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David Graveney, the England chairman of selectors, has insisted that the treatment of Andrew Flintoff’s ankle injury has been unjustifiably criticised. It was confirmed yesterday that Flintoff will require further surgery on his ankle and will miss the entire summer. The news also put a cloud over his participation in the Ashes series later this year, the first Test of which gets underway at Brisbane on November 23.”He was seen by two consultants who are the best in the field and they went down the route of [initially] deciding against an operation,” Graveney told . “Virtually every hurdle had been crossed and it was only when he played at Kent he began to feel the symptoms.”Assuming Flintoff’s operation and subsequent rehabilitation goes to plan, he should be able to resume training in early October. However, he has already been ruled out of participating in the Champions Trophy and, consequently, faces the possibility of flying to Australia as England captain having not played any serious cricket for the best part of eight or nine months.Graveney refused to be downbeat, however. “As far as the time line is concerned, we still believe Freddie will be on that plane with the rest of the team,” he said. “Once he has the operation we can make our plan from there. If the symptoms they think are causing the problem are correct the 12-week span is probably accurate.”

ScorecardFile photo – Asghar Stanikzai smashed 13 fours and six sixes in his 127 off 163 balls•ICC/Helge Schutz

Coach Inzaman hails Afg’s come-from-behind win

Afghanistan coach Inzamam-ul-Haq has said the win against PNG was all the more significant given his team had been switching between formats a lot of late.
“The performance was exceptional and outstanding because this was the third different format they were playing inside four weeks,” he said, adding their aggressive approach after a poor start was important. “These are big, powerful and talented lads who play without fear. It requires a lot of guts and courage to hit the number of fours and sixes they hit in the second innings when they had their backs against the wall.
“These are positive signs and we just want to build upon these foundations without burdening them with too much information.”

