Mark Nicholas, the former Hampshire captain and renowned commentator, has been dropped from Channel Nine’s commentary team for the forthcoming Australian summer.Channel Nine took the decision to leave out Nicholas, who commentated during the recently concluded Super Series, from a “pretty full” commentary box as they prepared for the forthcoming Test series against West Indies and South Africa, as well as the one-day tri-series.Unlike last summer, when Nine decided to rotate one of its regular commentators out of the box for each Test, they took a decision to leave Nicholas out. “We just felt we’ve got a pretty full commentary roster,” Graeme Koos, the executive producer of Nine’s cricket coverage, told , “and to bring Mark in meant someone else gets pushed out and that’s a difficult thing. Still, these things can change.”Nine’s decision means that Nicholas, who was also part of Channel 4’s Ashes coverage, could be out of a television job, given that the England and Wales Cricket Board has sold the rights to all international cricket in England to Sky.

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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.

Kevin Pietersen is to fly home from England’s one-day series in Pakistan after failing to overcome the rib problem which gave him noticeable discomfort when he batted in the second match on Monday.Each time he played an attacking shot he winced in pain, and he then left the field during the Pakistan innings. The England medical team had hoped that Pietersen would be able to stay for the remaining three one-day internationals following a cortisone injection, but it has not proved effective.Dr Peter Gregory, the ECB’s chief medical officer, said: “Due to a series of events that aggravated a previous rib problem during practice and the first two one-day internationals Kevin is returning home to the UK and will play no further part in the one-day series.”Scans taken after the first one-day match showed no fracture but demonstrated a stress lesion and despite passing a fitness test ahead of the second one-day match Kevin suffered intolerable pain throughout. A stress lesion of this nature is likely to require four to six weeks rest but it is expected that Kevin will make a full recovery in time for the tour to India in March next year.”Pietersen added that he wouldn’t want to be a burden on his team-mates: “It’s very disappointing to be leaving the England team at this time as I was looking forward to a strong one-day series. I hate missing matches and despite trying to play the first couple of one-day games the pain was just too great. I certainly wouldn’t want to let my team-mates down due to injury whether it is with the bat or in the field so the only choice available to me is to rest the injury with a view to a full recovery in time for India.”Pietersen’s withdrawal is a huge blow to England after he made an explosive start to the one-day series, making 56 off 39 balls in the first match and 28 off 27 in the second. He has rapidly developed into England’s key one-day batsman during a 12-month period that earned him the ICC’s One-Day Player-of-the-Year award.No replacement will be added to the squad for the remaining matches and Pietersen’s departure opens up an opportunity for Ian Bell to fit into the middle order for the next match, in Karachi on Thursday.

He might have turned down a place in England’s one-day squad currently in Pakistan – judging by results, that might not have been a bad decision – but Darren Gough’s venture into TV paid dividends when he won BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, beating Olympic sprinter Colin Jackson and DJ Zoe Ball in the final.”She’s turned me into some sort of a dancer,”Gough said of his ballroom-dancing partner, Lilia Kopylova. “She’s been absolutely amazing, taking the mickey out of me for ten weeks.””He has been the most amazing person to work with,” Kopylova grinned. “I’ve enjoyed every second.”More than five million people voted in Saturday’s prime-time series final, raising almost £1.5 million for the Children In Need charity. Kevin Pietersen, just returned from Pakistan, was in the audience.Eight weeks ago Gough had never danced. “It’s all a bit nancy,” he said at the start, “I can’t dance like a nancy on national TV.” But he soon won the public’s admiration, and admitted it had changed him. “For me, dancing was for softies, but I’m enjoying it. I’d recommend it to anyone.” Whether he keeps his promise of opening a ballroom-dancing club in Barnsley remains to be seen.Gough follows another celebrity TV winner. In 2003, Phil Tufnell turned his back on Middlesex to take part in the second series of the ratings-topping I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here and won. He has hardly been off TV or radio since.

