Aamer Sohail, former chairman of Pakistan’s selection committee and a man with a reputation for being a loose cannon, has launched an impromptu broadside at Bob Woolmer for comment he made about Shoaib Akhtar, the fast bowler who played no part in Pakistan’s recent successes in India.In comments made to an Indian newspaper, Woolmer had suggested that Shoaib was “no longer an integral part” of the team, and that remark has incensed Sohail, who has demanded that the Pakistan Cricket Board take action against the coach.PTI have quoted Sohail as saying: “Woolmer is a part of Pakistan team management who earns his bread and butter from the hard earned public money. The PCB should ask him how he dared to utter such silly words.”Then, in a bizarre twist, Sohail takes aim at Woolmer’s choice of phrase, completely ignoring the fact that no profanities had been used. “I am astonished over the language used by Woolmer,” he said. “I had thought of him as an intelligent person. He should have not used such language for Shoaib who has done remarkable services for Pakistan cricket.”A touch of xenophobia was also evident when he said: “I demand of Woolmer to apologise to Shoaib and the Pakistani people who would never tolerate such outbursts from a foreigner.”According to Sohail, Shaoib’s presence would have been the difference between drawing the Test series and winning it. “Everybody in India asked me about Shoaib. I believe that had he been in India, Pakistan would have won the Test series as well.”Shoaib only needs a little bit of counselling and encouragement. If you sit with him politely he can deliver his best.”Sohail was also of the opinion that the often-fraught relationship between Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shoaib could be resolved by the intervention of a respected mediator, like Shaharyar Khan. “I think that like a seasoned diplomat Shaharyar should manage Inzy and Shoaib to sit across the same table and sort out their problems,” he said. “Past is past. Let’s start afresh. I believe that Shoaib should also realise the sensitivity of time and forget all mud-slinging hurled on him.”

Mr Consistent
The one aspect of Thorpe’s career which has stood out has been his consistency. Success came early for him – in his debut Test, in fact, when he scored an unbeaten 114 in his second innings. A brief lull followed, during which period his average dipped to the early 30s, but it crept past the 40-mark in his 10th Test, and since then it’s never fallen below 38. Since 2000, Thorpe’s average for a calendar year has been at least 42 (except in 2005 so far, when he’s only played four matches) – even when his personal life was in turmoil, Thorpe still churned out the runs whenever he played for England. (Click here for Thorpe’s career summary.)Australia’s nemesis
During this 12-year period, Thorpe’s numbers look especially impressive against Australia. He missed 14 of the 30 matches played between the two teams, but when he did make it to the starting XI, he made a difference. In all Tests against Australia, Thorpe averaged 45.74, but when he played them in their own backyard, the average rose to 48.18. Since 1993, Vaughan is the only English batsman to do better against Australia, and he’s only played five games against them. England might feel confident about the strength of their current batting line-up, but they’ll still want Thorpe around when the first Ashes Test starts on July 21.

Winning factor
Only Ken Barrington has a higher average in England¹s post-war Test winsthan Thorpe. This could mean Thorpe makes runs when victory isalready certain but for most of his career England victories never seemedcertain. Instead the statistic suggests two things: that Thorpe has playedan unusual number of match-changing innings and that he often played in aweak side. When he failed, England failed too.

(Since World War II. Qualification: 1,000 runs)Highest of the high fives
Ostensibly Thorpe has been the ultimate No. 4: fearless counter-attacker andrugged scrapper rolled into one small bundle of defiance. But the numberstell a different story: he is the most productive No. 5 in England¹s Testhistory by some distance and his average there is much higher thananywhere else. Perhaps he should not be moved up the order to accommodateKevin Pietersen after all.

Dashing debutant
At the end of the 20th century English batsmen took to Test cricket likeSuperman to Kryptonite with one exception. Whereas no other specialistbatsman scored more than 33 on debut during the 1990s, Thorpe bashed thatfabulous century against the Aussies at Trent Bridge. Sometimes it is safeto judge a book by its cover.

(Averages cover both the first and second innings of a player’s debut Test.They refer only to batsmen from Nos. 1-7.)Spin master
Thorpe is pretty adept against fast bowling, but his stats against spin are quite awesome. And he’s done well in the subcontinent against the slow bowlers as well – the only bowler who has clearly got the better of him is Muttiah Muralitharan.

