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Ridley Jacobs and Jermaine Lawson will miss West Indies’ second Test against Australia, which starts on Saturday (April 19). Dr. Terry Ali, a member of the West Indies Cricket Board’s medical panel, has ruled that Jacobs needs more time to recover from his groin strain, while Lawson has been diagnosed with chicken pox.”Ridley will remain in Trinidad for a few days to start rehabilitative work before he returns to his native Antigua on Saturday,” said Ricky Skerritt, manager of the West Indies team. “Jermaine will return home on Wednesday and we hope that he will recover in time for the third Test in Barbados.”Jacobs’s unavailability ensures that Jamaica’s 20-year-old Carlton Baugh will make his Test debut. Tino Best, Barbados’s leading wicket-taker this season – his 39 scalps have come at just 18.25 – has been named as Lawson’s replacement.Among the other changes in the 14-man squad were the inclusion of Ramnaresh Sarwan and 20-year-old offspinner Omari Banks. If the recall of Sarwan, who has recovered from a fractured finger in his left hand, was not surprising, then the continued omission of Chris Gayle was. Gayle was left out of the squad for the Guyana Test after he opted to play in a double-wicket competition rather than the Carib Beer Series final. His continued exclusion indicates that despite comments to the contrary, he is still very much out of favour with the selectors.The inclusion of Banks is a reward for a solid first-class season in which he took 25 wickets at 36.40 and scored 270 runs at 33.75 for the Leeward Islands. He is the first cricketer from Anguilla to be picked for a senior West Indies side.West Indies squad: Wavell Hinds, Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Carlton Baugh (wk), David Bernard, Omari Banks, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Tino Best.

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Bangladesh have a long battle ahead of them if they are going to avoid a heavy defeat in the second Test at Sabina Park. They start the day needing at least 210 to make West Indies bat again, and with only seven wickets in hand. They may well have found themselves in an even more precarious position, were it not for a fighting 28 not out from Habibul Bashar which steadied the ship after his side had been reduced to 34 for 3.A double-century from Ramnaresh Sarwan, ably supported by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, put West Indies firmly in control of the match yesterday. They added 262 for the fourth wicket after after losing Tino Best – the nightwatchman – early on in the day’s play. And just to rub it in, Pedro Collins took 2 for 17 in the late afternoon to send Bangladesh hurtling towards what looked like inevitable defeat.In the 20 overs at their disposal, the West Indians bowlers made short work of Bangladesh’s top order. Collins struck first, trapping Hannan Sarkar leg-before for 10, while both Rajin Saleh (0) and Javed Omar (5) were both caught by Dwayne Smith, off the bowling of Collins and Tino Best respectively.With the sky overcast before play began, Bangladesh’s hopes will be raised by today’s weather forecast, with showers and thunderstorms likely.

