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As the prelude to the domestic season gathers momentum the talk around the circuit is not merely of players moving states and of when foreign cricketers will play in the Ranji Trophy but also of coaching positions up for grabs. Prime among them is the race to be Mumbai coach – currently being contested by Balwinder Sandhu, Jayantilal Kenia and Ashok Mankad. Pravin Amre has been already been appointed as batting coach.The Mumbai Cricket Association confirmed that they had received letters of interest from these three, but equally denied that they had approached any of the candidates – either officially or otherwise.Of the three candidates in the race Sandhu, the former Indian medium-pacer, and Mankad, who had opened the batting for India, have coached Mumbai in the past. Sandhu was coach of the Mumbai team from 1996 to 1998-99. With his specialisation in the bowling side of things, and Amre already in the saddle as batting coach, Sandhu’s case is a strong one. In the period when he oversaw the side, Mumbai won the Ranji trophy once, in 1996-97.Mankad’s tenure began with the 1999-2000 season and lasted till 2001, and he too tasted victory once, in his first year when Sachin Tendulkar scored an epic double-century to brush aside Tamil Nadu in a hotly contested semi-final.Jayantilal, who played one Test for India when he stood in for the injured Sunil Gavaskar in the West Indies in 1971, and eventually ended as a stalwart for Hyderabad, is an outside candidate to win the job. He has coached Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy, but came to prominence through his involvement in the BCA Mafatlal Scheme that was in place in Mumbai some years ago.If the whispers are to be believed there is also a possibility that the MCA may decide to expand Amre’s role and make him in charge of the team, instead of restricting his expertise to working with the batting side of things. Amre made his debut for Mumbai back in 1986-87, a time when the likes of Sunil Gavaskar were still on the circuit and when Mumbai dominated the Ranji trophy. It is believed that while Amre has enough of the old Mumbai attitude and pedigree he is also in touch with modern coaching methods, and this holds him in good stead.The final decision will be made on August 21 by the Cricket Improvement Committee of the MCA. The committee comprises Sanjay Manjrekar, Raju Kulkarni, Milind Rege, Madhavrao Apte, Sanjay Patil, Shishir Hattangadi. All members of the committee – barring Manjrekar who is out of the country on a commentary assignment – are expected to attend the meeting that will decide who gets the job.

The hearing for the disciplinary proceedings against Mark Vermeulen, who was banned from all first-class and league cricket in England for 10 years on Wednesday, will take place at Old Trafford on Monday September 18 at 19.30BST. Andrew Fitch-Holland, a barrister and principal with Line & Length Sports Consultants, confirmed Vermeulen will hold a press conference at the conclusion of the hearing.Following a chain of incidents at a Central Lancashire League match between Werneth and Ashton the league imposed the decade-long ban. Yesterday, Fitch-Holland claimed the league thought the batsman had left the country.”Mark Vermeulen learnt of the imposition of this ban from a news story appearing on Cricinfo’s website on September 14th,” the statement read. “Mr. Vermeulen had received no communication from any official of the Central Lancashire League that disciplinary proceedings were being taken against him and therefore was not present when this matter was considered.”We understand that this action was taken in circumstances where the League believed that Mark was no longer in the country, which is not the case. Mark is devastated to find himself in this position and understands that his behaviour at the match in question was far from acceptable. Naturally he wishes to offer his heartfelt apologies not just to those who witnessed the incident, but to the League and his team-mates.”We have been in contact with the League and have made it clear that Mark wishes to have the opportunity to have a personal hearing as a matter of urgency. At the present time we anticipate that such a hearing will now be held within the next few days.”At such a hearing mitigation will be offered in the hope that the League would then be fully aware of all the circumstances surrounding this incident,” the statement continued.”We would expect that any punishment that might be imposed would then be made with all the relevant factors having been properly considered. In that regard we are actively working with the CLL in a spirit of contrite co-operation to resolve this situation as soon as possible.”Click here to see the video of the incident at bbc.co.uk

ScorecardMatch packageBulletin – Yuvraj and Dhoni clinch the win
Ind view – Chasing perfection
Pak view – The thin red line
On the Ball – Conquering the conditions
Stats – Razzaq’s double and Yousuf’s struggle
Quotes – ‘Special’ Tendulkar a treat to watch, says Dravid
Quotes – ‘Dhoni’s innings was the turning point’ – Inzamam
News – Sami to join Pakistan squad
Gallery – India canter to five-wicket win
Match previewPreview – Pakistan dented by Shoaib’s absence
News – Sehwag and Harbhajan to return home
Javagal Srinath – Sreesanth passes with flying colours
News – Three injured in crowd stampede

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.

