Darrell Hair will stand in his first official match since his employment tribunal against the ICC ended when he umpires the UAE-Kenya Intercontinental Cup match in Sharjah, starting on January 18.Hair withdrew his claim for racial discrimination against the ICC – in relation to The Oval Test forfeiture involving England and Pakistan in August 2006 – during early October, shortly after the trial entered its second week in London.At the time Malcolm Speed said Hair’s immediate future would revolve around the lower-level matches, before a decision would be taken on his long-term future. “For the next six months he will umpire matches at Associate level. I can’t speculate as to whether he will return to umpiring Full-Member matches or not,” said Speed.Following the four-day match in Sharjah, Hair will stand in a one-day international, at the same venue, between UAE and Kenya before another Intercontinental Cup match involving UAE and Namibia, again at Sharjah, starting on January 23.

Mohammad Asif’s rehabilitation from elbow injury could rule him out for another three months, which means he may face a race against time to be ready for the home series against Australia in March.Asif missed four ODIs out of five against South Africa in October and also the entire tour to India because of his right elbow. The problem is a long-standing one, having forced him to miss three Tests last year against England as well.He has just undergone successful keyhole surgery on the elbow in Sydney, Australia. The surgery was carried out by a prominent specialist on Monday. “The initial reports are that it was not a major operation and it has been successful,” Shafqat Naghmi, Chief Operating Officer of the PCB, told .”But Asif’s recovery could take up to three months before he resumes playing,” Naghmi said. A specialist will soon determine how long the full rehabilitation period will be.”We fear he would require a three-month rest, which means he is certainly out of next month’s home series against Zimbabwe,” he stated.Naghmi also said that Asif might then face a race against time to be completely fit for the home series against Australia, tentatively scheduled to begin from March 9.

Sri Lanka have banked on pace for the CB Series in Australia after naming six fast bowlers in their 15-man squad for next month’s tournament which also features India.Chaminda Vaas, with 387 one-day wickets, heads the pack which also includes Lasith Malinga, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekera, Chanaka Welegedara and Ishara Amerasinghe.Left-armer Welegedara made his Test debut in the recent England series and has taken the place of Dilhara Fernando who is recuperating after undergoing an ankle operation. By naming six quicks the Sri Lankan selectors have only one genuine spinner in the squad – Muttiah Muralitharan.During Sri Lanka’s last triangular tournament in Australia, the 2005-06 VB Series, legspinner Malinga Bandara played a pivotal role supporting Muralitharan. He ended up as the second highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps and helped Sri Lanka finish runner-up to Australia, losing the best of three finals 2-1.”Bandara was not considered because he played all his matches of the 2005-06 tournament only as a super-sub. He was actually not part of the final XI,” a selection committee sourcerevealed. “If Sri Lanka need more spin options they have Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dilruwan Perera, who both bowl off-breaks.”Bandara’s place has gone to the Amerasinghe who, like Perera, has appeared in only one ODI. Perera will also play the role of third opener alongside Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga.Selection sources also said that Dilshan was picked as a middle-order batsman and will not open despite scoring heavily in the domestic limited-overs tournament from that position.Chamara Kapugedera earns a recall while Kumar Sangakkara will resume wicketkeeping duties after playing as a specialist batsman in recent Tests against Australia and England.Sri Lanka leave for Australia on January 24 and play two warm-up games against a Prime Minister’s XI at the Manuka Oval on January 30 and against Tasmania in Hobart on February 2. They then meet India in their opening match of the CB Series in Brisbane on February 5.Sri Lanka squad
Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Dilruwan Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Chanaka Welegedara, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Farveez Maharoof, Ishara Amerasinghe.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) took a huge step forward on Thursday with the naming of the eight city franchises and their owners, a mix of the biggest names in business and Bollywood. The auction to pick the owners fetched the IPL – which is backed by the Indian board – US$723.59 million, almost double the combined base price of US$400 million. Mumbai was the most expensive team, costing over US$111.9 million.The franchisees come from several areas previously unconnected with cricket, testifying to the sport’s growing profile as a blue-chip investment in India. Among the successful bidders were Bollywood’s top stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta, a Hyderabad-based newspaper group, a UK-based media rights company and the regular big players, Reliance Industries – owned by Mukesh Ambani, the richest Indian, and Vijay Mallya, who also owns a Formula 1 team. The failed bidders included Deutsche Bank and construction major DLF, and among those disqualified was ICICI Ventures.”We can say that all the hard work fructified and the IPL is here to stay,” the IPL chairman and commissioner, Lalit Modi, said. The league, which has the ICC’s sanction, sees the teams play on a home-and-away basis and is due to begin on April 18.A large part of the IPL’s success will depend on its entertainment value as much as its sporting value and Modi, in his interaction, harped on how Bollywood and cricket are the two biggest box-office draws in India. The involvement of Khan, Zinta and Juhi Chawla – Khan’s partner in the Kolkata franchise – takes care of the glamour quotient; Zinta’s presence alone at the BCCI office in Mumbai saw a larger-than-usual media turnout.Khan said he would take expert help before putting together a winning combination. “I have already decided on the entertainment part but we have not decided on the core and content of the team,” he told the news channel CNN-IBN. “We want to put together a winning combination … [but] I hope [Sourav] Ganguly leads my team.”The sporting element was established last month, when the IPL unveiled its roster of more than 70 international cricketers. They included some of the biggest names in current limited-overs cricket, and some from the recent past: Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Kumar Sangakkara and Graeme Smith. The affiliation of these players, and the Indian players involved, will be decided by a draft pick; it was originally slated for February 7 but will be finalised after consultation with the franchisees.However, four top Indian players – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh – will not be included in the auction but will play for their home teams, to ensure maximum support.The next step is for the IPL to be marketed, and Modi spoke of a multi-million-dollar campaign, with US$15 million coming from the media deal with the Sony Entertainment Television-World Sports Group combine and the IPL chipping in as well.The one sour note was struck when Modi was asked whether there was a conflict of interests in India Cements, of which BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan is vice-chairman and managing director, becoming a team owner. “Mr Srinivasan is just a stakeholder there, he is not the owner,” Modi said. “So there is no conflict of interests.”

