Jagdish Sodha, whose name featured prominently during the Maurice Odumbe hearing, has said he will take legal action against the ICC for defamation. According to the East African Standard, he accused the cricket body of continually referring to him as a bookmaker, and admitted that though he knew Odumbe, he wouldn’t bet any money on Kenya.Sodha, a film producer based in Mumbai, was alarmed by the developments. “I intend to sue the ICC for defamation of my character and saying that I am a bookmaker. I do not know why they have been referring to me as a bookmaker. It is rubbish,” said Sodha, going on to say that nothing he had done earlier ever raised suspicion. “No one in the world has charged me, let alone convicting me, for bookmaking. I have never been arrested as well. I do not know where the ICC picked up this rubbish.””Even if I were a bookmaker,” Sodha said, “why would I approach Kenya, a team that wins once in a blue moon? What kind of money would I make? I’d rather approach someone else.” Sodha said that he attempted to do business with Odumbe as a partner, but the solar lamps and pharmaceuticals business was not successful.

When Anil Kumble trapped Mohammad Rafique in front on the first day at Dhaka, he went past Kapil Dev to become India’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket. The milestone came 14 years, four months and one day after he bowled his first ball in Tests – against England at Old Trafford in 1990 – and in the intervening period, there have been plenty of highs, and a few lows, in his career.The most striking aspect of his career has been Kumble’s contribution to Indian victories, mostly at home, but more recently in overseas wins as well. The table below shows just wide the gulf between him and the rest is – Kumble has 199 wickets in Indian wins, 101 more than BS Chandrasekhar, who is in second place, and more than Chandra and Bishan Bedi put together.

	Matches won	Wkts in matches won	Matches won at home	Wkts in home wins
Kumble	28	199	23	165
Chandrasekhar	14	98	9	56
Bedi	17	97	9	65
Harbhajan	15	94	11	83
Kapil	24	90	20	74
Prasanna	15	81	8	39
Srinath	17	68	13	52

When Kumble started off, he was largely a one-trick pony, firing in his deliveries tirelessly and with unerring accuracy. He was lethal on uneven surfaces, but wasn’t quite as effective on good tracks. However, of late, he has added more strings to his bow: he turns the legbreak much more than he used to, and he bowls at a much slower pace. That may have resulted in a slight compromise on the economy rate – it has gone up from 2.46 before December 2003 to 3.23 in the last 12 months – but it has also made him a more complete bowler. The difference shows in his stats – he has been taking more wickets in the first innings, and in overseas matches.Of the 78 wickets he has taken in his last 13 Tests (since the Australian tour of 2003-04), 50 of them have come in the first innings. That by itself might not be surprising, since India haven’t always bowled twice in these matches, but Kumble’s average and strike-rate are better in the first innings too. He has taken eight five-fors during this period, six of them in the first innings.

Kumble since Australian tour	Wickets	Average	Strike-rate
1st innings	50	27.74	51.80
2nd innings	28	27.96	54.80

Kumble before Australian tour	Wickets	Average	Strike-rate
1st innings	196	31.38	76.51
2nd innings	162	24.39	59.46

Kumble’s first 200 wickets took him 47 Tests, but since then he has been accumulating them at a much faster rate – 236 more in just 44 games (including the ongoing Dhaka Test). Kumble’s first 100 wickets came quickly enough, in 21 Tests, but his next 100 took 26 more, which spoilt his numbers somewhat. Kapil, on the other hand, took plenty of time to go from 200 to 400.

Bowler	First 100 in …	100 – 200 in …	200 – 300 in …	300 – 400 in …
Kumble	21 Tests	26 Tests	19 Tests	19 Tests
Kapil	25	25	33	32

