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Andy Bichel will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his troublesome right shoulder, but he intends to play on for Queensland next summer. Bichel hurt his shoulder throwing a ball while fielding during a club match at the start of the season and he has been limited to two Pura Cup matches with little impact.”It got to a point that while I could bowl, I couldn’t bowl to the level I was happy with and I was going to be hampered with my throwing for the rest of the season, and probably my career, if I decided to push on without the operation,” Bichel said. “I realise that some people might wonder whether this will be it for me but I’m firmly committed to playing again for Queensland.”Bichel, 37, had surgery in Brisbane on Friday under the same orthopaedic surgeon who performed similar operations on Adam Dale and Michael Kasprowicz. He said: “Kasper always used to joke that his shoulder operation was the equivalent of a 50,000-delivery service, so I guess this is my 100,000-ball service.”Although his output has been hampered this summer Bichel was the second leading wicket-taker in the Pura Cup last season with 45 at 24.66. He also had a productive county campaign with Essex this year, taking 41 wickets at 20.53 and scoring two centuries.

The USA Cricket Association elections are on hold, although this does not appear to have been conveyed to those involved in the process.Chris Dehring, the independent third party appointed by the ICC to try to find a resolution to the ongoing struggle for control of the USACA, managed to get a new constitution approved but the elections that were meant to follow within 30 days have already become embroiled in controversy.It is believed that Dehring will appoint an external independent auditor to oversee the elections and this means that they not take place until March at the earliest.Since the announcement of the yes vote for the new constitution, the USACA has yet again not uttered a word in public. Some regions have held their elections while others appear to be uncertain how to proceed.New York Region and Central West have already announced their regional board and their representatives to USACA.

Five Continents took a step closer to reaching the semi-finals of the Open League at the weekend with a seven wicket win against Ljubljana CC at Markommannenstrasse on Saturday, their win putting them ahead 14 points ahead of United Nations CC, who have a game in hand over them, and whom they must play in August, which looks like being the crunch fixture in deciding who will take the fourth qualifying spot. An FCCC victory in the fixture would also close the door on United Nations’ bid for a semi-final berth. Five Continents are currently in good form, with Sunil Kauschal also scoring a century in a friendly match, and the team having knocked Vienna CC out of the ACA Trophy.Lords CC recovered from their shock defeat at the hands of Ljubljana CC in Valburga to register a commanding 140 run win over Pakistan CC, with half centuries by Ashwani Sharma and Deepak Sharma, as well as 40s from Wasif Mohammed and Ajay Grover and a massive 69 extras seeing them post 319 for 9 – believed to be an Open League record for matches at Markommannenstrasse. Pakistan in reply fell well short of the required target, with Ali Zulfiqar, 47, the highest scorer, with Wasif Mohammed taking four wickets.The thriller of the weekend was between Ljubljana CC and Pakistan Falken CC, on Sunday at Seebarn. Ljubljana batted first and reached 293-7 thanks to a century by Mark Oman (105*) – the first for Ljubljana CC, ably supported by Dan Ryan (40) and Tom Furness (32). With Sameer Chopra (Bobby) on great form, and with a glorious innings of 129, for a while things looked as though Pakistan Falken CC might have been on target for a stunning victory, although once Bobby fell, Ljubljana were able to clean up the PFCC tail, to record a victory by 68 runs, with Mark Oman taking three wickets to become the second Ljubljana CC player to take 100 wickets for the club and to claim 13 points lifting them up the league table.Pakistan CC has already cancelled its trip to Velden for a fixture against Ljubljana CC and a friendly against Salzburg CC, the latter replacing league opponents Zagreb CC, who had in turn announced that they would not be able to field a team against Pakistan CC. The big match of the forthcoming weekend will be Lords CC against Vienna CC, with a win for either side essential if they want to have any hope of overtaking Concordia CC in the league table.

