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Two former Australia spinners who saw Shane Warne bowl earlier this week said his flippers looked dangerous in the lead-up to the Ashes series beginning on November 23. Warne’s shoulder injuries have made him reluctant to bowl his signature ball in recent years.But Warne sent down a series of flippers for Victoria against South Australia at Adelaide Oval last weekend, including one that trapped the tail-ender Paul Rofe lbw. The Victoria selector Ray Bright, the former Australia left-arm orthodox spinner, said in he believed Warne was bowling from his full repertoire for the first time in years.”Obviously his shoulder must be a lot better because I think that’s what has restricted him in recent times – that his shoulder just hasn’t been able to produce the flipper at a speed that’s going to be workable for him at the top level,” he said. “He tried a few others as well, but certainly the one that got Rofe out was the best one that landed. It’s great for him, and great for Australia with the Ashes coming. I’m sure he gives them enough to worry about without the flipper, as we saw last year.”Terry Jenner, who spent time working with Warne before the South Australia game, said Warne’s confidence must be high in the lead-up to the Ashes. “If the flipper’s coming out, it’s a huge bonus because he hasn’t been that confident with it in recent years,” he said. “He’s made it quite clear he has no shoulder problems.”It’s just such a difficult delivery to bowl and when he was young and carefree, it just came in. Then he had a couple of operations and that sort of stuff and he didn’t have the same confidence in the delivery. He’s got confidence in his wrong’un, as well.” Jenner said the flipper would be in the back of the England batsmen’s minds. “If England knows it’s there, they will be looking for it. If you want to play him off the back foot, you can at your peril.”

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has warned his team-mates to be on their guard against Sri Lanka when the two-Test and five-match ODI tour starts later this month. Both sides are coming off a run of indifferent form – West Indies struggled on tour in South Africa and Sri Lanka won just two matches in the CB Series – and Gayle says the visitors boast a strong core of senior players.He picked out the batting of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara and the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas as major challenges for West Indies to overcome. Although Sri Lanka have struggled of late in ODIs, they won their most recent Test series – against England in December – and played some impressive cricket.”Those two guys [Muralitharan and Vaas] have been their [main] wicket-takers in Test cricket,” Gayle told . “You have the likes of [Lasith] Malinga, those guys are playing international cricket now and getting a feel and getting more experienced and so forth playing overseas.”The batting line-up as well, Jayawardene and Sangakkara are in terrific form,” he said. “You have to work really hard to score runs and actually get wickets against them. We are looking forward to the challenge and hopefully the preparation can be good going in against Sri Lanka as well.”Gayle was reappointed as captain after impressing as a stand-in for Ramnaresh Sarwan on the tour of South Africa and previously in England last year. However, he was also injured in South Africa and was forced to miss the final Test plus the one-day series.”The build-up was very good in South Africa but unfortunately a lot of injuries came into play and then guys had to sit out for whatever reason as well including myself, I sat out a number of games overseas.”It’s a new series now so hopefully we’ll be strong and ready to go againstSri Lanka. We’ll see what the selectors can come up with, [hopefully] the best possible 13 and see how well we can have the right combination going in.”The first Test starts on March 22 in Guyana and the second match is in Trinidad from April 3.

Today was one of Chennai’s less cruel summer days. Although the humidity levels remained high enough to drain the moisture out of you, the sun played hide and seek behind cloudy skies. That said, playing cricket in such weather is tough. Fast bowling in such conditions is tougher and if you’re a big and burly quick with a long run-up and heavy landing, you’re really in for a tough time. But Dilhara Fernando shrugged it all off saying: “It was really hot and was sweaty but we are used to such conditions back home in Sri Lanka.”Fernando hadn’t played the first game at Bangalore because Mashrafe Mortaza was preferred as the third seamer. Brought in for that role today, his responsibility was magnified when Zaheer Khan picked up a niggle after bowling just 2.4 overs. At the 2007 World Cup, Fernando wasn’t picked for Sri Lanka’s first two games against Bermuda and Bangladesh but when he got his chance against India, he delivered a knock-out punch by bowling Sachin Tendulkar for a duck. Today, he used the bouncer, the slower ball that he disguises so cleverly, and the yorker to lethal effect while bagging 4 for 36.Fernando has had trouble controlling the white new ball and perhaps that was why Mahela Jayawardene bowled a couple of overs when Zaheer went off the field, bringing Fernando on only as second change. Fernando kept the ball full in his first over, and tested Vusi Sibanda with a yorker. He produced another boot-crusher to Boeta Dippenaar early in the 13th over, which was dug out for a single. When Sibanda took strike for the next ball, he probably expected another one aimed at the toe, only to be caught unawares by a deadly bouncer.Pitched short on leg stump, it wasn’t short enough to allow the batsman to evade it calmly. Sibanda had backed away towards leg stump but saw the ball rise sharply towards his helmet. With a sharp jolt, he arched out of the way and as he did so, lost balance and fell to the ground. Visibly shaken, he prepared to face Fernando again.Instead of being predictable and following up with a yorker, Fernando bowled another short ball. Sibanda was late on the pull and top-edged it to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Two balls later, a 140 km/hr in-cutter burst through Justin Kemp’s defence and pegged back the off stump.Throughout his spell, Fernando used the heavy ball to gain the extra bit of bounce that unsettled batsmen on a placid pitch. To ensure that he didn’t get too predictable, he varied pace and length regularly. He disguises his slower ball cleverly by spreading his fingers wide on either side of a vertical seam, while delivering it with no perceptible change in action. He set up Mark Boucher with a slow yorker, and followed it up with another slower ball that wasn’t as full. Boucher gotunder it, was too early on the lofted drive and hit it straight to long-on.Fernando then bowled Johan Botha to finish with 4 for 36 off ten overs. Given the heat, an unhelpful pitch and the fact that both teams scored over 300, it was an exemplary performance.

