The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is saying that recent reports of its bankruptcy are overstated.Reacting to last week’s CMC Sports report that implied the WICB was putting all its eggs in one basket and hoping for the windfall of the 2007 World Cup to bail it out of debt, the board responded: “The board is currently investing in preparations for hosting World Cup 2007, which is the third largest global sporting event after FIFA’s World Cup and the Olympic Games and on which US$22.0 million was invested as at September 30, 2005.”Adding that the consolidated financial statements used in the CMC report included the results of both the WICB Inc and the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 (its 100 per cent owned subsidiary), the WICB said accounting standards require that the $22 million is not reflected as an investment in the balance sheet to be offset against the revenues from the event.”Without these amounts,” the WICB report stated, “the accumulated deficit in the consolidated accounts would reflect US$15 million, which has been fairly constant over the past four years and which is not going to increase in the current financial year.”It went on: “The board also wishes to draw attention to its improved performance in the current financial year which is expected to show a break-even position at year-end September 30, 2006, compared with a loss of US$6.5 million in the prior year.”Additionally, the board said steps have been taken by the WICB to reduce costs and to identify new lines of revenue, including the Windies Superball Lottery game to be launched in August 2006; the WICB Co-branded Credit Card; the ODIs to be held in conjunction with the Board of Control for Cricket in India; and the licencing and merchandising programme promoted in connection with the 2007 World Cup.According to the CMC Sports report, the financial statements indicated that the WICB and its World Cup subsidiary had incurred a net loss of US$19 million, during the year ended September 30, 2005.”And as of that date, it had accumulated a deficit of US$34 milion and the group’s current liability exceeded its current assets,” the report stated.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, believes that Darrell Hair’s Test career could be over after the controversy of the past week.Hair offered to quit top-level cricket in return for $500,000 after the ball-tampering furore which lead to Pakistan forfeiting their final Test against England. Throughout the week Speed has been quick to establish that the ICC were not ending Hair’s career or cutting him adrift from the game. However, he has admitted he doesn’t know whether Hair could shake off this latest controversy.”There have been other issues in his umpiring career where people have said ‘this is the end for Darrell Hair’ – after he called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in 1996, and he then wrote a book, and people said ‘this is the end for Darrell Hair’,” Speed told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.”Darrell survived that and has become a better umpire, he is one of the world’s best umpires, so I hope we can find a way for him to continue but I’m not sure that that will happen.”Why? Because there’s a lot of speculation…that Darrell’s career is finished, that he’s compromised. That’s not my wish, I hope we can find a way for him to continue. I would like Darrell Hair to continue umpiring in cricket matches at the top level.”Speed said it was up to the ICC adjudicator to decide whether Hair’s actions affected the charges against Inzamam-ul-Haq of ball-tampering and bringing the game into disrepute, brought up following the team’s sit-in at The Oval.Inzamam refused to bring his team out after the tea interval after Hair and his colleague Billy Doctrove’s decision to penalise them five runs for ball-tampering.Speed said: “The ball-tampering issue and the subsequent charge are very simple cricketing issues about what happened on the field. Whether it impacts on Darrell Hair’s credit I don’t know, that’s a matter for Pakistan’s lawyers whether to raise that, and then for the adjudicator to decide whether he takes that into account.”Shahrayar Khan, the PCB chairman, has insisted that Hair should not umpire another match involving Pakistan, but Speed refused to go that far. “It was said he could never umpire Sri Lanka again after 1996 but he has. Time will tell if water needs to flow under the bridge. I don’t know what his future is but I hope we can find a way for him to continue.”Speed confirmed the ball-tampering charge had been made by both Hair and Doctrove, and that he was not aware the England players had made any complaint.