The Pub Charity Youth Cricket Draw – 18 October 2003Please Note: All matches are 1-day matches.U18:St Bedes Black v Midd G Midd G 1,Pap HS v Stac Stac 3,Pk v St Bedes Red St Bedes 5,CBHS v Syd Straven 4.Colts (1-day):Burn HS v St Thom Red Burn HS 2,SBHS v St Bedes Red St Bedes 3,St Thom Yellow v CC CC 2,Stac v CBHS Stac 2,Pap HS v Syd Pap HS 1.U16A (1-day):CC v SBHS SBHS 4,St Bedes v CBHS Straven 2,Syd v Stac Cash HS 1.U16B:Upper Ricc v Hornby CC Hornby HS,Ricc HS v OC Ricc HS 3,LPW v Nb South Brighton Dom,CBHS Bye.U15A (1-day):CC v Stac Blue CC 3,St Thom v SBHS Porritt 1,Stac White v Burn HS Stac 4,CBHS v Syd Hals 4.U15B:Burn HS v Pap HS Burn HS 3,St Bedes v CC St Bedes 4,Pk v CBHS Blue Straven 3,CBHS Black v Upper Ricc Ricc Dom.Stac ByeU14A (1-day):Syd v CC CC 5,St Thom v St Bedes St Bedes 6,SBHS v Stac Stac 5,Burn HS v Linc/Elles Tai Tapu Domain,CBHS Blue v CBHS Black Straven 6.U14B:CC v Pap HS CC 6,Burn HS v Ricc HS Ricc HS 4,SBHS v St Bedes St Bedes 7,Stac v CBHS Blue Stac 6,CBHS Black v Syd Cash HS 2,Nb v Rang HS Rang HS 1.U14C:SBHS v BWU Burn 5,LPW v CC CC 9,CBHS Black v CBHS Blue Ilam 2.

Pool A:
ScorecardIn Bloemfontein, early morning rain left the outfield slightly wet but only 30 miuntes of play were lost as with Free State sent Border in to bat. At 24 for 3, Border looked in trouble, but a 155-run partnership between Michael Matika and Johan Botha restored the innings to 179 before Botha was bowled for 66. Matika went to his maiden first-class hundred, which included nine boundaries. If Matika was the star for Border, then Thandi Tshabalala was the star for Free State. Coming on as fourth change, he produced by far his best bowling as he took the last five wickets with his off-breaks. He had 5 for 72 when the declaration came at 278 for 8. With light failing quickly, Free State managed to see off six overs, but they lost one wicket.Pool B:
ScorecardPort Elizabeth missed all the rain as Eastern Province, after winning the toss, were bowled out by Western Province. Renier Munnik was the man with the golden arm, taking 3 for 23, as Eastern Province struggled to put partnerships together. Thanks to the tailenders they managed to recover from 71 for 6 and were eventually dismissed for 178. Western Province fared far better than the opposition: their score was 65 for 2 when bad light brought play to an early end.Pool B:
ScorecardSedgars Park in Potchefstroom missed the morning rain, but a thunderstorm after tea had the players running for cover. Earlier, Griqualand West won the toss and batted with Jason Brooker making the North West bowlers sweat as he raced to a career-best 115 off 128 balls, with 15 sparkling fours and three sixes. Adrian McLaren was no slouch either as he struck 69, which included four towering sixes. Wendell Bossenger took over from where the other two had left off, moving quickly to 55 which made the total 352 for 4 after 74.5 overs when rain interrupted play. On the resumption, and with the light getting worse, they took the score to 369 in the four further overs they squeezed in.

