Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Darren Maddy and Azhar Mahmood have become the latest international cricketers to sign with the Indian Cricket League. Of these six cricketers only Maddy is still actively playing cricket at the highest level, with the others having either retired or fallen out of favour with their respective selectors.Marshall refused a contract from New Zealand Cricket recently as he wished to pursue a career playing county cricket in England, qualifying as a Kolpak player. Cairns, Harris and Astle have not been in the New Zealand team for some time now, while Mahmood has figured in just four matches for Pakistan since 2004.Announcing their latest signings, Kapil Dev, the chairman of the executive board of the ICL, said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome these players to the ICL family. These talented experienced cricketers will definitely be a great source of learning for the youngsters who will play with them. Under their guidance, the Indian Cricket League players will develop skills comparable to the best of international cricketing talent.””These signings are in line with our objective of providing the best platform for young cricketers from all corners of India to play alongside the superstars of international cricket, learn the tricks of the trade from them and gain confidence to excel.”The ICL also officially announced the signing of twelve Indian domestic cricketers. Although some of these names were already on the ICL radar and in the news, it was announced on Friday that Abu Nachem, Amit Uniyal, Aniruddh Singh, Gaurav Gupta, Love Ablish, Mihir Diwakar, Rakesh Patel, Abid Nabi, Kiran Powar, Pritam Das and former India internationals S Sriram and Nilesh Kulkarni, had signed on the dotted line.The domestic players who have already signed with the ICL are currently participating in a training camp in Chennai at the Mayajaal ground on the outskirts of the city. It has been suggested that the ICL is targeting to play its first Twenty20 matches in mid-November although it is as yet unclear where these matches will be held.

Pool AA fine display from Juan Theron, who took eight wickets for Eastern Province, helped them inflict a heavy 214-run defeat on Western Province at St George’s Park. Eastern Province batted first and reached a middling total of 224 thanks to Michael Smith’s 70 and some lower-order frolicking. They needn’t have been concerned, however, as Basheeru-Deen Walters (3 for 31) and Andrew Birch (3 for 44) ran through Western Province to dismiss them for just 173. Umar Abrahams’s controlled 114 set Western Province an unlikely 311 to win and were blown away for 96 as Theron took 6 for 22. Theron, 22, has now taken 60 wickets at 18.26 in his 15 first-class matches.An excellent all-round bowling performance from Border saw South Western Districts crash to an eight-wicket defeat at Buffalo Park. Darryl Brown and Phaphama Fojela, the two young medium-pacers, shared eight wickets in Districts’ meagre 95. Border easily surpassed that in reply, though they were indebted to Lazola Masingatha (75) and Murray Ranger (90), who boosted Border to 265 with their 146-run stand for the fifth wicket. Districts performed much better in the second innings – Jonathan Beukes’ 120 guiding them to 274 – but a target of 105 never threatened Border’s march to victory, despite losing two wickets. Athenkosi Dyili cracked 45 from 27 balls to motor them home.Pool BRain forced a draw between Free State and Gauteng at Braam Fisherville, but the match was not without two performances of individual excellence – particularly, Ryan Bailey’s brilliant 186 at a run-a-ball. Free State were struggling a little on 65 for 3 when he came to the crease but, four-and-a-half hours later he had put them in command after cracking 20 fours and six sixes. He was given solid support from Hancke van Rauenstein, who struck his maiden first-class hundred and Free State eventually declared on 402 for 7. Their bowlers then reduced Gauteng to 62 for 4 before the rain forced a premature end.David Wiese’s third first-class hundred dug Easterns out of a sizeable hole against North West at Sedgars Park. Easterns were rocked by Craig Alexander’s 5 for 59, stumbling to 197 all out in their response to North West’s 367. Following on, North West’s bowlers again troubled Easterns’ top order who slipped to 98 for 3 before Wiese (115*) and Geoffrey Toyana (86) guided them to safety.

The West Indies Cricket Board has confirmed that the five-ODI tour of Zimbabwe at the end of the month will proceed after a report for an independent security firm gave them the all clear.The side will arrive in Zimbabwe on November 27 and remain there until December 10, playing five one-day internationals before heading on to a full tour of South Africa. The Zimbabwe board had hoped that West Indies would play two four-day matches but it appears that this will not happen.A statement said that the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) and West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) have agreed that the tour should proceed but will continually monitor the situation in Zimbabwe from the perspective of safety, security and food integrity.It is not clear where Dinanath Ramnarine, the CEO of WIPA, stands on the trip. In July he was against the A-team tour to Zimbabwe and that trip was subsequently cancelled after the board struggled to find enough players to go. But Ramnarine has now been co-opted onto the board and as such it seems inconceivable that he could oppose the tour with his WIPA hat on while being on the WICB executive that approved it. It seems unlikely that the security situation has changed between July and now given that at the time the WICB insisted that they had been given the all clear to tour.

