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Elton Chigumbura has admitted that emulating allrounders like Chris Cairns and Andrew Flintoff doesn’t pay off in a struggling side like Zimbabwe. “I have always been a naturally aggressive player, though I have often been inhibited by a bad team situation,” he told AFP. “But I try not to be just a slogger. I use technique instead to get the ball back mainly over the bowler or the off-side field.Chigumbura has a reputation of being a big hitter – in his last ODI, against Bangladesh at Harare, Chigumbura cracked seven sixes – but realised the need to curb his enthusiasm a while ago. “I used to just lash out, but I have now learned that it doesn’t pay. I would get out early too often and that was bad for the team, especially as I usually bat a bit lower down.”Chigumbura – whose name in his local language means one who can be hurt but never complains – hoped a strong performance at the World Cup will help him secure a county cricket deal in England. “But I would always want to be available for Zimbabwe. I also want to develop into a good allrounder.There’s no doubt that we are underdogs in the West Indies but that could actually work to our advantage. I really hope that we can through the early rounds, mainly for the team but also because I might get the chance to take on the Aussies again.”Zimbabwe are in Group D in the World Cup, with hosts West Indies, Pakistan and Ireland. They kick off their campaign against Ireland on March 15 at Sabina Park in Jamaica.

New Zealand and Bangladesh are in discussions to play a Twenty20 charity match to raise funds for survivors of Cyclone Sidr, which devastated Bangladesh last week.Although Bangladesh officials have already said the match will be played in New Zealand on December 23, just before the start of a one-day series between the teams, a New Zealand spokesman said discussions were ongoing. A warm-up one-day match between Bangladesh and Northern Districts is currently scheduled for that date.Bangladesh’s tour includes three one-day internationals, starting on December 26 in Auckland, and two Tests in Dunedin and Wellington during early January.

After the second Test had petered out into a tame draw at Cape Town, Stephen Fleming countered criticism of his decision to bat on into the third day by saying he declared too early. He thought the best chance of winning had been to force South Africa to follow on.”I needed everything I could get. I probably needed more. The follow-on was our only real chance. We had to bowl South Africa twice. When you commit to that you have to get enough cash in the bank.”He said it might have been better to let James Franklin and Jeetan Patel continue their free-scoring unbeaten ninth-wicket partnership of 58 for another half hour. “It might have been given us more cushion but we thought we had enough overs to bowl them out.”Graeme Smith said he was surprised New Zealand had batted on so long, “especially the way the Test match had gone with light in the evening and dew in the morning. They went past a point of having to make a game of it, they had to try and make us follow on.”South Africa responded by scoring 512, with centuries by Hashim Amla and Ashwell Prince, batting until after lunch on the final day. “We all want results but when you are put in a corner you have to play the situation,” said Smith. “We’re 1-0 up in the series. We were forced into being defensive and getting through this game and that’s what we did.”Smith said South Africa would look to play more aggressively in the final Test starting at the Wanderers on Friday. “We want to play positive cricket, winning cricket. We felt it better to grind their bowlers into the ground with the next Test starting three days later.”It gave us a great opportunity to go to the Wanderers with a bit of momentum. The batters have got runs under their belt. I’m sure the wicket there will be a little more juicy. It always has a bit more of a result in it than most other wickets.”Fleming said New Zealand were disappointed not to have a chance of winning the series. He said personal satisfaction at his own man-of-the match innings of 262 was tempered by the lack of a win. “It’s disappointment because we came here to win a series. We created some opportunities in this Test and couldn’t convert.”He added they were determined to try to level the series by winning the final Test. “It should be a result wicket. There’s been a lot of inclement weather up there and hopefully we can get on the right side of it.”

