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In the eight months since the sacking of Heath Streak set in motion events which threatened the future of the game inside Zimbabwe, Peter Chingoka and the Zimbabwe Cricket board have used the divide and rule tactic to good effect. But those tactics now appear to be causing their own problems.Ahead of its annual general meeting in August, the ZC board realised the provincial associations had the power to remove them and quickly made moves to infiltrate the local set-ups. Mashonaland and Matabeleland Country Districts, Midlands and Masvingo were known to be hostile. And so, Macsood Ebrahim, a senior board member, went out of his way to become chairman of Masvingo, a province where he was virtually unknown.With Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Manicaland and Masvingo in their control, it now meant that out of the seven provincial associations, four were in support of the ZC board while three were against. If it came to a vote, the four could carry the day. That control was further strengthened at ZC’s AGM, when nine of the 12 board members were re-elected, even though rumours of a vote against them had been widely reported in previous days.But the patience of those backing the status quo was pushed too far by the issue of rebranding. Mashonaland, the leading and most powerful stakeholder in Zimbabwe cricket, announced it was opposed to the change of name (from Zimbabwe Cricket Union to Zimbabwe Cricket) an exercise which is believed to have cost millions of dollars at a time the board was struggling to pay even the most basic of bills.Zimbabwe Cricket got wind of what Mashonaland was about to do, and in the hours before the press conference some of the province’s board were persuaded to back away from giving open support. In his own press conference later in the day, this enabled Chingoka to point out that the MCA chairman and some of the board members were not party to the criticism aimed at ZC.While Mashonaland still seems determined to oust those running ZC, the question is whether they will get support from the other provinces. Should they fail to so do, then Chingoka and his board will again survive on the divide and rule tactic.And that approach also applies to the Zimbabwe media. Since April, the state controlled Herald newspaper has been singing the praises of ZC’s board while opponents have had criticism heaped on them. Ozias Bvute, ZC’s acting managing director, has threatened those journalists who have sought to tell the truth on a number of occasions. Despite the ICC admonishing ZC for the behaviour of some of its members – and this was a thinly veiled reference to Bvute among others – he has continued to do since.This is not a race issue, nor does it have much to do with the Streak dispute. It is a simple matter of clubs and players being unhappy with the board and they way that it is running the game inside the country.Since April, ZC’s divide and rule strategy has worked well, but the question is, how long will this continue to be the case? One day, enough of the provinces will unite to end the rule of the current regime; one day, the players will tire of being paid a pittance while senior board officials award themselves massive ( by Zimbabwe standards) remuneration packages; one day, the media will stop towing the line and will turn on the board.For the sake of Zimbabwe cricket, that day cannot come soon enough.

All reigning domestic Twenty20 champions from around the world will take part in a six-team tournament at Leicester between September 15 and 17. Pakistan’s Faisalabad Wolves and Sri Lanka’s Chilaw Marians will both participate in the inaugural International Club ChampionshipOrganisers are pleased with the levels of interest in the event, and the aim of getting all the major club sides appears to have been fulfilled. In addition to the Pakistan and Sri Lankan sides, two other domestic champions – Somerset (England) and Titans (South Africa) – will be taking part.The number will be made up by Leicestershire and a PCA Masters XI which will feature a number of England players, both past and present.In the first round group stage teams will be awarded two points for a win and one for a tie with the top two teams in each group going through to the semi-finals.

