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John Wright is in a situation that cannot be envied for the best part. He is the coach of a cricket team that plumbs the depths of despair with alarming regularity despite having some of the most audacious talents in its ranks. The team apart, in the eyes of millions of cricket crazy fans he is answerable for every Indian loss. Only recently, Wright completed a year as coach of the Indian team. Rumours that his contract would not be extended began doing the rounds. Wright however, in his inimitable softspoken manner, appears unworried. “I do the best job I can and hope it transmits through the performance of the team,” said the former Kiwi skipper and opening bat to pressmen at Ahmedabad on the eve of the second Test at Ahmedabad.Not days ago, Wright met with Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Wright’s detractors have long felt that Dalmiya’s election as BCCI chief would spell the end of his tenure as Indian coach. “I had a constructive discussion with Jagmohan Dalmiya. It’s always good to talk to the man in charge of Indian cricket,” said Wright. He went on to add, “Accountability is close to the president’s heart and I welcome that.” In appointing a foreign coach, accountability was one of the things the BCCI hoped to bring in.Another sticky area as far as coaches and captains goes is in team selection. In the past, several former Indian cricketers who have coached the team have been at loggerheads with the selectors. Wright insists that he has no such trouble. “In an ideal situation, you need input from everyone. As a captain you would like to have your eleven because when you walk out on to the field of play the final responsibility of leading the team to victory is yours,” he began. “At the same time you need objectivity from the captain and the coach. When you get caught up with playing, you might lose a bit of objectivity and that’s where the selectors can help,” he concluded.Digging on his experience as both cricketer and coach Wright had the following observation to make: “As a person who has led New Zealand for a period of three years I feel that the captain is more important than the coach in the process of team selection. As a coach you can either bide your time or convince the captain of your choices. I am very comfortable having the input of the selectors.”To prove his point, Wright quoted the example of the first Test against England where the inclusion of three uncapped medium pacers caused much consternation. “If you remember, there was a lot of discussion about some of the selections, especially the pace bowlers, during the last Test at Mohali. I am personally excited by the fact that we have unearthed other fast bowling talent.”The encouraging performance of youngsters like Tinu Yohannan prompted Wright to speak about the competition for team places. “Every player is in the same position, having to fight for his place in the side. When there is competition from the outside you don’t want to fail too often and all are under pressure to perform, as it should be. If you notice, Zaheer Khan has taken five wickets in his last first class game and that is good. It acts as a reminder to those who are playing for India.”Going back to a point high on the agenda of the BCCI – accountability, Wright spoke of the role millions of Indian fans play in this regard. “Everyone is accountable and that is a very good thing. We owe it to the people of India who are the greatest cricket fans in the world. No one is bigger than the game and that includes the coach.”In all, Wright seems unworried by events off the field. That is completely new to Indian cricket and it is indeed reassuring that the coach is concentrating on the game.

Najam Sethi, the head of PCB’s executive committee, has said he is looking to invite Indian players to participate in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the UAE. The idea, he said, was to try and convince India to go ahead with the scheduled bilateral series in December and, as the next step, discuss Pakistan players returning to the IPL and Indians playing in the inaugural edition of Pakistan’s T20 league next February.India’s players do not participate in any of the other T20 leagues apart from the IPL, as the BCCI does not provide them with No Objection Certificates for the same.Sethi, who had in August ruled out inviting Indian players to the PSL, now told the : “We are going to try to persuade the Indians to play us in December. If that happens, we will also be talking about a reciprocal arrangement – and I have had preliminary talks with people in Delhi on this – about Pakistani players being allowed to play in IPL and Indian players being allowed to play in PSL.”If the series takes place in December, the ground will be fertile. If you don’t want our players to play in your league, okay, but at least let your players play in ours. It will be difficult for them to refuse that. There will be pressure from the players. If Indian players do come in, then I think PSL will become the biggest thing in cricket after IPL.”Pakistani players featured in the first edition of the IPL in 2008 but then, following the terror attacks in Mumbai that year, the Indian government suspended all bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan. Since then Pakistan players have remained unsold at the IPL auctions. Recently, the PCB, in a letter to the BCCI, had sought clarity on the mooted bilateral series for December, pointing out that it was part of a memorandum of understanding signed last year by the two boards. But political events in the recent past have cast doubts over such a revival, with BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur himself having scotched the possibility of cricket resuming till political equations had stabilised.The PCB has already announced that it has over 100 players ready to be part of the PSL drafting process – including big draws like Kevin Pietersen, Shakib Al Hasan and Dwayne Bravo – which is set to take place between November and December. The PSL is scheduled to take place between February 4 and 24, in Dubai and Sharjah, with franchise-based teams from Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad competing for prize money of $1 million.

