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Sreesanth, the Indian seamer, is hoping a good showing at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 will help him earn a recall to the ODI team to play against Australia and Pakistan at home.Sreesanth was dropped from the squad for the ODI series in England after his indifferent form in the Tests. Also, he has an unimpressive ODI record, having bagged 38 wickets in 29 games at an average of 34.94 and economy of 5.66.”I’m hoping to have good games in South Africa. I’ve been working on my bowling,” Sreesanth told . “I haven’t done greatly in one-dayers but I’ll try and come back hard. Hopefully I’ll do well in the Twenty20 and get back into the one-day team.”Sreesanth said he’s aiming at picking up wickets with the slower ball in South Africa. “I’ve basically been working on my slower ball. Twenty20 is about four overs per bowler and if I get my slower balls in the right areas, you end up getting a lot of wickets.””I’m hoping to stay relaxed [n South Africa] because things happen quickly in Twenty20 and as a bowler one has to think and try it at the right time for results,” said Sreesanth, who might lead India’s attack with Ajit Agarkar and RP Singh in the absence of spearhead Zaheer Khan.Sreesanth has also been working on his action. “I am working on my left arm [non bowling arm], which I almost lost during the tests in England,” Sreesanth told .India open the ICC World Twenty20 against Scotland on September 13, and will host Australia for a seven-match ODI series after the tournament, commencing with the first match in Bangalore on September 29.

Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe’s team manager, wants to put in the background the politics and the economics that have afflicted Zimbabwe’s cricket in recent times. Instead he wants to concentrate on developing their reconstructed, inexperienced side for their forthcoming trip to the Caribbean.”We’re looking at cricket not politics and trying to prepare this new side as quickly as we can.”As they prepare to head for the West Indies for a series of seven one-day internationals, starting on April 29, Pycroft is optimistic they will make the type of progress to ensure they return to Test cricket early next year.”We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing unless we believe it was possible,” Pycroft said. “The time frame set to try and get back into Test cricket is February next year.”We’ve very much been focused on one-day cricket because we believe that’s the way to bring the side through and then get back into longer cricket once we’ve got the experience that we need.”Pycroft, who played three Tests and 20 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe between 1983 and 1992, was speaking from Harare during an interview with CMC CricketPlus during the third day of the Carib Beer Challenge final between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados at Guracara Park on Monday.A series victory, he admitted, would certainly raise a lot of eyebrows. “A lot of people have written Zimbabwe cricket off with the problems they’ve had, but there is still a lot of potential there.”Their 16-man squad, led by Terrance Duffin, includes several players with very little international experience, but the manager is upbeat about the preparations.”The mood’s been very good. It’s a very young side. The average age is only something just over 20 years old, forced on us because a lot of players have given up in the recent past,” Pycroft said. “The side we’ve got together has been practising hard over the last five or six weeks. They are learning quickly and playing quite well. The strength of the side is more in the bowling department. The batting is quite inexperienced.”Prior to coming to the Caribbean, Zimbabwe played against Kenya and after the ODIs against the West Indies, they will remain for a triangular limited-overs series in Trinidad that also involves Bermuda and Canada.”We want these lads to get as much experience as possible. A lot of these guys haven’t played at international level,” Pycroft said. “They are getting better and better. The aim of this tour is to give them experience as quickly as possible and to be as competitive as possible. There is no doubt we can do it.”

Shane Warne’s manager says the legspinner’s chances of joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL) are “reasonably slim” because he does not want to be part of an unofficial event. The Indian board has threatened any local players with life bans if they join the league, which is focussing on Twenty20 matches and is planned for September.Warne’s manager James Erskine told the Australian the bowler had not made a decision on whether to join the competition. “There’s the small thing about grounds not being made available, the Indian players not being available and being threatened with bans,” he said. “I would think the chances are reasonably slim that Shane would do it because it’s flying in the face of officialdom and I know he doesn’t want to be part of anything that’s not officially sanctioned.”However, AAP reported Dean Jones, who is on the ICL’s board, had returned from an overseas holiday and would resume negotiations with Warne and Glenn McGrath. McGrath said in Canberra this week he was interested in playing, but Brian Lara is the only high-profile player committed to the league.”I’m not going to make any comments about players signing or anything like that,” Jones said. “Obviously we’re talking to them, we’re just trying to make sure it goes ahead, that’s all.”No players contracted to Cricket Australia have approached the body requesting to appear in the tournament in India. Despite the lack of big names, Jones was confident the series would go ahead.”The fans and the viewers will be quite happy with the signings we’ll get, trust me,” he said. “The fixtures and the squads will be released soon, sooner than you think.”

