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Sri Lanka’s attorney-general has ordered the arrest of Thilanga Sumathipala, the cricket-board president and the chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, for alleged passport fraud, according to newspaper reports on Saturday.According to The Island newspaper, the attorney-general’s order, issued on Thursday night, follows a criminal investigation into Sumathipala’s involvement with an underworld gang leader called Dhammika Amarasinghe.The CID investigation was prompted by a series of newspaper articles during recent weeks published by another newspaper, the Sunday Leader, which alleged that Sumathipala had helped Amarasinghe obtain a fake passport.Sumathipala was also alleged by the newspaper, which passed on evidence to the police, to have authorised the use of cricket-board funds to help finance Amarasinghe’s trip to the UK to watch the 1999 World Cup.Sumathipala has strenously denied any involvement with Amarasinghe, claiming that the allegations are merely a cynical and malicious attempt to smear his reputation. Amarasinghe, currently being held in remand, stands accused of several contract killings and attempted assassinations, including the attempted murder of the Sunday Leader‘s editor Lasantha Wickramatunge in 1998.The attorney-general’s decision to issue a warrant for Sumathipala’s arrest followed the receipt of a CID report last week. Detectives visited his residence at midnight on Thursday but his whereabouts remained unknown on Friday night.Sumathipala was elected as board president for a third term in June, after winning landslide support among the member clubs that make up the board.

England 95 for 4 (Flintoff 47*, Streak 4-21) beat Zimbabwe 92 (Gough 4-26) by six wicketsMichael Vaughan
On Darren Gough (4 for 26): Throughout the tournament he has bowled well and been an invaluable member of the squad. Throughout the one-dayers this summer he has been a lynchpin in the team.On the pitch: If the game finishes so early in front of a big crowd you might obviously think it is not a great wicket. [But] it was definitely very sporting – I wouldn’t have minded being a bowler out there. Jimmy struggled to control the swing, because it was doing so much.On the chase: It was always going to be a tricky little total, and the way Heath Streak bowled put us under pressure. But Flintoff did really well, in his new role batting up the order from No. 7. This was the perfect opportunity for him to go out and play the way he did and settle our nerves from 25 for 4. We had to win, because the pressure was on to get to the final. I am pretty pleased with the way we bowled and fielded – and the way Freddie batted was outstanding.Heath Streak
On the pitch: It was not a good one-day wicket. There was too much emphasis on the toss. There was a lot of moisture out there and early movement. It was tough even for their [England’s] players who are used to swing and seam bowling. We don’t have a lot of experience to call on.On retirement: I’ve no immediate plans to go anywhere. I’m still enjoying my cricket. You’re always up against it as Zimbabwe. Not much has changed.On his team: We have a very young side, and the guys have to learn a lot from this tour. It’s tough but it’s also very rewarding to see the youngsters coming through. I hope they can go away and have a bit of a break and be better players next time they come and play in these conditions.