England skipper Nasser Hussain has admitted that he was “glued” to Phil Tufnell’s recent triumph on the reality TV show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here.Tufnell, who won 42 caps for England, the last in 2001, retired from the game on the eve of the season to take part in the show Down Under.Asked in an exclusive interview with the official Channel 4/ECB Test Match Magazine whether a recall for Tufnell – nicknamed “The Cat” – to the England colours would be a boost for the game, Hussain says: “He’d get a big cheer. But then he always gets a big cheer. He’s always been a star. He’s always been the people’s champion – he’s like the Jimmy White of the cricket world. But there’s only so far you can get on popularity, you still have to get your runs and wickets… I was disappointed when he retired because he’s one of a dying breed of natural spin bowlers who can give the ball a bit of flight – and also a dying breed of characters in the game. We’re running out of characters. I always enjoyed playing with and against Phil Tufnell – every game I played.”Hussain goes on: “I hate reality TV. I’ve never ever been keen on anything like that. But I was glued to that because The Cat was in it. I’m very close to The Cat, I know him very well, I enjoy his company and I found him absolutely hilarious on the show: he was always going to be brilliant on it: he’s got a job for life on things like that – he’s made for it. Good on him. There’s not many cricketers that could pull that off – it’s not something that Nasser Hussain will be doing …”Elsewhere in the interview, Hussain says he intends to break Peter May’s Test record of 20 Test wins (Hussain has led England to 14 wins so far), and that he does not believe in blooding a weaker team against Zimbabwe. He also talks about how his own run-ins with authority have helped him become a better leader: “It’s very difficult being captain if you’ve just been a goody two-shoes. It’s hard to understand the Phil Tufnells of this world if you don’t have that sort of background yourself.”The first npower Test between England and Zimbabwe starts at Lord’s on Thursday, May 22.The Channel 4/ECB Official Test Match Guide, which also includes exclusive interviews with England’s fastest bowler Steve Harmison and Zimbabwe’s 20-year-old vice captain Tatenda Taibu, will be available at the ground and via the website www.pplsport.com

Premier 1 (50 overs)Bashley (Rydal) 287-2 (22pts) (Sexton 182, Thurgood 61, Loader 36)
Andover 202 (5pts) (R Miller 83, Keighley 28, King 4-41, Taylor 3-48)
Bashley (Rydal) won by 85 runsBournemouth 112 (2pts) (Waite 28, Goldstraw 3-19)
BAT Sports 113-4 (20pts) (Kenway 43, Banks 37)
BAT Sports won by 6 wicketsHavant 144-8 (5pts) (Hindley 30, Loat 23, Draper 3-29)
Calmore Sports 148-8 (18pts) (Surry 40, Hibberd 28, Pegler 26, Hindley 4-27)
Calmore Sports won by 2 wicketsHungerford 111 (2pts) (Dawkins 31, Jenkins 4-14)
Burridge 114-4 (20pts) (Cunningham 52, Dixon 27)
Burridge won by 6 wicketsSouth Wilts 224-7 (21pts) (Lamb 80, Steedon 50, Wade 37)
Liphook & Ripsley 150 (5pts) (Smyth 29, Barnes 27, Rowe 3-34)
South Wilts won by 74 runsPremier 2 (50 overs)Cove 72 (2pts) (Douglas 4-7, Donaldson 3-27)
Trojans 73-5 (19pts) (Le Bas 24, Ashton 3-21)
Trojans won by 5 wicketsEaston & Martyr Worthy 226-6 (22pts) (St Green 77, Butcher 41, A Birch 31)
Hambledon 168 (5pts) (Le Clerq 38, Magrath 26, St Green 6-30)
Easton & Martyr Worthy won by 58 runsOld Basing 61 (0pts) (Braithwaite 3-4)
United Services 62-1 (21pts) (Toogood 20, McKeever 20)
United Services won by 9 wicketsOld Tauntonians & Romsey 246-8 (22pts) (Smith 71, N Stotart 59, Forward 42, Treagus 3-37)
Lymington 81 (4pts) (G Stotart 4-22, Morjaria 4-31)
Old Tauntonians & Romsey won by 165 runsSparsholt 108 (0pts) (Gunyon 33, Prittipaul 3-19)
Portsmouth 111-0 (22pts) (Prittipaul 79)
Portsmouth won by 10 wicketsPremier 3 (50 overs)Bashley (Rydal) II 128 (5pts)
Leckford 129-9 (18pts)
Leckford won by 1 wicketGosport Borough 113-8 (2pts) (Burns 3-29)
Hursley Park 114-4 (19pts) (Halder 39, Regan 3-42)
Hursley Park won by 6 wicketsLymington II 107 (2pts) (Coles 22, Pike 4-15, Bellchamber 3-16)
Portsmouth II 108-4 (20pts) (Pike 33, Moon 28)
Portsmouth won by 6 wicketsNew Milton 178 (7pts) (Watts 42, Richman 4-57)
Paultons 179-9 (20pts) (James 39, Mitchell 26)
Paultons won by 1 wicketRowledge 217-5 (21pts) (Harland 39, R Yates 37, C Yates 29, Shephard 4-52)
Waterlooville 57 (2pts) (C Yates 4-8, Eichler 3-14)
Rowledge won by 160 runsPurbrook 150 (19pts) (McCoy 32, Openshaw 3-33)
Havant II 140 (6pts) (Jones 44, Wade 35, McCoy 4-19, Hunter 3-39)
Purbrook won by ten runsSt Cross Symondians 225-6 (22pts)
Hook & Newnham Basics 86 (3pts)
