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South Africa will look to continue their successful run against New Zealand with a win in the second ODI in Port Elizabeth. The hosts almost faltered during theirrun-chase in the first ODI in Durban but a win on Friday will give them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.Going by current form, South Africa are clear favourites and this iseven without considering their recordin day-night encounters at St. George’s Park – eights win out of tenODIs, with one no result.The hosts will be boosted by the return of Herschelle Gibbs, who hadmissed the Twenty20 international and the first ODI with a kneeinjury. Gibbs’ standby Morne van Wyk has been released from the squad toplay for the Eagles in the SuperSport series.The other dilemma facing the South African selectors surroundstheir pace attack. New Zealand’s batsmen were blown away by Dale Steynduring the two-Test series, and his inclusion in the playing XI coulddent the tourists’ confidence ahead of a must-win game.However, with Shaun Pollock conceding next to nothing in his ten oversand Andre Nel playing a pivotal role with both ball and bat in the firstODI, the axe could fall on Makhaya Ntini, who proved to be expensive,especially at the death in Durban. Johan Botha might play despite unimpressiveshowings in recent ODIs, since the pitch at St. George’s Park couldfavour the slower bowlers.Graeme Smith, the South African captain, hinted at possible changes inthe bowling line-up. “We’ve got to look at the wicket and theconditions, but obviously Dale [Steyn] and [Charl] Langeveldt come intothe equation,” he was quoted as saying on the website SuperCricket. “We’ll seewhat switches we need to make to suit the conditions.”

Smith’s opposition counterpart Daniel Vettori must be wondering what histeam needs to do to beat this South African side. New Zealand’smain worry through the Tests was the form of their batsmen, but afterthe Durban ODI, the team would be concerned over its bowling optionsas well, besides their poor catching, which Vettori highlighted as the main reason for the last-ball loss at Kingsmead.Kyle Mills’ 5 for 25 in Durban would have done Shane Bond proud but New Zealand could have done with somefirepower at the other end – Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin, ScottStyris and Vettori conceded 220 runs and picked up three wickets.Allrounder Jacob Oram will be a handy addition to the bowlingdepartment. Oram suffered a hamstring strain in thefirst Test, and Vettori indicated the team would play six bowlers.”Jacob’s probably the most important member of our team purely from theroles he fills, batting at number six and able to bowl 10 overs,”Vettori told SuperCricket. “It’s a luxury not many teams have and havinghim back means I can take six bowlers and we get a nice balance whenhe’s playing.”That means wicketkeeper-batsman Gareth Hopkins, who scored a first-ball duck at Kingsmead, is likely to be dropped. The New Zealand captain alsoindicated Jeetan Patel, the offspinner, could get the nod ahead of oneof the quicker bowlers. “The times I’ve played here, I’ve always foundit a low, slow wicket and the guys who’ve been able to take the pace offit have always succeeded here [in Port Elizabeth],” he said. “So seamersstill have an important role to play, but we’ll have a lot of emphasison the slow bowlers.”Vettori admitted his team would be under pressure to win the remainingtwo matches. “We need to win both matches to give ourselves a shot atthe series,” he said. “The way we play tomorrow will be with that inmind, and we definitely will not be playing defensively.”We’ll be chasing that win as hard as we can, but the key thing is thatwhen you are chasing a win, you maybe push a little too hard and forgetabout a few of the simple things you need to do.”However, Smith said he expected South Africa to up their game, and sealthe series. “We want to be more clinical come tomorrow. It would befantastic to close off the series tomorrow,” he said. “The guys get anice break after this weekend, so hopefully we can step it up and playsome really good cricket.”

