The Australian Sports Drug Agency has dismissed a newspaper report todaythat Shane Warne’s positive drug test indicated he had taken more thanone banned diuretic tablet.ASDA chief executive John Mendoza says the drug test carried out onWarne would not have been able to determine if multiple tablets werepresent in the player’s system.ASDA today completed its part in the Warne saga.It has handed over results of the leg-spinner’s B sample to theAustralian Cricket Board after his lawyers ruled out challenging thevalidity of the testing procedure.The ACB says Warne’s hearing is likely to be held by the end of theweek, with an announcement on the date to be made later today.

So we meet again. Cricket-crazy India and cricket-mad Sri Lanka – two nations separated by the Palk Straits but joined by our great love of the game. Monday’s encounter at Wanderers promises to be a fantastic spectacle and all of us in the Sri Lankan camp are eagerly looking forward to the challenge.India, under New Zealand’s shrewd coach John Wright and skippered by Sourav Ganguly, are a stronger side these days.Until recently, they were infuriatingly inconsistent despite being blessed with prodigious talent. Their woeful record in the finals reflected their tendency to crumble under pressure. This meant you knew that if you dismissed Sachin Tendulkar cheaply, then, India rarely came back into the game.

Not anymore.If early wickets fall, then, they have the rock-solid Rahul Dravid and the exciting Yuvraj Singh to rescue them. This helps them bounce back even after a poor start.The same is true of their bowling. In this World Cup, they have a balanced attack. There is the experienced Javagal Srinath, the fast-improving Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, a left-armer who has proved a revelation. In Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, meanwhile, they boast two world-class spinners.The team as a whole appears fitter, better prepared and, after a hesitant start, are growing steadily confident. Yes, they struggled on the moist pitches during their recent tour to New Zealand, but here in South Africa they are clearly a more consistent team.Their biggest strength is their explosive batting line-up, which contains players capable of batting any side in the world out of the game on their day. I still remember our game at Taunton in the last World Cup when I was working as a commentator: Ganguly and Dravid, then, were sensational.Thus, we are under no illusions about the immensity of the challenge ahead. To beat India we will certainly have to be at the top of our game: a loose start by the opening bowlers and it could all be over in a flash.We are a different side than India: a bit steadier. In an ideal world, I think we would like to bat first and build a decent total. After achieving that, we must also bowl very, very tightly and put their batsmen under as much pressure as possible. The key is simple; we will have to do the basics well.The little master is obviously a major threat. The tournament’s highest run-getter by a distance, Tendulkar carries their batting. Although India may now be less dependent upon his talents than they earlier were, there is no doubt that his will be the prized wicket.He can be phenomenal. I watched his innings closely the other day against Pakistan. It was brilliant, quite brilliant. His crisp footwork, perfect balance and impeccable shot selection were a joy to watch and an example for any budding cricketer.We have watched videos and analysed him. We do that for all opponents. Theories have been formulated and strategies discussed. We have an idea of where we want to bowl to him. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that he possesses few obvious weaknesses. This means the bowlers and the fielders are going to have to work very hard to make sure that we claim his wicket early.But whilst Tendulkar is undoubtedly a great player and a major threat, we will not let our preparations be dominated by him alone. This Indian side possesses an abundance of talent and we would only underestimate the others at our peril.

Moreover, the Sri Lankan philosophy is to focus on what we have to do as individuals. We do not allow ourselves to be distracted by the reputation of the opposition. Each individual has a defined role and responsibilities. We try to make the game simple and reduce the pressure.Unlike India, we are not packed with stars: our strength is teamwork. It is this quality of ours that makes me believe this Sri Lankan side can go all the way. After difficult tours of South Africa and Australia, we have adjusted to the conditions. All the heartache has proved worthwhile. Ironically, our only failure against Kenya was on the slowest pitch that we have played on. Confidence is growing steadily but it has not peaked. There is plenty more petrol in the tank.The Kenya defeat was a setback, costing us valuable Super-Six points. Losing the game placed the players under real pressure in the next two encounters. The matches against West Indies and South Africa were, then, a major test of character, one we passed with flying colours.Our loss to favourites Australia in our first Super Six match proved a slight dampener. But the fact that they have lost key players means Ricky Ponting’s men are far from unbeatable. Jason Gillespie started the tournament in brilliant form and, although his replacement Andrew Bichel had his day in the sun against the English, the former will be missed. The absence of Shane Warne has barely been noticed thus far, but it was always in the final rounds that he was going to be needed the most.Thus, despite all the pre-tournament predictions that sub-continental sides would not prosper this time, I feel that both India and Sri Lanka have the talent and mental strength to become world champions once more. We will know more after Monday.