A worrying update has emerged on Newcastle United attacker Allan Saint-Maximin ahead of the club’s clash with Brentford.

What’s the latest?

Magpies boss Eddie Howe has stated that they will make a “late call” on the forward and that the knock will not keep him out for a significant period of time.

Alistair Magowan quoted him as saying: “He’s been away getting intensive treatment. He said when he suffered the injury, it wouldn’t be long term. So we will keep our fingers crossed on him.”

This comes after he was absent for the 1-1 draw with West Ham, having picked up a blow against Aston Villa in the previous outing.

Newcastle will be gutted

Newcastle fans will surely be gutted by this news as Saint-Maximin being ruled out of this match would be a big blow to the side.

Only Callum Wilson (six) has scored more goals for the Magpies than the Frenchman (five) this season and the ex-Bournemouth striker is currently sidelined through injury. The club’s next top scorer is Jonjo Shelvey with just two Premier League strikes and this suggests that losing Saint-Maximin would be a major blow to the side’s chances of scoring.

Not only is he a goal threat himself but he is also the chief creator. His tally of three assists in the top-flight is more than any other player in the squad has managed and his 4.6 dribbles per game place him 3.2 clear of any other in the team, highlighting how impressive he has been in comparison to his teammates.

This shows that Howe would be missing out on a player with a huge attacking threat and someone who can counter quickly with the ball at his feet. Saint-Maximin’s exciting ability to take the ball past defenders on the dribble opens up so much space for himself and others and they would sorely miss that if he is unable to play today.

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Therefore, the news that it will be a “late call” over his fitness is worrying for the supporters as it suggests that he could miss out on the XI and his talent in the final third will not be on show against Thomas Frank’s side. They may also be concerned that he could end up playing through pain and causing more damage, although Howe will surely not want to risk losing him for an extended period of time.

AND in other news, Howe could unearth Coloccini 2.0 in “commanding” NUFC tank, he’s “captain” material…

In a season where New Zealand’s bowlers kept dropping like flies, Jacob Duffy emerged as the leader of the pace pack. During the T20I series against West Indies, Mitchell Santner, the white-ball captain, called Duffy the leader of the attack along with Matt Henry in the shortest format. In the absence of Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke, Duffy stepped up as the spearhead once again, this time in the longest format to lead New Zealand to a 2-0 series win against West Indies in Mount Maunganui.Duffy is usually known for his swing and accuracy, but on a day-five Bay Oval pitch he showed that he could also hit the deck and hit it hard, like Neil Wagner used to do back in the day. He generated vicious bounce off a length and made West Indies’ batters, who had pulled off an epic draw in Christchurch not too long ago, look like amateurs.”I’m just enjoying my career, I don’t know. I don’t look at things too holistically I guess,” Duffy said after bowling New Zealand to victory in Mount Maunganui. “It has been an awesome ride; it’s been testing with all the bowlers going down and obviously the workload is pretty high “But I guess the fact that Tommy [Tom Latham] keeps asking me to bowl the ball, I’d like to view that as a bit of a privilege. You just get to trust you to keep bowling and doing the good stuff, so that’s what I’m trying to do.”Duffy finished the three-match Test series against West Indies with 23 strikes at an average of 15.43, snatching the New Zealand record from Trent Boult for the most wickets over a single home series. It extended his tally to 81, surpassing Sir Richard Hadlee’s record for the most wickets in a calendar year for the Black Caps.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Duffy has had a long and winding journey to this summit. Hailing from Southland, a region that isn’t necessarily known for producing sporting icons, Duffy made his T20 debut for Otago when he was 17. But he had to wait until he was 26 to make his international debut for New Zealand. On his T20I debut, he bagged 4 for 33 against Pakistan, but had to wait until he was 31 to play Test cricket for New Zealand. In four Tests, he has displayed the traits to lead this attack in the post-Southee-and-Boult era.”I guess that’s probably the Southland kid in me,” Duffy said. “I think you grow up down there and even playing for Otago seems ridiculous when you’re growing up. To come on to the international stage and I guess start to feel like you belong, that’s really cool.”I guess it was probably out here last year, this time of year against Sri Lanka, I guess I started putting in some match-winning, match-changing spells and stuff in 2020 and you start to feel like you belong internationally. It’s a really cool feeling, it gives you that trust and belief in yourself and you know you’re worth it.”Related