Darren Lehmann will miss South Australia’s Pura Cup opener against Victoria next month after tearing a hamstring last week. Lehmann had only just started training following an off-season interrupted by surgery on his achilles tendon and a case of deep-vein thrombosis.He told the that at 37 it would be a challenge to make it through a 21st season of first-class cricket. “It is disappointing breaking down again but I guess it’s a case of finding the best way to manage my body,” Lehmann said.Nathan Adcock, the new captain of South Australia, will not be able to call on Lehmann for advice in their first Pura Cup game at Adelaide Oval starting on October 14. Lehmann has also confirmed he will be on the sidelines for the KFC Twenty20 competition in January, giving the Redbacks’ less experienced batsmen a chance to shine.”Twenty20 is probably a young man’s game now,” he said. “It will be good for some young guys to get some more opportunities.”

Sri Lanka’s embattled captain, Hashan Tillakaratne, produced a crucial unbeaten 74 to carry his side into a position of strength on the third day against Australia in Colombo. But afterwards he admitted he had been driven on by the belief that he was playing his final match for his country.”When I read the newspapers there were so many things being said and done,” said Tillakaratne. “I just went in there thinking it was my last innings. I just played my normal game and wanted to be there to the end and make a big score.”Until I got to about 30-odd I was struggling a bit, but after that I was okay. We all know that I have had a lean period, but after this knock I should be able to get more runs. I spoke to [the manager] Ranjith Fernando in the morning and asked him what I should do, and he was very supportive and encouraging and told me to play my naturalgame. If I am not scoring I don’t want to be a liability to the team.”It’s not the first time that Tillakaratne has had to bat for his career, and once again he produced the goods when it most mattered. “It was very important for me,” he said. “I rate this 74 as highly as my 136 I scored against India in 2001, when I came back into the side after two-and-a-half years. I thought that would be my last innings as well, but I managed to get a hundred there.”Three late Australian wickets put the cap on Sri Lanka’s day, but Tillakaratne warned that the fourth day would be another tough battle. “We were looking at a lead of 50-60 runs which would have been a psychological advantage for us,” he admitted. “But there are two more days to go and we have to pick up early wickets tomorrow. The wicket is starting to turn and it will definitely help our spinners. I think 250 is gettable on this track.”

The Indian board (BCCI) has told Cricinfo that it will be lodging a complaint with the ECB following confirmation that the PCB has issued No Objection Certificates to Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, allowing them to play county cricket in 2008.The two players are involved with the unauthorised Indian Cricket League and Niranjan Shah, the BCCI’s secretary, told Cricinfo that “we have an understanding with the other countries’ boards that they can’t allow players who are associated with the ICL to be allowed to play at any level, regardless of the reason the player has a contract with his board or not.”If the news is true that the two players have been given NOCs by the PCB then we will take up the issue with the ECB since the two counties – Sussex and Yorkshire – come under the jurisdiction of the England board.”The ECB, however, is legally powerless to take any action in the light of the NOCs being granted and is likely to pass the matter back to the Indian board to sort out directly with its Pakistan counterparts.The situation is further muddied by confusion within the PCB about the issuing of an NOC to Naved-ul-Hasan. On Thursday, Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told Reuters that “the factual position is that some counties had asked the PCB to issue NOC’s for these players. But we’ve now informed them very clearly that since these players are not contracted to us nor eligible to play in Pakistan we don’t come anywhere into this issue at all.”But less than a day later, Naghmi gave Cricinfo an altogether different picture. “Our board’s policy on the ICL remains as it has always been and these players cannot play in Pakistan,” he said. “But the board also felt that there is no legal or moral reason in stopping someone from playing cricket in another country. That is subject to their laws. So, on this basis, we have sent an NOC, which maybe wasn’t as well-worded as planned, but the intention was made clear.”Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive, told Cricinfo that the NOC had in fact been received last week and was dated March 17. “We have a signed letter that is very clear in confirming they [the PCB] have no objection,” he said. This was then sent to the ECB, along with the player’s registration form, and was accepted by the board.Today’s news follows the revelations last week that the ECB had refused registrations for five players because of their participation in the ICL. But with Pakistan approving Mushtaq and Naved-ul-Hasan, and in so doing leaving the England board with no room for manoeuvre, there are certain to be some terse exchanges between the PCB and the BCCI in the coming days.