St Cross Symondians won by 139 runsUnited Services II 121 (1pt) (Kitching 37, McMurray 4-31, Hitchings 3-23)
Flamingo 125-2 (22pts) (Fengian 47, Latouf 28)
Flamingo won by 8 wicketsWinchester KS 175-8 (20pts) (Naik 50, Taylor 35, Jackson 4-27, Rotherham 3-51)
Alton 127 (5pts) (M Heffernan 29, Ballinger 26, Oxley 5-26, Taylor 3-20)
Winchester KS won by 48 runs

Unperturbed by a mammoth 457 for 5 declared from Haryana and a finebowling display by Amit Mishra (4 for 72), Himachal Pradesh proceededto score 231 for 4 on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophyclash at the Paddal Ground in Mandi on Sunday.Resuming at 34 for no loss, overnight batsmen, stumper Arun Verma (37)and Nischal Gaur (64) forged a century stand. With the partnershipworth 110, Arun was the first to return to the pavilion, trapped legbefore by Mishra. This brought skipper Rajeev Nayyar (4) to thecentre. The other opener Gaur did not last long and departed in the60th over, caught by Jasvir off Mishra after a 232 minute stay at thecrease.Amit Sharma (58 not out) joined his captain and took the score on to150 when the latter fell to a catch by Ishan Ganda off Mishra. Afterthe fall of Nayyar, Amit and Varindar Sharma (45) put on 70 runs forthe fourth wicket. Varindar Sharma was trapped in front of the stumpsby Mishra with the score at 220. Chetan Kumar (6 not out) along withAmit ensured that HP went into stumps with no further hiccups.

Upon seeing the Hamilton track’s shock of green on Wednesday, interim head coach Jerome Jayaratne said the surface might have been “understandably doctored”. On the eve of the Test, on which the surface appeared a lighter shade of green, Angelo Mathews suggested a spicy surface may work to his team’s advantage.His thinking is this: Sri Lanka are already a game down in the series, and a flat surface that produces a draw will not help them level it. Not only will Sri Lanka’s seamers have an opportunity to take 20 wickets in Hamilton, but a pitch as spicy as this one is expected to be may have the added benefit of narrowing the quality gap between the two seam attacks. Low-scoring games are often prone to upsets.”When you play on extreme wickets, both teams have equal opportunities,” Mathews said. “It’s just that you have to get a good start whether you bat or bowl. We’ll definitely play to win because it doesn’t matter if we lose the series 2-0 by trying to win this game.”Sri Lanka are now 0-3 in their Tests in New Zealand over the past year, but have in other nations achieved victory in seam-friendly conditions. Tests in Dubai and Headingley last year were won in part thanks to the seam attack’s penetration in helpful conditions.”If we are to have a chance of winning, we should play on a wicket like this, because our seamers will also get assistance,” Mathews said. “We have a very good chance. It’s just a matter of applying ourselves while batting and putting runs on the board. That will give our bowlers a chance.”Unsurprisingly, Mathews said he would bowl first if given the chance, but hoped his bowlers would make better use of a seaming pitch than they did in Dunedin. The frontline seam attack is likely to be comprised of Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera, as it was in the first Test.”If we bowl first we will definitely look to rectify the mistakes that we did in Dunedin, because we were nowhere near our best there. We’ve talked about it a lot. The bowlers have a very good understanding of what they have to do. We actually had assistance on that pitch but we didn’t bowl well. Then we let them off the hook, and once they got to 400 it was really tough for us to get back into the game. This pitch will do a lot more than Dunedin. It has a lot more grass.”Sri Lanka may be tempted to play Kaushal Silva in their top order, given the lack of any major contributions from the inexperienced players in Dunedin. However, Mathews suggested the younger batsmen would be persisted with. This means Kusal Mendis, who has played two Tests, and Udara Jayasundera, who has played one, are likely to appear together in the top three again.”We’re not trying to make too many changes at the moment because we’re trying to settle in as a team,” Mathews said. “I know we’ve got so many younger players at the moment, but we can’t just throw them out after playing one game. We’ve got to show faith in them. We might lose the odd Test along the way, but it’s a matter of having patience and trusting them.”Having visited in successive New Zealand summers now, Mathews said his team had greater insight into the home team’s capabilities. “We’ve played a lot of cricket against New Zealand and we know exactly their strengths and weaknesses. They are a very settled unit, a very experienced unit, and we’ve seen a lot of videos of them as well.”It’s just that we’ve got to do what we can do best. While bowling you’ve got to hit those areas and get them out. It’s about being able to compete. We were nowhere near the New Zealanders in the first Test and we’ve got to go out there and enjoy our cricket.”