“I want to be a part of that resurgence. I want to see us get back to the top… It’s so important everyone is involved – the selectors, the public, the administrators, the cricketers – have all got to be moving in the same direction and not fighting each other if we want to move forward…. Who leads the team is not of major importance as long as everybody puts in 100 per cent in a positive manner.”What a difference a week makes.The message from Brian Lara is essentially the same, but how much more encouraging and hopeful were his words in London on Monday compared to the frustration-laced outburst in Kingston mere minutes after his West Indies team had lost the Test and the series to India at Sabina Park.Yet, if the intention was first to violently rock the boat before making it clear he had no intention yet of jumping ship, then the West Indies captain has made his point. The issue now is, will any of it make any difference at the critical decision-making level of the regional administration?As with any other meeting of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), tomorrow’s gathering of members and directors in Barbados is generating considerable speculation as to what visionary, controversial or altogether foolish decisions will be made, especially in the almost immediate aftermath of Lara’s unbridled disaffection with officialdom for their apparent reluctance to give him more direct influence in matters relating to the senior team.Indeed, it is true to say that any one decision by the WICB can generate reactions that are good, bad and indifferent all at the same time, simply because there are so many people with so many different views about what is right, what is wrong and, most importantly it seems, who is to blame for the state of West Indies cricket both on and off the field.The next time you are in the company of cricket fans, just throw out the issue of what is wrong with West Indies cricket and see how many different and highly emotive responses you get, each advocate of whatever issue thoroughly convinced that once so-and-so is done, then it’s only a matter of time before we get back up to the top where we belong.If only it were that easy.

Truth is, as most us really know deep down, there is no quick fix to a very complex and wide-ranging problem, not a foreign coach, not a new captain, not two tearaway fast bowlers, not even the Stanford 20/20.Those diehard believers in the overnight turnaround have now been waiting 11 years since Mark Taylor’s Australians shattered the West Indies aura of invincibility. That’s a long time to be sleeping.Well, it’s about time the Rip van Winkles – from the boardroom to the dressing room to the lunchroom – open their eyes and take in a Caribbean cricket landscape that, in keeping with our general preoccupation with things irrelevant, has only changed superficially in terms of impressive new structures, constant noise and endless partying.If all of this is intended to maximise global exposure and tourist revenue in the aftermath of next year’s World Cup, fine. But what difference will it make to the long-term viability of the game?It is almost impossible not to believe that too many people are directly involved in West Indies cricket primarily for what they can get out of it. No one is suggesting that only generous benefactors and selfless philanthropists should be involved, but unless the key personnel see the bigger picture, all of the selectorial changes here, and grassier pitches there, will make no fundamental difference.Part of that bigger picture is appreciating that they are all parts of the same whole. From the evidence of the wildly inconsistent performances on the field to occasional administrative bungling to the still unsettled relationship between the WICB and the Players’ Association, it is clear that very few are prepared to step out of their own shoes and consider the challenges from different perspectives.Lara’s comments about everyone moving in the same direction and giving a wholehearted effort in a positive manner essentially sums up what should really be done, except that, again, it all comes down to sometimes sacrificing personal ambition for collective gain.The captain is in the fortunate and, to some, enviable position of having achieved almost all that he has ever wanted to on a personal level as a cricketer. Now, with the western horizon drawing ever closer, he feels no sense of real loss in putting a greater focus on being both a mentor to his players and the globally-recognised spokesman on West Indies cricket.But the same cannot be said of so many others in key positions in the regional game who still have axes to grind, people to cut down to size and points to prove, all for the sake of leaving no one in doubt as to really has the power in their hands.That is why, after all the speculation and heated reaction, nothing meaningful will come out of tomorrow’s meeting in Barbados, never mind who has been jettisoned and who is now on board. Like the performances in the recent series, which fuelled hope only to end in disappointment, the to-ing and fro-ing over selectors and directors are just different waves in the same turbulent ocean.It takes real leadership to chart a course to calmer waters.

On the team’s strategy tomorrow
My aim is to play full day tomorrow, which will put the team in a good position. Already we lost an opportunity to win a match against Australia last season in Chennai owing to bad weather. So our priority will be to get back the field early and capitalise on today’s work.On his slowing-down after tea
The Melbourne episode, in the 2003-04 series Down Under, taught me a lesson, where I got out on 195 and the team got all out for 366. I didn’t want that to happen this time, and that’s why I reined myself in after the tea interval.On the wicket
The wicket is good and at the end of the day bowlers were getting purchase.On whether he has found a permanent opening partner in Gautam Gambhir now that they had recorded their second century-plus partnership
We will have to wait and see and give him [Gambhir] more time to prove himself further, as in the past, too, I have had century partnerships with Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar.On whether the Pakistan bowling was weak
Their bowling is not weak. It’s just that they didn’t bowl in the right spots.