ScorecardKenya cruised to a 104-run run victory in the third and final ODI at a sunny Mombasa Sports Club, completing a series whitewash over Bermuda to give their World Cup preparations a major boost. For Bermuda, however, the upbeat mood which has been a hallmark of their game ever since they qualified for the tournament 16 months ago has given way to the reality that they are far from ready to compete with cricket’s big guns.The game was as good as over by the halfway mark. For much of the last decade Steve Tikolo has been widely accepted as the best batsman outside mainstream international cricket. He is now past his best – and Kenya’s recent international isolation has also dulled his cutting edge – but he turned back the clock with a majestic hundred which enabled Kenya to post 305 for 8.Dropped early on, Tikolo cut loose against some mediocre bowling to record his second – and highest – hundred in an ODI. Both in Nairobi and in the first two matches here, the pitches were damp and made run-scoring hard work. Finally, this match was played on a hard, fast and true surface and Tikolo gorged himself.As was the case on Sunday, the main stand was between Tikolo and the precocious Tanmay Mishra. The pair added 117 for the fourth wicket in 18 overs before Mishra was undone by his own carelessness as he looked to open up. The burly Dwayne Leverock weighed in with wickets at the end to finish with 5 for 53.Thomas Odoyo reduced Bermuda to 6 for 2 before a third-wicket stand of 98 between Dean Minors and Irvine Romaine got the innings on course, albeit slipping behind the asking rate. When Romaine departed in the 26th over the required rate was close to being in double figures, and with the spinners, especially the fast-improving Hiren Varaiya, proving hard to get away, Bermuda gave up the chase and opted for some batting practice instead.

Chris Gayle has been fined 30% of his match fee following an incident with Michael Clarke during West Indies’ win against Australia in Mumbai on Wednesday. Clarke was found not guitly and also rejected suggestions he called Gayle a “second-class citizen”.Gayle’s loud comments and animated demeanour during the 10-run victory were at odds with his usual placid self. The situation appeared to be getting the better of him at one stage and, when fielding off his own bowling, he hurled the ball back at Clarke to shy at the stumps but it went above the wicketkeeper for four overthrows. Gayle also followed Clarke down the pitch after one over and appeared to nudge him.”What started off as banter between the two players got out of hand and Chris Gayle went over the top in his reactions,” Mike Procter, the ICC match referee, said after the hearing. “We do not want robots on the field and we want to ensure players play with enthusiasm and passion. We saw a great deal of that during an excellent match on Wednesday but there is a line between what is acceptable and what is not and Chris crossed it.”Gayle was found guilty of a code one breach for failing to “conduct play within the spirit of the game”. Clarke was found not guilty of the same offence in a separate hearing in Mumbai.The Courier-Mail reported a West Indian “insider” saying Gayle was upset by being called a “second-class citizen”. However, Clarke dismissed the claim. “If anyone is second-class it’s me, I’m from Liverpool,” Clarke, who grew up in the working-class Sydney suburb, said. “I didn’t say that – I wouldn’t say that – and neither did any of my team-mates. Why Chris way fired up I’m not sure, I certainly know I didn’t say anything to Chris when he batted.”Ricky Ponting, who has been found guilty twice over the past year for poor on-field behaviour, was upset after the match that charges had not been laid immediately. “If there’s any consistency in the game that should be looked at,” Ponting said. He got his wish when the umpires Mark Benson and Rudi Koertzen changed their minds on Thursday morning.

Tasmania and Queensland have fought out a dawdling six hours of play on the third day of the teams’ Pura Cup match at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane today. But, after the visitors finished at a second innings score of 5/177 (and in the lead by 291 runs overall) at stumps, the action off the field did not prove so restrained – both captains firing parting shots at their rivals’ tactics.The Tigers still appear well placed to press for outright victory on the final day. But skipper Jamie Cox was seething after watching as his batsmen were held to their score of 177 runs from as many as eighty-five overs.”You’re not going to hit it far when you’re trying to score runs against a 10-1 field and they’re bowling two foot wide of off stump,” said Cox.”If they had bowled at the stumps and tried to get us out we would have scored a lot quicker, I’m sure.”The Tasmanians’ struggle for quick runs was typified by the containment of Test star Ricky Ponting, who was forced to labour over 187 deliveries before a dubious caught behind decision down the leg side ended his innings at 61. Cox, similarly, found many of his normal avenues to scoring blocked off as he constructed an innings of 44. And, most noticeable of all in the funereal march, Dene Hills (2) was able to score from only two of the fifty-three balls that he faced.Cox’s opposite number, Stuart Law, played down such claims, suggesting that the Bulls had no option but to stem the run flow and force the Tasmanians into error.”They could have taken a few more risks and it might have been a different picture. But we were in no position to do that because we could have been six hundred runs behind if we came out and went really hard at them,” Law argued.As for Hills’ approach, Law said that it was indicative of the Tasmanians’ second innings mindset.”He was letting cuts and cover drives go … but it was obvious that they just wanted to grind us into the turf.”Earlier in the day, there was no disputing the Tigers’ right to open up their Pura Cup scoring account for the season with the two on offer for a first innings win. The Tasmanians established a 114-run lead when they initiated a spectacular late collapse to end the Bulls’ innings at a mark of 289. Spinner Daniel Marsh (3/50) and paceman Andrew Downton were the architects of the slide, four wickets tumbling for the addition of a solitary run in the space of nineteen balls as they combined to share the spoils. Accordingly, they two left armers had put the seal on a very fine overall bowling performance from the visitors on what still remains a true batting wicket.

Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire coach, won’t be making a formal complaint despite the controversial finish to the Twenty20 Cup final at Trent Bridge. Leicestershire edged home by four runs but Jim Allenby’s final delivery was extremely close to a no-ball for being over waist height.However, following the result Newell said the issue would now be laid to rest despite being unhappy at the umpire’s decision. Asked if he thought it should have been called, Newell said: “Yes. But I won’t be mentioning it to the umpires. They’re not going to change their minds now.”I don’t feel robbed as such but I’m a little disappointed as I thought it was fairly clear, but it happens I suppose. I assume either umpire could have called it had they seen it but Leicestershire were already celebrating, so it was a tough situation and if they don’t see it they don’t see it.”But Samit Patel, who was interviewed moments after the match finished, was less restrained in his comments. “It was clearly a no-ball and it’s cost us a chance to win the final,” he told Sky Sports. “We got so close but someone has to lose and it’s us today.”However, winning skipper Jeremy Snape disagreed, insisting that the decision to allow the delivery was in line with the policy the umpires had followed all day. “I had complete faith in the umpires,” he said. “We got in a winning position and Jimmy [Allenby] – credit to him – bowled a great last couple.”Heavy rain was falling during the closing stages of the final and Snape said that played a part in the frantic finish. “The ball was wet and the bowlers had rags to control the ball in the rain so it was hard but we’ve seen balls at that height all day not being called.”Leicestershire have become the first team to win two Twenty20 titles but Snape is not getting carried away by the success. “We’re only four years in so we’re not going crazy about making history but we’re really pleased.”It was tough but we believed we could come and win and credit to the spinners, they have been big match-winners for us all season.”

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Tom MoodyOn Sri Lanka’s bowling and the overall performance
India is a very hard place to bowl. It’s not easy on these flat wickets. I thoughtwe collectively pulled together. I’d rather concentrate on the positives and amhappy that we had a terrific partnership while chasing. Our fielding wasn’t as goodas we are capable of. It’s pleasing that two middle-order players came together tofinish the job.On Sanath Jayasuriya’s bad run
He’s having a lean time. Every player goes through these highs and lows but the goodthing is he’s hitting the ball well and working hard in the nets. The Indian bowlershave bowled well to him. Ajit Agarkar has really done well and hit his straps in allthe games.On Nuwan Zoysa’s injury
He had a slight twist in the ankle while fielding. Probably stretched himself toomuch while trying to stop a run.Rahul DravidOn the performance
It’s not easy to say what went wrong but I think we were 25-30 runs short. I thoughtwe had a lot of positives form the game – the attitude and the fielding were goodand the young boys did a great job.On his batting and the experimentation to the side
I’m batting quite well and hitting the ball in the middle. We have a young battingline-up and we need to give them some time and chances. We are experimenting withthe side but we are looking to win every game. I’ll be looking for a 6-1 win in theseries irrespective of the experimentation.On his fitness
I had a slight cramp and didn’t want to take too many chances with many matchescoming up.Greg ChappellOn experimenting with the side
It was very positive. We have to experiment with the long run in mind. If we don’twe run the risk of finding ourselves with players not fit enough or not in form. Wehave to plan towards the World Cup in 2007 and all the games we play need to bedirected towards that. We are obviously looking to play the best combination but ifwe don’t give youngsters a chance now, we run the risk of looking back later andsaying, ‘we didn’t take that chance’. Had we won with this young side, the benefitfor the next 12 to 18 months would have been tremendous. We need to take such risks.On Gautam GambhirHe played brilliantly. It’s not easy for someone to sit in the sidelines and thenwalk out and play so well. I thought he started really well and showed his talentand his mental state.On the fielding
I don’t think we have fielded as well as this in recent times. We were outstanding.On Dravid’s form and Sehwag’s leadership today
Dravid’s a fine player and sets an example like always. I hope he does it forlonger. Sehwag did a good job. I thought he attacked and defended when he had to. Itwas tough to captain out there in the evening and he did fine.