Scorecard

VRV Singh’s five-wicket burst put North Zone in control on the second day of their match against East Zone in Rajkot. East were skittled out for 143, to give North a massive 213-run first-innings lead and put them on the brink of a place in the final.Resuming at 260 for 7, North’s lower-order continued their spirited showing to take their side to 360. Chetanya Nanda did the bulk of the scoring, carting nine boundaries in his 59-ball 58. After Shib Paul dismissed overnight batsman Uday Kaul (48) to grab his 15th first-class five-wicket haul, Vikramjeet Malik (13) and VRV (20*) chipped in with aggressive cameos.East’s reply started off belligerently and despite the early loss of Arindam Majumdar and Anustup Majumdar, the run-rate continued to hover around the six an over mark. VRV, who had inflicted the first two blows, removed the experienced Shiv Sunder Das (23), and Manish Vardhan off successive deliveries to reduce East to 69 for 4.VRV, who was part of the Indian squad to the Australia tour, was still not done though, removing wicketkeeper Halhadar Das four overs later to leave East in serious trouble at 93 for 5. Wriddhiman Saha was the only batsman to stand firm against the onslaught, remaining unbeaten on 56. The next highest contributor was extras with 25, including 17 no-balls.With East’s prospects of making the finals looking bleak, North piled on the agony in their second innings with Aakash Chopra’s unbeaten 56 taking them through to 109 for 2 at stumps, an overall lead of 326.