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.”

Elite Group

Gautam Gambhir shrugged off his recent indifferent start to Test cricket with his 17th first-class century, a 181-ball 151, and added 199 runs for the second wicket with Abhishek Sharma (73) at the Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad. Delhi ended the day on 347 for 4, 133 runs ahead of Gujarat. Gambhir smacked the bowling for 20 fours during his four-hour stay – more boundaries than the entire Gujarat team. After he and Sharma departed, Mithun Manhas and Vijay Dahiya took over the reins and frustrated the bowlers further with a stand worth 99 runs. Dahiya fell for 43 right before stumps, but Manhas remained unbeaten on 66. Parthiv Patel, playing his first Ranji game, took two catches.Murtaza Lodhgar destroyed Karnataka with a six-wicket haul, restricting them to 179 after Bengal had scored 315 in their first innings at Jadavpur University Campus in Kolkata. In the morning, Sourav Ganguly fell for 27 off 76 balls – not quite the big score he needed after a lean run at international level. Bengal folded up after he left, but Karnataka’s capitulation later, when seven wickets fell for 64 runs, was more damaging. Bengal had a ball left to play before the day ended. They were 0 for 0 at stumps.At the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, Mumbai could add only 100 runs to their overnight total as Harvinder Singh struck early, removing Vinod Kambli and Romesh Powar cheaply, and added two more to his tally to end with figures of 6 for 75. Due to a solid batting effort by the lower order, Mumbai rallied to 361, and then had Railways in immediate trouble. Ajit Agarkar removed both openers with 53 on the board, and Nilesh Kulkarni dismissed Siddharth Verma a little later. Railways ended the day at 111 for 3, still 250 runs behind.At the Chidambaram Stadium, Hyderabad recovered to 163 all out from their overnight precarious position of 83 for 5, only to see Tamil Nadu go to 183 by the end of the day at. Sadagoppan Ramesh, who had hoped for a Test recall, was dismissed for 29, But Sivaramakrishnan Vidyut (97 not out) and Subramaniam Badrinath, on 56, were still at the crease. It rounded up a good day for Tamil Nadu, after Ramakrishnan Ramkumar eked out three more batsmen with his left-arm spin to end with 6 for 57 in 31 overs.Venugopal Rao (140) added to his overnight hundred and, along with Khatib Sahabuddin (86), took Andhra Pradesh to 361 in Indore. Narendra Hirwani claimed 4 for 89 before his team responded with 155 for 4, built on the back of fifties from Naman Ojha (61) and Amay Khurasiya (50).At Mohali, Punjab fought back from a precarious position at 43 for 3, and recovered to score 221 for 7 when stumps were called on the second day. They trailed Uttar Pradesh by 48 runs, and had a good chance of taking the first-innings lead while Pankaj Dharmani (83 not out) was at the crease. Yuvraj Singh scored a quick 52, laced with eight fours, and fell when Punjab had 114 runs on the board. Earlier, Gagandeep Singh dismissed the last two Uttar Pradesh batsmen to claim 5 for 68, his ninth five-wicket haul.Assam, in Guwahati, scored 273 as Sukhvinder Singh scored 48 while his lower-order mates played out deliveries. He then took a wicket, Kiran Powar’s (43), as Baroda made their way to 162 for 4. Jacob Martin was unbeaten on 58.

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.

As exclusively reported by Cricinfo last week, Matabeleland’s major club sides have confirmed that they have pulled out of the provincial association in a direct protest against the way that Zimbabwe Cricket is being run by Peter Chingoka, the chairman, and Ozias Bvute, the managing director.Matabeleland is the major province in Zimbabwe and has been responsible for producing many of their major players, including Heath Streak, their former captain who quit international cricket last autumn.”This is in response to the continual mismanagement of cricket administered in Zimbabwe by Chingoka and Bvute and the present interim SRC committee,” read the statement signed by Collin Williams, a former Matabeleland player and father of Sean, the Under-19 captain.It was also reported that the clubs were holding discussions with a number of clubs sides in Harare who last year split from their own association, Mashonaland. They withdrew their support for ZC some time ago.The next step will be for the Matabeleland clubs to write to their players and inform them of the decision. Those individuals under contract to ZC will probably have to move to clubs affiliated to the board, but the standard of cricket in those is likely to be poor as ZImbabwe’s player base is so eroded.