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There has been one question occupying the minds of the cricket fraternity ever since the Sehwag row erupted. How far towards the brink was Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, prepared to go before pulling back?The answer came today in a statement from the International Cricket Council to the effect that Dalmiya had agreed that Virender Sehwag would be omitted from the Indian team to face England in the first Test scheduled for Mohali on Monday.Had he not done so, the match would not have been given Test status by the ICC, England would have withdrawn from the series, India might have retaliated by not touring England next summer, and world cricket would have been split down the middle.At the eleventh hour, a deal has been negotiated between the ICC and the BCCI whereby Dalmiya has agreed that Sehwag will be left out of the team, having originally been named in the squad as a direct challenge to ICC’s authority as the governing body of the game after the furore in South Africa.That led to endless negotiations between, on one side, Malcolm Gray, the president, and Malcolm Speed, the chief executive of the ICC, and Dalmiya on the other. These negotiations appear to have borne fruit and the Test and tour can continue as planned.The deal was described as a “victory for common sense” by the ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin. “I am delighted to hear this news. The decision is a victory for common sense, and I congratulate both the ICC and BCCI on reaching an agreement.”As we have made clear the ECB has always been fully supportive of the ICC’sposition throughout this process. The decision will strengthen the ICC’s authority and integrity as the world governing body for cricket — but the family of cricket is the real winner.”Dalmiya said: “Cricket had to survive. In the larger interests of the game, Sehwag had to be dropped in this match.”Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the ECB, echoed his chairman’s views. “This is good news for the millions of cricket followers worldwide and England’s supporters. There is huge expectation about the series, and I am delighted that the tour can now proceed as planned and that the England team can continue their preparations for the first Test in Mohali without any further distractions.”All such deals require some give and take and, while the ICC has received the assurance that Sehwag will not play at Mohali, the governing body has also made some concessions towards the BCCI.There will be a “Referees Commission” established to examine whether the ICC Code of Conduct and proper procedures were followed when Mike Denness imposed the penalties during the second Test in Port Elizabeth.The BCCI will be consulted as to the composition of the commission, but ICC has said that membership will be confined to “persons of the highest reputation and at least two of them will be reputed former cricketers.”At the end of the day, Dalmiya must have realised that the ICC would not accede totally to his demands and could not afford the scheduled Test series against England to be jeopardised. Hence the outcome that gives him a concession to show to his board while the ICC has successfully upheld its authority as the governing body of the game.

Sudhir Naik, the curator at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, has agreed to withdraw his complaint against India team director Ravi Shastri and bowling coach B Arun over their alleged outbursts after India were thumped by South Africa on October 25 to lose the ODI series 2-3.A Mumbai Cricket Association press release said their vice-president Dilip Vengsarkar had met with Naik and Shastri and advised both parties to “bury the matter” that had come about as a result of a “misunderstanding.”India have been asking for pitches that suited their strength, namely slow turners. But Naik’s complaint claimed he had not received any input from the team management regarding the type of surface they wanted. So a batsman-friendly track was provided and South Africa took full toll. AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis struck centuries and posted a total of 438 and dealt India their second-biggest loss in terms of runs – 214. The series was also lost 2-3.After the match, Shastri is understood to have sarcastically complimented Naik, saying “Great wicket,” and he allegedly followed that with an expletive, which led to a heated exchange. Shastri, however, denied that he used the expletive.Naik’s letter to the MCA had also mentioned that Arun had complained of the nature of the pitch and it was unnecessary for the bowling coach to have a go at Naik’s assistant Rajesh Mhamunkar, who looks after the Wankhede track for all non-international matches.

Former South Africa left-arm spinner Nicky Boje has agreed to a two-year deal with Northamptonshire after a successful spell with the county last season.”I really enjoyed my time at the club last summer and found some form in all aspects of the game,” Boje said. “I was easily persuaded to make the move on a longer term basis and look forward to being a part of a very strong squad in 2008″”The experience that Nicky brings to the dressing room along with consistent match winning capability as an allrounder in all forms of the game makes him a very valuable asset,” David Capel, the coach, said. “He has a depth of cricket knowledge which our talented young players should learn from”.Boje, who retired from international cricket at the end of 2006, will be registered as a Kolpak player.