Latest points tables

Group A

Ireland will have to wait until Thursday to secure a place in the 2007 World Cup after all three ICC Trophy Ireland 2005 Group A matches were washed out. No play was possible between Ireland and USA at Waringstown so Ireland need one more point from their final game against Denmark at Bangor to be certain of qualification. It will, though, take a major upset for Ireland to miss out on either first or second place in Group A. They go into the final round of games with a two point advantage over both Denmark and Bermuda and a significantly superior net run rate. Denmark and Bermuda both have five points while Uganda and United Arab Emirates remain in contention on three points ahead of the decisive matches. But for the USA, the washout means that they cannot qualify for the World Cup and face an ignominious exit from an event they should have been playing a major part in.

Group B

Three teams will be contesting the top two places in Group B on Thursday after Canada sealed a dramatic two-wicket victory over Holland. Canada’s win leaves them level with Holland on six points while Scotland lead the group with eight points. In the final round of matches Holland will play Scotland at Stormont while Canada faces Papua New Guinea at Downpatrick.Canada’s third tight win of the tournament came with one ball to spare. They were chasing a revised target of 160 in 30 overs after Holland amassed 187 in 35 rain-affected overs. With Canada captain John Davison the first of Billy Stelling’s five victims it was left to opening partner Desmond Chumney to lead the chase. Chumney’s valuable contribution kept his side in touch with the run rate but when he was dismissed for 64 the momentum swung in Holland’s favour.Three more wickets fell for only 14 runs but valuable lower-order runs from Don Maxwell and George Codrington helped Canada edge to an essential victory. If Holland had won, it would have guaranteed its place in the semi-finals along with Scotland, who beat Namibia. Instead both Holland and Scotland sides go into their final match with everything to play for.Scotland beat Namibia by 27 runs in a match that was reduced to 33 overs-a-side. Ryan Watson was instrumental to the victory, taking advantage of the short boundaries to hit 87 of Scotland’s 236 runs. Namibia were always in contention during the reply but to keep up with the run-rate their batsmen were forced to take chances. Nine of the ten wickets fell to catches as they were all out with 11 balls remaining.Papua New Guinea claimed their first victory of the tournament, bowling out Oman for 41 to win by 93 runs in a match that was reduced to 24 overs.The final round of six group games takes place on Thursday.

Michael Clarke has been named Australia’s Player of the Year at the annual Allan Border Medal count in Melbourne. Damien Martyn won the Test Player of the Year honour, and Andrew Symonds is ODI Player of the Year.Clarke, 23, polled 54 of the votes, ahead of fellow batsman Damien Martyn (51) and wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist (41) in third. The votes were cast byteammates, media and umpires in Australia’s Test and one-day matches over the past year. Among his outstanding performances were Test centuries in his first matches both away and at home, 6 for 9 in India and two one-day centuries as an opener.Votes were cast from Australia’s tours of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Europe and India last year, last year’s home winter series against Sri Lanka and the home summer against New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies. Damien Martyn was rewarded with the Test Player of the Year award for striking two centuries and a 97 against India, and two unbeaten centuries against Pakistan.Symonds pipped Clarke and the fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz to the honour of being named ODI Player of the Year. All three players got 15 votes, but Symonds took the honours as he was ajudged his side’s best player across four matches, while Clarke was best in three and Kasprowicz’s votes came from just two games.Strong performances from Symonds, 29, in Australia’s 3-2 victory against Sri Lanka in March helped him to win the title. He took 2 for 34 and struck 40 runs in the fifth match at Colombo.Clarke, however, may consider himself unlucky not to have taken the award. He struck two centuries and a 97, as well as taking 5 for 35 against Sri Lanka, while the eventual winner Symonds rounded off his season with a disappointing run of five ducks in six innings in the VB series against Pakistan and West Indies.Winners
Australian One-Day Player of the Year – Andrew Symonds
Australian State Player of the Year – Andy Bichel
Australian Young Player of the Year – Mark Cosgrove
Australian Woman Player of the Year – Karen Rolton
Australian Test Player of the Year – Damien Martyn
Australian Cricketer of the Year – Michael Clarke