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The steady descent of Shoaib Akhtar’s career continued after the Indian Premier League (IPL) decided that he won’t be allowed to feature in its tournament till the end of his five-year ban or until his ban is lifted by the Pakistan board.”Shoaib has been banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board, and even though they have cleared him to play for IPL, we felt that international discipline needs to be respected,” IS Bindra, a member of the IPL governing council, told Cricinfo. “If he can’t play for Pakistan, how can we play him? There will be no discipline left in the game, if we play him. It will set an unwanted precedent.”We [the IPL] want to be part of the international system, not operate outside it. If somebody is banned on disciplinary grounds, that is a serious offense, and we felt it would be very odd if he was to play in IPL.”Shoaib, however, plans to appeal the ban and if he wins, he could yet turn out for his team. “If he is able to clear the ban and wins the appeal process, he will be allowed to play”, Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, clarified to a private television channel.A spokesman for the Kolkata Knight Riders confirmed to Cricinfo that they have been informed by the IPL that Shoaib will not be available to play for them. “In this situation, we will abide by the IPL directive as the final availability of a player depends on a clearance from the league.”However, Shahrukh Khan, the owner of the Kolkata franchise, said he will take the matter up with the IPL. “I will talk to Lalit Modi to reconsider the decision,” he said. “I hope things get sorted out in our favour.”I know I am allowed to take another player but I want Shoaib back.”Cricinfo has learnt that the Kolkata franchise is now free to look for Shoaib’s replacement, though nobody has been identified as yet. Besides, the money that was bid on Shoaib [US$ 450,000] will not be counted in the team’s spending cap of $5 million, and the franchise will be free to use that money to buy the services of a new player.Only yesterday, Shoaib had claimed that the willingness of the Knight Riders to play him confirmed there were no disciplinary issues. “If I had been so indisciplined and had an attitude problem as the Pakistan board claims do you think that Shahrukh Khan or [Sourav] Ganguly would want me to play for their team in the IPL,” Shoaib said.Until he can clear his name, it seems they don’t.

Martin Snedden, the CEO of New Zealand Cricket, has admitted that the desultory attendances at the Christchurch Test have left him baffled. On all three days of the match the players and officials almost outnumbered the spectators.Snedden said he was fairly sure that the cost of tickets was not the issue. No-one showed up despite adult tickets costing just $15 and children having free entry over the weekend, as long as they wore cricketing clothes. He added that attendances were up overall, but that included ODIs and Twenty20 matches.One theory put forward for the poor attendances was the limit of a one litre bottle of water per person, but that hardly accounts for the missing thousands.

Andrew Flintoff, the face of Sky Sports cricket as they embark on their first full summer of home international coverage, has extended his sporting experience in a host of different directions as part of a new mini-series to help promote the game.Entitled “Ready Steady Freddie,” the slot will feature on Sky Sports’ new Saturday morning entertainment show, Cricket AM, which is modelled precisely on the established Soccer AM programme that has proved to be popular, enduring and award-winning.”I’m a bit of a one-trick pony,” claimed Flintoff, although the range of challenges he has so far taken on suggests otherwise. He has practiced his rugby goal-kicking with England’s fly-half Charlie Hodgson, taken boxing lessons from the world welterweight champion, Ricky Hatton, and picked up darts-playing tips from the multiple world champion, Phil “The Power” Taylor.”I’ve enjoyed it to be honest,” said Flintoff. “It has been great to meet different sports people and see how they go about doing their business.” Some of the tips have proved more useful than others, given that Flintoff’s closest friend in the England team, Steve Harmison, actually took a dartboard on tour to India with him.”The manager wasn’t too happy with the excess baggage,” laughed Flintoff. “He had a pole, an oche and everything. We had interconnecting rooms on the trip, and just played darts for six hours a day.” For all of Taylor’s coaching, however, Flintoff struggled to keep up with his team-mate. “Harmy was far better than anyone else,” he joked, “but then he’s been going to social clubs since he was eight!”The Cricket AM show will be hosted by the former BBC children’s TV presenter, Simon Thomas, and Anita Rani, the former presenter of an Asian magazine programme, “Desi DNA.” Other innovations include a cartoon pairing, “Willow and Stumpy”, who will attempt to demystify the game in the manner that Simon Hughes, Channel 4’s analyst, did so effectively in recent seasons, and a Sunday morning chat show in the style of “What The Papers Say”.”The shows are designed to appeal to devoted cricket fans and newcomers to the sport alike,” said a Sky Sports spokesman. “Each sets out to entertain as well as educate and together they will cover all levels of the game from grass-roots to Test match cricket.””2006 is a huge year for cricket on Sky Sports,” added Barney Francis, executive producer for cricket. “This range of programming boasts something for everyone this summer.” In addition to all Test, one-day and Twenty20 international cricket, the coverage will include more than 60 matches at domestic level from the County Championship to the Pro40 tournament, as well as women’s and Under-19 internationals.