Afghanistan completed a stunning comeback win as they overcame a 151-run first-innings deficit to thrash Papua New Guinea by 201 runs in Sharjah. Asghar Stanikzai (127), Mohammad Shahzad (116) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (112) all struck centuries as Afghanistan piled on 501 in their second innings – along with handy lower-order fifties from Gulbadin Naib and Mirwais Ashraf – to set PNG a target of 390.PNG were never in the chase at any point as they lost wickets in clumps to succumb for 188. Assad Vala struck his second half-century of the game and offered some resistance with his 81 but it was not close to enough. Zahir Khan and Yamin Ahmadzai both picked up four wickets to break the back of the PNG chase.Earlier, it was PNG that dominated with both bat and ball as they bowled Afghanistan out for 144, with Norman Vanua doing most of the damage with figures of 4 for 36, and then put up a total of 295 through Mahuru Dai’s 129 and Vala’s 62 to earn a lead of 151. Zahir and Ahmadzai were again the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets apiece.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A match that appeared to be drifting inexorably in Pakistan’s direction inthe afternoon session was left tantalisingly poised after a 115-runpartnership between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and VVS Laxman pushed India backinto contention. Shoaib Akhtar bowled with tremendous pace to dismiss bothopeners, and there were two wickets too for Sohail Tanvir on debut, butafter slumping to 93 for 5, India would have been satisfied to end the dayjust three runs adrift.Dhoni and Laxman eased the immediate pressure with scampered singles, apattern broken only when Dhoni cut Mohammad Sami powerfully for four.Laxman then played two magnificent strokes down the ground off Tanvir, andDhoni greeted Danish Kaneria’s reintroduction with a savage cut for four,but at tea, it was still Pakistan that were dictating terms.The complexion of the game changed after tea though, with Dhoni’s straightswat off Kaneria revealing India’s positive intent. Laxman laced somegorgeous shots down the ground and through midwicket, while Dhoni muscledthe ball through the off side field whenever he was afforded the width.Shoaib Malik rotated his bowlers often, using Shoaib’s pace in shortbursts, and both batsmen were largely content to see him off. Even then,the runs came at four an over as the partnership mounted rapidly. A pushthrough cover took Dhoni to 50, but his movement thereafter was hamperedby the ankle that he had injured in Jaipur.John Gloster, the Indian physio, came on to give it some strapping, but itwas clearly a factor as he charged a Kaneria leg break to get the thinnestof edges through to Kamran Akmal. His 57 had spanned just 93 balls, andbeen the dominant part of a partnership similar to that which saved theLord’s Test for India in July.Laxman eased to his own half-century soon after, Anil Kumbleplayed one flamboyant square drive off Shoaib, and the fag end of the day wasall about consolidation. When the umpires offered the light at thescheduled close, with Pakistan well behind the over-rate, both Laxman andKumble had little hesitation in walking off.The situation when Dhoni arrived to a raucous ovation had been verydifferent. Rahul Dravid, who had played some lovely shots in his 38,saw his off stump knocked back by a Tanvir delivery that pitched onmiddle and leg and left him a shade. Coming soon after Ganguly’s departure- bowled off the inside edge to give Tanvir his first Test scalp – it puta severe dent in India’s hopes of establishing a first-innings lead.The unlikely figure of Mohammad Yousuf had provided a telling blow minutesearlier. A sizeable crowd had cheered Sachin Tendulkar all the way to thecrease, but when there was a mix-up between him and Dravid over going fora second run, Yousuf’s throw to the keeper found him inches short.Another run-out, albeit a much more bizarre one, had precipitated the endof the Pakistan innings in the morning. Neither Munaf Patel nor ZaheerKhan could break through with the relatively new ball, and after 40 moreminutes of being thwarted, Kumble brought himself and Ganguly on.And it was off Ganguly’s bowling that the 87-run partnership – a Pakistanirecord for the ninth wicket against India – was finally broken.Misbah-ul-Haq, who had faced 243 balls for his 82, played one to point andset off. He seemed to have made his ground when Dinesh Karthik’s throwcame in. But rather than get his body in the way, Misbah chose airborneevasive action and the ball struck the stumps. When the third umpire handed down his decision, the crowd erupted.It took Kumble just two balls to clean up Kaneria, leaving India’s vauntedbatting line-up to chart their own course on a pitch predicted to be at itsbest for batting on the second day. Though Karthik went before lunch,fending at a Shoaib delivery that moved away, Dravid and Wasim Jafferproceeded to put on 56 without too many alarms.Shoaib was the biggest threat, combining the odd unplayable delivery withsome wayward stuff. Clearly unhappy with the landing area on the pitch, heasked for sawdust, changed his boots and then kicked a ball away infrustration on his followthrough when he couldn’t find rhythm.The second coming proved to be luckier. Dismayed to see Billy Doctroveturn down a leg-before appeal against Jaffer in the opening over of theinnings, he returned to thud one into the pads at serious pace. In theensuing 6.2 overs, India would lose 4 for 22 and stumble towards an abyss.Fortunately for them, neither Laxman nor Dhoni were in freefalling mood.

Mashonaland at loggerheads with Zimbabwe Cricket

The dispute between Mashonaland Cricket Association and Zimbabwe Cricket continues to rumble on, and ZC have upped the ante by refusing to recognise the new MCA executive.Although the warring factions sat down together, Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, insisted that his board refused to ackowledge the authority of the current MCA board and that he was speaking to Cyprian Mandenge and Elvis Sembezeya, the new MCA chairman and deputy chairman, purely as members of the association rather than as officials.An emergency meeting of the MCA in December kicked out the existing committee and elected a new board who were seen as being far more prepared to confront the board.However, ZC refused to acknowledge the election and has been refusing the new association officials access to their offices at Harare Sports Club. “We are supposed to be using the offices but we have been facing difficulties in this regard and how do they expect us to carry out the day to day running of the sport for our province?, Mandenge explained. “We are not trying to oust the ZC board but all we are saying is that the ZC should address the issue of the rebranding from ZCU and do it constitutionally.”It is not known at the moment what the outcome of yesterday’s meeting was.Although a number of clubs boycotted last weekend’s matches, Cricinfo understands that all but three – Alexandra, Old Georgians and Takashinga – have agreed to resume playing this week largely for financial reasons. Mashonaland itself is still refusing to participate in the Logan Cup.