ScorecardAt SuperSport Park in Centurion five maiden overs in a row at the top ofthe innings nearly cost the Titans dearly as Western Province Bolandfought back strongly, only to fall short by 23 runs.Three maidens from Alan Dawson and two from Charl Willoughby from thethird to the seventh overs, during which the Titans lost the wicket ofAlviro Petersen, was neutralised by some devastating final-overs hittingfrom Gerald Dros and Albie Morkel. Together the two put on 41 in 18balls to allow the Titans to end on 249 for 4 after the 45 overs.AB de Villiers (102) and Goolam Bodi (72) put on 164 for the secondwicket as de Villiers went to his maiden limited-overs hundred. Thepartnership laid the foundation for the innings but very littleacceleration through the middle part of it probably cost the Titans 20to 30 runs. Dros, however, once again proved what a powerful hitter he isat the death of an innings. Two fours and three sixes allowed him to race to 31off 13 balls while Morkel collected 16 off 10.Except for Dawson, most of the Western Province Boland bowlers cameunder attack. Dawson went for 16 runs in his last over, but stillonly gave away 40 in nine. Willoughby, more interestedin a continuous verbal battle with Bodi, ended with 1 for 54 despite thetwo early maidens.A brisk start from Western Province Boland – the 50 came up in eight overs -was halted when Henry Davids was bowled for 15 and AndrewPuttick, fell to the leg-side trap off a short ball for 18. Both wickets were taken by EthyMbhalati, who struck for the third time when he knocked back Ashwell Prince’soff stump for 4. Justin Kemp made short work of Neil Johnston,trapping him in front for 4, and when Paul Harris bowled GerhardStrydom for 35 Western Province were in deep trouble at 90 for 5. JPDuminy (78) and Con de Lange (47) started a recovery that broughtWestern Province Boland right back into the game. Their 118-runpartnership ended when Justin Kemp got rid of them bothand then cleaned up the tail to end with 4 for 47.
ScorecardAt Buffalo Park in East London the Warriors moved closer to a homesemi-final spot as their bowlers restricted the Lions to a mediocre 194for 7 and then managed to score the winning runs in the final over.The Lions won the toss and chose to bat, but their innings never got off the ground. Despite a 62 from Neil McKenzie and a 55 from HD Ackerman the inningsdidn’t gained any momentum. By the time McKenzie joined Ackerman at thecrease the Lions were already in trouble at 44 for 3 in the 12th over. A partnership of 72 followed, but the lack of acceleration meant that the innings petered to a close at 194 for 7 with Enoch Nkwe, the next highest, not out on 21.The Warriors then lost two early wickets, which gave the Lions a slender chance of defending 194. Justin Kreusch (65) stayed calm as further wickets fell withthe target seemingly getting tougher. At 154 for 6, 41runs were still required off 39 balls, but Pieter Strydom (22not out) and Tyron Henderson saw the Warriors through with four ballsto spare.

ScorecardJerome Taylor and Nikita Miller triggered an astonishing Leeward Island collapse in which 8 wickets fell for only 51 runs. At 99 for 2, Leeward Island were in a strong position, and all set to take the first-innings lead over Jamaica, but were bundled out for 150, still 38 short of Jamaica’s total. However, Wilden Cornwall struck back for Leeward with two wickets, and had Jamaica in some bother at 39 for 3 as the second day ended.Taylor claimed 5 for 23 and Miller took 4 for 47 on the uneven track, which assisted the bowlers, but not as much as on the first day. Leeward were 2 for 2, but a 97-run counter-attack between Runako Morton (50) and Sylvester Joseph (35) ensued before Jamaica ran through. Soon Leeward were 116 for 8, but were helped along by two stubborn innings by Carl Simon (15) and Kerry Jeremy (19).Jamaica then lost both openers and Lorenzo Ingram for 32 to restrict Jamaica’s lead to 77, with two days to achieve a result.The two other matches – between Barbados and Windward Island, and Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago – were both rained off.

Mithali Raj will spearhead India’s World Cup campaign as she continues in the captaincy role for the tournament in South Africa which starts in March.The eight teams will face each other in a round-robin basis ahead of the semi-final stages. Australia are the favourites, while India, New Zealand and England are expected to make the semi-finals at least. India have never won the World Cup, although they made the semi-finals of the last tournament where they lost to the eventual winners, the hosts New Zealand.India squad
Mithali Raj (captain), Jaya Sharma, Hemalata Kala, Neetu David, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Amita Sharma, Deepa Marathe, Rumali Dhar, Arundhati Kirkire, Anju Jain, Jhulan Goswami, Anjum Chopra, Karuna Jain, Reema Malhotra.