Following their warm-up games against the senior Zimbabwe World Cup squad this week, plans are afoot for Zimbabwe A to take on the South African franchise side, the Titans, at the end of March.The Titans are a formidable team who have just recently won the SuperSport Series – South Africa’s premier first-class trophy. The Titans squad contains several South African internationals in Paul Harris, Alfonso Thomas, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and the captain, Martin van Jaarsveld.They promise to be stiff opposition for the inexperienced Zimbabweans, but tours such as these are essential for Zimbabwe to build up a base of experienced players following the recent spate of retirements which led to Zimbabwe withdrawing themselves from the Test arena. Zimbabwe are set to resume Test cricket later in the year.Speaking on Thursday, Kenyon Ziehl, the chairman of the national selection committee said: “Most of the guys in the side are extremely talented players who are pushing for slots in the national team but still need a bit more time playing List A cricket. The operations department is currently working on a Zimbabwe A programme with prospects of the Titans from South Africa coming down for a couple of games at the end of March.”There are also plans to invite South Africa A in May and a possible tour to India as the year progresses but the final details of these tours still need to be confirmed.

Former West Indies players Deryck Murray and Bryan Davis were pleased with the team’s win over Sri Lanka in Trinidad but they felt Chris Gayle should have gone with four specialist fast bowlers instead of banking on Dwayne Bravo to fill the fourth spot.”It’s very good to have two wins out of five matches against two countries [West Indies beat South Africa in Port Elizabeth last December] who are higher on the table,” Davis, a former Test opener, told .”It should make them feel good, and better about themselves. [But] I don’t consider Bravo a specialist bowler. He’s a good bowler, but he’s a support bowler, the fifth bowler. He’s an allrounder. We’re missing that [fourth] bowler.””Once you have to put in the four specialist bowlers, I believe batsmen like Bravo and [Denesh] Ramdin have to come to the fore and make runs, and improve their approach. They are the ones at No. 6and 7 to make some runs, not counting out specialist bowlers.”Murray, the Trinidad and Tobago board president, also said the batsmen had to pull their weight in the side. “What we need to be doing is when you select your teams you select six people as specialists. You need to put the responsibility on the batsman, six batsmen need to do the job.”Murray also explained the need for a spinner to introduce variety in to the attack. “Whether it’s a more containing type of bowler as opposed to the wicket-taking spinner, and you need two or three close to the team. [It’s been] hard on our spinners over the last three or four years, who have been the leading wicket-takers over the last few years and they deserve recognition.”Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop was delighted with the win but cautioned that domestic cricket in the region wasn’t in the best shape. “It confirms that there is talent in the side that can be competitive with other teams in the world, and the talent can be harnessed if the players are really hungry and thoughtful,” he told . “But there is still much work to do in the regional game and the team itself.”He was also concerned about the shallow talent pool in West Indies cricket and urged the board to provide the required support to build a strong side. “The strength in depth is poor. There are not many players in the first-class game in the Caribbean – based on performance – who can come in at a moment’s notice to make a difference to the team because the first-class standard is so poor,” he said. “But the environment and culture must be created in the Caribbean by the administration to facilitate that culture and work ethic.”

