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Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lankan captain and serial Warne-baiter, haslabeled Shane Warne as a potential liability for the forthcoming Test seriesagainst Sri Lanka and described Australia’s current team as “unimpressive.”In an interview with Australia newspapers, Ranatunga, now a politician,believes Sri Lanka’s batsmen have little to fear if, as expected, Warne isnamed in Australia’s Test squad on Friday for the first time since aone-year drugs ban.”I feel that they will struggle, especially under these conditions,”Ranatunga is quoted as saying. “The present Australian team areunimpressive, when you look at the teams they used to have with the Waughsand Glenn McGrath.””Sri Lankan sides are quite good with spin … and Warne might have anissue here. Warne has been out a long time and he might struggle to getthrough the Sri Lankan batting line-up.” Ranatunga added, “The Australianspin attack is not impressive at all when you see that we have Muraliand others on our side.”Ranatunga had made a pastime out of baiting Warne ever since, on the eve ofthe 1999 World Cup, Warne suggested that the Sri Lankan team would be betteroff without Ranatunga.Ranatunga urged Sri Lanka’s current team to stand up to Australia in thefield. “I don’t know about this team but we used to feel when we gave it[verbally] back to the Australians they would crumble. I was one person whowas always against sledging but that was how it seemed. I’m not sure whatthis [Sri Lankan] team will do.”

National Four-Day League

The usual script didn’t look like changing for Rajshahi, who won the toss at the Rajshahi Stadium, and Chittagong found themselves at 29 for 4 by the 17th over. Skipper Ehsanul Haque (66) and Dhiman Ghosh (50) resurrected the innings with a fifth-wicket stand of 116 but seamer Mohammad Shahzada removed both within five runs and Chittagong were all out for 198. Rajshahi lost their openers in consecutive balls and closed the first day on 24 for 2. The following day, they continued to lose wickets without any kind of partnership developing and left-arm spinner Mohammad Younus got on top, taking 4 for 22 from 11 overs, as Rajshahi were skittled out for 118 just after lunch. Gazi Salahuddin (49) and Masumud Dowla featured in an opening stand of 76 as Chittagong took a 193-run lead into the third day with seven wickets in hand. The prolific Nazimuddin top-scored with 52, as Chittagong, with contributions from their lower order, finished their second innings on 301. Rajshahi’s spirit doesn’t die easy and they started well in pursuit of 382 with Farhad Hossain (83) and Shakil Haider (76) getting them on their way. At 203 for 2, Rajshahi were making a mockery of the steep target before offspinner Yasin Arafat sent back Hossain and captain Khaled Mashud (0) in the same over. Naeem Islam (48) and Mushfiqur Rahman (47) kept fighting until Arafat (4 for 98) got the better of them too. There were still anxious moments for Chittagong as Alamgir Kabir and Saiful Islam put on 47 for the last wicket and it was left to Ehsanul to ease the nerves when he had Islam caught behind with Rajshahi 22 runs short of the target.Khulna, without a host of players who are on national duty, restricted Sylhet to 300 in their first innings at the Bir Shrestha Shahid Motiur Rahman Stadium. The Golam brothers, Rahman and Mabud, hit fifties for Sylhet while Murad Khan finished with 4 for 79. Khulna did even better when their turn came to bat. Nazmus Sadat fell for 47 but his opening partner, Imrul Kayash, raced to 87 not out at stumps on day two with Khulna on 193 for 1. Kayash extended his score to 138, his third century in the NCL as Khulna piled up 421, all of their top six batsman scoring more than 40 except captain Habibul Bashar, who was dismissed for a duck. Left-arm spinner Enamul Haque (jnr), was a stand out for Sylhet, considering that his 5 for 126 came on a flat pitch. Sylhet briefly stuttered, losing four wickets for 166, before they were rescued by centurions Alok Kapali and Rajin Saleh. Kapali’s 111 came of 110 balls while Saleh was happy to nudge it around and wait for the loose balls and was unbeaten on 131 when play was called off with Sylhet on 362 for 5.Barisal captain Shahriar Nafees put Dhaka in at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium and the move seemed to have paid off when they were struggling at 132 for 6. No. 9 Mohammad Sharif’s 57 and Mosharraf Hossain’s 40 pushed Dhaka to 262. Barisal were going great guns at 100 without loss but they fell apart after the openers Nafees (48) and Nasiruddin Faruque (61) got out. Mohammad Rafique and Mahbubul Alam took three wickets apiece as Barisal’s innings finished at 193. Rapid innings’ from stand-in skipper Al Sahariar (92 not out), Mahmudullah (81) and Nadif Chowdhury (50) allowed Dhaka to declare on 294 for 5 before lunch on the last day, with a lead of 363. The Barisal batsmen offered little resistance, with left-arm spinner Hossain (5 for 27) and Alam (3 for 46) leading Dhaka to a 217-run victory.