Richard Johnson, the uncapped Somerset fast bowler, is the one newname in England’s squad of 12 for the second npower Test againstZimbabwe, which starts at Chester-le-Street on Thursday (June 5).Johnson replaces Matthew Hoggard from the side that won the firstTest, at Lord’s, by an innings inside three days. Hoggard injured hisknee earlier this week playing for Yorkshire in the C&G Trophy. JamesKirtley, 12th man at Lord’s, retains his place in the squad, and the lastplace in the starting XI probably lies between those two. Johnson mightjust edge it by virtue of his better batting credentials – earlier thisyear he smote his maiden first-class century.Johnson, who’s now 28, has been close to England selection before: after a good 1995 season with his then-county Middlesex, he was chosen for the winter tour of South Africa, but had to pull out with back trouble. He was also called up fortwo Tests of the 2001 Ashes series, but missed out when the teamwas named, and toured India in 2001-02 without making the Test side.David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, said: “RichardJohnson has been in our plans for a while and has been selected nowthat he is fully fit again after suffering from a groin strain earlier inthe season. He is in good form and is a bowler who is capable of 90mphpace and making the ball swing.”The only other absentee from the squad called up for Lord’s is AndyFlintoff, who is still unable to bowl after injuring his shoulder. But heshowed yesterday that he can still bat, hammering a rapid 154 forLancashire against Kent at Canterbury.Graveney explained: “Andrew Flintoff is back playing for Lancashire asa batsman and we will continue to monitor his fitness. But we did notconsider him for this Test match as we feel that he is not yet ready forthe rigours of a five-day game.”Flintoff’s replacement, Anthony McGrath, is set to retain his place after apromising debut at Lord’s – he scored 69 and took three wickets -even though he picked up a side injury that will restrict his bowling.Either Johnson or Kirtley will be winning his first cap, but the focus onThursday will be on another Test debutant. The Riverside ground atChester-le-Street in Durham will be England’s first new Test venue for101 years – since Sheffield’s Bramall Lane in 1902. England lost thatgame to Australia and never played in Sheffield again, but theRiverside, with its clean stands and room to breathe, should have amuch rosier future.England Squad Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire),Mark Butcher (Surrey), Nasser Hussain (capt, Essex), Robert Key (Kent), Alec Stewart (wkt, Surrey), Anthony McGrath (Yorkshire), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire),Richard Johnson (Somerset), Stephen Harmison (Durham), James Anderson (Lancashire), James Kirtley (Sussex).

v Somerset 18-21 April (Bristol)
v Northants 23-26 April (Northants)
v Durham 30 Apr to 3 May (Durham)

Spearman HardingesWeston RussellHancock FisherRhodes BallWindows SillenceTaylor SmithAlleyne Lewis

Director of Cricket, John Bracewell advises, “the rationale behind selecting a squad for 3 games is for both those selected and those no picked to have clearly defined goals for the period and to establish themselves or to make readjustments to in order to be considered for selection. Further, breaking the season into bite sized chunks helps us to stay focused, to apply more of an `event’ philosophy rather than just react to a long list of fixtures. We have a really competitive squad and we want to keep it that way.”Team v Somerset

Spearman WestonHancock RhodesWindows AlleyneRussell FisherSillence LewisSmith

Chickenpox victim Nathan Bracken could play for New South Wales against Victoria later this week – but at least one of the Blues’ ailing batters might miss out.Paceman Bracken bowled only eight overs in South Australia’s second innings of the four day Pura Cup cricket match which ended in Adelaide yesterday.With fellow quicks Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath on international one day duty, the faltering Blues badly need Bracken on board for the Pura Cup match against the Bushrangers starting in Sydney on Friday.Bracken, who was diagnosed with chickenpox on day three of the game in Adelaide, should be named in the NSW team on Tuesday, though a shadow player willbe put on standby.”He (Bracken) will be under some scrutiny until probably as late as Thursday night before the game,” NSW chairman of selectors John Benaud said.”At this stage, the suggestion is that he should be fit, that it is a mild dose of chickenpox so we can only wait and see on that.”Bracken’s illness was the latest setback for an NSW team which struggled over the last two months after making a strong start to the season.Benaud said middle order batsman Graeme Rummans and Matthew Phelps were exerting pressure on a misfiring Blues batting line-up that included an out of sortsMichael Slater.While much had been written about the ex-Test opener’s lean trot, Benaud said the discarded international wouldn’t be treated differently to any other player.”Just because he is a former Test player, I don’t think that really changes the equation at all – he’s just another member of the team who is under pressure,” Benaud said.NSW emerged without a point from its last three Pura Cup games and looked likely to drop to fourth place after the current round.In the ING Cup one day tournament, early season pacesetter NSW dropped to third after losing three of its last four fixtures.NSW dropped Darren Lehmann three times during his quick-fire century in Adelaide and Benaud was also concerned about a batting line-up which struggled with the exception of youngster Michael Clarke.Benaud stressed NSW was still very much in the hunt for finals spots in both formats but acknowledged the Blues needed to improve significantly following its 67 run outright loss in Adelaide.”We need to lift our game fairly substantially. I think our fielding and batting in the last game it would be fair to say was ordinary,” Benaud said.