Walter Hadlee, the former New Zealand captain and administrator, has died in Christchurch at the age of 91. He had been seriously ill ever since suffering a stroke after hip replacement surgery six weeks ago.For almost three-quarters of a century he was at the forefront of New Zealand cricket as player, captain, selector and manager, and three of his five sons – Sir Richard, Dayle and Barry – went on to play international cricket for New Zealand.”Spare, slight, angular, nimble and trim,” wrote Denzil Batchelor, “he wore white flannels as a fish wears gills.” An attacking batsman, Hadlee made his Test debut in England in 1937, but like many he lost his best years to the war, and with New Zealand not a major Test-playing nation, his chances were limited anyway. He was appointed captain immediately after the war, and even then he only played two matches in four years.In 1945-46 he hammered 198 out of 347 against the touring Australians, and a year later he scored his only Test hundred – 116 in two-and-a-half hours against England after New Zealand had been put in to bat at Christchurch in cold and difficult conditions.The highlight of his eight Tests in charge was the 1949 tour of England when he led a strong and popular New Zealand side which drew all four Tests, driving home the point to the English authorities that awarding only three-day Tests to the New Zealanders underestimated their abilities. The stalemates, however, did not reflect his adventurous approach to the role.Although his Test average was a modest 30.16, he was never dismissed in single figures. In a 19-year first-class career he scored 7523 runs at 40.44, including 18 centuries. He continued to play club cricket for 15 years.After retiring following the 1950-51 series against England, he maintained strong links with cricket as a leading administrator, and was a decisive president of the New Zealand Cricket Council during the Packer crisis. He was also involved in women’s cricket, rugby and hockey. He was awarded an OBE in 1950 and was honoured again in 1978 when he became a CBE.

“We deeply appreciate the public support that we have received in recent weeks and ask that we now be given time to come together as a family,” Sir Richard Hadlee said in media release. “This is a difficult time for the family and we do request privacy. Dad will be laid to rest at a family funeral next week.”A public memorial service will be held at Christchurch Boys High School at 11am on October 14 for those who wish to acknowledge dad’s innings of a lifetime and his contribution to sport, business and the community.”Sir John Anderson, chairman of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Martin Snedden, the chief executive, paid their tributes to Hadlee. “Walter was very much the patriarch of NZC and made an enormous lifetime contribution to cricket in New Zealand. He was one of the great figures of New Zealand Cricket and will have a long legacy in the sport.”Walter left his mark on cricket in New Zealand equally as a player and administrator,” said Snedden. “He will be remembered for his skill and dedication as a cricketer, selector, New Zealand manager, NZC Chairman and NZC President. Walter took an active interest in cricket right up until his death and will be greatly missed by NZC’s Board, management, staff and the wider New Zealand cricket community.”

Younis Khan’s further participation in the ODI series against West Indies is uncertain after his elder brother, Farman Khan, passed away from a prolonged ailment in Germany on Thursday at the age of 40.Younis was batting in the second ODI in Faisalabad when the news of his brother’s death reached the team management. Younis only came to know about the situation after he returned to the pavilion at the end of his innings. Younis, immediately, left for his home town Mardan.Last year, during the England tour to Pakistan, Younis faced a similar situation when his younger brother died in an accident in Ukraine. Earlier in the year, Younis had to fly back from a tour to Australia after his father had passed away.Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, told a local news channel that the team’s thoughts were with Younis and that there wouldn’t be any pressure on him returning for this series.Pakistan will also be able to welcome back Mohammad Yousuf for the third ODI in Lahore on December 10. Yousuf left the squad before the second ODI to be with his wife who is expecting a child. Wasim Bari, chairman of selectors, told Cricinfo that Yousuf had confirmed his availability and they would only consider changes to the squad after the third ODI.”Yousuf will be available for the third ODI. I have kept in touch with Inzamam over these two matters and we felt there was no need for a change to the squad just yet,” he said. “After the third ODI we will see whether any changes or additions are needed.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq lauded the efforts of Mohammad Yousuf in drawing the secondTest in Multan and said the confidence drawn from saving the match wouldserve them in good stead as they prepare for the final Test at Karachi. AsPakistan aim to seal the series there, they have also announced a recallfor Mohammad Sami to the squad.Pakistan were behind in this Test from the second morning, where acollapse of six wickets for 94 runs allowed West Indies to eventuallyamass a 234-run lead. Yousuf’s seventh century of a fabulous year, histhird in the 190s, saw Pakistan through on a nervy final day.”Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq played very well because it was a pressuresituation for the most part of today. Saving this Test, from such a bigdeficit, will boost our morale and serve us well for the Karachi Test,”Inzamam told reporters in his hometown.Though he refused to be drawn into comparing Brian Lara’s double-centurywith Yousuf’s 191, he said both were innings of a special and rare nature.”Comparing the two is not right as both were high-class innings. Yousufplayed all of it under pressure but Lara’s innings was special as heneeded to score quick runs for his side as well. There are few innings ofthis kind seen in cricket so both were special.”Inzamam’s own recent batting form hasn’t been as special, a far cry from hisfeats of 2005, and he is without a fifty in five Tests. In ten Tests thisyear, he has only two fifties and a hundred and he looked troubled duringhis brief innings of 10 today. “I am trying hard and spending time in thenets. I really want to play a big innings in Karachi and hopefully I can,”he said.The squad for the Karachi Test was announced after the end of play andonly one change has been made. Abdul Rehman, the left-arm spinner whotoured Sri Lanka and Abu Dhabi with the Pakistan squad earlier this yearwithout playing, has been dropped and in his place returns Mohammad Sami.Sami was axed from the Pakistan side earlier this summer, missing the tourto Sri Lanka. He was recalled for the summer series with England asPakistan struggled with injuries to several frontline pacemen but afterthree largely disappointing Tests, where he took eight wickets at nearly60, was dropped again. He didn’t make the team for the Champions Trophyeither but with the futures of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif uncertainand Pakistan short of experience, Sami has a chance to resurrect hisfloundering career in his home city and add to his 28 Tests.Pakistan squad for final Test:Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf,Inzamam-ul-Haq (Captain), Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Faisal Iqbal, KamranAkmal, Shahid Nazir, Umar Gul, Samiullah Niazi, Danish Kaneria, MohammadSami