NCL One-Day

Rajshahi defeated Chittagong at the Rajshahi Stadium to clinch the NCL one-day title with two rounds remaining. Shakil Haider, with 95, was the mainstay in Rajshahi’s 242 before Chittagong were thunderstruck by medium-pacer Delwar Hossain, who took 5 for 34. Faisal Hossain’s unbeaten 91 only delayed the inevitable as Chittagong were shot out for 172.Kapali blasted a 53-ball 73 as Sylhet made 278 for 8 against Khulna at the Bir Shrestha Shahid Motiur Rahman Stadium. Kapali capped off a fine all-round performance by taking 3 for 45 as Khulna could only muster 192, Nazmus Sadat’s 78-ball 83 going in vain.Dhaka, despite fifties from Mahmudullah and Nadif Chowdhury, could only manage 196 against Barisal at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Openers Nafees and Faruque made 61 and 55 respectively as Barisal eased to an eight-wicket win.Player of the week – Alok Kapali (Sylhet)For the second time in eight rounds, Kapali has stood out. Sylhet’s rejuvenation can partly be attributed to Kapali, who is playing his natural game and enjoying the challenge. In the first innings against Khulna, he made 34, and then hit 111 in the second. Kapali’s leg spin also fetched two wickets in Khulna’s second innings. He was devastating in the following one-day match – making a whirlwind 73 and then claiming 3 wickets and a catch.

National Cricket League

National Cricket League one-day

Cuba will not be playing in the 2008 Stanford 20/20 because of a political embargo, the competition’s board of directors has announced.The United States embargo against Cuba means that organisations and American citizens such as Allen Stanford have to make application to, and receive special permission from the US Government to conduct any type of activity with Cuba. Stanford’s application was denied but now he plans to ask the US government to reconsider for future tournaments.”We have been anxious to include the entire Caribbean in the Stanford 20/20 Cricket Tournament and I am extremely disappointed that Cuba will not be able to play,” said Stanford. “Stanford 20/20 is requesting that the denial from the United States Government be reconsidered and we are exploring every option to secure their future participation.”The news disappointed Cuba, who have been training intensely for what was to be their first official tournament outside their country. Cuba was scheduled to play in the first match against St. Maarten on Friday, January 25 but their opposition will now get a bye.

