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The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) have announced a 20-member squad for three practice matches against international sides in the build-up to the group stages of the Champions Trophy. Nilesh Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner, will lead the side against New Zealand and South Africa on October 11 and 13 respectively while Wasim Jaffer, the Indian opening batsman, will be in charge against Australia on October 15.The squad includes promising middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma, who played in the Challenger Series in Chennai as well as Zaheer Khan, the Indian fast bowler, who has signed up for Mumbai this season. Fast bowler Kshemal Waingankar, who enjoyed a good stint with the Australian Centre of Excellence in the Emerging Players tournament earlier this year has also been included.The selection committee informed that the Mumbai probables for the Ranji Trophy would be named after the practice games. Mumbai’s opening Ranji Trophy game starts on December 1, against Hyderabad.Squad Wasim Jaffer, Vinayak Mane, Nilesh Kulkarni, Rohit Sharma, Nishit Shetty, Bhavin Thakkar, Vinit Indulkar, Amol Muzumdar, Avishkar Salvi, Vinayak Samant, Zaheer Khan, Wilkin Mota, Abhishek Nair, Rajesh Verma, Omkar Gaurav, Praful Waghela, Kshemal Waingankar, Moondeep Mungela, Iqbal Abdullah, Aniket Redkar

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”.

Australia are still unsure whether they will have the services of Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds for the third one-day international against South Africa, at Port Elizabeth, on Sunday. The pair have undergone a vigorous workout in the nets, but a decision on their availability won’t be made until the morning as Australia aim for a win to keep themselves in the series.Ponting is recovering from the stomach muscle injury he sustained before the opening match, while Symonds has been troubled by a hip problem since arriving in South Africa. However, according to Errol Alcott, the Australia physio, both are making encouraging progress.The absence of the star pair has given Australia a number of problems in the opening two matches, both of which have been lost convincingly. Filling the No. 3 position is proving tough, with Phil Jaques falling for a duck at Cape Town on Friday night.Meanwhile, Symonds is leaving a hole in both the batting and bowling departments, while the team has missed the buzz he creates in the field. Adam Gilchrist has found filling gap as the fifth and sixth bowler a difficult task, especially with the back-up seamers not providing control.

Liam Plunkett, the England seamer who is touring with the Ashes squad, will be questioned by police on his return in connection with a drink-driving offence.Plunkett, 21, was breathalysed after allegedly crashing his 4×4 into another car outside the Tall Trees nightclub in Yarm, Teesside.Student Russell Cowan, 19, and his girlfriend suffered minor whiplash and their car was written off. A friend of Cowan’s told The Sun newspaper: “The driver of the 4×4 got out and asked if they were all right. He wasn’t hurt but was very apologetic — he was also shocked and upset.Everyone involved was very lucky not to have been badly hurt. The police arrived and must have told him the test had shown he had been drinking, as he started to cry. It wasn’t very nice to see him like that.”Police then took Plunkett away for further tests, but the results were not available before he flew to Australia, and as a result will not be known until he returns in seven weeks time.A police spokesman refused to comment on the incident.

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.

Martin Suji, the Kenya all-rounder, has undergone knee surgery as he fights to regain fitness for the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007.Suji, 35, has played in the last three World Cups but has spent four months on the sidelines after tearing ligaments in his knee. He missed Kenya’s tour of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in February and March but, after rehabilitation, is expected to resume training with the Kenya squad in a month’s time”I expect to be make a quick recovery,” said Suji. “I will know my exact position whether to resume full training in the next four weeks.”

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.

Nigel Llong has apparently been moved off third umpire duty for the second Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Llong, who was at the centre of an umpiring controversy during New Zealand’s series in Australia, was initially listed by the ICC as third umpire in Hamilton but will now be one of the on-field officials in both matches.Llong was in the news last week for his controversial decision, as a third umpire, to rule Nathan Lyon not out on review during the Adelaide Test between Australia and New Zealand. On the second day of the Test, Lyon top-edged an attempted sweep to slip and New Zealand asked for a review after the on-field umpire turned down their appeal for a catch.After five minutes of replays, Llong upheld S Ravi’s decision even though there was a clear Hot Spot on the top edge of Lyon’s bat, and the batsman had walked halfway to the dressing room in anticipation of being given out.The decision was hotly debated and criticised by television commentators and the media at the time but the New Zealand players and team management were guarded in their response. After New Zealand Cricket questioned the decision, the ICC admitted that Llong had made “an incorrect judgement”. In a tweet, the ICC said: “ICC has reviewed the decision and acknowledged that it was incorrect. ICC confirms the umpire followed the correct protocol, but made an incorrect judgement.”Llong will officiate New Zealand’s two-Test series with Sri Lanka along with Richard Kettleborough and Paul Reiffel. Kettleborough will be the third umpire for the second Test, which begins on December 18, instead of Llong.Former Kent allrounder Llong joined the ECB’s international umpire’s panel in 2006 and replaced Billy Doctrove on the ICC’s Elite Panel of international umpires in June 2012. Llong has officiated in 33 Tests, 98 ODIs and 27 T20 internationals so far.

