It is being reported in the UAE that Dubai Sports City (DSC) is trying to get the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to relocate a little more than a year after it lured the ICC away from Lord’s.A report in the Khaleej Times claims that an offer has been made to the ACC and that a move could be almost immediate. The ICC is in temporary accommodation while the DSC is finished, and a similar arrangement could be implemented for the ACC.The newspaper quotes a senior ACC official as saying: “The offer needs to go through the finance committee. It would then go to the executive board and the general body.”The proposal is believed to include rent-free office space, relocation expenses, a subsidy for the staff and sponsorship of ACC events totaling around $1 million per annum. While living expenses would be considerably higher than in Kuala Lumpar, where the ACC is based at the moment, the soruce added that as “there is no taxation in the emirates and for the employees that could be a major attraction.”The newspaper concludes that the final decision is likely to depend on the Indian board “as they call the shots within the ACC”.

Bob Woolmer is on the verge of resigning as Pakistan coach, according to a report in today’s Daily Telegraph. The article also says that Zaheer Abbas, the team manager, too is prepared to walk at the end of the series.The paper claims that sources in the Pakistan camp indicated that Woolmer was at the end of his tether and that his “relations with Zaheer and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq have descended into acrimony”.While the team has presented a united front in the last four days, Bose reports that behind the scenes all is far from well. Inzamam is said to have lost faith in the coach and believes that he is briefing the Pakistan Cricket Board behind his back, while Woolmer is angry at Zaheer’s “lack of focused leadership” during the crisis.Bose says that the Pakistan dressing-room on Sunday was “a confused and angry place where there was a lot of shouting and different advice being thrown at Inzamam”. He continues that language difficulties meant that Inzamam was not initially fully aware of what his side was being accused of, and that the seriousness of it all only became clear when he returned to the dressing-room.Woolmer apparently gave two or three options to the players, but none included refusing to resume after the interval. “I am not sure how much of what Woolmer said was understood by Inzamam,” a source said. “Inzi decided the team would not go out.”Thereafter, relations have deteriorated by the day.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is reported to have appointed Dr Roland Toppin, a Barbados businessman, as its new chief executive, following a board meeting yesterday.According to Caribbeancricket.com, Toppin, the general manager of Duraplast Inc, narrowly edged out property developer Tim Nafziger for the post. He has yet to finalise his contract with the board.The board’s president, Ken Gordon, has said a public announcement should be issued in the next 10 days.Toppin takes over the reins from Roger Brathwaite who stepped down in April. The search for his replacement has been on ever since; that month, Gordon outlined the requirements of the position, stating: “The person has got to be an effective CEO, ideally with a background in cricket”.