India’s busy season after the World Cup kicks off with a short tour of Bangladesh as the Bangladesh Cricket Board released the itinerary, comprising two Tests and three one-dayers.Should India qualify for the World Cup final on April 28, they have a breather for just eight days before the the scheduled departure for Dhaka on May 7. The one-day series commences on May 10 at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka, followed by the second match, at the same venue on May 12. Chittagong will host the third one-dayer three days later.India will stay back in Chittaong for the first Test from May 18 and will head back to Dhaka for the final Test, starting May 25. India last toured Bangladesh in 2004, winning the Test series 2-0 and the one-dayers 2-1. The reciprocal tour, however, is yet to happen.ItineraryMay 7 Arrival in Dhaka
May 10 1st ODI, Dhaka
May 12 2nd ODI, Dhaka
May 15 3rd ODI, Chittagong
May 18-22 1st Test, Chittagong
May 25-29 2nd Test, Dhaka

Australia’s departing players have no worries about the side dropping from the top of the world rankings after spending the past decade keeping them there. And Ricky Ponting believes the group of low-profile replacements is capable of stepping into the gaps created by three of the country’s longest-serving performers.As the Australians accepted the applause for a 5-0 victory from a heaving SCG, Ponting spoke to Michael Clarke about the responsibilities of the new generation, which faces its first Test challenges against Sri Lanka and India towards the end of the year. “Make sure the next time we play an Ashes series we give it our best shot for the same result,” Ponting told Clarke, who scored two centuries in the contest.”For the next few years hopefully it’s Clarke and I and Michael Hussey leading our country. I see it as a pretty exciting time.” Ponting also expected players such as Adam Voges, who was in the squad for Perth, and the bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus would help replace Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer.”It’s not so much the unknown because I’ve got a good feeling about the next crop,” he said. “When you get young players in the squad there’s excitement around. The nucleus of this group will still be together and I can see us being a very dominant team.”The last time Australia lost three significant figures they suffered five years of misery, but Warne is confident the trough will not be repeated. In 1983-84 Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Greg Chappell retired on the same day at the SCG and the side struggled to recover.However, Warne believed Australia were currently so far ahead of the second-best side that the next batch of players would be able to hold the lofty position. “We’re very fortunate that first-class cricket in Australia is a good breeding ground for talent,” he said. “There are some wonderful cricketers out there.”It’ll be interesting to see which way the selectors go. Will they go for some 30-year-old players to replace us, or will they go for some youth? It’s a good time to get some younger players into the Test side while it’s been so successful and there is a decent gap between the next best side.”Warne said he would watch with interest “over a beer” to see how the team developed. “I don’t think Australia will come back to the field,” he said. “They’ll replace us three guys and I’m sure Australia will keep playing good cricket and winning.”Australia’s Ashes cleansweep has contributed to a 12-game winning streak that began at the MCG in 2005. Ponting said it would be a good tribute to the retiring players if they aimed to beat the mark of 16 set by Steve Waugh’s side in 2001, but Warne hoped it would stay untouched.”I bought a print for $35,000 that was for 16 in a row, so hopefully it rains in a couple of the next Tests,” he said. “Or maybe I’ll have to buy the next one when they win 17.”When we won 16 in a row I didn’t think it would happen again. To be on the verge of doing that again, and to have won 16 out of 17, that’s an amazing journey and a testament to the quality of players we’ve got.”Australia became a dominant team with the performances of Warne, McGrath and, later, Justin Langer, and Warne believed they first reached the new level in 1995 when they became unofficial world champions by beating West Indies. “We played some excellent cricket before that, but in ’95 we started to dominate rather than just win,” he said. “Once we beat West Indies over there we’ve dominated international cricket, except for a couple of hiccups – once in India and the 2005 Ashes – along the way. In general, we’ve dominated world cricket.”