Kevin Pietersen has been included in the squad of 12 for England’s first Ashes Test against Australia at Lord’s, which starts next Thursday. Pietersen has been included ahead of Graham Thorpe, who has been struggling with a back injury. Ian Bell and Christ Tremlett have also been included in the squad.David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, admitted that the decision to include Pietersen caused much difficulty. “This has been the most difficult decision that I have been party to in my time as a selector,” said Graveney, “with both Kevin and Graham making compelling cases for selection.”Ultimately, we have opted for Kevin because of the form he showed against Australia in The NatWest Series and The NatWest Challenge, his excellent first-class career record and the energy and enthusiasm he brings to the England dressing room. We have no doubts that he will be able to transfer his one-day form into the Test arena and firmly believe that he has the potential to become a world class player in England’s middle order and a genuine match-winner.”The selectors do not view this decision as marking the end of Graham Thorpe’s international career. He has been one of our most impressive performers with the bat since he returned to Test cricket in 2003 and, subject to form and fitness, he will continue to come under consideration for the remainder of the Ashes Test series.”We did consider other possible permutations with the batting order. But Ian Bell has made an excellent start to his Test career, is currently averaging over 60 for Warwickshire in first- class cricket this season, and we feel that he has the temperament and the technique required to succeed against Australia. Chris Tremlett made a promising start to his international career with the one-day squad. His selection will give us another bowling option once we have had a chance to assess the wicket and the conditions at Lord’s next week.””I’m delighted,” said Pietersen. “I’m the happiest boy in the UK this morning. I’ve got goosebumps – it’s a special feeling. I ticked the right boxes, thank goodness. It’s big shoes to fill, Graham Thorpe’s shoes, but it’s an opportunity for me now to go and cement my place in the England side and reward the people for selecting me. I put a lot of pressure on myself going into bat [at the Oval on Tuesday]. For the first time in cricket, I was really, really nervous going into the game. I put a lot of pressure on myself in terms of going out there to do well. Thank goodness I got there.”Pietersen ummed and ahhed about whether or not he would be nervous heading into the first Test next Thursday. “I’ve been given a positive boost by Grav and the selectors and all the public saying I should be penciled in. I said before I keep things very, very simple. It’s a different game, yes, but I’m not going to blow it up and say it’s a massive something. I will just give it a go. I went to South Africa and played a series there, there was loads of pressure on me but I came out all right. There was loads of pressure I put on myself on the other day but I came out of that OK. That was a difficult situation – 55 for 3 at Lord’s. I’m not going to get worried about it – I’m just going to enjoy the moment keep it simple and enjoy the moment. “However, a few moments later he admitted that he was bound to get nervous: “You’re always nervous. I always knew – with missing out on a few occasions recently – that I had to make a few on Tuesday. I’m not going to say I’m not nervous because it’s huge. It’s the Ashes, it’s Lords, and my family will be there. It’s ridiculous to say I’m not going to be nervous.”Graveney said he had rung Thorpe ahead of Pietersen, to explain that there were several factors which worked against him – but mainly Pietersen’s good form. “As phone calls go it was easier than some – that’s to Graham’s credit,” said Graveney. “He was fit for selection. He’s not played a lot of cricket over the last few weeks. He’s not available for Test matches from the end of the season. I don’t think there have been too many instances where people have indicated they are going to finish three or four months ahead. But in the end Pietersen was the decisive factor. We are looking to beat Australia – the selection of Pietersen gives us a better chance.”Graveney touched upon why Tremlett had been chosen ahead of Jon Lewis. “Chris has won the nod in this instance – but that doesn’t mean that Jon won’t feature in the future, and that underlines the quality in our squad.” He added that he wasn’t too perturbed by the fact that England have only played one-day internationals recently and no Tests since early June. “It’s not a major concern. England have been playing international cricket against the best side in the world.”And he dismissed suggestions that he was worried that Australia were peaking just at the right time. “They’ve played some exceptional cricket in the last few matches. They played some good cricket in the last few games of the NatWest Challenge, but when the Australians arrived here we surprised them with the quality of our players. They raised the bar and we need to do that leading up to Thursday.”England squad Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan (capt), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones (wk), Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Chris Tremlett.

The injury-besieged Indian team received another piece of bad news today when Sourav Ganguly was diagnosed with “intra-articular pathology of the right hip joint” casting a doubt over his further participation in the series. Ganguly pulled out of the Nagpur Test on the morning the match complaining of groin pain.A media release issued by the team management said that medical investigations – bone-scan, MRI and diagnostic ultrasound – “revealed intra-articular pathology of the right hip joint noted by increased synovial fluid accumulation,” which translates in layman’s terms to an injury or inflammation of the hip joint leading to an increase in the lubricating fluid around it. And it can cause pain to radiate down to the thigh and even to the knee.”The scan report this morning has revealed that there is bit of an effusion, there is a bit of fluid in the hip joint,” Andrew Leipus, the team physiotherapist, explained when speaking to reporters after the third day’s play. “That is where he is getting those symptoms from. The pain stretches down from the hip joint to the leg. The bone scan did not reveal anything, which was good for us. We got to know about this through the MRI.”The injury means that Ganguly is a doubt for the fourth Test, which starts on November 3 in Mumbai, but Leipus was optimistic that Ganguly would recover in time for that match: “We are going to check it again tomorrow and the inflammation should have settled down, so if the results are positive then he should be fine for Mumbai. We’d like to give [him] a light workload in a couple of days. And he should be running around soon.”

