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A new coach for the Indian team “will in all likelihood be appointed by the end of September”, according to Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the Indian board (BCCI).Quoted in the , Shetty also didn’t deny that the team could have a manager and not a coach for the Twenty20 World Championship.Shetty also told NDTV that the selection of a new coach could take time since the team was in England and some members of the coach selection panel like Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri were away. “Maybe just after Twenty20 [World Championship] because even our boys are in England. Some members [of the coach selection panel] like Gavaskar and Shastri are also in England during the same periods. Therefore sometime they will have to find out to work on the modalities.”The BCCI continues to be undecided on the selection process even months after the coach hunt began. “If we have to announce and call for names we shall have to have a method of writing to the respective boards like Pakistan did and try to get people to apply.”We don’t know when the committee will meet. But before they meet we shall have to finalise how we go about calling for applications. We will have to set some parameters like what we expect of a coach.”Shetty told that the BCCI was being cautious since they didn’t want “a Ford-like situation to arise again”. Graham Ford had declined the position after being offered the post in June.Shetty admitted that the board had received a few applications – the latest according to news reports from Kepler Wessels, the former South African captain – but no steps had been taken thus far. “We have received some applications but we haven’t yet initiated the procedure.”

The Wankhede Stadium has an expectant air about it. Enter through the Polly Umrigar gate and it resembles a construction site, while on the other side the Vinoo Mankad gate leads one to the swank BCCI office, a sign of a huge shift in progress. The ground itself is expecting a complete overhaul, which will put it out of action for some time. But before that happens, Wankhede has some cricketing business to take care of: the Duleep Trophy final, and North Zone and West Zone – the finalists – owe it a good contest over the next five days.It helps that both teams are battle-ready, after having fought their way into the final from a difficult corner in their respective final league matches.North were 28 for 3 on the first morning against East Zone, but their captain Mithun Manhas led a middle- and lower-order resistance to take them to 183 for 6. The last four added 177 more as they wore the East bowlers down. In the second innings, Manhas and Aakash Chopra completely dominate the bowlers in their 368-run unbeaten partnership and sealed North’s participation in the final at Wankhede.West Zone had more trouble entering their match against the England Lions. They needed an outright win to enter the final. A draw was not an option even if they ended on the favourable side. Things looked bleak when the England Lions ended the first day at 273 for 4, but West stuck to it to bowl the Lions out for 355 and then gained a 139-run first-innings lead to get to a position from where their bowlers could at least work towards an improbable Lions collapse. Yusuf Pathan and Siddharth Trivedi did just that to set up an easy win in the end.What’s more North and West are evenly-matched sides with similar line-ups. They both have at least two batsmen in the top order who have been prolific in the domestic season so far; they both have an allrounder each who has stepped up every time his team has needed him; and they both have uncertain bowling attacks.To add to Parthiv Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle order, West now have the services of Wasim Jaffer who scored 151 to set up the win against the Lions. North have Chopra and Manhas, who when teamed up with Yashpal Singh