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Three months ago the future of cricket in Kenya looked to be bright. The national side reached the World Cup semi-finals, and the resulting publicity appeared to be just what was needed to kick-start a sport stifled by political bickering and poor administration.But the politics which undermined attempts to promote the game in Kenya for a number of years are threatening to crush the progress which many hoped would result from the World Cup.At the heart of the problem is the Kenya Cricket Association, the very body which should be at the forefront of fostering the game. It seems to harbour a number of individuals who are more interested in self-promotion, and the decision by the International Cricket Council to award Kenya £300,000 has resulted in a scramble for places at the trough.The KCA is battling with the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) for control of Kenyan cricket. The latest clash has resulted in the establishment of provincial and national leagues (a key point in the ICC’s plans to elevate Kenya to full Test status) stalling as the two argue.The NPCA is no longer affiliated from the KCA, and is trying to establish a breakaway league. It claims it has enough support to launch in early July. In recent seasons there have been two separate leagues, leading to confusion and further acrimony.As the two associations squabble, the momentum resulting from the World Cup diminishes and cricket is slowly returning to its status as a second-division sport in Kenya. At the moment it looks as if any progress will be in spite of the two bodies rather than because of them.The KCA has been accused of misappropriating funds, and despite repeated denials its image is so tarnished that potential sponsors are reluctant to be associated with it. In May 2002 the Kenyan government temporarily dissolved the KCA in reaction to continued allegations of mismanagement, although this development was subsequently ruled illegal by Kenyan courts. Opponents have repeatedly called for greater transparency, but their requests have not been met to their satisfaction.The situation is further complicated by the Kenyan team itself, many of whom are at loggerheads with the KCA. In 2001 a planned series against Sri Lanka A was cancelled when the players refused to take part, in a long-running dispute over money. Kenya’s participation in the World Cup was even in doubt when the players threatened a last-minute strike over pay.Last month the KCA opened its new academy. What should have been a well-publicised boost for the game was overshadowed by the absence of almost all the World Cup squad, who stayed away as part of their ongoing feud with the KCA.For the sake of Kenyan cricket heads need to banged together and action taken so that time and effort is spent promoting the game as a whole. Sadly, history suggests that self-interest will continue to win out.

Chairman of selectors Michael Findlay has strongly defendedthe inclusion of Brian Lara in the West Indies team for theforthcoming tour of Sri Lanka in spite of a lingeringhamstring injury.He said yesterday he and other members of the panel wouldnot stand condemned for failing to give one of the bestbatsmen in the Caribbean and one of the best in the worldevery assistance we could in sorting out his problems,whether they are mental or physical.What appears to some people as us leaning on the side ofBrian Lara is not that at all, he added.Brian still has a future in West Indies cricket and can makea significant contribution to West Indies cricket, Findlaysaid on Starcom Network radio here.We, as selectors, therefore felt we had to explore all thepossibilities for his participation (in the tour), heexplained.We’re not bending over backwards for him. If he had certainconcerns, we tried to work them out.Lara was picked in the 16 for the tour that starts inNovember in spite of a hamstring problem that has botheredhim since June, 2000, on the tour of England and that causedhim to abandon the tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya last June.Team manager Ricky Skerritt acknowledged on Monday that Larawas not 100 per cent fit but, following extensive tests overfour days, said his fitness level seems to be adequate forhis particular requirements on tour.

ScorecardFile photo – Stiaan van Zyl scored 96 off 193 balls•AFP

India A’s spinners – Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav and Karn Sharma – engineered South Africa A’s lower-order collapse as the visitors lost their last seven wickets for 56 runs to finish with 260 on the first day.While Axar picked up his third five-wicket haul in first-class matches, it was offspinner Jayant’s double-strike that first threw South Africa off gear. Jayant bowled Stiaan van Zyl for 96 in the 72nd over, when South Africa were cruising on 204 for 3, and two overs later, had Quinton de Kock stumped for a duck. Axar then sliced through the lower order, picking up four of the remaining five wickets that fell in a little over eight overs. Jayant and Karn finished with three and two wickets respectively.South Africa would not have anticipated such an end to the day, given the steady start provided by their openers, Reeza Hendricks and van Zyl, after they elected to bat. The opening stand of 58 was broken when Hendricks was dismissed by Axar in the 22nd over, B Aparajith taking the first of his three catches.Van Zyl’s, however, was an assured presence, as he stitched together partnerships of 49 and 78 with Gihahn Cloete and Omphile Ramela for the second and third wickets respectively. But, once van Zyl’s 193-ball effort, comprising 13 fours and a six, came to an end, India’s spinners were all over the visitors.In the morning, the game was interrupted for a few minutes after Jiwanjot Singh spotted a snake in the field. reported that one of the umpires had to jump when the common krait, a venomous snake, made an alarming movement. However, the snake was soon whisked away by the ground staff.