Almost everyone, either openly or secretly, had a good laugh when Kapil Dev called those who joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL) “the cream of the country”. That was because the players picked by the ICL did not promise a competitive league. But now, at the start of the first-class season, looking at the situation in terms of the loss to the Ranji Trophy rather than the ICL’s gain, the impact of the exodus seems huge; and it is only natural that it dominates pre-season thoughts.Moving from one Indian domestic season to another has long been a seamless transition, with not many changes, or changes that place too slowly to be noticed. It is usually difficult to identify the start of one season from another, but the huge exodus to ICL – about 15% of the total workforce – means this time will be different. When in two days’ time Bengal play Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens, more than 10 regular players from both sides will be missing. Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Maharashtra, almost every team has been affected by the migration. The teams hit by ICL have never been too far from the semi-finals, which makes this one of the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory.It will be interesting to see how they cope with the predicament they find themselves in. “Cricket doesn’t stop with a few players”, has been the general, outwardly brave attitude of the teams severely hit. But only on the first morning will we know if Railways can do without JP Yadav, if Bengal without Deep Dasgupta, Baroda without Rakesh Patel, Punjab without Dinesh Mongia and UP without Shalabh Srivastava. This season will test the resilience of Indian domestic cricket and the supply of talent from junior cricket.Not a pointless exercise
From this season, holding on to a draw will get teams a point. What used to happen earlier was once a side had conceded the lead, it would play devil-may-care cricket in the second innings and get bowled out, in turn handing four easy points to the leading team. That usually hurt other teams in the group competing to make it to the semi-finals.Another aspect the BCCI might want to look into is that the team is awarded no points for gaining a first-innings lead if it eventually loses the match. This keeps the teams from going for outright wins, once a lead is attained.Getting the order right
The decision to schedule the Ranji Trophy before the Duleep Trophy this season, has meant that Ranji will have an early start on November 3. It also means the best performers can be picked for the Duleep Trophy for playing in an inter-zone tournament should be an apt incentive for performing well in the inter-state tournament.

Ump, you are being watched
Lack of feedback and proper appraisal has long been the umpires’ grudge in domestic cricket. Starting this season, every decision made by them will be logged and there will be an appraisal for umpires based on reports from the umpiring officer, the match referee and the captains. The umpiring officer will be assisted by the video-feedback system.But that is not where the umpiring officers’ work ends. Off the field they will have to guide the umpires on the match management; communication and team work; professionalism; preparation; and fitness, diet and appearance.Welcome to the big league
Orissa and Himachal Pradesh (HP) are the teams promoted to the Super League this season. HP, the Plate League champions, and Orissa, the runners-up, have made it on the back of dominating performances last year. While HP conceded a first-innings lead once last season – trailed Orissa by 51 runs – Orissa’s record was unblemished. But they will know this is a different league and to stay here for more than one season they will have to considerably up their performance.**First-round matches
Himachal Pradesh v Saurashtra in DharamsalaMumbai v Karnataka in MumbaiTamil Nadu v Maharashtra in ChennaiOrissa v Uttar Pradesh in CuttackPunjab v Andhra in AmritsarBengal v Hyderababad in Kolkata*Delhi v Rajasthan in Delhi**The two matches will start on November 4.

