Chennai, and not Ahmedabad, should have been allotted a Test match against England, Cricinfo has learned. The last few weeks have been filled with vociferous complaints from the England and Wales Cricket Board, and the English media, over the itinerary for England’s forthcoming tour of India. While, on the surface, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is strictly adhering to its rotation policy, deeper investigation reveals that something questionable has indeed occurred.The Tour Programmes and Fixtures Committee of the BCCI, which chalks out itineraries for all home matches, met in Mumbai on September 6 to sort out the schedule for the forthcoming season. At the time, however, the committee only decided on the venues for the one-day internationals that were coming up against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Why this was done, no-one is able to answer satisfactorily. And this has made a big difference to how the rotation policy has been applied.According to the rules followed by the board, the Test and ODI rotations run parallel. This means that a situation could arise where it could be a venue’s turn to host both a Test and an ODI in a series. When this happens, it has been the practice that the venue must stage the Test, and wait its turn for the next series for the ODI.Therefore, if the Programmes and Fixtures Committee had worked out for the venues for the forthcoming ODIs and Tests, then Ahmedabad would have been forced to stage a Sri Lanka Test match (Sri Lanka are now playing at Chennai, Delhi and Kanpur). This would have meant that when England’s turn came around, Chennai would have been an automatic allotment for a Test match.There has also been some discrepancy in the allotment of practice matches to the North-Eastern centres of Jamshedpur and Agartala. The fixtures committee met in Delhi to allot the venues for the England Tests and ODIs but did not rule on the warm-up matches. In the past, on most occasions when the Test and ODI fixtures are announced the committee also announces the venues for the side games. In this case, however, it appears that that the chairman of the Tour Programmes and Fixtures Committee, in consultation with the BCCI president, has later allotted the venues to Jamshedpur, Agartala, and Dharamsala for a practice match before the ODIs, which only came to light when representatives of the ECB visited Kolkata for discussions on the itinerary.Staging a three-day game against a touring team is the first step in a venue’s movement towards becoming an international venue. If they stage this warm-up match against England, Agartala will be in a strong position to stake a claim to holding an ODI in a couple of years’ time, a board source told Cricinfo. Dharamsala has already staged a tour match, against Pakistan, and this will only strengthen their case. The most recent instance of this happening is Vijayawada, who hosted a warm-up match when the Zimbabweans toured in early 2002. Just nine months later they were handed their first, and so far only, ODI when West Indies toured.It has also been reported, in that there was some uncertainty over Kanpur hosting the Sri Lanka Test match in December this year owing to a money dispute with the Kanpur District Association, who own the ground. However, as a permanent Test venue, Kanpur has already refused to host Tests in the past, on grounds that the stadium was not ready for play. When New Zealand toured India in 2003 Kanpur was to host a Test, but refused to do so.The BCCI pressurised Kanpur to stage the game, but the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association refused to relent, fearing that if they did stage the game in substandard conditions (poor pitch, outfield, facilities) then they were in danger of being blacklisted as a venue by the ICC. But a long time has passed since 2003 and the BCCI refused to relent this time round, rightly contending that the UPCA had enough time to get its act together. Soon after it was decided, Cricinfo has learned, that if Kanpur was to attempt to forego a Test again when its turn came, stern action would be taken that could have resulted in it being stripped of Test status, which would be accompanied by a loss of a place in the working committee. Therefore it was a fait accompli that Kanpur hosted a Test against Sri Lanka.

West Indies will send their Under-19 side to Pakistan in February to play a five-match limited-over series ahead of the World Cup in Sri Lanka.”We will take the opportunity to play some matches in Pakistan as part of our preparations for the Youth World Cup (YWC),” said Zorol Barthley, the West Indies Cricket Board’s chief cricket operations manager. “It will be a great opportunity for the young players to get acclimatised to conditions in Asia.”Last YWC, we had a visit to Sri Lanka, and that worked really well. We hope to do the same again.”A 20-man squad will be announced for a training camp in Trinidad in December.

