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Cameras won’t only be monitoring close decisions and players’ behaviour on the field in the series between the West Indies and Pakistan in the neutral venue of Sharjah, starting with the first of two Tests on Thursday.In a scenario straight out of the CIA, the KGB and MI5 files at the height of the cold war, they are to be placed outside the doors of team dressing rooms and in the hotel foyers by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).The object is to deter players from any dealings with bookmakers eager to repeat the match-fixing deals that have thrown a dark shadow over the game and brought about the banning of two former Test captains, Hansie Cronje of South Africa and Mohammed Azharuddin of India.The closed-circuit cameras will be monitored by one of the officers of the ACU. It was formed by the ICC in 1999 at a cost of over US$4 million under the direction of former London police chief Paul Condon, after Cronje’s involvement with a Bombay bookmaker was exposed by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The ICC has said the measures will be applied to all matches under its jurisdiction in future in its drive to root out corruption.A report presented by Condon to the ICC last year identified Sharjah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates in the Arabian gulf state, as one of the main locations for illegal gambling and match-fixing.The Indian government has banned its team from competing in tournaments in Sharjah until it is cleared of the allegations.In response, the Emirates Cricket Board mounted its own inquiry into corruption last year. It was headed by British Queen’s Counsel George Staple but its findings are still to be published.The former Pakistan and Kent captain, Asif Iqbal, organised the several international tournaments staged in Sharjah for the Cricketers’ Professional Benefit Fund (CPBF) that paid sizeable endowments to outstanding former Test players, many West Indian, but mainly Pakistani and Indian. But he moved into another overseas cricketing position in recent months.Abdul-Mohammed Bukhatir has recently set up Taj Television, a new channel based in the Emirates, devoted to cricket and mainly aimed at the cricket-mad markets in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.He has also constructed another cricket stadium in Rabat, Morocco, that was mooted as a possible venue for the West Indies-Pakistan series but is now expected to become operational in April.Former Test captains, Clive Lloyd of the West Indies, Sunil Gavaskar of India and Ian Botham of England, have been engaged by Bukhatir.In another controversial decision, the ICC has appointed former England captain Mike Denness as match referee for the upcoming series.Denness was at the centre of the furore late last year when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to accept him as referee for the final Test of the series in South Africa after he disciplined six Indian players for breaches of the ICC code of conduct in the second Test.The ICC declared the third and final Test unofficial after the South African board, on India’s insistence, replaced Denness with former South African wicket-keeper Dennis Lindsay as referee.Pakistan and the West Indies have both accepted Denness’ appointment. But the ICC has subsequently set up a committee to look into the terms of reference for its referees.

Geeta Samantharay scored a fine 88 to help Bihar score 246against last year’s runners-up Air India at the end of the firstday in the semifinal of the CricInfo Trophy Senior Women’sNational Cricket Championship at the Jorhat Stadium in Jorhaton Wednesday.Electing to bat, Bihar got off to a sedate start with openersNeetu Singh (37 runs of 70 balls) and Kamini Kumari (10) puttingon 30 runs off 13.1 overs. Then Geeta, who got her runs off 99balls with 17 fours and one six and Neetu Singh increased thescore by 59 runs during a second wicket association that lasted13.4 overs. This was followed by a fourth wicket stand of 48runs off 12.1 overs between Geeta and Seema Desai (49 runs off91 balls with five fours).Even after Geeta’s dismissal, the innings was kept going by afifth wicket partnership of 33 runs in 12.1 overs between PiyaliMoitra (6) and Seema Desai and an eighth wicket stand of 36 runsoff 20 overs between Gargi De (3 runs off 87 balls) and Babusha(31 runs off 75 balls). Usha Bogada (3 for 60) and Poornima Rau(3 for 64) were the pick of the Air India bowlers.

David Moyes’ West Ham United side head into tonight’s FA Cup clash with Southampton on the back of a much-needed win, with the Hammers’ defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 on Sunday – a result which saw their push for a top-four finish get well and truly back on track.