Lakshmipathy Balaji, the Indian fast bowler currently on a cometrack trail from injury, willnot be rushed back into competitive cricket, Tamil Nadu coach WV Raman has said.Balaji, who has been out of first-class cricket for more than a year owing to a stress fracture in his back, was expected to return for Tamil Nadu’s third round Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka but is apparently far from match-fit.”I cannot put a finger on Balaji at the moment,” Raman said on the eve of Tamil Nadu’s second round match against Mumbai in Chennai. “He is bowling with a resurrected bowling action and he will have to get used to that first.”Raman said Balaji would have to play at least one two-day game to prove his fitness. “A two-day match could be organised soon for him to get his rhythm back. Importantly, he should be able to stand in the field for 90 overs at least. If he feels fit on the third day, then he is on the right track.”Balaji last played for India in 2005, during the Indian Oil Cup in Sri Lanka, and hassince been sidelined with a stress fracture. He returned for last season’s Irani Trophy match and took part in the Challenger Trophy in Chennai as well.

Batsman of the day
Before this match, Kumar Sangakkara was rated as the third-bestbatsman in Test cricket, but if you took his efforts in this past yearin isolation, there’d be no contest. Since surrendering the gloves tohis team-mate Prasanna Jayawardene, he’s been unstoppable, racking up1529 runs in 14 innings, at the staggering average of 152.90. He’smade seven centuries in that time, including a career-best 287, and ofthose times he’s reached three figures, he hasn’t been dismissed forless than today’s 152. The Asgiriya, incidentally, is where he playedall his cricket as a schoolboy at Trinity College. It’s fair to sayhe’s familiar with the conditions.Intruder of the day
As the afternoon wore on and England’s ordeal became all the moreacute, any break from the grind – however fleeting – was gratefullyreceived by the fielders. Cue the arrival of the Asgiriya’s favouritemutt, who padded onto the pitch from the direction of the Barmy Armyenclosure (a coincidence?) and held up play for three precious minuteswhile he ambled from long-on to fine leg. Steve Harmison met him atthe boundary’s edge in front of the pavilion, but thought better ofdoing a Merv Hughes and carrying him off the pitch. Every secondcounts when your side is up against it.Intruder of the day Mk 2
Another interruption, though perhaps less gratefully received by theplayers on this occasion. Monty Panesar was just about to trot in forhis 41st over of the innings, when every single person on the field -including the batsmen and both umpires – flung themselves to the deck,as if the cry “doodlebug!” had gone up. The cause of the panic was aswarm of bees, mostly milling around by the sightscreen at theHunnasgiriya End of the ground. Speculation mounted that it was aplague on Murali, as dispatched by Shane Warne, but they buzzed offsoon enough.Band of the day
There wasn’t actually any competition for this one. Murali’s personalskiffle band had serenaded the crowd so joyfully throughout the firstthree days, but today, with the record back where it belongs, theydecided their work was done. So it was left to the Barmy Army toprovide the atmospherics. They did their best in trying circumstances,but you couldn’t help but notice that both the trumpeter and thechanting sounded a little flat by comparison.

Drop(-kick) of the day
Ian Bell could be excused for his first miss of the match, afringe-singeing flyer at slip that came in the midst of SanathJayasuriya’s 24-run over on Monday. There were no such mitigatingcircumstances this time around, however. For the first time in hisinnings, Sangakkara was looking genuinely edgy, having fallen in thenineties twice before against England. On 98, he fenced outside offand steered a sitter to Bell’s right at slip. But the chance wasmuffed, and a furious Ryan Sidebottom booted an imaginary Bell cleanover the monastery.Surprise of the day
Paul Collingwood’s shock dismissal of Prasanna Jayawardene. Englandhadn’t looked like rattling the timbers for two days and 124 overs, soit was quite rightly assumed to be some sort of mistake whenCollingwood swung one in from outside off stump, straight through thegate and into the top of the off bail. The umpires conferred,wondering perhaps whether the ball had ricocheted off Matt Prior’spads. But no, it was all bona fide. Twelve deliveries later, andperhaps still reeling from the shock, Sangakkara clipped tamely tomidwicket to give Colly his second of the innings.Cheer of the day
It wasn’t quite an ovation of Murali proportions, and there might evenhave been a tinge of irony involved. But when Alastair Cook tucked thefirst ball of England’s innings off his hips for four, he escaped thedreaded pair and gave the England supporters their most upliftingmoment of the day. It couldn’t last, however. Three balls later, hepoked uncertainly outside off, and the Sri Lankan voices were onceagain the loudest in the ground.

