There have been a number of enforced changes to the Scottish Saltires squad to play Worcestershire Royals at Grange CC on Wednesday.Craig Wright, Saltire’s captain, is injured and will be replaced by Stewart Bruce. Simon Smith will be taking over as wicket-keeper following the injury of his namesake Colin Smith, and Ian Stanger has had to pull out because of time constraints and work commitments. He will be replaced by Gregor Maiden.Meanwhile, Yasir Arafat will be missing from the squad for the games against Sussex Sharks on July 4 and Middlesex Crusaders on July 5, as he will be on Pakistan national squad duty. Should he be selected for the Pakistan squad to go to the Asia Cup, he could be away for a further four weeks and would miss at least one other Totesport League game.In his absence, Floyd Reifer, who played four Tests and two one-day internationals for the West Indies between 1997 and 1999, has been invited into the squad. Reifer, who is currently playing as Uddingston’s professional, is a powerful all-rounder who knows British cricketing conditions well. His cousin George, also an Uddingston player, has also played cricket for Scotland.Despite his brief international career, Reifer has 92 first-class matches under his belt, and with a batting average of 35 and a double-hundred to his name, his experience will be an added bonus to the Saltires squad.Saltires squad against Sussex Sharks and Middlesex Crusaders Craig Wright (capt), Stewart Bruce, Asim Butt, Cedric English, Paul Hoffmann, Douglas Lockhart, Gregor Maiden, Dewald Nel, Bruce Patterson, Floyd Reifer, Sridharan Sriram, Simon Smith (wk), Ryan Watson, Fraser Watts.