Irfan Pathan, who wasn’t expected to play any part in the Test series,will be heading back to India later this week to play two RanjiTrophy matches in a bid to regain some semblance of bowling form. Pathan’sdisplays with the ball have been little short of disastrous in recentmonths, and the team management felt that some time away and matchpractice would be the best remedy ahead of the eight one-day matchesscheduled for January and February against West Indies and Sri Lanka.”Irfan Pathan is a really important member for us leading into the WorldCup, and leading into a lot of tournaments that we have,” said RahulDravid explaining the decision to send home a man who took a hat-trickwhile opening the bowling in a Test match less than a year ago. “Irfan’snot getting as much cricket as we hoped in this series and we’ve discussedit with him, with the coaching staff and with the chairman of selectors.We feel it’s in Irfan’s best interests that he goes back and plays RanjiTrophy games on the 2nd and 10th before the start of the one-day series inIndia.”Pathan’s last foray in South Africa was a dismal one, with 74 runsconceded in 11 overs against a Kwazulu-Natal Invitation XI. With MunafPatel coming back into contention after an ankle injury, Pathan’s chancesof making the team dwindled significantly. “Munaf has recovered reallywell, so we have that cover in terms of medium-pace back-up,” said Dravid.”We feel that it’s in Irfan’s best interests that he goes back. If he wentback after this tour, he would get only one game.”He himself feels that he needs to have some bowling. And we, the coachingstaff and senior management group, feel that he is too important for us.We need to get him right, and one of the is to get him to playsome cricket.”When asked whether his lack of rhythm and consistency in the warm-up gamehad been a factor in the decision, Dravid said: “It wasn’t only thetwo-day game. Obviously, we had to ensure that we had enough back-up.Munaf wasn’t fully fit so we couldn’t risk anyone going back at thatstage. But with only one match to go, we have sufficient back-up. We don’tsee Irfan playing a part for us in this series, but he’s a very importantpart of the team in the near and long-term future.”

Dravid stressed that there would be no replacement, and suggested thatPathan had plenty of time to make the adjustments that will allow him tocome back a better and wiser bowler. “He can take confidence from thefact that he’s young,” he said. “He’s 22 and he’s not the only one ininternational cricket who’s had to go through something like this. Abowler like Stephen Harmison had to go through something like this duringthe Ashes series, struggling really badly. It can happen, especially whenyou’re young.”According to Dravid, time in the middle was the best remedy. “In Irfan’scase, he went through a similar period in the home series against Pakistan[2004-05],” he said. “I remember he struggled a bit. But he went toEngland and played a lot of county cricket [for Middlesex], bowled a lotof overs. I think that was a sort of catalyst in bringing him back to thesort of form and rhythm that he’s capable of bowling at. Keeping in mindthat, he needs a lot of bowling in match situations, we’ve taken thisdecision to give him enough games in the lead up to the World Cup.”Away from the media spotlight and the relentless scrutiny, Pathan will have the chance to focus on his current shortcomings and rediscover his bowling mojo. His pedigree has never been in doubt. After all, how many 22-year-old can point to 91 Test wickets and 114one-day scalps in a career that has already encompassed a Test-matchhat-trick?

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Baroda completed a stunning fightback and enhanced their prospects of reaching the semi-final stage after a four-wicket win against Tamil Nadu at Vadodara. Having completed all their league games, Tamil Nadu will now await the results of the last league round. Chasing 272 for victory, Baroda were in a deep hole at 113 for 5 but Kiran Powar and Yusuf Pathan added 159 in an unbeaten seventh-wicket stand and sealed the win. Powar stroked 11 fours in his steady 90 while Yusuf, Irfan’s brother, cracked 81 in 124 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. For the second successive game Baroda came back from a low first-innings score to triumph in a thrilling chase. They take on Uttar Pradesh in the final league game, beginning on December 31, and need to win with a bonus point to ensure a place in the last four.
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Hyderabad’s 60-run win in a low-scoring scrap gave them a great chance of entering the semi-finals. Chasing 278 for victory, Punjab couldn’t manage sizeable partnerships as Gaurav Gupta, who made a solid 87, lost partners at regular intervals. Gupta was stranded on 87 when the last wicket fell. Narender Pal Singh, the medium pacer, snapped up four wickets while Inder Shekar Reddy, the left-arm spinner, picked up three. Earlier VRV Singh, Punjab’s 20-year-old fast bowler, completed a great match with six wickets in the second innings, and finished with 13 for 115 for the game. The Punjab batsmen, though, faltered in both innings and though they were still favourites to make it to the semi-finals, big wins for Baroda and Hyderabad in the final league game would snuff out their chances.
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Uttar Pradesh began confidently in their pursuit of 232 at Karad in a contest that had no bearing on the semi-final slots. Maharashtra were shot out for 119 in their second innings with Rudra Pratap Singh, the left-arm medium pacer, claiming 5 for 33. Ashish Winston Zaidi contributed three victims as Maharashtra’s batting worries continued. Jyoti Prakash Yadav led the chase and was unbeaten on a composed 36.
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Sairaj Bahutule’s eight first-class hundred helped Mumbai tighten their stranglehold and they led by 390 at the end of the third day at the Wankhede Stadium. Having gained a 126-run lead in their first innings, Mumbai were in a spot of bother at 67 for 6 when Bahutule and Ramesh Powar came together. Both added 117 for the seventh wicket with Powar contributing 65. Bahutule was unbeaten at the close as Karnataka’s semi-finals hopes had all but disappeared. Mumbai have already booked their spot in the semis.
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Gujarat’s bowlers struck at regular intervals as Madhya Pradesh struggled in pursuit of 353 in the third day at Ahmedabad. All the MP batsmen reached double figures but none crossed 35 as Hitesh Majumdar and A Makda, the opening bowlers, grabbed seven wickets between them. At the end of the day, MP still trailed by 111 with only three wickets standing and may concede two points in a game that was bound for a tame draw.
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Shib Shankar Paul and Ranadeb Bose helped Bengal claw their way back into the contest at Kolkata, a game that they had win to enhance their chances of staying in the Elite Group. Delhi collapsed from 193 for 4 to 251 all out as Paul and Bose ended the innings with five wickets apiece. Mithun Manhas and Vijay Dahiya made 70s but their dismissals early in the day triggered a collapse. Bengal’s reply was much more promising than their first-innings effort, where they managed 240, and ended the day on a comfortable 190 for 3, an overall lead of 179. Deep Dasgupta top scored with 56. Delhi will have to push for a win tomorrow to boost their chances of a last-four berth.
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Amit Pagnis hammered 107 in just 136 balls as Railways took command in their crucial game against Andhra at Anantapur, a game that could decide if they remained in the Elite Group or not. After managing a 61-run lead, Railways didn’t lose any wicket till stumps with Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar adding 151 in 42 overs. Pagnis smashed 19 fours on the way to his eighth first-class hundred. Earlier, Andhra had wriggled out of a tight spot with their tailenders taking the score from 120 for 6 to 202.