The Economic and Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has found that former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya misappropriated funds to the tune of Rs 2.9 crore during the 1996 World Cup that was jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The chargesheet will be filed in a Mumbai sessions court on March 26.”Till now, we have ascertained that there was cheating of over Rs 2,90,00,000 and we will be filing a chargesheet against Dalmiya and two others on Wednesday,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria told reporters.After investigations, the EOW accused Dalmiya of diverting funds from a bank account in Kolkata that was originally set up for paying legal fees towards various other expenses.Dalmiya however dismissed the development as another ploy by the BCCI to unsettle him ahead of the upcoming Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) elections, which he is contesting.”It’s an offshoot of the old game plan of my adversaries,” Dalmiya said. “Whenever something happens in cricket politics, they resort to such actions to settle scores with me. But, again, I don’t want to comment on speculative matters,” he told reporters in Kolkata.”I have not received any copy of the alleged chargesheet . However I’ll revert to [the] media if a charge sheet is filed and a copy of it is served to me”.The annual CAB elections will be held in the last week of July and the Dalmiya camp is threatening to come back into the reckoning against Prasun Mukherjee, the current CAB president and BCCI point man.The Kolkata High Court had stayed the order and allowed the Dalmiya to contest the elections of both CAB and the BCCI following FIR filed by the BCCI for misappropriation of funds, forgery and cheating in March 2006. Dalmiya had responded by filing a case of perjury against the Board officials.

Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand allrounder, says the ICC needs to step in soon before players from countries like New Zealand and West Indies opt en masse for the lucrative contracts in the the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) over the contracts with their home boards.New Zealand are already reeling from the impact of the exodus, with players like Craig McMillan, Shane Bond and Lou Vincent joining Cairns, who had already retired from international cricket, in the ICL. Presently, a player joining the ICL is potentially banned from playing for his country, and also first-class cricket.”New Zealand is going to be susceptible to that because of our pay structure,” Cairns told Bigstarcricket.com. “If there was a 10% discrepancy or even 20% discrepancy between what you could earn playing over in India against your yearly wage [in New Zealand] then players would consider staying,” he said. “But when you are talking a 200% difference, no person in their right mind could turn that down – that’s the reality.”Cairns has called upon the ICC to create a window for the ICL and the IPL, besides revoking the bans on players joining the ICL. “The ICC are going to have to fix this – it is not a New Zealand Cricket issue, it’s an ICC issue. I just hope that they create a window for players to be able to do it [play ICL and not be banned] – ICL and IPL,” Cairns said. “West Indies will have this problem too, any country in fact where players are not that well remunerated.”You have Australia, India and England earning well but even then how long can someone like Kevin Pietersen turn down £600,000 for 40 days’ work? These are the dilemmas that are going to start to happen, though we might not see it for a year’s time until everybody comes off contract with their national boards.”New Zealand Cricket had recently announced a pay rise for its contracted players in a bid to prevent more players from being lured by the hefty sums waiting to be earned in India.

John Dyson, the West Indies coach, believes a record-breaking chase of 437 is possible for the hosts as they dream of a 1-0 lead in the series with Sri Lanka. West Indies chopped 96 from the target for the loss of Devon Smith as Dwayne Bravo, the stand-in opener, and Ramnaresh Sarwan combined for a 74-run stand.”We will wait and see what happens [on the final morning] and see how things pan out,” Dyson said. “History says that it is possible to get a total like that and it has been done in the West Indies before so you never put that totally out of the question. I think all teams these days look to win wherever possible and if the opportunity to win comes along then we will look to take it.”Chris Gayle, the captain, dropped to No. 4 so he could employ the attacking instincts of Bravo and the move has been a success so far. “Chris felt that it was a good chance to have a change in this innings,” Dyson said. “He feels that Bravo is a very positive player and also having a left-hand, right-hand opening combination in this innings was something we were thinking about.”Dyson was impressed with the returns of Bravo, who was 46, and Sarwan (34). “They handled the last session very, very well,” he said. The coach said the surface remained a “batsman’s paradise” although the Sri Lankans believe it is tricky for run-scoring.Another strong performance came from the left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, who picked up 3 for 59 before Sri Lanka declared at 240 for 7. “I thought he bowled very, very well for his first Test,” Dyson said. “He came in, maintained a good line, a good length, he didn’t give away very many easy runs at all, and I was really pleased.”I felt sorry for him that he didn’t take a wicket in the first innings, although there was one opportunity missed form his bowling. I was pleased that he has come out there again and bowled pretty well.”