What started out as a dream turned into a nightmare as the Australia’s clinical opening bowler, Glenn McGrath, took seven for 15 to demolish the Namibian batting, bowling them out for 45 in 14 overs and ensuring a win by 256 runs on a good batting pitch at the North West Stadium in Potchefstroom.McGrath wrote his name into the record books. It is the best return in all World Cups (previous: 7/51 WW Davis, West Indies v Australia at Leeds, 1983). It is the best bowling by an Australian in an one-day international (previous: 6/14 GJ Gilmour v England at Leeds, 1975), and he became the leading wicket-taker for Australia in all World Cups (previous: SK Warne 32 wickets). A truly remarkable and historic performance.The 45 all out equals the second-lowest total in World Cup history, while the 256-run win becomes the biggest margin of victory in all one-day internationals, beating the 245-run win Sri Lanka had over India in Sharjah, 2000/01. England’s 202-run win over India at Lord’s in 1975 was the previous biggest victory margin in the World Cup.Australia’s win was also their 11th consecutive victory, equalling the recordfor most consecutive victories in one-day internationals, held by West Indies.The pace of Brett Lee and the guile of McGrath were something that theWorld Cup debutantes would never before have encountered. Lee, bowling wellinto the 150 kph, was just a yard too fast and the movement and line fromMcGrath proved unplayable as wickets continued to fall.A third-ball four off McGrath from Jan-Berry Burger got the Namibian innings off the ground, but the fourth found the edge of the shuffling Burger’s bat to give Ponting a simple waist-high catch at second slip.Brett Lee was quick, bowling well into the 150-kph zone, swinging the ball away, with Adam Gilchrist standing well back. Stephan Swanepoel found the pace too much for him, and an edge duly came in the third over, a flyer with Ricky Ponting taking a great catch way above his head at second slip.Morne Karg did not last long, getting a lifter from McGrath that he gloved away for Adam Gilchrist to do the rest. Karg may have been unlucky, as it did notlook as if his hand was on the bat when he gloved it.Bryan Murgatroyd was trapped leg-before by McGrath without scoring, and Danie Keulder, on three, gave McGrath his fourth, again a regulation catch to Gilchrist off a faint edge. Deon Kotze was McGrath’s fifth, also edging to Gilchrist.McGrath’s sixth wicket, and Australia’s seventh, was another edge as Louis Kotze followed the procession. Bjorn Kotze had his bails dislodged as McGrath became only the second World Cup player to take seven wickets in an innings.Andy Bichel replaced Lee and struck first over up, having Melt van Schoorcaught by Gilchrist and wrapped it up also having Rudi van Vuuren caughtbehind. Six catches by Gilchrist gave him the most by a wicket-keeper in a World Cup match.Namibia had been bowled out for 45 in 14 overs that took 75 minutes.For 43 overs in the morning session Namibia had however done a sterling job.They bowled well, with the exception of van Vuuren, going for 92 in 10overs, and fielded with more pride than many of the teams in the tournament.They chased down and brought off diving saves that not only helped the bowlers but added a little pressure on the Australians.Matthew Hayden was again magnificent. He paced his innings well after Gilchrist had been bowled for 13, upping the rate the longer he stayed at the crease. Three big sixes and nine fours helped him to 88, his highest World Cup score, before he was bowled trying to work the