Familiarity, if nothing else, clearly breeds runs. As Pakistan and India play each other in their eighth Test in less than two years, patterns are emerging. Something about Pakistan’s bowling appeals to Virender Sehwag’s baser instincts; Younis Khan’s cheerleading run-scoring also excels when the attack is Indian. Into that group Shahid Afridi has now barged in.His 154 at Iqbal Stadium was his fifth Test hundred, but also his third against India and second in successive innings against them. Last year, in much the same manner, he had pummeled them in innings of 59 and 58 at Kolkatta and Bangalore and his first Test century was made at Chennai, in 1999.”I enjoy playing against India,” Afridi told the press at Iqbal Stadium. “It has always been good doing battle against India, it brings the best out of me. There is always an added edge when we play India, it gives me great joy when I do well against them.”Runs against India, however, are part of a broader successful return to Test cricket. Having not played a Test for nearly 30 months, he returned to the team against Australia in Sydney last year. A second-innings 46 sparked a run which has since seen him average 55 in scoring nearly 800 runs from eight Tests against India, West Indies and England. He insisted, however, that he hadn’t changed his approach to any great extent.”I have not made any changes to the way I bat, I bat in the same style as I used to earlier. I maintain a positive approach. People like Jayasuriya and Sehwag also are aggressive in both forms of the game. Cricket is changing, and you have to keep pace with changing times. I have grown in confidence with increasing success, and the idea is to perform whenever I get an opportunity. My aim has always been to play myself in for two or three overs and then keep the scoreboard ticking over. It sometimes happens that boundaries come in a clutch, but that is not something which is planned.”That first hundred at Chennai is unlikely to be matched – “That is my best knock to date” – in his eyes but his two hundreds in this series have become special. “It is not easy to make Test hundreds and I will cherish both these knocks.”It’s easy, in the spectacle of his batting, to forget that his all-sorts legspin provides a cataclysmic option to the attack. Many of the 18 wickets since his comeback have come at vital moments, when partnerships have had to be broken or key batsmen removed. He only bowled an over today, an intriguing one in any case, and undoubtedly will bowl more as the match progresses. This series’ bete noire – the pitch – doesn’t fill him with hope though.”It’s looking very good from a batting point of view. Kaneria is getting a bit of turn, but otherwise, there is nothing much in it for the bowlers. Rahul and Laxman are batting very well, they survived the new ball which was our best chance of making inroads. The Kookaburra ball becomes soft very quickly, and that makes the job of the bowlers tougher. We will need an extraordinary effort to bowl India out twice.”The tracks we played on against England last year were much better in the sense that there was more turn and bounce, especially in Lahore.” Such has been his all-round presence, however, since his return that despite the pitch’s flatness, it is unlikely that Afridi will not play a role, any role, for the duration of this match.

In a high-scoring encounter at the University Oval in Dunedin between Otago and Central Districts, Otago finished on the losing side despite a century by opener Chris Gaffaney, who scored 101 off just 55 balls. This is incidentally the maiden century in New Zealand’s inaugural Twenty20 competition.Gaffaney shared a 94-run stand for the third wicket with Nathan McCullum, who scored 52 with three sixes. Ross Taylor, the offbreak bowler conceded 46 runs off his three overs.Chasing Otago’s challenging target of 220, Central Districts lost Mathew Sinclair with the score on 12. Jamie How, enjoying a good season with the bat, and Ross Taylor shared a productive partnership of 93. The latter unleashed a brutal assault, scoring 66 off just 22 balls, with nine fours and five sixes. How made sure he hung around till the end, finishing on an unbeaten 74, as his team chased the target comfortably with one over to spare, losing only four wickets in the process.This was Central Districts’ first win in the competition.

Yuvraj Singh is expected to be fit for the second Test against England, at Mohali, after recovering from the hamstring strain that he sustained in the final one-day international against Pakistan, in Karachi.The BCCI secretary, Niranjan Singh, said a fitness report on Yuvraj was with the Board. “I have got first-hand report on Yuvraj’s fitness and he seems to have recovered. The report of the physiotherapist would be taken into consideration when the selection committee meets here tomorrow.”Yuvraj’s availability leaves the selectors with a dilemma for second Test. Mohammad Kaif, who was his replacement for Nagpur, was India’s leading batsman in the first innings with a career-best 91, which makes it very hard for the selectors to leave him out.The man under most pressure now is VVS Laxman. He was trapped lbw first ball, by Matthew Hoggard, in the first innings and could very well be batting for his Test place as India fight for a draw on the final day.