Lou Vincent struck a quick hundred to lead Auckland to a 38-run victory against Canterbury at the Village Green in Christchurch. Vincent’s 129 was well supported by aggressive fifties from Richard Jones and Kyle Mills as Auckland piled up 303 for 6. Canterbury were restricted to 265 for 7 in reply.After being asked to bat, Auckland’s openers – Paul Hitchcock and Vincent – added 58 for the first wicket. Hitchcock’s contributed only 7 to that partnership before being caught off Leighton Burtt. Jones joined Vincent in a 106-run partnership for the second wicket which steadily built the momentum. Jones struck 69 off 66 balls with seven fours and two sixes.Wickets began to fall at regular intervals after Jones was dismissed by Iain Robertson, but Vincent held up one end. He struck 19 boundaries, and when he was dismissed with the score on 254 for 5, Kyle Mills took on the responsibility of taking Auckland past 300. Mills crashed six fours and two sixes and raced to 52 off 29 balls.Canterbury’s chase started poorly as they lost their first four wickets for 69 by the 17th over. Chris Harris, who scored 71, and Kruger van Wyk revived the chase with gritty half-centuries but the asking-rate kept increasing. Hitchcock’s vital middle-order strikes ensured that Canterbury ran out of steam in spite of van Wyk’s unbeaten 63 off 56 balls. Hitchcock was the pick of Auckland’s bowlers, finishing with figures of 3 for 56.

Moises Henriques, the New South Wales allrounder, will captain Australia’s Under-19 team at the World Cup in Sri Lanka in February. A rookie-contract holder with the Blues, Henriques was the only player who was part of the 2004 outfit to be picked in the current side following the national championships in Perth last night.Trevor Hohns, the national chairman of selectors, said the squad wanted to repeat the trophy-winning success of 2002. “The panel has chosen what they believe to be a very flexible and well-balanced squad which will be important given the conditions they will be facing,” he said.”There were some players who are unlucky to have missed selection, but those who have missed out need to remember this is certainly not the end of the road.” The squad was due to receive its caps from Mark Taylor, the former Australia captain, during the tea break of the opening day of the first Test between Australia and South Africa.New South Wales collected their third consecutive national title after beating Victoria in the final round and Usman Khawaja, their opening batsman, was the Player of the Championship for his 396 runs at 66, including 100 against South Australia. Jon Holland, the Victoria left-arm orthodox spinner who picked up 7 for 37 against South Australia, was the leading wicket-taker with 20 at 11.75 and the most productive wicketkeeper was New South Wales’ Marcus Hainsworth, who collected 20 catches and two stumpings.Australia Under-19 World Cup squad
Moises Henriques (capt, NSW), Aaron Finch (vc, Vic), Jackson Bird (NSW), Tom Cooper (NSW), Ben Cutting (Qld), Jon Holland (Vic), Simon Keen (NSW), Usman Khawaja (NSW), Jack McNamara (Vic), Adam Ritchard (ACT), William Sheridan (ACT), Tom Stray (Vic), Matthew Wade (wk, Tas), David Warner (NSW).Reserves Ben Dunk (Qld), Phillip Wells (NSW). Team management Brian McFadyen (coach), Matthew Mott (assistant coach), Geoff Tamblyn (manager), Max Pfitzner (physiotherapist).

The ECB has given domestic one-day cricket a revamp, starting from 2006. The C&G Trophy will lose its knockout format, but retain the late-August final, while the National League will be played towards the end of the season and its matches will be 40 overs per side. The move follows last month’s announcement that all domestic one-day cricket will be played in coloured clothing from next summer.The C&G Trophy, first as the Gillette Cup and later as the NatWest Trophy, had been a wholly knockout competition since 1963. Its league matches will be scheduled for the start of the summer, much like the old Benson & Hedges Cup, which was replaced in 2003 by Twenty20. There will be two conferences, north and south, made up of the 18 first-class counties, Ireland, and Scotland, who will no longer participate in the National League. The winners of each conference will meet in the final.Surrey’s Mike Soper is the chairman of the domestic structure interim working party which recommended the changes. “I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this report, which was unanimously acclaimed at the recent first-class forum meeting,” he told reporters. “We will now have a strong competition in the C&G Trophy which reflects international cricket.”

Nasser Hussain is doubtful for the final Test at The Oval after breaking his toe while batting against South Africa at Headingley on Saturday.Hussain sustained the injury when he was struck on his left big toe by an inswinging Yorker from Andrew Hall during England’s first innings. He batted on Sunday with the help of pain-killing injections.There were suggestions that Hussain suffered the break when he kicked a dressing-room door in frustration following his first-innings dismissal by Jacques Rudolph. “There are various conspiracy theories doing the rounds but it’s straightforward – I got hit by Hall," Hussain told Channel 4. "If I had kicked a door it would have been right-footed.”