While Brian Lara would not totally rule himself out of tomorrow’s match against India, the manner in which he spoke about his back spasms and the recovery process since the last match against Australia suggested that he was all but out of contention for the game. “I am not sure yet [about whether I will be fit]. I trained for the first time on Tuesday and the back was a bit sore,” he said. “The final decision will be made on Thursday. I am sure we still have an eleven that will still do the job. I’d love to make it. I am not going to do anything that will disable the team.”Lara made a superb 71 against Australia as West Indies won a thrilling match, but could not take the field in the second half of the match. The West Indies depend heavily on him, and while it was widely believed that he would be part of the mix even if he was not 100% fit, Lara said this was not the case. “It is important to field a fully fit eleven,” he said. “Our record against India has been impressive and we see it as a step forward, a psychological advantage over India. This match is huge. The crowd will be supportive of India but it is these conditions that will show the real mettle of a team. The guys are fully aware of that.”Without a frontline spinner in the squad, Lara’s concerns about the dew were obviously nowhere near as serious as that of his Indian counterpart. “It is important to play your best team. Sri Lanka used two spinners productively on Tuesday and South Africa did not use any,” he said. “As far as we are concerned, we know what to do and pick the team accordingly. We will try and put up an eleven that will ensure us a win.”When it was put to Lara that the West Indian middle-order had struggled when he and the other big guns at the top of the order had failed to fire, his response was sharp. “I can only go as far back as to our last game against Australia and there the numbers five and six got a good partnership,” he said. “We are going to focus on the positives and move forward. This team is constantly improving. I am focussed on winning and keen to contribute to it, if not physically in the middle, then from the sidelines.”Lara also suggested that this squad had characters in them who could step up and do the job in case someone was injured. “We’ve seen the depth in the team,” he said. “See, despite Corey Collymore not being around (Collymore is back in the West Indies to be with his wife for the birth of their child), we have had guys who’ve filled the gap admirably. We have players we can call upon. Having said that, we still want to pick from among 14 players. When we get that, it will be a great advantage.”At the moment, though, this game against India is crucial to the West Indies, and Lara did not try to underplay that. West Indies have had a run of success against India in recent times, beating them 4-1 at home, and then again in Malaysia. Lara hoped that beating India in India would give his team an even bigger boost. “If things go well in the World Cup we are going to be meeting India in a very crucial stage in the second round,” he explained. “This match is huge. Yes there are factors to be taken into consideration – It’s not Malaysia, it’s not West Indies, it’s Ahmedabad, and the crowds will be fully supportive of India. I think in these sort of situations you can see the real mettle of a team and that’s what we are focusing on to ensure that we come out on top in this particular match. Because it will augur well if we can do that.”It almost went all pear-shaped for West Indies early in the tournament when they were bowled out for only 80 against Sri Lanka. But they’ve bounced back admirably since. “After losing to Sri Lanka, we went back to the drawingboard and worked out situations, what we wanted to do against the best team in the world and executed that very well,” said Lara. “Now we are moving forward, and this stage of the tournament is crucial, as we come out against better teams continuously. We know where we are at the present and feel very comfortable in the zone.”When Lara walked around, it certainly appeared that he was suffering from a very stiff back. And with all the talk of his injury, it overshadowed every other aspect of the conversation surrounding West Indies’ match against India. Ramnaresh Sarwan will be preparing himself mentally to be leading the side, if it comes to that. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has recovered from food poisoning, will be bracing himself to shoulder more responsibility should Lara be forced to sit out. “I’d love to be out there tomorrow, but that decision will be taken at the last minute,” said Lara. And while all the indications are that he is likely to miss out, everyone will be holding their breath till that last minute that Lara spoke about. After all, how many times has it happened in cricket that someone, a critical player at that, is believed to be fit or unfit a day before a game, and the reality changes dramatically when the first ball is bowled. Cricket, they say, is a mind game, and it is perfectly legitimate for a captain to try and gain and edge through psychological ploys. Could this just be another one of those?

Munaf Patel’s troublesome left ankle was examined by a specialist from Johannesburg on Wednesday, and the injury is not thought to be serious enough to prevent his participation in the rest of the tour.Though he will miss the tour game against Rest of South Africa, there’s still a chance that he will be fit to play a part in the first Test which starts in Johannesburg on December 15. Patel left Potchefstroom on Wednesday morning, accompanied by Anil Kumble, and the duo only returned in the evening.On the surgeon’s advice, both MRI and CT scans were taken, and they revealed soft-tissue damage around the peroneal tendon. “There is so significant bone damage,” said the report. The surgeon has recommended a rest-and-rehabilitation programme, and it remains to be seen when he will be able to bowl at the nets in the lead-up to the first Test.

