England’s selectors today announced their preliminary squad of 30 for this year’s ICC Champions Trophy in September. Despite the disappointing results in this year’s NatWest Series, in which England failed to reach the final, every member of that squad made the cut, as well as ten uncapped players.The Warwickshire pair of Ian Bell and Mark Wagh were included, along with Richard Dawson, the Yorkshire offspinner who has played seven Tests. Others included last winter’s England A team captain Alex Gidman and Jonathan Lewis from Gloucestershire, Graham Napier, the Essex allrounder, and Chris Tremlett, the tall fast bowler from Hampshire. Glamorgan had three representatives in Michael Powell (who was a late call-up to the NatWest Series but didn’t actually play), Simon Jones and Alex Wharf. The squad will be trimmed down to 14 by August 10.”Our ultimate goal as selectors is to build a side for the World Cup in 2007,” said David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors. “The make-up of this squad gives a good indication as to the type of team we are looking to develop and the particular roles we are looking to fill within it.”He continued: “There are ten players in this provisional squad who have not yet played one-day international cricket, and we will continue to experiment with new players as we seek the right blend between experience and youth ahead of 2007.”Graveney also added that the selectors had thought of picking Mark Butcher, who has played 69 Tests but not a single one-day international, and said that although he didn’t make the squad, he was still in their thoughts: “Mark previously intimated that he did not want to play both forms of international cricket because he was concerned about the impact on his fitness,” Graveney said. “However, he has recently indicated that he would now like to be considered for our one-day side, and as the season progresses we will be watching with interest his performances for Surrey in the Twenty20 Cup and the National League.”The Champions Trophy starts on Sept 10 – England take on Zimbabwe at Edgbaston while New Zealand play the United States at The Oval – with the final, also at The Oval, on Sept 25.England provisional squad for Champions Trophy
Michael Vaughan (capt), Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Gareth Batty, Ian Bell, Ian Blackwell, Rikki Clarke, Paul Collingwood, Richard Dawson, Andrew Flintoff, Alex Gidman, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, Geraint Jones (wk), Simon Jones, Robert Key, James Kirtley, Jonathan Lewis, Anthony McGrath, Sajid Mahmood, Graham Napier, Michael Powell, Chris Read (wk), Vikram Solanki, Andrew Strauss, Chris Tremlett, Marcus Trescothick, Mark Wagh, Alex Wharf.

Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has condemned Wasim Bari’s statements against the umpiring in the Videocon Cup final, saying that no board official should make such public comments. quoted Shaharyar as saying, “I think the media and the people are the ones who can make public comments about an umpire or his decisions. But as far as the board and team-management is concerned it must strictly abide by the ICC procedures. The ICC has a laid down procedure for such things and the captain and manager are encouraged to send their reports and give their grading about the umpires to the ICC after every match and that has been done after the Holland final.”Bari, the chief selector, had strongly criticised Shepherd and two decisions that went against Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana. He had also described Shepherd as ‘too old’.Shaharyar also confirmed that neither the PCB nor the team management had lodged any official protest against Shepherd. He added that the board had not made any request that Shepherd should not be appointed for any future Pakistan match.

From end of the very first over, it looked like this game was going to live up to the hype. Or rather, the anti-hype. The crowd was as sparse as the gloom was thick. Tinashe Panyangara, an 18-year-old playing in his seventh one-day international, ran in to bowl the first ball of the Zimbabwe innings, and sprayed it so wide that it barely touched the cut strip.Thirteen balls later, England were licking their lips. Panyangara’s firstnine deliveries had included seven wides; he’d even had to change to round the wicket in an attempt to bowl a legal ball. He bore it well, and his team-mates gathered round to lend support, but the crowd were already crowing. Oh yes, this was the Zimbabwe we’d heard all about.So you can only imagine the brooding in the England dressing-room when play was finally called off for the day, with five of their top order out to ordinary shots and, meaning no disrespect, ordinary bowlers. Sure, England are still in a decent enough position to win the game tidily, if Steve Harmison is anything like on form. But in those quiet moments of introspection, you wonder who’s going to feel the most annoyed with themselves.Will it be Marcus Trescothick, who hit 10 off 15 balls, only to bring hisfun to an abrupt end with an unwise cut? Michael Vaughan, caught at secondslip, having just pulled two consecutive balls for six? Perhaps it’s Andrew Flintoff, whose cameo was like a haunting by that other Freddie, the one he has so happily left behind. He hit one of his trademark drives over cover, the field dropped back, and a few balls later he spooned his next attempt to Douglas Hondo – now even better placed to take the catch as he ran back from mid-off.England seemed well enough equipped to deal with the damp in the air and onthe pitch, and to put away the worst of the Zimbabwean deliveries with complete comfort. What they couldn’t seem to do was control their own ambition. Andrew Strauss was a case in point, trying to be a shade too clever as he attempted an edge to third man, only for Tatenda Taibu to give a nice demonstration of his springiness as he took it far to his left.By the halfway stage England were 142 for 4; they had scored with deceptive ease, but only one batsman, Vikram Solanki, had made the most of the situation and he too was out before the early close. Zimbabwe – especially Edward Rainsford and Vusi Sibanda who both claimed their first international wickets – can be pleased with today’s efforts. They have given this particular script a re-write.Emma John is features editor of The Wisden Cricketer.