Shane Warne has become embroiled in yet another sex scandal, just weeks after arriving in England for the start of his stint as captain of Hampshire.Warne, who underwent a high-profile divorce from his wife Simone during last summer’s Ashes, was pictured in the British tabloid The News of the World with two 25-year-old models.The alleged episode is believed to have taken place on Thursday night in West London, during Hampshire’s Championship match against Middlesex. “Shane blew our minds,” claimed one of the models, Coralie Eichholtz, an MTV presenter. “He was so fit. I’d give him top marks for more than satisfying us.”Ironically, Warne claimed to be suffering from fatigue during that match and said in an interview: “If I’m honest, I’m tired out”. It was hard to tell from his on-field performance, however – Warne took 7 for 99 in the second innings to bowl Hampshire to a ten-wicket victory.But serious doubts have emerged over the claims because the two models involved are notorious headline grabbers. Warne’s management did not immediately return calls.It is just the latest in a catalogue of scandals that have beset Warne during his stints in England. In June 2000, it was revealed that he had been having phone sex with a 22-year-old nurse, a revelation that cost him the Australian vice-captaincy and almost certainly the opportunity to succeed Steve Waugh as the national captain.

A nationwide siege programme has caused havoc in Bangladesh’s National Cricket league, with Dhaka’s match against Barisal being postponed for “an indefinite period” and Chittagong’s clash with Sylhet also under threat.A non-stop countrywide blockade has been enforced by a 14-party alliance headed by the opposition Awami League, and according to Dhaka’s Daily Star newspaper, the police have been directed to fire gunshots if the demonstrators attack them.The demonstration means that Dhaka will have to wait to take their five remaining Barisal wickets at the Fatullah Stadium, after Mohammad Rafique’s three-wicket burst gave them the upper hand on the third day’s play. Needing 247 to win, Barisal were shakily placed at 78 for 5.At the Chittagong Divisional Stadium, Sylhet were forced to follow-on after being bowled out for just 100 in their first innings, and though they reached 130 for 2 second-time around, the security situation is such that the match could be shifted to Monday, according to the match referee Rafiqul Alam.The entire day’s play at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium was called off due to rain and later, bad light. The hosts were leading by nine runs on the second day.

Javagal Srinath, the former India fast bowler, reckons Irfan Pathan’stemporary loss of form is “not a cause for concern and that he should bepersisted with.” Srinath asserted that, given his age and talent, Pathanwill bounce back and is still a worthwhile investment.Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, the former India spinner and currently acommentator, felt that it was crucial for Pathan to focus on swing and notpace. Speaking in a forum jointly organised by the television broadcaster, Ten Sports, and the Press Club of Mumbai, Sivaramakrishnan observed that Pathan had been low onconfidence in the recent series in the Caribbean.”When he started out, he was more side-on [at the point ofdelivery], but now his action seems to have opened up,” said Sivaramakrishnan. “Andy Roberts, [the former West Indies fast bowler] identified a few technical deficiencies. His initial strides in his run-up were longer and it shortened as heapproached the crease. Roberts said that it should be the opposite.”Srinath concurred with Sivaramakrishnan’s view that Pathan’s focus shouldbe on swing but asserted : “there is a minimum threshold of pace – 130kph – which he should maintain”.Looking ahead to the tri-series in Sri Lanka, also featuring India andSouth Africa, Muttiah Muralitharan was identified as the chief reason why Sri Lanka will start as favourites. Should the Indian batsmen, especially Mahendra Singh Dhoni, try to attack Murali? Srinath reckoned that it wouldn’t be an easy task.”Dhoni can tear apart a one-dimensional bowler,” explained Srinath, “but Murali is multi-dimensional, with his and variations.” Sivaramakrishnan agreed and was of the opinion that India should preserve wickets against Murali and ensure that they score 35-40 runs without losing a wicket. He said: “If he remains wicket-less, a wicket-taker like him might end up trying too hard and that could benefit India.”Sivaramakrishnan identified Ajit Agarkar as one of the key bowlers forIndia, with the capability of restricting Sanath Jayasuriya. “He was ourbest fast bowler in the West Indies and managed to contain Chris Gayle, astrokeplayer in the mould of Jayasuriya.” While Sivaramakrishnan felt thatAgarkar should have been retained for the Test series, Srinath believed his absence was a “blessing in disguise”. He said: “Agarkar’s body is fragile whichdoesn’t allow him long spells. He should stick to playing one-daycricket.”

