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Gayle no-show
Chris Gayle will miss the Kolkata Knightriders’ first home game, against the Deccan Chargers this Sunday. He did not leave for India on Friday as he was scheduled to, owing to a groin injury, and is expected to be out of action for a fortnight, according to the team spokesman. Though he will miss the first few games, Gayle is expected stay on, along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, till the end of the tournament despite Australia’s tour of West Indies clashing with the IPL.Ranji Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians have recruited several former Ranji players as support staff for the team. While former Test wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe is their fielding coach, Mumbai batsman Atul Bedade is the travel manager and former Indian left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi is their team manager. Apart from them, Subroto Banerjee, a medium-pacer who played one Test for India before moving to New South Wales, has been called in as Mumbai’s bowling coach. Banerjee is a Level II coach and plays grade cricket in Sydney.Bravo in for Malinga
Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, will be joining the Mumbai Indians squad to replace the injured Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga. Lalchand Rajput, Mumbai’s coach, confirmed that Bravo was the unanimous choice of the “few” names discussed by the team think-tank. Malinga, recovering from a knee injury that he picked during the CB Series in Australia, and, had to miss the Caribbean tour but was confident last week he would be fit to join the Mumbai squad. But Rajput said “we got a report that his recovery might take a further two to three weeks. So we decided to have a back-up”.

Australia 9 for 602 dec and 1 for 202 dec beat England 157 and 370 (Collingwood 96, Pietersen 92) by 277 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out – England

Australia needed just 19 overs on the final morning at Brisbane to wrap up the first Test by the whopping margin of 277 runs, as England’s final five wickets folded for the addition of 77. Their slim chances of saving the game effectively ended after four balls when Kevin Pietersen flicked Brett Lee to Damien Martyn at short midwicket. He failed to add to his overnight 92.Resuming on 293 for 7, England’s hopes depended largely on some conflicting weather forecasts, but the day dawned bright and heroics rather than hail were needed. Lee took the new ball after the first delivery, and three balls later Pietersen was on his way.Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles gave the vocal Barmy Army – sitting together for the first time in the match and relishing the freedom – some cheer with a few spirited blows, but Jones’s breezy 33 ended when one from Glenn McGrath kept low from a good length and shattered his stumps via an inside edge.Giles continued the resistance in partnership with Matthew Hoggard and peppered the off-side boundary with some effective cuts, but he too fell on the stroke of drinks, as Stuart Clark cramped him for room and Shane Warne at first slip took a comfortable catch from a thin deflection. The same combination dealt with Hoggard six overs later, and the end came swiftly when Harmison hooked Clark to McGrath at fine leg,Australia’s two injury worries – Ricky Ponting and McGrath – both took the field, but McGrath needed injections in his sore heel while Ponting’s back was clearly still an issue as he stood stiffly at mid-off rather than his more customary slip.

Steve Bucknor, a member of the ICC’s elite panel of umpires, has complained that television production companies are misusing technology to make umpires look bad and key players look good.Bucknor has revealed he has encountered instances of TV personnel maneuvering images to influence the flow and outcome of matches. “It has been known to happen where the technology has been used to make umpires look bad,” he told reporters on Friday. “Mats [the line graphic used to adjudge lbw decisions] have been moved, balls have disappeared, ball hitting the bat and only coming up into the fielder’s hands, but between the bat and the hand, no ball is found and you are told, ‘Sorry, we don’t have that clip, we can’t show it’.Bucknor, who has stood in a world record 111 Tests and four World Cup finals, as well as officiated 139 one-day internationals, noted he was speaking from personal experience. “It has happened; I’ve been in a game when it has happened,” he said. “Sometimes nothing is shown because the batsman was a key batsman and getting out at that stage would have made life very difficult for that team. It all depends on who is operating the technology. I’ve been told that this ball is the one with which the batsman got out, but the one that is being shown is not the same one he got out with. It has been known to happen. When these things are happening, it makes life extremely difficult for the umpires. Who do you trust from there on you don’t know.”Although he admits that there is a place for technology in the game and would like to see “a little bit more”, Bucknor said the misuse of the technology is eroding the trust between umpires and players. “In the beginning of my career, umpires were trusted. When umpires said not out, the man was trusted, so they would say he is a good umpire and nobody questioned him. Today, the technology shows up his mistakes, and makes life a little bit difficult for umpires, especially when it has been known to happen that technology has been used to make umpires look bad.”Bucknor was also disappointed that umpires were not consulted about the ICC Cricket Committee’s recommendation to allow players a certain number of appeals per innings to the TV replay umpire, if they feel a decision made by the on-field umpire may be incorrect. “I’d been happy been to be part of this change, but these things happen and we know about them happening rather than for us to say this is what we want. We’ll have to live by them. Whatever they say, we’ll just have to live by.”The ability of players to appeal against decisons made by on-field umpires were the main recommendations made by the ICC’s cricket committee during its two-day meeting in Dubai.