If anyone has a doubt about what is going wrong with cricket in India, all you have to do is to take a look at the last day’s play between South Zone and England Under-19s played at Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai, on Wednesday. Let alone positive thinking, one wonders whether there was any thinking at all in the South Zone camp.Having bowled out English colts for 183 on Tuesday and going into the last day with a lead of 135 runs, one hoped that South would really go after the English bowling and set a target. TS Suman and Arjun Yadav started the day for South Zone on 43/1.Suman as always was in an attacking mood, playing shots with gay abandon. Make no mistake; he is not a slogger by any means. He just hits the ball so hard and is blessed with a good timing too. He raced to reach his fifty without much ado. He was on 53 when the tall English bowler Tremlett got one ball to move a little away from the batsman and take a faint edge. Wicket keeper Mark Wallace was too happy to dive to his right and take a good catch. Monty Panesar who had removed Shashank Nag the previous evening was brought into the attack and produced a good spell.Panesar with his orthodox left arm bowling, tied up the batsmen. He later bowled ASK Varma who had scratched around for just nine runs. 90/3 in the 31st over brought in the first innings batting hero, Deepak Chougule. He too got bogged down a little and was eventually dismissed lbw to Panesar for just four runs.106/4 in the 35th over was not too bad at all. The batsmen were in a negative frame of mind, pushing and prodding at the ball. The new batsmen ASK Varma and captain Arjun Yadav were no exceptions either, never looking for quick runs. At lunch South Zone was 155/4 with Yadav unbeaten on 67 made off 149 balls in 150 minutes. A declaration was on the cards as South lead by 247 runs.Giving themselves the option of bowling for two sessions would have been ideal. Moreover the visiting boys would have had an opportunity to get some valuable batting practice ahead of the ‘Test’ that starts on Saturday. Defying all logic and positive thinking, Yadav continued batting for some more time and declared the innings closed at 201/4 as soon as he got to his personal hundred. The Visitors were clearly irked by this attitude, considering this to be a warm up match.England was set a ridiculous target of 294 in a minimum of 35 overs. Opening batsman Nicky Peng struck three consecutive boundaries off the left arm seamer, Steve Lazarus. Peng lost his concentration and was trapped LBW by L Balaji for 13 by a ball that kept very low. Lazarus had a nervous looking Kadeer Ali caught behind for just two runs. The other Opener John Sadler and the new batsman Gordon Muchall put on a 63 runs third wicket partnership.Sadler who looked compact and in fine touch was well caught and bowled by the left arm spinner, Shankara Rao. Ian Pattison who came in next did not survive long enough either, caught by the substitute fielder Ahmed Quadri off Rao for 5. In the meantime more farce was to follow. The South Zone management wanted to finish the match a bit early that some of their players could catch the train back home. English team declined and played on till the end of the match. At close English colts were 110/4 in 41 overs. Gordon Muchall played a patient and valuable innings of an unbeaten 48, which included five strokes past the boundary ropes.The Visitors had some positive things to take from this match. Ferley as a bowler looked in very good touch. Panesar picked up 3/40 in the second innings, the batting of Tremlett in the first and Muchall in the second were heartening indeed. Things might have been so different if South Zone had declared earlier and made a match of it. Mr. Yadav, there is no shine to your hundred!

Malcolm Speed: ‘We have a problem of fitting Twenty20 into the international calendar’ © ICC

Despite the success of the World Twenty20, the ICC has insisted that it will not replace the 50-over format and that the limit of seven Twenty20 matches per Test-playing nation each year will still carry on despite its popularity.”We are committed to the Champions Trophy in 2008 and 2010,” Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive said. “We have a problem of fitting Twenty20 into the international calendar.”What we have now is a new phenomenon to go along with 50-over cricket. We need to make sure we blend the two and the pie gets bigger rather than [it remaining] the same size, but is divided among the three forms of the game. Our priority will be to preserve Test cricket. We need to make sure that Test cricket remains strong and that is the iconic form of the game. And 50-over cricket is the financial driver of the game.”It’s one of the challenges we face to make sure the three forms of the game remain vibrant. It’s a terrific problem.”With regard to the World Twenty20, Speed said that everyone was delighted at its success. “We thought it would be well received in South Africa, and the reception by the public, the media and the players has exceeded our expectations.The Twenty20 version has, however, appealed to a wider fan-base and has been widely covered in both USA and China, according to Speed. “It’s the perfect vehicle for cricket to develop in new countries. This gives us another opportunity, a different vehicle to go after those different markets. “Cricket is already a niche sport in the USA. There are lots of Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, West Indies playing cricket, so we can build on that. Twenty20 is a great opportunity to do that.”

