Shoaib Akhtar is “going through hell” after failing to make it to the World Cup in the Caribbean. He was withdrawn from Pakistan’s squad on fitness grounds a week ago, after failing to recover from knee and hamstring injuries.”I can’t describe it in words what it means to miss an event like the World Cup,” Akhtar, the pace bowler, told AFP. “I am going through hell. I have been waiting for this event for two years and to play in a cricket-loving region like the Caribbean was my dream. Not being able to play in the World Cup is like taking all my dreams away.”Akhtar said he had played only one match in the West Indies in 2000 and was anxious to play because every paceman wanted to do well in the Caribbean, which is known as a fast bowlers’ paradise. Already 31, this is also likely to be his last World Cup, a fact he appeared to confirm. “I wanted to be in the Caribbean and I wanted to help my team win but unfortunately my injury forced me to miss the big event and the chance will never come again.”His new-ball partner Mohammad Asif was also pulled out of the 15-man squad due to an elbow injury, badly hitting Pakistan’s chances in the World Cup. Though injuries remain the official reasons for their withdrawal it is understood that continuing doping-related concerns clinched the issue. The pair tested positive last year for Nandrolone in internal dope tests conducted just before the Champions Trophy got underway, but their bans were eventually overturned, much to the chagrin of the global cricket community.But Akhtar said it was not new that people doubted his injury. “I have always played to the best of my abilities but people have doubted my integrity. My injuries are always doubted as if I am feigning it and I always had to prove that I am unfit. People don’t understand. Why would I not the play the game I love?”He has plans to start training again in two weeks, once the knee injury has healed. “My next target is the Twenty20 World Cup and then we have two good home series against South Africa and Australia, so I will gear up for them.”

Collins Obuya, the Kenya allrounder, is set to rejoin Weymouth, a small club side in the Dorset Premier Division during their pre-season tour of Guernsey next month.”I am in regular contact with the club,” he told , “and have been invited to tour Guernsey with them and it’s something I’d very much like to do.”I didn’t play for Weymouth last season because I was in Kenya preparing for the World Cup and I’m not sure exactly what my plans are for this coming summer.”Obuya, who has just returned from the Caribbean, where Kenya were ousted from the World Cup, first represented Weymouth in 2005.

A trust has been created to fund a number of projects in South Africa, including a training academy, in memory of Bob Woolmer, the former Pakistan coach who was murdered last Sunday.The money raised will fund the creation of a Bob Woolmer Cricket Academy outside Nelspruit in the eastern Mpumalanga province, and to ensure his book on the art and science of cricket gets published.”The Academy is for the benefit of world cricket not just South African cricket and will be run as a not-for-profit organisation,” read a statement. “One of the objectives is that children from underprivileged communities in South Africa will benefit in both a sporting and academic way.”The trust would also aim to provide financial security for his widow Gill, and sons Dale and Russell. Jonty Rhodes, the former South African batsman, was named as one of the trustees.”Bob Woolmer was one of world cricket’s most recognisable characters and servants of the game. Being one of the top coaches in world cricket did not stop him from sharing his skills and philosophies with the emerging cricketers of the world.”The investigation into Woolmer’s murder continues.

Nantie Hayward, the South Africa quick bowler, has signed as one of Ireland’s overseas players for the Friends Provident Trophy. He has played 16 Tests and 21 ODIs for South Africa but hasn’t appeared on the international stage since 2004.Hayward has plenty of previous experience in English domestic cricket having had stints with Middlesex and Worcestershire. His arrival will help bolster the Irish team which has lost a number of its World Cup stars to counties since their return from the Caribbean.”It’s been no secret we’ve been actively pursuing an opening bowler following Boyd Rankin’s return to Derbyshire,” said coach Phil Simmons. “I’m delighted to have captured Nantie, who is a proven quality performer, experienced in English conditions, and who has the extra pace and bounce necessary to trouble county opposition. He will be here in time for the weekend double header.”Last season the Pakistan duo of Shahid Afridi and Saqlain Mushtaq appeared for Ireland, who lost their opening Friends Provident fixture this season against Kent by 58 runs.

