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Regional cricket associations have been knocked for seemingly withholding their best players from representing the West Indies ‘B’ team in the Busta Series.Additionally, team captain Roland Holder feels the cream of the regional Under-23s, with the exception of Test players, should be made to play for the ‘B’ team if it is to make a greater impact.A lot of the territories need to be honest in their nominations for the ‘B’team if it is going to serve the purpose for which it is intended, the experienced former Barbados batsman told NATIONSPORT yesterday.We had a couple of players who could not make their national trials or, in the case of one or two from the Leewards and Windwards, who could not make their national side.It was Holder’s forthright view that a player who is put forward to represent the West Indies ‘B’ team should be someone who is on the verge of making his national team.I think most territories have selected their 16, kept the best of the reserves and then sent basically what has not been a true representation of this team.As a reference, he pointed to Guyana fast bowler Reon Griffith who was kept in their 13-man squad for the first five matches. Griffith did not play a single match and was only released to the ‘B’ team for the sixth round.I know all the territories want to win . . . [but] it is all about the development of West Indies’ cricket, said the 34-year-old Holder, who played successfully for Barbados in regional competition between 1986 and 2001.In cases like that, I think we need to be honest with ourselves.West Indies ‘B’, which is participating in the Busta Series for the second successive year, are languishing at the bottom of the table ahead of their final match against Barbados, starting tomorrow at Kensington Oval.However, there have been encouraging signs, among them centuries from Guyanese Krishna Arjune and debutant Donovan Pagon.For a team which has passed 250 in six of their 11 innings and has only been dismissed for fewer than 200 on one occasion, four defeats in six matches might not been an accurate reflection of their performance.Defeats will always be defeats. It means that you didn’t play better or as well as the opposition, Holder said.We have been batting reasonably well consistently. We have scored on average 500 runs per game.The only problem is that we tend to score most of those runs in the second innings. By then it’s usually playing catch-up cricket.Holder described the overall performance of the team as indifferent.It is very difficult under this present structure to get the sort of results you are looking for granted I’ve seen lots of improvements in all of these players, he said.What needs to happen is that the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) decides that the best Under-23 side, excluding those who have played Test cricket, be selected to play as this team.Under such a proposal, promising players such as prolific Windward Islands opener Devon Smith, West Indies youth captain Narsingh Deonarine, Barbadian fast bowler Tino Best and fellow pacer Darren Powell of Jamaica would have to play for the West Indies ‘B’ ahead of their national sides.

“It’s cause for concern when people score 2000 runs and average more than 100 in back-to-back seasons … and they are still overlooked” © Getty Images

Mark Ramprakash has expressed his disappointment at not earning an England recall after selector Geoff Miller called him three weeks before the squad to Sri Lanka was announced and asked him about his future plans.”When selector Geoff Miller rang me before the squad was picked, asking lots of questions about my future plans, I thought I had a genuine chance of going to Sri Lanka,” Ramprakash told the newspaper. “Chairman of selectors David Graveney rang me before the squad was announced to try and explain the rationale behind leaving me out, but afterwards I was still none the wiser. He said I had a great season and couldn’t have done any more to get in the squad, so I replied. ‘Hang on – if I couldn’t have done any more, why am I not in the side?'”Ramprakash was the highest run-scorer of the 2006 and 2007 County Championship with averages of over 100 and was the only batsman to go past the 2000-run mark in the two seasons.”It’s cause for concern when people score 2000 runs and average more than 100 in back-to-back seasons, which is hardly a flash in the pan, and they are still overlooked,” he said.”I would love to know which boxes I hadn’t ticked.”All my fitness charts at Surrey last summer showed I’m as fit at 38 as I was when I broke into the England side at 21. And if age alone was the issue, all I can say is that’s unfair – Graham Gooch scored heaps of runs for England between the age of 35 and 40.”

