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The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will meet on July 24 and 25 to discuss what its president Julian Hunte considers a crisis in their cricket. The board will ask the team management, specifically coach John Dyson, about how they plan to improve the technical skills of the players to make them competitive on the international circuit.Dyson had said that West Indies, “compared to the other side, lack some batting skills, some bowling skills and some fielding skills”, after they conceded an unbeatable 3-0 lead to Australia in the five-ODI series. West Indies also lost the three-Test series to Australia 2-0.”We want our team to be number one both in performance and emoluments,” Hunte, who is currently in Dubai for the ICC’s annual conference, said. “However, if we do not start winning we run the risk of being relegated and we will not be able to earn the money that we require to regain our place at the pinnacle of world cricket.”We need to synchronise all our various efforts and plans to achieve the short-term objective of getting higher up in the rankings,” Hunte said. “We have to widen our pool of talent, have a clearly stated and objective selection philosophy, increase the amount of cricket played at the regional level, and improve the standard of the players and teams in our tournaments, and we must do it all very quickly. If not, we will not be creating history, as we did in the past. We will be history.”At the meeting, the board will also consider the Cricket Committee’s recommendations for a new selection panel, since the contracts of the members of the current panel expired on June 30.

The XXXX Queensland Bulls will take a top-strength team into their tourmatch against England this weekend at Allan Border Field.The Queensland selectors today made one change to the team that playedthe last Pura Cup match against NSW, adding Australian One Day spinnerNathan Hauritz in place of left-arm spinner Matthew Anderson.Test players Matthew Hayden and Andy Bichel were not available for thematch as both players will be in camp from Sunday with the Australianteam, preparing for the First Orange Test match at the Gabba fromNovember 7-11.The three-day tour match against England will start on Saturday, withEngland scheduled to arrive in Brisbane late on Thursday. The touristswill train on Friday at Allan Border Field.The Bulls are keen to disrupt England’s preparation, having gone withinone wicket of beating their rivals on the previous Ashes tour. The tourmatch in 1998 was played in Cairns, with England winning a thrillingmatch late on the third day.England also beat the Bulls later in the summer in a day/night limitedovers match at the Gabba.Bulls pace bowler Michael Kasprowicz, who played alongside new Englandquick Simon Jones at Glamorgan during the off-season, said the matchpresented a dual opportunity for Queensland.”We get to test ourselves against international opposition and maybegive them a few headaches before the first Test but we also get a chanceto build our form for our Pura Cup clash against Victoria in Melbournenext week,” he said.The match is at Allan Border Field, 1 Bogan St Albion. Play starts 10amdaily. Tickets: $8 adults, Children U-16, pensioners: $2. Entry willalso be via Brothers Rugby Union, Crosby Road.Meanwhile the selectors have also named former Australian pace bowlersAdam Dale and Scott Muller in the Queensland Academy of Sport team toplay South Australia in the ACB Cup 2nd XI match in Adelaide next week.Dale is continuing his steady comeback from major shoulder surgery lastseason, taking 6-61 for Wynnum-Manly on Saturday, while Muller has beenamong the leading wicket-takers for the Gold Coast in the first threerounds of the Brisbane XXXX First Grade premiership.XXXX Queensland Bulls v England, Allan Border Field, Sat-Mon: JimmyMaher (c), Brendan Nash, Martin Love, Stuart Law, Andrew Symonds, LeeCarseldine, Wade Seccombe, Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, NathanHauritz, Joe Dawes, Damien MacKenzie (12th man to be named).Queensland Academy of Sport v South Australian 2nd XI, Adelaide,Mon-Thurs: James Hopes (c), Duncan Betts, Jerry Cassell, Daniel Payne,Clinton Perren, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley, Scott O’Leary, Adam Dale,Scott Muller, Scott Brant, Matthew Anderson. (all 12 to play).