Cricket South Africa’s chief executive Gerald Majola has admitted that the board made a mistake in allotting the Boxing Day Test against West Indies to Port Elizabeth instead of the traditional Kingsmead in Durban, owing to the poor spectator turnout. The board’s decision to switch venues, in a bid to boost crowd numbers, backfired and Majola said the scheduling will be reviewed for the forthcoming seasons.”It was definitely a wrong move,” Majola told the South African-based . “We blundered badly. We wanted to try something new this season by moving the Test matches around. However it did not work as there were hardly any spectators at the Port Elizabeth Test.”The match was attended by roughly 11,000 in total over four days. The first day saw a crowd of around 4000 but the number dipped over the next three and an average of 2500 showed up. The deciding Test in Durban was an improvement with an aggregate of 19,000 over three days, with the home side achieving a series victory after losing the first Test.Matches in Port Elizabeth are traditionally held in mid-January and the board took a gamble to see if the response would be better during the holiday season. He admitted that the board overlooked the fact that Kingsmead would draw better crowds as people flocked to the popular beach destination.”We felt that if the crowd support in mid-January was good then it would be better if we had a Boxing Day Test in that city,” he said. “However people living at the coast love the beaches during the Christmas and Boxing Day period, hence we did not attract the crowd for the West Indies Test. We will have to go back to the drawing board.”South Africa head to Australia later this year so their next home Boxing Day Test will be in the 2009-10 season against England.

Mike Procter says dealing with the Harbhajan Singh-Andrew Symonds hearing in Sydney was even harder than handling the 2006 Oval Test, which was awarded as a forfeit to England after Pakistan refused to play amid a ball-tampering row. Procter was the match referee in both cases and he believes the two situations were completely different.”Being South African as well, and having seen the effects of racism first-hand, it was a really tough call,” Procter told the . “It was probably more tough and stressful than the events surrounding the Oval Test when the match was abandoned. It has been very difficult on a personal and professional level.”[The Oval] was a very unusual day. Everyone in the ICC … did everything in our power to make something happen, but with the rules of cricket being what they were, there was nothing that could be done. It was, in many ways, an impossible situation.”But I would say the issues and pressures that came out of Sydney were in many ways greater. Many of the situations that come up have never been dealt with before, and at the end of the day, it is you alone who must come up with the decision, drawing on your cricketing experiences and general knowledge. It seems drama follows me wherever I go.”The appeal over Harbhajan’s three-Test ban for allegedly calling Symonds a “monkey” during the SCG match will be heard next week. Procter said despite criticism over his handling of the case – a leaked report suggests he took the word of the Australian fielders – he did not have a bad relationship with India.”I can’t comment specifically about the case, but I will say that, despite some reports to the contrary, I have a good relationship with the Indians,” Procter said. “Now it is in the hands of the ICC, so I will leave it at that.”