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Last week, in a twist that few predicted, Sharad Ghai, the former chairman of the Kenyan Cricket Association who left office in 2005, started on the comeback trail. From almost nowhere he re-emerged as one of the three delegates representing the Nairobi Gymkhana club at the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association’s Special General Meeting held on Saturday July 7 to discuss, among other matters, the long-overdue overhaul of the NPCA’s constitution.The meeting followed an acrimonious Annual General Meeting of the NPCA held on June 20 at which it transpired that the NPCA executive had, in breach of its existing constitution, failed to convene any general meetings involving its member clubs for over two years. Both the NPCA acting chairman’s report and the treasurer’s report were rejected by the members. Following this meeting, 10 of the 14 member clubs of the NPCA who attended signed a petition of no confidence in the NPCA executive. The three delegates representing Nairobi Gymkhana subscribed to the petition.The Nairobi Gymkhana chairman, Bharat Shah, disapproved of his own club delegates’ stance and promptly replaced them, drafting himself, Ravindra Patel (the club secretary) and Ghai to represent the club in their place at the July 7 meeting.Cricinfo had heard that Ghai had been in contact with several clubs, but given what happened when he was involved in the old Kenyan Cricket Association, few believed the rumours were anything more than that.But it now emerges that he has received backing from two surprising sources.Firstly, the Gymkhana club, who were owed a large sum of money by the old KCA. In 2004 they had a dispute with the board and threatened to prevent any official matches being played at their ground. Only the personal intervention of Ghai staved off a showdown, but, even so, the club was left out of pocket when the KCA was wound up.The second ally is even more eyebrow-raising. Sukhbans Singh, the acting chairman of the NPCA, was one of leading figures in attempts to remove Ghai and the old KCA executive between 2002 and 2005. But it now seems that Singh, under fire from his own clubs, and Ghai have struck up a relationship. It is the most unlikely of alliances.That Ghai has regained a foothold in Kenyan cricket will surprise many. When he left office in 2005 Kenyan cricket was a shambles. The board was broke – Samir Inamdar, who replaced him as board chairman, estimated that he inherited debuts of US$500,000 – and virtually all the High-Performance money from the ICC was gone. The national side was in chaos – it had played only two ODIs in the previous two years and for six months the bulk of the national team had been on strike over non-payment of monies owed. There were no major sponsors willing to be associated with the game, and other international boards gave Kenya the cold shoulder. The KCA executive had fallen out with many stakeholders, and even the minister of sport had had enough and stepped in to dissolve it.In the intervening two years the finances have been put back on an even keel, sponsors are beginning to come back and the board has done a six-year TV and marketing deal. On the field, the side has played 28 ODIs and in February they won the World Cricket League which means they will take part in the Twenty20 World Championship in September. Internally, there has been a period of relative peace and development. There is still a long way to go but things are heading the right way.At this stage, Ghai is only one of three representatives for one of 17 registered Nairobi clubs. But there will be many who remember Kenya cricket’s recent past who will be watching events with interest. Some of them are already expressing the view that the Gymkhana post may the springboard for a tilt at something bigger, perhaps even a challenge to Inamdar in 2008.As things stand, Coast and Rift Valley provinces, who would both strongly oppose Ghai, muster enough votes to be able to prevent him succeeding. But there is talk that Centrals, who were booted out by Cricket Kenya last month after it became apparent that, to all intents and purposes they did not exist as a viable province, may be set to mount a challenge to that decision. Centrals was the creation of the old KCA.It all might be a storm in a teacup. A Ghai comeback would be one of sport’s most remarkable stories but stranger things have happened. It could be an interesting few months.