Scorecard

Tamil Nadu lost nine wickets for 123 runs at the Chepauk as Delhi made a spirited fightback after the openers had added 127. Chetanya Nanda triggered the collapse with three wickets in 13 deliveries, while Rajat Bhatia and Pradeep Sangwan followed up on the act with two wickets apiece.Earlier M Vijay and Abhinav Mukund had given Tamil Nadu yet another good start as they made Delhi wait for 39 overs for the first breakthrough. The half-centuries the two scored were Vijay’s third and Mukund’s fourth score in excess of 50 this season. But after the first wicket, the highest partnership Tamil Nadu managed was 28 runs for the sixth wicket.
Scorecard
Piyush Chawla and Tanmay Srivastava missed maiden centuries as Uttar Pradesh finished the first day in Hyderabad at 293 for 6. After Tanmay lost his opening partner Rohit Prakash in the first over, he anchored the first half of UP’s innings. He shared stands worth 61 and 80 with Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif respectively and then became part of a mini middle-order collapse as 141 for 2 became 168 for 5. He scored 81, three less than his previous best.Chawla and Amir Khan stemmed the collapse and added 112 for the sixth wicket, Chawla taking charge and scoring a career-best 82 off 130 balls. Amir, the sedate partner, ended the day unbeaten on 44 off 119 deliveries.
Scorecard
Bengal bowled Andhra out for 121 at Eden Gardens to give themselves a hope of getting a bonus point and avoiding relegation. They ended the day at 46 for 1, 75 behind Andhra. Rana Chowdhary, the left-arm medium bowler playing his second match, took four wickets in 6.2 overs to rattle the Andhra batsmen. Ranadeb Bose took three wickets and SS Paul chipped in with two.Andhra’s batting never got going as the 39-run eighth-wicket stand was the highest partnership, and B Sumanth, the No. 7, was the top-scorer with 30.
ScorecardIn a relegation face-off match, Himachal Pradesh wasted a good start to lose nine wickets for 121 runs and get bowled out for 280 against Rajasthan in Dharamsala. Before the collapse, Mukesh Sharma and Hemant Dogra had kept Rajasthan completely out of the game with a 127-run second-wicket stand. Mukesh went on to score his first first-class century, but saw the rest of the batsmen fall at the other end. Mukhesh, 101, was the ninth wicket to fall. Dogra scored his personal best with 71.Shamsher Singh dismissed the two of them, while Mohammad Aslam and Sumit Mathur took three wickets apiece for Rajasthan.Karnataka 2 for 0 trail Maharashtra 276 (Khadiwale 96, Mohan 51, Vinay Kumar 4-66) by 274 runs
Scorecard Maharashtra, who looked well placed for a big total against Karnataka, collapsed to be bowled out for 276 in Ratnagiri. From 210 for 3, they lost the last seven wickets for 66, as Harshad Khadiwale missed out on his second century of the season. A quick half-century by Dhruv Mohan took Maharashtra to the eventual 276.Maharashtra had made six changes to their side; three of the in-coming players being debutants, while Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Sairaj Bahutule, Salil Agharkar and Kedar Jadhav were dropped.For Karnataka, D Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa did most of the damage, taking four and three wickets respectively.
Scorecard
Led by the dour Shitanshu Kotak and fluent Cheteshwar Pujara, Saurashtra ground the Mumbai bowlers and lost only two wickets for 202 on the first day at the Wankhede Stadium. To make matters worse for Mumbai, none of the two was done with by stumps: Kotak was unbeaten on 73, Pujara on 61.Kotak came in to bat in the fourth over of the day and spent an even six hours in the middle. Pujara, the leading run-getter in Ranji trophy so far, crossed fifty for sixth time in the season and is six short of 800 runs from the season.Mumbai employed seven bowlers, but only Murtuza Hussain met success, ending the day with figures of 2 for 32 from 19 overs.
ScorecardThe Baroda lower order recovered well after Orissa, led by Basanth Mohanty, had reduced them to 81 for 6. They ended the day at 241 for 9, thanks to useful contributions from Pinal Shah, Abhimanyu Chauhan, Sankalp Vohra and Sumit Singh.Shah and Chauhan started the comeback with a 55-run seventh-wicket partnership. After Chauhan fell for 35, Rajesh Pawar fell quickly too, but Shah and Vohra added 27 for the ninth wicket. Shah got out for 44. The unbeaten last-wicket partnership of 71 between Vohra and Sumit was Baroda’s highest. Vohra ended the day on 45, and Singh, the No. 11, on 29. These are career-best scores for Chauhan, Vohra and Sumit.For Orissa Basanth Mohanty continued his impressive first season with 4 for 55.