Considering the sluggish wickets on offer in Sri Lanka, Srinath said thatit was imperative that India went with two specialist spinners – Anil Kumbleand Harbhajan Singh, backed by two seamers. The panel felt that theplaying surfaces in Sri Lanka and the West Indies, where the World Cupwould be played, are quite similar, and hence this tri-series would be anideal dress rehearsal for the big tournament.Srinath believed it was time Kumble was reinstated permanently to the ODI squad. “Kumble is a senior pro and should be assigned a task to groom the other bowlers – spinners as well as fast bowlers, given that he has a wealth of knowledge in fast bowling. He should have been included earlier.”Srinath backed Zaheer Khan – who has been out of the squad since the tourof Pakistan and now included in the 30-member probables list for theChampions Trophy – and stated that he had earned his recall after asuccessful stint with Worcestershire.On the Rahul Dravid-Greg Chappell combination, the panel shared the viewthat Dravid had found a like-minded individual in Chappell – both aremethodical in nature but felt that it was time they cut down onexperimenting and arrived at a settled combination. While Srinath acceptedthat flexibility is important, the constant shuffling of the batting orderhad affected the performances. He cited Pathan as a case in point. “Theadded pressure of batting has affected his bowling.”On Sachin Tendulkar’s return from injury, the panel exuded confidence thathe would be among the runs. Srinath felt that Tendulkar could still walkinto the team. He said, “He has to play whether he makes runs or not. He mighteven struggle in this tri-series but will come good soon. It will bedifficult for anybody, however great, to come back immediately into formafter a long lay-off.”The panel were unanimous in their opinion that South Africa were severelyhandicapped by the absence of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and JustinKemp. Manjrekar and Srinath expressed concern over Shaun Pollock’s loss ofform and pace. Srinath opined that “his body has taken enough beating”,while Manjrekar was especially “saddened” at the sight of Pollock bowlingoffspin in the recently concluded Test series against Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar recovering from injury
The Indian Premier League is nearly half over but its biggest draw Sachin Tendulkar is yet to play a game because of a groin injury. However, he is optimistic of joining the resurgent Mumbai Indians soon. “I can tell you roughly that I’m targetting the next match [against Chennai on May 14], Sachin said while watching Mumbai play Rajasthan from the sidelines. “If I’m in the middle, I should be able to compete, for if I’m not able to compete, I’ll be letting the team down.”Charu out, Brijesh in
After five defeats, a visibly rattled Bangalore Royal Challengers are wielding the axe. The first victim is Charu Sharma, the CEO of the franchise, who was held responsible for the team’s poor performance. Sources close to the team claim he was asked to step down by Vijay Mallya, the franchise owner, but the team spokesperson however said he stepped down due to “personal reasons.” Sharma has been replaced by Brijesh Patel, the former India Test player and secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. The players are reportedly shocked by this move. The question is, who’s next?Was slap-gate premeditated?
According to a report in the , Sudhir Nanavati, the BCCI’s commissioner to look into the slapping incident involving Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth, told its sources in the Indian board that the attack seemed to have been premeditated. This was supposedly based on the reaction of the Mumbai Indians’ coach, Lalchand Rajput, immediately after the incident. Navanati, however, denied making such a statement. “The report that appeared in a newspaper is completely false. I can tell you I neither saw him [Rajput] neither clapping nor laughing when Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth from the video footage shown to me yesterday”, Nanavati told Cricinfo.No more games for DY Patil?
The 40 km commute from the team hotel to the DY Patil Stadium in Nerul is getting to the Mumbai players and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has stepped in, suggesting Mumbai’s last two matches – on May 14 and 16 – be moved to the Wankhede Stadium. The franchise owners, Reliance Industries Limited, are yet to confirm the move. Today’s game against Rajasthan Royals, however, stays at the DY Patil stadium.Fat wallets
Players can look forward to bigger earnings once the second season of the IPL gets underway, with the governing council deciding to scrap the $5 million cap on earnings. The move was prompted by the success of the current season, and players can look forward to an increase of upto a massive $15 million. “I can tell you that our players would already be the highest-paid across any sport in the world,” Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, was quoted as saying in .One more chance
Harbhajan Singh, who has been banned for 11 IPL matches for slapping Sreesanth after an IPL match in Mohali, has appealed to the Indian board to give him “one final chance” before taking further disciplinary action against him. “Along with accepting my most sincere and heartfelt apologies over this incident, I would like to appeal to the board’s sense of fairplay and ask for one final chance before taking any disciplinary action against me over this incident,” Harbhajan said a letter to the BCCI. The disciplinary hearing will be conducted commissioner Sudhir Nanavati, who was appointed by the BCCI, in Ahmedabad.