Division One

3rd dayGraeme Hick’s 110 built a lead of 166 for Worcestershire despite Muttiah Muralitharan’s six-wicket haul, but Lancashire will be confident of fighting for a draw after the second day’s wash out at Old Trafford. Hick and Steven Davies added 114 for the fifth wicket before Muralitharan struck two quick blows but Kabir Ali, following his eight wickets, provided useful support. The eighth wicket added 64, Hick’s century coming off 156 balls, then Muralitharan wrapped up the tail. However, Muralitharan’s wiles were not only too much for the lower-order they also confounded Luke Sutton, the wicketkeeper, who spilled at least three catches. After their capitulation in the first innings, Lancashire’s top order went about their task of wiping off the deficit in more confident style with Paul Horton and Mark Chilton progressing through 22 overs, although Chilton was dropped at slip on 7.2nd daySurrey were left applauding their Marks as they got set and went to a third-wicket stand of 403 against a bewildered Sussex at Hove. Ramprakash made his 13th double-century, and was left 266 not out, with 31 fours and three sixes, as Butcher declared on 626 for 3. Butcher himself made 179, with 16 fours and a six, but was dropped by Carl Hopkinson off Rana Naved-ul-Hasan on his overnight score of 75. And he was put down on 104, too, edging off Luke Wright to first slip. The partnership was the highest Championship stand against Sussex, and the second highest at Hove. Ali Brown then made his fifty, in an unbroken stand worth 117, as the innings was called to a halt. Poor Hopkinson – after chasing leather for the best part of 150 overs, he then lost his wicket the first ball of the innings, as Matt Nicholson trapped him leg-before. Sussex then settled, with Richard Montgomerie and Chris Nash both making fifties before stumps.Kumar Sangakkara marked his Warwickshire debut with an unbeaten 137 as he and Alex Loudon added 229 to pull their side out of a major hole after Durham grabbed four early wickets at Edgbaston. Graham Onions’ three wickets during his first spell sent the home side slumping to 23 for 4, but Sangakkara and Loudon set about a stirring recovery. Sangakkara’s ton came off 207 balls as he became the ninth player to hit a ton on debut for Warwickshire. The first half of Loudon’s innings was an amazing affair: it took 26 balls to get off the mark but just 33 more to reach fifty. He reached his second century of the season, from 140 balls, before edging to slip moments before the close.

Division Two

Alex Wharf struck his highest first-class score of 128, remaining unbeaten at the end, helping Glamorgan to post 392 on the second day against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Glamorgan’s bowlers then ripped through the home side, removing five before the close. Mark Wallace, who resumed on 99 at the start of play, eased past his hundred and held the fort for 334 balls while Glamorgan’s lower middle-order struggled, until Wharf opened his shoulders in his 226-ball 128. Jamie Harris, the teenager who turned 17 yesterday, then plucked out three quick wickets in 21 balls to leave Gloucestershire struggling on 118 for 5, some 274 runs behind.Boyd Rankin mopped up Middlesex’s tail for Derbyshire who dismissed the visitors for 248 on the second day at Derby. Tom Lungley had earlier cut through Middlesex’s middle order, taking the key wickets of Ed Joyce, Ed Smith and Jamie Dalrymple, leaving Nick Compton to anchor the innings with a turgid 51. That Middlesex reached the lofty heights of the 200s owed much to Chaminda Vaas’s brisk 56 from 88 balls but, his effort aside, the tail offered little aside.There was again no play at Grace Road between Leicestershire and Essex