It is on days like this, with the sun burning down from ablue sky, the pitch flawless, the outfield like a billiardtable top and his mind intently focused on a particularobjective that Brian Lara can elevate batting to heightsreserved for a select few.It is on days like this that his mastery presents arefreshing contrast to the sordid controversies stoked bymen in high places without an ounce of cricketing skill intheir bones who would undermine the game for the sake oftheir inflated egos.And it is on days like this, as with those earlier in theseries, that we wonder why his average should need boostingup above 50 once more, when 70 would be more appropriate tohis God-given talent, and why he should only now become thesixth West Indian to pass 7 000 Test runs instead of thethird to 8 000.His waning passion for the game clearly rekindled, Larareeled off his second Test hundred in ten days and his 17thin all on the opening day of the third and final Testyesterday that led the West Indies to 327 for three off theallocated 90 overs.He acknowledged at the start of the series he was concernedabout an average that had rapidly dipped a dozen points to47 and set himself the goal of bumping it back up to whereit belongs.His unbeaten 178, spread over five-and-three-quarter-hoursand 285 balls with a straight six from off-spinner ThilanSamaraweera and 20 fours in all directions, carried him towithin 30 runs of achieving his mission, after earlierscores of 178, 40, 74 and 45.It also lifted the West Indies from the early gloom oflosing openers cheaply again. Within five minutes of CarlHooper winning the toss, the left-handed Chris Gayle hadgone third ball for his second successive duck to yetanother indeterminate outside edge for a low catch to thekeeper.Half-hour later, the right-handed Daren Ganga was lbwplaying across an inswinger.The probing left-armer Chaminda Vaas was the bowler eachtime, the Sri Lankan Ashoka deSilva the umpire.A Sri Lankan bowler didn’t claim another wicket all day asLara shared successive partnerships of 194 with RamnareshSarwan, who was run out for 69, and 116 with captain Hooper,who was 52 at the end of a day that reduced even spin wizardMuttiah Muralitharan to 32 wicketless overs and theconcession of nine fours to Lara’s blade.The situation was almost identical to that at a similarstage of the first Test when the West Indies were 316 forthree, with Lara 117 and Hooper 34.Yet their all-round fraility led to defeat by ten wickets asit did when they failed by quarter-hour to hold out for adraw in the second that Sri Lanka won by 131 runs.It left Lara and Hooper with plenty of work to do to ensurea total that would allow their inexperienced bowling thefoundation from which to work and at least end the serieswith some pride restored.Along the way, Lara joined the elite company of Sir VivRichards, Sir Garfield Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidgeand Desmond Haynes as West Indians with over 7 000 Testruns.It was a statistic he acknowledged he was aware of before heset out and, as soon as he completed his 130th run that gothim there, he raised his helmet and his bat to the dressingroom.Such things matter to Lara and they might just be thecatalyst for the relaunching of a career that, when he quitthe captaincy and took a four-months break early in 2000,was in definite doubt.He committed few errors throughout his long vigil. At 85, heedged occasional off-spinner Russel Arnold through wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakarra’s gloves.At 99, he was a whisker away from an lbw decision in favourof Chaminda Vaas during an especially testing spell ofreverse swing with a ball past its 50th over.At 115, in the second over after tea, his call for a sharpsingle to cover’s right left the sprinting Sarwan short ofhis ground on Mahela Jayawardene’s swooping pick-up anddirect hit.It was the fifth time in his young Test career the 21-yearold right-hander had been run out and Lara held his head inanguish at the needless loss.Once again, Sarwan had filled the breach as virtual openeron Gayle’s first-over dismissal and batted with calm,sensible assurance.He took a blow behind the helmet from an outfield returnsoon after lunch that required attention and was neverentirely at ease to Muralitharan’s straight ball. But he wasquick to pounce on any overpitched offering with his elegantdriving. He had one sharp chance to short-leg offMuralitheran at 44 but was determined not to be shiftedbefore misfortune struck four hours into an innings thatoccupied 162 balls and had ten fours.