ball across the line.Michael Bevan, apart from one glorious cover drive, found it difficult topierce the field and became the first wicket of Louis Burger, deceived by a slower ball to be caught and bowled for 17.The hard-hitting Andrew Symonds was again impressive. Two fours and twosixes in an innings of 59, which would have been a lot more but for the excellent fielding and a ridiculous run-out that had him and Damien Martyn running for the same end. The 84-run partnership is a record for the fifth wicket on this ground.Apart from this aberration, Martyn showed the Namibians what running between the wickets means. Almost unnoticeably he ran his way to 35 before he was bowled, setting the stage for Darren Lehmann.Lehmann and Brad Hogg came together at the end of the 43rd over with Namibiahaving done extremely well to restrict Australia to 231/6, but a seven-over onslaught from Lehmann saw Australia finish on 301/6 with his 50 coming off 31 balls. The undefeated 70-run partnership is also a record for the ground. The last over had brought 28 runs to Lehmann, a record for a single over in a World Cup match and for Australia in all ODIs.For Namibia, Louis Burger returned his best international figures of 3/39while Gilchrist was Burton van Rooi’s first international wicket.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, April 6 AAP – Jason Gillespie proved he was on track for Thursday’s first Test against the West Indies during a strong bowling performance in his return match in Georgetown today.Gillespie claimed 2-13 from nine overs as Australia moved towards victory against the Guyana Board President’s XI in the opening three-day tour match at the Everest ground.At stumps on the second day, Australia was 8-180 in its second innings, leading the home team by 425 runs after it was dismissed for 132.Gillespie made seven during a late knock while Queenslander Martin Love was unbeaten on 55 as Australian captain Steve Waugh reshuffled his batting order to continue the build-up to the Test at nearby Bourda.Waugh’s top order received valuable time at the crease on the first day before the captain declared at the overnight score of 3-377.Gillespie’s bowling was among the most satisfying results from a commanding Australian performance on the slow Everest wicket.The South Australian had not bowled since he was sent home from the World Cup with a heel injury and there were doubts over whether he would recover before the four-Test series.He appeared on track today, bowling well across two spells, as the Australians rattled a team containing three players from the Windies’ 14-man Test squad.Spinner Brad Hogg claimed 4-23, including three late wickets, while his rival for the slow bowling spot, Stuart MacGill, was punished by the local batsmen.His two wickets came at the expense of 49 runs from eight overs.Andrew Bichel (2-10), opening the bowling in place of rested quick Brett Lee, was lively during a six-over burst.Under the rejigged second innings line-up Hogg and Adam Gilchrist opened the batting but wickets fell quickly.Gilchrist (eight) fell in the third over, Hogg (16) was out nine balls later and Bichel, batting at three, had his stumps spread by former Test quick Marlon Black after scoring seven.Queensland quick Ashley Noffke made a polished 20 before Darren Lehmann was the first of the recognised batsmen at No.6.Lehmann made 42, following his unbeaten 44 in the first innings, combining with Love for a 72-run stand.Love reached his second half-century for the match in a solid build-up to his role at No.4 in the first Test.