However, with a challenging fixture against Liverpool coming up this weekend, as well as the extremely tough task of visiting Sevilla in the Europa League round of 16 next week, it would not be surprising to see the Scot field a heavily rotated side at St. Mary’s.

So, how many changes will Moyes make to the team that started the victory over Wolves last weekend? Here’s how we think West Ham could line up against Saints, as well as the latest team and injury news…

With David Moyes recently revealing that he has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the trip to the South Coast – although Vladimir Coufal, Ryan Fredericks, Arthur Masuaku and Angelo Ogbonna remain sidelined, while Andriy Yarmolenko is also a doubt – we predict that Moyes will make seven changes to the side that lined up against Wolves on Sunday.

The first of these changes comes between the sticks, with the £138k-per-week Alphonse Areola – who Peter Drury one dubbed “remarkable” – taking the place of Lukasz Fabianski, as has typically been the case in cup competitions this season.

In defence, Aaron Cresswell and Ben Johnson start at left and right-back respectively, while 21-year-old Aji Alese – dubbed “gold dust” by Tom Edwards – is handed a rare start alongside Issa Diop at centre-back.

In midfield, Mark Noble comes in alongside Declan Rice in the middle of the park, while Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini make way for Nikola Vlasic and Said Benrahma on the left and in the number 10 role, with Jarrod Bowen starting on the right.

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Up top, promising 18-year-old centre-forward Sonny Perkins is handed just his second senior start of the campaign, while Michail Antonio is handed a well-earned break amongst the substitutes.

In other news: £14.5m wasted: Pellegrini’s £75k-p/w “shocker” has been rinsing West Ham for 191 weeks

Sachin Tendulkar only managed 19 at the Junction Oval on Thursday but Australian fans will be given a permanent reminder of his class when he makes a donation to the Bradman Museum © Getty Images

Sachin Tendulkar will make a donation to the new Bradman Museum in Adelaide as a way of paying tribute to his batting idol. Tendulkar is planning to hand over the pullover he wore while scoring his 30th Test century, the innings that took him past Don Bradman’s record of 29 Test hundreds.The museum is being built at Adelaide Oval and Tendulkar is set to make the donation during the Adelaide Test in January. “I want to do this in memory of Don Bradman, who I admired as a cricketer,” Tendulkar told the .He reached the milestone at Headingley in 2002 when he made 193, but Tendulkar said comparisons between himself and Bradman were not justified. Tendulkar averages 55.06 from 142 Test appearances, compared with Bradman’s mark of 99.94 from 52 matches.”Statistically, I have passed Don Bradman but I can’t be compared with him,” Tendulkar said. “You can only dream of scoring a hundred every three innings.”However, Sunil Gavaskar believed Tendulkar was being overly modest. Gavaskar said: “For all Bradman’s achievements, Tendulkar is the closest thing to batting perfection I’ve seen, in terms of technique and temperament.”Tendulkar’s pullover will be joined at the new museum by the shirt Sourav Ganguly was wearing when he led India to a superb come-from-behind win against Australia in the 2000-01 Test at Kolkata. India were 274 runs behind when they were asked to follow on in that match, before VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid set up a surprise 171-run victory.

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.

Johan Botha undergoing testing at the University of Western Australia last week © Getty Images

The ICC has announced that Johan Botha, the South African offspinner, has been suspended from bowling in international cricket. The decision follows his action being cited during the third Test against Australia at Sydney last month.Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager – cricket, said that the ban will apply until Botha can be shown to have remedied his action. “The independent report has identified excessive levels of straightening in both his off-break and doosra deliveries,” Richardson explained. “It’s now up to Johan to remedy the concerns that have been identified ahead of a reassessment which will be necessary if he is to return to international cricket. Johan is a young player and there’s nothing to stop him making a successful return to international cricket with a remodelled action.”Botha, who underwent independent testing by a team led by Professor Bruce Elliott at the University of Western Australia on February 1, had not been reported before. He now has to submit to fresh independent analysis to establish that he has remedied his action. The timing of any reassessment is at the discretion of the United Cricket Board of South Africa and the player.Botha has 14 days to appeal. But if he returns to international cricket and is again ruled to have been bowling with an illegal action with 24 months of his return then he faces an automatic one-year ban.Botha is the fifth player to have undergone an independent review of his action since a new process for the review of suspected illegal actions was introduced in March 2005. The other players are Harbhajan Singh, Shabbir Ahmed, Shoaib Malik and Jermaine Lawson.