Harbhajan Singh expressed his happiness at Surrey having chosen him as their overseas player for the 2005 season. Speaking after the first day’s play against South Africa at Kanpur, Harbhajan said that he was looking forward to playing at The Oval, one of his favourite hunting grounds.In his only Test there, the fourth and final game of the 2002 series, Harbhajan picked up 5 for 115 in the first innings of the high-scoring encounter which was finally drawn with Michael Vaughan falling five short of his double century after Rahul Dravid had compiled 217.His last match at the ground was during the NatWest Challenge against England where he finished with 2 for 14, one of his most economical spells, in a match where England scored 307. Harbhajan suggested that his display that day might have impressed the Surrey bigwigs. “I have fond memories of the ground where one of my best figures have come,” he said, adding that Surrey had approached him with an offer during the ICC Champions Trophy that followed.”I was keen and had to wait for the Indian Board’s approval, which has finally come now,” he said. This is not the first time that Harbhajan has agreed to a contract with an English county. In 2003, he agreed terms with Lancashire, only to skip the entire campaign after he was advised to rest the troublesome finger which subsequently needed surgery in Australia last winter.

The Sri Lankan board has denied receiving an official report on Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action, and officials said that the results of the analysis would not be published until the receipt of an official report from Professor Bruce Elliott.The news followed suggestions that the results had been verbally communicated to board officials over the weekend and that an announcement was imminent. “We have not yet received an official report,” said Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka Cricket’s chief executive. “We cannot make public announcements on the basis of informal or private conversations prior to the submission of an official report.”Contrary to earlier media reports, according to Mendis, a fullanalysis of Muralitharan’s controversial doosra had not yet been completed, and Murali, who is expected back in Colombo by Friday, was continuing the assessments with Elliott in Perth.Once an official report has been received, a bowling review group, convened by the board, will discuss the conclusions. If necessary, remedial action will be undertaken before the submission of a full report to the ICC within the stipulated six-week period.The board has indicated that a public announcement may be delayeduntil the ICC has received this report and has given the go-ahead for thedetails to be released.