Shoaib Akhtar flew out of Australia yesterday to end an eventful, occasionally destructive and often disruptive tour expecting more nightmares about bowling to Justin Langer. Shoaib, who was ordered home after suffering a left hamstring tear at the Gabba last Wednesday, was impressed by Langer’s series return of 390 runs, but disappointed by the lack of bowling support from his team-mates.”Justin said before the start of the tour he had nightmares about me," Shoaib told the Daily Telegraph. "After bowling to him I can say I now have nightmares about him. He is easily Australia’s toughest batsman. He is unbelievably determined. Damien Martyn is under-rated and much improved but Langer is the best.”Shoaib told the paper he deserved credit for his bowling, which peaked with 5 for 99 in the first innings at Perth and included 11 Test wickets. “It was just me up against seven batsmen who are all capable of scoring 200 each," he said. "It was very tough. It is hard trying to bowl at 155km/h all the time. You do get niggles. It’s like driving a Ferrari. After every few laps you have to get it serviced."Waqar Younis, who has spent the summer watching as a television commentator, said Shoaib "sometimes likes talking it up more than bowling". “There was no spirit in the bowling," Waqar told the Sydney Morning Herald. "You are supposed to take pride when you bowl for your country. They looked better when Shoaib was bowling his heart out early, but that all stopped with injuries. Pakistan don’t need an unfit Shoaib Akhtar." Waqar said without Shoaib the attack was like a club side’s bowling.

Former Guyana and West Indies spin bowling legend Lance Gibbs has been contracted by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to be the technical advisor at a five-day camp for orthodox spin bowlers (sometimes called finger spinners) in Antigua, starting next Monday.Gibbs once held the world record for most Test wickets (309) and was the first spinner to pass 300 wickets in Tests."The aim of the camp is to provide some of the region’s most promising orthodox bowlers with the fundamentals of a good bowling action and to examine and analyse techniques of effective spin bowling," said Dr Michael Seepersaud, the WICB’s chief cricket development officer."It also continues our programme of involving outstanding former players more and more in the development of our cricket."We believe that greats like Lance and Andy Roberts, who recently conducted a training camp for our fast bowlers, has much to offer and you will see more of this."Another former West Indies off-spinner, Clyde Butts, who holds the record for the most wickets in the regional first-class championship, will be the coach at the camp.Critical areasThe young spinners will cover a number of critical areas identified by Gibbs, including: the grip, run-up and delivery, effective use of height and body, detecting and exploiting errors of batsmen, field-setting strategies, flight, loop and spin, and improving the spinner’s armoury."We have targeted a number of promising spin bowlers but a few had prior territorial commitments and could not make the camp," Dr Seepersaud said."The camp has been timed to coincide with the beginning of the West Indies first-class championship and it is hoped that a number of these bowlers will be given an opportunity during the championship to expose their talent."Even if this opportunity is not available now, they would have learnt from the best and would have acquired skills that will serve them well in the future."Seepersaud noted there was another strategic reason for the camp. He said the idea for the camp came out of a casual analysis of the weaknesses of the Australian team.Australia are due to arrive in the Caribbean in April for a series of four Tests and seven limited-overs internationals."We noticed that as far back as the 1950s, the former great England off-spinner Jim Laker was effective against the Aussies and then the wiles of Lance troubled them in the 1960s and Harbhajan Singh destroyed them recently in India," Seepersaud said."We thought, therefore, that this was a good opportunity to provide our promising finger spinners with the skills and techniques that would improve their efficiency and effectiveness and, hopefully, enhance their chances for selection."The invitees:Ryan Austin, Anderson Sealy, Jason Smith (Barbados); Kevin Bazil, Zaheer Mohammed (Guyana); Chaka Hodge, Orson Nurse, Larry Joseph (Leeward Islands); Lorenzo Ingram, Philip Keating, Wayne Simpson (Jamaica); Amit Jaggernauth, Rodney Sooklal (Trinidad and Tobago); Dwayne Leverock (Bermuda); Shane Shillingford (Windward Islands)

