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There are plenty of signals that the two Malcolms from Australia – Gray and Speed – are preparing to make a move against the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jagmohan Dalmiya. That fact became very apparent during the media briefing at the Taj Samudra in Colombo on Wednesday.Malcolm Speed cleared the air regarding the events that lead to the players’ contract issue, one that almost resulted in leading Indian players boycotting the ICC Champions Trophy.Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, was categorically said that it was not AC Muttiah who signed the controversial ICC contract. Speed also explained that there were essentially three basic contracts, and the one that Muttiah signed on behalf of the BCCI was the Cricket Events Agreement “that locks in the ICC’s agreement with the Global Cricket Corporation and agrees to play in all ICC events for the next seven years and field its best team.””That was the agreement Dr Muttiah signed,” said Speed. “The boards have had the Participating Nations Agreement since December last year. Dr Muttiah was defeated in October last year and was no longer the president of BCCI in December. Dr Muttiah is right; the player terms were not included in the agreement he signed and were included in the agreement signed by his successor.”That successor is none other than Dalmiya, who had earlier tried to pin the blame on Muttiah for having compromised player interests by signing the controversial contract.There were indirect but definite barbs aimed at the Kolkata businessman who is presently at the helm of Indian cricket. In the coming days, Dalmiya will have a handful of issues to deal with, especially with the Indian players.Speed was quick to admit that there was some confusion about the terms, causing a delay in resolving the crisis, and that he sympathised with the Indian team for that. The chief executive of ICC said that during his successful negotiation meeting with the Indian players in London, a few important issues came to the fore.”One of the issues that came up is that the players wish to have a player representative group,” said Speed. “What I have urged the Indian team to do is to go through the correct processes and go to the Board and to seek this group. I would strongly urge the Indian board to give very careful consideration to the players’ request when it comes forward.”Speed explained in detail the dramatic events of the last few days of negotiations between the ICC, BCCI and the Indian players. He said that the ICC put forward the idea of talking to the Indian players to get the issue resolved. It was upon the submission of a written request from the BCCI to the chief executive of the ICC that negotiations with the players were held.Speed quickly added, “Shortly after that, the Indian board then asked that there be no further contact between ICC and the players.”The boards have had the player terms under this agreement since December last year,” added Speed. “They have had it for the last nine months. If there was a serious problem, we would have expected to hear about it. We only heard about it only when we were approaching the deadline for this event”.Speed’s revelations only left one thought at the forefront of one’s mind – whose rights and interests were Dalmiya and the BCCI actually trying to protect through these days of complete uncertainty?To put things in perspective, Speed said that the Indian players have signed the same document with one amendment, the post-tournament contractual obligations being reduced from 30 days to 16 days for the Indian players.