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

This was Chokers’ Day. A few hours after the Mumbai Indians collapsed from a winning position, thereby denting their semi-final chances, the Chennai Super Kings outdid them as panic struck at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The Bangalore Royal Challengers seemed certain to crash to their sixth successive defeat but even they might struggle to fathom how they pulled off this robbery.It was one-way traffic for most of the game. Chasing a modest 127, Chennai appeared to be in cruise control at 60 for no loss, and later at 85 for 2, but Stephen Fleming’s dismissal induced some panic. Anil Kumble’s inspirational 3 for 14, the best figures for Bangalore in the IPL, played a part before Dale Steyn turned the heat on the lower order. The pitch hardly played a part in this low-scoring match – one where both sets of batsmen tried their best to outdo themselves in throwing it away.Chennai are still in with a good chance of making the semi-finals but this shock defeat yet again exposed their batting’s frailty. Fleming and Parthiv Patel got them off to a rollicking start, cutting and pulling with ease, and there appeared to be no demons in the pitch. Fleming was in fine touch, even against spin, but he refused to ride his luck after Vinay Kumar bowled him off a no-ball. He was out two balls later – sweeping a fast one from Kumble straight into the hands of B Akhil at deep square leg.That was enough to open up the weaknesses in the middle order. Chennai have been over-reliant on S Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the two frittered it away, triggering a wave of recklessness. Dhoni, who promoted himself to No.3, struggled with his timing before a frustrated loft landed in Kumble’s hands at long-on. Badrinath tried a perilous sweep against Kumble, one where he moved across the stumps, and he was to regret it soon as the ball hit him plumb in front.Albie Morkel and S Vidyut fell to Steyn’s pull-trap – both top-edges that reeked of complacency against a bowler who was cranking it up to 145kph – and one only needed to look at the Bangalore fielders’ expression to understand how surprised they were. The startling freeze ended amid farcical scenes – Suresh Raina appeared to be in a daze against his Uttar Pradesh state-mate, Praveen Kumar, and even declined a single when they needed an improbable 16 off 5 balls.Bangalore were pleasantly stunned to end up as party-poopers. Their batsmen let them down earlier in the day with an insipid display. One might have expected them to express themselves more freely, now that they’re out of contention for a semi-final slot, but they continued to plumb the depths.Manpreet Gony and Morkel led a purposeful Chennai bowling effort, utilising the nip in the air, and were backed up by some electric fielding and catching. Bangalore, who chose to bat, never managed any sort of momentum – they even endured a 44-ball phase without a boundary – and the fact that they were the slowest side to reach a 100 summed up the inertia.Gony has enhanced his reputation with every game and it was some sight to see the crowd chant his name in unison. He struck with his fourth ball: pitching it short of a length and angling away from the right-hander, he induced an edge from Jacques Kallis. He forced another edge out of Shreevats Goswami – Gony’s timely maiden forced him into an indiscreet drive in the bowler’s next over. Goswami, rooted to the crease, nicked to the wicketkeeper and walked even as the umpire, I Shivram, failed to detect the edge.Virat Kohli and Misbah-ul-Haq were undone by a couple of sensational catches – Morkel back-pedalling and completing a skier inches from the square-leg boundary, hurting his head in the process, and Parthiv Patel, behind the stumps, pulling off a full-length dive to complete a one-handed take.It was again left to Rahul Dravid to survey the debris and he took his time to consolidate. Five fours reeled off his bat towards the end but Mark Boucher’s dismissal – just when it appeared as if they would string together a partnership – hurt them. Dravid couldn’t last the distance – Dhoni pulled off a fine catch at cover – and the tail didn’t have much of a chance with Morkel keeping it straight. Kumar’s 11-ball 21 was a feeble attempt at making a match out of it but little would he have imagined bowling the last over to win his side the game.

Waqar Younis was retained Pakistan captain till this September’s ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka. The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Lt Gen Tauqir Zia believed Friday that it was never a difficult decision to make.”The team is doing great and Waqar’s own performance is an inspiration for his boys. I don’t think it is a difficult decision to make,” Tauqir said.Waqar reached the peak of his brief captaincy’s tenure when he led Pakistan to a marvellous 2-1 victory over Australia in the Super Challenge Series-II in Australia.”Of course we are looking at Waqar as potential Pakistan captain for next year’s World Cup. But we have to stick to our policy of series-by-series appointments.”It gives the establishment as well as Waqar himself to monitor his progress. But so far, the PCB is absolutely satisfied with Waqar’s performance and of his team,” Tauqir said.Waqar will now spearhead Pakistan in this month’s Morocco Cup, the golden jubilee tournament in Kenya and finally the Champions Trophy. He will have a minimum of 10 one-day internationals and a maximum of 15 one-dayers to further consolidate his position as captain till the World Cup.”I can’t be more delighted. I feeling is superb and I am over the moon at this stage,” Waqar said from Lahore.”It gives the player an added boost to do better and improve his performance and justify the confidence that has been trusted upon him,” Waqar said.Waqar didn’t mince words in saying that he would like to lead Pakistan in the World Cup – the biggest achievement for any cricketer – but added that leading Pakistan has always been a great honour.”Leading the Pakistan cricket team is something that makes me very proud. It is an honour that very few cricketers have got and I am one of them. “But I must thank my team-mates here without whose cooperation and support I have never been successful. I feel very lucky to have players who want to deliver for the country and keep the green flag aloft,” he said.Team: Waqar Younis (captain), Inzamam-ul Haq (vice captain), Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Rashid Latif, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Shoaib Malik, Wasim Akram, Mohammad Sami, Saqlain Mushtaq and Misbahul HaqManager: Yawar Saeed. Coach: Mudassar Nazar.