Mohammad Kaif and Irfan Pathan square off against each other as Baroda take on UP © Getty Images

Uttar Pradesh’s inability to knock off the 129 runs they were set in 25 overs in their previous match against Tamil Nadu means this match is all about the coming together of three players who surely believe they should be in South Africa – Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina – and two others, RP Singh, and Piyush Chawla, who also have Team India aspirations. As it turned out, UP lost wickets in a hurry against Tamil Nadu, settled for a draw, got two points where they could have got five, and are at the bottom of Group A. Baroda are at the top. It is not mathematically impossible for UP to make it to the semi-finals but requires a miracle bigger than they had enacted last year – they had four points in four matches and won everything from then on to become champions; this year they have four points from five matches.And so the next four days will be largely about the five India cricketers.For Pathan, Kaif, and Raina the wheel seems to have turned a full circle. A year ago they promised so much; Pathan was going through a dream run, unable to do anything wrong and getting that hat-trick in Karachi. Kaif and Raina, out of the Test side, were busy winning UP their first Ranji title and, in so doing, strengthening their places in the one-day side and staking a claims for Tests too. Today, they’re wondering how to get back to the team.Pathan has become the first Indian player to have been sent back home midway during a series. Kaif and Raina failed so miserably in South Africa that, instead of pushing towards Test selections, they were dropped in favour of Dinesh Mongia and Dinesh Kartik.With the World Cup probables slated to be announced on January 12, this match becomes all the more important for Singh and Chawla. Pathan, Kaif, and Raina should be able to make it to the list of World Cup probables but this match, for them, could be a trial for the selection for two four-match series against Sri Lanka and West Indies, which in turn could serve as a trial for the final World Cup selections. The two series will be the last cricket India play before setting off for the West Indies.For Pathan this match could mark the start of a long road back. For Raina and Kaif, this could be a major bend on the road. They have had a mixed return to the Ranji Trophy. While Raina started with a duck on a difficult Kanpur surface, Kaif got 91 to bail his team out. UP lost that match narrowly to Karnataka. Kaif got a pair in the next game and Raina failed to do anything special as UP lost by an innings to Haryana. Then came the game against Tamil Nadu where Raina got a timely hundred and Kaif 88, offering the hope that they’d recovered their form. Having failed to finish two games they could have won, they will need to raise their game considerably to convince anyone that they’re serious contenders.Pathan looked quite relaxed at the practice sessions and, if one can hazard a guess, relieved at being away from all the attention and comfortable in the company of old friends and team-mates. The last time he was called Irfan Pathan junior was in November 2003, and he would hope this would be a fruitful return to his home side.After a light warm-up with a game with Frisbees and some exercise, he took aside Pinal Shah, Baroda wicketkeeper, and bowled on the pitch adjacent to the one to be used for the match, which had a look of green on it but experts around feel it should turn out to be a good batting track after a few hours of sun on it. Then after some catching practice, he had another long dig at the nets, both with the bat and the ball.The UP team went about their nets in a typically random manner. Kaif was among the first to reach the ground and padded up right away. This is the first time Kaif and Pathan will go head-to-head since they won their India caps and they prepared for the duel with a lunch at Pathan’s place yesterday. Two friends are looking at the same destination, having taken different roads that intersect tomorrow. Unfortunately for UP, as far as this year’s Ranji Trophy is concerned they on the exit lane.

Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) were dismissed for a modest first-innings score of 247 on the first day of their second round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match against Habib Bank at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex.Habib Bank, a record seven-time winner of the Patron’s Trophy who had to share the title last season with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) following a rain-interrupted final, rattled KRL yesterday after their batsmen had prospered to reach a score of 169 for the loss of only four wickets.Abdul Rehman, a left-arm slow bowler, and Imran Farhat, who bowls right-arm leg-breaks, snared the next five wickets for the addition of just 25. KRL were saved by a 53-run last-wicket partnership that took them beyond the 200-mark. Rehman’s five wickets eventually cost him 120 runs but Imran bowled a mere nine overs while taking 3 for 18. For KRL, Ali Naqvi, former Pakistan Test opening batsman, top-scored with 74 off 109 balls in a little over two-and-a-half hours with nine boundaries. With Saeed Bin Nasir (23), Naqvi’s fifth-wicket stand was worth 75 runs. Earlier, Saeed Anwar Jr (30) and Mohtashim Ali (35) had made useful contributions. Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rauf then hit 53 runs for the tenth wicket in 44 minutes. By the close of play, in seven overs, Habib Bank’s openers had replied with 16 for no loss.In their first-round match, a tall-scoring affair, Habib Bank claimed the three first-innings points from a draw against PIA. Pakistan Customs took six points in their win over KRL, after the latter had earlier attained the first-innings lead.Sufyan Munir and Misbah-ul-Haq made unbeaten half-centuries and were involved in an unbroken 132-run stand for the third wicket as Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) took the opening day’s full 83 overs to reach 220 for 2 against Pakistan Customs at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex. Sufyan was at the crease for four hours and 20 minutes for an unbeaten 81 that came off 201 balls with 13 fours. He is nearing his eighth century in first-class cricket. Misbah-ul-Haq, having been discarded after five Tests and 12 One-day Internationals for Pakistan, made a compact 68 not out off 136 balls in just under four hours with five fours and a couple of sixes. Sui Gas batted first after Misbah had won the toss. The opening stand was worth 38 runs in a little over an hour although Haafiz Majid Jahangir scored only eight runs. Sohail Idrees added an exact 50 runs for the second wicket with Sufyan, hitting five fours in 37 runs off 72 deliveries. Sufyan, who was bowled by opening bowler Imran Ali off a no-ball when on 66, had 11 fours in his half-century. Sui Gas, however, moved ahead at a slow pace.In their first-round match of the tournament, Customs had started by beating Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) although they collected only six points instead of the full nine as they had earlier surrendered the first-innings lead. Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited didn’t have a match to play in the previous round.Service Industries crashed to a poor score of 72 all out on the opening day of their second-round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match at the Sheikhupura Stadium and, by stumps, National Bank had drawn level with only two wickets lost.National Bank’s new-ball pair bowled unchanged as Service Industries were dismissed in 31.2 overs. Only one batsman, Afaq Rahim (21) got into the 20s and as many as eight players failed to reach double-figures. Wasim Khan captured 6 for 38 in 15.2 overs. His partner Zahid Saeed, a left-armer who represents Sialkot, took the other four wickets for 28 runs.National Bank lost two quick wickets with 23 runs on the board before Imran Nazir , with an unbeaten 28, and Shahid Yousuf (19 not out) took them to 72 for 2 off 12 overs without further mishap.Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) made a first-innings score of 259 and then claimed 72 all out for just three runs against Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) at the Iqbal Stadium.At one stage, ZTBL were 63 for 6 after having been put in by Aamer Bashir. Then came a seventh-wicket stand of 60 runs and another invaluable partnership of 133 runs for the ninth wicket. The early devastation effected by the PTCL new-ball pair of Tahir Mughal and Mohammad Khalil had been somewhat undone later in the day. Both Tahir and Khalil captured four wickets each, for 71 and 76 runs, respectively.Naved Ashraf, a former Pakistan Test opening batsman, and Adnan Akmal, younger brother of the national-team player Kamran, put on 60 runs for the seventh wicket. Adnan scored 39 runs. Naved missed his eighth first-class hundred by just nine runs, his 91 coming off 182 balls with 12 fours. He found an able partner in Tanvir Ahmed, who finished with 58 not out, for the ninth-wicket partnership. Tanvir and Rao Iftikhar then took a wicket each as PTCL were tottering at 3 for 2 in 3.1 overs by the day’s close.

Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen unwind after arriving in Harare© Getty Images

After 48 hours in which he was locked in meetings with officials from Zimbabwe Cricket in a bid to save England’s tour, David Morgan, the ECB’s chairman, has expressed him hope that taking the field against Zimbabwe will bring "closure" of the whole affair.Morgan has come under intense criticism for his handling of the affair, being accused, among other things, of having “the timing of a top comedian" and acting with the authority of "a half-dead mouse". Some have called for his resignation, while polls in the UK are massively against the tour proceeding. But with the squad safely in Harare, he hit back."We firmly believe in order for closure of the Zimbabwe affair to take effect we need to play cricket here in Zimbabwe … and that’s what we’re here for,” Morgan told the Press Association. “We’re concerned this tour should go smoothly, that there should be no demonstrations, no injury."As for the more personal criticism, Morgan said that he wasn’t immune, but added that he had "had a fairly tough upbringing in business and industry and I’m just concerned I do the right thing. I cannot over-emphasise the importance of gaining closure on this affair, and that will come once we’ve played the cricket.”At least Morgan cannot be accused of talking a soft line with Zimbabwe Cricket over its attempts to reschedule Friday’s cancelled one-day international. It claimed that it would suffer financial hardship because of the decision. "We’ve made it clear we don’t think the ECB are liable for that loss," he said, adding: "It’s a direct result of the delay in media accreditation.”Faced yet again with demands that he should have cancelled the tour when the journalists’ accreditation was originally refused, Morgan stuck to his guns. “It has been very clear to me and our board for a considerable time that moral or political objections to touring are totally unacceptable within the international cricket community. Our business or trade is cricket, and our revenue-earner is international cricket. If we want to trade in international cricket then we have to do so by the rules of the International Cricket Council. People around the world, not just in cricket but in business generally, are fed up with Britain claiming it’s a special case. Internationally the rest of the world is unsympathetic to such claims.”Morgan might face another problem in the coming days. Rumours are circulating that Robert Mugabe, having been forced to back down over the matter of journalists, might look to embarrass the English by paying a visit to one of the games in Harare. Morgan said that his reaction would be difficult to predict but that he had had "confidential advice from the Foreign Office and that advice will be uppermost in my mind."The Foreign Office, however, said that what he did was up to Morgan himself. "We cannot tell him what to do," said a spokesman. "This is not a dictator state, it is the individual’s choice."

England v South Africa, 1st Test, Edgbaston, Day 5England leave Edgbaston with a gritty draw and a bowling headache.One-hundred and seventy-one overs, 728 runs and only nine wickets equals a big problem.Though the pitch was slow, it not as totally lifeless as it looked whenEngland were bowling. Plenty of balls skidded through low or seamed, but the pace attack wasn’t straight enough. Plenty of rough was created outside the right-handers’ leg stump, but Ashley Giles didn’t have the subtlety to exploit it. In this Test, England took a wicket every 114 balls, a strike rate only a shade better than Graham Gooch managed in a career bowling the dibbliest of occasional dibbly-dobbbers.Look harder and the problem is worse than it first appears. In the first innings, two wickets fell to tired swats that were caught on the boundary (Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs), one huge attempted cut caught at third man (Jacques Rudolph), and one to a struggling batsman trying to get on with it (Boeta Dippenaar). Only Gary Kirsten’s leg-side nick could be considered a proper wicket, and that came off a bad ball from Giles.Of today’s dimissals only Kirsten, again, was a genuine triumph for the bowler. Gibbs was bowled courtesy of a deflection off his elbow, and Smith and Rudolph perished giving Giles the charge. The net result is that only two or three of the wickets England took were not as down to South Africa’s search for quick runs.Darren Gough’s usual zip was missing, Steve Harmison could still not turn promising moments into consistent menace, and Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff did what they are in the team to do: block up an end. Impotent was not the right word.Not only did England lack a cutting edge, they also lacked a Plan B. Inrecent series, and in particular in 2001-02 against India, Nasser Hussain has quickly reverted to packing he off side, instructing his bowlers to bowl a foot outside off and waiting for the batsmen to make a mistake.But here England lacked the discipline to bowl on one side of the wicket. Anderson was the prime offender. Though he did finally manage a wicket, it was from one of very few decent balls he bowled. On Sunday morning he was out on the pitch before play bowling into a corridor of cones in a desperate attempt to hone his line and length. For once he looked what he is – a novice.Never was England’s desire for a frightening quick bowler or a mysteryspinner more keenly felt. But a quick glance at the county averages shows no obvious solution. The two leading wicket-takers who are eligible for England – James Kirtley and Jimmy Ormond – offer more consistency but less potency than Anderson. And the only mystery spinner in sight is Mushtaq Ahmed.Wisden Bulletin – Day 5