Richie Benaud will commentate his last Test in England at The Oval next week. Benaud, who has been cricket broadcasting’s most comfortable armchair for the past 42 years, will hang up the microphone when Channel 4’s contract with the ECB expires after the fifth Test. He has ruled out a switch to Sky, who control the rights from next season.”It is time to say goodbye because I won’t be doing any more television in the United Kingdom,” Benaud told in an exclusive interview. “I’ll still be doing free-to-air in Australia. I’ve got a three-year contract with Channel 9 which will probably be extended.”Benaud, 74, said he knew the time was right to retire, just as he did when he ended his Test career in 1964, but he regretted the loss of C4’s coverage. “From the production and direction point of view, they’ve been quite magnificent in the six years that they’ve been doing it,” he said.While international cricket will be available only on subscription television in England from next season until 2009, Benaud refused to challenge the decision. Instead he praised the Australian government’s move in March 2004 to produce legislation that ensured cricket remained on free-to-air and hoped the game would again be available on terrestrial broadcasts.”There are only two groups of people who have control over that,” he said of the ECB’s decision to give the rights to Sky. “The first is the government of the day and the second is the ECB. It’s the ECB who persuaded the government to take cricket off the restricted list.”Admired throughout the world, Benaud was last month voted the runaway winner in commentators’ poll. “It’s a great compliment from the people who have been watching over the years and I very, very much appreciate it,” he said. “One of the reasons is that I’ve been coming over to England for 42 years. I spent a long time with the BBC and then with Channel 4, all on free-to-air. And a lot of the stuff I have done with Channel 9 in Australia has come back to England as well. It’s something that I’ll treasure.”Despite deserving a long rest, Benaud quickly rejected talk of total retirement and is currently promoting his book . “What I won’t be doing is television in the United Kingdom,” he said. “Daphne, my wife, and I will be over in England in the next couple of years. I want to keep writing if I can. I love writing because it’s the first thing I did before I did any television.”

Scorecard

South Africa A produced another impressive performance as they completed a comfortable six-wicket win against New Zealand A in Colombo. After routing Sri Lanka A by 10 wickets on Wednesday the South Africa bowlers were again on form, constantly chipping away at the New Zealand batting. Andrew Puttick guided South Africa home with a composed 84, in a stand of 99 with Zander de Bruyn.It was a team effort from the South African with the six bowlers each taking a least a wicket apiece. Dale Steyn, Tyron Henderson and Johann van der Wath troubled the top order and New Zealand couldn’t creat a solid foundation to build from. Matthew Sinclair and James Marshall battled hard but Robin Peterson and Johan Botha claimed a brace each to stifle any thoughts of a fightback.New Zealand’s predicament was highlight when Jamie How was introduced as the Supersub and he managed to hold the tail together with a grafting 31 from 50 balls. But Steyn claimed his second wicket as New Zealand failed to use up their full allocation of overs.New Zealand were determined to make a game of it and their seamers exploited the same assistance that their South African counterparts had enjoyed. Daryl Tuffey struck twice and at 39 for 3 the game was suddenly thrown wide open. However, Andrew Puttick, a compact left-hander, settled in to anchor the innings and when the new-ball threat had disappeared batting became easier. De Bruyn provided the attacking imeptous and the target was knocked off with almost 15 overs remaining.

Scorecard

Darren Lehmann moved to equal fifth on Australia’s list of first-class century-makers but South Australia were in desperate trouble after losing three late wickets. Set 360 for victory after New South Wales closed their second innings at 2 for 187, South Australia showed the same signs that ruined their batting last season when they were reduced to 3 for 14 in eight overs from three Test bowlers.Brett Lee struck first when he trapped Matthew Elliott with his fifth ball and Glenn McGrath claimed Shane Deitz before Stuart MacGill bowled the nightwatchman Cullen Bailey in the last over of the third day. Callum Ferguson was sent in ahead of Lehmann and survived his only delivery.Lehmann towered over the Blues in the first-innings as he reached his 71st first-class century, putting him on the same line as Justin Langer and Stuart Law, and scored almost half his side’s runs before he was last man out. Greg Chappell (74), Steve Waugh (79), Mark Waugh (81) and Don Bradman (117) are the only Australian players more prolific than Lehmann, who hit 23 fours and stayed for 203 deliveries before being caught at third-man by Lee off McGrath.South Australia began the third day at 5 for 190 and gave up a 172-run first-innings lead following a 91-run partnership between Lehmann and Mark Cleary. Simon Katich, the New South Wales captain, did not enforce the follow on and then shared a 139-run stand with Phil Jaques before declaring for the second time in the match.