Sachin Tendulkar hogged the limelight after getting to 10,000 Test runs on the first day at Kolkata, but the classy performance of the day came from Rahul Dravid, who made 110 exquisite runs before falling in the last over of the day.Most of Pakistan’s bowlers had mentioned before the series that Dravid would be their main threat, and he showed why: throughout his 222-ball knock, he hardly gave Pakistan a sniff – his in-control percentage was an excellent 85.59. He scored at a fair clip against most bowlers, but was most circumspect against Abdul Razzaq, who bowled an excellent spell late in the day, getting appreciable reverse swing. However, while Dravid was careful against Razzaq, his technique was good enough to withstand that test – his in-control percentage against Razzaq was 90.24.The feature of Dravid’s innings was his cover-driving – he scored 33 of his 110 runs in that region, including six superb fours. His second-most prolific region was between mid-on and midwicket, through which he got three fours, including the one which got him his hundred.Learning lessons from Sehwag
Did Pakistan learn their lesson after being hammered by Virender Sehwag in the first Test? The stats suggest that they did, at least to an extent. Unlike at Mohali, when the seamers offered him width and bowled a fair number of good-length deliveries, here they kept the length much shorter, and gave him less width. It worked to an extent too – off the 37 short balls, Sehwag onlyscored 19. At the end of the day, though, he still had the runs against his name.

Captain and vice-captain look on keenly as the pitch gets some attention © AFP

Any team that goes into the final Test of a three-Test series 1-0 up must feel that half its job is done. Would Sourav Ganguly go for a draw on a batting-friendly surface at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore to secure the series win?Ganguly said he would not.”We will play this Test like we played the last two,” he said. “We will play to win.”Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, who will be playing his 100th Testtomorrow, agreed that the pitch would help India play for a draw. “Butwe have no choice,” he said. “We have to go for a win. It doesn’tmatter if we lose, but we must win.”The conditions and the pitchThe weather at Bangalore was unusually warm, and bowling in theafternoon sun would be sapping. Both teams had fifth-bowling optionsin Shahid Afridi and Sachin Tendulkar, and these men would no doubtplay a key part in giving the frontline bowlers a break. There mightnot be much work for the faster bowlers here: the pitch was stripped bare, and Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, described it as “a batting paradise”. The pitch was expected to help the spinners later in the game, though. Winning the toss, thus, was important, as whoever batted first would have a great opportunity to pile up a big score in ideal conditions, and then bowl fourth.The teams

Shahid Afridi could turn out to be Pakistan’s surprise weapon in the decider© AFP

Pakistan“We’re going to play with aggression,” Inzamam-ul-Haq said the day before the Test at Kolkata began. “We’re going to try and play a positive game.” He said that the Kolkata match was Pakistan’s for the saving. “On the pitch we could have batted through the whole day. It was a failure on the part of the batsmen that we didn’t.”Inzamam indicated that two changes were likely in the Pakistan side. He did not say what those were, but birdies indicated that Yasir Hameed would replace Taufeeq Umar, and Arshad Khan would replace Mohammad Khalil.IndiaWinning this Test would be a “big achievement for the team”, said Sourav Ganguly, not just because it would give India a 2-0 series win, but also because they would jump to No. 2 in the ICC’s Test rankings. “The 14-15 guys who have worked for this over the last three, four, five years will be satisfied,” he said. “It will be great for Indian cricket.”No changes were expected in the Indian team, but Ganguly’s form withthe bat was a worry. “I understand that I need to get runs,” he said. “I’ll try and get a big score here.”

Tino Best last played for West Indies during the England tour of 2004 © Getty Images

Ryan Hinds and Reon King have been dropped as West Indies try to limit the damage of a series they have already lost in the fourth and final Test against South Africa starting in Antigua on Friday. West Indies were thrashed by an innings and 86 runs to concede the series last week, and the selectors have asked Narsingh Deonarine and Tino Best to help the recovery.Best, the fast bowler, played his last Test against England in July 2004 while Deonarine gets his second opportunity after making his debut in the first match of the current series, scoring 15 not out at No. 6. Hinds, who missed the second Test with a viral illness, was given another break after posting 10 and 15, and King, who took six wickets in the series, was dumped after collecting only one as South Africa piled on 548 for 9 declared.”We hope to salvage something from this series,” said Joey Carew, West Indies convenor of selectors. “Some people are advocating sweeping changes but that policy has never proven to be successful.” He added that the batsmen, apart from Brian Lara who scored 389 runs in the past two Tests, were disappointing and did not live up to expectations on a good batting wicket at Bridgetown. “What we are looking to do is to improve the fitness and conditioning, both mental and physical, of the players to ensure that they are able to contend with the demands of the modern game.”The worries over fitness were highlighted when Bryce Cavanagh, the side’s new strength and conditioning co-ordinator, put them through their paces on Monday. “One of the problems with these blokes is that they fatigue in the last three days of a Test, especially the fifth day,” he said. “One of the things that I want to do is to be able to improve their aerobic capacity, get them fitter, so that in the last couple days they can be competitive.”West Indies Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (capt), Narsingh Deonarine, Dwayne Bravo, Courtney Browne (wk), Daren Powell, Dwight Washington, Fidel Edwards, Tino Best.