and Shikhar Dhawan on their good days, make a potentially dangerous batting line-up.Chopra and Jaffer provide an interesting individual contest within the final. India are still without stable Test openers, and they will be looking for one before South Africa come for three Tests in late March. Jaffer, who was dropped for the last two Tests in Australia, has come back and scored big. Chopra, on the other hand, has done enough throughout the season to remain in the selectors’ minds. He scored three centuries to aggregate 783 in the Ranji Trophy, the most important innings being his century in the final to resist the Praveen Kumar onslaught. His double-century against East was his third this first-class season.But perhaps the Most Valuable Players might just be Rajat Bhatia and Pathan – their zonal and state teams will have realised that by now. Bhatia has good memories of Wankhede, as it was him and Chopra who scripted an amazing turnaround to help Delhi win the Ranji Trophy.Pathan scored his third whirlwind century of the season in the Duleep Trophy opener, and then took the crucial five-for against the Lions. If one were to pick an XI from the current domestic season, Bhatia, for his consistency, and Pathan, for his audacity, would fight for the allrounder’s slot. The next five days might be a good stage to settle the imaginary contest. Moreover, the two will want to end what has been perhaps their best first-class season on a high note.But the two sides haven’t fared well in their bowling. An obvious reason is they haven’t had the time to figure out the best combination; they have played only two matches together. Munaf Patel and VRV Singh’s availability and non-availability hasn’t helped either. In the one match he played for North, VRV Singh has shown the ability to bowl in devastating bursts. North will look at VRV to be the main strike bowler, with Vikramjeet Malik and Bhatia doing their steady medium-pace bits.The big decision for Manhas is whether to go with two spinners or an extra seamer. If he picks an extra seamer, he has to choose between Ashok Thakur and Samiullah Beigh, and drop either Amit Mishra or Chetanya Nanda. Manhas will have to discuss his match strategies with senior players since North don’t have a coach any more. They had Vijay Dahiya for the first match but he was called back by Delhi to be with the Ranji one-day team.Munaf’s absence, having played the first match and then leaving to join the Indian team in Australia, leaves West without any fire power in the bowling department. Trivedi and Sandeep Jobanputra haven’t really carried their Ranji form over to Duleep and they are left with the difficult task of leading the attack in the final. Rajesh Pawar, who hasn’t made any impression, and Ramesh Powar, who hasn’t even been picked in final XI, have given West further headaches. Parthiv might look towards his state team to strengthen the attack by picking Ashraf Makda and Mohnish Parmar, the latter having made his way into the squad after Powar was dropped.The bowling gives North a slight edge, but this one promises to be a contest between the batsmen. The Wankhede wicket hasn’t troubled the batsmen much this season, and the one for the final looks like another good wicket for them. Both captains said they expected some early movement with good bounce and little lateral movement. That should make stroke-playing easier and productive.Teams:
North Zone: Aakash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan, Karan Goel, Mithun Manhas (capt), Yashpal Singh, Rajat Bhatia, Uday Kaul (wk), Amit Mishra, Chetanya Nanda, Vikramjeet Malik, VRV Singh, Ashok Thakur, Joginder Sharma, Samiullah Beigh, Sachin Rana.West Zone: Sahil Kukreja, Wasim Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel (capt/wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Rakesh Solanki, Yusuf Pathan, Rakesh Dhurv, Sandeep Jobanputra, Siddharth Trivedi, Ashraf Makda, Mohnish Parmar, Samad Fallah, Pinal Shah.

Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has said that there might be some Australian “casualties” when IPL franchise owners start recruiting players. Modi hinted the popularity of Australian cricketers had fallen “dramatically” in India after the controversial Sydney Test, which might deter team owners from signing them.”We sincerely hope there is no impact [on their involvement in the IPL]. It will be for the team owners to decide,” Modi told the . “But there definitely will be some casualties from the feedback we are getting.”Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds have all signed expressions of interest for the lucrative ICC-sanctioned league, where the players are expected to rake in big bucks.Modi also said that India may revise its Test itinerary with Australia in its effort to accommodate more teams in its playing schedule. “Other nations who we play less with currently want to increase the number of matches we play with them,” he said. “We will need to balance this in the Future Tours Programme. We cannot increase the number of games India plays in total. So we will have to play less with some and more with others.”The demand to remove umpire Steve Bucknor from the Perth Test and the threat to abandon the tour if the racism charge against Harbhajan Singh was not overturned led to suggestions that the BCCI was flexing its financial muscle to get things done, but Modi said the BCCI respected the authority of the ICC.”No one country can run the game. We have to all collectively run the game. Unlike in the past, the future for cricket will be best served if all have a voice,” he said. “[The BCCI] definitely respects the ICC. It has a big role to play and will continue to be good for the game.

Scorecard

Justin Langer became Western Australia’s highest run-scorer as he and Chris Rogers reached unbeaten fifties to leave the Warriors strongly placed against Tasmania heading into the final day.Dan Marsh pummelled his way to 117 not out, and although George Bailey and Michael Di Venuto contributed half-centuries, Adam Voges still had the option of forcing the follow-on.Instead, he watched as Langer nudged past his friend Tom Moody’s 8853 career runs in a forthright opening stand with Rogers which left them 314 ahead and set for the push for outright points.The pair wasted no time laying into Tasmania’s attack as they brought up their hundred stand in the 25th over.Steve Magoffin added three wickets to pick up his third five-wicket haul in first-class matches as Tasmania were dismissed for 343.Marsh batted well with the tail to help put up some resistance and his century included ten fours and a six.

Owais Shah has insisted England can replicate their series win in Sri Lanka last year and overcome New Zealand, in spite of a six-wicket hammering in the first of five one-dayers on Saturday.England were dismissed for a paltry 130 on a slow and low surface in Wellington, a total New Zealand took just 30 overs to knock off. But Shah maintains that like in Sri Lanka, last December, when England were comprehensively beaten in the first one-dayer, they can bounce back to win the series.”We haven’t quite adapted to the conditions out here – the outfield and the pitches,” he said. “But we’ve been working hard in the nets and getting used to the conditions [more] as every day goes on. [It’s] similar to what we did in Sri Lanka a few months ago when we adapted to the conditions after the first game when we got a hammering. We came back strong, adapted and went on to win the series.”And in spite of England’s two comfortable wins in the preceding Twenty20s, Shah wasn’t surprised by how strongly New Zealand fought back.”They’re third in the world and there is a reason why they are up there and we expected them to come out and fight,” he said. “They’ve had a bit of criticism after the Twenty20 matches so we knew they would be working hard and trying to get back, which is what they did, and it’s now up to us to do the same.”The second one-dayer gets underway on Tuesday in Hamilton.

Praveen Kumar, the Uttar Pradesh allrounder, has escaped unscathed after he fell from an open jeep during a reception organised after his return to Meerut from the Challenger Trophy.The procession had been organised by his fans to celebrate his selection in to the Indian squad for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan.He was rushed to the hospital and X-rays did not reveal any injury, police said. Kumar then went for a practice session to a nearby ground.Kumar took nine wickets for India Red in the Challenger Trophy, but his side lost to India Blue in the final.

Major-General Sina Ibn Jamali, head of the interim Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), has extended the contracts of the country’s selectors by a month. Though an emergency meeting has been scheduled for August 1, Jamali took the decision to give Faruque Ahmed and Athar Ali Khan until August 31 in order to name Bangladesh’s Twenty20 World Championship and National Academy squads.Jamali, the chief of general staff of the army, was briefed by Mahmudur Rahman, the BCB’s CEO, on the current situation. Among the priorities of the new leadership is appointing a new coach and physiotherapist.”I met the president this morning to inform him about the situation and he asked me to call an emergency board meeting on August 1. There are a number of pressing issues right now and there is a need for a quick decision about the two selectors,” Rahman told . “Our president has agreed to extend the two selectors’ tenure because we have hardly any time to make a new committee ahead of the ICC’s deadline (August 11) for the final squad for the Twenty20 meet. The most important thing is that now the new committee will not get enough time to think about the new selection panel.”Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, a former Bangladesh captain and one of the members on the ad-hoc committee, added: “I think it’s a good decision and now the new board will get enough time for taking decision about the selection panel”.Rahman said that Jamali expressed interest in the national team and the Twenty20 World Championship. However, he did not have any details on the developments in the search for a new coach. “Everything is not clear to me about the coach selection process,” he said. “We all know there is a shortlist and the board was supposed to invite the coaches for their presentations from the last week of this month but everything has now changed.”As for the standing committees, Rahman said there was no clear guideline in the constitution as to whether they would be abolished once the board was dissolved.