Caught between their cricketing and commercial interests, thesupermodels of Indian cricket must have been under the illusion thatall they had to do was strut their stuff and the Wellington Test wouldbe theirs. There was an obvious lack of effort from the visitingbatsmen who seemed to be only going through their motions. Probably itwas this apathy that also led to them showing a complete lack ofemotion after their abject performance.

My mind goes back some 34 years to another Test match at Wellington -the third match of a four-Test series. India had won the first Test atDunedin, which incidentally was also its first-ever Test match winabroad. New Zealand bounced back well to take the second atChristchurch. When the two teams came to Wellington for the allimportant third Test, the conditions were similar to those whichgreeted Ganguly’s men in the recent Test; it was cold and windy, andthe pitch had a lot of grass on it. But the then Indian team showedthe will to fight it out and win the match. Our eight-wicket win pavedthe way for us winning the series 3-1.I reckon the New Zealand team then was far superior when compared totheir present line-up, especially when it came to the batting. Idistinctly remember the right-handed opening batsman Graham Dowling.If my memory serves me right, he scored 143 in the first Test atDunedin and then piled on 230-odd runs in the second Test atChristchurch. The Kiwi batsmen then were good at playing the sweepshot, a much-favoured form of play against our spin bowling attackwhich included the likes of Bishan Singh Bedi, Bapu Nadkarni and yourstruly.At the Wellington Test that followed, after New Zealand had decided tobat first, yours truly destroyed their batting with a five-wickethaul. And in the second innings it was Bapu Nadkarni who picked sixwickets, getting the ball to turn viciously, while I finished withthree.The nature of the track was very much the same after 34 years. SouravGanguly’s men found out like we had all those years ago that the BasinReserve track in Wellington has always had a spongy feel to it whichhelps the seam bowlers.If it helps the seam bowlers, it would also definitely help good spinbowlers. If I am correct, Shane Warne has been a very successfulbowler in New Zealand. The simple trick is that the bowler has to givethe ball a great deal of tweak. It is the ability to turn the ball onany surface that matters in the end.Spin was our strength all those years ago and it continues to be ourstrength now too. In the circumstances, I think the current teammanagement got the game plan completely wrong. And the lion share ofthe blame rests with the coach John Wright.

As a former New Zealand captain, Wright would have been the bestperson to guide the Indian batsmen about the conditions. But somehowhe does not seem to have succeeded in achieving this. At no point didthe Indians seem like a team that had prepared for this game. Thebatting, in particular, with the exception of Dravid in the firstinnings, was pathetic. Even Tendulkar’s effort in the second inningswas not convincing.Make no mistake; the Indian team in 1968 did not have a foreign coach.It did not have the services of a physiotherapist and a trainer.Neither did it have a computer analyst. The team did not have the kindof facilities the boys have today. But the then captain Pataudi, andthe rest of the team had the will to win. Surely the ball seamed andbounced, but fortunately for us, there was one batsman, Ajit Wadekar,who stood like a rock and scored the bulk of the runs. The debutantmade a classy 143, which played its part in helping the spinners todestroy the New Zealand batting.There was no one to play a similar role this time around. After theabject surrender, Wright was quoted in newspapers as saying that thebatsmen should have been judicious in their shot selection. Well, allI have got to say to this is that most of the top Indian batsmen didnot get out playing shots, they were completely undone by the bounceand movement – and played nothing shots. As for his observation that”we’ve got some wonderful batsmen. When they get in, they expressthemselves and they’re good to watch”, well, all a Indian supporterwants is for this Indian team to be good enough to win, even if theyaren’t necessarily good to watch.Stephen Fleming mentioned after the thumping win that his team had aclear game plan, and that it worked out to perfection. It is evidentthat Wright and Ganguly, in contrast, did not put in much thought intothe first Test.After the walloping at Wellington, I, for one, can’t see this Indianteam recover and do well at Hamilton just by making a few changes tothe bowling line-up. What instead has to be done is that the batsmenwill have to be told to show some more courage and fight it out ratherthan setting their stall to look good against Kiwi bowlers.It will also be prudent for Wright to remember the different culturalbackgrounds the Indian players come from. In general the Indians aresoft, much unlike the Australians or Kiwis. So a tough schoolmasterapproach or a hands-free professional approach would not do any goodto the team when the chips are down. At the end of the day, the coachis responsible for how well the team prepares and performs. Wright,then, must do everything in his powers to ensure that anotherdemoralising loss at Hamilton is avoided.

