Shoaib Akhtar has explained the altercation that led to his fine of US$2500 in a disciplinary hearing last week, by saying that his coach, Bob Woolmer, had accused him of feigning the injury that led to his withdrawal from Pakistan’s tour of South Africa.Shoaib, 31, who also failed a dope test last year but was cleared on appeal, was not originally selected for the Pakistan squad on fitness grounds. He was belatedly called up, however, after Umar Gul suffered a twisted ankle, and arrived in time to play a winning hand in the second Test at Port Elizabeth. But after taking 4 for 36 on the first day of the game, he limped out of the tour with a hamstring strain.It had been Shoaib’s first appearance in Test cricket for 12 months, but in a further twist to his latest saga, television footage showed him pushing Woolmer and exchanging heated words. He was later fined for his actions by the team manager, Talat Ali.”Woolmer thought I feigned injury which led to our altercation,” Shoaib told reporters in Lahore. “I apologised to Woolmer and he also said a few soft words with me and the matter was closed. Whenever someone doubts my commitment my soul gets hurt, it’s worse than any physical injury.”This is not the first time Shoaib has been accused of feigning injury. He had to undergo medical tests after he suffered a hamstring injury during Pakistan’s third Test defeat against India three years ago. The Pakistan team’s management, including Inzamam-ul-Haq and the former coach, Javed Miandad, doubted the severity of his injury.It prompted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to launch a medical inquiry into the fast bowler, although Akhtar was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing as the medical examinations proved his injury was genuine.Shoaib said he had offered to bowl through the pain in South Africa. “I was ready to play by having injections but doctors advised against it as they feared it would have ended my chances of playing in the World Cup,” he said. “I am 80 percent fit and am working hard to be fit for the World Cup.”Wasim Bari, Pakistan’s chief selector, who came under criticism for not selecting Shoaib in the original squad, said he would not make any premature decision. “The PCB has now formed a medical panel,” said Bari, “and only after it clears Shoaib we can consider him for the future matches.”

After a satisfactory performance in West Indies’ opening warm-up game against Kenya, Bennett King, the coach, has identified the bowling as the team’s main weakness. Kenya made a fist of the target of 269, eventually going down by 21 runs and King expects a more disciplined effort from his bowlers against India at Trelawny tomorrow.”We were disappointed with some aspects of the Kenyan game,” King told . “We are bowling far too many wides – three to four overs worth. That is an area in which we need to improve. We are also giving up boundaries off the last ball of the overs. We need to start working on finishing our overs properly.”King said that Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, was keen to spend some time in the middle, having not batted against Kenya. Lara has not played a competitive match since the tour of India which preceded the World Cup.”Within the space of one or two days Brian is usually back to his best because of how much work he has done before,” said King. “He is very keen to play, he is like a spring chicken at the moment. He is jumping out of his seat to play.”When asked about further changes to the line-up, King added that Ian Bradshaw, the left-arm seamer, will get an opportunity in the side’s final warm-up match before the World Cup curtain-raiser against Pakistan at Sabina Park on Tuesday.”Bradshaw has not been playing a lot of cricket for Barbados so he is someone that needs work. He really needs some bowling under his belt so Friday will be another opportunity for him.”Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, said that his side would adopt a similar strategy and allow all the players in the squad to fine-tune themselves. India coasted to a 182-run win against Netherlands on Tuesday and Dravid hoped that his side would maintain the momentum against West Indies.Looking at the bigger picture, Dravid felt that India’s World Cup campaign will hinge on the contributions of their seniormost players, including himself. He added that their experience will be crucial in tackling the middle overs.”We’ve got a lot of experience, we’ve played a lot of cricket so we feel that during those middle overs we can do a job for the team and also, I think even when chasing, and finishing games,” he said. “I see myself along with people like Yuvraj [Singh] and [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni as people who can stay to the end and try to finish games and play according to the situation.”Five issues that India will be looking at in Friday’s match