Day 1 Close India A 275 for 3 (Das 125) v DurhamIndia A ended the first day of their four-day match against Durham at Chester-le-Street on 275 for 3, thanks to a century from Shiv Sunder Das and some substandard bowling from Durham’s depleted attack.The crowd was barely sufficient to constitute a quorum, and the closest they got to seeing a big-name player was when Durham’s new signing Shoaib Akhtar was introduced to them at tea-time. Durham chose to rest several front-line players, and it was decision they were left to rue as India A made largely untroubled progress.Das was in superb form, driving and cutting with ease, and with Wasim Jaffer (43) put on 122 for the first wicket. Das then added 80 for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir, the only batsman in the top five without Test experience. Gambhir played some exquisite leg-side strokes in making 35.Das’s confidence only wobbled briefly when he survived a good shout for leg-before from Mark Davies on 96. Durham’s hopes of pressurising Das while he was in the nervous nineties were dashed when they gifted him his hundred with a careless overthrow.Das chanced his arm after passing three figures, eventually falling for 125 to a slip catch from Vince Wells off Ian Hunter (212 for 3), but Hemang Badhani (43*) and Parthiv Patel (21*) put on an unbroken of 63 in almost two hours to ensure that India A ended the day in a commanding position.

Saleem Malik, the former Pakistan captain, believes that he was made a scapegoat in the match-fixing scandal, which ruined his career.Malik, currently in Mumbai for fund-raising purposes, went on to name a few cricketers who had been cleared in the match-fixing affair. An ANI report quoted him as saying, “Ata-ur Rehman’s ban is off. Herschelle Gibbs and Shane Warne are still playing, but I am stuck. Other Pakistani players whose names appeared in the investigations were fined and let off. Only I was punished. I guess they wanted a scapegoat, and who better than me? In India, the board thought Azharuddin would be the ideal person to ban because he was nearing the end of his career, and here in Pakistan I was coming towards the end of my career. So, Azhar and I were made the scapegoats.”Malik felt that players from the subcontinent were at the receiving end of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit. “England lost to Zimbabwe in the early 90s. West Indies were bowled out for 54 against England recently. But no one ever says those matches were fixed. The ICC continues to scrutinise only games where teams from the subcontinent are involved.”Accusing the ICC of bias, he said, “It’s because of the colour of our skin. If we were white, there wouldn’t be so much scrutiny. Shane Warne is still playing, as is Herschelle Gibbs.”When asked about his appeal to the Supreme Court to lift the life-ban imposed by the Justice Malik Qayyum committee, Malik said, “What can I say? The court is not willing to give any date for a hearing. To be honest I have given up all hope that I would ever be cleared of this allegation.”He spoke about his plight and fading hopes of detaching the stigma from his name. “As it is, what damage had to be done has been done to me and my family. I have suffered a lot … The matchfixing allegations completely destroyed me and I could not perform in the middle after that at all. In the middle of the 1999 World Cup I had to attend court hearings. It was humiliation of the worst kind. I was harassed, shot, slapped, slaughtered in public by my board, the ICC and also the media.”Malik also denied rumours about him wanting to migrate to some other country after being banned for life. “Where will I go from here? This is my country and this is the only place where they are people who still believe I am innocent and support me.”

The officials of the Pakistan board have been summoned on July 19 by the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, Culture and Women Affairs for another round of hearing. quoted Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, the chairman of the committee, as saying that Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, Rameez Raja, the chief executive, and the chief selector Wasim Bari have been asked to attend the meeting in Islamabad. “We will also be asking Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq to appear before the committee.”This meeting will be a follow up on the one held earlier this year, on May 29, when Shaharyar and Rameez were questioned on matters relating to the functioning of the PCB, and were also grilled for Pakistan’s defeat to India at home.At that time, Enver Baig – one of the senators of the committee – was quoted in as saying, “Shaharyar Khan has promised that in three months time constitutional amendments would be made. The [senate] committee also told him categorically that he will not bulldoze any amendments in the constitution and he will place all the intended amendments before a general body meeting and only implement and incorporate them if they are approved by the general body.”Baig had also expressed his disappointment over Rameez taking up commentary assignments, and occupying a senior position in a bank despite holding a full-time job with the board.This month’s meeting is being convened following a requisition made by senators Enver Baig, Sayed Murad Ali Shah and Dr Kauser Firdaus.