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.

Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh discuss tactics ahead of the final © AFP

Two years, eight months, and two days have passed since that moment, one destined to have a special place in the cricket histories of both India and Australia. On March 15, 2001, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar completed the most improbable comeback in Test history, riding the crest of a wave created by VVS Laxman’s imperious 281, and Rahul Dravid’s flint-hard 180. Tomorrow, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden will revisit the scene of cricket’s biggest heist, hoping to leave the Eden Gardens with those Ides of March just a distant, aberrant memory.Logic will tell you that Australia are the favourites, but there’s something about Kolkata and a 100,000-strong crowd that is the exemplar of sporting fanaticism that can intimidate even the most confident side. India started the TVS Cup well enough, beating Australia with a measure of comfort in Gwalior, but subsequent drubbings at Mumbai and Bangalore means that they go into a home final occupying the underdog’s kennel.It shouldn’t bother them. The Titan Cup in 1996 had followed a similar script with South Africa utterly dominant in the group stages, only for India – Australia were the odd men out – to romp home in the final. With the toss and the varied conditions under lights making one-day cricket such a lottery, only a fool would stake his gold on the basis of previous form, given that the best team doesn’t always prevail as in Test cricket.India will be in a much better frame of mind after that 145-run thumping of New Zealand. Tendulkar orchestrated matters, and the other batsmen played along sweetly to ensure that there would be no danger of the hosts missing their party. A similar effort will be needed against an Australian bowling attack that has made considerable strides in three weeks, with Nathan Bracken and Brad Williams to the fore.They will most likely make the one change, bringing in Harbhajan Singh for Murali Kartik, sure to be disheartened after narrowly missing out on the tour to Australia. On the pitch where he earned the Turbanator nickname, Harbhajan would do well to prove that his bowling is a work in progress, rather than an abandoned project as has appeared the case in recent months.There is another opportunity for Ajit Agarkar to add substance to his new-ball ambitions, while Zaheer Khan must perform to salvage an iota of comfort from an otherwise dreadful home season. Rest assured, Gilchrist and Hayden will be locking their sights the moment he walks to his bowling mark.Ponting’s big-hitting century at Bangalore ironed out the last crease in Australia’s own batting, though Hayden has still to bat like the colossus we know he can be. The bowlers they have faced so far haven’t been accurate, or good enough, to exploit their tentativeness against high-quality spin. Medium-pace is rare steak and a few kegs of beer for those boys, so unless Harbhajan and Kumble step up in a big way, it could be yet another trophy in the cabinet for an Australian team that seems to win games as easily as Mike Tyson won bouts way back in his heyday. Perhaps it’s time for India to do a James “Buster” Douglas …Probable teams
India 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Rahul Dravid (wk), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Zaheer Khan.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Bevan, 7 Michael Clarke, 8 Ian Harvey, 9 Andrew Bichel, 10 Brad Williams, 11 Nathan Bracken.Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