– Will Sehwag fire? Nobody in India can stop wondering when Virender Sehwag is going to convert starts into fifties and fifties into hundreds. It’s been 57 matches since he got to three figures in one-dayers. The situation is exactly the same as it’s been for many months: the time is now.- And Pathan? If Indians are fed up of pondering Sehwag’s form, there’s always Irfan Pathan. The performance against Netherlands was bland (barring a sliver of hope when he curved one and nailed an lbw). A strong performance against West Indies will boost his morale no end; another hammering will lead to more contemplation.- The young guns With Sourav Ganguly twisting his ankle, and likely to miss the match, India may get another glimpse of Robin Uthappa and/or Dinesh Karthik. Both have potential but the manner of their dismissals against the Dutch wasn’t the sort that you’d like to see too often. The success of either could create pleasant headaches for the team management.- The extra fast bowler Sreesanth or Munaf Patel? With Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar certain to start, and Irfan Pathan providing some sort of allround option, it’s unlikely that both will find a berth. If they’re tested today, it will be interesting to see who stands out – or, if you are pessimistic, who gets hammered less.- All-round sync Traditionally India start tournaments sluggishly, and some shots against the Dutch appeared straight out of the cobwebs. They’d need to wipe off the rust at the earliest otherwise the opening clash against Bangladesh will take on threatening proportions. Already Bangladesh have upset New Zealand and rolled over Scotland. India can’t afford to sleepwalk into that game and this one provides the ideal launching pad.

Scorecard

A huge century from Michael Di Venuto pushed Tasmania closer to a home final as they reached 8 for 364 at stumps against New South Wales. Mark Cameron removed Di Venuto for 181 with the last ball of the day but the Blues faced an uphill battle to secure their place in the Pura Cup decider.Cameron chipped away at Di Venuto’s partners, finishing with 4 for 114, but Tasmania dominated the day and only a New South Wales win will rob them of hosting rights. The 270-ball innings was Di Venuto’s third hundred in 2006-07 – only Chris Rogers, David Hussey and Phil Jaques have also managed that feat this year.He raced to 74 from 79 deliveries at lunch before easing his pace and he reached triple-figures from 136 balls. Di Venuto had good support from Travis Birt (53) and later from Damien Wright, who contributed an unbeaten 36 in the pair’s 86-run eighth-wicket stand.Stuart MacGill troubled the middle order with 3 for 56 and will be keen to finish off the tail early on day two. The Blues could still make the final even if they lose, but they would be out should either Victoria or Western Australia win.New South Wales suffered a setback before play when Simon Katich was ruled out with a thumb injury. Ben Rohrer, the batsman, was handed his first-class debut while Dominic Thornely was given the captaincy in Katich’s absence.

Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, has rejected the resignation of Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, who offered to leave his role following Pakistan’s early elimination from the World Cup.Ashraf had only been at the helm for five months, after taking over from Shaharyar Khan who stood down in October. “President Pervez Musharraf rejected the resignation of Nasim Ashraf today,” said Aamir Bilal, a PCB media advisor, “and directed him to continue his duty to rebuild the Pakistan cricket team on modern and professional lines.”Ashraf thanked the president for showing confidence in him and said: “I will continue to endeavour my best for the development and progress of cricket in Pakistan.” Ashraf also expressed deep gratitude to all cricket lovers, the general public and well-wishers for their continued support over the last week.He added: “I promise a revamp a transparent cricket set-up and will implement short and long term action plans immediately. They will be shared with the public through the media in a press conference to be held at Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday afternoon.”However, despite Ashraf’s retention Pakistan cricket remains in a major state of flux. They still need to appoint a new captain and coach to replace Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer, while the selection committee also resigned following the team’s poor showing in the Caribbean.

