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.

Jacques Rudolph, the young left-handed batsman, will lead the South African A team when it tours Sri Lanka in September to play a two-day warm-up match and two four-day games before an international one-day tri-series also involving New Zealand A. The tour gives Rudolph and excellent opportunity to prove himself once more and stake a claim to return to the South African team.”Apart from the experienced players in the side, this squad is blessed with talented young players that we can build our future with,” said Haroon Lorgat, the national convenor of selectors, on the board’s official website. “Some of these players know the demanding conditions in Sri Lanka and I am confident that this tour will deepen their experiences even further.”Loots Bosman and Robin Peterson will replace Paul Adams and Hashim Amla for the tri-series. The only debutant in the squad is Johan Botha, who appeared for South Africa in the 2000 Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka.South Africa A won the two four-day matches 1-0, and the three one-dayers 2-1 against Sri Lanka A when the teams met last in South Africa in September-October 2003. The squad departs on August 31.The squad:Jacques Rudolph (capt), Thami Tsolekile (wk), Paul Adams, Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Zander de Bruyn, Jean-Paul Duminy, Albie Morkel, Justin Ontong, Andrew Puttick, Dale Steyn, Alfonso Thomas, Johan van der Wath, Monde Zondeki.

Ajay Jadeja’s plea seeking permission to play international cricket was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday after no one appeared on his behalf when the petition was taken up for hearing. According to Press Trust of India, a bench consisting of Justice Vijendra Jain and Justice Anil Kumar dismissed the appeal that Jadeja had filed to challenge another High Court ruling that didn’t allow him to play any competitive cricket.However, a Division Bench subsequently permitted him to play domestic cricket. Jadeja still nurses ambitions of representing India, though the Board of Control for Cricket in India appears loathe to even consider him.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) might soon appoint a paid selection committee in order to professionalise the process of finding, nurturing and selecting talent throughout the country.Abbas Zaidi, the PCB director, told Cricinfo that the proposal had been mooted at a meeting of the board’s ad-hoc committee last month and was now under serious consideration. “Nothing concrete has come of it yet but it is definitely under consideration. We have no idea yet of how much time it will take to happen but it will happen.”Traditionally, the Board’s selection committee works on an honorary basis with unpaid selectors, who often have professional commitments elsewhere and thus little time to go and watch domestic matches to scour talent. Currently, chief selector Wasim Bari is employed as a senior manager at Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and fellow selector Iqbal Qasim at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).Zaidi explained the rationale behind the idea: “Selectors need to watch as many matches as possible to get an idea of which players need to be kept under watch, who is performing well on the circuit. They have to rely on more than just plain statistics and at the moment, as good as our selectors are and as good a job as they have done, some of them just don’t have the time to be able to travel the country and watch players.”What this means for the current selection committee is not entirely clear. There have been persistent rumours since the tour to India earlier this year that the PCB have been keen to replace the long-serving Bari as chief selector, and also his committee, although Zaidi was quick to dispel these. “We have no problems with any of the current selectors. They have done a good job and are exceptionally good at what they do. In fact, we would like to hang on to them. There is a strong possibility that we could keep them and hire them as full-time selectors but this also depends on their current employers and status. We have to work something out there.”Bari has been involved with the selection committee in a number of capacities since 1998. He was briefly replaced as chief selector by Aamir Sohail after the 2003 World Cup, only to find himself back at the helm in January 2004, soon after Shaharyar Khan took over as chairman.There is still speculation, however, that change within the selection committee is inevitable. , a leading Karachi-based daily, reported today that, among others, Zaheer Abbas was in the running to replace Bari as chief selector. A source within the board told the paper, “Zaheer is a popular choice with the Chairman and other senior officials of the board and is also well known to the ad-hoc committee members. He is seen as a cool and decent person with a strong cricketing background. The only issue with him is whether he would be based in Karachi (where he currently resides) or Lahore. And obviously he is keen to have his own choice of members.”At a recent meeting between board officials and President General Pervez Musharraf to discuss the progress of the national team for the 2007 World Cup, the former batsman was among a select group of ex-players invited. This meeting fuelled speculation that he was being lined up for the role of chief selector.Bari and his committee, meanwhile, are set to meet on September 1 to finalise squads for the upcoming series against Australia A, as well as for a series of practice matches between the leading players of the country.