With only two days to go for the start of the first Test against Australia, at Bangalore, the Board of Control for Cricket in India seems to have wriggled out of the mess it had got itself into with regards to television rights. The BCCI has sold the television rights for the next two series to Doordarshan.A Times of India report claimed that Doordarshan will telecast the series while TEN Sports may produce the feed and Sony may market it. The deal apparently cost Doordarshan Rs100crore and includes four Tests against Australia, a one-dayer against Pakistan and two Tests against South Africa.This has not been confirmed by BCCI officials, but the report quotes SK Sarma, CEO of Prasar Bharati, the parent company of Doordarshan, as saying: “BCCI has agreed to give us exclusive telecast rights. We will show the matches on our television and sports channels.”If you thought this was finally the end of the saga, with two days for the start of the first Test, hold on a minute. Doordarshan will still go to court, but only to assert its position as the appropriate group to telecast the match in the current situation.

Sri Lanka’s top and middle-order batsmen may have scored the required runs to beat England in the third and final Test at Colombo, but that has not stopped the national selectors from continuing their search for middle-order batsmen and spin bowlers.The on-going TenSports provincial tournament is giving the selectors some food for thought. “This is a good concept and the cricket so far produced indicates that the tournament is coming almost to the top level as other countries,” Lalith Kaluperuma, chairman of selectors, said. “The tournament was begun to bridge the gap that exists between club and national team cricketers. It is more or less serving the purpose.”One of the positives to come out of the tournament is that it is giving the batsmen the opportunity to play long innings. Mahela Jayawardene, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya have all made big scores,” added Kaluperuma. “The batsmen have shown they have the stamina and fitness to play long innings in the middle.”The pitches are also very good and the bowlers are learning to bowl to a proper line and length or they have to pay the penalty.”So far there have been two weekends of cricket, and all four matches have produced a winning result, including a world-record run chase by Central Province against Southern Province. The fact that all these games have gone the distance indicates that the players are getting used to the four-day game, which will hold them in good stead at Test level.Kaluperuma has been following the progress of the Southern Province team, while his three colleagues in the selection committee are doing the same with the other four teams in the competition.Aravinda de Silva is responsible for Western Province, Ashley de Silva for North Central Province and Roger Wijesuriya for Central Province. Kaluperuma said that Uva Province is handled by its coach Champaka Ramanayake, who is a member of the junior selection committee: “After every match we get a feedback from the management of each team which includes the captain, coach and the manager.”Kaluperuma said that the selection committee was awaiting the arrival of John Dyson, the national coach, before deciding to pick the pool and the captains for the Test and one-day series against Australia next month. “It has to be a collective decision and John must be present before we arrive at any decision,” said Kaluperuma. Dyson, who succeeded Dav Whatmore as head coach, returned to Sydney for a short holiday at the end of the England series, which was his first assignment as coach. Sri Lanka beat England in the one-day and Test series1-0.