Dennis Lillee, the champion former Australian fast bowler, has describedMuttiah Muralitharan’s decision to pull out of next month’s two-Test seriesas “pathetic” and “a real cop-out”.Muralitharan cited “personal reasons” for his decision to pull out of SriLanka’s two Tests against Australia in Darwin and Cairns, starting July 1. Aspokesman for Sri Lanka Cricket told AFP: “He won’t be going to Australiafor personal reasons, and he handed over a formal letter about this to SriLanka Cricket president, Mohan de Silva.”The board agreed unanimously to his request for a short break from the game.”Muttiah Muralitharan is a national asset,” SLC added in a press release.”However, due to the disturbing turn of events which took place since beingreported by Chris Broad, and the various adverse comments in the recent past, he is undergoing tremendous pressure.”According to Ajit Jayasekera, the team manager, Murali’s team-mates havebacked his decision: “We are totally supportive because we have seen thetrauma he has been put through in recent weeks. We understand why he hasmade this decision.”Dennis Lillee was less soothing, telling The West Australian paper: “I was brought up to be wary of people who pick up their batand go home. I think this is a pathetic decision and a real cop-out.”Muralitharan has played all these Tests and taken all these cheap wickets,like against the Zimbabwe 2nd XI, but now he is not fronting up when thegoing gets tough.”Shane Warne, who may also miss the series with a broken bone in his hand, was similarly scathing of Murali’s decision, describing him as “thin-skinned”. Warne told Melbourne’s Sun Herald newspaper: “I think it is the wrong decision not to tour. He has a lot of critics, particularly in Australia, but you can’t afford to let the critics get to you.”However Kim Hughes, the former Australian captain, described Murali’s absence as “a real tragedy”, a view echoed by James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive. “We’re disappointed that Murali has decided not to tour Australia for what is an important series between the two countries,” said Sutherland.”It’s disappointing for the people of Darwin and Cairns who were lookingforward to seeing him bowl, and it’s disappointing for the Australian players who relish the opportunity of playing against the best in the world … We hope to have him back in Australia at some stage in the future.”Muralitharan, 32, was not prepared to rule out that prospect last night. “It’s not because I don’t like Australia or anything like that,” he told The Australian . “I might tour Australia again.”On his two previous tours down under Murali was called for throwing by Australian umpires and heckled by spectators, events which made him remarkthat he would never go there again.The break from cricket will allow Murali to take a well-earned rest beforecommencing a non-stop season of international cricket, which starts with theAsia Cup at home in July, followed by South Africa’s visit, the ICC Champions Trophy in England, and tours to Bangladesh and New Zealand before the end of the year.Sri Lanka already have two other spinners in their 15-man squad and no replacement is expected.