New Zealand umpire Brent ‘Billy’ Bowden has joined the list of people wanting to see the players’ dispute resolved as soon as possible.Just back from South Africa, where he was an International Cricket Council (ICC) appointment to the three South Africa-Bangladesh One-Day Internationals, Bowden was looking to a week of activity at New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC) High Performance Centre at Lincoln University to build his preparation for the summer next week.However, he learned from New Zealand exchange umpire to South Africa this year Gary Baxter when he met him in South Africa, that the players had withdrawn their services until their dispute with NZC had been resolved.”I hope it is going to be settled soon. It doesn’t only affect the players, but sponsors, umpires, the whole package.”It is unfortunate but standing in cricket games is important to umpires. I always like to stand in club cricket because that is where it all starts, but in order to get extra time in the middle I am standing in some school games.”The Academy programme at Lincoln University is always good for getting your eye in and also to have a look at some of the newer players on the scene and who is coming up.”The best part of umpiring is umpiring out in the middle,” he said.Should things not be resolved sooner rather than later, then Bowden would be looking at overseas opportunities just to get some time in the middle.”I would have to talk to Brian Aldridge [the national umpiring manager] about that,” he said.Bowden, who is on the ICC international panel of umpires, the level below the elite group, enjoyed his experience in South Africa, mainly because it reinforced his desire to keep trying for a position on the elite panel.”It was a good start, I learnt a lot. There is always something you can learn and I wanted to see how I felt about being away from home in unfamiliar conditions and how I coped with the pressures.”It confirmed for me that this is what I want to do,” he said.Bowden stood in matches at Potchefstroom, Benoni and Kimberley. He enjoyed all three grounds although he said Potchefstroom was the most enjoyable because of the facilities, outfield and outlook there.Benoni, which is being used for World Cup games, would be a high-scoring venue with its short boundaries while Kimberley had been another enjoyable experience especially for the manner of its grass banks around the ground.The one-day series had been one-way traffic for the South Africans with the Bangladeshis struggling to make an impact. But he said the international cricket new boys needed the exposure to improve.”South Africa played hard cricket, but not to their full potential. They were sorting out players for the World Cup.”Herschelle Gibbs was in fantastic form and if he gets going, especially during the first 15 overs of games if South Africa bat first in their World Cup games, he will cause some real problems.”Shaun Pollock was there and abouts with his bowling while Mark Boucher was another key man. Those three are critical for South Africa in the World Cup. They have to fire for South Africa,” he said.Bowden said that Lance Klusener was clearly suffering in the confidence department and was possibly a victim of sides having worked him out.”He likes the ball coming onto the bat, but they [Bangladesh] cramped him up, and added to that he didn’t have a lot of time in the middle. He had no chance to really fire,” he said.Bowden said the atmosphere was building in South Africa for the Cup and he was in no doubt it would be a fantastic tournament.”The grounds are all prepared and there will be no problems with the weather. It is a big event for them and they won’t be letting this one slip,” he said.Meanwhile, the appointments for India’s tour of New Zealand have been made. Asoka de Silva of Sri Lanka and Daryl Harper of Australia will stand in both Test matches. De Silva will stand in the first four ODIs, once with Bowden and three times with Doug Cowie while Harper will stand in the last three, twice with Bowden and once with Cowie.The full appointments are:December 4: Super Max International at Jade Stadium, Christchurch – Dave Quested, Evan Watkin, Gary Baxter (TV umpire); Dec 6-8: Tour match v Central Districts at McLean Park, Napier – Brent Bowden, Doug Cowie; Dec 12-16: 1st Test at Basin Reserve, Wellington – Asoka de Silva, Daryl Harper, Brent Bowden (TV); Dec 19-23: 2nd Test at WestpacTrust Park, Hamilton – Asoka de Silva, Daryl Harper, Doug Cowie (TV); Dec 26: 1st ODI at Eden Park, Auckland – Brent Bowden, Asoka de Silva, Doug Cowie (TV); Dec 29: 2nd ODI at McLean Park, Napier – Doug Cowie, Asoka de Silva, Brent Bowden (TV); January 1: 3rd ODI at Jade Stadium, Christchurch – Doug Cowie, Asoka de Silva, AL Hill (TV); Jan 4: 4th ODI at John Davies Oval, Queenstown – Doug Cowie, Asoka de Silva, AL Hill (TV); Jan 8: 5th ODI at WestpacTrust Stadium, Wellington – Brent Bowden, Daryl Harper, Doug Cowie (TV); Jan 11: 6th ODI at Eden Park, Auckland – Brent Bowden, Daryl Harper, Tony Hill (TV); Jan 14: 7th ODI at WestpacTrust Park, Hamilton – Doug Cowie, Daryl Harper, Brent Bowden (TV).

Leicestershire captain Vince Wells is 50-50 for the Frizzell County Championship match against Warwickshire starting at Edgbaston on Wednesday.Wells did not play in Sunday’s abandoned Norwich Union League game at Oakham School when only three overs were possible because of rain.He was left out because of a sore shoulder, but said that it was a “precautionary measure” ahead of the game against Warwickshire.Leicestershire are top of the Championship First Division table and Wells said: “It is a very important match and I want to play in it if I possibly can. There was no point in risking aggravating the shoulder and I’m hopeful that I will be fine by Wednesday. At the moment I would rate my chances at 50-50.”Rob Cunliffe and Charles Dagnall will both be seeing specialits this week in a bid to sort out their respective injury concerns.Cunliffe is still having problems with a finger he fractured a few weeks ago, and Dagnall’s troublesome hip has flared up again following a club match at the weekend.