Having finally chalked up one in the win column, Rahul Dravid was in a muchmore relaxed frame of mind going into Friday’s DLF Cup match againstAustralia, a semi-final in all but name given that West Indies havealready sealed a place in Sunday’s final. And though India have been atthe receiving end of some real beating from the Australians in recentyears, most notably in the 2003 World Cup final, Dravid reckoned that hisplayers wouldn’t be intimidated going into the match.”A lot of the young guys haven’t played against Australia, so they don’thave that experience of losing to them,” he said, referring to playerslike Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina and Sreesanth.”Australia have done really well over the last few years. Their recordagainst any team in the world is good, not just against India. Having saidthat, it’s a great opportunity and challenge for us. I thought we did wellin the first 50 overs of the last game against them, and we do believethat if we play well, we can get the right result.”For Ricky Ponting, who comes back into the side after sitting out the lastgame, the tournament has been as much about assessing the bench strengthas it has been about preparing for the Champions Trophy. Admitting thatAustralia were expected to win every match and that there would be noexcuses if they missed out on the final, Ponting looked to return tobusiness as usual against India. “Every time you put on the green andgold, you should be able to give your best,” he said. “I wasn’t surprisedby the result yesterday, India had everything to play for and the WestIndies had nothing. Tomorrow happens to be a really big game for bothteams, and the sides should have their skills at a better level than atthe start of the tournament.”While the Australia XI had been decided much earlier, with the in-formMichael Clarke and Shane Watson sitting out, India could gamble on playingfive bowlers once again. Ajit Agarkar and Yuvraj Singh were feelingslightly unwell on Thursday, but both were expected to figure in thematch.Dravid said that his team composition would be dictated by the nature ofthe pitch. “Ideally I’d love to be able to five bowlers, but that’s whenall your batsmen have had a lot of batting and are coming into thetournament in good form. That’s where Irfan was doing a great job for uswhen he was bowling well and batting well through Sri Lanka and Englandand Pakistan. But you can’t go in with a set formula. You have to keepweighing it depending on the kind of personnel you have, the kind of formthey are in, and be flexible.”Ponting was bullish when asked about Stuart Clark, who’s being persistedwith despite going for 87 from seven overs against West Indies. “He had areally good workout yesterday and got some rhythm, that’s what he thoughtwas lacking the other night,” he said. “He knows his game very well and isexperienced. I expect him to bounce back.”The rotation policy employed by the selectors for this tournament also hadPonting’s full support. “There could be a lot of positives to come outfrom the experiments,” he said. “We’ve seen that Mitchell Johnson was afine force, and Shane Watson at the top of the order could be one morething that could happen at some stage down the track. It’s good to get alook at guys in different positions; otherwise you bring your squad of 13or 14 guys and don’t look at the younger ones. When the World Cup comesaround, if you have a few injuries, you’d be going into the tournamentwith inexperienced players.”For Dravid, most of the concerns were to do with the batting. SachinTendulkar has scores of 141 not out and 65, but there have been few othersizeable contributions. “Two matches back, we had made 309,” said Dravid.”We definitely want to do better, we know that. The top six or seven mustmake runs and bat out the full 50 overs.”His own lack of runs at the top of the order has made it hard to judge thesuitability of the decision to open with Tendulkar. “It would be nice toscore some runs,” he said. “But then, I am desperate to score every time Igo out to bat, irrespective of whether I have scored in the previous gameor not.”India’s batting frailty had certainly caught Ponting’s eye. “The Indianswill worry about their batting, but we could be worried about it as well,”he said. “We know they are all good players, a lot of them exceptionalone-day players. If we can put them under pressure for long periods oftime, then I think everything should be coming our way.”That pressure was bound to be applied from the start, with Glenn McGrathand Brett Lee slated to share the new ball. Dravid, though, refused tofocus only on those two, harking back to the debacle against West Indieson Wednesday. “I don’t think we can focus on just McGrath or Lee,” hesaid. “They have got a quality bowling attack, so we will have to playwell right through the 50 overs.”That showed yesterday with someone like Dwayne Smith bowling really well.You wouldn’t have thought of him being one of their strike bowlers whocould remove four of the top order, but he did that. It just shows that ifyou bowl in the right areas, anyone can be a threat.”Though being rolled over for 162 had dismayed him, Dravid was satisfiedwith the manner of the riposte which sealed that elusive first win of theseason. “To come back strongly the way we did showed a lot of resilienceand character,” he said. That’s a good sign. It also showed that there areareas of the game that we can work on. But it’s just been the first fullgame of the season for us. We have been on the road quite a bit and tohave had just one full game is quite strange.”Ponting suggested that he would analyse the previous games and the pitchconditions before deciding whether or not to bat first once again. He alsosaid that the pitches at the Kinrara Oval had been challenging for thebatsmen. “I think it’s hard work starting on that wicket, particularlywith the new ball when it is up and down. But once you get set, you canaccelerate. We’ve seen some batsmen get on and make big scores. It’s about15 or 20 balls that you have to get through, and make adjustments.”The team that adjusts best will extend their preparation for the ChampionsTrophy by one more game. For the losers, early flights home beckon, not tomention the disappointment of dropping a game in a rivalry that hascaptured the imagination like few others over the past decade.

Sri Lanka’s selectors have announced a 25-man pool for the forthcoming ODI series against Australia. The training squad included six specialist spinners, including Kaushal Lokuarachchi, a young legspinner who returns after a disciplinary ban.The selectors also included Rangana Herath, a slow left-arm spinner who last played international cricket in June 2000 against Pakistan, and Dinuka Hettiarachchi, another left-arm spinner, who has impressed during the ongoing provincial tournament.Sri Lanka are expected to load their team with spinners against Australia and are likely to play only two quick bowlers — probably Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekera — during the ODI series.Dilhara Fernando, Sri Lanka’s quickest bowler, has been ruled out of the series with a stress fracture of the lower back. Ruchira Perera comes back into the reckoning for the first since being reported for having a suspect bowling action.Sri Lanka A players Russel Arnold, Saman Jayantha, Avishka Gunawardana,Chamara Silva and Thilina Kandamby have also been included in the pool and will have a chance to press their selection case during a warm-up match on February 17.Australia are due to play five ODIs and three Test matches during a six-week tour that starts on February 16. The first ODI will be played on February 20 in Dambulla.The squad has been sent to the Sports Ministry for ratification.Squad Marvan Atapattu (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena, Nuwan Kulasekara, Saman Jayantha, Avishka Gunawardana, Russel Arnold, Chamara Silva, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Zoysa, Dinusha Fernando, Chamila Gamage, Charitha Buddhika Fernando, Dinuka Hettiarachchi, Thilina Kandamby, DarshanaGamage, Ruchira Perera.