We’re very pleased that we’ve had a very successful event

According to Speed, the success of Twenty20 and the shorter duration has already had an impact on the scheduling of the 2011 World Cup which, at this stage, is to last between 35 to 40 days. “I don’t agree with much of the criticism about the last two World Cups,” he said, “although some of it is valid. But in any event we’re very pleased that we’ve had a very successful event.”The next Twenty20 tournament is to take place in England in 2009.

Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Nandrolone © AFP

Pakistan players are regularly made fully aware of what substances they are and aren’t allowed to take, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Speaking to Cricinfo on condition of anonymity, a PCB official said that the players were given a list every year, sanctioned by the ICC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), detailing what constitutes banned substances and what doesn’t.”We give them an updated list every year and stress to them the importance of being aware of what is allowed and what isn’t. This year, just before the tour to England, we provided them with an ICC booklet with this information,” the official said. “Every player is aware of exactly what is and isn’t right.”Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan’s new-ball attack, tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Nandrolone in an internal doping test carried out by the PCB. As a result they have been called back from the Champions Trophy and now face possible disciplinary action at the hands of a PCB-instituted tribunal consisting of a former Test cricketer.The findings initially asked questions of how much communication there is between the PCB and its players on such matters, particularly when players are injured. Significantly perhaps, both players have recently come back from injuries which kept them out of cricket for extended periods. Before he appeared in the ODI series in England recently, Shoaib had been out of the game since February with knee and ankle injuries. Asif too missed much of the Test series against England with an elbow injury.The official, however, insisted that the PCB had played its part. “We are very particular about this. We make sure the players know what they need to, especially when injuries occur and rehabilitation needs to take place. At the end of the day, they are also professionals and should have an idea of what is going into their bodies. Steroids after all are steroids and surely, as a player, you must be aware of that.”There appears to be no global uniform policy regarding keeping players as informed as possible. Not surprisingly, Cricket Australia appears most proactive. Awareness sessions are held with players: one was held recently at the pre-season training camp. Additionally, players also have access to an information hotline in case they are unsure about certain substances.England signed up to the WADA code earlier this year, and all England players are drug-tested as a matter of routine.In South Africa, players were tested before they came to India for the Champions Trophy and are also provided, like their Pakistani counterparts, with booklets on relevant information. The Sri Lankan board holds awareness sessions in the academy and exercises, according to one journalist, considerable control over the players in terms of diet, training and treatment.Shoaib has denied any wrongdoing and he is backed up by his personal doctor Dr Tauseef Razzak. The implication hidden in the official’s remarks, though, is that both players should have known what they were doing. Judgment will be reserved, however, until the PCB tribunal comes to its own conclusions, or either player offers an explanation.

South Africa A 245 (de Bruyn 100*) lead Sri Lanka A 16 for 1by 229 runs
ScorecardSouth Africa A’s allrounder, Zander de Bruyn, scored an undefeated 100 but his team could only muster 245 all out in the opening day of a four-day match against Sri Lanka A at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground (NCC) in Colombo.After being asked to bat first, South Africa reached lunch on 89 for 2 as the two left-handers, Andrew Puttick (41) and the captain, Jacques Rudolph (28) set the platform. There followed a 63-run partnership for the sixth wicket between De Bruyn and Justin Ontong (40) to keep them in the hunt for a bigger total. But the South Africans lost their way and reached tea on 187 for 6.The left-arm spinner, Weerakoon took six wickets as he turned the tables on the South Africans. When bad light stopped play, Sri Lanka had reached 16 for 1 in reply, having lost Avishka Gunawardene for a duck, caught in the slips by Johan van der Wath off the bowling of Monde Zondeki.”We got starts but we couldn’t capitalise,” said coach Vincent Barnes. “The harsh lesson on the sub-continent is to make a good start like we did and not take advantage. However, I need to commend Zander for keeping us in the game with his hundred. He played exceptionally well. We must learn for the next match not to repeat the same mistakes.”

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.