England selectors have today announced that Lydia Greenway, the Kent andEngland U-19 batsman, has been called into the women’s Test squad to faceAustralia in a two Test Ashes Series later this month.The England women’s team are currently in Christchurch, New Zealandcompeting in the women’s cricket World Series against the host nation,Australia and India.Lydia has already enjoyed a successful tour to Australia this winter withthe U19 team, where they dominated the Australia U19 state tournamentwinning six games out of six.Speaking on her selection, England Assistant Coach and Head Coach of theWomen’s U19 side, Jane Powell, said “we can add one player to our existingone-day squad for the Test series and we have chosen to give Lydia a furtheropportunity at international level. She is a talented young player and weare looking to the future by introducing her to the senior squad at thistime”.Lydia said “I’m delighted to be called up and to be returning to Australia.It’s the ultimate challenge for any English cricketer to play an Ashesseries, and to get a chance like this so early in my career in just awesome.I’m very excited about the trip”.England play two Tests against Australia, at The Gabba, Brisbane 15th-18thFebruary and at the Bankstown Oval, Sydney 22nd-25th Feb.

Shane Warne announced his voluntary withdrawal from any official training until the end of his 12-month ban in February, saying that he did not want to “place any team-mates or anyone else in an awkward position”.The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) recently told Cricket Australia that it was unacceptable for Warne to train at any level of the game, including club cricket, under the Australian board’s anti-drug policy. Warne is serving his ban after testing positive for a banned diuretic just before the World Cup earlier this year.”I think it’s ridiculous that six months after the event to now say Ican’t train. [It] just seems there are too many agendas with too many people,”Warne said, reading from a statement. “I have come to the decision that I am going to remove myself from all official training.”He continued: “I will continue to work on my fitness and my cricket skills by myself and with some friends. I know I still have a lot to offer cricket; at what level that is, is out of my control. All I can do is to present myself in the best possible way and hope that the powers that be will enjoy my return [to cricket].”Anticipating queries on a raunchy text-message issue involving a South African woman, Warne refused to take any questions from the media at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, where he held the press conference. He began his address by saying that any allegations concerning his private life would remain private.Over two weeks ago Helen Cohen Alon, a South African mother of three, accused Warne of sending her lewd text messages. Since then, a Melbourne stripper has also approached the media with allegations of an affair with Warne.Despite the controversy, Warne has received some support from various quarters. His wife Simone has said that she will “stand by my husband 100%. I always have and will continue to, especially through this unnecessary heartache. Certain individuals are trying to destroy our family. This will not happen.”Merv Hughes, a former Test team-mate, said that Warne was adversely affected by events. “I saw him a couple of days ago and he’s not the Shane Warne that you know, he’s really flat and it just seems to have really gotten hold of him,” said Hughes. “Shane Warne is a close friend of mine and you’ve got to feel for him with what he’s going through. It would be great if they came out and said ‘Yeah, Shane can train and prepare himself’, because he is going to be the first Australian cricketer to take 500 Test wickets.”