John Emburey has left Middlesex to continue his career in coaching.”John’s role as director of cricket was becoming more administrative, taking him away from the area of the game where his strengths lay,” explained Vinny Codrington, the county’s chief executive. “After lengthy discussions with the club, and a full review of our cricket structure, it was mutually agreed that John pursue his ambitions in coaching. He leaves behind a strong coaching team, led by Toby Radford, and a squad under Ed Smith more than capable of competing for all four domestic competitions. The club’s cricket structure has a solid base for an exciting future and we are very grateful to John for this.”John was open and honest throughout as he always is, and I’m certain we will see plenty of him in the summer and in the future”.Emburey has spent the bulk of his career with Middlesex, firstly as a player and then, after stints with Northamptonshire and Berkshire, as a coach. In 2001 he signed to coach Berkshire with the intention of emigrating to Australia at the end of the summer, but on the eve of the season he was appointed as Middlesex’s third coach in as many seasons, taking over from old team-mate Mike Gatting.In six years he struggled to motivate a side in transition, bringing in some distinctly average players as well, and at the end of 2006 the county were relegated from the top flight in both the Championship and National League. In 2007 Middlesex brought in Richard Pybus to coach with Emburey moving to the more hands-off role as director of cricket, but when Pybus unexpectedly quit five months into his contract, Emburey returned. In between he had briefly – and remarkably – been shortlisted for the India coaching vacancyLast autumn Middlesex appointed former player Toby Radford as first-team coach, signalling another move to a less hands-on role for Emburey, and it appears to have been that which led to today’s announcement.”I’ve really enjoyed my time here, but I want to continue my career in a direct coaching role,” Emburey said in a short statement. “I believe I leave the club in great shape and look forward to the club’s success in the future”.

Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan blasted hundreds as New Zealand cruised to an easy 127-run win over a Queensland XI in the first of two one-day practice matches at Allan Border Field, Brisbane, today.The matches have been arranged as preparation for the New Zealanders before they embark on a triangular one-day series against Pakistan and South Africa in Singapore starting next Sunday. Queensland have already played host to the Australian team for two matches over the past three days.While New Zealand had a comfortable win in today’s match, they suffered a blow with wicketkeeper Chris Nevin being unable to take his place behind the stumps after injuring a tendon. Nevin is being flown back to New Zealand and is out of the Singapore series. Adam Parore is replacing Nevin and will fly into Brisbane to join the New Zealand squad tomorrow morning.NZ captain Stephen Fleming won the toss and elected to bat first. Daniel Vettori opened the batting with Chris Nevin. Usual opening batsman Nathan Astle is playing for Accrington in the Lancashire League and will join the NZ camp in Singapore later this week.By the end of the third over both openers were back in the pavilion. Nevin made seven, while the Vettori experiment ended with his score on four, becoming Scott Muller’s first victim of the day.Muller claimed his second wicket and Queensland’s third with the score on 49, Stephen Fleming (15) hitting a catch to the waiting hands of Jimmy Maher. This brought Cairns to the crease, and in Muller’s next over Cairns moved into full cry with a four, a six and a six off successive deliveries. Twenty-two runs off the over saw Muller (2/56 from seven overs) removed from the attack, the second day in a row that he had taken a mauling.The scoring was in excess of a run a ball when Roger Twose (24) was the next wicket to fall, caught behind off the bowling of Matthew Pascoe. McMillan joined Cairns and after a brief settling in period the onslaught resumed.Cairns brought up his half-century in the 23rd over with a boundary off Lee Carseldine, having faced just 36 balls. He was severe on off-spinner Scott O’Leary, lofting him for sixes in consecutive overs.Cairns’ 100 came up on his 87th ball faced in the innings, but he failed to add to that score when he lofted O’Leary to a waiting Scott Muller. He hit seven fours and five sixes in his even hundred.McMillan brought up his half-century off 84 deliveries in the 43rd over of the innings, but with Chris Harris as his new partner, the scoring rate simply accelerated. The final eight overs of the New Zealand innings yielded 108 runs, McMillan bringing up his hundred on the second last ball of the fiftieth over from 108 deliveries. That’s 24 balls for his second fifty.McMillan was out off the final ball of the innings for 103 (nine fours, three sixes), while Harris (38* from 23 balls, three fours, two sixes) played one of the innings that has made his reputation as one of the finest late-overs batsmen in the world.New Zealand finished their fifty overs with a total of 7/321. Muller was the only bowler to take two wickets. Scott O’Leary (1/76 from ten overs) has yet to play for Queensland in a Pura Cup or Mercantile Mutual Cup match, and is unlikely to experience the same baptism of fire when the day of his competition debut does arrive.From the moment that Jimmy Maher (14) was given out lbw to Geoff Allott in the seventh over, Queensland were never in the hunt. Jerry Cassell made a fine 58, and Scott Prestwidge (31, including two sixes off Vettori) played a lively innings, but at the thirty-over mark the required run rate per over was already more than 10.Eight New Zealanders were giving bowling practice, and at least the Queenslanders can say that they lasted the full fifty overs, their score at the end of the innings being 9/194. Shayne O’Connor (3/24 from seven overs), Chris Harris (3/23 from eight) and Geoff Allott (2/26 from seven) were the best of the NZ bowlers.With Nevin unable to keep wicket, Roger Twose donned the gloves until Queensland Second XI keeper Gavin Fitness had been summoned to take over. Fitness, in his role as New Zealand substitute keeper, found himself in the unusual situation of stumping fellow Queenslander Brendan Creevey off the bowling of Vettori.New Zealand have one more practice match against Queensland tomorrow Tuesday. Parore is expected to keep wicket for the visitors, almost immediately after hopping off the plane.