Match facts

Monday, April 28, 2008
Start time 20:00 local, 14:30 GMT

The Big Picture

Overwhelmed by Rajasthan Royals over the weekend, the Bangalore Royal Challengers host the Chennai Super Kings at home in a match perhaps most significant for a shifting of guard. For Chennai, Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey leave on May 1 while Jacob Oram catches a flight on April 30, which means it will be the last the fans see of the trio. Both Hayden and Hussey have scored valuable runs and Oram was Man of the Match against Kolkata. Table-toppers Chennai will surely miss them and it’s hard not to imagine them wanting to sign off in style. Bangalore have struggled to defend and chase totals at home, and their team composition needs serious addressing. Their best bets would be to bring in Misbah-ul-Haq and Dale Steyn, arguably their best players. While Chennai prepare to lose three stars, Bangalore need to embrace two.

Watch out for …

… final hurrahs from the aforementioned Chennai stars. The short boundaries at the Chinnaswamy Stadium will entice Hayden, and Hussey has been a bit quiet since his manic hundred against Mohali; if Oram gets promoted in his last game, well then …; and don’t forget Misbah and Steyn, if they play.

Team news

Misbah didn’t feature on Saturday – surprisingly – but he should slot in this time for Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The longer Bangalore keep him on the bench, the harder they’ll find it to win games. He’s a bona fide Twenty20 star and Bangalore seriously need some power in the batting. Ross Taylor departs on May 1, and given his hard-hitting capabilities, he should get as much playing time as possible, perhaps even open the innings. Steyn’s pace and his ability to swing the ball gives the side plenty of firepower with the ball. He reportedly touched the 150kph mark in the Standard Bank Pro20 final and should play given his form. It may sound harsh, but dropping Jacques Kallis for him seems the best option. Kallis has failed to click in three games; his bowling especially has been pedestrian. Bangalore have persisted with 37-year-old Sunil Joshi but three games and no wickets isn’t encouraging. Charu Sharma, the team’s chief executive, had to field some questions on the logic of fielding Joshi and Kumble after the latest loss, so a change isn’t entirely improbable. There are plenty of local players to pick from.Bangalore (probable) 1 Ross Taylor, 2 Rahul Dravid (capt), 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Praveen Kumar, 8 B Akhil, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 R Vinay Kumar.Chennai are unlikely to change their final XI after a convincing win over Kolkata Knight Riders. The South African duo of Albie Morkel and Makhaya Ntini has joined the squad but both will have to wait for Hussey and Hayden to go before slotting in. The two young pace bowlers, Manpreet Gony and Palani Amarnath, have improved with each game.Chennai: (probable) 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Michael Hussey, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Jacob Oram, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 S Badrinath, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Palani Amarnath, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