Normal service resumed for Auckland as they slumped to an embarrassing loss against Central Districts at Trafalgar Park. Buoyed by its surprise victory, albeit assisted by Duckworth-Lewis, in midweek against Northern it appeared Auckland had finally found its way in the one-day game. In a rain-shortened game Central dominated. Jamie How and Ross Taylor tore the attack apart with 87 and 84 not out respectively as Central posted 225 for 4 in 42 overs. Michael Mason (3 for 14 from seven overs) then took the top off the Auckland order as they crashed to 106 for 9 in 28.2 overs. The injured Kerry Walmsley did not bat. Mayu Pasupati (31) and Rob Nicol (28) provided more than half Auckland’s runs.

Darren Gough has said he is disappointed at not being named in England’s one-day squad for India but insisted that he is not intending to retire from international cricket.”I’m not a 20-year-old demanding a place,” Gough told the BBC. “I can understand they want to go with the young guys but I still hope I have another World Cup left in me. I am one of the best bowlers at the end of a one-day match. You can’t buy one of them at a local superstore – it takes years and years.”Gough opted out of the Pakistan leg of the winter tour to concentrate on his participation in the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, which he won, but dismissed any talk of quitting. “”I’ve got a year left at Essex,” he countered, “and they’ve offered me another year after that.”In the recent past, England have tended to make anyone who has chosen to miss a tour work to regain their place, but at 33 and with a string of knee operations behind him, time is against Gough.David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, said that others needed to be tried ahead of the 2007 World Cup. “With Liam Plunkett and James Anderson performing well in Pakistan, and Simon Jones now available for selection again, we feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible.”

Phil Tufnell has got under the skin of Australia’s cricketers with jibes about them losing the Ashes to England. Facing accusations of being too precious after dining out on English sporting misery for more than a decade, the Australians took exception to Tufnell’s teasing during a filmed segment of last night’s Allan Border Medal awards ceremony in Melbourne.The film was intended as a bit of harmless fun, by showing Tufnell perched at a bar having a shot at Australia’s costly blunders against England during last year’s Ashes series. But the move drew an angry reaction from the Australian team, with their captain, Ricky Ponting, warning: “Quite a few guys at my table were pretty fired up at that.”Tufnell was shocked at the reaction of a skit done “for a bit of fun”. “Good gosh … how on earth has it come to this? I thought Australians had a sense of humour,” he said in . “I’m sorry if I caused any offence … My advice to Ricky and the boys would be to enjoy life before it’s all gone.”Tufnell highlighted Ponting’s decision to bowl first in the second Test at Edgbaston despite having just lost their strike bowler, Glenn McGrath, to an ankle injury in the pre-match warm-up, and a crucial dropped catch by Shane Warne during the final Test at The Oval.Ponting, however, rejected claims he and his team were too thin-skinned in their reaction to Tufnell’s sledging. After being named Australian Cricketer of the Year for the second time, and becoming the first multiple winner of the medal, Ponting told the audience at Melbourne’s Crown Casino that Tufnell’s jibes would motivate him and his team against England in the Ashes series in Australia later this year.Ponting was still fuming on Tuesday morning, despite having a night to sleep on the words of Tufnell, who averaged 2.73 with the bat and 38.14 with the ball in 12 Tests against Australia. “Disappointment is probably the right word,” Ponting told reporters. “I’m not so concerned or angry over what he had to say. Looking back at a week or two’s time it will probably be quite funny, but on our night – the Australian cricket team’s night of nights for the whole year – I didn’t think the timing was that good.”He rejected any suggestion that he and his players lacked a sense of humour. “There’s no doubt that the Ashes loss cut pretty deep with all the players, but in saying that, we haven’t thought about it for a long time,” Ponting said. “We’ve been pretty focused and pretty positive on what we’ve been trying to achieve over the last few weeks, and to have it all re-hashed and brought up again probably touched a note with some of the guys.”But I don’t think that means we’re precious or anything like that,” he added. “It’s just we’re there to enjoy the night for what it is and we had to sit down and go through all of that sort of stuff.” Tufnell lampooned Warne for spilling a straightforward slips chance early in Kevin Pietersen’s innings in the final Test, allowing the England batsman to go on to score a century, save the match and secure a 2-1 Ashes win for his team.”Warney … just because you’re a mate of Kevin Pietersen’s, it didn’t mean on that last day at The Oval you had to drop him,” Tufnell teased. “Do you wake up in the middle of the night thinking you might have dropped the Ashes? I have got Herschelle Gibbs’ phone number here if you want some counseling.”Steve Waugh, Ponting’s predecessor as Australian captain, once famously sledged Gibbs for dropping him during the 1999 World Cup which gave Australia a lifeline on their way to winning the tournament. Warne said he was itching for another chance at England and shrugged off Tufnell’s remarks. “It didn’t really worry me whatsoever what he was saying,” he said. “You can take yourself too seriously, take it for a bit of fun.”Cos Cardone, Nine’s Melbourne director of sport, told no offence was intended and there was no need for the station to apologise. “We just tried to immerse a bit of comedy in the night,” he said. “Last year we had Hale and Pace. If we win the Ashes back next season we will fly Phil over and get him to the Crown Casino and Australia can get their own back.”