Coach Education Administrator – Edgbaston
Attractive packageThe England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body for cricket from schools to international level. Its Performance Department is responsible for identifying and developing the most talented young cricketers in the country, and the development and implementation of the national coach education programme.Working as part of a small team at our Coach Education Office based at Warwickshire County Cricket Ground, your job will involve contact with ECB National Coaching Scheme course organisers, registration of courses and arranging despatch of course resources as well as general administrative support.You must be a `team player’ with good communication skills and a confident telephone manner, a flexible attitude and have excellent computer skills including experience of working with databases. Some accounts experience would also be an advantage.For an information pack and application form please contact Natasha Mason, ECB el: 020 74321 171. E-mail: [email protected] date for applications is 6 March 2003.ECB is fully committed to developing policies to promote equal opportunities.

Umpires through all levels of cricket in New Zealand this summer will not be giving explanations to players for their decisions.No longer will there be the signal of which way an umpire thought the ball was going after a leg-before-wicket appeal and there will be no comments on why, or why not, a particular bat-pad catch appeal was not upheld.New Zealand Cricket’s umpires manager Brian Aldridge said today that the policy of not explaining to players the reason for particular decisions was being employed on a trial basis but it was his belief that it would become a permanent policy, especially if, as he imagined, it was employed by all nations in the future.”It will take players a while to get used to and there may be the odd umpire who will break ranks in an attempt to keep in with the players,” Aldridge said. But he believed the policy of giving an explanation in the interests of communication had backfired.Players, once given a reason, had sometimes taken issue with the decision and this had been the cause of many of the code of conduct violations that have occurred. The decision to abandon the policy has been backed by New Zealand Cricket and it will be implemented this season.Player reactions to decision-making was just one area of potential conflict and removing it was one small step in reducing the opportunity for problems to develop. Aldridge said the reaction of players, even at club level, had been making it difficult to retain umpires who felt they could do without some of the problems that developed.

