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Mark Waugh, the former Australian batsman, expressed the view that Darren Lehmann’s international career is all but over, saying that it was highly unlikely that Lehmann would be selected for the Ashes tour later this year. Lehmann, 35, who was dropped for the one-day series in New Zealand, has had a poor run of form lately, managing a mere 87 runs in the VB Series.”I don’t think he will go to England, the Australian selectors are looking at younger players,” Waugh told AFP. “He’s a great player and a great team man but I think, unfortunately, age has probably just caught up with him.”Waugh, who retired on the eve of the last Ashes series in 2002-03, said that he expects a “pretty easy” triumph for Australia. “England might have a chance but I don’t know if they believe in themselves against Australia,” he said. “They could take a Test off us, but I think something like 4-1 will be the result.”Waugh, who is also likely to stand for the post of a national selector, was quite vocal about the contentious rotation policy of the Australian selectors. “I don’t think it works. It didn’t work four or five years ago so I don’t know why they brought it back in.”I remember being rotated against Zimbabwe two or three times — and I was batting pretty well and there was probably a lot of runs to be scored against Zimbabwe. At the end of the season, you sit down with the selectors and they are sorting out your contract and where we were rated with other players, and I remember them saying ‘you have had a fair year but you haven’t scored as many runs as we would have liked’.”I felt like saying ‘well, you shouldn’t have rotated me against Zimbabwe’.”

Players who appear in unofficial events will have their contracts cancelled under policy guidelines announced by Cricket Australia. The conditions do not apply to the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is sanctioned by the Indian board, but they do affect those considering joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL).The decision follows ICC regulations and similar guidelines forced Shane Bond, the New Zealand fast bowler, to terminate his national deal. No current Cricket Australia contract holders have publicly expressed their desire to be part of the ICL, but there is potential for younger domestic performers to be attracted to the competition. Stuart Law and Ian Harvey took part in the original tournament in India in December, but both have finished their inter-state careers in Australia.In one of two conditions released by Cricket Australia it said “selectors will treat players who take part only in ICC-approved matches more favourably than those who do not”. The other clause stated “players will not be offered contracts or be permitted to continue to be a party to player contracts if, during the term of those contracts, those players take part in unofficial cricket events”.The ruling pushes Australians towards the IPL and the planned Champions Twenty20 competition that is due to involve domestic teams from Australia, India, South Africa and England.

On not letting the occasion affect the team
We are just taking it as another match. We have told the girls not to take it as a final because that would put extra pressure on them. At the same time the Australians will be under lot of pressure because they have already been champions, whereas this is our first time.On Australian strengths
They are very good side but we had the opportunity of playing a home series against them in December 2004. And having beaten them in the last three games of that series, though India lost 4-3, the girls know they can match the Aussies and that is an advantage for us. Though both teams are balanced on the paper the Australians are mentally stronger than us.On the factors that helped us beat Australia in the home series
We were just working on the confidence levels of the girls. They needed to believe in themselves and retain their spirit even if things didn’t go their way. And the end result showed that they were positive and they have carried the similar spirit in the World Cup so far.On the wicket
There is no grass on the wicket and that is a plus point for us. It looks like it is full of runs.On India’s weakpoint so far
We were a little worried about our opening stand – our two openers have not clicked together. We would like a good opening stand. And we gave extra time to the batters during the nets today.On the strategy
If we win the toss we will bat. We just don’t want the pressure of chasing especially since this is our first final. And we will retain the same winning squad. Each member of the team has so far understood her responsibility and they should continue in the same vein and if they give their 100 percent we should surely win.

The West Indies cricket team arrived in South Africa on Monday evening and Chris Gayle is promising a “fight” in the upcoming series.Speaking after the team touched down at the OR Tambo Airport, Gayle said that the West Indies were full of confidence and believed they could win when the sides meet in three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals.”We respect the South Africans but we don’t fear them. They are a good team and are playing good cricket at the moment, so we know the challenge at hand. “But we are confident and we believe in our ability. We played well in Zimbabwe and we are here in South Africa to continue the good work. They will be in for a fight.”Gayle hoped to be fit for the first Test against South Africa on December 26. “My injury is coming on very well, hopefully I’ll be ready for the first Test, but I need to work with the physio.”He believed that the absence of retired Brian Lara and the injured middle-order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan could serve as motivation for the members of the team to prove their worth.”Brian is no longer in the team and Sarwan is injured and with this in mind we expect to see some of the younger players taking the opportunity to make a big contribution and possibly make a name for themselves. This is a big series and full of big opportunities.”