The Asia Cup is back: the latest incarnation starts in Sri Lanka on Friday (July 16). In contrast to the past, when first India then Pakistan contrived to avoid taking part for one reason or another, all four of Asia’s Test nations will be there. Making up the numbers are the United Arab Emirates and, for the first time, Hong Kong, who made their way here via a qualifying tournament.There’s a fly in the ointment. The matches have been scheduled for a time when it invariably rains in Sri Lanka. (Click here and scroll down for a ten-day weather forecast for Colombo: “Scattered T-Storms” are predicted on each and every day.) Also, as if to make up for all the cricket that is likely to be rained off, the organisers scheduled rather too much of it. After all six teams play a league phase, the four qualifiers play another all-play-all round-robin to determine the finalists.But if the rains hold off, the Asia Cup could still serve up some wonderful cricket. Muttiah Muralitharan will be back in the playing arena, India will be looking to recreate the momentum of the last season at the beginning of this challenging one, Pakistan will play for the first time under their new coach, Bob Woolmer, and Bangladesh, coached by Dav Whatmore, will be out to inflict an upset or two. No offence to Bangladesh, but the tournament will certainly be won by one of the other three.Take a look at the ICC ODI table: Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India occupy places 4 to 6, within four points of one another, with Nos 2 and 3 not far ahead. In fact, all the teams barring Australia are bunched so close together that this season represents a great opportunity for one of them to string together some impressive wins and climb to No. 2, and establish a gap on the others. All of these three teams are capable of doing just that, and the Asia Cup will be a good place to start. This is not just another meaningless one-day tournament; it is a vital cog in the progress of each team.India are coming off some quiet months following the successful tour to Pakistan, and they will be quietly confident. Their batting has been excellent of late, and they have had a problem of plenty: so many fast bowlers were in contention for the squad that they were forced to leave out Ajit Agarkar, and a further quandary will present itself if they decide to play just one specialist spinner, and have to choose between Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who is returning after injury. Sourav Ganguly has also dropped hints recently that the question of who will open the batting is not yet settled, so that will be interesting to watch. Virender Sehwag has indicated that he would like to score one-day international cricket’s first double-century against one of the minnows, and Sachin Tendulkar also has an eye for records – the India v UAE game on July 16 promises to be exciting for that reason alone.But once the tournament gets serious, India might face a problem if one of their batsmen is injured – there are no back-ups for them in the squad. Either Parthiv Patel, or an extra bowler, might have to come into the side then. Patel had been selected as a specialist wicketkeeper even after the team management had made it perfectly clear that they would ask Rahul Dravid to open, and the management and the selectors need to be on the same wavelength if India are to continue advancing in world cricket.Pakistan will also be a side to watch. My colleague, Osman Samiuddin, commented recently on Pakistan’s refreshing decision to opt for continuity, even after their defeat against India, and that, as well as their move to hire Bob Woolmer, indicates that they mean business. From the era of amateur coaches who beseech their team to “put 150% effort” to a professional age, under one of the finest modern coaches – if Pakistan continue on this road, which India embarked upon when they hired John Wright, it could transform their cricket. Will the first signs of change be visible in this Asia Cup? The world will be watching closely.Both India and Pakistan will be hard-pressed to beat Sri Lanka. At home, and with Murali in their ranks, Sri Lanka are a powerful side. Also, unlike their opponents, they come into this tournament with plenty of recent match practice behind them. Will they be sharp after their battles in Australia, or weary (surely that’s just wishful thinking)?And what can Bangladesh do? They almost won a Test in the West Indies, but beyond that, there are few signs that Whatmore has made much difference to a notoriously diffident side. But the process of becoming a contender from a minnow is a long one, and Whatmore has been down that road before, with Sri Lanka. Does he have enough talent available to repeat that process with them? Can Bangladesh cause an upset or two in this tournament? Well, maybe they can. But first, they must get past the even minnower talents of Hong Kong.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Michael Vaughan missed out on a maiden one-day century, but his classy 86, to go with his 2 for 42 with the ball, formed the backbone of England’s innings as they romped to a six-wicket victory against Australia and booked a place in the finals of the Champions Trophy. Coming in after the early loss of Vikram Solanki, Vaughan added 140 in just over 26 overs with Marcus Trescothick to take the game away from Australia.He then put on 66 with Andrew Strauss, who finished unbeaten on 52, to seal the win. All of Australia’s four-pronged pace attack were put to the sword, with Brett Lee going for more than seven an over. Lee eventually got the better of Vaughan, beating him for pace to have him caught off a top edge, but by then the result was assured. After such an impressive batting display, the only disappointment was that the match was played out in front of a half-full Edgbaston.Earlier, Australia accelerated well in the final overs after some sedate mid-innings consolidation to reach a challenging total of 259 for 9. There was excitement from the very start when Adam Gilchrist sliced Darren Gough wide of Paul Collingwood at backward point: Collingwood leapt into the air but could only get a fingertip on the ball. After a slightly nervous start, Gilchrist got going with a slapped four past point and a powerful pull that landed just over the rope for six, both off Gough.Following a brief three-over opening burst from Gough, Vaughan made an interesting early change, bringing Andrew Flintoff into the attack in the seventh over. The decision almost paid off, as Gilchrist edged the last ball of the over to Trescothick in the slips, but the sharp chance was spilt. But Trescothick made up for his lapse in the next over, holding a clean catch off Matthew Hayden (44 for 1).Gilchrist kept attacking, but Gough struck a vital blow for England when he was recalled for a second spell, as Gilchrist gifted another catch to Trescothick, now in the gully (69 for 2). Some economical bowling and excellent ground fielding from England put the brakes on – from 96 for 2 in the 20th over, Australia scraped only 34 runs in the next ten, and also lost the wicket of Ricky Ponting for 29.Ashley Giles, bowling his left-arm spin on a leg-stump line from over the wicket, proved particularly hard to get away, and the pressure he built up eventually told on Ponting. Attempting to loft Giles over long-on, he was deceived in the flight and chipped an easy catch to Gough (114 for 3).Giles lost concentration slightly in his ninth over, dishing up a short, wide one that Damien Martyn crashed past point for four. That signalled the start of Australia’s acceleration, and the runs began to flow. Giles’s last two overs went for 17, and Flintoff’s introduction did nothing to stem the flurry. Darren Lehmann, who had been dormant, was suddenly motoring along at a run a ball, and Martyn went to his half-century from 73 balls.Taking a gamble, Vaughan brought himself back on, and in his first over he bowled Lehmann for 38 to break his 75-run partnership with Martyn (189 for 4). Steaming in from the other end, Steve Harmison fired a yorker at Andrew Symonds’s left foot. His shout for lbw was turned down, but it didn’t matter – Symonds wandered out of his crease looking for a single, and Vaughan swooped in from the covers to run him out for a duck (190 for 5).Martyn clipped Vaughan to midwicket for four to move to 65, but, attempting the same shot two balls later, he lofted a catch to Trescothick, running in from the boundary, who just managed to cling on (210 for 6).A fired-up Lee lofted Gough straight over his head for a huge six, but then swished across the line at a full-toss that clattered into leg stump. Gough then bowled Jason Gillespie first ball with another full, swinging delivery (249 for 8). The hat-trick ball thudded into Michael Kasprowicz’s pads, but it was too high for an lbw.Michael Clarke gave himself some room and cracked Flintoff through the covers in the final over, but then moved too far across to the off side and had his middle stump flattened (258 for 9).