Andrew Strauss believes that how England react to their tough start in India will reveal as much about the team as their Ashes success. With Marcus Trescothick returning home and injury clouds surround Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood the squad is being stretched.”This whole tour so far is asking questions of our character and it is a great opportunity for us to show how we can react to adversity,” said Strauss. “In some ways this team will be judged as much on how we react to situations like this as we will be on winning the Ashes or anything else.”Strauss says that the belief that England have built up over the last couple of years has not been diminished by their 2-0 defeat in Pakistan and can stand this latest test of character.”We have won consistently over a long period of time, I know we had that aberration in Pakistan. But there is still a lot of latent confidence there that when our backs are against the wall and there are some tough sessions to be played we have got the players and character to come out of those sessions and win them.”India have been playing very well and I am sure they will back themselves to do the same sort of thing but, as far as our ship is concerned, to have the confidence and belief we can win from any situation….that has not changed.”For the second Test running England will be without their frontline opening partnership. Strauss was absent for the final Test against Pakistan, at Lahore, and now he will open the innings without Trescothick. He said the thoughts of the team are with him but they are focused on overcoming the latest setback.”He has played a major part in all the success we have had. It is going to be tough without him but these things happen in international cricket. As his team-mates and his mates we all hope he comes to terms with what he has to come to terms with. Our job is not to miss him too much on the field.”If Vaughan proves his fitness in time for the Nagpur Test, he will open with Strauss otherwise Alastair Cook will make his debut, just 72 hours after arriving in India. “We have all had to bat in different positions, me in one-day internationals for example, with different players,” Strauss said. “Whoever it is it’s a question of building up a partnership pretty quickly.”In Tests you are very focused on your own game anyway and you get inside your own bubble of concentration. You are largely responsible for your own performance and let others take care of their own.”Even the batsmen who have been fully fit during the warm-up period – and there are precious few – have been far from convincing. It replicates the start of the Pakistan tour, where the top order failed to hit their straps ahead of the first Test and subsequently fell apart chasing 193 to win at Multan.On the early days of that tour the England camp were adamant it wouldn’t matter once the internationals started and there are similar noises coming out of India. “We have to make sure we are 100 percent prepared mentally for that Test match,” said Strauss. “If we are prepared mentally I don’t think the scores we have got in tour will have much effect on what happens on the pitch come Wednesday.”