The wretched form of Herschelle Gibbs leaves South Africa facing a serious selection dilemma as they try to lift themselves out of a rut – a losing run that stretches back seven games – and keep alive their series hopes in Dambulla on Wednesday.Gibbs, a surefire selection for so long, is in danger of being axed, as Graeme Smith, South Africa’s frustrated captain, admitted after the team’s morning practice session on Tuesday. But Smith also hinted that Gibbs’s matchwinning qualities could save him from the guillotine for the time being.Gibbs’s problems started with an ankle injury, sustained in Pretoria before the tour. It kept him out of the first practice game and the first Test. Then, after he worked feverishly to regain his full fitness, his early-season rustiness was clinically exploited by Sri Lanka’s new-ball bowlers in the second Test.After failures in the first two matches of this one-day series, including a ghastly swipe that left his stumps splayed in the second game, he has a total of 11 runs from four visits to the crease. Two boundaries may be enough for him to regain his touch, but Martin van Jaarsveld, who scored some runs in the Tests, is waiting eagerly on the sidelines.”Herschelle is a world-class player and has been a proven matchwinner time and time again for South Africa,” Smith told reporters. “It is very difficult to leave out a man of his calibre, as we know he could go out any day and win the game in 30 overs. But it is something that has been up for consideration with the selectors.””We have options with a few guys that can bat in the top order,” added Smith, “and Martin [van Jaarsveld] is the likeliest to play if we leave Gibbs out.” But wholesale changes are unlikely: “I don’t expect too many changes though. We have been playing our best team and will give them one more go.”South Africa are drawing inspiration from their magnificent fightback against Pakistan last year, when they stormed back from a similarly dire position to win the series 3-2. However, this time South Africa are under pressure as their run of defeats starts to threaten the ten-match losing streak under Kepler Wessels in 1994.But Smith insists that his team are not lacking in confidence or commitment – they just need a bit of luck to spark a comeback. “We have fallen out of the winning habit and we have been a little tense in the crunch situations. We have spoken about the need to relax a little bit so that we can finish games off more ruthlessly.”Sri Lanka’s squad, in high spirits after the wedding of Nuwan Zoysa yesterday, trained in the afternoon. Although Tillakaratne Dilshan is suffering from a painful ankle, they will be picking from a full squad. Their only dilemma is the balance of the attack: two seamers or three? Farveez Maharoof and Rangana Herath are battling for the final place.

If the England & Wales Cricket Board thought it had put the Zimbabwe issue on the backburner for the time being, it has another thing coming. Following the alleged strong-arm tactics that were used to ensure that a reasonably full-strength squad was selected for the trip, the backlash could yet come from the players themselves.Earlier this month, the ECB confirmed that no player would be penalised if he preferred not to embark on the controversial five-match tour, and it seems that some players intend to take that promise at face value.Andrew Flintoff, one of the few players to be exempted from the trip, has confirmed that he never had any intention of touring anyway, while Darren Gough is another to have voiced serious doubts about the morality of playing in Zimbabwe.”Nothing’s changed since those meetings and problems we had in Cape Town before the start of the World Cup,” Flintoff told The Sun newspaper in London. “I didn’t want to go then – so why should I want to go now?” His doubts were echoed by Gough, who admitted to The Daily Telegraph that much could change in the next few months.”If the plane had left this morning I’d have gone,” admitted Gough, “but there’s still a long way to go and a lot of things can happen. There are a lot more conversations people have to have and they will be going on over the next couple of months.”There are one or two players who seem certain to tour, however. Ashley Giles was given the option of a break, but decided against it, possibly out of fear that his replacement would prove hard to dislodge if he excelled. And Alex Wharf, a newcomer to the side, told The Western Mail that he had to put moral considerations to one side at this formative stage of his career.”I think I’d be foolish if I said I wasn’t going to go to Zimbabwe,” said Wharf. “I have only just begun my international career and I don’t think it would be a good idea to jeopardise that by making any sort of stand. Whatever the political situation, we are going out there to play cricket and, like the rest of the boys, I just want to concentrate on the cricket.”Vaughan himself is in an invidious position as captain, and admitted as much to The Sun. “Under normal circumstances, I would have welcomed an extended break after a long international season,” he said. “But the England team and the game as a whole are faced with an extraordinary situation in undertaking this tour to Zimbabwe.”

A hip injury has ruled Nathan Bracken out of Australia’s squad for the opening VB Series game against India on Friday. Bracken strained a muscle in his left hip while fielding in the last Test against India at Sydney. He was replaced by Brad Williams in the 13-man squad for the first few matches of the series, according to AAP, an Australian news agency.Bracken, who played 14 games over a period of three years, commented: “Obviously I am disappointed … I am hopeful that the injury can heal quickly.”He’s in luck. The official line was that it wasn’t a bad injury. “It is not a major injury,” said Errol Alcott, Australia’s physiotherapist. “We’re confident that he will improve quickly.”Bracken’s injury followed in the wake of a spate of injuries that have plagued Australia’s fast bowlers recently. In the last year, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee, and now Bracken, have found themselves out of the team due to injury. Glenn McGrath, Australia’s leading fast bowler, has not bowled a ball in international cricket since July, following ankle surgery.