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa – Pressure is mounting on South Africa batsman Jonty Rhodes to end his retirement from Test cricket ahead of his country’s world championship showdown against Australia at the end of the year.”We are trying to convert him back to Test cricket,” national selector Graeme Pollock said in a news conference at St George’s Park today during South Africa’s second Test against India.”His experience could be invaluable to us. He plays the quick bowlers well and he plays [leg spinner Shane] Warne really well which is going to be important, once again,” Pollock said.Rhodes played his last Test 15 months ago and then retired to concentrate his efforts on the one-day game and South Africa’s bid to win the World Cup in 2003, which it is hosting.The cricketer, regarded as the best fielder in the world, has never made a secret of his desire to spend more time with his wife and two-year-old daughter and has so far refused to change his mind.Former team-mate turned commentator Pat Symcox wrote an open letter to Rhodes in the national daily newspaper The Citizen today in which he implored him to reconsider his decision.”All I ask is that you give us some of your valuable time – just one more time,” Symcox wrote after explaining how important the player would be in helping South Africa beat Australia to become world Test champion.”We must do whatever we can to get him to change his mind, whether it means talking to his wife, Kate, or whoever. It would be reassuring to have him back for the tour,” Pollock said.– AAP

Medical expert Ben Dinnery has shared his view on the injury to Leeds United forward Tyler Roberts, Football Insider report.

The Lowdown: Out for the season

Leeds’ injury woes have continued under new manager Jesse Marsch, who brought Roberts on as his third and final substitute against Leicester City on the weekend.

Minutes after coming on, Roberts suffered a serious hamstring injury but stayed on the pitch to help his teammates in the final stages.

It has since been confirmed by the club that the Welshman has had surgery on a ruptured hamstring tendon which is set to keep him out of action for three months.

The Latest: Dinnery’s comments

Dinnery, who contributes for Sky Sports, was analysing Roberts’ injury in a story for Football Insider hours before the clash with Aston Villa. He claimed an avulsion fracture occurred after over-stretching for the ball.

“Watching the game, it looked as though he over-stretched for a bouncing ball.

“That seems to have been when the injury occurred whereas most hamstring injuries normally occur when you’re sprinting.

“When there is that sudden forcible contraction of the hamstring muscle, that can cause what I understand now to be an avulsion fracture.

“That is when the muscle is separated from the bone.

“Because the injury didn’t fit the usual parameters and mechanism, that is why Marsch referenced it as a weird one. It’s not your typical setback.”

The Verdict: Never ending

Rob Price’s treatment table was gradually beginning to quiet down with Patrick Bamford set to make a return this evening against Villa and Liam Cooper back in training. However, he now has a new addition in the treatment room in Roberts, who won’t be available until next season.

The Whites will be desperate to guarantee their Premier League status over the coming months and forget all about the current campaign, due to their ongoing injury issues.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Hopefully, Marsch will have better luck next season when it comes to injuries, but we won’t be seeing Roberts in the final 11 league games.

In other news: Phil Hay drops huge Leeds news from Thorp Arch before Villa. 

A dislodged leg bail was enough for Brett Lee to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar © AFP