Ashley Giles has warned Monty Panesar that Graeme Swann will be breathing down his neck for England’s spinner’s spot. Giles, who is now Warwickshire’s director of cricket after retiring earlier this year because of ongoing hip problems, believes Swann can push Panesar all the way.”Monty has done well,” Giles told the . “But if someone like Swanny bowls well, and gets some runs also, then there’s that niggling thing about ‘what else does Monty offer us?'”That’s not me saying that, that’s just how it is. Whereas last winter it was ‘why is Ashley playing? – Monty should be playing’. It might not be long before we get ‘Monty is playing, why isn’t Swanny playing? He offers us a bit more’. That’s just the natural scheme of things.””Monty is now the man in possession, but now he has the threat of Swann to deal with,” Giles said. “That’s the way it works, you fall off the end of the production line.”Swann is expected to make his debut in the Test series in Sri Lanka, having already impressed in his one-day recall this year. He offers good batting and fielding, which could further enhance his claims.Panesar, who has 20 Tests under his belt, himself only admitted last week that he didn’t see himself as England’s No. 1 spinner, although he gave firm reasons why: “The only reason I say that is because I am still young and need to learn. That number one tag is quite a strong statement.”Nevertheless, he would still be the favourite ahead of Swann should England opt for one spinner. They could, however, opt for two as they did during their 2-1 Test series triumph when they visited Sri Lanka in 2001.England play two three-day warm-up games in Colombo before the first Test starts in Kandy on December 1.

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, will miss the first match of the four-nation Twenty20 tournament against Kenya in Nairobi after he injured his finger at practice on Friday.”Shakib has an impact fracture on his right index finger,” Azmal Ahmed, the Bangladesh physio, told tigercricket.com. Whether Shakib will be fit to play in the rest of the matches of this tournament and the Twenty20 World Championship, starting September 11 in South Africa, will be clear over the next few days as Ahmed continues to monitor his situation.The tournament, which Bangladesh, Kenya and Pakistan are viewing as practice ahead of the Twenty20 World Championship, opens today with Kenya taking on Bangladesh and Pakistan playing Uganda.Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, felt the tournament would be ideal preparation for the World Championship as the conditions in Kenya were similar to those in South Africa. “Kenya will be especially tough at home while Pakistan are a world-class team,” he said.The tournament ends on September 4 after each side has played the other three once, following which Bangladesh, Kenya and Pakistan will head to Johannesburg for the big event.

ScorecardA fighting but fluent 95-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Rizwan Ahmed and Test discard Asim Kamal carried Patron’s XI to safety after a mid-innings wobble and ensured the tour match against the South Africans ended in a draw at tea on the final day.Kamal and Rizwan came together after Patron’s XI lost their overnight batsmen to the pace of Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel. Kamal shrugged aside his omission yet again from the Test squad, mixing some delightful drives with a couple of slog sweeps. His timing, particularly square of the wicket, was exceptional but his scoring was curbed by a heavy outfield.He batted with ease, driving the seamers and cutting the spinners, Paul Harris and Graeme Smith, and fell against the run of play. Chasing a wide delivery from Smith, Kamal top-edged a cut to backward point where Hashim Amla took a low catch. He lingered at the crease, his disappointment at another missed opportunity evident.Rizwan, with a first-class average of over 36, punctuated his defensive game with a few classy cover-drives in his 56. He was especially severe on Harris, pulling him to the midwicket boundary and on one occasion smashing him out of the ground.Two wickets in three balls – including that of Rizwan – from Harris caused a brief panic but Sarfraz Ahmed (29*) counterattacked with two boundaries in the following over to ease the pressure.Harris was the pick of the South African attack with Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn going wicketless. Morkel picked up a foot injury earlier in the day and bowled two overs, putting his participation in the first Test in serious doubt.Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, was satisfied with his team’sperformance and said the team was in good shape for the Test. “Ourpreparation was outstanding, we got what we wanted – bowlers having twospells each and batsmen spending time in the middle.”He reserved special praise for Harris who finished with figures of 3 for75. “Harris started off slowly yesterday but improved as the matchprogressed. He varied his pace well and will add a new dimension to theattack that we have not had for the last couple of years.”