New Zealand have announced two new players for their forthcoming series against England and Australia. Ingrid Cronin-Knight and Lucy Doolan will make their debuts, while there was a recall after five years for Katey Martin, who has played three ODIs and a Test. She last played aged 18, and turns 23 on Thursday.Suzie Bates is unavailable for the entire series through her basketball commitments: New Zealand have qualified for the Olympics, so she is waiting to hear if she is in the squad. Louise Milliken continues to recover from her knee reconstruction surgery, while Maria Fahey is also out with an illness.Helen Watson is unavailable for the England series through work commitments – she has just started a new job after having to give the previous one up to go to England last year. Beth McNeill is undertaking a university course and so she can also only make one series, so she will face Australia as the two will have a direct swap, much like Holly Colvin, who couldn’t make the New Zealand leg and arrived late for the Australia part, and Charlotte Russell.As this is a building year ahead of the 2009 World Cup, the selectors have named three separate squads: one for England, one for Australia and an A side who will play a warm-up match against England and from whom the selectors could call on.”Choosing three teams, including the A squad, gives us the opportunity to expose some new players to international cricket,” said head coach Steve Jenkin. “It also allows selectors flexibility to make some changes between series, as a number of experienced players will miss either or both tours.”Although we will miss those players, we are confident the other White Ferns have proven their talent in recent seasons, and that the new and recalled players will take the opportunity presented.”New Zealand squad for Australia seriesHaidee Tiffen (capt), Nicola Browne, Sarah Burke, Rachel Candy, Lucy Doolan, Sara McGlashan, Aimee Mason, Katey Martin, Rachel Priest, Amy Satterthwaite, Sarah Tsukigawa, Helen Watson.New Zealand squad for England seriesHaidee Tiffen (capt), Nicola Browne, Sarah Burke, Rachel Candy, Ingrid Cronin-Knight, Sophie Devine, Ros Kember, Beth McNeill, Sara McGlashan, Aimee Mason, Katey Martin, Amy Satterthwaite, Sarah Tsukigawa.New Zealand A squad Ingrid Cronin-Knight (capt), Kate Broadmore, Saskia Bullen, Abby Burrows, Lucy Doolan, Tamara Gould, Holly Huddleston, Prashilla Mistry, Megan Murphy, Katie Perkins, Rachel Priest, Sian Ruck, Megan Wakefield.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) and its place in the world cricket calendar is expected to be a key area of discussion as chief executives [or their equivalent] from all boards under the ICC umbrella meet over two days in Kuala Lumpur, starting tomorrow.Also on the agenda at the meeting, to be chaired by the ICC’s chief executive Malcolm Speed, are: format and number of teams for the 2011 World Cup, feedback on the international schedule post-2012, and a pioneering proposal from the ICC management to start the “trialling of an ‘umpire decision review system’ during the England v South Africa Test series to be played in England in July/August 2008”.The meeting of chief executives follows a scheduling summit, also in Kuala Lumpur, to review the draft international programme post-2012. While the question of how to accommodate the IPL and the proposed Champions League in the schedule will be touched upon, some wrangling is also expected on who will get to play the big teams.Pakistan, for instance, is expected to push for a “fair share” of Tests and one-dayers. “Our cricketers have to play optimum number of matches if we are to realise our target of becoming the world’s best team,” Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan board chairman, was quoted as saying in The News. “Without putting them at the risk of injury or burnout, we will ensure that their international commitments are at par with other top teams like Australia, India and South Africa.”Ashraf is also expected to seek the help of other members in convincing Australia to go ahead with their tour to Pakistan in March-April, which seems unlikely with Cricket Australia expressing concerns over security. “We have already got a raw deal in the FTP and if Australia don’t come as per schedule, we will just have three Tests this year and that too when India tour later this year in December,” Ashraf told PTI.”We still remain hopeful they will fulfill their obligations of touring Pakistan but the truth is we are in a frustrating situation. Despite repeated assurances that no cricket team has been hit by violence in Pakistan and that it is safe for them to tour and they will be given state-level security, they are still expressing concerns.”Besides scheduling, what will be tracked with keen interest is the umpire decision review system. “According to the proposal, the captain of the fielding team or the batsman, as the case may be, will be entitled to a limited number of occasions to request the on-field umpire to review his decision in consultation with the TV umpire,” said an ICC spokesperson, in a statement. “The chief executive committee will review this proposal and make a recommendation to the ICC board. If the trial is given the go-ahead by the Board, the final playing conditions will be developed in consultation with the ICC cricket committee.”

Lalchand Rajput, who was part of the Indian thinktank till recently, is disappointed that the BCCI did not engage him for a long-term contract but hoped Gary Kirsten, the new coach, would take the team to the next level.”The team has performed well in the hard tours like Australia and now we have set the platform,” Rajput told Cricinfo. “Kirsten’s challenge is now to take the team to the next level.”Rajput, who worked as coach from the ICC World Twenty20 till the Australia tour, said Kirsten has begun well by acquainting himself with the team before he actually took over in Chennai this week for the South Africa series. “[Now] he needs to set both long-term and short-term goals to work out his plans,” Rajput said.With Kirsten firm on assembling his own bench, Rajput lost the assistant coach’s seat to Paddy Upton, who brings extra dimensions to the job as mental conditioning coach and trainer. “Once the coach comes into play, it’s his decision,” Rajput said. “Along with a bowling coach he [Kirsten] also has Paddy Upton as trainer-cum-assistant then it might be difficult to fit me in.Asked about his stint with the Indian team, Rajput said one of his key contributions was in the area of man-management, especially during the controversial period after the Perth Test when seniors like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were dropped for the subsequent CB Series.”It was a critical moment in the [Test] series when the team was announced in the immediate aftermath of the Test victory in Perth. Again it was man-management, and I went to Sourav who was disappointed at having been dropped. I told him there’s lot of cricket ahead in the season and that he should be hopeful and can come back as he’d done very well at home in 2007.”Crucial moments like those where he had understood his role make him hopeful, Rajput said. For the moment, though, his focus on the IPL where he is the coach of the Mumbai Indians. “I’m a very positive person. For now I’ll be concentrating on the IPL with the Mumbai team. Then we just have to wait and see.”