When England began their run-chase, Vikram Solanki never looked at ease with the bowling, and was trapped lbw by Gillespie after shuffling across his stumps and playing around his front pad (21 for 1).Ponting was determined to keep attacking, leaving two slips in place, but Vaughan started to find his touch against Lee, smashing him for two fours on either side of the wicket. With Trescothick going at better than a run a ball at the other end, the fifty partnership came up from only 51 balls. Vaughan then unleashed an array of well-timed shots against Lee, hitting 16 in one over, and suddenly it was Australia who were struggling. England’s hundred came up in the 19th over, and Trescothick then brought up his own half-century by stepping down the wicket and hitting Kasprowicz high over long-off for six.Ponting turned to his spinners, Lehmann and Symonds, and just as England’s slow bowlers had done earlier, they successfully slowed the scoring rate. With the field spread, there were singles on offer, but the boundaries dried up. Vaughan moved past 50 with a deft late-cut off Symonds, but Symonds then struck a late blow, bowling Trescothick with a quicker one (161 for 2).But Strauss was immediately into his stride, working Symonds off his toes, and then easing him to the third-man boundary with sublime touch. McGrath came back on, but the first three overs of his second spell cost 22, and England continued their march to victory.In a final throw of the dice, Ponting brought Lee back on. Vaughan, with a maiden hundred in his sights, top-edged an attempted pull straight up in the air, and Hayden took a simple catch. But it was all academic for England from there on, as Strauss continued to work the ball around easily and Flintoff biffed 16 off nine balls to take them to the brink.Before the start of the chase, it was thought that it would revolve around Flintoff. As it turned out, it was Vaughan, after a wretched run of form in one-day cricket, who broke Australia’s 14-match winning streak – dating back to January 1999 – and won the game for England.

England 197 for 5 (Bell 75, Vaughan 56) beat Zimbabwe 195 (Chigumbura 52, Gough 3-34) by five wickets
Scorecard

England won the opening one-dayer of this four match series at Harare Sports Club by five wickets – if the margin of victory gave the impression that this was a contest, the result wasn’t ever in doubt. England cruised, losing late wickets as concentration and enthuasiam drifted and running between the wickets took on a comedy air. The performance was unspectacular and somewhat clinical, but a win was what a ring-rusty side needed after the traumas of the last few days.To give credit to Zimbabwe, they played as well as anyone expected. Their enthusiasm was evident, as was that of the crowd, but sadly so was the enormous gulf between the sides. In an interview on the BBC this morning, former ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin described them as “a third-rate side … a bunch of club cricketers.” That was a little harsh, but not that wide of the mark.Zimbabwe’s innings only spluttered into life in the opening overs, when Stuart Matsikenyeri and Brendan Taylor benefited from Darren Gough and Anderson’s profligacy, and later during a breezy sixth-wicket stand of 82 between Dion Ebrahim and Elton Chigumbura.