Frizzell County Championship Division OneDay 4 ReportSussex 385 and 383 for 7 dec. beat Lancashire by 377 and 139 by 252 runs
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He left it late, but Mushtaq Ahmed spun Sussex to another victory which puts them five points behind the leaders Surrey. Mushtaq took eleven wickets in the match as Lancashire crashed to 139 in just over 73 overs. Chris Adams declared on 383 for 7 twenty minutes before lunch after making 190. Billy Taylor was only playing because James Kirtley and Jason Lewry were not available, but he made his mark in style. He took the first four wickets, including Stuart Law (7) and Carl Hooper (1), as Lancashire spluttered to 64 for 4. Then the more well-known figure of Mushtaq added to his galaxy of wickets this season. Chris Schofield (18) and Warren Hegg (25) held up Sussex’s charge, but Mushtaq twirled away the last four wickets for 11 runs with the last man, Hegg, falling with only ten balls remaining in the day.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoSomerset 476 and 292 for 4 drew with Northamptonshire 681 for 5
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Somerset cruised to 292 for 4 on a lifeless pitch at Taunton as their game with Northants petered out to a bore draw. Only 19 wickets fell in all four days of the match, and Northants used ten bowlers, including Toby Bailey, the wicketkeeper, in Somerset’s second innings. Matthew Wood scored 100, Jamie Cox 64 before he retired hurt, and Ian Blackwell smacked 38 from 35 balls.Yesterday’s matchesFrizzell County Championship Division One Kent 477 and 96 for 2 beat Middlesex 407 and 165 by eight wickets at Lord’s
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Muttiah Muralitharan spun Middlesex to their first defeat of the season, by picking three of their last four wickets to complete match figures of 9 for 141. Middlesex, who had resumed on 141 for 6, were bundled out for 165, with Jamie Dalrymple and Simon Cook falling in successive deliveries to the sweep shot. Kent needed just 96 in their second innings, and though David Fulton and Michael Carberry fell cheaply, Robert Key and Andrew Symonds breezed to victory inside 25 overs.Warwickshire 277 and 267 for 2 beat Leicestershire 346 and 195 by eight wickets
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Nick Knight led Warwickshire to an emphatic eight-wicket win against Leicestershire at Edgbaston. He belted 20 boundaries in his 122 not out, and shared put on 140 with Jim Troughton, who smashed an unbeaten 55 off 44 balls, as Warwickshire cruised past their potentially tricky target of 265. Mark Wagh also chipped in with 58, and that was after he had wrapped up the Leicestershire tail to finish with 4 for 20. Resuming on 121 for 6, Leicestershire added 74 more runs, thanks mainly to a sensible 37 from Philip DeFreitas. Waqar Younis was also in the wickets, taking 4 for 37, to help set up Warwickshire’s second win of the season.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoGlamorgan 444 and 86 for 2 beat Durham 355 and 174 by eight wickets at Cardiff
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Glamorgan needed just 2.1 overs on the fourth morning to wrap up an eight-wicket win over Durham. Mike Kasprowicz had flagellated Durham’s batsmen on the third afternoon with career-best figures of 9 for 36, and Glamorgan trailed by a mere 12 runs at stumps. It had been an even contest until Kasprowicz had embarked on his second spell on Friday afternoon. Bowling fast and full, he skittled Durham’s last nine wickets for the addition of 55 runs, with all but two bowled or lbw.Other matchEngland U19 229 v South Africa U19 48 for 1 at Chelmsford
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Francois du Plessis scored 177 and put South Africa firmly in control against England at Chelmsford. He hit 26 fours and three sixes and added 138 with East Springer, who scored 77. Daryn Smit (52) and Heinrich Le Roux (49) weighed in with some more runs down the order as South Africa finished a good day’s work on 463 for 8 with a lead of 234 runs.