Paul Jan-Bakker, Netherlands’ newly appointed coach, says his team will be going all out to win the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Canada in Toronto, starting on Thursday.Bakker, who took over the reins from Peter Cantrell following the World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year, said players learn more in attempting to win matches than they do from playing out negative draws, even if they end up losing more games along the way.”I played a lot of this sort of cricket and I always enjoyed going for the win rather than the draw,” Bakker, 49, said. “I’ll be bringing that same mentality to my job as coach. I want to make it a good game with an exciting final day if possible. I want it to be interesting. I think you learn more from being positive, even if you end up losing the match.”The four-day match gets under way at Ontario on Thursday with the Netherlands keen to reproduce the sort of form that gave them a seven-wicket victory over Canada in this competition last year.With some players unavailable, Bakker has given the chance to some inexperienced players to show him that they can make the step up from the Hoofdklasse – Netherlands’ domestic competition – to the international stage. There are three debutants in the current squad for the tour to Canada, all having shown good form for their clubs.”Bowlers have to realise that in four-day cricket they have to take wickets – it’s not enough just to be economical – and batsmen have to occupy the crease for long periods, and set targets for themselves based on sessions,” Bakker said. “You have to go for the kill sometimes and really attack the opposition.”Mudassar Bukhari, the allrounder; the wicketkeeper Atse Buurman Mangesh Panchal, the legspinner, get the chance to make names for themselves. Panchel comes in as a late replacement for Mohammed Kashif, who has been forced to withdraw due to a family bereavement, and has been in excellent form for his club this season with 19 wickets at 10.89.Bas Zuiderent and Ryan ten Doeschate are unavailable, though Bakker hopes both will be fit to play in next month’s quadrangular, involving the West Indies, Scotland and the hosts Ireland.Meanwhile, Canada will also be without some of their more experienced players, with both John Davison and Steve Welsh unavailable. However Ashish Bagai, the captain, is sees it as an opportunity to blood new talent and identifies his role as one of rebuilding towards qualification for the next World Cup in 2011.”I am looking towards the World Cup qualifiers in 2009 and what we want to do is start building a team for that event,” Bagai said. “We went into that match without any match practice and not having had a coach since the World Cup. Now we are in the middle of our season. We are fitter, better prepared and ready for the challenge.”I know the Dutch are missing a few players and I think if we do all the little things right, we should win… I am enjoying my role now as captain. I have the support of all the players, which is awesome, and I’m looking forward to the game.”Canada (from):
Ashish Bagai (captain), Ashishkumar Patel, Ashif Mulla, Geoff Barnett, Henry Osinde, Kevin Sandher, Qaiser Ali, Sunil Dhaniram, Shahzad Khan, Trevin Bastiampillai, Umar Bhatti, Mohsin Mulla, Durand Soraine.Netherlands (from):
Jeroen Smits (captain), Peter Borren, Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman, Tom de Grooth, Mark Jonkman, Alexei Kervezee, Mangesh Panchal, Adeel Raja, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Billy Stelling, Eric Szwarczynski.Umpires:
Darrell Hair and Roger Dill

Happy days are here again, at least until November.Such has been the desperation among West Indians and fans of Caribbean cricket everywhere that almost everyone is just relieved to be able to rejoice in a series victory. For most, issues of context and perspective will come later.The intensity, quality and uninhibited celebrations on the way to Saturday’s 93-run whipping of England to clinch the three-match limited-over duel are hailed as ample testament of the ability of our boys to lift themselves from the shadowy depths of embarrassing mediocrity to the sunlit summit of peerless excellence, all in a matter of a few days.Even if some of them may still be feeling the effects of what was expected to be some heavy-duty partying in Nottingham, the euphoria is expected to continue all of this week in Dublin.Matches against the Netherlands tomorrow, Scotland on Thursday and Ireland on Saturday should provide more opportunity for flamboyant batsmanship, incisive bowling and thrilling outcricket. Chris Gayle’s men may not be as sharp as on the last ten days of the England leg of the tour, but anything resembling the performances in the two Twenty20 matches and three ODIs against Paul Collingwood’s squad will be more than enough to brush aside the Associate Member nations.Then, of course, there is the chance for this good feeling to be sustained at the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in two months’ time.Such is their obvious enjoyment of the fast-paced, short-lived demands of the abbreviated versions of the game that the West Indies will inevitably be mentioned as a definite chance to be crowned inaugural champions of the sport’s latest and most popular international hybrid.Common among all of the assessments since Saturday is an appreciation of what has been termed the almost complete transformation of a side that looked so dysfunctional and disinterested while enduring a 3-0 hammering in the four-Test rubber. But is this anything new?The image of Gayle hoisting the NatWest Trophy in the midst of jubilant teammates is no different from the way the West Indies signed off on the last tour of England, when Brian Lara was the triumphant captain after a dramatic victory over the hosts in the Champions Trophy final eased the pain of a 4-0 Test series whitewash at the height of that 2004 summer.