The committee formed to handle the appeals of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, the two Pakistan bowlers who were banned this month after testing positive for steroids, will reveal their findings next week.Both players denied knowingly taking any drugs and filed an appeal against the ban. “We should give a final verdict on their appeals within a week,” said Fakhrudin Ibrahim, head of the committee.”In my opinion our decision should be final and binding on these players. But in the law you cannot say anything is final.”He added that the two players and their lawyers had been given a final questionnaire to fill in and return to the committee within two days. The PCB doping tribunal, headed by Shahid Hamid, banned Akhtar for two years and Asif for one year earlier this month.

Pakistan have begun a race against time to set up a world-class cricket stadium in Islamabad by 2008, when the country is due to host the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time.A PCB official told `The News’ that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would soon be signed with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for the allocation of land to build the proposed stadium.”We have a couple of major tournaments to host in the coming years and would like to add to the existing cricket facilities,” said Saleem Altaf, Director of Cricket Operations, PCB.Pakistan are due to stage the biennial Champions Trophy in 2008 and will be the co-hosts for the 2011 World Cup with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.Altaf conceded it will be a race against time if Pakistan want to have the facility in Islamabad ready ahead of the Champions Trophy. “But it is a possibility,” he said, adding the PCB would make efforts to hasten the process.The PCB is presently waiting for a physical possession of a piece of land which it is to get from the CDA. “Once we get the physical possession then the actual work can begin,” he said.Altaf said the PCB would start issuing tenders for the construction of the stadium once it gets possession of the land in Islamabad. “We hope if everything goes according to the schedule, the stadium would be ready by the end of next year.”Pakistan might extract some aspects from the design of a cricket stadium being built in the Dubai Sports City while finalising its own blueprint for the proposed stadium in Islamabad. The stadium in Dubai, once completed, is expected to be counted among the best cricket facilities in the world.Islamabad does not have a cricket stadium of international standard. Test and ODIs are, however, regularly played in its twin city Rawalpindi. But the Rawalpindi stadium is not controlled by the PCB, as it has to hire the facility from the local authorities.The PCB, in fact, has the administrative control of just two Test venues — the Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore) and the National Stadium (Karachi).Cricinfo adds:The PCB, as part of their preparations, are planning to bring the administration of stadiums in Faisalabad, Multan and Rawalpindi – all venues for 2011 – under their control. In addition, as reported recently, the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad – once an venue of Tests and ODIs – is also coming under the supervision of the PCB.At a recent press conference. Shaharyar Khan, chairman PCB, said, “Our preparations for the World Cup have to begin in earnest from now and one of the first things we must accomplish is gaining control of stadiums in Faisalabad, Multan and Rawalpindi. We need to bring these stadiums up to international standards and at the moment they aren’t. But I will impress upon the government that these stadiums need to be in our control for them to be upgraded to the requisite standard.”