England’s 5-0 drubbing may have been their first at the hands of the Australians for 86 years, but the last occasion came much more recently than that. In 1984 and 1985-86, England slumped to ten defeats out of ten against the mighty West Indians, and Michael Holding was an integral member of the legendary four-man pace attack that doled out those beatings.But, Holding told Cricinfo, the pride that his men felt in inflicting back-to-back “blackwashes” would be nothing compared to the jubiliation in the Australian dressing-room at present. “I don’t think there’s a serious comparison,” he said. “Australia must feel a lot better about this 5-0 than West Indies about theirs, because the Ashes means so much to Australia, and of course England.”Having lost in 2005 this was a big comeback for them. The embarrassment of losing has spurred them to these great heights. It’s difficult to fight back when you are being overwhelmed on a regular basis,” said Holding, who took 249 wickets in a 60-Test career that included 31 wins and just eight defeats. “After Adelaide I thought it would be 5-0.”This was a team with a double-centurion, a player with a big 150 and a bowler who took seven wickets, and they still lost. What more could they have done to win a Test match? How could they come back from that? When you have been downtrodden it is difficult to lift yourself, and I never expected England to lift themselves.”Holding refused to compare the current Australian team with the great West Indian sides of his day, saying that times have changed and so too has the game. But, he added, he did not believe that Ricky Ponting’s Australians were quite the same force as Steve Waugh’s side of four years ago.”When Waugh was captain, he had Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath at their very best, and Jason Gillespie at his very best,” said Holding. “I think it was a better bowling attack, and bowlers win matches.”

With just 50 days to go until the World Cup starts in the Caribbean there is concern over dwindling ticket sales. The problems with some nationalities needing to obtain visas is believed to be playing a major part.Applicants who require visas must either reach their nearest office or mail their passports along with $100 and join a long waiting list.”This is the worst public-relations nightmare that the Caribbean has ever created for itself,” said Josef Forstmayr, managing director of Round Hill Hotel and Villas in Montego Bay, Jamaica.George Goodwin, chief executive officer of the local organizing committee in Antigua and Barbudam, added: “Ticket sales are not going as robust as people had originally hoped.”However, Chris Dehring, the chief executive of the World Cup organising committee, was more upbeat: “This event has faced so many challenges that at this stage, everything is full steam ahead,” he told , “the little hiccups are simply rolled out.”

Craig McMillan has added to New Zealand’s injury problems ahead of Friday’s match against England after suffering severe foot bruising.McMillan was struck on the big toe by a Shane Bond yorker during a net session in Gros Islet on Wednesday and was sent for x-rays.No break was revealed but he has bad bruising and a team spokesman told NZPA McMillan’s hopes of playing on Friday were in severe jeopardy.New Zealand also have concerns over the batsman Peter Fulton and the bowler Mark Gillespie.Gillespie has a lingering virus and is not expected to play while a New Zealand television report said Fulton would turn out despite a broken finger.It was also a painful day for England with James Anderson suffering a fractured little finger during catching practice.