For years, bilateral one-day series India played at home went right down to the wire. It was almost a joke, and one the extra-suspicious in the anti-corruption unit did not find funny, that the scores were inevitably level when the final match of a series began. In recent times, though, India have comfortably settled the issue at the earliest, and so it has been with England, coming into the fifth one-day international at Guwahati blanked out and with no chance to pull things back significantly.Team issuesIn Kochi, England finally managed to put their best team on the park. Through injury, and Duncan Fletcher’s penchant for going into ODIs with what works in the Tests, England stuck to fast bowlers, and struggled to get their three best ODI batsmen in appropriate slots. In Kochi, though, they gave Gareth Batty a break from sightseeing and a chance to roll his arm over, and also clubbed Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff together at Nos. 3, 4 and 5. Whether they will stick to this formula, or again chop things around, perhaps finding place for Ian Bell in the slot that may be freed up if Geraint Jones is ruled out tomorrow, remains to be seen.India’s selection matters are, for the moment, a pleasant pain. With only six specialist batsmen in the side it’s safe to say that Robin Uthappa is extremely likely to make his debut, and that Venugopal Rao will get a game. A squad thick with bowlers suggests that RP Singh, who has waited long, will get a go, while VRV Singh waits just that bit longer to be eased into the eleven.The Gods must be …The meteorological department has predicted thundershowers for Sunday afternoon, so don’t be surprised if it is bright and sunny. Saturday dawned fine but as the sun reached its zenith the clouds rolled in from the hills, turning everything shades of grey. It has been raining intermittently all week, and the weather could very well end up having the final say.Squeeze them inRahul Dravid has been better than his predecessor in getting through fifty overs in time, and on Sunday, weather permitting, Virender Sehwag will get his chance. He, and Andrew Flintoff, have to be on their toes, for the light on a good day will not be fit for play once five o `clock comes round. There has been a suggestion that play should start earlier than the scheduled 9am, but this seems unlikely. It’s difficult to implement changes of this kind at short notice with the all-powerful television channels having already scheduled their programming.I’m 164If he does play Robin Uthappa will become the 164th person to wear an Indian ODI shirt. He has been picked not on the weight of the runs he has scored in domestic cricket – he averages a modest 32 in first-class cricket and a more impressive 39 in List A one-dayers, but the manner in which he bats has caught the eye. Exuberant and strokeful, his aggressive play, backed up by serious ability in the field meant that the selectors saw merit in elevating him to the Indian team on the promise of potential.Small-town excitementLong before the teams had arrived in the city on their chartered flight hundreds filled a stand, waiting impatiently for a glimpse of their heroes. The fact that the teams were staying in a hotel that straddled the ground made matters worse, and when they walked down the corridor that led to their rooms the fans roared. Even when the skies opened and the drenched them in a heavy downpour, intermittently pelting down hailstones, they stayed, waiting for the teams to come to the ground to practice. The ground had taken a heavy soaking, though, and sections of the outfield were waterlogged, making life miserable for the groundstaff. The square was covered, and the teams will be hoping that this is not a preview of things to come.

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) were crowned champions of the 2005-06 Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship, after they defeated Karachi Harbour by an overwhelming margin of an innings and 181 runs on the third day of their four-day match at the Gaddafi Stadium.Needing only a draw with the first-innings lead to clinch the title ahead of Faisalabad, who had finished their four matches with a tally of 27 points, NBP took their overall total to 33 with wins in all four appearances and claimed their third Pentangular trophy.After their massive first-innings score of 513 had given them a big advantage of 264, NBP bundled out Karachi Harbour for only 83 in their second outing to romp to an innings triumph.Mohammad Sami was virtually unplayable as he captured six wickets for 48 runs in 8.5 overs, to give him a match haul of 9 for 121. He and Wasim Khan bowled unchanged as the Karachi team tumbled. Wasim collected 10 wickets in the match for a mere 82 runs, following his first innings 6 for 57 with another splendid performance that fetched him 4 for 25.NBP, who needed just 16.5 overs in the second innings to get rid of the Karachi Harbour line-up, thus added the Pentangular Cup title to the Patron’s Trophy Championship they had won earlier in the season. The high-profile Pentangular Cup tournament has been revived after the lapse of a decade, the last such contest having been played back in 1995-96. Of the 12 competitions given the title of the Pentangular over the years starting from 1973-74, NBP have won twice — in 1974-75 and then again in 1994-95.Resuming at their overnight 427 for 8, with a first-innings lead of 178 runs, NBP continued to bat on. Imran Javed, the allrounder, missed what would have been his second century in consecutive innings by just five runs. His 95 came off 156 balls in three-and-a-half hours with 13 fours and two sixes.Following his 87-run eighth-wicket partnership with Mohammad Sami (43), Imran then joined hands with Wasim Khan (33) as a further 73 runs were added for the ninth wicket. Wasim faced only 54 balls and hit five fours.Karachi Harbour suffered further as they went into the match with only four regular bowlers. Atif Maqbool, the offspinner, though, bowled his heart out, taking four wickets for 125 in 25.5 overs. For NBP, Sami excelled with the ball, taking 26 wickets at only 15.84 runs apiece while Wasim Khan bagged 24 at an average of 15.62. Naumanullah, their captain, who was named best batsman of the competition, made more runs than anybody else, his 354 including two centuries as he averaged 59 per innings.The Pentangular Cup tournament marked the end of Pakistan’s 2005-06 first-class season. Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was present at the final awards ceremony at the end of yesterday’s match, which ended with a day to spare. He handed over the Pentangular Cup to Naumanullah plus the whopping sum of Rs 600,000. Faisalabad, runners-up of the Pentangular tournament as well as in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Championship Gold League earlier in the season, got Rs 300,000 as their reward.