As Australia’s endless list of injuries grows, John Buchanan, the coach, has asked officials for an inquest into the problem. Buchanan has already approached Dr Trefor James, the chief medical officer, about why these injuries, particularly to the fast bowlers, have happened so often and that there needs to be ways of stopping them. He also said that training, playing workloads and general lifestyle issues needed to be addressed.And Buchanan has had backing from Dr Martyn Sullivan, a leading surgeon from Sydney. Sullivan recently openly criticised the gruelling international schedule which bowlers must now face in order to keep playing at the top level. Sullivan, who has recently treated six Australian bowlers, claims fierce competition for places, coupled with a heavy workload, will increase the number of players succumbing to chronic injuries.Sullivan’s and Buchanan’s comments came in the wake of a glut of casualties. As well as the top three fast bowlers being forced out of the team – Brett Lee hurt his stomach and ankle, Jason Gillespie picked up a side strain and Glenn McGrath has a dodgy ankle – Stuart MacGill, Ashley Noffke and Darren Lehmann are also out of action.To make matters worse, Michael Kasprowicz, called in to the one-day squad in India to cover the fast bowling problem, is suffering from a freak buttock injury, but is staying with the squad as the problem heals.Buchanan said: “You start with back-to-back Test matches, players break down, then two bowlers carry an extra load of which one of those then went down in the next game ultimately because of extra load and less rest.”Buchanan also said what bowlers did in their time off needed to be discussed. “I think everybody went into the game physically fit but I think there is a question of match fitness,” he said. “That’s something we need to address – getting bowlers overs under their belt. If we don’t have games, how are we going to deal with that? In days gone by, as you came into a season, basically bowlers used to bowl a lot of overs in the nets or do road running. Probably neither happens to the same degree now.”Ian Healy, the former Australian wicketkeeper who is also president of the current Australian Cricketers Association, recently expressed his concern, saying something needs to be done within the next few years or the repercussions would be severe. He told the British Press Association earlier this week, “Bowling careers will definitely be shortened, if players want to play both forms of the game.”Healy is not the only ex-player to get in the act, with Dennis Lillee also agreeing that the workload is too much. “They should look at a baseball-style rotational program for the fast bowlers. Fast bowling is bloody hard on the body, but one way to prolong careers is to have two completely different teams for one-dayers and Tests.”

Scorecard

New South Wales blew away Victoria for just 91 on the penultimate day of their Pura Cup match at the Junction Oval in Melbourne, and sealed victory by an innings and 88 runs. Stuart Clark, the medium pacer, sent down a dream spell as he claimed 5 for 10 from only 13.5 overs and triggered off a dramatic collapse. Remarkably, Victoria lost nine wickets for just 34 runs after lunch.New South Wales have not beaten Victoria by an innings in 30 years when they slumped by an innings and 23 at the MCG. The thumping defeat this time was engineered by Clark, who began with five maidens and then went on to scalp five wickets in 45 balls.Victoria needed to score 180 to make New South Wales bat again, but began badly, as they lost Matthew Elliott for just 12. But Brad Hodge and Graeme Rummans went through to lunch largely untroubled. That, however, merely turned out to be the calm before the storm.In the post-lunch session, wickets tumbled at regular intervals. Hodge was lbw to Clark for 19 with the score on 57 and Jonathan Moss, the first-innings centurion, scored just 10 before being bowled. From then on, the middle-order offered almost no resistance. David Hussey, Cameron White, Andrew McDonald and Peter Roach added eight runs between them and were cleaned up quickly. With the middle-order blown away, there was little the tail could do as the innings ended after only 36.5 overs.Clarke’s five-for was the key factor in the rout, but no-one should forget Stuart MacGill, who picked up 4 for 41 to go with his first-innings bag of 4 for 105. “It’s a great feeling when things like that are happening, everyone gets behind it,” Clark is quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press. “I’ve had a six-for a couple of years ago but 5-10 would be up there (as my best bowling).”Greg Shipperd, the Victorian coach, admitted that his team were outclassed. “We talked last night about making sure we found a way back into the game and to provide ourselves on some fight, but we were completely outplayed today. We’ve all probably seen collapses before and that was a beauty.””Once an opposition team gets on a roll and they realise what areas to bowl … You’ve got a world-class spinner turning it a big way from one end and another fellow in the middle of a terrific spell – that was challenging, but it was disappointing we weren’t able to at least compete on an even basis.”