The three-match ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi has been postponed for at least one week. The opening match of the series was scheduled for May 9, 2007, but it is now uncertain when, or even if, it will start.According to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the postponement of the series was requested by the Sri Lanka board after their team were delayed at Heathrow Airport on their way back from the Caribbean. However, newspaper reports suggest that the hastily-arranged series was struggling to find sponsors for the event and this is what has caused the delay.That was, however, denied by the PCB. “The series is very much on and the dates of the matches would be announced by the organisers in consultation with the Sri Lankans and the PCB,” Zakir Khan, PCB’s director of operations, told .Further reports suggest that the start date could be anytime between May 15 and May 18, but the PCB is yet to receive a Memorandum of Understanding from the hosts. Only then can the dates be confirmed.Pakistan players, in the wake of their early exit from the tournament, are already in action on the county circuit as well as a training camp in Lahore organised by the new selection committee.

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, described his team’s thumping innings and 234-run victory over Bangladesh in the first Test as a brilliant effort under tough conditions.”The important thing for us was to make sure we go very hard at them,” said Jayawardene after Sri Lanka had wrapped up the Test half an hour into the fourth morning to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. “We hadn’t played Test cricket for a while and we needed to back into things pretty quickly and maintain our standards. That’s the challenge we had.”The batsmen, the guys who got in made sure they made big hundreds. Everyone chipped in especially the lower middle order. The fast bowlers were brilliant. They were very aggressive in creating opportunities. Overall it was a brilliant performance but there are areas we can still improve. Our ground fielding was brilliant but we dropped chances.”Sri Lanka weren’t able to wrap up the innings on the third day and Jayawardene’s request to bring on the fast bowlers in the fading light was denied by the umpires. “I knew the light would be a concern and I asked them whether it was alright for me to bring on Lasith Malinga. The answer I got was that it was okay. After a couple of balls they changed their minds. That was the disappointment because if there was the slightest indication that it was not ideal, I wouldn’t have brought Malinga.”He praised the efforts of Prasanna Jayawardene and Chaminda Vaas who both scored their maiden Test hundreds.”For Prasanna I think it’s been coming for a while. He’s been very consistent with the bat for us and he knew the responsibility as a wicketkeeper that he had to make runs for us. It was good to see him getting those runs. It gives him a lot of confidence to build the batting line up around him.”For Vaas it was his dream to get a hundred in Test cricket for quite some time. When I saw he had the opportunity I had no hesitation in allowing him to go and get it. It’s always good to see that our lower order with the kind of determination we have is a very solid set up now.”Once again it was offspinner Muralitharan who picked up the Man-of-the-Match award when the consensus of opinion was on Prasanna with his hundred and six dismissals behind the stumps.”On a placid track the way Murali created opportunities especially on the first day to take five wickets actually changed the whole game for us,” said Jayawardene. “From that moment onwards we knew the Test was in our hands unless we made some silly mistakes. It’s brilliant to have a guy like Murali. Now we’ve got a bowling line-up which creates opportunities among themselves with Lasith, Dilhara [Fernando] and Vaas. Murali has less pressure now to run through teams.”For Mohammad Ashraful it was a tough beginning as Bangladesh captain. He admitted that he had a lot to learn sitting in the hot seat and also cited his side’s limited opportunities at the Test level as the reason for the defeat. He also took heart from the team’s improved showing in the second innings, posting a more respectable 254 after they were bundled out for 89 in the first.”I wouldn’t have played those irresponsible shots if I had a little bit of experience,” he said. “I will learn with every game. Our second innings performance proved that if we concentrate hard it is possible to play quality bowlers. For most of the second innings we actually stuck to our game plan and it came out pretty good. That is the confidence we will take going into the rest of the series.”When asked whether they missed the services of their former coach Dav Whatmore, Ashraful replied: “It’s very natural to miss someone like Whatmore because he has helped Bangladesh cricket a lot. The team hasn’t had any problem with the new management and the coaching staff.”