• Jacob Duffy makes big impact at small Eden Park

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• 'Series by series' – Williamson on his international future

Duffy’s international success has now landed him an IPL deal as well. In the recent IPL mini-auction last week, he was picked by defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for INR 2 crore as a potential replacement for Josh Hazlewood, who is currently injured.”I think it’s always going to be a surprise isn’t it, you see your name on that weird auction screen, that was an interesting experience but yeah, like I said it was a very weird experience,” Duffy said. “It was quite cool, still a surprise, you just never know what’s going to happen.”It’s such an odd experience but pretty cool and we’ve got a big series in India before that and then into the [T20] World Cup and then there’s a lot of time in India coming up, it’s an amazing place so I’m looking forward to all of it.”Before that, Duffy will enjoy Christmas with his wife’s family in Te Anau and with his mother in Cromwell in Central Otago.The emergence of Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes and Matthew Fisher has provided more depth to New Zealand•Zimbabwe Cricket

The New Year then brings new opportunities for Duffy. Apart from the India tour and IPL gig, he could be among the frontrunners to be picked in the attack for marquee Test tours of England and Australia.”It’s amazing, there’s Test cricket [against] India at home as well, that’s a huge series,” Duffy said. “It’s exciting for the group and definitely I’ve done two-and-a-half England tours now where I’ve not played, so to go over there and potentially maybe do that and Aussie away too – those are the pinnacles I think. Those are the highlights of your career potentially, especially in the red-ball scene.”Duffy is also particularly enthused about the growth of Zak Foulkes. Though Foulkes went wicketkless in Mount Maunganui, he showed how good he can become with his ability to swing the ball both ways. He also earned an IPL deal, with Stephen Fleming’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) picking him for INR 75 lakh. Duffy sees Foulkes as a player with a high ceiling.”He’s awesome,” Duffy said of Foulkes. “I think we’ve all forgotten, what is he 22-23? I think we’ve all forgotten that. I certainly couldn’t be doing what he’s doing at 23 so just the load on itself is pretty crazy and his skills obviously through the roof. He’ll be better for it, to know what your body can go through.”I guess I’ve been lucky, I’ve had those experiences at domestic level for Otago for a lot of years but I’ve relied on him a lot so I guess it can only be good for him going forward but he’s a special talent and he’s got another 15 years of it, so he’s got a lot of time to learn about him.”While Kane Williamson’s future remains uncertain, Duffy and Foulkes promise a bright future for the Black Caps attack.

Matt Berriman, a former Australia Under-17s player, has won the right to pursue a personal injuries claim against Cricket Australia. AAP reported that a Victorian Supreme Court judge ruled the statute of limitations be extended to allow Berriman to take action over a shoulder injury.The court heard that Berriman, 23, suffered a dislocated right shoulder during a water polo game at the Academy in Adelaide in April 2001, when he was 17. Berriman claims Cricket Australia should not have allowed him to take part in the game because he had already had a shoulder problem in 1999 as a result of playing soccer.Berriman claims as a result of the injury he quit his job and had a limited ability to perform everyday activities such as showering and working on a computer. The application was granted by Justice Jack Forrest, who ruled that the statute of limitations should be extended because Berriman only became aware through a doctor’s report this year that the 2001 injury had caused his current disability.Cricket Australia argued that their defence had been prejudiced by the delay in initiating proceedings, but Justice Forrest said he did not believe it would cause significant prejudice.