Pakistan A have bolstered their pace attack for the second Test against Australia A in Lahore with the return of Mohammad Sami, who has recovered from the viral infection which ruled him out of the first match in Faisalabad.Injuries to two fast bowlers has resulted in more changes to the bowling attack. Anwar Ali replaces left-arm seamer Najaf Shah, who is nursing a back injury while Abdur Rauf, who top-scored with 73 in the first innings in Faisalabad, is down with a groin strain. Offspinner Tahir Khan comes in for Atif Maqbool.In the batting department, the selectors have included opener Khurram Manzoor, who scored a career-best 200 against Mumbai in the Nissar Trophy last week. He replaces former Pakistan batsman Hasan Raza, who scored 0 and 3 in Faisalabad.Pakistan suffered a big defeat in Faisalabad, going down by an innings and 203 runs. The second and final match of the series begins on September 19.Squad: Faisal Iqbal (capt), Taufeeq Umar, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Yasir Hameed, Naved Latif, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mansoor Amjad, Tahir Khan, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Khalil, Mohammad Irshad, Anwar Ali, Adnan Raza, Rizwan Ahmed

Bennett King, the West Indies coach, said his side had only themselves toblame for not forcing a result during the second Test at Multan. MohammadYousuf and Abdul Razzaq eventually steered Pakistan to safety on the finalday, after they began their second innings 234 runs behind but it mighthave been different had Yousuf not been dropped at second slip when on108. He went on to make 191.King told reporters at the National Stadium in Karachi, ahead of the finalTest, “We certainly had our opportunities and were in a strong position, Iwouldn’t say it was disappointing but we only have ourselves to blame forthe result and we need to raise our fielding standards. Certainly the halfchances we have to make sure we take them. On these types of wickets youdon’t get a lot of opportunities so when they come your way you need tomake sure you take them.”Yousuf has been a regular beneficiary of West Indian lapses through theseries, being dropped four times in three innings. He has 439 runs in theseries so far. “I think our bowling has been not too bad overall but wehaven’t taken our opportunities. We dropped him on 40-odd in the firstTest and let him off the hook in the second Test as well. He is certainlya good player and in form and we will certainly take care this time. If wetake our opportunities we can be in a strong position again.”The Multan pitch was criticised by seemingly anyone who came within a mileof it, but particularly so by both captains and Danish Kaneria. Itoverlooked the fact that this was the first drawn Test from five matches on atraditionally high-scoring ground and King at least was happy that hisbowlers managed to create enough chances from the surface.”I think the pitch we just played on, we created enough opportunities andwent past the bat enough to get edges. Collymore bowled exceptionally welland had people edged the ball instead of missing it as often as they didthe result would have been different,” King said.He added, “I certainly think we extracted as much as we can out of thewickets and we have to make sure we maintain our line and disciplines andnot just get frustrated that we are beating the bat or catches are goingdown.”More help should be on offer in Karachi. The last two Tests here haveproduced outstanding cricket, where bowlers and batsmen have tussledevenly. As ever, there is grass now, though whether it will be asplentiful in two days’ time is uncertain. King said, “There is grass butwe expect that it will be taken off in a couple of days. It looks like apretty good batting track, slow, but probably taking spin as it goesalong.”His side has been on the road for some time now, ever since the DLF cup inMalaysia in September but that hasn’t led to a tailing off inperformances, a trait that has pleased King. “We are very determined. Wehave been on the road for three months and the boys played some of thebest cricket on the fifth day when most sides would probably start to feelthe effects of a long tour. But these boys have shown mental fortitude andI am very encouraged by the performance of the last game. We expect to gofrom strength to strength.”