Graham Thorpe will continue his association with New South Wales as the state’s assistant coach for 2007-08. Thorpe will fill the gap created when Matthew Mott became the Blues’ senior coach after Trevor Bayliss was placed in charge of Sri Lanka.Thorpe, 37, scored 6744 runs at 44.66 in 100 Tests for England and spent 18 years as a first-class cricketer before moving to Sydney in 2005-06 to work with New South Wales as a specialist batting coach. His new role will include taking the reins of the state’s Second XI.”I’m absolutely delighted to be offered the position and very much look forward to the challenge,” Thorpe said. “This represents the next chapter of my cricket career and I intend to give it my all. I’ve enjoyed working with the squad over the past two seasons and can’t wait to start my new role when I return to Australia next month.”David Gilbert, the chief executive of Cricket New South Wales, said the appointments of Mott and Thorpe gave the Blues some stability leading into next season. “To have a player of Graham’s international experience working with our squad, particularly our young talented players, will be tremendous,” Gilbert said.New South Wales reached the Pura Cup final last summer but lost to Tasmania. However, they were disappointing in the shorter forms of the game and finished last in both the Ford Ranger Cup and the KFC Twenty20 competition.

Division One

Phil Jaques’ second century of the season guided Worcestershire to a draw against Surrey at Guildford. His 103 carried the visitors into the lead alongside half-centuries from Stephen Moore (54) and Ben Smith (66). Worcestershire were never really in danger on the final day once Jaques and Smith added 112 for the third wicket. Harbhajan Singh claimed all five batsmen to fall, taking his match haul to nine, but couldn’t grab breakthroughs in clusters to earn Surrey a victory. A draw wasn’t what either side needed from the match with both of them stuck in the two relegation places.John Crawley struck a fine century, but Hampshire couldn’t force a win against Sussex at the Rose Bowl, despite handing them a scare with three early wickets. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took out Hampshire’s middle order, but Crawley held firm and reached his hundred off 148 balls. Once Crawley had taken Hampshire to a second batting point, Shane Warne declared and Sussex’s top order wobbled. James Bruce, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Daren Powell did the damage and suddenly the pressure was on. Murray Goodwin and Chris Adams calmed the nerves with a stand of 89 and Hampshire took nine points to their opponents’ seven.Younis Khan hit an unbeaten double-century as Yorkshire and Kent played out a draw at Scarborough

Division Two

Derbyshire were decimated by Charl Willoughby and Andy Caddick, capitulating for 52 as Somerset completed a 278-run win at Derby. Chasing 331 after yesterday’s negotiations, the home side was soon in tatters at 13 for 5 as Willoughby claimed four of the top five. The spinners Ian Blackwell and Cameron White then ran through the tail as Derbyshire folded inside 28 overs. Ant Botha was the only batsman to reach double-figures before falling to Blackwell for 21.Chris Taylor’s 101 almost enabled Gloucestershire to turn impending defeat into victory against Essex at Bristol in a match played over one innings after rain washed out the first three days. After being inserted Gloucestershire slumped to 23 for 4 and 122 for 8 against impressive bowling from Andy Bichel and Ravi Bopara. They claimed eight wickets between them, but Taylor found support from Steve Kirby and Ben Edmondson as the last two wickets added a priceless 62. Gloucestershire’s attack then repeated the damage to the visitors with Kirby’s four wickets sending Essex sliding to 89 for 7. But Bichel (22 not out) and Alex Tudor (16 not out) held firm in the closing stages and the honours were shared.The match at Abergavenny between Glamorgan and Leicestershire was abandoned without a ball bowled due to unsafe run-ups. “It’s a shame for all concerned and especially Abergavenny Cricket Club, but unfortunately we had to do the right thing and the run-ups were just not fit,” the umpire Barrie Leadbeater said.3rd dayCenturies from Stephen Fleming and Mark Wagh put Nottinghamshire in the driver’s seat against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. Fleming struck 19 fours and a six in his 100, adding 112 for the second wicket with Wagh, before he was stumped off Jason Brown. Wagh then combined with Samit Patel (54) to add another 111. Wagh took 174 deliveries for his third Championship ton of the season and Nottinghamshire are poised to take a lead. Earlier, the home side added 102 to their total mainly through the efforts of Johann van der Wath, who struck an unbeaten 59, and an eighth-wicket stand of 69 with David Lucas.