West Indies nearly upset the pre-tournament predictions with a brave rally at the weekend, but India scraped through by seven runs to give the organisers, broadcasters and spectators the final they wanted: a heavyweight sub-continental clash between Sri Lanka and India, a re-run of the Asia Cup final last year and the ICC Champions Trophy back in 2002.Once again, on the back of their good form in this tournament and remarkable record in one-day tournament finals on home turf (they have lost just two of the 13 finals played in Sri Lanka), Sri Lanka start as the favourites. And Rahul Dravid has been quick to seize the tag of underdogs for India, claiming that Marvan Atapattu’s team are the ones with all the pressure weighing down on their shoulders.”Sri Lanka are a dangerous side but this is a final and the pressure is obviously going to be on them,” Dravid told reporters in Colombo. “They are the form team of the tournament and they are going to be expected to win at home – hopefully we can have a good day and create some more pressure for them.”As far as pre-match hype goes, this is hardly in the Don King league. It is, of course, nonsense too. The fanaticism for cricket in India, fuelled by a population over 1 billion, means that every time their players step onto the field they are the ones under most pressure wherever and whoever they play. Sri Lanka’s cricket following is passionate but more laidback. A defeat is shrugged off easily and Sri Lanka’s players need not barricade their homes.In any case, this contest revolves around the toss and crucially the performance of the top orders, a problem area for both sides. Neither India nor Sri Lanka are yet to produce a really robust batting display. So far individual brilliance has papered over the failure to build consistent partnerships up top. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif rescued India against West Indies last night and Mahela Jayawardene excelled against India in Dambulla. Both camps have admitted to concerns.Greg Chappell repeated his “I am reasonably comfortable” theme for the tour: “The top order batting has been a concern but every game is a different game and Yuvraj [Singh] showed yesterday that there is no reason why good players cannot get runs out there. The guys at the top of the order are all keen to make runs and I am reasonably comfortable with where we are at the moment.”Marvan Atapattu, who will open with Sanath Jayasuriya after resting himself in the last game, has taken confidence from the fact that all the batsmen, barring Upul Tharanga who will be omitted, have starred in one game. But the failure to cobble together a cohesive performance remains a worry. “The fact that all of the batsmen have not clicked in one match is a bit of a concern. But all of our top-order batsmen are experienced enough to put up a better show and it has to happen tomorrow.”History tells us that 75% of the finals played at Premadasa International Stadium are won by the team batting first and whoever wins the flip of the coin tomorrow afternoon will immediately be in the driving seat. If their top-order then fires then the chasing side are faced with a mountainous challenge. The only caveat to the record book is West Indies near-success last night, one of the highest chases in the venue’s history, which will give the chasing team hope.India have been boosted by the news that Sourav Ganguly, their top scorer against Sri Lanka in Dambulla, did not fracture his arm after being hit by a nasty short ball from Daren Powell on Sunday night. “The X-rays revealed no structural damage,” Chappell told reporters, “and only some soft tissue damage so he should be fine.”India’s main selection dilemma will then be whether to include two spinners after Anil Kumble’s fine performance against West Indies (3 for 38). “Playing two spinners is definitely an option we have but we will need to take a closer look at the pitch,” Rahul Dravid told the media. If they don’t play then they are left with the even trickier task of choosing between Kumble and Harbhajan Singh – Kumble appears to have his nose in front.Sri Lanka, meanwhile, are set to welcome back senior left-armer Chaminda Vaas after injury. “Chaminda [Vaas] has had a couple of good net sessions and he is now 100 per cent fit,” Atapattu revealed. He could have played against West Indies on Saturday but the selectors preferred to wrap him in cotton wool and save him for the final, trusting him to deliver without a single game in the tournament thus far. Vaas was not anticipating any hiccups at training: “I have been playing so many matches and my mind is strong enough for me to come back after injury and perform straightaway.”Farveez Maharoof has impressed with bat and ball in the tournament and his place is assured. Nuwan Zoysa’s waywardness and rustiness against West Indies will leave him carrying drinks and then Dilhara Fernando or Dilhara Lokuhettige will fight it out for the third seamers slot – unless Sri Lanka’s selectors pull a bunny out the hat and throw the ball to Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s smiling slinger who is a relatively unknown quantity for India’s top order.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Dilhara Lokuhettige, 8 Upul Chandana, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Farveez Maharoof, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Mohammed Kaif, 7 Mahendra Dhoni (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 Ashish Nehra.

ScorecardSt Maarten’s participation in the Stanford 20/20 tournament in Antigua was short-lived as they were comprehensively beaten by 47 runs by the United States Virgin Islands in the first match of the tournament.Set to make 147 for victory, the St Maarten innings never gained the momentum that they needed, with wicketkeeper-batsman Steven Evans the only one to score at more than a run-a-ball. His 39 from 32 was never going to be enough to fight the lone battle. Sherville Huggins, John Florent and Dane Weston each took two wickets to bowl St Maarten out in 18 overs.Earlier, the Virgin Islands had scored 145 for 7 in their 20 overs thanks to Huggins, who scored the first half-century of the tournament. He was well assisted by Clifford Walvin and together, the two put on 47 in the middle overs.Had it not been for some poor fielding from the St Maarten outfielders, this could have been a closer affair than what it turned out to be.
ScorecardA five-wicket haul by fast bowler Kenneth Tulloch helped Cayman Islands post a comprehensive 57-run win against Bahamas under lights on the opening day of the Stanford 20/20 tournament at St Johns. Sent in to bat, Cayman Islands made an impressive 175 for 4, powered by half-centuries by Saheed Mohammed and Pearson Best, who top-scored with 74. Tulloch ran through the Bahamas top order, taking the first four wickets and effecting the run-out of opener Narendra Ekanayeke. Bahamas never recovered from their score of 22 for 5, and ended up with 118 for 9 in their 20 overs, with Llewellyn Johnson remaining unbeaten on 40. Tulloch bagged his fifth wicket with the last ball of his spell, dismissing Jonathan Barry.