England’s prospects of staging a surprise turnaround from CB Series passengers to finalists have improved with Michael Vaughan expected to open against New Zealand at the Gabba on Tuesday.Vaughan has missed five matches since tearing a hamstring in Hobart, but he batted twice in the nets in the team’s final training session for the knock-out contest in Brisbane. “He seemed fine in practice and I’m sure he will be fine,” Andrew Strauss, the No. 4, said.England were due to finalise their team at a meeting on Monday night with Vaughan due to come in for Mal Loye and Paul Collingwood to return after missing the 92-run win over Australia on Friday with an illness.While New Zealand have concerns over Kyle Mills, John Bracewell, the coach, was “delighted” Shane Bond would be fit to face England after taking part in the five-wicket loss to Australia in Melbourne on Sunday. New Zealand had been avoiding using Bond in consecutive games due to his recovery from a back injury, but Bracewell felt it was time to “up the ante”. “He wanted to push it a bit by playing back-to-back,” Bracewell said, “and he’s really pleased with the way he’s come through.”England were so bad over the first three-quarters of the tournament that they were planning to fly out on Wednesday – they still might – but their success on Friday ended New Zealand’s easy run into the best-of-three finals, which start in Melbourne on Friday. “The times we got 120 and 110 were depressing for us, but that win was much overdue and made a massive difference,” Strauss said. “There’s a buoyancy about the guys and we’re all really excited about the prospect of winning this game.”While England do not have a workout after this tournament until the warm-up stage of the World Cup, New Zealand have the fallback of the Chappell-Hadlee Series against Australia if they are knocked out on Tuesday. “[A loss] would hurt in the short term, but in the big-picture context, with three games to go against Australia regardless of the outcome of this, we are going to get sufficient cricket leading up to the World Cup,” Bracewell said. “In terms of continued momentum, riding that wave, those little edges are important. We’d be disappointed to lose.”