Ed Joyce has stepped down from the Sussex captaincy a week after the club suffered relegation to Division Two of the Championship. Luke Wright, the T20 captain, is a leading candidate to take over in the other two formats next season although Sussex are yet to confirm Joyce’s successor.Joyce stepped up after Michael Yardy resigned midway through 2012 and oversaw consecutive third-placed finishes in the following two seasons. The Ireland opener passed 1000 first-class runs each time but struggled for form this year, with only one Championship century. He made scores of 2 and 1 as Sussex were beaten by Yorkshire in the final round to fall out of Division One.”It has been an honour to captain Sussex for the last three-and-a half years,” Joyce said. “I couldn’t have asked for a more committed group of players and coaches to work with.”We’ve had a very tough year in 2015 but despite this, we’ve received overwhelming support from the majority of fans and this shows the unity and family feeling that Sussex engenders.”My increasing commitments with Ireland and the stage in my career that I’m at meant that the job this year became more a burden than a challenge to be relished. So the time is definitely right to hand over the reins to a new captain and whoever that is will have my full support. I’m also very determined to get back to scoring lots of runs and helping us back into the first division of the Championship and to performing much better in white-ball cricket.”We have so much talent in the dressing room and so many good people throughout the club that I’m certain we’ll bounce straight back from this season.”Joyce has another year on his Sussex contract to run and his experience at the top of the order should see him retain an important role, particularly after the retirement of Yardy.Wright finished the season as Sussex’s leading first-class run-scorer, with 1220, and also contributed more than 500 in the NatWest Blast as he captained them to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2012.Sussex’s cricket manager Mark Robinson said: “I’d like to thank Ed for all of his hard work and dedication that he has put into the job. He has always led the team with great integrity and commitment, and I’m sure that the new captain will appreciate having a player of the stature of Ed to be able to lean on for advice and support.”

Wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin has been ruled out of Trinidad & Tobago’s KFC Cup one-day opener in Guyana with a viral flu. Ramdin’s absence takes away an all-round talent both behind the stumps and with the bat. Lendl Simmons is expected to fill in as wicketkeeper-batsman for his West Indies team-mate.Daren Ganga and his men, aiming to defend their title, will be disappointed with anything less than a victory against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) outfit at the National Stadium at Providence. In the other match in the group, hosts Guyana, led by Ramnaresh Sarwan, take on last season’s beaten finalists, the Windward Islands, at Albion.At Providence, the CCC, captained by middle-order batsman Shirley Clarke, a player with regional youth and senior experience for Barbados, are one of two developmental teams in this year’s competition, the other being the West Indies Under-19 squad. But the university boys will benefit from the considerable know-how of Barbados veteran Floyd Reifer. He will be supported by fellow batsmen Romel Currency and Craig Emmanuel, who are both seasoned representatives of the Windward Islands.T&T, on a roll of seven straight wins in this competition stretching back to last season, are looking to extend their streak to 12 by the end of this tournament and Ganga sees no room for complacency. “We have basically decided that this competition is going to be a competition of five finals, three in Guyana (group matches) and two in Barbados (semi-finals and final). And one of our biggest objectives as a team is to maintain our winning ways throughout this entire competition,” he told the .”We have prepared with the mindset that we need to improve and lift our standard in every aspect of our game. It is a given fact that as defending champions, teams will obviously be gunning for us and coming at us very hard. That is why it’s so very important for us to train in a manner where we are always challenging ourselves and lifting our standards when it comes to the actual batting, bowling and fielding.”

And following trial matches in which different batsmen scored centuries, Ganga felt that this unit was “better prepared in comparison to other Trinidad and Tobago teams, even in recent times. “I think there is a very good balance in terms of our versatility,” he said. “And this as captain, especially in a one-day game, will give me a lot of options.”We have definitely seen a dramatic improvement in individual players and in the manner in which we play as a team. I think it’s a matter of development of the individuals, exposure, maturity and being in a winning culture. Guys are aware of the opportunity to go on and play at the higher level. So a lot of the young T&T players are very hungry, are very eager to be around a winning T&T team.”Given their pre-tournament preparation, the T&T camp will not be overly concerned either that the recent performances of all-rounder and team regular Richard Kelly did not warrant his selection, or that West Indies Under-19 duty has robbed them of two other members of last season’s winning outfit, Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo.And while Ganga conceded that the good pre-season form lasting throughout the Cup was “something you can’t predict as captain”, he said: “We are very capable as a team in this version of the game and there is no reason why, given the sort of quality of cricket we have been playing, we should not be successful in this competition.”