The 18-year-old Chigumbura is one of the youngsters who has grasped the chance given by recent conflicts and looked a genuine international prospect. He showed few nerves and tremendous confidence, albeit with a lack of self-control as highlighted by the heave which eventually cost him his wicket, but his 47-ball 52 brought a decent-sized crowd to life. He signalled his intent with a top-edged four over the wicketkeeper, but a subsequent straight six and clubbed pull through midwicket were class.The shame was that both he and the dreary Ebrahim fell within five balls at a time England were just beginning to look a little ragged. Early successes after Vaughan had won the toss, aided by three top-order batsmen playing on, had given way to frustration. Zimbabwe’s naivete was underlined by the way their tail succumbed to a series of swishes and ridiculous run-outs.Their most unnecessary own goal involved Mark Vermeulen and Ebrahim, two of the more experienced players. They had briefly stopped the rot after Zimbabwe had lost three quick wickets when Vermeulen was run out by a superb diving stop and throw by Andrew Strauss at backward point – the misunderstanding was such that the batsmen had barely crossed at the moment of the direct hit.All England’s bowlers, with the exception Alex Wharf in his opening spell, struggled at times, and the total of 17 wides might have been decisive against any other opponents. But it was preferable England got it out of their system against Zimbabwe before heading south in eight days time.Chasing 196 – about 50 short of anything likely to cause real jitters -England lost Vikram Solanki for 7 early on, but then a stand of 111 in 23 overs between Ian Bell (rarely can a debutant have faced a more friendly international attack) and Vaughan ended the contest.

Christopher Mpofu, 19 yesterday and making his debut, bowled a superb opening spell, conceding six off five overs, but otherwise there was far too much inconsistency to trouble the batsmen. Entrusted with the new ball, Tinashe Panyangara lacked any control, and the experienced Hondo wasn’t much better. Only the introduction of some fairly ordinary spin upset England’s applecart.Vaughan departed for 56, falling short attempting to heave Stuart Matsikenyeri airily over the midwicket boundary, and then Andrew Strauss spooned an attempted drive back to Matsikenyeri for 8.With two inexperienced batsmen – Bell and debutant Kevin Pietersen – at the crease – a little pressure might have brought another wicket. But Tatenda Taibu held back, probably as a result of spending almost all his brief career as captain on the back foot. Although Bell somehow contrived to nick the innocuous offspin of Taylor to Taibu for 75 and then Paul Collingwood ran himself out, it was too little, far too late.One suspects that this represented Zimbabwe’s best chance of an uspet. England now know their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and have dusted off many of their own accumulated cobwebs. It should be one-way traffic hereon in.Martin Williamson is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo

Vijay Hazare will go down in history as one of the greatest cricketers to wear the Indian blazer. He died today at the age of 89, after a prolonged illness. Raj Singh Dungarpur, a cricket aficionado with a keen sense of history, who also played against Hazare towards the end of his career, shared his memories with Anand Vasu:

You can safely say that Vijay Hazare stands very tall in the long line of great Indian cricketers, from 1932 to 2004. And if you pick out the five best Indian batsmen of all time, Hazare would be in the first three. About that I have no doubt.As a batsman, there were several things that made him special. The first was his grip. The manner in which he held the bat, hands spread slightly apart, made him different. He had great hands, and could move them up or down the handle, like a flute player. This meant that he could make minor adjustments to ensure that the correct hand dominated, depending on the stroke he played. The second thing was the long stride he took forward. This meant that he almost had to hop twice to get back to his stance when he had taken a full stretch forward.He had an impregnable defence and a wide array of strokes. And remember, he played his cricket on uncovered wickets, and lost ten years to the war. You have to keep this in mind when you compare his record with that of other Indian cricketers. In his crisis-management abilities, I think he can be compared to Steve Waugh. The way he handled people in a crisis spoke volumes of the man.I remember bowling to him – on matting wickets that made even medium-fast or fast-medium bowlers look good – and I always thought he had an unfair bat. The good balls you bowled to him somehow seemed to find the middle of the bat. Thus, in some way or the other, many of his strokes were a product of playing a lot of cricket on matting. This was terribly unfair! The only other person I can think of that compared to him in this light was England’s Ken Barrington.As a mark of his fierce concentration, you need only to look at two examples. Firstly, his ability to make runs even when his team were in tatters at 0 for 4 at Headingley in 1952. Secondly, the separate centuries he scored against Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller in 1947-48. But there is a story that Polly Umrigar once told me that illustrates a point about his concentration.There was a time when Hazare and Umrigar batted together. It was against AH Kardar’s Pakistan team in 1952-53. Both batsmen were in their nineties, but Umrigar got to his century first. Then, somewhat relieved to reach his century, Umrigar signalled to the dressing-room to bring some water. “Your calling for water now has disturbed my concentration,” said Hazare, suggesting that Umrigar could have waited for his senior partner to reach his own century before asking for water.”I felt small and apologised,” Umrigar told me. Such was the intense concentration of the man. And today batsmen out in the middle can tell you where in the stands their wives or girlfriends are sitting!People talk about the fact that Hazare did not like to lift the ball. But there is one incident I have heard about so much, it is worth repeating. I can’t be 100% sure because I was not there, but the story goes that Hazare was nearing 300 and Chandu Sarwate was bowling to him from the Churchgate End at the Brabourne Stadium. Realising that he needed to hurry, he lifted the ball straight back over the bowler’s head and it pinged the sightscreen! And they say he couldn’t lift the ball …Apart from his batting, he was a very useful bowler. Don’t forget he took Sir Don Bradman’s wicket twice in the 1947-48 series. But his batting took such a heavy toll on him that Hazare never gave his bowling the time and attention it needed.As a person, he was mild-mannered, a man of few words. Dattu Phadkar once told me, “We didn’t listen to Hazare enough. Perhaps this was because he was so mild-mannered. Had we listened to him, we would have won at least three Tests in times when we won nothing.” He came from a humble background and was a God-fearing Christian. As far as I know, he tried his best to attend Sunday mass for a long time. He was also very family-oriented, and the fruits of that were there to see. Since the time that Hazare became very ill, his grandson Kunal took care of him like no-one else could have.When we opened Polly’s Bar & Diner, in honour of Umrigar, I was drawn aside. “I learned all my batting from the two Vijays – Hazare and Merchant. Yet, there’s no portrait or photograph of Hazare in the bar. How then can I call it my bar,” Umrigar asked me. Such was the impression Hazare had made on him.

Michael Clarke has regained his fitness and could open the batting for Australia in their first match of the VB Series against West Indies at Melbourne on Friday (January 14). Clarke, who was a doubtful starter for the match due to a foot injury, showed no signs of discomfort during training on the eve of the game and has been tipped to partner Adam Gilchrist at the top of the order.Ricky Ponting stated that Clarke or Damien Martyn would take up the slot. “Clarke wants to open as well and has done it before, he got a hundred in Zimbabwe doing that, so we’ve got a couple of options there,” Ponting said, according to ABC Sport. “Damien’s done extremely well when he’s had the chance to open before. So we’ve got the two options, but probably leaning towards Clarke at the moment.”Earlier, the spot left vacant by Matthew Hayden’s omission was expected to be filled by Simon Katich, but Katich himself is a doubt for the game due to a throat infection which forced him to miss practice on Wednesday. Ponting indicated that Katich only had a 50% chance of playing. “He has improved a lot and we’ll have a look at him later today and then again tomorrow morning before we name the team.”

The ongoing dispute within the Mashonaland Cricket Association (MCA) looks set to end up in court after Tawengwa Mukuhlani, the deposed chairman, and three other sacked board members told a local newspaper that they were taking legal action action to try to overturn their dismissals.The four were sacked during a heated special general meeting just before Christmas after members accused them of not taking a firm stand against the running of Zimbabwe Cricket. Now Mukuhlani is claiming the meeting was unconstitutional. "The board did not agree on the meeting," he told the Zimbabwe Independent. "We just decided that since clubs had said they wanted to go ahead with the meeting, we did not want to be a stumbling block … we had agreed to set the agenda for the meeting which was to discuss the change of logo and name. We were very surprised that people did not stick to the agenda item."Mukuhlani said that the new board had fuelled the dispute with ZC, choosing confrontation ahead of negotiation. "Before the dispute broke out ZC approached MCA to discuss several issues affecting cricket. MCA agreed to discuss everything apart from the re-branding, and indication that they were rearing for a fight."The legal maneuvering was dismissed by Cyprian Mangenge, the new MCA chairman, who said that the constitution had been adhered to.It is believed that Mukuhlani was recently told in no uncertain terms by Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, to reassert his authority over the MCA. The aggressive attitude of the new board has led to some bitter discussions and casued further unease within Zimbabwe cricket at a time the board are keen to be seen as united.