Cricket and family life have never been easy bedfellows. A relationship which was at odds long before women were given the vote appears to have reached a crisis of late. Within the game, there has been a spate of well-publicised marital break-ups; outside it, the world is adapting to new rules of engagement between the sexes. The leading players are finding that cricket is making greater demands on them than ever before – and so are their wives.Even though a successful Test career is now shorter than it used to be, at six to ten years, wives and girlfriends are no longer tolerating their lot as cricket widows and virtual single parents. A high-profile husband may have his allure but, once the cachet fades, many are swapping them for men who spend their weekends at home washing the car and mowing the lawn – or even cooking the lunch and bathing the kids.The sheer time taken by the game, especially at weekends, has rarely been popular with families: up to ten hours a day, often seven days a week, if you include journeys and preparation time. Normal folk who receive an invitation to a christening from a professional cricketer have to look at it twice because it tends to be during the week. Add lengthy tours of three or four months to the load and it amounts to a huge strain, particularly on those who have come to expect more of husbands and fathers than previous generations.The problems appear both generational and cultural, with the majority of divorces occurring in England, though a quick check reveals that nowhere is immune. India, to pick a country with different social mores, has its marital casualties: before he was ever accused of match-fixing, Mohammad Azharuddin caused a scandal by walking out of an arranged marriage and settling down with a Bollywood actress. Javagal Srinath’s marriage broke up and Sourav Ganguly’s touched breaking point when he was photographed at a temple with another film star. Other cricketers caught in the full glare of Indian celebrity have been tempted, though many feel it is a honey-trap used by underworld figures hoping to blackmail players into fixing matches.The absenteeism is felt far more in England, where little more than a few weeks separate the hectic six-month home season and the moment wives wave their husbands off on tour in October. It would not be sanctioned now, but on the 1982-83 tour of Australia and New Zealand, Chris Tavaré, who had recently married, brought his wife Vanessa along for the entire 148-day trip. What none of the team knew at the time was that Vanessa had phobias about flying and heights, both of which required heavy sedation. With 23 flights and most of the hotels set in downtown skyscrapers, a lot of sedative was needed. If Tavaré was unhappy he never showed it. It wasn’t until the Fourth Test in Melbourne that he played his first shot in anger.Once a relationship becomes strained, cricket rarely seems able to offer a compromise. Recently, Darren Gough, Graham Thorpe, Mark Butcher and Dominic Cork have all seen their marriages break up while on England duty. In Thorpe’s case, the public saw it too: he flew home from India at the beginning of a Test match in an attempt to save his marriage, appeared on his doorstep in Surrey to talk frankly about it, and later played for England at Lord’s when clearly not himself during a custody battle over his two small children. He retired from one-day internationals with the World Cup looming to spend more time with the children, giving up a sizeable income as a result.Others are doing the sums, and players who spent last winter with both the Test and one-day sides in Australia and the World Cup in South Africa did not see their own beds for 140 nights. Missing the kids growing up is a regret many cricketers cite as a downside of their job, but it is one that most do little about. On the same 1982-83 tour as the Tavarés, the England team were sponsored by JVC. Getting some of their product was part of the deal; while most of the players chose hi-fi, Derek Randall picked a fussy-looking video camera. He said it was "for the missus", so she could film the kids growing up for him.Keith Fletcher’s playing career with Essex and England lasted more than 20 years from tentative newcomer to wise old guru. He was married throughout, and still is, to Sue, and they have two grown-up daughters, Sarah and Tara. Sue doesn’t feel she or the children suffered unduly as a result of his absence. "I certainly don’t look back with resentment, and the girls grew up thinking it was the norm," she says. "I don’t feel it has affected them in any way and they both have a great relationship with their father."An itinerant father can confuse young children. In his diary of the 1997-98 West Indies tour, Phil Tufnell’s last entry tells of arriving back at Heathrow to be greeted by his three-year-old daughter Poppy waving and shouting: "Bye-bye, Daddy."Being away for long periods does not just affect wives and children. Players spending half their year in hotel rooms become lonely and frustrated. When that happens, temptation to stray can be hard to resist and public disclosures of affairs have, in some cases, precipitated the split. Fame has always been a potent aphrodisiac.In England, marital break-up among cricketers has increased steadily, a trend in step with a wider society that has seen the