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Brad Hodge guided Leicestershire to victory in this year’s Twenty20 Cup final against Surrey at Edgbaston. After Surrey set a challenging total of 168 for 6, thanks to 64 from Alistair Brown, Hodge kept his nerve to take his side home with a cool and calculated 77 not out as Leicestershire took the trophy with five balls to spare.In front of another packed house for a Twenty20 match, Hodge was Leicestershire’s hero. He saw them home with help from Darren Maddy, who became the first player to pass 500 runs in the tournament, and Jeremy Snape, who chipped in with 34 not out as Surrey lost their title by seven wickets.It was Brown who made the early running for Surrey, though, with a typically brutal innings of 64 from 41 balls – his second successive half-century in the final – and Mark Ramprakash also contributed with 23 not out in Surrey’s total. Brown was in the party mood. He clubbed nine fours and two sixes, mainly through the offside, as Leicestershire failed to make an early impression with the ball. He added 80 with Scott Newman, who scored a quick 21 and kept Surrey’s momentum going.Brown, who was dropped on 39, was eventually caught by John Sadler in the deep going for another big hit, but he set the platform for the final fling. Rikki Clarke and Azhar Mahmood all chipped in, but Ramprakash held things together to guide Surrey to their healthy score.However, in the end it wasn’t enough. In their chase, Leicestershire’s two in-form batsmen, Maddy and Hodge made a flying start, punching anything loose to the boundary. They put on 62 for the first wicket, with Maddy scoring 22. Hodge continued to shine, bringing up his half-century from 25 balls, and seven fours.However, the introduction of Adam Hollioake, playing in his last Twenty20 match, in the 11th over pegged Leicestershire back. Darren Stevens came in and played some handsome shots, but he was miraculously caught on the long-off boundary by Mahmood for 20, and John Sadler then chipped Hollioake straight to Clarke at midwicket.Leicestershire required 35 off the last four overs, and two boundaries in the 16th over from Snape tilted the math back in his side’s favour. Snape then crunched a huge six over Hollioake’s head in the penultimate over, and Hodge smacked him back down the ground two balls later – and that was effectively that.The equation came down to four needed from the last over, and this time Mahmood couldn’t repeat his heroics from the semi-final, as Snape caressed the first ball through midwicket for the winning boundary to start Leicestershire’s well-deserved victory.
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A blistering innings from Darren Maddy helped put Leicestershire into the final of the Twenty20 Cup. Leicestershire, last year’s semi-finalists, piled on a healthy total of 165 for 5, and Glamorgan’s innings never really got going, despite 44 from David Hemp, and they went down by 24 runs.After Brad Hodge won the toss and opted to bat, he and Maddy made a rollicking start, with Maddy smacking 72 from 40 balls, and becoming the first player to 500 runs in the competition. He brought up his half-century from only 25 balls, and scored six fours and four sixes in all.Hodge and Maddy put on 81 for the opening stand before Hodge was out caught by Hemp off Robert Croft for 22. Darren Stevens then chipped in at No. 3 with 27 from 20 balls, and although the middle order slightly lost their way during the closing overs, their total proved to be too much for Glamorgan.Mark Cleary made sure of that with two early wickets, including Matthew Maynard for 9. Hemp and Mark Wallace gave Glamorgan an outside chance with a stand of 49, but once Hemp was caught off the impressive Claude Henderson, his side were always up against it.The wickets continued to tumble as Glamorgan searched for the big hits, and Ottis Gibson wrapped things up when he had Michael Kasprowicz caught on the long-on boundary. Leicestershire now face Surrey in the final, and will be hoping to go one step further this time.
ScorecardSurrey made it through to their successive Twenty20 Cup final – but only just. In an enthralling finish to a low-scoring match against Lancashire, they scraped home by a single run.After Surrey had squandered a blistering start to make 133 all out from their 20 overs, Azhar Mahmood held his nerve to bowl the final over with Lancashire requiring seven to win. However, Chris Schofield could only manage a single and Surrey booked their place in the final.