Brian Lara has been appointed the captain of West Indies captaincy for a third time. The formal announcement was made at midday in Trinidad.”It’s a great honour,” Lara told reporters. “It’s the third time I’m taking the job and I feel I have the necessary support. [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul did a wonderful job under the circumstances. He’ll reap the benefits later in life. He called me and he said he’d support me and asked that I give it some consideration.”The fact that a lot of former players called me was humbling. This was followed up by phone calls from present team-mates who thought I should assume the mantle of leadership at this juncture. I called past and present players for an objective view on the matter. They unequivocally thought the same as the others who were trying to influence me.”Ken Gordon, the board chairman, was quick to stress that Lara was not a stopgap choice. “His appointment is not an interim one,” he said. “His appointment as captain stands and it is not for any fixed period of time.”It is logical to go back to Lara. Of all the players available, they each had varying strengths but there were also varying weaknesses. He brings a lot to the table at this time which will make a material difference. Whatever the risks, the best is to go with Lara, whose experience and knowledge is unquestioned.”Lara has already led West Indies 40 times, winning 10 and losing 23. He was first captain between 1996-97 and 1999-2000, resigning after a dismal series in New Zealand. He was appointed for a second time in 2002-03, eventually being replaced by Chanderpaul in March 2005 when he stood down because of an ongoing contractual dispute with the board.

With the ICC deadline requiring compliance with its stipulations for a representative election process fast approaching, unofficial reports on USACA’s progress towards a new and improved constitution surfaced at the Western Conference in LA, and none of the news was good.In an earlier interview with Cricinfo, committee chairman John Wainwright had said that good progress was being made on creating a better constitution by the ICC deadline. The reports tell a somewhat different story.It appears that four of the five-member Constitution Committee had agreed on a framework and were well on the way towards submitting a general report. But the fifth member, a lawyer appointed by Gladstone Dainty, the USACA president, to the committee, delivered a bombshell at a face-to-face meeting in New York, which threw those plans into a tailspin.She voted to junk the process of democratic elections for the USACA board and executive, and proposed instead that they should all be appointed by an expert panel to be named by USACA. This constitution would be submitted to the 35 presidents of the USACA member leagues for approval. There would be no vote of the USACA membership, and no elections for any USACA positions.All this was too much for a Dainty-appointed member of the Constitution Committee, Kahlid Nabi, who had been one of his loyal supporters. Declaring the process to be a total travesty, he wrote a blistering report to USACA and ICC and refused to participate any further in the committee’s deliberations. He informed Cricinfo that he was willing to be quoted on his expressed opinions, and was prepared to answer any further questions put to him on the topic.The problem this presented to the Constitution Committee was immediate and obvious. Even if they were to propose a reasonable and democratic constitution, the chances that the same USACA officers who would stand to lose their jobs and privileges would approve such a report range from slim to zero. Dainty has been expressing support for Wainwright and the committee, but admits he does not have control of the USACA board and will not be able to deliver on his promises.Bobby Refaie, the former USACA secretary who was present at the tournament, said that this was precisely what he had expected. He explained that his view was that once the ICC had released the $58,000 to USACA due under the terms of its Associate Membership, there was no hope that the situation could be salvaged. There was no need for the board to pay any further attention to what ICC wanted them to do. Refaie pointed out that USACA had never acknowledged that ICC had placed any stipulations on it, let alone suggest that it was making any effort to meeting them. They have pocketed ICC’s cash, and that, he said, is all they ever wanted.It remains to be seen if Matthew Kennedy and Martin Vierra, the ICC officials charged by Malcolm Speed with making sure USACA delivers on ICC’s stipulations, will have the courage of the convictions expressed in an open letter to Cricinfo and US cricketers in May 2006. Without decisive action on their part, USACA will continue on the same dysfunctional path that was first enunciated by Speed and Mani three years ago, and US cricket will continue to exist in its self-created doldrums.