For the first time, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will running a Level One coaching course, for the fixed price of Rs.5000 (£50).The course will take place at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, from November 29 to December 3, and will be conducted by qualified foreign coaches. The PCB will award certificates to those who successfully complete the course.Those wishing to participate should send their names and a cheque payable to the PCB, to the Administrator Academies, National Cricket Academy, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore by November 10 at the latest.

Champaka Ramanayake, the former Sri Lankan fast bowler, has been appointed the fast bowling coach of Bangladesh for the next two years. Bangladesh have also roped in the services of former Sri Lankan offspinner Ruwan Kalpage as their high performance head coach to run their National Cricket Academy, which will be set up shortly in Mirpur, Dhaka.Speaking about his switch in allegiance, Ramanayake, who also headed Sri Lanka’s Fast Bowling Academy for the past seven years said, “I would have loved to continue to help my country produce more fast bowlers, but at the same time I also had to look after myself financially. The offer from the Bangladesh Cricket Board was too attractive to turn down.”Ramanayake, 43, said he had no regrets in leaving his present job as he felt there were enough fast bowlers in the queue to serve Sri Lanka for the next two to three years. During his tenure at the academy, he had the privilege of working with many of the current crop of fast bowlers, the most notable being Lasith Malinga. He predicted that two young fast bowlers, Madura Lakmal Perera from Kalutara and Tamil Union’s Suranga Lakmal, could be playing in the national team shortly.”In the seventies and eighties the country depended to a large extent on spin,” Ramanayake said. “The scenario has completely changed now with the national side sometimes fielding as many as three to four fast bowlers in a match.”He hasn’t ruled out returning to his role in Sri Lanka once his contract with Bangladesh finishes. His assistant, Anusha Samaranayake, is expected to take over the role as head coach of the academy.A Level I (English) and Level II (Australian) qualified coach, Ramanayake played first-class cricket for 20 years for Tamil Union and Galle CC, taking 480 wickets. He played 18 Tests (44 wickets) and 62 ODIs (68 wickets) for Sri Lanka between 1988 and 1995.Kalpage’s wealth of experience in coaching, including his work with junior Sri Lankan teams, helped him clinch the job in Bangladesh. Another former spinner Piyal Wijetunga, who has been assisting Kalpage, is expected to take on the role of spin bowling coach.”It was too good an opportunity to miss,” Kalpage said. “I had to think of my future. I thought here was a good opportunity for me to extend my experience and one day come back and be national coach of Sri Lanka.”Kalpage stated it was a new challenge for him to be invited to head an academy of a Test-playing nation and hoped his appointment would spark more opportunities for coaches in Sri Lanka.”No Test playing country has made such an offer to Sri Lankans before and I consider it an honour. The experience I will gain is good for my future. It also opens the door for other Sri Lanka coaches as well. Several foreign coaches come to Sri Lanka with lucrative salaries and gain experience at different levels. This is an opportunity for us to show that we are also equally capable as the foreign coaches.”At present we are not recognised on par with the foreign coaches in our own country. We don’t have a proper salary structure in place and there is no proper grading of coaches. Thereby our coaches have no future here.”Kalpage’s role as high performance head coach also involves setting up a proper A squad for Bangladesh and assisting their national team in spin bowling and fielding whenever required.Kalpage played 11 Tests and 86 ODIs for Sri Lanka between 1992 and 1999, and is best remembered for his fielding. He assisted Trevor Chappell as Sri Lanka’s fielding coach in 1999 before taking over his role in 2001. He fulfilled the task till 2005, but in 2004 he played a dual role when he was also appointed as the computer analyst of the team. He became the head coach of the Spinners Clinic in April 2006 and also coached the A team, and Under-19 and U-15 teams.