In the intervening period, there has been a succession of “transformations” from looking almost hopelessly out of it in Test cricket only to battle neck-and-neck and frequently overcome the very best from the moment the coloured clothing is pulled on and the white balls appear.In Sri Lanka in 2005, a depleted team defeated the hosts and then came within eight runs of upsetting India, a victory that would have earned them a place in the tri-nations final in Colombo. Early last year in New Zealand, a bowl-off was needed to decide the one-off Twenty20 clash while the tourists squandered definite winning positions in two of the first four one-dayers before emerging victorious in the last match of the series.Back home in the Caribbean, confidence and competence in ODIs continued to soar upwards with a 4-1 dismissal of India, followed by strong showings in south-east Asia with appearances in the finals of the DLF Cup in Malaysia and in defence of the Champions Trophy in India. Subsequent limited-over series in Pakistan, India and then the World Cup on home soil were huge disappointments, but the fact of the matter is that contemporary West Indian cricketers are much better suited temperamentally to matches of shorter duration, as the unending succession of Test losses confirms.It is not so much an issue of transformation as sustaining the effort and maintaining intensity. Even during the recent Test series, the West Indies held sway on certain days and sessions, only to fall away the next morning or after an interval.They dominated the third day of the first Test at Lord’s with the bat, and bowled purposefully on day one and fought an excellent rearguard on the penultimate day of the third Test at Old Trafford. Even in the series finale at Chester-le-Street, England were on the ropes at 165 for six in their first innings, while a rain-affected match was still on course for a draw on the last afternoon with the redoubtable Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the effervescent Dwayne Bravo holding firm.Yet for all that, there was only disappointment and defeat at the end, simply because most lack the mental strength required to sustain a high level of performance over successive days. The shorter the game, the more competitive we are, as all that abundant talent and intuitive brilliance are only required for a few hours or a few minutes.The worrying corollary to that is the equally obvious reality that the West Indies will continue to struggle in Tests for the foreseeable future, especially with South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia looming as the next challenges in the traditional game. So like our excitable young cricketers, let’s enjoy the moment and leave concerns about the next Test series for a little later.The one thing we might want to consider, though, is adding a hypnotist to the already sizeable support staff. Brainwashing most of our players into believing that the first ball of every day and every session is the start of an ODI or Twenty20 could be the next short-term plan for ending the long drought in Tests.

Mike Colle, Ontario’s minister for citizenship and immigration, resigned last week in the wake of a report which slammed him for his handling of a Can$1 million grant to the Ontario Cricket Association (OCA).Colle was accused of making a series of grants to local organisations without going through the correct procedures.”I am not very privy to what transpired between the minister and the previous board of OCA,” Mike Kendall, the president of the association, told rediff.com. “What I heard was that we asked for Can$150,000 for infrastructure improvement, like improving the pitch, and other facilities. But members of the previous board had also spoken with the minister about various needs that put together amounted to several million dollars to take cricket in Ontario to the next level.”Had someone put some figures on paper, it would have been different, but that, as far as I know, didn’t happen. But the fact is Colle understands cricket. He understands that without the government help we can’t go to the next level and so he released that money.”The OCA has already spent Can$250,000 of the grant with the rest invested in the bank for future programmes.The report into the grants confirmed that the OCA had only requested Can$150,000.