The shortlists for the ICC Awards has been narrowed down, with the top Indian players falling out of the race. Rahul Dravid, who won the inaugural award for Test Player and Player of the Year last season, fell out of the reckoning.Also slipping out of the running are Dravid’s team-mates Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh who were all nominated in the Test Player of the Year category. Dinesh Karthik remained the lone Indian hope in the Emerging Player of Year section after the ICC pruned the list of nominations.”Of course I am disappointed. But then we have not had many matches this season, obviously performance matters,” Kumble told a media conference to announce the shortlist. “Personally I can do only what I can do, selection is not in my control.”Andrew Flintoff remains in contention for the ODI Player of the Year award, which he won last year, while also being nominated for the Player of the Year award. Adam Gilchrist still features in three categories while Shane Warne, Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker, remains in the running for Test Player award.Besides the players’ awards, there would also be team awards for Test and ODI teams of the year and Spirit of Cricket Award. The ICC Awards will be announced in Sydney on October 11 in between the Super Series ODIs and Test match.Kumble denied the upcoming Super Series would have lost a bit of sheen following Australia’s defeat in the Ashes series. “I don’t think so. Playing Australia in Australia is a tough proposition, they are still a good side. All the matches in Ashes were close, they will come back stronger.”Kumble said matches involving multi-national teams had their value. “It is an occasion to celebrate cricket itself. A player won’t get another opportunity to play in a World XI. You are playing the very best and it is an opportunity to showcase your talent. It is also a totally different feeling to have those you have played against in the same dressing room.”The shortlist of nominations for ICC AwardsPlayer of the Year Andrew Flintoff, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Inzamam-ul Haq and Jacques KallisTest Player Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Inzamam-ul Haq, Jacques KallisODI Player Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee and Andrew SymondsEmerging Player Aftab Ahmed, Ian Bell, Dinesh Karthik, Kevin Pietersen and AB de Villiers

James Hopes has become the second young talent of Australian cricket to praise Bennett King, who will coach West Indies in the three-Test series starting at Brisbane next week. Shane Watson raved this week about King’s work that helped rebuild his game following stress fractures, and Hopes, who made his one-day international debut this year, has also credited him with reviving his fortunes.King, the former Queensland coach, told Hopes he would need to lift his effort to be a successful player and the chat pushed him towards the ING Cup Player of the Year award last summer and into the national team. “Kingy really showed me what was required to make the next step and put it down plain in front of me what I needed to do if I wanted to make it as a cricketer,” Hopes told .”My results over the past 18 months have been long overdue from a personal viewpoint. Most of it can probably be put down to the fact it took me quite a while to realise that as an allrounder I couldn’t afford to let any part of my game slip. I couldn’t cut corners.”Hopes will be on the opposite side to King tomorrow when he starts the four-day tour match for Queensland at Allan Border Field. West Indies are currently ranked third-last on the ICC Test table, but Hopes said King was the ideal man to lift the side. “Bennett is among the best coaches in the world,” he said. “They have some world-class players and some remarkable talent coming through, it’s just a case of being patient. They’ve had stability problems in the side for the past few years, but I couldn’t think of a better person to have.”Queensland and West Indies had hoped to field 12 players for the match but Cricket Australia over-ruled the request that would have affected the game’s status as first-class. The opening Test begins at the Gabba on November 3.