Please, please behave
Before the first ball was bowled, once the toss was done and play was about to begin, the PA system was given its first run. Professor Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the BCCI and treasurer of the Mumbai Cricket Association, was put to the multi-lingual test. First in English, then Marathi and finally in Hindi, he exhorted the crowd to not “indulge in racist or abusive” behaviour towards the players. It temporarily silenced the chants of “Aussies suck”, a disturbing slogan that Mumbai has adopted, but soon enough the 35,000-plus crowd was at it again. And worse.Magic ball
It was anything but. If anything, it was the worst ball of Murali Kartik’s spell of 10-3-27-6. Short, wide, outside the off, and Andrew Symonds could have hit it pretty much anywhere he wanted. All through this series he has been sending perfectly good balls into the stands. This time he picked a long-hop, and hit it straight to Sachin Tendulkar at cover, topping off his sumptuous 107 not out in Nagpur with a first-ball duck to end the series, in Mumbai. Earlier, at a press conference, Kartik had suggested “locking Symonds up” in a room far from the ground as a way of stopping him. Apparently the long-hop works as well.Going, going, gone
In the 39th over, after Mitchell Johnson had attempted, twice in succession, to heave Harbhajan Singh over midwicket and made contact with nothing but air, Harbhajan waited at the end of his follow-through and put his hand to his forehead, peering exaggeratedly towards midwicket. He was pretending to look for the ball in the stands despite it having rushed through to the keeper. Off Harbhajan’s next over, Johnson replied in kind, first clattering a straight six, hitting with the turn and over long-off, and then dispatching one through midwicket. Harbhajan wasn’t standing around to look in this case.Last hurrah
Tendulkar is always received with reverence here at the Wankhede Stadium – although even he cops a fair share of abuse from the infamous North Stand – but today was special in many ways. Not only was it likely to be Tendulkar’s last international at the ground – it’s set to be refurbished and will only be used for an international next in 2011 for the final of the World Cup – but it was exactly twenty years ago to the day when Tendulkar did duty here as a ball boy, returning the ball to the players from the ropes in an India-Zimbabwe match. Only 26,863 international runs have flowed from his bat since. Not bad, for a ball boy.Top of leg
Just like you don’t have to hit the ball out of the stadium for six runs, a loft over the boundary will do, you don’t need to send the middle stump cartwheeling to dislodge a batsman. In fact, there’s real beauty in the delivery that pitches in just the right spot to defeat the stroke – and in this case Tendulkar was attempting to coax a Brett Lee inswinger through cover – and take the bail. The inside edge sent the ball clinically into leg bail, and Tendulkar’s last innings at the Wankhede Stadium yielded only 21 runs.

It’s a tremendous loss to Indian cricket. Hanumant was one of the finest gentlemen I have met. He was talented enough to have gone on to lead the country but things didn’t go his way at all. He was a very good reader of the game, one of the shrewdest minds I have encountered. He was a wonderful mentor and fine coach.My fondest memory of him was during my Test debut in Kolkata. It was the game against West Indies when the stand was burnt down. There was tear gas being sprayed and I couldn’t see anything. Amid all that commotion I was trying to search for my shoes and blazer. It was Hanumant who came to me, found my things and guided me to safety. He always thought of others before thinking of himself.He was a very close friend of mine. It’s a sad day for Indian cricket. He was extremely knowledgeable and an excellent coach. He was also a man of multi-faceted talents – he was a good match-referee, director of the National Cricket Academy. I fondly remember our tour to England in 1967 and it was when I realised how well he analysed cricket. I haven’t come across someone who could analyse cricket so well. He also made batting look very easy.It’s very sad that such a thing should happen within two months of him getting ill. He was a close friend. Naturally a great loss as far as cricket is concerned. He was a brilliant player in his days and was doing his bit for Indian cricket by coaching youngsters. He was not afraid to take tough decisions and was a hugely respected coach.I have lost one my very best friends in Hanumant Singh. I played with him for many years for the State Bank team, along with Baloo Gupte, Sharad Diwadkar, Budhi Kunderan … and I’m the only one of the five left now.The main thing about Hanumant was that he was a damn good batsman off the back foot. It is very rare to find someone in India who is good off the back foot, generally all are front-foot players. We’ve shared some big partnerships for State Bank, and some great memories as well. He was a bit of an introvert, but a wonderful guy and a team man.It’s amazing that his India career was curtailed by that so-called injury. Otherwise I have no doubt he would have gone on to score plenty of runs for India. Even after that he was absolutely and completely devoted to the game. For him it was just cricket, cricket, cricket, in whatever role he played.The proof of his being a good coach is that one of his wards is now playing for England, in place of Marcus Trescothick – Ed Joyce used to come here to Mumbai for coaching at the World Cricket Academy.