Marcus Trescothick prepares for his 100th one-day international © Getty Images

England’s summer is shaping up to be one hell of a rollercoaster ride, if their phenomenal onslaught in Monday night’s Twenty20 match is anything to go by. Unfortunately, as with all such fairground attractions, the peaks must be countered by the troughs, and so it will prove tomorrow, when Bangladesh shuffle back onto centre stage for the opening encounter of the NatWest Series.It is all incredibly unfair on the Bangladeshis. They should not even be here anymore. From the moment Australia transferred their words into deeds and Brett Lee banged in his first bouncer to Marcus Trescothick, the point of the Bangladeshi presence was utterly undermined. By all means offer them three token one-day games ahead of the Aussie arrival, but to mix their matches in with the most eagerly awaited Ashes tussle in a generation is like spiking your vintage Louis Roederer with Babycham.Bangladesh do at least have some form to fall back on, after a hard-earned victory against Worcestershire on Sunday, in which Mohammad Ashraful tamed one raging beast, Shoaib Akhtar, who was making his county debut. But try stopping England in their tracks now. A mist as crimson as Darren Gough’s mood has descended since Monday evening. As Somerset have demonstrated so emphatically down at Taunton, the Australians bring out the beast in everyone.Even so, Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh’s coach, was refusing to let the circumstances of this fixture get him down, and predicted a better showing in the one-dayers than was demonstrated during the Tests. “We have a bit of confidence in what we can do,” he told reporters. “The shorter version of the game swings around a little bit, it is a lot quicker and you can have a greater influence over a shorter time. One of our objectives is to get a game to swing our way.”That might be easier said than done. In 106 matches, Bangladesh have achieved just two victories against sides other than Zimbabwe and the Associate nations, and never before have they wandered into the midst of a gunfight of this intensity. England are not going to let their intensity slip for anyone so discretion, one fears, would be the better part of valour – if only the Bangladeshis had that option.At least they are no longer in possession of the most humiliating collapse of the summer. Australia, with their seven for eight in 20 balls at The Rose Bowl, have claimed that title hands down, and you can bet your life that the moment Bangladesh surpass Australia’s eventual total of 79, the arcing roof of the new OCS Stand, which will be packed out for the first time this summer, will be blown clean off.For Marcus Trescothick, the day will hold some extra significance, as he becomes the tenth England player to reach 100 one-day caps. But he admitted that the match was not the ideal follow-up to the events of Monday night. “That’s the test of our team,” he conceded. “It’s up to us to remain disciplined and focused on the job. The main focus is the end of this NatWest series, making sure we’re in the final and making sure we’re doing well.”Everybody’s been a little bit in awe of the Australian team,” he added, “but over the last 18 months we’ve gained the confidence to stand up and compete with the best team in the world. The most important thing is not that we’ve beaten them in two one-day games – how we’ve done over the last 18 months is the most important thing for us.”All in all, it doesn’t augur well for the Bangladeshis. But given the mood in the Australian camp this evening, one fears that the worst could yet be to come on the most arduous tour of their lives.

Andy Blignaut: still on the side lines© Getty Images

A delay in applying for an Australian visa means Andy Blignaut, the former Zimbabwe allrounder, will almost certainly miss Tasmania’s start to the season.Blignaut, one of 15 players sacked by Zimbabwe’s board in a row over racist selection policies, was expected to land in Hobart this week but has instead returned to his homeland after playing for the English county Durham.Tasmanian officials are pushing to have the application rushed through the Department of Immigration after Blignaut, 26, did not apply for the visa until he finished with Durham.”We’re doing all we can from this end but these procedures invariably take time,” the Tasmania Cricket Association chief executive David Johnston told The Australian.Tasmania, who also attracted Michael Bevan during the winter, open the season with an ING Cup one-day game on October 15 against Western Australia at the Waca.