Robert Croft has been appointed as a spin bowling consultant to the England ODI side. He played 21 Test and 50 ODIs during his England career and will spend 12 days with the limited-overs team in South Africa.A vastly experienced offspinner, Croft represented Glamorgan for 23 years and, even into his 40s, proved highly effective as a limited-overs performer with changes of pace – even changes of action – helping him make a successful transition to the T20 age.While the ECB do already have a full-time spin bowling coach – Peter Such – Croft retired from playing recently enough to have played against most of the England squad and has experience of playing international limited-overs cricket. Such, who never played ODIs and retired before the advent of T20, also already has a wide area of responsibility and was in the UAE with the performance squad before Christmas and is expected to travel with the England U19 squad as they prepare for the U19 World Cup. While Such might be described as a coach in the traditional sense, helping bowlers build a technique, Croft’s role may relate more to specific match situations and tactics.Since retiring as a player at the end of 2012, Croft has moved into coaching. He is currently with Glamorgan and has previously been invited to work with the England performance squad. He hopes to complete his Level 4 coaching qualification in 2016.”Robert has had success in both domestic and international cricket during his career and he’ll have plenty to offer the dressing room,” Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, said. “It’s an opportunity for players and coaches to exchange different ideas which is so important particularly at this stage in the side’s development.”He has worked with our performance programme in the past and has proved a popular and valuable addition and I’ve no doubt this group of players will also gain a lot from his involvement. I’m sure he’ll return with ideas that Glamorgan will benefit from as they prepare for the coming season.”The appointment of Croft continues England’s policy of utilising the skills and experience of recently retired former players. Paul Collingwood, the only man to lead England to a global limited-overs trophy at the 2010 World T20, is also expected to join up the squad for the World T20 in India while Mahela Jayawardene spent time with the Test players at the start of their tour of the UAE. The other coaches for the ODI segment of the South Africa tour will be Trevor Bayliss, Paul Farbrace, Ottis Gibson and Graham Thorpe.The development will surely do Croft’s own coaching credentials no harm. With Toby Radford having recently left the role of head coach at Glamorgan, Croft is probably the favourite to replace him. A coaching appointment with the England side coming 10 days before the closing date for applications would seem perfectly timed.”It’s extra experience for me and if the opportunity presents itself to help the lads I will,” Croft said. “I’m there to observe and primarily be a sounding board for the spin bowlers, but will give any additional help as required.”It is another opportunity to increase my coaching experience. The November before last I was invited out to work with Andy Flower with the development squad in Sri Lanka and this time it’s the full squad in South Africa. I’m looking forward to meeting up with two excellent coaches with different styles in Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace and to absorbing their ideas.”It is always good to have an open mind in the profession you are involved with, you can learn every day, so I hope to pick up things that will help me be a better coach.”The England squad flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg on Sunday and, after a brief break, will resume training on Monday morning.