A very confident South African team arrived at Piarco International Airport in Trinidad on Thursday morning, ready to take on all-comers, as their preparations for the World Cup enter the final phases.South Africa were the first squad in Trinidad for the biggest event in the region, flying in at around 12:40 a.m. when they were greeted by members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), including CEO Anand Daniel, and a handful of media representatives.Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, expressed satisfaction with his team’s readiness for the tournament, saying: “It is all about peaking at the right time and I think, for us, things have been going nicely this season. We have shown an upward curve so hopefully our planning is coming to fruition.”South Africa overtook defending two-time World Cup champions Australia in the official ICC One Day International championship table, after a string of good performances in the past 12 months.One of the highlights last year was a 3-2 series win over Australia, sealed by scoring a world-record 438 for nine, as well as seven victories from their last eight completed matches. The main thing on the South African’s minds right now is acclimatisation. The last time they visited the Caribbean was in 2003 and their objective in the warm-up games, according to Graeme Smith, is “finding our feet before the tournament starts”.Smith expressed confidence in his team’s ability to do well in the Caribbean. “We have a good bowling attack…we have got a lot of variation so I think we back ourselves pretty well and I think this will be the key with the wickets not being tested and the team that adapts best will be able to get the most of it.”We are trying to get as much information about what we are up against and hopefully adapt to what we are going to face,” Smith added.Speaking about the West Indies team, Smith was adamant that the World Cup hosts played fantastic cricket in the ICC Champions Trophy last year, when they beat South Africa on the way to the final against Australia.Smith singled out hard-hitting West Indies opener Chris Gayle as a key figure in the home side’s success in the Champions Trophy. But he hinted the South Africans have been working on some plans to counteract the “terrific” players on the West Indies side.

Goolam Raja, the South African manager, has revealed that one of his players was approached by a bookmaker during South Africa’s one-day tour of India in November 2005.Responding to a query about speculation that Bob Woolmer may have been about to write a book that lifted the lid on the match-fixing scandal, Raja admitted that there had been an “innocent” incident involving a member of his squad. Although he declined to name the player involved, Raja added that the player was not a member of the current World Cup party.”The question was just ‘What is the team tomorrow?’,” explained Raja.”In the past we would easily say, ‘Joe Soap is not playing’, but nolonger. Now we don’t announce the team, whether it is picked or not.”The players are trained to phone as soon as they’ve been approached, not to get into any discussion with these people, only to take their phone details and pass it onto the authorities. Nothing happened other than that one phone call.”That is the protocol. If a player is approached, he has to let usknow immediately because we have a system for dealing with it.”South African cricket still feels the scars of the Hansie Cronjescandal in 2000, although Raja insisted that the players were olderand wiser for the experience. “There’s a lot more awareness now thanthere was five years ago. The players are aware that there are peopleout there who are interested in finding out things we know, and theplayers are more cautious. Sometimes we took things for granted in thepast, because we never thought that these things would happen.”In the light of the murder investigation now underway in Jamaica, Rajasaid he would welcome heightened security for his players, even if itmeant more constraints on their freedom on tour. “Absolutely, if thereis one lesson that we’ve learnt, it is that you can’t have enoughsecurity,” said Raja. “We’ve made applications to beef up thesecurity, and ICC have assured us that that will be the case.”I think a lot of our players have experience of the subcontinent, andwhat we told them there is the same as what we’ve told them here. It’sa case of being vigilant. If you get a call or a knock on the doorfrom someone you don’t know, I’ve told them repeatedly to please letme know.”At the hotel, the presence of police and plain-clothes hasincreased,” he added. “Of course the central police officers aretrained to look out for people in the foyers of hotels, who notnecessarily don’t belong there, but look suspicious. They’ve beenasked to let us know.”Raja added that the news of Woolmer’s murder had not been as much of ashock to the players as the original news of his death. “The playerswere saddened to hear the circumstances of Bob’s death, it was such amacabre death, but the worse was when we first heard of it,” he said.”That was a total surprise but subsequently, like everyone else,we’ve been waiting for things to unfold.”