CloseScorecardUnlike the men on tour of the subcontinent, England’s women have only one dart at Test glory. Unfortunately they got it badly wrong on the second day of the only Test after a hostile bowling display by India and they closed on 103 for 7, still 37 short of the follow-on.Jhulan Goswami started the rot at Delhi, ripping through their top order to swing the match in India’s favour, bowling a good line and finding some bounce. She forced both Laura Newton and Charlotte Edwards to play on then found Claire Taylor’s edge, and all in a blink. At 25 for 3, England were in trouble and Rumeli Dhar soon made matters worse, trapping Jenny Gunn for 5 and bowling Lydia Greenway for 6 (49 for 5).In dire straits, England dropped anchor, but Laura Harper fell for 10 after giving Shravanthi Naidu the charge. To seal a gloomy batting display for England while applying the icing to her cake, Goswami prised out Arran Brindle for 37 just before the close. This is a key wicket for India, Brindle having shown her stickability to save the first Ashes Test with a fine hundred at Hove this summer.England’s plans had hatched perfectly in the morning, with Harper taking her first five-wicket haul to give the visitors a bright start to their day as they made good their aim to remove India for below 300 on a turning pitch. Harper bowled all morning from one end until India were shot out. India’s tail was not for the wagging, rather it was sagging, with Harper bagging four of the last five wickets which fell for 45.Then it was England’s turn to fold. But India thoroughly deserve to be in pole position following an assured display of bowling on a blameless pitch which is showing signs of turning, but which contains few demons.Richard Bates, England’s coach, pulled no punches in assessing the batting performance. “We can only point our fingers at ourselves,” he told Cricinfo at the close of play. “We had planned to get stuck in to their bowling.Tomorrow we will need to show a bit of character. If we can save the follow-on and bowl well we will have a sniff.” On today’s evidence that’s a big if.

ICC Winter Training Camp (WTC) Head Coach Andy Moles is convinced the whole of Bermuda cricket will benefit from the presence of four of their players in Pretoria.”This has been a real success for Bermuda,” said Moles, reflecting on the presence of Jekon Edness, Jim West, Steven Outerbridge and Azeem Pitcher at the residential camp for players from the six Associate countries to qualify for the 2007 World Cup.”These players might not jump straight into their national side but if they continue to show the improvements they have shown here then they will certainly be in contention. And if they can persuade a large percentage of their team mates back home about the benefits of what they have done in South Africa it will help the whole of their squad.”The scope to broaden Bermuda’s playing base is limited by the fact the county’s overall population is just 68,500 but the hope is that base can still be widened if the players are able to put into action some of the skills they have learnt at the WTC.”They have all done their Level 2 coaching course so they are going home with a qualification,” said Moles. “If they can go back not only with their improved levels of performance but also able to work with youngsters and pass on their skills then that has to benefit Bermuda cricket. It is a perfect illustration that the ICC’s Development Program (started in 1997) is not just about playing but also infrastructure, like coaching, too,” added Moles.The WTC has been made up of 23 players from not only Bermuda but also Canada, Kenya, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland and the Bermuda players have been among the most popular members of the group according to Moles.”They have all worked hard, enjoyed the experience and everyone here has enjoyed their company,” he said. “The fitness and training was a bit of a culture shock for them all at first and they struggled, they would all probably admit that, but they all really bought into the regime. That showed when everyone had their fitness tested about 10 days ago, a follow-up to the test they did when they arrived, and the Bermuda lads showed great improvement. They have been very enthusiastic and attentive and I would even go so far as to say that, as a group, they have benefited the most from the last 11 weeks.”Bermuda captain Clay Smith was involved in the camp at the start in a coaching capacity and even though he could not stay for the whole 11 weeks Moles felt he would have picked up enough in his time in Pretoria to make it a worthwhile exercise. The hope now is that Smith, together with the other Bermuda players attending the WTC, can pass on the positives from their experience in South Africa to coach Gus Logie and the rest of the squad back home.Moles offered the ICC his assessment of the progress the Bermuda players have made at the WTC.Jekon Edness – In the same way that Kenneth Carto, the Canada wicketkeeper, has benefited from this camp so the same is true of Jekon. He arrived here as a player who kept once a week but now, after 11 weeks of catching balls every day, fitness work, pilates and stretching he will go home a totally different `keeper and person and Bermuda will see that.As a batsman what we have tried to do is make him aware of his plus points rather than focussing on what he can’t do. We have looked to get him to play in his areas of strength and we saw the benefit last week when we played a match and he saw his side home by working the ball around off the seamers and spinners.Jim West – Jim has been a fantastic team man and has also improved out of sight, a fact recognised by his fellow players as they voted him the most improved player of the WTC. He has worked so hard. He has been laid low by injuries but has battled through them and given everything to everything he has done. With his bowling he has done great work with Bob Cottam (WTC bowling coach) to change his action. He has not added all that much pace but what he has done is add a great deal of control. As for his batting, when he arrived he just tried to hit every ball for four or six but now we have shown him all about shot selection and batting in partnerships, especially if there is a recognised batsman at the other end. Jim has developed so much on this course and it has been a pleasure to have him here.Steven Outerbridge – Steven’s a top-order batsman and a more senior player than some others at the WTC. Initially he had a few problems knowing where his off stump was and also falling over to the offside by over-balancing. He has shown himself to be a good listener who has worked hard and now, I think, he knows what it will take for him to build big innings on a regular basis. He has improved as a fielder as well but now it is a case, as with so many others here, of him going on and proving he can put into practice what he’s learnt here. He was especially keen to work on his play against spin bowling and a block or slog approach is a common failing at Associate level instead of players backing themselves to work the ball into gaps. He has definitely improved in that area and has also learnt the art of playing the sweep shot.Azeem Pitcher – Azeem has really worked hard and you rarely saw him without his notebook, whether it was a psychology briefing, the Level 2 coaching course or even a net session – he took notes on everything. He is a very dedicated and organised cricketer. Like Stephen, a fellow left-hander, he had a problem falling over to the off-side and over-balancing but along with Stephen we have worked to ensure they keep their heads up and don’t look to play around their front pads. He made a classy 60 not out in a match last week and I got the impression he really does understand how to go about playing well now. The understanding of his game is there and in that innings he was able to see the benefits. Azeem was not able to bowl very much because of a shoulder injury but, typical of him and the rest of the Bermuda guys, he showed himself to be a great team man. He was always one of the first to make drinks for fellow players and he also made sure that shoulder injury did not stop him working hard on other areas of his fitness.