divorce rate treble in a generation. Research recently commissioned by the Lord Chancellor’s department found many of today’s generation "selfishly pursue careers and other interests at the expense of marriage or long-term relationships". Cricketers, like most professional sportsmen, have probably just been selfish for longer.Before the 1990s, the situation was largely tolerated, though not by Phillip DeFreitas’s first wife, who made it clear she considered her own career far more important – thanks to its relative longevity – then her spouse’s. These days, wives with children expect husbands to contribute more than a pay packet. Many cricketers struggle to deliver, and not only because of their absence. Cricket dressing-rooms act as quasi-family units, though ones where responsibility, beyond the immediate task of scoring runs or taking wickets, is often lacking.The laddish bonhomie and sporting drama that come with the job do not prepare players for the raw emotions of life. But while an upset on the pitch can be sorted in the nets or by having a chat with the coach, a failing relationship with a loved one is not so easily remedied, especially when the player is a few time zones away.The fact that players now move county more frequently than in the past means that traditional support networks for wives, such as aunts and grandmothers, may no longer be within easy reach. Where children are settled at school, many simply refuse to move, leaving players to live like the blokes in Men Behaving Badly for virtually the whole season. Part of the problem stems, as one wife of a well-known player confirms, from the women not thinking the whole deal through before they settle down with a professional cricketer. Often they meet their man before he has been picked for international duty. Only when the merry-go-round of touring meets the treadmill of county cricket does the antisocial nature of the whole business hit them.There is a distinct generation gap. Sue Fletcher, a stoic by nature, recalls the England wives of the late 1960s and early 70s being a close-knit group that was more like a self-help collective than a bunch of disillusioned housewives. "We knew what the form was about looking after the kids; our husbands made that clear from day one," she says. "When they were on tour, and they were long tours in those days, the wives used to visit each other back in England. It helped that we all got on well and had children roughly the same age. But we rallied round and got on with it because that’s how it was."In those days, families were allowed to tour but were not encouraged. As at the gentlemen’s clubs of the time, women were seen as a distraction and rather too civilising for cricketers sent to win important battles on foreign soil. The Test and County Cricket Board used to control visits, which players had to pay for, including flights and hotel rooms."I remember going to visit Keith on tour and being allowed to spend 21 nights with him," Sue Fletcher says. "We had to pay every penny and often it took up the entire tour fee so you’d make nothing. Because of those financial constraints, wives on tour, especially with kids in tow, were the exception rather than the rule."These days, there are still limits, but they are less strict. Providing a player is abroad for more than 60 days, the England and Wales Cricket Board allow 30 days’ family provision for players who are in both the Test and one-day sides and 16 for those in one or the other. The board also pay for return flights (in economy) for wives and children under 18, all accommodation, some internal travel and a modest daily meal allowance.The timing of visits is still controlled and has to be agreed in advance by the captain and coach. Usually the period falls around Christmas and New Year, just as the Test series is coming to a climax, a situation that can add to the tension, especially when families come to realise that Daddy is not on holiday too.Occasionally, special cases are allowed. Not wanting to miss the birth of his second child, Nasser Hussain settled his wife Karen and toddler Jacob in Perth just before the start of the 2002-03 tour of Australia, a first for an England captain. He flew out ahead of the team and was given a few days off after the First Test so he could be there for the birth, which was even timed to fit into his schedule: as he chivalrously put it in his newspaper column, "we had her induced". This prompted much huffing and puffing from the old guard, led by Ray Illingworth, who accused Hussain of leaving a sinking ship. Put it down to the David Beckham effect if you like, but such instances are likely to rise, along with the costs, as the board try to keep players and their wives happy.Family visits, even when the cost to players is minimal, are often fraught. Denise Fraser, wife of Angus, was one of the generation of England wives after Sue Fletcher. They have been together since before Fraser became an England regular, fitness permitting, in 1989. They had a son, Alexander, in 1993, a daughter, Bethan, in 1995, and got married in 1996. Denise had mixed feelings about her times on tour. "Before the children were born, trips to the West Indies were great fun, especially when players like David Gower and Allan Lamb were about. But in my experience, we were not always made to feel welcome and, although