Shaun Tait: ‘I’ve always wanted to be labelled as a fast, feared bowler’ © Getty Images

Shaun Tait wasted no time after being picked in a 13-man Test squad to outline his plans for the future – he is desperate to become Australia’s fastest bowler. While Brett Lee currently holds the place, Tait, who reached 153kph during the Prime Minister’s XI game last Friday, wants to continue to accelerate.”I’d like to be labelled the fastest bowler in the country at some point in my career,” Tait said in The Australian. “I’ve always wanted to be labelled as a fast, feared bowler, but as you get older you realise you’re never going to be a permanent member of the Australian team just by bowling fast. You have to bowl in the right areas and take wickets.”Tait is jostling with Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark for the third bowling spot in the first Test at the Gabba on Thursday and the other two bowlers were also celebrating their selection. Johnson said he would use Brett Lee, who became a father for the first time on Thursday, as a mentor during the week as he aimed to make his debut on his home ground.”Brett has been there for me, I’m learning about him and I’m learning about myself as well,” Johnson said in The Courier-Mail. “When we are in the nets I feel very comfortable going up to him if I’m finding it hard.”If he’s working on something it will make me work harder as well.” On a day of family announcements as well as team news, Johnson also showed off his new girlfriend, the Australian karate representative Jessica Bratich.In Sydney Stuart Clark, the line-and-length option compared to his two speed rivals, said he was not sure what was going to happen over the next week as the trio pushes to partner McGrath, Lee, Warne and Watson. “Someone is going to have to miss out and hopefully it’s not me,” he said in the Sydney Morning Herald.”Maybe it is [a shoot-out], maybe it isn’t. I’m assuming they’ll look at the wicket and then they’ll look at what sort of attack they want to go with and maybe that will have something to do with it as well. I’m a chance to play but the other guys are as well.”Ricky Ponting said he was looking forward to facing the bowlers in the nets to see how they were going and he expected the final decision to be a close call. “We’ve got a reasonable amount of time in the lead-up so I and the rest of the batsmen will have a really good chance to get a look at those guys and see what they’ve got to offer,” he said. “I guess we can have a look at the conditions up there as well and see what they might have to offer. There might be something in that wicket that might suit one of the bowlers more than the others.”

Dipak Patel is the new U-19 coach © Getty Images

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has appointed former New Zealand player and first-class coach Dipak Patel as New Zealand Under-19 coach. The position is until the end of the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in February 2006.Announcing Patel’s appointment, Gary Stead, NZC High Performance Centre coach, said: “We are very pleased to be able to appoint Dipak to this position. He has had a distinguished career as a first-class and international player and more recently a successful coaching career across many levels including coaching the State Central Stags at first-class level”.The build up prior to the World Cup will see Patel being involved in junior academy and academy programmes, attendance at the national Under-19 tournament and a week’s intensive build up at High Performance Centre prior to attending the tournament in Sri Lanka.

The dispute between the West Indian players and the board appeared to be closer to being resolved after the 16 players who had been dropped were allowed to attend a three-week training camp in Barbados starting on November 30.The breakthrough came after seven hours of talks chaired by Dr Keith Mitchell, Grenada’s prime minister. They ended with both parties agreeing to submit briefs by next Friday which will enable an independent adjudicator to be appointed to try to find a solution."I feel heartened that after this long and difficult process we have an understanding on the way forward and it appears now that the tour to Australia may not be jeopardised by the grievance," Mitchell told The Nation newspaper. "Clearly there needs to be a much closer working relationship between the board and the players’ representatives. That is a major deficiency and the prime ministerial sub-committee plans to meet very soon and will be involving all the parties to look at a fundamental process for the way forward for the development of West Indies cricket."Dinanath Ramnarine, representing the players, welcomed developments. "We have always indicated we were interested in continuing our dialogue with the process of reaching an agreement," he said. "We are happy that this process will continue and we are looking forward to it."The dispute escalated in the last fortnight, culminating in the board dropping 16 players after they refused to sign a controversial contract which prevented them from promoting any company which was a rival of Digicel, a telecommunications company which had signed a US$20 million deal with the West Indian board. Many players had earlier signed individual deals with Cable & Wireless, a rival company. The board wanted the players to terminate those contracts without compensation, which the players refused to do, leading to the standoff. The dispute threatened to jeopardise West Indies’ participation in the VB Series, with Cricket Australia insisting on a full-strength line-up for the tournament.