Sports minister Johnston Fernando forced Sri Lanka’s selectors into a U-turnlate on Thursday night as members of the team seriously contemplatedstanding down from the second Janashakthi National Test in protest of thedecision to rest Marvan Atapattu and fast bowler Charitha Fernando.The controversial decision to rest first-choice players in favour ofyoungsters seeking experience was made against the wishes of the teammanagement, who first appealed to the five-man selection panel – all basedin Colombo – to change their minds.While accepting that young players needed to be given experience beforea tough year of competition, the management argued that the timing was wrong, with the series still not won. Captain Sanath Jayasuriya said, “Personally, I want to win. Zimbabwe are still a threat, especially in Kandy.”They also complained that the manner in which the decision was made, inColombo without serious consultation of the captain and the coach, wasentirely inappropriate.But the selectors, headed by chairman Tikiri Banda Khelgamuwa, refused toback down at first, maintaining that their decision was “in the bestinterests of Sri Lankan cricket.”The standoff continued late into the night as the team held two teammeetings rather than the normal one, and at least five players voiced awillingness to stand down rather than accept the decision of the selectors.Finally, just after 11 pm, following a flurry of telephone calls between thevarious sides involved, the sports minister decided that the team management’s request must be accommodated.A media release issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka(BCCSL) before the start of play on Friday, said simply: “On a request madethe team management to the Chairman of the National Selection Committee andthe Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, it was decided to retain the sameteam that won the first Test.”But according to board sources the selection committee did not back down butwere overruled by the minister, whose responsibility it is to appoint theselectors.With the credibility of the present selection committee – which wasappointed by the previous government – having been so severely undermined bythe standoff, the minister now has to decide whether the time has come for afresh committee.Indeed, the minister also needs to decide whether to support an amendment tothe Sports Law proposed by the previous government and waiting to be heardin Parliament that recommends that responsibility for team selection istransferred to the cricket board.

Yorkshire gained revenge over Gloucestershire for their three one-day defeats last season as the Phoenix beat the Gladiators by 35 runs under Duckworth Lewis.This rain affected match started 45 minutes late and after seven overs the rain drove the players off the field. When they returned the match was reduced to 33 overs each.The first ball after restart from Cawdron bounced up at Fellows and hit the shoulder of his bat. The ball looped out of the reach of Alleyne at slip. After that the openers tried to attack the Gladiators bowlers, but the tight bowling was backed up by some keen fielding. The sight of Fellows dancing down the wicket to Cawdron prompted Russell to stand up to him.Byas’ eagerness to keep the scoreboard moving nearly resulted in the loss of the first wicket. He was halfway down the pitch before Fellows sent him back, luckily for Byas, Windows had thrown to wrong end.The pair put on 77 before the partnership was broken when Fellows was leg before to Alleyne for 30. Byas and Blakey added 31 before Byas was stumped by Russell when he slipped out of his ground. Blakey together with Lehmann kept the scoreboard moving but like the openers they were unable to find the boundaries. But Lehmann did manage to hit a full toss from Averies for a six over square leg. After hitting Averies for four over long-on Lehmann was caught by Alleyne at short fine leg the next ball.When the Yorkshire overs were up Blakey and Harden had taken the score to 160. Under Duckworth Lewis the Gladiators had to score 165 to win. They got off to the worst possible start. Opener Cunliffe was bowled by Hoggard to the second ball off the innings. Both Widows and Hancock looked shaky as they tried to settle the Gladiators reply. Windows had a life when he was dropped by Byas at wide first slip. The ball came to Byas at waist height and Windows had started to walk.17 year old Garry Ramsden playing his first national league match took his first wicket with the last ball of his first over. He trapped Hancock leg before. Veteran Kim Barnett only made three when he was bowled by a full toss from Ramsden. Windows then had a wild slog at Hamilton and top edged the ball to Blakey.Skipper Mark Alleyne was joined by Ian Harvey and they tried to build up a partnership to get the Gladiators back on track. However the match was as good as over when Alleyne pushed Middlebrook straight to Byas at mid-wicket.Snape fell leg before to Middlebrook and in the same over Harvey was leg before to Middlebrook. Jack Russell swept Middlebrook straight to Hamilton but Cawdron had set off for a single and was halfway down the pitch before Russell set off. Russell was run out by yards.When the Phoenix took the final Gladiators wicket they had 2.4 overs left and moved to the top of division one in both the National League and the County Championship.