In the midst of one of the worst-ever periods in their crickethistory, India toured England in 1959 only to end up with thekind of record team members see in their nightmares. Out of 33first-class matches, the Indians won only six and lost 11 whilenot all of the remaining 16 were honourably drawn.

All five Tests were lost, this being the first time that Indiasuffered such a whitewash. Incidentally, it was only the thirdtime in Test history that a team had lost all five matches. Therecord was even more unpalatable considering the fact that it wasone of the best English summers for years and that the home teamthemselves were not very confident having just been thrashed inAustralia during the winter.In fact, they commenced their rebuilding process by trying outmany new players and even then they were good enough to swampIndia. Three of the matches were lost by an innings, two defeatswere sustained inside three days and two more matches must surelyhave been concluded with two days to spare but for interferencefrom the weather.A generally young team was again sent on the tour. But unlike in1952 when the wicket and weather conditions were against them,this time the sun, out in all its glory, seemed to be in theirfavour. However, the batsmen again found the pace of FreddieTrueman and Brian Statham too hot to handle. What was even moredisconcerting was the fact that the batsmen surrendered theirwickets tamely even to lesser-known new ball bowlers like AlanMoss and rookie Harold Rhodes and also to spin bowlers like BrianClose, Tom Greenhough and Ray Illingworth.The selection of the team was made in the wake of thedisappointing five-match home series against the West Indies thatwas lost badly. For various reasons, Ghulam Ahmed, Vinoo Mankad,Gulabrai Ramchand and Dattu Phadkar were not selected and therewas a new captain in Dattajirao Gaekwad. Pankaj Roy was hisdeputy and it was obvious that the batting would revolve aroundthese two, Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, Chandu Borde, NariContractor and Bapu Nadkarni. The bowling, meanwhile, was tohinge mainly on Subash Gupte, making his long awaited first tourof England, the medium pacers Ramakant Desai and RamanSurrendranath and the two all rounders Borde and Nadkarni.It was, then, the collective failure of both the batsmen and thebowlers that led to the rout in the Tests. The fact that onlyContractor (233) and Umrigar (230) topped the 200-run aggregatemark symbolises the batting failures. Despite arriving after hisclassic batting display against the West Indies, which saw himget 109 and 96 against Wes Hall and Roy Gilchrist in the finalTest at New Delhi, Borde was a failure getting only 140 runs inseven innings.Roy improved upon his dismal record of seven years before butstill proved to be easy meat for the pacemen, as evidenced by hismeagre return of 179 runs from ten innings. Gaekwad never reallygot going and India were further handicapped by Manjrekar playingin only the first two Tests before a knee problem ruled him outfor the rest of the tour.Fortunately, Abbas Ali Baig, a 20-year-old freshman at OxfordUniversity, proved to be a worthy replacement. At Manchester, hescored a century in his first Test, becoming the first Indian tohit a century on debut abroad. Moreover, the fact that he did soon the same ground at which Ranji had achieved a similar featagainst Australia back in 1896 added a touch of colour.Umrigar was the only other century maker in the series. He scored118 at Manchester in what proved to be his last Test innings inEngland, hooking and pulling his old adversary Trueman withgusto. But perhaps the most courageous knock was played byContractor at Lord’s when he carried on to make 81 in over fourhours despite having one of his ribs broken by a ball from BrianStatham early in the innings.The bowling failed to rise to the occasion. Gupte no doubt tookthe most number of wickets in the series – 17 – but these cost34.64 apiece. Desai was harshly treated, his 12 wickets beingobtained at an average of 50.16. The best bowler wasSurendranath. Relishing the conditions that aided his swingbowling, he finished at the top of the averages with 16 wicketsat 26.62 apiece. Nadkarni with his left-arm spinners was at beststeady while the English batsmen negotiated Borde’s leg-spinnerscomfortably.On the tour, Umrigar was again the most commanding batsman. Hegot five centuries, three of them double hundreds – one knock of252 not out against Cambridge University being the then highestscore abroad by an Indian. He ended the tour with 1826 runs andbut for a hand injury that ruled him out of the last few matcheson the tour, would surely have crossed the 2000-run mark.Gaekwad (1174), Roy (1207), Borde (1060) and Contractor (1183)were the others to cross the 1000-run mark, though given a fulltour it is safe to assume that both Manjrekar (755) and Baig(673) would have made the four-figure mark too.As far as the bowling was concerned, Gupte with 95 wicketsfinished top of the heap but considering his reputation, thefigure fell below expectations. Surendranath, given a lot of workhad 79 wickets while Borde (72) and Nadkarni (55) did reasonablywell. Desai, however, was a bit of a letdown finishing with 45rather expensive wickets.As only to be expected in a one-sided series, England had thingstheir own way. Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Mike Smith and new boyGeoff Pullar got hundreds while Ken Barrington was a model ofconsistency. The old firm of Statham and Trueman mowed down theIndian batting repeatedly and even Greenhough’s leg spinnerscaused the visitors some trouble. Ultimately, it was bothtechnical difficulties and a lack of fighting spirit that sawIndia go down tamely.