The Ashes are looming once again for Ian Bell, but this time he is ready to look his opponents in the eye, as he continues his remarkable resurgence as an international batsman. As the final Test of the English summer approaches, and thoughts begin to drift towards the rematch in Australia in three months’ time, Bell, it would seem, is one big innings away from guaranteeing himself a place in the line-up for the first Test at Brisbane in November.It’s quite a turnaround from the situation he faced on his last visit to The Oval, the Ashes decider last September, when an overawed Bell recorded a pair to complete a traumatic personal series. “Looking back now,” he recalled, “it’s something I wouldn’t change. Obviously I’d have loved a hundred or some runs personally, but I’d still rather have won the Ashes and got a pair. To be involved at such a young age was something special.”One year on and Bell has got no such worries now. He in in the midst of a golden run of form that has earned him three centuries in as many Tests, and the subtle but unmistakeable change of approach has forced even those who doubted his mental fortitude to reassess their man. Among the doubters, it seems, was Bell himself.”I’ve always enjoyed my cricket, but I don’t know whether I believed I was good enough at this level,” he explained. “Now I believe I am. [In the past] I was a young player in the presence of world-class players and I wasn’t looking them in the eye. Now I’ve worked on my body language, and I’ve got a bit more presence out there. It’s about walking out there with your chest out and believing in yourself.””I’m feeling more positive and I’m feeling as if I belong,” Bell added, as he sized up the prospect of scoring a hundred in four consecutive matches – a feat that has only ever been achieved by ten other batsmen, and only one other Englishman, Ken Barrington (who managed it twice, in 1961-62 and 1967-68).”In the past my consistency has been lacking,” he said. “I’ve scored some runs and then made some low scores, but this series I’ve backed that up with real consistency. I’m very pleased with what I’ve achieved in three Tests, but if I start changing the way I’ve been preparing and start thinking of another hundred, it’s not going to happen. I’ll just prepare like I have been all along and not expect it. If it happens, then great.”The turning point of Bell’s summer – and maybe even his career – came at Lord’s in May, when he was omitted from the starting line-up for the first Test against Sri Lanka. “Being left out and driving away that morning was quite hard,” he admitted. “I don’t want to be doing that again, but it was a real chance to look at things and work out areas that I could do better. I definitely think that set-back has helped me.”If the experience really has made him stronger ahead of the winter’s campaigns, then so much the better for England’s prospects. “I just need to keep scoring the runs,” he said. “It’s a big match for us all, our last before Australia, and so it’s an important one personally for everyone. There is competition for places, which is good, but I believe I’m a lot more experienced now. I’ve had a winter in the subcontinent, and I’ll have 18-19 Test matches under my belt [when we get to Australia], instead of three.”As for being back at The Oval, Bell admitted that the memories were still fresh from last September. “That series was something we’ll never forget,” he said. “It was great to be involved and when you walk into the dressing-room, you do remember. Given the highs we were on that time, if we can finish this series 3-0, that would complete a great 12 months.”