Pakistan’s coach, Bob Woolmer, twice turned down an offer to coach the Sri Lankan cricket team.Woolmer, the former South Africa coach, said he had been taking time off from the game when the first offer was made, and had not been satisfied at the manner in which the second offer was made.”The first time I was approached was soon after the 1999 World Cup when my contract with South Africa was over,” said Woolmer, “but I wanted some time out from cricket and didn’t quite consider the offer.”Woolmer, 57, who is back in Sri Lanka with the Pakistan team for two Tests and three one-dayers, said he had been interested in the assignment in 2003 but the officials did not have proper discussions with him.”On the second instance the circumstances weren’t right and therefore I declined,” he said. “They were making offers of money without trying to sit down with me for a chat.”Although Woolmer’s name was rumoured in cricket circles to replace Dav Whatmore three years ago, it was believed at the time that violence in the country had made him decline the offer.But Woolmer said security was never a concern. “That’s far from the truth. I love this place and my wife loves this place. It didn’t worry me one bit. If I am going to die while coaching cricket, then so be it.”Sri Lanka were desperately searching for someone to replace Whatmore after the last World Cup and had an interim coach in former skipper Duleep Mendis before the Australian, John Dyson, was given the job. Dyson coached Sri Lanka for 18 months before being replaced by present coach Tom Moody, also an Australian.Woolmer also indicated that he did not have many years left in coaching. “I am getting old for the job. Throwing hard at practice sessions and giving high catches are becoming difficult,” he said. “I am contracted with the Pakistan Cricket Board till the 2007 World Cup and will assess what to do after that.”Woolmer made a name for himself in the early-1990s as Warwickshire’s coach and later moved to South Africa, where he worked for five years. He was later appointed as the International Cricket Council’s High Performance Manager and took up his present assignment in 2004.

Scorecard

Mitchell Johnson did not get to bat in Queensland’s 6 for 900 declared, but he made sure he left a huge mark on the Pura Cup final with a six wicket-haul and ten for the match as the Bulls won by an innings and 354 runs. Needing a massive 556 to make Queensland bat again, Victoria were dismissed before tea for 202 to give the Bulls their sixth domestic first-class trophy with the biggest margin of victory in a final.The Bushrangers resumed at 2 for 38 in the hope that pride would guide them through the day and achieve an honourable draw. Johnson, who removed both openers late on day four, upset their plans with 6 for 51 and match figures of 10 for 106 to confirm his status as one of the country’s leading bowling prospects.”What a performance on a flat wicket – ten wickets,” Maher, the Man of the Match, told . “How he didn’t get Man of the Match is beyond me. What you saw today was a massive turning point.”Brad Hodge was Johnson’s third victim, caught by Ashley Noffke in the gully for 28, and Johnson returned to rip into the lower order by removing Jon Moss (13), Nathan Pilon (8) and Shane Harwood (3) to make sure of the outright victory. The legspinner Daniel Doran, who picked up 3 for 33, struck with his first ball to hit David Hussey’s off stump on 37 and he also knocked over Cameron White before finishing with the top scorer Nick Jewell for 69.The last wicket was left to Andy Bichel, who forced Dirk Nannes to hit to Lachlan Stevens at short leg for his 50th of the season, and sent the Queenslanders into a celebration they have been planning from the dressing room for days. “They ran into a Queensland side that was hungrier than you’ve ever seen,” Maher said. “The last side that was this hungry was in 1994-95 and we’d never won it then.”The Bulls drove to their mammoth total on a lifeless pitch with centuries to Jimmy Maher (223), Shane Watson (201), Clint Perren (173) and Martin Love (169) in a performance the home players will remember for decades. The loss was Victoria’s worst defeat in their 115-year first-class history. “It definitely hurts,” Cameron White, the Victoria captain, said.

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.”