Shishir Tiwari and Sufian Shaikh, two Mumbai schoolboys, put on 531 for the fifth-wicket in a school match to evoke memories of the world-record 664-run stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli that they made 16 years ago in the same competition, the Harris Shield.Tiwari, born a week before Tendulkar’s Test debut in November 1989, made 318 with 40 fours and four sixes while Shaikh finished with an unbeaten 202. Their towering partnership took less than five hours. Salim Ansari, an opening batsman, also weighed in with 287.Their side, Anjuman-I-Islam Fort English School, ended on 1121, a total boosted by 132 penalty runs, against the Baptist School from Thane. It is the highest known total for any side, in any form of cricket, beating Victoria’s 1107 against New South Wales in 1926-27. The previous record for the highest total in the competition was held by Tendulkar’s old school, Sharadashram Vidyamandir, who made 926 in 1992-93 (without him or Kambli). In reply, the Baptist School were dismissed for 46 and 145 to lose by a mammoth innings and 930 runs.”We had absolutely no idea even as we crossed 500 runs together that we were anywhere near the world record,” Tiwari told BBC Sport. “The opposition bowlers were not threatening but we played according to the merit of the ball.”Naushad Khan, Anjuman-I-Islam’s coach, was very happy with the performance: “We are hiring a boat and taking the team out to the Gateway of India seafront for a special dinner to celebrate the feat.”Tiwari, who compiled 138 in an earlier round, is not looking too far ahead. “Ranji Trophy [the first-class competition] is too far away. Right now I am just aiming to make it into the Mumbai Under-17 squad.”

The international cricket community is moving quickly to organise a fund-raising match for the victims of the natural disaster that struck South Asia days ago. Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, sent a proposal to all world player associations asking if they would support a match played on January 11 or 12. Needless to say, the response was overwhelming.The Herald Sun newspaper reports that May then rushed his proposal to Cricket Australia, who gave their immediate support to the cause. Then, the proposal was put before the International Cricket Council in an urgent attempt to get official recognition for the match.The match is likely to be played in one-day format, probably as Australia v Rest of the World. Players from the England and South Africa teams will be unable to take part as the two countries are locked in a five-Test series at the moment.All that is required now is for the logistics to be worked out. “The only reason why it would not get up would be if there was too much to do but I don’t think that is an excuse,” May is quoted as saying. “It took only two minutes for the devastation to occur. It should not be too much trouble to organise a cricket match in 12 days.”If the match is endorsed by the ICC, and it widely expected that this will happen shortly, it has potential to raise a healthy amount of money. The world’s best, and most glamorous, cricketers, including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist and Brian Lara are set to take part in the game.Sri Lanka, one of worst-hit countries in the tragedy, has cancelled its tour of New Zealand but May revealed that the Sri Lankan players would be more than willing to play this fund-raising match. “The Sri Lankan players told us that if the match was approved they would be here in a heartbeat.”