South Africa will be looking to depose New Zealand at the top of the table with a victory in this Group E match. Having lost their only international encounter against this opposition almost two years ago, Graeme Smith will be hoping for a better performance with the bat, especially with his team being restricted to 154 against England. Herschelle Gibbs’ inclusion, fitness permitting, will only benefit the home side in their bid to make the semis.New Zealand might well decide to rest a few aching bodies after theirclose win against England, especially a struggling Jacob Oram who took a knock on his left hand while dropping a return catch. However, Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, will want nothing less than a win to take the momentum through to yet another semi-final appearance for his team.Bat play: South Africa’s top order has, bar their last match, been in great form. JP Duminy, opening in place of Gibbs, failed to score in his second match after an impressive tournament debut against Bangladesh. Much will depend, as always, on Smith, AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher before the power-hitting of Shaun Pollock and Justin Kemp steps in.New Zealand’s top order, however, failed miserably in their final matchand it came down to Craig McMillan and Scott Styris to play the rescueact. However, Ross Taylor, who already has a half-century to his name in the tournament, and Brendon McCullum have both played mini-cameos in the opening round but will need decent support in what will be a tougher bowling attack.Wrecking ball: Shaun Pollock has been in form of late, picking up five wickets in the last two matches while being as miserly as ever. Makhaya Ntini has not been as successful and it will be down to the likes of the Morkel brothers and Vernon Philander to provide support.New Zealand have fast bowling problems of their own. Mark Gillespie, after a four-wicket haul in the opening match, has failed to pick any wickets. Shane Bond, although economical, was not penetrative in the last match while either Chris Martin or Jacob Oram look set to make way for Jeetan Patel, the offspinner, who will partner Vettori, the joint highest wicket-taker in the tournament.Keep your eye on: Albie Morkel and his long-range efforts with the bat. Already boasting a few of the tournament’s longest hits, Morkel has a 20-ball 43 against his name and will fancy the pace of Gillespie and Bond to add to his tally of sixes.Shop talk: According to Vettori: “It [captaincy in the Twenty20game] is not easy … because you don’t know what you will run into. You might have the best of plans but they may all have to be discarded at the spur of the moment.” While he sits and plans the next match, Smith will know that his team really do not want to leave qualification for the semi-final for the last match against India and would want to wrap up things under the Durban sun.Pitching it right: The Durban pitch has already witnessed two close encounters; Pakistan v India and England v New Zealand. It will be South Africa’s first match here and with conditions probably favouring pace and swing, the home team will want to make first use of it.TeamsSouth Africa (probable) Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Justin Kemp, Mark Boucher (wk), Vernon Philander, ShaunPollock, Johan van der Wath, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Makhaya NtiniNew Zealand (likely) Lou Vincent, Brendon McCullum (wk), PeterFulton, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, DanielVettori (capt), Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Jeetan Patel