Atomic Kitten: what a purrformance

It is astonishingly rare for English cricket to be at the vanguard of innovation. Arguably, the last time it happened was on the Ashes tour in 1970-71, when a combination of wretched weather and zealous marketing brought about the birth of the one-day international. Typically, that concept proved so popular that it happened to spawn a revolution, although the English, so notoriously resistant to change, struggled to this day to grasp the implications.Now, three decades later, the revolution has finally reached the shires, and the upshot will be the greatest disturbance to the peace since Gandalf last rolled in with a wagonful of fireworks. If the pre-tournament hype is to be believed, the Twenty20 Cup is already a huge success – Gloucestershire have banned committee members from wearing ties, Worcestershire have installed a pitch-side jacuzzi, and even those notable diehards in Yorkshire are reported to be bringing a bottle or two to the party. The consensus is that reform must be embraced or the game will die.Newer, shorter, faster, sexier. Throughout the land, county committees are gearing up, dusting down and preparing to fling open the monastery doors. Atomic Kitten will serenade the lucky finalists at a mid-July jamboree at Trent Bridge (more than one county player considers a kitten a bigger incentive than the cash), but the competition will be made or broken in the next 12 days. Forty-five matches of 20 overs per side will take place between 5.30 and 8.15pm, and there will be hardly a pause for breath, let alone tea.New on-pitch innovations will include a hot-seat on the boundary edge for incoming batsmen (who will be timed out if they don’t reach the middle within 90 seconds), and microphone links between the players and broadcasters, which may have to be discontinued if the competition proves to be as intense as the marketing.It is all too apparent why this sudden change of direction has been embraced – county cricket has been marginalised for years, but ever more so since the birth of the ECB Academy and the central contracts system. How it has come about is rather less obvious – after all, pensioners are not renowned for embracing the rave culture, however full of beans they believe themselves to be.Part of the attraction is the simplicity of the format. Twenty20 cricket is less contrived than Cricket Max, the Martin Crowe-pioneered version from New Zealand (the ECB wisely ruled out the introduction of a “Golden Over” in which all runs would count double). It is familiar as well – there is hardly an amateur cricketer in the land who has not taken part in a midweek 20-over bash – while that 5.30pm start-time should appeal to curious office-workers with three hours to kill before the pub beckons.The man with the plan was Stuart Robertson, the ECB’s marketing manager, who in 2002 commissioned a major research into declining county attendances. He found that there are roughly 19 million “cricket tolerators” in the country, people with no innate loathing of the sport who were willing to be converted. Among the under-represented were women, males in the 16-34 age group and children. “It was a wake-up call,” said Robertson. “If the business was to move forward, it had to improve its accessibility.”So much for the concept. But unless the teams themselves can put aside the razzmatazz, and knuckle down for some hard-fought competition, the whole fortnight will have the glib sterility of a graduate-recruitment fair. “We played two 20-over matches as part of our pre-season preparation,” said Geoff Cope, director of cricket at Yorkshire, “and we’ll be using the next week to prepare in a big way.”John Emburey, Middlesex’s coach, typifies the try-anything-once approach that is pervading the counties. “I remember back in 1969,” said Emburey, “when the Sunday League was launched, a couple of old fogeys from the Yorkshire team were saying one-day cricket was rubbish. But how wrong could they be, and they should have known better, especially since they came up through the Yorkshire leagues. I started a couple of years later and loved Sunday League cricket.”You won’t see slogging in this new competition,” added Emburey, whose unique tethered-feet swishing would have been gloriously suited to the format. “If you do, they’ll just get out. But you will see a lot of great improvised strokeplay and positive cricket, which has to be good for the game.”Indeed it has to be. But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. As Cope concluded: “It will have done its job if it gets people hooked on the proper game.”That “proper game” may be a million miles and several sessions removed from this tip-and-giggle version, but cricket’s basic principles apply throughout. Like the batsmen who will be hoping to pull in the punters, the Twenty20 Cup needs to be given the benefit of the doubt.

The Tasmanian Selectors have today announced the squad to travel to Adelaide on a pre-season tour to prepare for the 2001-2002 Season.

• Ricky PONTING (Captain)
• Jamie COX (Vice-Captain)
• Graeme CUNNINGHAM
• Michael DIGHTON
• Michael DI VENUTO
• Sean CLINGELEFFER
• Scott KREMERSKOTHEN
• Adam POLKINGHORNE
• Josh MARQUET
• Daniel MARSH
• David SAKER
• Brad THOMAS
• Shane WATSON
• Damien WRIGHT
• Shaun YOUNG
• Greg SHIPPERD (Coach)
• Darrin RAMSHAW (Assistant Coach)
• Laurie MCGEE (Physio)

Michael Dighton has been selected to represent the Cascade Tasmanian Tigers for the first time.The Team departs on Saturday 29th September from Launceston.