With the first Test only three days away, the BCCI has finally concluded its immediate television-rights deals by awarding the overseas rights for the India-Pakistan series to Sony Entertainment Television. The company put up a winning bid of US$11.5million for the three Tests and six one-dayers.”I was authorised by the BCCI’s Working Committee earlier this week to take the decision on satellite rights,” said Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the president of the Indian board. “Since Sony was the highest bidder, it was given the rights.”While the procedure was seemingly a straightforward one, the head of Nimbus, a rival bidder, said that his offer had been higher. But Kunal Dasgupta, Sony’s chief executive, said that when the bids were opened, his company’s was the highest. Indiantelevision.com quoted him as saying, “There is no cause for any dispute in this matter.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Rahul Dravid made a determined 135, his second century of the match and the 20th of his career, and Dinesh Karthik hit a pugnacious 93 as India moved into a position of strength in the second Test at Kolkata, leaving Pakistan 422 to win. But Pakistan started strongly, as their openers added 93 quick runs. Shahid Afridi played some flamoyant strokes as he raced to a run-a-ball half-century, and though he was out just before the close, he had shown his side what was possible.There wasn’t much in the pitch to indicate a result. It had grown slower, but it hadn’t deteriorated otherwise, and the only Pakistani bowler to make an impression was Mohammad Sami, who bowled with fire in the first two sessions, and was met with the ice of Dravid and Karthik. He did pick up the wicket of Sourav Ganguly, though, predictably enough with a short ball.Ganguly, a man whose batting has declined alarmingly in recent times, unleashed yet another bad shot from his varied repertoire of poor strokes in the eighth over of the morning. He tried to pull a short ball from Sami from outside off stump, top-edged it, and was caught by the bowler running towards midwicket.A short while later, VVS Laxman went on the back foot to defend a short ball from Sami and was struck on the helmet. He retired hurt with a swollen left eyebrow, but later returned after Dravid was out and played an aggressive cameo, unselfishly losing his wicket in the quest of quick runs.Dravid had begun fluently, needing no time to get settled in, but slowed considerably after Laxman’s retirement, and went through a nervous period in the 90s. He also seemed tired after crossing hundred, batting as solidly as ever but no longer stroking the ball so fluently or placing it as precisely. The young man at the other end, however, did both those things.Karthik, who had made centuries in the semi-final and final of the 2003-04 Ranji Trophy, showed all the makings of a specialist batsman, and his driving and cutting was excellent. He was enterprising both in strokeplay and in running between wickets, and ran many quick singles with Dravid. He had expressed his admiration after the Mohali Test for Kamran Akmal’s second-innings century, and here, he almost emulated him.The important wicket of Dravid fell to Danish Kaneria shortly before tea. In the quest of quick runs, Dravid holed out to mid-off, and left the field to a standing ovation. Not long after that Karthik was bowled round his legs trying to sweep Kaneria, who was bowling a negative line outside leg from round the wicket.

Irfan Pathan then played some lusty strokes, making 38 off 30 balls before the Indians declared, on 407 for 9. Surely Pakistan had no chance of winning. Well, no-one told Afridi that.Afridi is predictable in a sense that both scares bowlers and gives them the thrill of opportunity. He played a couple of iffy shots, but there were some thumpaceous boundaries as well. You could call it Sehwag-esque, except that Afridi has been doing it from before Sehwag. Collis King-esque? Trumper-esque? Well, he eventually threw his wicket away, hoicking Anil Kumble to Ganguly at fine leg, so let’s call it Afridi-esque.His assault meant that along with a draw and an Indian victory, aPakistan win had also become possible. Unlikely, but possible. Afterall that has happened in this series, count nothing out.How they were out
India
Ganguly c and b Sami 12 (154 for 4) Trying to pull ashort ball outside off, top-edging towards midwicket Holed out atmid-off trying to force the pace Bowled round his legstrying to sweep a delivery that landed in the rough well outside legstump. Gave Kaneriathe charge, stumped Wild swing toball angled across him, got a slight edgePakistan
Afridi c Ganguly b Kumble 59 (93 for 1) Hoick to fine leg