England have named a 14-man squad for the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka during February and following their winless tour of Bangladesh there are several news faces in the party.Steven Mullaney, Mark Stoneman, and Graeme White are the fresh players in the squad, although Mullaney, a right-handed batsman from Lancashire, has previous experience with the Under-19 team after playing against Sri Lanka in 2005. Richard Jones, a pace bowler from Worcestershire, is also back in the squad having been forced home from the tour of Bangladesh with a back injury.The 16-team tournament runs starts on February 5 in Colombo and England are grouped with Zimbabwe, Ireland and Nepal for the first round of matches.England squad Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), Varun Chopra (Essex), Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey), Nicholas James (Warwickshire), Richard Jones (Worcestershire), Andrew Miller (Lancashire), Steven Mullaney (Lancashire), John Simpson (Lancashire), Mark Stoneman (Durham), Huw Waters (Glamorgan), Graeme White (Northamptonshire), Greg Wood (Yorkshire), Robert Woodman (Somerset), Ben Wright (Glamorgan)

Barely three days before India arrive for a six-week tour encompassing three Tests and five ODIs the itinerary has belatedly been finalised. The venues for the first two one-day internationals have been switched again, now back to their original locations but a larger gap has been created between the first two matches. Peshawar will now host the first game on February 6 and Rawalpindi the second on February 11.The original itinerary suggested by the PCB had Peshawar scheduled for February 6 and Rawalpindi, February 8. Following a request by authorities in Rawalpindi, however, the venues were switched. But switching Peshawar to February 8 was also problematic and the provincial government wrote to the PCB saying they could not provide adequate security on the day. A PCB official told Cricinfo the problem was the date, February 8., a day of religious significance on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram is likely to fall either on February 7, 8 or 9. Traditionally, extra security is deployed in cities during the period and so, said the official, “we have avoided that date altogether. Peshawar was always ok with the 6th, as was Rawalpindi. That day is a problem for both cities so we have taken it out of the equation and instead put in a larger gap before the second ODI.”The dates for the third and fourth matches, at Lahore and Multan, have also been altered with the games now taking place on February 13 and 16. The BCCI have also agreed to this itinerary change, one which the PCB official was quick to confirm, would be the final one. “There will be no more changes now, this has finally been agreed upon and we are set to go.”The Test matches remain untouched which means after weeks of the PCB strongly hinting but the BCCI not actually confirming it, Karachi’s place as a Test venue – with even more security – has been secured. Since 9/11 this will be only the third Test to be held at the National Stadium, but by far the most significant, given that the other two opponents were Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.