Ehsanul Haq has slammed another blasting half-century today in BNS while Mohammedan thrashed Young Pegasus, the weakest among the six clubs, by 4 wickets at BNS today. In fact the match ended as soon as Pegasus were bundled out for a mare 130 in 42.4 overs. Mohammedan reached the target in 27.3 overs with 4 wickets to spare.Mohammedan set off for onslaught from the starting and Ehsanul Haq, who is rather prominent for playing copybook shots, came out off his conventional mode for today. He took punitive measures on the Pegasus bowlers and slammed the ball to all parts of the field. His 65 off just 45 deliveries included 10 fours and a six (Good enough to be adjudged for the man-of-the-match).With Habibul Bashar, in the second wicket, Ehsanul ran up 75 runs. Bashar was keeping himself off from playing ambitious shots (His favorite ones too) and faced 57 balls to manage his unbeaten 25.Vice captain Sanwar Hossain won the toss and sent Pegasus to bat first in a slightly damp wicket. The spinners trio Rafique, Shabbir Khan and Steve Tikolo took the advantage and restricted the team to 130 only. Hasanuzzaman top scored 34 where opener Humayun managed 31. Their Pakistani recruit Majid Jafri scored 23 before Tikolo trapped him lbw.Steve Tikolo claimed 3 for 18 where Shabbir took 2 for 36.

• It was the 1716th ODI in cricket history.
• It was West Indies’ 422nd and South Africa’s 227th match.
• It was the 23rd match between these two sides. The record now reads: South Africa 16, West Indies 7.
• Umpires Billy Doctrove and Eddie Nicholls were officiating in their 10th and 26th match respectively.
• The sixth wicket partnership of 61 runs between Brian Lara and Ridley Jacobs was West Indies’ best for this wicket against South Africa. This obliterated the previous highest of 46 between Marlon Samuels and Jacobs in the previous match.
• Brian Lara (92) became a victim of nervous ninety for the fourth time in his career. His other scores in 90s are: 95* v Pakistan at Port-of-Spain on 26-03-1993, 90 v Australia at Perth on 12-01-1997 and 93 v England at Port-of-Spain on 08-04-1998. Now only Richie Richardson (6) has more scores in nineties than Lara for West Indies. Lara moved ahead of Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes who each has three 90s on his name. This was also the first score in ninety’ for West Indies against South Africa.
• Lara also became the 17th batsman in ODI history to make four or more scores in ninety. The list is headed by Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva with 8 such instances. The details:

  Batsman Country 90s 99sAravinda de Silva SL 8 0Mohammad Azharuddin Ind 7 0Richie Richardson WI 6 1Dean Jones Aus 6 1Martin Crowe NZ 6 0Sachin Tendulkar Ind 6 0Krish Srikkanth Ind 5 1Hansie Cronje SA 5 0Nathan Astle NZ 5 0Allan Lamb Eng 4 1Ijaz Ahmed Pak 4 0Grant Flower Zim 4 0Ajay Jadeja Ind 4 0Saeed Anwar Pak 4 0Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 4 0Allan Border Aus 4 0Brian Lara WI 4 0