England batsman Michael Vaughan has been voted Player of the Year by the Professional Cricketers’ Association.Vaughan scored 900 Test runs at an average of 90 in his seven Test matches this summer, with four centuries and two fifties.The other four players nominated were Nick Knight (Warwickshire), Ronnie Irani (Essex) Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire) and Mike Hussey (Northants).Young Player of the Year was Worcestershire’s Kabir Ali. James Anderson (Lancashire), Jim Troughton (Warwickshire), Rikki Clarke (Surrey), and Gordon Muchall (Durham) were the other players nominated for this award.

Rain forced the abandonment of New Zealand women’s first game of their three-match series against Ireland at Clontarf, Dublin today.New Zealand batted first and scored 249/6 in the 42 overs they had available to them.The teams left the field after 25 overs had been bowled and the match was reduced to a 42-over affair.Rebecca Rolls (88) and Nicola Payne (60) gave the New Zealanders a fine start.Other batsmen were: Emily Drumm (two), Kathryn Ramel (20), Kate Pulford (seven), Sara McGlashan (25), Fiona Fraser (26 not out) and Rachel Pullar (one not out).Ireland batted for 6.1 overs before rain forced the abandonment of the game. At that stage they were 18 for one wicket.The team’s next game is on Wednesday at Malahide in Dublin.

The changing of the guard in Australia’s international playing ranks has received further expression today with an unprecedented seven revisions made to the annual list of Australian Cricket Board (ACB) contract holders.After a season that saw sweeping changes to the personnel in the country’s one-day international side, a number of long-serving international players have surrendered their status as contract holders to several members of the new wave of cricketers beginning to make their mark in Australia.Queensland off spinner Nathan Hauritz and batsman Jimmy Maher, Tasmanian all-rounder Shane Watson, and Western Australian paceman Brad Williams head the list of newcomers, continuing their accession into elite company by securing places on the annual contract list for the first time.Western Australian opening batsman Mike Hussey is also among today’s winners after being recalled to a list on which he won inclusion for a single 12-month period two years ago.And confirmation of Queensland fast bowler Andy Bichel’s status as one of Australia’s leading contemporary players has similarly been provided with his recall to the full list for the first time in two years. Bichel was not included on last year’s original list, and only formally won back his contract after appearing in three successive Test matches for Australia during the 2001-02 international season.New South Wales paceman Stuart Clark has meanwhile added to the sense of change by supplanting Ashley Noffke as the ‘bolter’ in this year’s field and gaining a contract at the end of his first full season of first-class cricket. A tall, accurate right armer, Clark captured 45 first-class wickets to be a standout player at domestic level in 2001-02, after appearing in a total of only 10 first-class games to that point of his career.”The contract will give me some extra confidence going into the new season because I’ll know that I’m in the selectors eyes for higher honours in the future,” said Clark of his elevation today.”I have been in the mix for a Blues pace bowling spot for a while, but it was only this year that I was able to grab my opportunities.”I was happy with my form and consistency in both forms of the game last season and hopefully I can continue that for the Blues next year.”Alongside Noffke, those out of favour in the shake-up are former international players Michael Slater, Damien Fleming, Colin Miller, Greg Blewett, Simon Katich and Shane Lee.New South Wales, with eight representatives, remains the state with the most players on the list. Queensland’s increasingly strong contribution to national squads has also been reflected with the inclusion of six of its players, while Western Australia maintains a significant presence of its own with five.Two players are included from each of the three remaining states, ensuring that the 2002-03 list contains the lowest number of Victorian representatives since the central contract system was formally introduced three years ago.The 25 elite ACB contracts have come to represent hotly contested property in Australian cricket circles over recent seasons. Each of the contracts now offers its holder a base salary of $A110,000 as well as providing recognition of the player’s place among the core group of cricketers from which Australian Test and one-day international teams will be selected over the following 12-month period.In accordance with a formula specified in the compact between the ACB and the country’s player-representative body, the Australian Cricketers’ Association, the highest ranked player among the group of 25 will receive a salary of $440,000 as his base income for the next year.The full list of 2002-03 ACB contracted players is: Michael Bevan (NSW), Andy Bichel (Qld), Nathan Bracken (NSW), Stuart Clark (NSW), Adam Gilchrist (WA), Jason Gillespie (SA), Ian Harvey (Vic), Nathan Hauritz (Qld), Matthew Hayden (Qld), Mike Hussey (WA), Justin Langer (WA), Brett Lee (NSW), Darren Lehmann (SA), Martin Love (Qld), Stuart MacGill (NSW), Glenn McGrath (NSW), Jimmy Maher (Qld), Damien Martyn (WA), Ricky Ponting (Tas), Andrew Symonds (Qld), Shane Warne (Vic), Shane Watson (Tas), Mark Waugh (NSW), Steve Waugh (NSW), Brad Williams (WA).