the wives and kids often lifted morale when we arrived, we also added to the stress."Denise Fraser remembers the 1995-96 tour of South Africa as particularly blighted. England’s tour party grew from 20 to over 70 as families arrived for Christmas in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. The team manager, Illingworth, was so incensed by the chaos that he blamed it for England’s defeat in the series – the Fifth Test, at Newlands, was the only one with a result."It was disastrous," Denise Fraser says. "We stayed in a city-centre hotel that had no facilities for the kids, and players had to give up their seats for us on the team bus. We felt unwelcome, especially when Illingworth blamed us for the defeat, which was unfair. I remember England winning in both Barbados and Melbourne just after the wives had come out."According to Denise Fraser, the situation could have been avoided with a bit of foresight and planning. The board tacitly acknowledged as much after that tour, when they began to send Medha Laud, the international teams administrator and one of their most senior women employees, ahead of the team, to vet hotels for their suitability.Families on tour need to be looked after. South Africa make their team bus available to ferry them to and from the game, though at different times from the players, or to the shops or sights. Bob Woolmer, South Africa’s coach from 1994 to 1999, got the idea from Kerry Packer’s World Series in the 1970s, where the wives were given a manager who organised shopping trips and sightseeing for them. "Players didn’t have to worry about whether the wife was being looked after or not and could get on with playing cricket," Woolmer says. "You’d then meet up in the evening for supper like couples leading normal lives. It’s simple and effective, but few teams bother."South Africa’s enlightened approach extends further, and players have been allowed to miss tours to spend time with their families. Jonty Rhodes skipped the tour of India in 2000, with the board’s blessing, to be present at the birth of his first child – the first recorded case of a cricketer being given more than a day or two’s paternity leave. In the past, leading England players would pick and choose, as Graham Gooch did when he missed the 1986-87 Ashes tour and half the next winter, but that is almost unheard-of now; after Alec Stewart, who chose not to tour India in 2001-02, mentioned that it would be nice to be around for the Christmas shopping, he faced criticism from the England management. Competition for places is keener and, Bangladesh apart, there are no longer opponents who allow you to get away with fielding a sub-strength side.Australia’s home series are much like a succession of tours, with every game bar one a flight – and maybe a time zone or two – away. And so the Australian board are proactive in getting the families involved. Wives and kids are always invited to the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, where they are put up in apartment-style suites with the players. When the men go overseas, there is usually a dedicated period of two weeks when their other halves can visit, but if a wife wants to come away for the entire trip, she can. On the 2001 Ashes tour, Steve Waugh rented a flat in London for the summer as a base for his wife Lynette, then pregnant, and their two children. Waugh warmed up for the First Test by taking them all over to Disneyland Paris for a few days.The paradox of all the time away from home is that the problems can start when it finishes. A player comes off an arduous tour, expecting to be greeted like a conquering king (or a defeated one), and may find that he no longer fits into the rhythms of home life. "You become so used to their absence," Denise Fraser says, "that Angus would upset my routines when he got back. Suddenly there is another body in the equation and you have to get used to living together again."Let’s face it, most players are a selfish breed who, if not too tired to help out around the house, bring their problems home with them. They are used to getting everything put on a plate and there were times when I couldn’t wait to get him on his way again." Angus is now doing it all over again as cricket correspondent of The Independent. "He seems to be away more than ever."Top-level sport is accompanied by self-analysis and narcissism, which do not lend themselves to the give-and-take required in most long-term relationships. The endless insecurity tends to propel most cricketers up the aisle by their early twenties, before life skills have been acquired. Some, like Imran Khan, David Gower and Mike Atherton, wait until their careers are all but over before starting a family, but they are unusual.Darren Gough, who moved out of the family home last year into a bachelor pad in Milton Keynes, said he felt playing cricket for England was becoming a single man’s game. Given that the international programme has doubled in the last decade, he may be right, but it would be sad if the game’s player-power were further compromised. The hike in matches has come at the behest of television, which bankrolls the modern game. Until that is addressed, something the ICC has yet to do despite the pleas of senior Test captains like Nasser Hussain and Steve Waugh, cricket’s biggest battle will be on the home front.