• Kallis’ figures (4-22) were best by a South African against West Indies in West Indies. He bettered Allan Donald’s 4 for 38 in the previous match at Grenada.
• Kallis has now taken 23 wickets in 12 matches against West Indiesmost for South Africa. Allan Donald and Hansie Cronje are jointly placed second with 19 wickets each.
• Herschelle Gibbs (107), on 46,completed his 2000 runs in the shorter version of the game. He was playing his 68th match and innings. He became eighth South African and 92nd batsman in the world to reach this landmark.
• Gibbs’ innings equalled the highest by a South African against West Indies in West Indies. Jacques Kallis had made the identical score in the third match of this series at Grenada.
• The hundred was Gibbs’ second in this series (he had made 104 at St.John’s on May 2nd). He has now joined three other countrymen who have scored two hundreds in a series (or competition). The accompanying table has the details:

  100s Batsman For Season Series/To’ment Mts Inns NO Runs HS Ave 502 Gary Kirsten SA 1995-96 Sharjah Cup 5 5 1 356 115* 89.00 12 Jacques Kallis SA 1998-99 [NZ] 7 6 0 323 100 53.83 22 Nicky Boje SA 2000-01 [NZ] 6 6 2 355 129 88.75 12 HH Gibbs SA 2000-01 [WI] 5 5 0 292 107 58.40 0

• The victory in this match sealed the series in South Africa’s favour. South Africa also ended West Indies’ remarkable run at home soil. Out of the 22 bilateral series prior to this one, West Indies won as many as 17, drew three and lost only two (including a one off match series against Sri Lanka in 1995-96). The only other team to beat West Indies in a series of atleast three matches in West Indies is Australia which clinched the five match series in 1990-91 by 4-1 margin.
• The Man of Match award was fifth for Herschelle Gibbs.
  

Barring extended rain or any other unforeseen happening today,Barbados should subject the Windward Islands to their fifth successivedefeat and keep alive their slim hopes of winning the Busta Cup.Set 335 from a minimum of 115 overs after an enterprising, excitingdisplay from Philo Wallace and Sean Armstrong, rock-bottom Windwardsshowed more resilience than they have all season in the 25 overs theyfaced before the close.They reached 67 for two, principally anchored by their solid 18-yearold opening batsman Romel Currency. He batted though until the end inthe company of the Windwards’ most dangerous batsman, Junior Murray.Murray, however, should take been back in the pavilion, but Ryan Hindsmissed an easy chance at extra-cover from a long-hop off leg-spinnerDave Marshall.The Windwards have lost each of the four previous matches and have ahighest score was 257.Barbados owed their commanding position to their healthy first inningsadvantage of 142 and it was impressively built on by a second-wicketstand of 111 between Wallace and Armstrong.Wallace, under the microscope after a string of low scores, was theWallace of old, clobbering the ball with typical power in an inningsof 78.Armstrong, who joined Wallace after Adrian Griffith departed for abreezy 18, was not as forceful, but was just as effective in playingsome scintillating strokes in completing his second half-century ofthe tournament.Most eyes, however, were on Wallace following his first-ball duck inthe first innings. Interestingly enough, he took first strike for thefirst time in the tournament and was immediately into stride.Whenever the Windwards bowlers dropped a trifle short, they weredisdainfully pulled away. Leg-spinner Orlando Jackson was twicedespatched over mid-wicket and onto the big scoreboard.In addition to those two sixes, Wallace also belted eight fours. Somewere pulls, some were extra-cover drives and some were guided over theheads of the slips. Armstrong, in one over from left-arm fast-mediumDeighton Butler, hit three successive boundaries – a cut, a lofted ondrive and a pull. But his most memorable shot was a stylish short-armpull in his unique manner.The No. 3 batsman reached his half-century with eight fours, but soonfell on 53 to a ball from leg-spinner Rawl Lewis that bounced, tookthe glove of the batsman and the wicket-keeper and ended in a juggledcatch to Devon Smith at slip.Wallace followed in the next over. After another of his ferociouspulls, he drove the next delivery down the throat of Smith at extracover.In the brief period before tea, Roland Holder and Courtney Browne werecontent to defend, but both perished soon after the interval whenBarbados were looking to increase the tempo.A few meaty blows from Hendy Bryan, whose unbeaten 29 came off 28balls, allowed Barbados to make the declaration a bit earlier thanmost anticipated. It was made 40 minutes after the break with thetotal 192 for five off 50 overs.There was immediate success for Barbados with Corey Collymore inducingteenager Devon Smith into edging a catch to the keeper from a ballthat bounced nicely.Out came Kirsten Casmir to play the type of strokes he unleashedduring his 63 against the Leeward Islands on debut in the previousround of matches.The little Dominican smacked five boundaries in 28 before gifting hiswicket to an inexcusable cross-batted swing against Ryan Austin’sflighted off-break.By then, Currency was batting as solid as ever. He resumes thismorning on 22 as a key figure in the Windwards’ plans to earn theirfirst point of the tournament. He is so well-organised that it is hardto believe that he has never once converted any of his promisingstarts into a significant contribution. Today is his chance.Murray is another player who could hold up Barbados with hisforthright, aggressive methods. He ended the day on 14, five more thanhe should have gotten, courtesy of Hinds’ miss.Earlier, Barbados polished off the Windwards tail by claiming the lastthree wickets 22 after the visitors resumed on 103 for seven.