Duplicitous team selection of the Day Part 1
“It’s a batsman’s paradise,” declared Brian Lara after yesterday’sdefeat against Australia. Few entirely concurred with him, but evenfewer could believe what a dramatic volte-face he would pullovernight. Far from backing the batsmen who had let him down the daybefore, he instead chastised them by drafting in an extra man in LendlSimmons, who contributed 14 not out from 26 balls, and faced just onedelivery as the last three wickets tumbled.Duplicitous team selection of the Day Part 2
Simmons did not, of course, just waltz into the side unchallenged.Someone had to be the fall guy and that honour went to Jerome Taylor,the quickest man in the attack (and consequently, you might havethought, the best suited to overcoming the easy-paced conditions). Butit got crazier. In Taylor’s absence, the new ball was flung to DwayneSmith, whose medium-pacers weren’t even called upon against Australia.”Maybe we have too many bowlers,” Lara had shrugged when quizzed aboutSmith’s lack of use against the Aussies. Nobody for one minuteimagined that could possibly have constituted a weakness.Flaccid dismissal of the Day
Once again there were almost too many to choose from, but this timethe honour goes to Smith whose demotion to No. 9 in the order wasfully justified by hindsight. A second-ball slog went spiralling overmidwicket, but just four deliveries later he was gone to the mostatrociously-mistimed sweep since Sooty lost his autocue.Catch of the Day
It wasn’t just a tale of West Indian ineptitude, however. New Zealandwere full value for their victory because they played the sort ofcricket that deserves to win matches. Take the wicketkeeper BrendonMcCullum for instance, whose one-handed pluck off Ramnaresh Sarwan’sinside-edge was a moment of genuine brilliance. His weight was alreadytransferring to the off-side, but he braced, buckled, sprung andstretched to shift his momentum in the opposite direction and clung onat full stretch with his weaker left hand.

Run-out of the Day
Sprinting, bending and stretching aren’t the sort of things that mostself-respecting 37-year-olds put themselves through, so when ScottStyris pushed Dwayne Bravo to Brian Lara’s right in the covers, he waswell within his rights to assume an easy single was on the cards. Larahowever had other ideas, and with the grace of an ageing gazelle, hesnatched the ball from the turf and pinged down the stumps withStephen Fleming not even in the frame.Anticlimax of the Day
You could say the crowd, but they are yesterday’s news. Once again theattendance was poor as the logistics of filling a stadium in themiddle of nowhere sapped the local enthusiasm. There was one man whohad the capacity to bring back the crowds, however. Chris Gayle is thekingpin of this current West Indian line-up, and after a tortuousfirst half to his innings, he was beginning to cut loose. After sevenruns from his first 19 balls he had recovered to 44 from 55, but thengot too cute as Jacob Oram dropped one short, and inside-edged ontohis stumps. A century was what was needed, but at 81 for 4 thegame was up.Bowler of the Day
Oram’s were the outstanding figures, with 3 for 23, and Daniel Vettorigrabbed a trio of his own, but it was once again Shane Bond who wasNew Zealand’s indisputable cutting edge. He cranked up the pace tolevels unmatched on either side, and struck in each of his threespells. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was becalmed, then beaten by latemovement; Dwayne Bravo fenced at the very first ball of Bond’s return, whilethe No. 11 Corey Collymore couldn’t counter a perfect yorker. For allhis injury problems, Bond has now taken 23 wickets in 11 World Cupmatches, at a stunning average of 16.26.