Scorecard

Craig Spearman chose the ideal time to make amends for a meagre Twenty20 season with a match-winning 55-ball 86 to put Gloucestershire into the final, for the first time, at Edgbaston with 19 deliveries to spare. An impressive fielding display kept Lancashire to 148 as Gloucestershire produced two vital run-outs, including Andrew Flintoff for 3.Gloucestershire produced the brand of cricket that made them a one-day powerhouse under Mark Alleyne and John Bracewell. Crucially they came out on top during the six-over fielding restriction periods, which play such a vital part in Twenty20, and Spearman expertly showed how to exploit the early overs.Before this match Spearman was averaging 7.85 in this season’s tournament, but was quickly into his stride as 23 came off James Anderson’s second over. He regularly brought out the reverse sweep against the spinners – sending Muttiah Muralitharan to the deep cover boundary twice in his first over – and reached his 33-ball half-century with a straight six off Gary Keedy.Not even Flintoff could change the tide for Lancashire. He steamed in from the Pavilion End during an opening two-over burst, having a loud lbw shout against Spearman turned down before making a breakthrough when Hamish Marshall slashed to point. Flintoff was pumped, letting out a primeval roar, but his second over included a no-ball and the resulting free hit was dispatched by Spearman as Gloucestershire raced away and passed fifty in the sixth over.Kadeer Ali played his part in a second-wicket century stand that came off just 67 balls, but everyone else was overshadowed by Spearman. He took Dominic Cork to the cleaners with two huge leg-side sixes in a superb display of clean striking before tamely chipping Muralitharan to midwicket with 12 needed. But he had more than done his job.Spearman’s top-order onslaught is what Lancashire missed. They suffered a chaotic build-up when Mal Loye, someone who could have produced a similar performance, was forced to pull out with a recurrence of his back problems. Mark Chilton, the captain, was going to drop himself if Loye played, but Lancashire still had plenty of power with Flintoff and Stuart Law opening.However, a tight new-ball spell by Jon Lewis kept Lancashire in their shell. Law tried to break the shackles with a heave over the leg side, but his top-edge was sharply pouched at slip. Flintoff had already been dropped at mid-off on 1 by Alex Gidman before he was run out. The ball cannoned off his pad towards slip, Hodge started running before stopping and Flintoff couldn’t get back.Hodge, though, provided some impetus to the innings as he crunched six authoritative boundaries to become the second batsman to pass 1000 runs in the competition. However, Mark Hardinges picked up the key wicket when Hodge smashed a firm drive to Marshall at extra cover and the same combination accounted for Chilton.Lancashire were partially revived by an enterprising innings from Gareth Cross and a 30-run stand between Cork and Glen Chapple. However, the fact that the only six came as late as the 19th over showed the extent of Gloucestershire’s grip. Their batting ensured they never let go.

The Pakistan board is certain that the twin blasts that rocked Pakistan’s northern city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday will not affect either the ongoing Australia A tour or the forthcoming home series against South Africa later in September. The blasts occurred on Tuesday morning and killed at least 24 people”We have not had any concerns from either the Australian or the South African authorities so far and as far as things stand, both tours are still on,” Shafqat Naghmi, the board’s chief operating officer, told .Although there are no matches against Australia A scheduled for Rawalpindi, the one-day international between Pakistan and South Africa initially scheduled for the city was moved to Karachi last month. The Pakistan board cited the lack of cricket facilities in Peshawar and Rawalpindi as reason for the change. However, it was widely reported that the South Africans had expressed concerns over playing in Rawalpindi due to its close proximity to Islamabad where the standoff between the government and the radical mosque clerks took place in July.