Tasmania will be aiming to land a knockout blow on opponent New South Wales at some time over the next 48 hours after it continued to lay a platform for outright victory on the second day of the teams’ Pura Cup clash here in Hobart today.Resilient New South Wales openers Corey Richards (34*) and Matthew Phelps (29*) sounded a warning to their hosts that a long fight for outright points probably still awaits, joining in a defiant unbroken stand that carried the visitors to a second innings mark of 0/65 by stumps.In that it had earlier delivered a 237-run first innings advantage for the home team, though, this was again a day on which terms were generally dictated by the Tasmanians.Though the latter wasn’t quite at his best, Michael Dighton (84) and Jamie Cox (72) established the impetus for what was to follow by stretching their partnership for the second wicket to a mark of 82 runs upon the resumption.The liaison secured first innings points for Tasmania; featured close to run-a-minute scoring; and gradually seemed to drain spirit from the bowlers.In both context and execution, Dighton’s hand had all the trappings of one of the best-timed innings of the season. His driving was flawless; his placement impeccable; and his rate of scoring brisk.Michael Di Venuto (39) added to the momentum once Cox had fallen to a fine low catch at point, complementing Dighton’s headway with a flurry of boundaries of his own.Though Tasmania’s progress stalled briefly on either side of lunch as Dighton was beaten in slog-sweeping at left arm spinner Michael Clarke (2/25) and Di Venuto swung across the line at Don Nash (2/81), containment remained a difficult art for their opponents.David Saker (40*) and Shane Jurgensen (19) encapsulated this reality in clubbing 44 in a breezy tenth wicket stand that revived memories of their recent 114-run association that acted as the rallying point of Tasmania’s late season renaissance.In the interim, the New South Wales bowlers scratched away in unconvincing manner.A comparative rush of wickets arrived with the second new ball for Stuart Clark (2/99) and Grant Lambert (3/86), but a string of sizeable Tasmanian partnerships made frustration the order of the day for the visitors.Also adding to the Blues’ woes were three missed catches.With his score at 53, the flight of a ball that had been viciously cut by Dighton was misjudged by Phil Jaques at third man to the extent that it carried over his head and dropped inside the line of the boundary rope just behind him. It proved an expensive miss, though not substantially more costly than a later error by the same fieldsman at third slip and another by captain Michael Slater in the gully in the space of one Nathan Bracken (1/85) over to Saker early in his innings.Phelps and Richards kickstarted a much-needed recovery with a plucky association that helped to demystify any complexities in the pitch. Phelps played and missed twice in the opening over of the innings but the pair soon settled, driving expertly through the off side and helping themselves to a diet of runs to leg as the Tasmanian pacemen strayed in line.They were also aided by the absence from the attack of regular new ball bowler Damien Wright, whose ongoing battle with a thigh injury means that he will probably only return to the bowling crease if desperately needed.But the whip hand remained Tasmania’s, and the locals must fancy their chances of securing the six points they require to all but guarantee their passage to next week’s Pura Cup Final.If Phelps had not survived arguably the most beseeching lbw appeal of the summer as Jurgensen (0/16) lured him into padding up to an off cutter in the concluding over of the day, the home team’s advantage would have been even more manifest.