Having finished the opening day on 98 not out, Ashwell Prince was upbright and early on Wednesday morning, and he said that the Ashes tussleat the MCG had played its part in inspiring a spirited South Africantail-wag on day two. Having suffered in the heat on Tuesday afternoon,prompting the decision to go off for bad light, Prince carried on to 121,as South Africa went from 257 for 8 to a much healthier 328 all out.”I was up early this morning, watching the Ashes and seeing two batsmenmake centuries,” he said. “I was hoping that I would get my hundred too. Iwent to the beach for a swim and a stretch, and felt good coming out tobat. It was a big decision for me to take the light offer last evening. Icould have stayed on and got my two runs, but I was not physically in aposition to give my best for the team because I was cramping up. I wantedto come back fresh and try and help us get to 300, which was the target.”He refused to be too harsh on his top-order team-mates, few of whom havebeen able to make any sort of impression on the scoreboard during thisseries. “You have to give credit to India, they have been bowling verywell,” he said. “Especially Sreesanth, who has been getting swing awayfrom the right-handers and bounce too. Zaheer [Khan] too has been bowlingvery well. Our batsmen haven’t got out to irresponsible strokes. Theirbowlers have been putting us under pressure.”On Wednesday, South Africa applied some pressure of their own, but a goodafternoon’s work with the ball was ruined by Graeme Smith dropping asimple chance from Sachin Tendulkar at first slip. Prince, who enjoyed areprieve from Tendulkar when he had made just 41, was philosophical aboutthe whole thing. “Sachin is a great batsman, but these things happen,” hesaid. “We just need to keep our heads up and take the next one.”With Jacques Kallis having missed a few games, Prince has been SouthAfrica’s premier Test batsman this year, and he attributed that largely tothe self-belief gained from his 119 made against the very best. “I started offthe year very well with that hundred at the SCG, and it gave me a lot ofconfidence to have made runs against a quality bowling attack,” he said.”I started to believe then that I could play well at this level.”Having made his Test debut in 2002, he then spent two-and-a-half years onthe outer before earning a recall. Along with the breakthrough knockagainst Australia, Prince reckoned that it was the making of him. “I haveplayed some ten years of first-class cricket, and one of the things I havelearnt is that I needed to improve the conversion-rate,” he said, whenasked about his Test tally of five centuries and four 50s. “I needed to upmy game to make big contributions for the team.”Both at the Wanderers and in Durban, those contributions have beenimmense, in a line-up that has been anything but.

The biggest game of the Australian cricket year just got a whole lot bigger. Boxing Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is always a massive event but with the retirements of Shane Warne, the home-town hero, and Glenn McGrath the occasion has grown like the commercialisation of Christmas.A week ago the prospect of a stadium jammed with close to 100,000 spectators was likely to be a non-event. The Ashes had been won in Perth 15 days after the contest started and the Australians had shut down the only team to conquer them since Ricky Ponting’s reign began. Now even the thousands of British tourists flying in for what they hoped would be an exhilarating climax have a special event to soften the experience.First on Warne’s list is the one wicket he needs to extend his world record to 700. While the fourth Test is a state farewell for Warne, it is also a game of statistical quirks. Warne’s career haul of 699 is helped by the six victims he picked up in the Super Test last year, an ICC decision that upset traditional record keepers, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground is also heavily promoting the ground’s 100th Test.The same statisticians who feel Warne should have to wait say the same about the MCG, which hosted a rained out match in 1970-71 that is credited by Cricket Australia but not the ICC. Neither minor dilemma will matter to the Victorians who laud their ground and idolise Warne.Warne is not the only Australian looking for a 5-0 defeat of England to cap his career. Ponting has spoken of his desire not to let up on opponents who came with a chance that was quickly washed away. The teams’ Christmas celebrations will be different and England should not expect any end-of-series gifts.Andrew Flintoff has experienced a difficult time on his first playing tour of Australia and knows his side must take any opening in the final two games. “Every time they’ve come back at us hard, and we’ve not been able to apply pressure or seize the opportunities,” he told reporters. “But for two Test matches, if we’re going to have a chance to win against Australia, we’ve got to do that.”The home side may have trouble focussing on the overall goal as two of their most treasured individuals are honoured over the next two weeks. There is a lot to look forward to for Australian fans as the festive season becomes one of local celebrations.Australia (probable) 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Glenn McGrath.England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Andrew Flintoff (capt), 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Sajid Mahmood, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty Panesar.