Pleasantries are over, mutual admiration for deeds over recent months has been dispensed, now is the time for a good old-fashioned ding-dong battle to commence.It may be the one-day prelude to the real thing, but One-Day Internationals in the year leading up to a World Cup take on much more importance.New Zealand are looking for a Cup-winning formula for their team, England are looking for a team.That’s the reality as the two sides line up at a rapidly-changing Jade Stadium. Anyone with a memory long enough to remember the ground when it was called Lancaster Park will be stunned when they see the change that has come over the familiar concrete terraces on the western side of the ground.Now there is a stand, as one member of the New Zealand team put it yesterday, that “makes it look more like Melbourne than anything else”. There’ll be no problems now with the north-westerly blowing across the ground, this is a pretty sizeable obstruction. Rugby fullbacks the world over will breathe collective sighs of relief.Cricketers are not so lucky, they have no idea what effect the changes may have on the dynamics of the ground.Where there may be a problem, especially by the time two Super 12 rugby matches are played on the ground before the start of the first Test in mid-March, is light. Light for viewing, light and heat for drying and growth, light for playing.But that is all in the future. For tomorrow, the lights of the ground will be on two teams looking to get things right.The New Zealanders, having been paraded around Australia at the marketeers’ insistence, could rightly claim to be feeling more than a little knackered.CLEAR Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming insists the sheer delight at being home, in familiar environs, will be enough for his team to get themselves up and ready for an England team keen to build on the work they have done in India.Nasser Hussain has already thrown out advice to his accompanying media pack. This is a long-term campaign to pick up the art of playing one-day cricket to the level that most other Test-playing nations had sorted out years ago.It has always amused those living outside England that, for a country which plays so much one-day cricket at domestic level, the national team cannot get it right in international play.Anyway, at least the English have recognised that floggings in the two World Cups held since they were thumped in the final of the 1992 Cup is more than any country should take and they are endeavouring to achieve a higher consistency in their play.One-day cricket remains a funny thing however. New Zealand have been looking for consistency for years, not only in performance but in team personnel. Every time things look like coming right, another bowler goes down with a malady of some injurious kind.The curse struck again this week when the very answer to NZC’s marketing department prayers, Shane Bond, was forced out of the summer with a suspected stress fracture of the ankle.They are also looking for a successful opening batting partnership. This is the equivalent of the hunt for the long extinct moa. Ever since someone decided that the then greatest run scorer in New Zealand domestic one-day cricket, Bruce Edgar couldn’t open the innings, and the John Wright-Edgar partnership was broken up, the opening position has been a problem.Nathan Astle could claim to be suffering the wallflower syndrome. You know, the girl at the dance who is forever unemployed. He wants to dance to full effect but no-one wants to dance with him.It is bizarre that one player can be comfortably ensconced as the most prolific one-day batsman in the country’s international history, yet have seen more partners off than Elizabeth Taylor in triplicate.Runs. Runs at the top of the order make all the difference in the one-day game. Everyone down the order can breathe a little easier and play more like their own game.Without them life becomes miserable, and to further complicate New Zealand’s plot, the new bouncer law has been thrown in for good measure.Chris Nevin, who could rightly claim he should never have been discarded anyway, gets his chance in these first two games. Lou Vincent drops down the order. Would it be too much to expect that the nearest equivalent to Jonty Rhodes in the field in the New Zealand game could acquire some of the same gentleman’s batting habits as witnessed to such good effect over recent weeks.England could ask, have they found their genuine all-rounder in Andrew Flintoff? What is the future for Craig White? What damage can the impressive left-handers Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight do to New Zealand’s attack?New Zealand will know by the end of the series if Daryl Tuffey has a future in the One-Day International scene. They will know whether the prospect of two fast men opening the bowling looms with Ian Butler and Bond. They will also know just where Andre Adams fits into the overall scheme of things.It is a fascinating series in prospect.Both teams have plenty to find out, about themselves and each other. The new bouncer law has eliminated some of the predictability of one-day play, while the infusion of new blood into both sides has helped ensure what could be the best one-day series in New Zealand for a number of years.

National Bank coasted to a six-wicket win over Pakistan Customs in thePatron’s Trophy Grade-I tie at Jinnah Stadium in Gujranwala Saturday.A defiant knock of 103 from all-rounder Azhar Shafiq was not enough tosave the defending champions from going to last season’s runners-up,says a message here. National Bank, who were set a target of 147, werewell served by Pakistan captain Waqar Younis who slammed 64 off 65deliveries while batting at No 4.Waqar and Akhtar Sarfraz (21 not out) added 63 for the fourth wicketafter National Bank had lost three for 53. Earlier, Customs were ableto muster another 70 before being all out for 309 with the left-handedAzhar Shafiq scoring 53 of them to complete a well-deserved century,having resumed at 53.National Bank’s target would have been much smaller had Azhar Shafiqnot put on 53 for the last wicket with Tabish Nawab (7). Azhar battedfor three minutes short of four hours and faced 180 deliveries. Thechief destroyer on the final day was lanky international pacemanShabbir Ahmed three of the last four wickets. He finished with fivefor 72 in 23 overs.