Deb K Das with his report on the USACA’s EGM and what it achieved – or didn’t achieveOf the two season-ending events in US cricket from which a great deal had been expected, the Interstate Tournament at Brian Piccolo Park in Florida ended with a decided bang, and the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) called by the USA Cricket Association (USACA) the following week hardly rated a whimper.Much had been expected from the EGM on December 10 in Dallas. For one thing, it was supposed to formalize the end of the protracted conflict between the USACA and the Council of League Presidents that had brought US cricket to a standstill for nearly a year. A final agreement on holding a new USACA election was to have been achieved, and a complete redraft of the much-criticized constitution was to have been set in motion. The gag orders on all parties were to be lifted, and the websites of the USACA and CLP were to be free to operate and were to resume the communications that had been rudely interrupted by the legal disputes. In other words, this was to be new beginning for the USACA, and a chance to convince a sceptical ICC that the USACA was on a new and constructive course.US cricketers, too, had been making clear that there were questions it wanted answered, and issues they wanted USACA to address. What was the present status of the USA within the ICC; was it an Associate Member, an Affiliate Member or neither? If the USA was an Associate Member, why had the ICC failed to schedule the USA in any events for the next two years? What plans did the USACA have to be re-instated into ICC’s good graces? With no ICC money coming into the US, would the USACA now raise the dues of individuals or clubs in order to stay solvent? US cricketers wanted straight answers to these questions, and hoped these would be addressed at the EGM.There were also questions on other matters, which had been raised directly with USACA leadership. What action would the USACA take on two proposals: one concerning mainstreaming of US cricket and the other on changing dues payments from a per-club to a per-member basis, which had been formally prepared and presented to USACA leadership? Also, how and when would USACA initiate exploratory discussions with Major League Cricket (MLC) for cooperation in the interests of US cricket, and would it also actively disavow all efforts to sabotage, undermine or otherwise denigrate MLC’s policies and programs? Clearly US cricketers had been looking for specific answers to all these questions, and the EGM looked like a likely place to find them.The first warning signs that all was not well with the EGM came with the fact that there was no mention of such a meeting on the USACA’s own website, and only a brief reference on the CLP’s. Only Cricinfo carried a story on the EGM, and that too over a month after it was supposed to have been decided upon.As just about everyone in US cricket knew, a USACA EGM is not easy to hold; it requires that at least 15% of the membership from across the USA be represented in person at the meeting, which would mean that given the USACA’s registered membership, 30 to 40 representatives of member clubs would have to be present in Dallas to secure a quorum. In the only two previous EGMs held in the past five years, there had been concerted efforts to get clubs to send representatives, and three to four times the numbers needed had shown up at the meeting. This time, there seems to have been no such effort; USACA leadership simply sat back and waited to see who would show up in Dallas.The full extent of the shortfall was not known until Vinod Shankar, an observer who had produced the first independent review of the MLC Interstate tournament, produced a similar one for the EGM. Until then, neither the USACA nor the CLP had seen fit to issue any kind of report. According to Shankar’s tally, there were 17 persons (including him) at the EGM in Dallas. Three were USACA officers; six were Board members (one short of the number needed to have a board quorum); five were present and former officers, and current members, of the North Texas Cricket Association that was hosting the conference; one and possibly two were from the neighboring cricket league at Houston. There was not a single other USACA member club representative from anywhere else in the USA. Far from not being able to achieve a quorum, the EGM had scored a big fat zero. And though some USACA supporters were bitter in blaming member clubs for their absolute apathy, the blame really needs to be placed squarely on USACA leadership for totally failing to persuade their members of the importance of the Dallas meeting.Under the circumstances, those present in Dallas decided to make the best of it, and conducted an open-ended discussion. Gladstone Dainty talked about focusing USACA’s energies on youth (non immigrant) cricket development, put the past behind, and work towards the development of cricket in the United States. The meeting minutes of the previous AGM were unavailable, as the secretary was not in attendance. Caesar explained that the chanelling of Project USA funds to Gary Hopkins through a separate USACA account had led to some problems that the auditors were currently working with USACA to sort out. Dainty said that all tournament dates would be announced by Jan 15 for the 2006 calendar year, so that different leagues could prepare accordingly.Lu Rehman, a vice-president, said there were no funds to host all these youth tournaments that were being proposed. Laks Sampath, a North West Regional Director, challenged Rehman to come up with some accomplishments in the next two months towards cricket development. There was talk about forming a constitution committee. A deadline for completing the task of having a new website in place was set by Dainty as January 31, 2006. Dainty also declared that any player could play in any tournament (MLC, ProCricket etc) in the United States and that would not harm that player’s chances of playing in Regional Championships or to represent USACA in ICC events.An interesting point did emerge during the discussions. It seems that even though both the CLP and USACA execs had reached an amicable agreement and had sorted out their differences, no statements were issued to the press or the ICC because they were still waiting for people to sign off on the lawsuit before they could issue that statement. It was decided to get this signed off as soon as possible so that “the curtain could be closed on USACA’s darkest hour”Some USACA supporters take a Pollyanna-ish attitude towards these deliberations, and declare that this was proof that USACA was at last beginning to move in the right direction. I find it difficult to share that optimism. For one thing, none of the issues raised by US cricketers appears to have been addressed, let alone resolved. Even the Under-19 team preparations were not brought up. And the revelation that even the agreement between CLP and USACA on ending their disputes has not been acted upon because it is waiting on the disputants to sign off on it is somewhere between outrageous and unbelievable. If this is the way that the USACA is going to run its own business, it is no wonder that people are losing any hope that the USACA will ever be able to get its house in order — now, or at any other time.