were able to declare setting Hampshire the stiff task of scoring 314 to win in 74 overs.The visitors got off to a shocking start, losing both openers with just 13 runs of their target achieved. It took the two senior men in the Hampshire line out to recover this position and put their team in with a shout for of victory. John Crawley and Robin Smith took all that was thrown at them, sharing a vital 115 run partnership. Crawley fell when he edged the sharp Kabir Ali to the weekend, scoring his second half century of the match. Smith’s 130 ball stay produced some vintage batting.Nic Pothas the hero of Hampshire’s first innings, continued his good form, and continued the run chase with the help of Dimitri Mascarenhas, but, when both fell to the pace of Nanty Hayward, it looked up for Hampshire. Wasim Akram came in ahead of Udal, falling to a catch on the boundary that could so easily have gone for a six.Mullally came to the crease when Udal went, and faced 14 balls to save the day, with injured Giddings having to face two deliveries.Nanty Hayward showed what a useful bowler he is with his belligerent pace, finishing with 5 wickets in his Worcestershire debut.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has given Sachin Tendulkar till September 21 to prove his fitness for next month’s Super Series ties between Australia and the Rest of the World XI, according to Dave Richardson, ICC’s Manager of Cricket Operations.Richardson told a teleconference today from Dubai at the announcement of the candidates for the various ICC awards for 2005, including the Cricketer of the Year that Tendulkar was keen to play in Australia against the hosts in the Super Series.”He’s desperately trying to get fit for the Super Series in Australia. He has had a discussion on the matter with John Wright (coach of the Rest of the World XI). We have given him time till the 21st of this month to prove his fitness,” added Richardson.”A few things could go against him. Lack of cricket is one. We hope he’s truthful to himself and if there’s any problem he will let us know so that we can name a replacement,” said the former South African wicketkeeper.The master batsman has found a berth in both the ODI (in the best-of-three series) as well as the six-day one-off Test squad.Tendulkar, who underwent a surgery to correct his tennis elbow injury in May, has skipped India’s tours to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe as he was not confident his elbow would withstand the rigours of international cricket.

Luke Ronchi, a wicketkeeper-batsman, has replaced Brett Dorey, the fast bowler, in the Western Australian squad for their ING Cup match against Victoria in Melbourne on Saturday.Dorey hasn’t recovered completely from a quadricep injury he sustained last Sunday during an ING Cup match against the same team. While his recovery has been encouraging, a scan still revealed a slight tear, and considering that the season is only a week old, the team management decided to rest him.Western Australia play ING Cup and Pura Cup matches against New South Wales next week, and Dorey is expected to recover in time for those games.

Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, is confident that Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs, both of whom are struggling for form, will come through during the current one-day series with New Zealand.Kallis, recently voted ICC Player of the Year, has found runs hard to come by in recent matches. In his last 10 one-day matches, he has scored 158 runs at 15.80 with more than half coming in a single innings of 87 against the West Indies earlier in the year. In the opening ODI against New Zealand at Bloemfontein, he was dismissed without scoring.Gibbs, meanwhile, has been plagued by a combination of injury and poor form. In the first match against New Zealand, on a sluggish pitch, Gibbs crawled to 25 off 69 balls – a far cry from an ODI career strike-rate of over 80.But Arthur insisted to that both players would turn the corner sooner rather than later. “I thought Herschelle was coming right towards the end of his innings. All he really needs is time in the middle.”As for Jacques, I feel he is just one innings away from a big score. I have noticed that he is a bit slow at the moment in getting into his trigger position. This is something we will sort out in the next couple of days.”The frustrating thing is that Jacques looked as though he was just starting to get his form back on the final day of the Super Series Test in Sydney. He was, of course, not helped by the rushed nature of his trip back to South Africa from Australia. He hardly got his feet on the ground before the New Zealand series started. Generally, a team needs a little bit of fine tuning in a lot of areas.”As a result, Arthur has called for two practice sessions on Tuesday, when none were scheduled, and the second is due to take place under floodlights to get attuned to the conditions for the second match on Friday.”We haven’t played a one-day match under floodlights for some time, so it is something we need to get used to again.”