Nasser Hussain has hit out at England’s weak selection policy during the early days of his captaincy, and has accused the chairman of selectors, David Graveney, of being “too interested in protecting his own job”.Hussain resigned as England captain in 2003 before retiring a year later after a matchwinning century at Lord’s, and subsequently entered the media as a commentator for Sky Sports. His autobiography, , is released next month and promises to be a typically forthright account of his four-year tenure. Some early extracts have been serialised in the Daily Mail, for which Hussain also writes a regular column.These days, the England team is a tightly run unit, with central contracts offering an essential measure of security for all the first-team players. But when Hussain was first appointed captain in 1999, he says that the selection policy was a much more hit-and-miss affair.”I like David Graveney,” Hussain writes. “He cares. He wants English cricket to do well. But he’s too interested in protecting his own job. He tries to keep everybody happy and is too quick to worry about what the press are saying.”Hussain goes on: “There’s no doubt the selection panel wasn’t strong enough then and a lot of it was down to Graveney. He would listen to anyone, be influenced by too many people. I’m all for democracy, but you really have to draw a line and have the courage of your own convictions if you are chairman of selectors.”But it wasn’t just Graveney who was at fault, in a summer when England slumped to the bottom of the pile in Test cricket. Ian Botham and Mike Gatting were also consulted on selection matters, and both receive short shrift from Hussain – especially Botham, who is now his colleague and sparring partner at Sky.”There was never any consistency in [Botham’s] arguments,” says Hussain. “He’d say one thing one day and then suddenly he’d be saying that the same bloke he had been pushing for a year was now complete rubbish. By the end of his time advising the panel, I was listening to what he thought I should do and then doing exactly the opposite.”

Viv Richards has expressed his “sadness” at the state of West Indies cricket, and clarified that there was no rift between Brian Lara and himself. Speaking to the , he said, “In any organisation, things are not always going to run as smoothly as you would like – and cricket selectors or decision-makers are no exception. But Brian is still a batting phenomenon who has served his people well, and you will never take the genius out of his batting.”But it was not all about Lara. Richards had plenty of time for England’s latest pace-ace, Steven Harmison. “The last time I spoke to Beefy [Ian Botham] before the Test series in the Caribbean, his parting words were along the lines of, ‘Watch out for Harmison, he’s going to make the difference’ – and sadly for West Indies cricket, he was correct.” Richards may not be a selector anymore, but he certainly thinks he knows someone who would make a good selector. “I knew Beefy had always championed Harmison’s cause, but it just goes to show that he would make a good selector.”After a couple of words of praise for his old Somerset teammate, Richards trained his sights squarely on Harmison. “There can be no doubt that England have unearthed a diamond,” he said. “From what I saw in the West Indies a few months back, this particular guy is the real deal. Some of the English guys were calling him Baby Amby because his action has similarities with the way Curtly Ambrose used to bowl for us.”Richards thinks Harmison has made great strides in the recent past. “Having seen him earlier in his career, I would say he was not bowling in the right channels on a regular basis. But if England need a wicket now, the captain can throw the ball to Harmison as his No. 1 strike bowler. It’s no good being 6ft 5ins and bowling at a good pace if you cannot land the ball consistently in the right zone, but that is what Harmison did in the Caribbean and he got his just rewards.”Gracious in defeat, Richards saluted Harmison’s effort. “Although it was painful for us to be on the receiving end, you can only admire the way this individual bowled and the marvellous results he achieved. Yes, he did surprise a lot of people outside his own camp. But hats off to him for the way he has worked at his game.””When you think of all the fast bowlers around the world, Harmison’s performance against us was up there with the very best. He is England’s main man, he’s made a huge difference to the attack.” Now that is fulsome praise, coming from a man who led a series of pace batteries that were right up there with the best.