* – match still ongoing

ScorecardA record 240-run fourth-wicket partnership between Neil McCallum and Ryan Watson set up a big win for Scotland over Netherlands on the third day at Aberdeen. McCallum smashed a career-best 181 and captain made Watson 154 to take Scotland to 452 before a much-improved bowling and fielding display knocked over the tourists for 138.McCallum was the aggressor on the third day, hitting 19 fours and three sixes in his 254-ball innings. Overnight on 277 for 3, he and Watson added a further 55 to their stand. Watson fell with the score on 295 for 4, hitting Alexei Kervezee to Geert-Maarten Mol. In the compant of Majid Haq (37), McCallum added 73 runs and from there on minor yet handy contributions from the lower order helped Scotland to 452. McCallum was the ninth wicket to fall, as he mistimed a pull off Mudassar Bukhari’s medium-pace into Nick Statham’s waiting hands. Bukhari finished with 3 for 70 when he removed Dewald Nel for 2.Trailing by 197, Netherlands put up a meek performance with the bat. John Blain, fresh from his 5 for 84 in the first innings, removed Tom de Grooth, Statham and Atse Buurman cheaply, while Paul Hoffman got rid of Kervezee and stand-in captain Peter Borren to leave Netherlands limping at 49 for 5 inside 17 overs. Bukhari and Mol added 41 for the sixth wicket but a quick mopping up of the lower order sealed a fine start to Scotland’s trophy campaign.Andy Tennant, Scotland’s interim coach, had plenty of praise for McCallum’s hundred. “It was a great innings from him,” he told the . “After the first day we had, it was important to get the guys making runs in the middle and Ryan [Watson] and Neil did that. Macca’s batting was just excellent. He keeps improving all the time and you saw it out there, how he flourishes at this level and in these kinds of situations.”Scotland’s opening match against the UAE was washed out, but they did very well to grab six bonus points on first-innings lead and add 14 more for an outright victory. Boosted by the return of Gavin Hamilton after a five-month gap, Scotland travel to Belfast this week to take on Ireland.

The last time Mahela Jayawardene left Sri Lanka for a South African summer, the cricketing gods were not smiling on him and the 2003 World Cup was the low point of his fine career as he scored just 21 runs in nine matches.Jayawardene returned to Johannesburg on Thursday but this time it was with a typically cheery Sri Lankan smile. The captain has had much to be pleased about in the last 18 months – his personal form was stunning as he led his team to the World Cup final, he was nominated alongside Ricky Ponting for the ICC’s Captain of the Year award and he can still bask in the glory of the record 374 he scored in a Test against South Africa just over a year ago.However, he was still reluctant to describe Sri Lanka as one of the favourites for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 title. “It’s going to be a challenge because we haven’t played much Twenty20 cricket. And the shorter the version of the game, the more open it becomes for other teams. We will need to play to our strengths, apply all our skills and try different things depending on the situation. We will need a lot of cool heads because the game is very fast. If you panic, you will lose the battle.”Jayawardene was happy with his squad which is basically the same as the one that thrilled so many people in the Caribbean. Even without the injured Muttiah Muralitharan, the bowling attack is experienced and there are batsmen to cover most situations.So no wonder the Sri Lankans are even more sunnily dispositioned than usual, which has helped new coach Trevor Bayliss enjoy a seamless settling-in period.”The people have made it very easy, it’s been a great three weeks. They are a fun-loving people and they really enjoy each other’s company, which is an ingredient in any successful team,” Bayliss said. “I haven’t had much to do in that department then and the team is in good spirits.”And what of the challenges ahead for the former New South Wales coach?”It’s not just a new challenge coaching at international level, but coaching one of the most successful teams of the last three years. If they are going to have another two years of good results then, at this level, it’s all about hard work. You also need to get things like the mental and physical preparation right and even the diets. You also rely on your support staff to fulfill an important role as well.”Bayliss was asked whether he was wishing for another Australia versus Sri Lanka final. “I’d like to see Sri Lanka in the final and I don’t really mind who we play there. But Australia are obviously right up there to make the final, just because of the calibre of players they have. I think England and South Africa will do well too because they have the experience of playing lots of domestic Twenty20.”