England’s new recruit, Ed Smith, has credited his excellent form this season to Australia’s captain, Steve Waugh, who played for Kent for the last six weeks of the 2002 season.”I think watching Steve Waugh from the other end last season definitely helped me,” said Smith. “We batted together. He was out of nick until the last innings when he scored a hundred – which led to him having an amazing spell back in Australian domestic cricket. But what he taught me, through me watching rather than listening to him, was bringing a positive mental attitude to every ball.””I scored a hundred in each innings against Nottinghamshire at Maidstone recently," said Smith. “The test for me was going out after the first one and finding that extra bit of hunger to get the second. The important thing for me is keeping that hunger. I have been mad at myself for not having made my case more strongly in the past, and a little bit of that anger is now manifesting itself.””This season I have been batting with those five years of frustration in me," added Smith. "I know I could have been better, freer, more positive." He was certainly a carefree strokemaker in his early days, as demonstrated by a century on his first-class debut for Cambridge against Glamorgan. But eventually, being asked to open the innings took its toll on Smith’s approach. "I found the demands of opening the batting curbed my natural inclination to hit the ball and I was more inhibited in my strokeplay.”In 2000 Smith moved down the order to No. 3, and has profited from some minor adjustments to his game. “I have not started playing differently – even if perhaps I am now more prepared to play bigger shots, which is helping me to convert fifties into hundreds. Last summer I had a string of fifties. I was in great nick, but there were only two hundreds. But now I am definitely playing more freely.”

CraigSpearman Photo CricInfo

Gloucestershire have given their squad a major boost with the signing of New Zealand opening batsman Craig Spearman on a two-year contract.Spearman, 29, has played in 19 Tests and 51 one-day internationals. He will be able to play alongside Australian all-rounder Ian Harvey at Gloucestershire since he holds a British passport, courtesy of his Welsh mother.Gloucestershire have been chasing a proven top-order batsman for some while and they can thank a change in the eligibility rules for Spearman’s arrival in Bristol.Auckland-born Spearman, who has spent the past five years playing for Central Districts, explained: “I came to England in July with the intention of starting a career outside cricket.”I recently completed a degree in business studies and finance, but the events of September 11 have meant that the banking industry is a little gloomy at the moment.”I found out that the eligibility rules have changed for me to play cricket over here and I have qualified quite fortuitously.”The rules state that I must not have played international or first-class cricket in the 12 months before the English season starts next April and my last game was in March.”I told New Zealand officials earlier this year that I was going to the UK and not coming back. I wasn’t sure I would be playing any cricket, so this will be like starting my career over again.”One of the major reasons for Spearman’s arrival at Gloucestershire is the presence of John Bracewell, the county’s director of cricket and former New Zealand Test spinner.Spearman said: “When John finished playing, he started coaching in Auckland. I played in the 16, 18 and 20 age group sides under him and then I was part of the Auckland team when he took charge of that.”I know John quite well and I know his style and desire to succeed. I have a background of some experience and I’m looking forward to helping Gloucestershire.”Spearman has a first-class average of 36 and, in Test cricket, has scored 923 runs at just over 26 per innings. His one century came against Zimbabwe.Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne said: “We want Craig as an opener and he will fit in well with what we want to achieve. Anyone who has played 70 times for their country will bring with him a wealth of experience.”He is pretty much in our mould. He hits the ball well and is not scared to get on with it when needs be.”