Dion Ebrahim led Zimbabwe to only their second win of the tour with an assured 81 not out as they made up for Friday’s embarrassing loss with a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Ireland at Woodvale Road in Eglinton.It was a better display all round from Zimbabwe, who were boosted by the return of Heath Streak. He made an immediate impact with the ball as Ireland found the going much harder than in the last game at Belfast. In the end they made 196, but it could have been worse after they were reduced to 75 for 6 at one stage.The pitch was a belter for batting on, as captain Jason Molins, the Ireland captain, appreciated when he chose to bat first. However, he wasted his opportunity at the top of the order when he mistimed a pull to be caught at mid-on off Streak without a run on the board.And with an in-form Andy Blignaut at the other end, it was a different ball game altogether for Ireland. Their top-order contributed to their own destruction, and they were soon facing disaster at 36 for 5 in the 10th over.But Peter Gillespie settled in and with help from Dominic Joyce, brother of Middlesex’s Ed, the pair scored an invaluable partnership before Joyce drove a catch to mid-off off Douglas Hondo (75 for 6).Gillespie then finally fell for a brave 56, caught by Ebrahim, substituting as wicketkeeper for Tatenda Taibu, who hurt his hand off Hondo’s bowling (185 for 9). There was the occasional big hit from the lower-order, but the Zimbabwe finally wrapped up the innings in the penultimate over.Streak was again the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 29 while Gary Brent (0 for 15) looked in better form than he was in Belfast. But Hondo who took 3 for 53, was again erratic.Chasing Ireland’s modest target, Ebrahim and Douglas Marillier began the chase with a useful opening stand of 52 in 13 overs, with Paul Mooney this time unable to trouble the batsmen with the new ball.Marillier made a brisk 24, and Stuart Carlisle, who usually likes to dig in deep and start slowly, this time went for his strokes in handsome style right from the start. Ebrahim responded, and Zimbabwe were soon rattling along to their target with ease.Carlisle fell one short of his half-century when he was caught and bowled by Mooney (134 for 2), and then Grant Flower made some welcome runs with 31 not out as Zimbabwe won with ten overs to spare – a much-needed win ahead of the NatWest Challenge.

It is rather ironic that England’s most destructive batsman is also their thriftiest bowler. Andrew Flintoff conceded less than three runs per over during the 2003 World Cup, and last night he was at it again in the first match of the NatWest Challenge against Pakistan. A freak shoulder injury had threatened his participation in this series, but by the time he had galumphed through his ten overs, England were all but back in a match they had little right to win.As our graphic shows, Flintoff’s success can be attributed to his immaculate line. More than three-quarters of his deliveries (46 out of 60) were pitched in the corridor just outside off stump, and only a solitary yorker-length ball veered anywhere near the leg side. He only conceded 23 runs, and although he failed to take a wicket, the pressure he exerted caused explosions at the other end.During the NatWest Series of 2002, Flintoff found success with a back-of-a-length attack on India’s batsmen, but this time the short stuff was in less abundance. Exactly half of his deliveries were on a good length, and while he banged 18 in short, another 11 were pitched well up in the blockhole. It wasn’t a wicket for the quick bowlers – Flintoff sent down just one genuine bouncer all day, and it was promptly smacked for four.

The Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI lost three wickets for five runs late on the second day to leave Bangladesh with a slim hope of reviving their fortunes after another poor batting performance. At stumps the Chief Minister’s XI were were 32 for 3, with an overall lead of 82. Unless the Bangladesh bowlers cause more havoc early on the third day, their batsmen will be left with a daunting fourth-innings target.Manjural Islam, the left-arm seam bowler, caused the early problems for the Chief Minister’s XI when he had Nick Berry out for a duck in the first over of the second innings. Then, in his third, he took the key wicket of Michael Clarke for 1. In between Islam’s two wickets, Ian Redpath was bowled by the medium-fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza for a duck in Mortaza’s first over.Ashley Williams and Kenneth Vowles stopped the rot and were unbeaten on 13 and 16 respectively at the close. The slow portable pitch made runscoring extremely difficult, so the first-innings lead of 50 conceded by Bangladesh could well prove to be a crucial factor.Bangladesh struggled throughout their innings to make any impact against a side which is not even a first-class combination. They were bowled out for 139 – hardly the ideal preparation in the last match before their