Michael Vaughan insisted England did not have a drinking culture, despite the late-night incidents that led to the fining of six players and Andrew Flintoff’s dumping from the side. Flintoff was also stripped of the vice-captaincy for the World Cup after allegedly capsizing a pedalo at 4am on Saturday in the hours following England’s six-wicket loss to New Zealand.James Anderson, Ian Bell, Jon Lewis, Paul Nixon and Liam Plunkett were fined by team management for drinking into the early hours of the same morning, while Flintoff was fined and dropped for England’s match against Canada, which they won by 51 runs. Nasser Hussain, Vaughan’s predecessor as captain, hinted at a drinking problem within the squad but Vaughan said the episode was a one-off.”I don’t see a drinking culture within this England team,” Vaughan told . “I see a little bit of immaturity on Friday night and a little bit of a lack of common sense. It was a big mistake and a bad mistake but I don’t see any drinking culture within the England cricket team.”We knew we lost the big game against New Zealand, we knew we were playing Canada on Sunday. We know how hard it is to play two games in three days in this kind of heat and we just didn’t use common sense.”Vaughan said Flintoff’s actions were unfortunate. “He’s angry with himself for what he did,” Vaughan said. “He and I want him playing cricket for England. I wanted him out there entertaining the crowd today. The World Cup wants to see the best players.”Flintoff will be available for England’s final group match against Kenya on Saturday and Vaughan hoped the side could give some joy to the England fans. “There’s nothing that can repay what they did but hopefully a victory today, and us winning next Saturday and a decent run in the World Cup will be the only way we can say sorry to the supporters,” Vaughan said.”The supporters have been let down. They want to see the England cricket team focused on what is a massive tournament.”Vaughan said England’s inability to bowl Canada out was not a serious concern and their focus was now on beating Kenya. “We are the first to admit that there’s areas of the batting we need to improve, areas of fielding, and some of our bowling was a bit erratic at times” he said.”But the most important thing today was about winning. It’s going to be a hard game [on Saturday]. We want to be in the World Cup for a few weeks yet. We have to make sure we unite as a team and work hard this week leading into that Kenya game.”

The last time South Africa played a Test in Ahmedabad it was their first in India. India’s current coach was one of their opening batsmen, Hansie Cronje and Mohammad Azharuddin were the captains and Graeme Smith was just a school cricketer in Johannesburg’s King Edward School.Twelve years on and South Africa don’t have a single player from that match – the hosts have four – but they look a side rather accustomed to India, and that’s because they have put in the hard yards in the subcontinent.South Africa have had some extremely tough visits – namely Sri Lanka in 2004 and 2006, Pakistan in 2003 and India in 2004 – but under Smith over the last four years they have toured enough to understand what it takes to win.The visitors appear a much more confident and relaxed team than some touring sides of the past, who came with limited mindsets, and with personnel not always pushing for victory. Their batting has clicked in the subcontinent recently, their bowling attack is balanced and they are led by a man who doesn’t care too much for the past. On the eve of the second Test, Smith was markedly laidback compared to his opposite number, Anil Kumble, who briefly addressed the media while looking sterner than when a leg-before appeal has been turned down. Virender Sehwag took South Africa’s attack to the cleaners during a manic 319 last week but Smith said his side had worked out a few things to contain him. Nor was he too concerned about the Motera pitch, which he described as “good, with some grass covering on it.”Smith’s attitude reflects the state South Africa are in: confident after gaining a psychological advantage from the draw in Chennai and free of injury hassles. They know all too well that in Dale Steyn, Makhaya Nitini and Morne Morkel they have the bowling firepower to trouble India, who will be without the injured Sachin Tendulkar. And, crucially, they have a spinner who inspires faith in his captain. It makes for a hungry side.While the Motera track historically breaks up to interest the spinners there’s also evidence to suggest those cracks could aid the fast men. In 1996 Javagal Srinath exploited the craters on a poor surface to take 6 for 21 and skittle the South Africans, chasing 170, for 105. If Steyn were to stumble upon a breaking pitch there’s no reason why he couldn’t – with his tearaway pace – have India in trouble. Smith strongly felt this could happen.India have struggled against reverse-swing, even as recently as the home Test series against Pakistan where, Shoaib Akhtar, when fit, hustled them in a couple of hostile spells. As the ball gets older around the 30-over mark, Steyn remains the biggest threat but Morkel, who bowled some top spells in Chennai, can summon up mean pace too.

India look likely to play three spinners but Smith wasn’t worried about young legspinner Piyush Chawla, who could play his second Test. “We’ve had a look at him in the one-dayers in Ireland so we have an idea of what he bowls,” he said. “There’s video footage as well so it’s not a major area of concern.”South Africa are pretty certain to go in with the same team, with Paul Harris playing as the specialist spinner. “We have prepared well and are confident. It’s all about executing our plans right,” said Smith. “After the last game, India have a few more things to think about than us in terms of combination, in terms of the selections of bowlers. So they have to answer our challenges, to make sure we come back down to neutral.”Ultimately the ground, the country or the continent doesn’t matter: A team with skilled players that is looking to dominate can hold down any side, and it’s with that belief South Africa are going into the second Test.