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

South Africa completed a 4-0 series win with a five-wicket win under the Duckworth-Lewis method at Centurion Park. Graeme Smith put them firmly on course with a thumping 66, cruelly exposing the flaws in New Zealand’s game which have hampered them all series. South Africa’s march to victory was interrupted by one of Pretoria’s infamous thunderstorms but, despite losing some wickets carelessly, the result was never in doubt. Andrew Hall was the star in the field, taking a career-best 4 for 23 as New Zealand’s batting again struggled to post a defendable total.Smith made his intentions clear from the outset of the run chase, latching onto anything loose from Shane Bond and Kyle Mills – and often thrashing the good balls to the boundary for good measure. As if to confirm the growing confidence in his game he also walked across his stumps and came down the track to the seamers.With Smith taking the New Zealand attack to the cleaners sparks started to fly on the field, as well as in the sky, with tempers threatening to boil over in the Kiwi camp as the end of a frustrating tour approaches. Mills, who has often had words with Smith, engaged in a full-on conversation with some distinctly colourful language. Smith tried hard not to smile as he continued to send the ball rocketing to the boundary. At one point Stephen Fleming dragged his bowler away after a caught behind appeal was turned down, then at the end of the over Steve Bucknor stepped in to calm the situation.When AB de Villiers fell to Mills there was further evidence of the bad-blood between the two teams as Fleming mimicked Smith’s often elaborate celebrations. Smith’s departure meant the series would finish without an individual century, confirming that the batting of both sides has fallen below their top standards.As the heavens opened and the ground was pelted by hailstones – with the South African innings an over short of the required 20 mark – there was a chance they would be denied a winning finish. But Centurion Park drains quickly and New Zealand had to reluctantly take the field again. South Africa played some slap-happy shots before Mark Boucher clubbed the winning boundary – to complete a fine match after snaffling five catches and a run out.

South Africa’s stint in the field was dominated by Hall’s performance and Lou Vincent, who cracked an explosive 66. However, other than Vincent some of the cricket from New Zealand was that of a side who would rather be on a long haul trip back to Auckland.Following Fleming’s dismissal to the second ball Vincent and Nathan Astle took out their frustrations with some expansive shots. There was clearly more luck than judgement involved but the thinking must have been that things couldn’t really go downhill. Taking such a carefree approach to batting is always risky, and Astle succumbed after a brief rain break.Vincent, though, refused to rein himself in and continued on his merry way while a feisty battle with Andre Nel developed. Nel is never the quietest of quick bowlers at the best of times and being pulled for six is guaranteed to get the verbals flying. Vincent didn’t let the chat get the better of him, passing fifty from 52 balls before receiving a let-off when Pollock grassed a sitter at mid-on from a top-edged pull. However, just as New Zealand thought they were getting a slice of luck Hall sprang up to bring a dose of reality.In the blink of an eye 134 for 3 became 152 for 7 as Hall found enough movement to trouble the batsmen and keep Boucher busy behind the stumps. Despite some defiant blows from Mills and Bond the New Zealanders were already thinking about whether it would be chicken or beef on their flight home. They have certainly made a meal out of this series and now have some serious questions to answer to regain their standing as an outside bet for 2007 World Cup.

New ZealandStephen Fleming c Boucher b Pollock 0 (0 for 1)
Nathan Astle c Hall b Langeveldt 37 (75 for 2)
Hamish Marshall c Boucher b Langeveldt 3 (91 for 3)
Scott Styris c Boucher b Hall 19 (134 for 4)
Lou Vincent c de Villiers b Hall 66 (141 for 5)
Craig McMillan lbw b Hall 9 (152 for 6)
Daniel Vettori run out (Boucher) 0 (152 for 7)
James Franklin c Boucher b Nel 12 (185 for 8)
Brendan McCullum c Boucher b Hall 27 (187 for 9)
Kyle Mills c Prince b Ntini 19 (215 all out
South AfricaAB de Villiers c Fleming b Mills 11 (61 for 1)
Graeme Smith b Franklin 66 (103 for 2)
Jacques Kallis c Fleming b Vettori 15 (106 for 3)
Albie Morkel c Astle b Styris 5 (113 for 4)
Ashwell Prince st McCullum b Vettori (131 for 5)