West Indies’ third most-capped player, and the second in line to the captaincy, has expressed one opinion on the team’s final preparations for the World Cup, now only two months away. Last week, the selectors gave another.Following December’s one-day series in Pakistan, for which he was entrusted with the vice-captaincy, Chris Gayle wrote that it was “about time” the West Indies had “a steady World Cup squad”. “There is no time to experiment now,” was his logical conclusion.That would have meant choosing the World Cup 14, all to the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan, for the ODI series in India, starting next weekend.The four matches are the last prior to the World Cup that gets underway with the West Indies meeting Pakistan at Sabina Park on March 13. The one-day games present a timely opportunity for the team to sharpen their edge in some tough contests and for the coach Bennett King and captain Brian Lara to determine the best combinations.Above all, to have decided on the World Cup lineup at this early stage would have given peace of mind to those unsure of their places.When the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) finally got around to officially naming the team on January 12, several days after it was disclosed on various media outlets, convenor of selectors Gordon Greenidge outlined a somewhat different scenario.”This is our last chance to look at a few players and they have been included because you do know what might happen in the next few weeks,” he explained. “We have a few injuries, and we want to have a look at a few players at international level to see what they have to offer.”The “few players” Greenidge and his colleagues want to have a final look at are Devon Smith, Darren Sammy and Reyad Emrit who replace Daren Ganga, Dwayne Smith and Corey Collymore from the Pakistan series.Dwayne Bravo (on compassionate grounds) and Sarwan (injury) both missed the Pakistan ODIs. But while Bravo is back Sarwan has still not recovered from his fractured left foot, crushed by Umar Gul’s yorker in the final Test in Pakistan on December 1.Their absence was a severe setback in Pakistan and Sarwan’s long recovery remains a genuine cause for concern. For all his problems last year, culminating in his dropping from the Test team in Pakistan, he remains an essential component in a potentially strong, but inherently inconsistent batting team. His average of 44 in 115 ODIs compares with the best of the day.

Without him in Pakistan, West Indies turned to Lendl Simmons, a talented player but still an apprentice, and have now brought back Devon Smith as cover, two and a half years after he was seen as unsuited to the abbreviated game and dropped.Such juggling accentuates Sarwan’s significance. As it is, he has not had an innings since December 1 and, since he misses the Indian series, he will be short of match practice when the World Cup comes around.There are also injury doubts over Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Simmons, neither of whom has yet appeared in the current domestic season although both are included in the squad for India. Chanderpaul has found a new lease of life since his reinstatement as Gayle’s partner in an opening pairing that is the most prolific on ODI record. His value is enhanced at the top of the order and his fitness, to be assessed before he is passed for India, is as essential as Sarwan’s.Dwayne Smith has been left out of the team for India so that Greenidge’s panel can assess Sammy and Emrit, both useful allrounders, at a level higher than the ‘A’ team to which they have been confined.They appear to be contesting one place in the final 14, mainly as medium-pace bowlers who can score handy lower-order runs.Perhaps Dwayne Smith’s exclusion is down to the selectors’ frustration over his failure to produce more with the bat but it is inconceivable that he won’t be the World Cup team.For all his inconsistency, he remains capable of the kind of match-winning innings Collis King, a similarly explosive hitter, produced in the 1979 World Cup final. He bowls effective medium-pace and, above all, is a fielder on par with any in the contemporary game.The value of fielding, more especially in the limited-overs game, cannot be overstated. Viv Richards’ run outs of the Chappell brothers and Alan Turner were as crucial in the victory in the inaugural World Cup in 1975 as Clive Lloyd’s violent hundred.Lara’s three close-in catches and a run out and Bravo’s sharp run out of Andrew Strauss were mainly responsible for restricting England’s score in the victorious ICC Champions Trophy final in 2004.Roger Harper and Jonty Rhodes commanded places in their teams as much on the strength of their fielding as on their other, somewhat lesser virtues. Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds have offset lean patches with the bat by their value in the field.If the top four in the batting – Gayle, Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Lara – are consistently at their best and build challenging totals and if the fielders support their bowlers and energise the team into limiting, or defending, totals then West Indies has a chance of winning the World Cup. Every one must play his part, one of the many aspects of their cricket that sets Australia apart.