Ron Archer, the allrounder who played 19 Tests for Australia during the 1950s, has died of lung cancer at the age of 73. Archer’s death on Sunday came just two days after the passing of his Australia team-mate and fast-bowling colleague Bill Johnston.Archer was a talented all-round sportsman when he was plucked from the Queensland side to make his Test debut at just 19, against South Africa in 1952-53. However, a knee injury ended his international career when he was only 22, leaving him with 713 runs at 24.58 and 48 wickets at 27.45.He was one of Australia’s record five centurions in the first innings against West Indies at Kingston in 1954-55. Archer made 128 – his only Test hundred – at No. 6 and joined Colin McDonald, Neil Harvey, Keith Miller and Richie Benaud in reaching triple-figures.Archer had already made 84 and 98 on the tour, which undoubtedly marked his high-point as a Test batsman. However, he cemented his place in the side largely as a new-ball or first-change fast bowler.Like his older team-mate Johnston, Archer held his own in a quality attack that often featured Miller, Ray Lindwall and Alan Davidson. His best bowling in an innings was the 5 for 53 he claimed at The Oval in 1956, in what would be his second last Test.On the way home, Australia played a one-off Test match against Pakistan at Karachi and it was there that Archer sustained the knee injury that ended his career. He returned as a specialist batsman for Queensland in 1958-59 and averaged over 40, but his body would no longer stand up to the rigours of first-class cricket.He had made his debut for Queensland in 1951-52, at the age of 18, having played first-grade cricket in Brisbane since he was 15. Joining his brother Ken in the state side, Archer made an immediate impact, taking eight wickets on debut against South Australia. He was also a highly-skilled rugby union player, Australian Rules footballer and baseballer, but he focused on cricket after he was chosen in the Test team barely a year after joining the Queensland side.Archer finished with 255 wickets at 23.36 from his 98 first-class matches and also scored 3768 runs at 31.93. Like Ken, who also played for Australia, he became a TV executive, rising through the ranks to become general manager of Channel 0. He also retained his links with cricket as Cricket Australia’s Code of Behaviour Commissioner and once acted as an ICC match referee.Creagh O’Connor, Cricket Australia’s chairman, said Archer gave tirelessly to the game after his playing days prematurely ended. “Ron Archer had a brief and very successful Test career which was tragically cut short by an injury of the type that modern sports medicine would today probably have overcome,” O’Connor said.”But while his international playing career was too short, he still devoted an energetic and cheerful lifetime of support to the game that he loved, contributing right up until his final summer”.Damien Mullins, the chairman of Queensland Cricket, said Archer would be remembered as one of the state’s greats. “Ron was not only an outstanding cricketer, he was a wonderful cricket person and everyone who knew him will miss him enormously,” Mullins said.

Four days ago, Jamaican left-arm spinner Nikita Miller did not know what if felt like to take five wickets in an innings at the first-class level.Within three days of a one-sided Carib Beer Challenge final which saw Jamaica prevail over Trinidad and Tobago by nine wickets at Sabina Park, he has two five-wicket hauls, and ten in a match for the first time.”It’s been a long time coming, and I must say that I’m really, really elated,” Miller told the . “I’m really, really happy. I’ve been working really hard this season, and I’m very grateful.”He attributed his performances this season, which landed him 42 wickets, one more than T&T off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth, and the Bowler-of-the-Series accolade, to hard work and “a bit of luck”.”I love the game of cricket and I put in a lot of work for it, and maybe that’s what has worked for me this season,” Miller said.Like many of the region’s slower bowlers, he is sitting in wait to be noticed and acknowledged by the West Indies selectors. “It [being selected] would be on my mind, but the only thing I can do is to go on and perform to my best. If the coach or the selectors see it fit, then they will select me. I can’t say that I deserve a game or not. So I’ll just wait and see what they’ll do.”Tamar Lambert, Jamaica’s stand-in captain, also had high praise for Miller. “Nikita has been exceptional for us this season. And to get 42 wickets in just six games has been a good season for Nikita Miller. He just continues to bowl well year in, year out,” he said.