As exclusively revealed here a fortnight ago, Andy Moles is preparing to quit as Kenya’s coach, and rumours are linking him with the vacant Scotland coach’s position.Moles, the former Warwickshire opener who has been coaching Kenya since 2003, was one of 20 applicants for the post, which has been vacated by Tony Judd. The pair recent crossed swords in the Intercontinental Cup semi-final, in which Kenya were soundly outclassed by Scotland, who went on to win the tournament.It is an open secret that Moles is frustrated with the in-fighting inside Kenyan cricket, the lack of financial support from the Kenyan board, and the paucity of matches for the side, whose next fixture is not scheduled until June.”Scottish cricket is clearly on the up and the opportunities are in stark contrast to those in Kenya,” he told the Scottish Herald newspaper. “[In Kenya] We only have six days of cricket organised for the whole of 2005.” That is in direct contrast to Scotland, who have a full programme of matches.At the time of the original article, a spokesman for the Kenyan Cricket Association told Cricinfo that the story was without substance. He said: “It seems that your source of information is feeding you a lot of misinformation on Kenya cricket.”

ScorecardBeginning the day at 114 for 2, North Zone were placed well to overhaul West Zone’s total of 201, but a steady stream of falling wickets – triggered by Zaheer Khan and capitalised on by Ramesh Powar and Rajesh Pawar – saw them fall short by only five runs at Lucknow. However, the bowlers then reduced West to 146 for 5; with two days to go, bonus points will not matter much because a drawn game is highly unlikely.Zaheer dismissed Aakash Chopra with his fourth ball of the morning, having him caught behind by Parthiv Patel. A 36-run partnership between Ravneet Ricky and Yuvraj Singh followed, but once Yuvraj stepped out to Powar, and was stumped, wickets tumbled.Then Dinesh Mongia struck back for North, removing Satyajit Parab cheaply. Then Wasim Jaffer and Dheeraj Jadhav put on 56 before Gagandeep Singh dismissed Jaffer for 47. West made their way to 146 for 5 by the day’s end.
ScorecardCentral Zone fell short of East Zone’s total of 194 by only five runs at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior. However, by bowling East out for 131, they put themselves in a position to end the match in their favour tomorrow. By stumps, Central were 7 for 1, and required 130 for victory. Naman Ojha top-scored in their first innings with 40 – a score surpassed by Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s unbeaten 53 for East – and was involved in valuable stands with Jai P Yadav and Murali Kartik, who scored 29 each. But Shib Sankar Paul struck repeatedly to hamper Central’s progress, and ended with 6 for 50.East then began in a blaze, with Mahendra Dhoni smashing 15 off 10, but blacked out immediately. After the openers, everyone, barring Shukla, scored in single digits. Yadav claimed his second five-wicket haul (5 for 34) to end with 10 for 64 and removed the heart of the batting in the process. Central then lost a wicket in the third over, but Mohammad Kaif and Sanjay Bangar negotiated the rest of the day, until bad light stopped play.

Cricket Scotland has won three of the nine European regional awards in the ICC Development Programme Awards for 2004.The high profile multi-media campaign “It’s Going to be a Big Hit” – mounted by Lloyds TSB Scotland and created by Edinburgh agencies Elaine Howie PR and Family – won the award for the best cricket promotional campaign. The campaign, which was launched with a special-build 48-sheet poster featuring a cricket ball bursting through it, is credited with having significantly raised the profile of the game north of the border.The award for the best overall cricket development programme went to the Stanley Morrison Trust ‘Adopt a Primary School Scheme’, which has been running in Scotland for the past 15 years, and has introduced the game to over 75,000 youngsters all over the country.The inaugural Lloyds TSB Scotland Women’s International Cricket Festival, held in Scotland last summer – involving teams from Holland, Warwickshire and Durham – won the award for the best women’s cricket initiative.Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, said: “Last year was a memorable one for the national team, which won the ICC Intercontinental Cup, and these awards make it even more so. The work undertaken by our sponsors, particularly Lloyds TSB Scotland, to enhance their relationship with Scottish cricket has taken our profile to a new level.”