The West Indies carry one or two slow coaches with weak arms but Smith and Bravo are two of the sharpest around in patrolling opposite side of the semi-circles during the early and mid-overs and then protecting the boundaries with their speed and power-throwing in the hectic closing stages.If Smith has been left at home for no other reason than for the selectors “to have a look at a few players at international level to see what they have to offer”, longer term inferences can be made for some who did not make the cut in the initial World Cup squad of 30.Merv Dillon can certainly take it that his stated ambition to return to international cricket is over, as can Reon King. So, as far as the one-day version is concerned, can Pedro Collins and Tino Best. Apart from Best, they are all cricketers on the wrong side of 30 who have had their moments and are in the twilight of their careers.Richard Kelly is at the start of his career and has been left to reflect, as so many others before him, what a fickle game it is. A regular in the ‘A’ team in four successive series as an energetic allrounder and seen as a strong contender for promotion as recently as a few months ago, he suddenly finds himself excluded from the top 30.He is simply the latest West Indian to follow such an undulating path recently. Remember Donovan Pagon, Dave Bernard, Xavier Marshall? It is better he remember a few Australians who also disappeared from the selectors’ radar after early recognition. Their names are Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn.

Fifteen months after the Southern coastal village of Seenigama was hit by the tsunami which took away 125 lives, a cricket ground has been opened there to help empower disadvantaged and displaced rural youth.The grand opening of the Seenigama Oval, the latest project undertaken by Foundation of Goodness, a Sri Lankan NGO, was highlighted by a twenty-over match between the Seenigama Village XI and the Sri Lanka Cricketers’ Association. Both sides fielded former and current Sri Lankan cricketers, including Hashan Tillakaratne and Muttiah Muralitharan.The match turned out to be a high-scoring affair with a record 483 runs being scored off just 37.1 overs. The Cricket Association XI scored 241 for 5 with Chandika Hathurusingha, the former opener, contributing 81 off 42 balls and Nishantha Ranatunga 42 off 15 balls.In reply, Tillakaratne, a former Sri Lankan captain, made the most of the run scoring opportunities to hit an unbeaten 139 from 58 balls in a six-wicket victory, while Muralitharan contributed a breezy 40 off just 10 balls.A proud moment for the village team was the performance of local boy Isuru Sampath, who took 3 for 20 in three overs with his left-arm pace and bagged the Best Bowler award. His victims were Hathurusingha, Ruwan Kalpage and Champaka Ramanayake. Another local lad Kasun Sarathchandra was the Best Fielder, Tillakaratne was awarded the man-of-the-match and Hathurusingha, the Best Batsman.Paul Sheldon, CEO of English county side Surrey, the major sponsor of this project, said that it was a dream come true for both his club and the people of Seenigama. “I am humbled by all this. I am honoured to have played a small part in helping the communities recover from the tsunami by creating these new grounds. It is the first project of its kind anywhere in the world. It has brought ties between Sri Lanka and England closer.”Surrey were responsible for building the entire ground, including the club house, indoor nets, gym and sports office at a cost of ₤100,000. Sheldon added that a Surrey Cricket Village, complete with 50 houses and a cricket ground, would be opened in Kalutara in association with the Sri Lankan board.

Andrew Symonds’ expected comeback to face South Africa on Saturday is likely to sideline Brad Hodge, despite his brutal first one-day century in the win over The Netherlands. Hodge has borrowed a line from Glenn McGrath, thinking he is in the best form of his career, and believes there is nothing more he can do to hold his spot after two 90s and a century in his past eight games.”I’m in the side at the moment and my job is to perform and make runs,” he said in The Age. “I’ve done that today. Next week is a different prospect and that is the reality for me at the moment.”Alex Kountouris, the physiotherapist, said Symonds would be clear to play in the vital match against South Africa if he could finish ten overs during a training session. Symonds is recovering from arm surgery and is almost back to full strength.”From Tuesday onwards, there will be very little restrictions on him, certainly no batting, very little fielding and he’ll be bowling a lot more in the nets,” Kountouris told the paper. “He’s about 85 or 90%, his bowling effort at the moment. That will go to 100% on Tuesday … He’s looking like being available for the next game at this point, but it is a week away. Hopefully, I can just hand him over to the team and they can decide whether they want to pick him or not.”Hodge’s 123 off 89 balls drove Australia to a comfortable 229-run win against The Netherlands on Sunday and it eased his worry that he might never earn a one-day hundred. “It’s a good personal milestone,” he said. If both Australia and South Africa qualify for the next stage the team that wins on Saturday will carry two points into the Super Eights.