Orissa dismissed the challenge from Jammu & Kashmir within thefirst four days of their scheduled five-day Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final match played at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttackon Wednesday. Orissa, who completed an emphatic 420-run victory,will now take on Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-final to be playedfrom March 22 to 26.Resuming at 228/4, Orissa declared their second innings closedat 299/4. Sanjay Raul was unbeaten on 113 and Debashish Mohantyon 50. Required to make 650 runs in the fourth innings for amost improbable victory, J&K were bowled out for just 229 in 76.4 overs. Kavaljit Singh came good again in the second innings too,making 67 runs. V Taggar (33), D Mahajan (32) and Shashi Kumar(39) were the other batsmen to get amongst the runs.Debashish Mohanty (3/21) and SK Satpathy (4/51) shared the bowling honours. Thus J&K’s amazing run in the Ranji Trophy – which sawthem qualifying for the knock out stage for the first time in 41years – came to an end.

England captain Nasser Hussain has been ruled out of the remaining Testseries against Pakistan and possibly the NatWest Series after breaking histhumb at Lord’s this morning.Hussain was taken to hospital after his hand was struck by deliveries fromWaqar Younis and then Shoaib Akhtar. He required on-the-field treatment fromphysio Dean Conway and was taken to hospital for a precautionary X-rayduring the luncheon interval where a bone in his right thumb was found to befractured.He will take no further part in the current Test at Lord’s and will sit outthe Second Test at Old Trafford, freeing him up to attend the birth of hisfirst baby. It remains unclear whether he will play any part in the NatWestSeries involving Australia and Pakistan.Hussain said: “I was enjoying the occasion and to have four to five weeks off is hugely disappointing – at least it happened at the end of the innings rather than the beginning,” said Hussain.”The ball hit me full on the thumb and there is nowhere for it to go,especially when you are hit by someone like Shoaib Akhtar.”I’m seeing a specialist in the week but our physio doesn’t seem to think Iwill need an operation so it’s really just about rest and batting again onceyou’re not in pain.”Alec Stewart takes over as captain at Lord’s and selectors will announcetheir choice of stand-in captain for the Old Trafford Test match nearer thetime.Hussain broke his hand in 1999 while fielding in the First Test Match asEngland captain against New Zealand at Lord’s. He missed the next Test atOld Trafford, with Mark Butcher taking over as captain.Hussain later brushed aside any suggestion that he is especially susceptible tobreaks or that he had been let down by the amount of protection in his gloves.”If Shoaib Akhtar hits you at 90mph there is nothing you can do,” hereasoned.”You play for ten to 12 years and you get three or four breaks – that is theway it goes.”It is very disappointing. I keep looking at what I am putting on my gloves,but let’s put this in perspective.”Yes, it will take four or five weeks now. But when you bat up the order andyou get seriously good bowlers trying to break your fingers that is part of thegame.”I have been in good form and I was looking forward to keeping batting forlong periods of time.”It is now going to be a very difficult few weeks, but I will just have totry to keep myself in that batting frame of mind.”Hussain’s wife Karen is due to give birth on June 1 so he will be able to attend the birth without worrying about any conflict with his England duties.”The baby’s due in about a week’s time,” said Hussain. “I think my wifewill be the only pleased person in the stands at the moment.”

Kalabagan Krira Chakra (KCC) was lucky to get away with a 23 run win over Young Pegasus in a low scoring match of GrameenPhone Premier League staged at BNS today. Two important contributions from all rounder Mushfiqur Rahman and left-arm offie Manjural Islam Rana helped KCC get full points, despite they managed only 163 from 44.4 overs.The target was easy and achievable on this flat track, but spinner Manjural Islam Rana and Mosaddek Hossain made it difficult, rolling up as real killers for KCC with their spectacular combination of off and leg spin from both ends. Except Shamimul Haq (28), Jamal Faisal (24) and Tanvir Alam (18), no batsmen could get along with the guile of those two bowlers.Pegasus were bundled out for 140 in 40.4 overs.Mosaddek mauled in the Pegasus front line removing 3 for 19 from his ten while Manjural Islam Rana polished off the tail, claiming 4 for 10 from his 6.4 overs.KCC, losing the toss early in the morning, batted first, made a slow but steady start. Their first top four batsmen got by with reasonable totals. Among them Mushfiqur Rahman top scored 60 off 89 balls while Rafiqul Islam (25), Nahidul Haq (23) and Nasirul Alam (25) all made some contribution, but the rest seven batsmen couldn’t even reached the double figure.Mushfiqur, though didn’t hammer any boundary, was clever in his approach, didn’t go for any risky venture, relied on only singles and twos most of the time. He was correctly adjudged for the man-of-the-match. For Pegasus Saifullah Khan captured 2 for 28 where Mahbub Alam claimed 2 for 29.