Phil DeFreitas, the last active English cricketer who knows how it feels to win the Ashes, has announced that he is retiring at the end of the forthcoming season.DeFreitas, 39, made his England debut as a 20-year-old on Mike Gatting’s victorious Ashes tour in 1986-87, where he starred with five wickets and an important 40 in England’s first-Test victory at Brisbane.He went on to play 44 Tests and 103 one-day internationals in a ten-year England career, and though was one of several cricketers of his generation to be burdened with the label of “the next Ian Botham”, he was nonetheless good enough to take 140 Test wickets, and fell just 66 short of 1000 runs as well.DeFreitas was rarely at his most effective overseas – on the 1992-93 tour of India, he failed to take a single first-class wicket – but in favourable swinging conditions, he could be lethal. In 1994, he took nine wickets to see off New Zealand at Trent Bridge, and his best Test figures of 7 for 70 also came in a winning cause, against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 1991.His batting remained frustratingly hit-and-miss, and an eventual Test average of 14.82 didn’t do justice to his talents. In the summer of 1994, he twice turned matches on their head with his long-handled hitting, against New Zealand at Old Trafford and South Africa at The Oval, and then did so again the following winter, with his highest score of 88, against Australia at Adelaide.DeFreitas began his county career as a teenager at Leicestershire, and went on to play for Lancashire and Derbyshire before returning to his original club in 2000. He went on to captain the club for the 2003 season, before standing down midway through 2004, but at the age of 39, he is currently the oldest man on the county circuit.”For England, Phil was a wonderful young man with a bit of pace, his fielding was magnificent and he had a bit of talent with the bat,” said Gatting in an interview with BBC Sport. “He’s one of those guys you want in the game. It’s sad he’s going to retire but he’s been good for the game.”

The Dhoni frenzy has caught on in the Steel City, the Indians are on a roll, and scorching temperatures or not, the Keenan Stadium will be choc-a-block when the third one-day international gets underway at Jamshedpur tomorrow. From the organisers’ point of view, Dhoni’s blistering 148 at Visakhapatnam couldn’t have come at a better time – with Ranchi, Dhoni’s hometown, just a couple of hours’ drive from Jamshedpur, plenty of people are flocking to see their local hero in action, forcing the authorities to hoist temporary stands with which they hope to accommodate about 6000 more. If Dhoni fires again, and if India win tomorrow, the crowds will, to quote Dhoni, “go mad”.However, there are two teams involved in this series, and if the last few weeks are any indication, expect Pakistan to mount a strong counter-attack here. On many occasions on this tour, they have been down and ready for the taking; on most of those instances, they have shown the gumption to get up and fight hard. Younis Khan, who has recovered from his illness and is available for selection, said as much when asked about the pressure Pakistan were under: “We are used to it. We came back in the Tests, and we can do it here as well.”And in a one-day match, it doesn’t take much for the wheels to come off for the team in the driver’s seat. In both the matches so far, India have been lucky to win the toss and bat first. If the coin rolls the other way tomorrow, it’s easy to visualise Pakistan’s top order belting the ball all around the park. Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana form a handy enough line-up, and with the firepower which follows in the lower order, the Indian attack may well have their task cut out for them if they have to bowl without the cushion of a huge total. More so, because the pitch seems a belter – its whitish shade is typical of the Keenan Stadium track, and a good layer of straw-coloured grass should ensure that the pitch stays firm throughout the game. Add a well-manicured outfield and short boundaries, and there’s every reason to believe that the team batting first will target, and quite likely attain, a score in the region of 300.

From the Indian point of view, it’s time for some of the big guns to fire. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid have been consistency personified so far, but the rest of the line-up – apart from Dhoni, of course – has been virtually non-existent: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif have together contributed 53 runs in eight innings. Those are damning statistics, and numbers which are in urgent need of correction.What should encourage the Pakistanis is the record of the teams at this venue – Pakistan have won both their matches here – against India in 1986-87 and against Sri Lanka in the Pepsi Cup in 1998-99. The Indians, on the other hand, have a dismal record – their win against South Africa in 1999-2000 is their only one in seven tries. (Click here for the results of all matches at Jamshedpur.)Meanwhile, the hectic schedules and the extreme conditions have already had their impact on the sides, with both teams making changes due to, or to prevent, injuries to their lead bowlers. India have been forced to omit Lakshmipathy Balaji, who has a side strain, while Pakistan will rest Mohammad Sami. Irfan Pathan or Ajit Agarkar will make the final XI – Dravid suggested at the press conference that there were enough part-time spinners in the team for the Indians to omit Murali Kartik – while Iftikhar Anjum will replace Sami. The other change Pakistan are almost certain to make is the inclusion of Younis, in place of Mohammad Hafeez. With the conditions so batsman-friendly, they might even be tempted to drop a specialist batsman – probably Shoaib Malik – and bring in Danish Kaneria.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Arshad Khan, 9 Iftikhar Anjum, 10 Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.