Warren Hegg inserted Surrey at the toss, and Alistair Brown got off to a flying start, smacking seven fours in quick time before he was bowled by Andrew Flintoff for 32. Flintoff then picked up the wicket of Scott Newman for 12 as Surrey began to falter. Gary Keedy and Dinesh Mongia then spun Surrey into deeper trouble with five wickets between them, including Mark Ramprakash for 24 and Adam Hollioake for 1.Requiring 134 to win, Lancashire made a bright start as Flintoff hit his first ball for four. However, Azhar rolled out one of his effective slower balls, and Flintoff hit it high in the air to Brown at mid-off for 15. From then on, wickets continued to fall and Lancashire were up against it, especially when Carl Hooper was bowled by Nayan Doshi for 26. However, Dominic Cork entered the fray and smacked 25 from 13 balls, but the big moment of the match came when he skied Hollioake to Clarke at mid-off and Surrey held their nerve to close out a thrilling match.

After losing their fourth consecutive series to South Africa, West Indies’ coach, Bennett King, has said that their approach will be as positive in the fourth Test – which begins in Antigua tomorrow – as it has been through the series.”People have noticed an improvement in the way the players have been approaching the cricket on the field, but it has not turned into results just yet,” King was quoted by AFP. “Coming into this role, I was not expecting to all of a sudden see West Indies become the No. 1 side in the world. Things take time. It cannot be fixed in a matter of months, but over a period of time.”What the period of time is, I do not know, but if they are not improving from match to match, then I’ll start asking myself questions about if I am doing the job I am supposed to be doing,” he continued. “While the players are still in the process of improving, and they are giving me that feedback, I’ll continue going down the same path for the time-being.”There were two changes to the squad, with Tino Best replacing Reon King, while Ryan Hinds made way for Narsingh Deonarine.Best, who has not played competitive cricket since the England tour last August due to a back injury, said he was raring to go in the fourth Test without feeling the pressures that are part of a comeback. “It is always a good opportunity to play for the West Indies. I relish the opportunity,” Best was quoted in the Jamaica Observer. “I think I’m fit. I’m 100%. I’ve been working hard. The physical trainer is doing a great job so far.”I don’t feel under any pressure. That’s the number one thing you get out of your mind, any pressure on your mind. You just want to go and relax and feel confident. As long as you put on that maroon cap you always feel confident. Just work hard.”However, South Africa are looking to continue piling the misery on their distraught opponents. Graeme Smith indicated that his side would not take things lightly despite winning the series. “One thing we learnt from the eight or nine months of tough times is that we cannot afford to take a Test match win, Test match form or personal form for granted, so we will be looking to perform well out there every single day of the match.”Some people may look back at our victories in Trinidad and in Barbados and may consider them easy, but there were far from being easy wins,” he said. “We have worked very hard for our two victories under some trying conditions. We should never be satisfied with our position, and we should look to take our game up a level or two each time.”

Sachin Tendulkar said he was happy to have notched up his first hundred at the Adelaide Oval, one where he hadn’t made much of an impact earlier. Returning to the city where he met Don Bradman in 1998, he brought up his sixth hundred in Australia and second of the series.”I knew that Adelaide hasn’t been a great ground for me,” he said after his unbeaten hundred at the end of the first day. “In 1999 I scored 65 runs here and that was my best, so I was determined to get a big one here. It also happens to be Sir Don’s home ground. I wasn’t thinking about that while batting out there but am very pleased to have got a hundred at this venue.”Tendulkar admitted that this was one of his most complete innings, talking about how certain balls went exactly where he intended. “The first straight drive off [Brett] Lee gave me a lot of confidence,” he said. “I middled it and the shot went exactly where I wanted it to go. In the next over I repeated it [against Mitchell Johnson]. So I took it from there.”There are days when you are moving well, days when you’re not. There are also days when you middle the ball and days when you don’t. You need to wait for that moment. I’ve felt those moments off and on in my career. Any hundred is special but when the team really needs one, it means more. Today there were big shots in between and defensive ones too. It was important we [Laxman and him] just stayed there and played according to the merit of the ball. We needed to play out the good spells properly.”Tendulkar has received an overwhelming reception in Australia, entering to standing ovations and being cheered throughout. No other Indian batsman has been accorded such a warm applause. “It’s truly special,” he said, “and sometimes I need to look at the scoreboard to figure out whether I’m 100-plus or zero. It means a lot to me and would like to thank each and every person for treating me like this. It makes every trip of mine very special.”Like in the first two Tests, Tendulkar was particularly severe on Brad Hogg but denied having “targeted” him for punishment. “Any bowler can get you out, you don’t want to take anyone for granted,” he said. “It all depends on the flow of my innings. If I pick the ball early enough, I will put it away. There were patches when he bowled well and patches when I felt I could put the ball away. Whenever I got the opportunity I made it count. That was my strategy.”Tendulkar went from 86 to 100 in a sequence that read 4,2,6,2, smashing the part-time spin of Michael Clarke. “I thought the wind was behind me and wanted to use it,” he said. “I knew if I middled the ball, it would clear the field. Even if I don’t middle it the wind would work.”I was very positive at that stage and if the ball was there to put away, I was prepared to do that again,” he said off the six that took him to 98. “When I played that off-drive [to get to 100], I played inside out, though it was not a half-volley. I had that chance to force the ball. I got the time to force it a little bit.”He was pleased to have weathered the old-ball burst from Lee – “he has been their stand-out bowler” – and thought India would need to bat as long as possible to increase their chances of leveling the series. “I think to put up a big total in the first innings would be the key. Later on I think the wicket might have some big cracks. Ideally we would like to score as many runs tomorrow. The first session will be very important.”