first Test on Australian soil.Hannan Sarker was the sole figure of defiance. He batted 128 minutes for his 34 – the top score of the innings – but in doing so he highlighted the battle with concentration that the Bangladesh players have had ever since making their appearance on the Test stage. Nurtured on one-day cricket, they have still to acquire the temperament to play consistently long innings.At lunch Bangladesh were 56 for 3, but they had slumped to 120 for 8 by tea. Alok Kapali scored 21 and the last pair offered some token resistance, but it was too little against an attack which played to the conditions perfectly. Eight bowlers were used by Northern Territory, and while he picked up only one wicket for seven runs, Brian McAdam, the former North Melbourne AFL player, bowled 10 overs for that.Bradley Hatton took 2 for 20 off his 12 overs of medium-pace, while the Australian one-day offspinner Nathan Hauritz took 2 for 32 from 21 overs.Day 1 Bulletin

Jack Mollinson Noreiga, who has died in Trinidad, had a brief but successful fling with Test cricket early in 1971.It was Noreiga’s misfortune to be bowling offspin in the West Indies atthe same time as Lance Gibbs, one of the best of them all. But in 1971Gibbs’s form dipped and Noreiga – who, rising 35, was only a couple ofyears younger – was called up for the series against India after taking11 wickets in Trinidad’s Shell Shield match against Barbados. Noreigawas at his best on the turning pitches of the Queen’s Park Oval in Portof-Spain, and took only one wicket in the first Test in Jamaica. But inthe second Test, back home in Trinidad, he delivered what remains thebest bowling analysis by a West Indian bowler: 9 for 95, from 49.4overs. After the first wicket fell to Grayson Shillingford, Noreigamopped up the rest of the innings. Despite his efforts, India won thematch – Sunil Gavaskar made 65 and 67 not out on his Test debut – whichwas eventually enough to give them the series 1-0.Noreiga played alongside Gibbs in the next Test, at Georgetown, but bothmissed out in the fourth match in Barbados. But Noreiga was back for thefinal Test – at Port-of-Spain again – and grabbed 5 for 129 in thesecond innings (while Gavaskar compiled 220) to finish with 17 wicketsat 29.00 in his brief Test career. Gibbs returned to form afterwards,eventually topping the 300-wicket mark in Tests in 1975-76, and Noreiganever featured again. He did play on for T&T until 1975, ending up with68 wickets at 29.67.Noreiga died in Port-of-Spain’s Sangre Grande hospital on Friday (August 8), after stomach surgery. He was 67, and leaves nine children and seven grandchildren. Garry Sobers, his captain in those four Tests, remembered Noreiga as “a jovial personality and a real team man” as well as “a very useful bowler”. Sobers recalled: “Lance was going through a bad patch at the time and Jack filled the gap tremendously. He was a very useful bowler, especially at the Queen’s Park Oval. He flighted the ball, had good control over line and length, and turned it. Like most Trinidadians, he enlivened the dressing-room with his humour. I’m saddened to learn of his untimely passing.”

The chief executive of Cricket Australia, James Sutherland, has gone out of his way to distance his organisation from the increasingly scandal-prone Shane Warne.Warne, who is currently serving a 12-month ban for drug misuse, has still been hogging the Australian headlines in recent weeks. He is currently embroiled in a series of murky allegations of sexual harassment, involving 16-year-old girls, exotic dancers and South African “hairy-backed sheilas” (in the immortal words of David Hookes). It is clear that Cricket Australia consider him to be a liability.”Any association [Warne] has with the Australian team at present is something I’m not comfortable with,” admitted Sutherland to the Sydney Morning Herald. “The Australian team is not going to train in Australia until the lead-in to the Perth Test [against Zimbabwe] in October, and our worlds are going to collide when they next train in Melbourne, in the lead-up to the Boxing Day Test match.”Sutherland added: “We’re clear we can’t fly him to training sessions or provide him with support in the form of direct assistance in order for him to train. We would be in breach of the sanctions in our own anti-doping policy.”Nevertheless, Warne has resumed training with his state side, Victoria, and it is only a matter of time before he is invited back into the Australian fold. “We believe it may be appropriate in certain circumstances for Shane Warne to train with the Australian team,” said Sutherland. “It’s a pretty open-ended matter. But I’m not sure what those circumstances would be, to be frank.”Warne’s 12-month ban expires in Feb 2004, and he is sure to feature heavily in the selectors’ thoughts in the coming months. But Sutherland did not envisage a swift reunion. “It needs to be something the team, coach and selectors are comfortable with. But we don’t anticipate we will invite him to train in the short run.”