At 32, it is unlikely that Habibul Bashar will ever set the world alight. But for the time being he is providing a ray of hope every time he goes out to bat for Bangladesh. With 376 runs already in the series against Pakistan, Bashar has earned his team some long-overdue respect.In an exclusive with Wisden CricInfo, Bashar spoke to Nagraj Gollapudi about his new-found self belief, and his evolution as a player.You seem to do well against Pakistan – one century and five fifties so far.
I don’t look at it that way at all. It’s just that I somehow ended up performing well against them.

But so far in this series you are the highest run-getter.
I have finally found the self-belief, which was not there previously. Before this series, I had this psychological block and was unable to convert my fifties into hundreds. But I can confidently say that block is no more, now that I’ve reached my second Test century.

So how did it feel after getting that century?
It was like a mountain off my shoulders. Throughout the previous night I was unable to sleep properly: I went to bed around midnight and suddenly woke up at three o’clock. I couldn’t settle down, always thinking about the century, which was just 18 runs away. But throughout this misery I was positive, telling myself that I would be able to break that barrier. I was very angry with myself for playing a rash shot when on 71 in the first innings, and my only aim then was to improve on that effort. My 97 at Peshawar showed that the Karachi effort wasn’t just a fluke, and I almost made another big one today, but got out in a casual fashion. [He made a valuable 72 in the third Test at Multan]Where did this self belief come from?
Our coach Dav Whatmore explained to me how important my role is as a senior player and batsman: the team’s batting relies on me and the youngsters in the team look to me to show them the direction. When I started playing I was like any other rookie batsman and I used to just swing the bat at anything. I still am not brilliant at restraining my aggression, but I am steadily learning to be patient and more focused on the job.So Whatmore really has made such a big impact in so short a time?
Yes, truly – in this short time – without really doing anything, he has contributed a lot. By that, I mean he doesn’t do anything special. He is never negative in what he says, and whatever’s on his mind, he gives it to us straight. He just wants us to perform from our hearts and his motivational words have given us this self belief. You would argue, why wasn’t this approach taken by the former men in charge? And it’s true – they never gave us that kind of belief. We were never confident enough to show the kind of intensity we are now showing on the field.How much progress do you think Bangladesh has made since acquiring Test status?
We are getting there, and with more experience and more games we’ll raise our standards further. And with the type of guys like Dav to lend a hand, I am confident Bangladesh will soon thrive and make real progress. When we first played Test cricket, the team consisted of a few oldies who were past their best, and no-one to give us proper guidance, so it was really difficult to make the desired growth quickly enough. However, at the moment there has been an infusion of raw talent, which needs time and proper nurturing if the individuals and team are to prosper. So there has been progress, even if it’s been minimal.