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

Shahadat Hossain and Junaid Siddique were the heroes as Bangladesh had thebetter of the second day of the opening Test in Mirpur. Having establisheda 22-run first-innings lead, they were then indebted to Siddique for astodgy unbeaten 64 that stretched it to 147 by stumps. Dale Steynproduced another superb new-ball spell as Bangladesh slumped to 29 for 3before tea, but a 56-run partnership between Siddique and MohammadAshraful thwarted South Africa for a fair while in the final session.Shahadat, who bowled at a lively pace and with tremendous control forcareer-best figures of 6 for 27, may have been the main man but thetalking point of the day was provided by Ashraful. By the time he broughthimself on shortly before lunch, the momentum had swung towards SouthAfrica, with AB de Villiers riding his luck to 46 and Johan Botha offeringstout resistance.But it all changed in the space of one ball. And what a ball it was.Ashraful is no Shane Warne, and after the ball left his fingers, itbounced twice before reaching de Villiers. He chose to play it from thecrease, but could only top-edge it back to the bowler. Cue massivecelebrations from Bangladesh and no movement from de Villiers, who wasconvinced that it was a dead ball. Steve Bucknor finally sent him on hisway though, much to the dismay of the South African dressing room.Botha’s 91-ball vigil ended soon after, trapped lbw by Shahadat, and whenMornè Morkel followed on the stroke of lunch, Bangladesh were poised totake a slender lead. They did too, with Shahadat trapping Mark Boucher infront and then bowling Makhaya Ntini to complete an impressive spell.Bangladesh weren’t in the ascendancy when de Villiers was going strong.Coming to the crease after a shambolic mix-up sent Ashwell Prince on hisway in the second over of the day, he quickly signalled his intent withdrives, cuts and powerful pulls through midwicket. There was an element ofgood fortune too, with Ashraful, running back from mid-off, dropping acatch off Mohammad Rafique when de Villiers was on 30.On a pitch where the odd ball stayed exceptionally low, concentration wascrucial, and Botha played his part in a partnership that got South Africaback into the contest. He let de Villiers do the bulk of the scoring, butthere was also a lovely on-drive off Rafique and an impudent reverse-sweepoff Shakib Al Hasan in his innings of 25.There was a phase in the session where the South Africans were becalmedfor more than five overs, but once de Villiers smacked Shakib for a bigsix over midwicket and then took him for two fours in an over, the tideappeared to be turning. A bizarre dismissal though put paid to that.South Africa needed breakthroughs quickly and Steyn provided them. TamimIqbal was cleaned up by a quick one, and after Shahriar Nafees had playeda couple of lovely strokes square of the wicket, Steyn got one to shapeback and catch him in front. Habibul Bashar, whose career is in free fall,followed soon after in similar fashion and Bangladesh were once again indanger of squandering a promising position, as they had in Multan againstPakistan in 2003 and later in 2006, against Australia in Fatullah.But Ashraful and Siddique eschewed flamboyance for the most part to put onsome crucial runs. Ashraful, who was in one-day mode in the first innings,was remarkably controlled, showing his big-hitting prowess only with ahuge six over midwicket off a listless Botha.Ntini finally picked up his first wicket of the match, getting Ashraful toedge one behind, but Aftab Ahmed and Siddique saw it through to stumpswith a few dollops of luck. Edges fell short of slip and flashy drivesevaded fielders as Graeme Smith was reduced to trying out even NeilMcKenzie’s innocuous medium pace. It wasn’t South Africa’s day and unlessthey improve dramatically on Sunday, the cream of the Bangladeshi crop mayjust reprise their Under-19 team’s heroics in Malaysia.

Zimbabwe will wait until the last minute before naming their starting line-up for their first four-day match against South Africa A in Harare which starts on Thursday after a flu virus struck most of the squad.Vusi Sibanda, Tino Mawoyo, Edward Rainsford, Tawanda Mupariwa and Graeme Cremer are all suffering. Sources have indicated that only Cremer and Rainsford are serious while the rest could play. It is thought the players were infected as the team travelled from Bulawayo to Harare last week.In the event that Cremer is not available, left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa or legspinner Tymicen Maruma are likely to replace him. Mupariwa, who did not play against India A is most likely to take up Rainsford’s slot.A change in the batting order seems imminent with left-hander Terry Duffin sure to replace the out-of-form Mawoyo who failed to make an impression in the twomatches against India A. Duffin and Sibanda should open the batting with Hamilton Masakadza dropped to No. 3. Tatenda Taibu, Stuart Matsikenyeri and Elton Chigumbura are set to complete the batting order.Zimbabwe face an uphill task against South Africa A as their neighbours have sent a strong squad for the two first-class matches.

.Today I informed the President of the BCCI that I would not seek an extension to my contract to coach the Indian cricket team for family and personal reasons.Firstly, I would like to extend my thanks to the BCCI for allowing me the honour of coaching the Indian cricket team over the past 22 months. It is, and it remains, one of the most challenging coaching positions in world cricket.I am grateful to the players with whom I have worked in this time for the challenges that they presented me with and which I tried to meet in a professional, methodical and interesting way in the interests of the team and the individual.To the media, my thanks also for constantly forcing me to question myself, my thinking and the way I went about my job of guiding the team through the many tests that we faced.I would like to make special mention of my support staff without whom I would not have survived the rigours of the past 22 months. Ian Frazer and Greg King deserve special mention for their efforts as do John Gloster, S Ramakrishnan and Ramesh Mane. I am particularly grateful for the wonderful support of my family, especially my wife Judy, who has enjoyed the experience as much as I.The people of India deserve a special mention as they are the ones whose attention, enthusiasm and love and support drive the great game, and business, of cricket in this country, and around the world. I thank them all, especially those who have written to me and the thousands who have gone out of their way to come up to me with well wishes.I am also grateful for the opportunity to extend my knowledge and awareness of this region and for the wonderful friends that I have made here. I look forward to continuing my contact with India in the coming years and I wish Indian cricket and all those involved with it much joy and success in the future.