ScorecardAmit Pagnis’s century helped Central Zone, the defending champions, make an emphatic start to their Duleep Trophy campaign and finish with 299 for 3 at the end of the opening day against South at Surat. Hemang Badani’s decision to field first backfired as Pagnis and Jyoti Prasad Yadav, who made 87, put the South bowlers to the sword. Lakshmipathy Balaji didn’t have any success in his 14 overs and it was left to Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, the left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu, to snap up two wickets.
ScorecardJoginder Sharma and Amit Mishra, the duo from Haryana, routed the visiting Zimbabwe President’s XI for just 94 on the first day at the Wankhede Stadium. Joginder, the medium-pacer, ripped through the top order and finished with a rich haul of 6 for 21 while Mishra, the legspinner, mopped up the tail. North added 62 by the end of the day and, after the reverse against East in the earlier game, were well on their way to gaining a much needed bonus point.

Shane Warne has dismissed rumours of an impending ODI comeback for Australia. Warne, back in England for the start of a county season with Hampshire, was reported by AFP saying he had no intention of coming out of his self-imposed one-day international retirement.Warne was mystified by comments made by John Buchanan, Australia’s coach, hinting he might be ready to change his mind in time for the World Cup next year in the West Indies. “I must have said it 14,000 times. I have retired and I have no aspirations to return,” Warne reiterated after skippering Hampshire to victory in their C&G Ttrophy match against Essex at the Rose Bowl.This contradicts statements made by Buchanan, published by Australian papers, which said there had been discussions with Warne about the possibility of a return. “Ricky [Ponting], myself and Andrew Hilditch [chairman of selectors] have all had discussions with Shane about the World Cup,” Buchanan told . “There needs to be commitment or otherwise from him. Either he makes himself available in terms of the team moving forward with its plans, or not. And then the selectors will have some decisions on their plate from there. Shane spoke to us in South Africa, and then again in Bangladesh.”But Warne insisted, “I have to be fair to the squad. There is a lot of cricket ahead in the next year with the ICC Trophy, the VB Series and the World Cup and they have to prepare. I have been out of the limited-overs team for three years and I have absolutely no desire to come back.”I have taken 200 wickets in the last two years in Test matches and that is no coincidence. I have been playing better than ever. John Buchanan must have misunderstood what I was saying and I know people have been saying that I have been talking to Ricky Ponting but in Bangladesh there was not much else to do but talk.”Warne, who missed Australia’s victorious World Cup campaign in 2003 after failing a drugs test which saw him banned from professional cricket for a year, added, “If Ricky said to me at some stage ‘look we really need you’, then I would think about it, but I don’t think it would ever come to that. The team has done really well without me and I will be barracking for them in the World Cup, but not playing for them.”Warne, who has 293 wickets from 194 one-day internationals, subsequently went into voluntary retirement from ODIs. His only appearance since came in last year’s tsunami charity match between Asia and the Rest of the World in front of his home crowd at the MCG, a fixture controversially awarded full limited-overs international status.