Does Bangladesh have a strong domestic structure in place to produce international talent?
Our structure is not perfect, but I would say we are getting there. The grounds – including the national stadium at Dhaka – are not up to global standards, but the Bangladesh Cricket Board is doing a great job and trying to help the players. So I feel it would take a few more years – two or three – for things to fall in the proper places.What about the pool of young talent: is it healthy or running dry?
I would like to cite an example. Before we were granted Test status there were about 100 youngsters watching cricket, but today there are thousands more watching the game. So for every hundred there may be one genuine talent, and likewise ten more for every thousand. Cricket is the most popular sport at the moment in Bangladesh and our good performances have given hope to young ones and parents alike in opting for the game. And I feel very happy about that.You’ve been in great positions in the first two Tests of this tour, only to throw it away. How can you change that?
As I said, most of the batsmen are still young and at an impressionable age. So it is very difficult for them to curb their impulses. They can only be cured as they gain experience. Also, for that to happen, a senior player like me has to lead by example.Doesn’t that mean that your captain, Khaled Mahmud, will be having a negative impact on the youngsters?
Yes, it does, but he [Mahmud] is just unable to get it right. However, I can tell you one thing – over the years, Mahmud has been liked by everyone in the dressing-room and he really is a good leader of men. Unfortunately he hasn’t produced the goods to back that up. The team understands that and we hope he gets in the groove soon.What about the bowlers – do they have the talent to claim 20 wickets in a Test?
You know we don’t have it at the moment, but there are youngsters who are showing the right kind of attitude to make inroads into the opposition. But I think we need a real match-winning spinner. Without that it is really difficult to take regular wickets.You’ve suffered 17 defeats in a row. Do you really have enough self belief to enter a Test match with a positive attitude?
Till now it wasn’t there, but the Australian series was like a watershed for Bangladesh cricket. Before that there was no direction to our game – we were just drifting along, but in reality we were drifting apart. However, Whatmore helped us just in time. Also, the Australian players gave us enough motivation by chatting to us and helping us improve our game. We were very touched by that kind of gesture coming from the best and toughest side in the world. That trip helped us tidy up our mistakes and we have done a fair job so far in Pakistan. But there’s lots more to do.

Statement by Victorian Bushrangers stand in coach Greg Shipperd."David Hookes had a dream for his playing group to bring back to Victorians an increased interest in the cricketing exploits of the Bushrangers."He wanted them to play in a way that reflected the "Aussie way" and, if I might say, "his way" – positive, aggressive, attacking, combative, fun cricket."He set about creating an environment that would allow his players to shine – to challenge for Australian selection, to win titles and very importantly for him, help grow young men as people."He was well on his way to realising that vision."Our task now is amongst the incredibly sad recognition of his loss, to continue the job of walking the path he had so cleverly constructed."The Board of Cricket Victoria has confirmed that Greg Shipperd will act as Victorian Bushrangers senior coach for the remainder of season 2003/2004.

The proverbial saying “lost it after we had won it” would not be out of place, as Hampshire managed to give away 29 runs in nine balls to conceded defeat to Sussex in nightmare fashion.John Crawley won the toss again, and as with the other one-day matches over the bank holiday, decided to bat first. In form Nic Pothas was given the task of opening with his captain, with Derek Kenway being left out after a poor run of form.Pothas provided the early runs as Crawley paced himself, but the skipper after a painstaking 26 balls, played on to James Kirtley. Robin Smith played a couple of cracking shots, but he edged a ball from Billy Taylor, and Pothas in effect ran himself out for 40. He attempted a second run, without really telling his partner Simon Katich he was coming.Wasim Akram pushed up the order to try and increase the run rate, did just that as he and his Aussie partner started to flay the Sussex bowlers, until the second run out saw him dismissed for 38 in just 40 balls, including two sixes.This set back slowed down the progress, as James Hamblin and Dimitri Mascarenhas both fell cheaply, Mascarenhas being the third Hampshire batsman to be run out. A quick fire 21 from Will Kendall assisted Katich to achieve his highest score for Hampshire so far since joining them, but the 213 runs scored off 50 overs did not seem enough.Sussex started well despite losing Richard Montgomerie early on, Ambrose, Goodwin and Chris Adams all made contributions, but against some very tight bowling the continually fell behind the asking rate. Wickets fell with only the Sussex captain holding the home side’s progress up and with 5 overs remaining; the visitors were looking at 12 an over, and with 48 overs gone required 29 for victory.Wasim Akram who had bowled with venom then conceded 20 runs in his last over as Adams and Mark Davis went on the attack, and the pair sewed up an unlikely victory with three balls to spare. Adams with 80 not out, that included three sixes was named man of the match.