United Bank Limited sealed their place in the final of the President’s Trophy with a 169-run win over Port Qasim Authority in Karachi. Though they were chasing the game during the first half of the Test, a substantial second-innings total courtesy Abid Ali’s century and a stellar bowling effort led by captain Atif Maqbool, who took eleven wickets for the match, took United Bank to title contention.Mohammad Sami’s four wickets limited United Bank to 232 and Port Qasim were able to build on their bowers’ exploits largely thanks to a belligerent 140 from captain Khalid Latif. He arrived with the score at 153 for 5 and his 116-ball effort was vital to the side securing a 98-run lead. Maqbool, the offspinner, was the star bowler for United Bank, claiming 6 for 102, but his opposite number snared the limelight, biffing 12 sixes and nine fours.United Bank, who had ended a 15-year hiatus from top-grade first-class cricket in 2011, were able to overhaul the lead they conceded and set up a formidable fourth-innings target of 290 through Abid’s 128, his ninth first-class ton. He paced his innings quite well and ensured he wasn’t bogged down by striking 18 fours. With a little help from Mohammad Zohaib (61) and No. 9 Kashif Bhatti (64), United Bank were able to put up a much better effort second time around. Azam Hussain was the pick of the bowlers with 7 for 102.Port Qasim’s chase stuttered even as it began with the fall of four early wickets. Asim Kamal’s half-century was only one of three double-figure scores in the innings as Maqbool proved troublesome once again, ending up with 5 for 39 and sealing United Bank’s victory to help the four-time Quad-e-Azam champions bid for their first President’s Trophy title.Misbah-ul-Haq and Imran Khalid were the architects of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited‘s progress into the final with a victory over Water and Power Development Authority by 98 runs.Invited to bat, SNGPL were dented early and were propped up only by Misbah’s battling century. The next best score was 18 as Azhar Attari claimed five wickets for the third time in his first-class career. Misbah faced more than twice as many balls as any of his team-mates, striking seven sixes and eight fours.Though only 187 was needed to claim a first-innings lead, WAPDA’s batting struggled right from the start. Having lost their first wicket with no score on the board, they were shaken by regular jolts largely courtesy left-arm spinner Khalid, who ended up with 5 for 31. A slew of starts were wasted by the WAPDA batsmen resulting in them being dismissed for 137.With a lead of 49, SNGPL went for the kill. After opener Taufeeq Umar fell for a 66-ball 65, Umar Akmal was promoted to No.3 and skinned 77 off only 37 balls. WAPDA were set 272 for victory but they fell well short as again none of their batsmen could post more than 38. Khalid snared four wickets in the second innings as well.Kamran Akmal had an immensely profitable outing as his 162 runs and seven dismissals in the match ushered National Bank of Pakistan to a 112-run victory over Habib Bank Limited in Islamabad.Invited to bat, National Bank suffered a trend of batsmen failing to capitalise on their starts. Akmal, coming at No.6 broke the trend with a rapid century. His skill at finding the boundary was apparent as he mauled 94 of his 106 runs through fours (19) and sixes (3). Fifties from Nasir Jamshed and Fawad Alam had set the platform for his explosion as National Bank declared their innings on 325.Offspinner Adnan Rasool raked through the Habib Bank middle and lower order to claim his 10th five-wicket haul, which proved instrumental in bundling Habib Bank out for 178. Imran Farhat, the captain, led the resistance with brother Humayun chipping in but the lack of substantial partnerships and big scores meant National Bank gained a lead of 147.Akmal pressed the advantage further with an aggressive half-century in the second innings and his team-mates followed suit. Wahab Riaz was promoted to No.4 and smashed five fours and two sixes in a 17-ball 40 that powered National Bank to 181 in 22.2 overs, when they declared to set up a target of 329.The chase began well as the openers put up Habib Bank’s first fifty-partnership of the match. Bilal Shafayat and Imran Farhat posted useful half-centuries but neither batsman could convert. With the score on 171, Farhat was the fifth batsman to fall and Habib Bank lost a further three wickets with the score on 204 to be eight down. Ahmed Jamal picked up the final two in the 77th over to complete his five-for as victory was sealed.Sharjeel Khan slammed a mammoth 279, his highest first-class score but Pakistan Television held Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited to a draw, after the first day’s play was abandoned, in Rawalpindi.PTV were routed for 212 in the first innings, having been put in. It did not look likely, with Akbar Badshah and Mohammad Sami putting on 74 for the fourth wicket. The score was still a reasonably healthy 157 for 4, but the last six wickets posed very little threat as Sajjad Hussain and Imran Khan claimed four wickets each.ZTBL’s batting effort was dominated by Sharjeel as he went at nearly a run-a-ball, slamming an astonishing 40 fours and five sixes. The rest of the top-order, though, could contribute only 24 runs to the total and ZTBL were in considerable trouble at 61 for 5. But that was when Sharjeel took control. He added 66 runs with Luqman Butt and a further 214 with the keeper Shakeel Ansar, who struck his fourth first-class fifty.PTV would not be scuttled out again as Sami went on to make his second first-class ton, with 12 fours and two sixes, and enjoyed good support from Zohaib Ahmed who struck 81 as they reached 290 for 5 at the end of the fourth day.