The trial of Mark Vermeulen, who has been accused of starting fires at the Zimbabwe Cricket headquarters and the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, has been further adjourned to March 9. The delay follows an agreement between the defence and the state that he undergo additional medical examinations by two government experts.Vermeulen’s defence lawyer, Eric Matinenga, presented the court with two medical reports from a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist. Both diagnosed Vermeulen with “a non-pathological condition and consistent intermediate explosive disorder which can influence his conduct.” The court asked for further medical examinations to be undertaken under the country’s Mental Health Bill.The magistrate agreed to relax the conditions of bail, so allowing Vermeulen to resume playing cricket for Old Harrovians, his club side, when the Harare Vigne Cup League resumes on Sunday. He is, however, barred from playing matches at Harare Sports Club and the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, which are both operated by Zimbabwe Cricket.

Dave Langford-Smith, the Ireland opening bowler, has announced his retirement from international cricket. Langford-Smith played in 22 one-dayers, picking up 25 wickets at 31.88, and represented Ireland on their recent tour of Bangladesh.”It has been a tough decision for me, but one I had to make,” Langford-Smith said. “On returning from the latest tour, I have realised that my workload [outside cricket] has built up so much that I will find it hard to do anything else. I’ve reached a stage in my life where I have to think about my family, and it’s difficult when you are away from home so much.””Playing for the Irish team has been the greatest sporting experience I could have ever wished for, and I am proud to have been a part of such a successful team, both on and off the field.”Like most Associate cricketers, Langford-Smith has had to juggle cricket with a full-time job, and has recently formed his own painting and decorating business. His departure follows last week’s news that the Ireland captain, Trent Johnston, is to take an indefinite break from the game.Langford-Smith leaves international cricket as Ireland’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs.

Uttar Pradesh
Any premiership coach will tell you the season after winning the championship is the toughest. Uttar Pradesh should keep that in mind, especially because their success was built around natural talent and not systems, unorthodox methods and not planning. Last season turned into a fairytale where they surprised everybody and probably themselves too. Mohammad Kaif, their captain for the latter half of the season, conjured up innovative ways to stun team after team, and led them to their first Ranji Trophy title. Many teams will anticipate their out-of-the-box strategies and moreover, the lead cast from 2005-06 – Kaif and Suresh Raina currently in South Africa – will miss at least the start of the season.UP will once again depend on youth, despite having the grand old trinity of Ashish Winston Zaidi, Gyanendra Pandey, and Rizwan Shamshad. Their bowling looks stronger than last year with Rudra Pratap Singh adding variety to a line-up that includes Shalabh Srivastava, Praveen Kumar, and Piyush Chawla. Kumar’s ability to play cameos anywhere in the order – as he did last season – will continue to be a bonus.The hostel system – a unique method of nurturing school kids – continues to churn out a major chunk of their talent and if UP can add a modicum of method to their resources, they will be the team to beat at the business end of the season.What they did last season
From having four points after four matches and facing relegation, UP produced a spectacular turnaround to beat Hyderabad, Andhra, and Mumbai to reach the final. They continued their surprise-tactics in the title clash as well and opened the batting with Kumar, a strategy that proved crucial to the final outcome. Kumar responded with an upper-cut off his first ball and scored 48 off 55 balls, an innings which demoralised Bengal’s bowlers. They claimed the trophy on the basis of their first-innings lead. Raina, with 620 runs at 68.88 was third on the overall run-scorers’ list; Kumar, with 41 wickets at 23.97, was second in the charts and he also scored 368 runs. The duo, along with Chawla, was among three of the top performers of the Ranji trophy last season.Men to watch
RP Singh will have the most at stake. He’s the closest to national selection as far as the World Cup goes and a smashing start to the season could pave a way for his comeback. India will not be playing home Tests before the end of the Ranji season and that also gives Chawla another complete season to develop his skills and prove that he is indeed India’s next quality spinner. Another promising young batsman is left-hand opener and former U-19 captain, Ravikant Shukla.

Baroda
Baroda, never one of the fancied teams from West Zone, have slowly but steadily built a team that must be taken seriously at all levels. Yet, as is so often the case, all the good work has been undone by forces beyond the control of the team management and the Baroda Cricket Association. Irfan Pathan, one of Baroda’s key players, is unavailable to them because of India duties, and Zaheer Khan, who has been a stand-out performer at the domestic level, has moved to Mumbai.Instead of moaning about what might have been, Dashrat Pardeshi, the former Baroda left-arm spinner and currently chairman of the selection committee, is looking at kick-starting the rebuilding process, and using this as an opportunity to strengthen other areas of his team. “If you go into the past Zaheer [Khan] was our main strike weapon, along with Rakesh Patel,” he told . “Our bowling strength in the last five years has depended on medium-pacers, and they have proved their worth. Now that this is weakened we are strengthening the batting and spinning departments.”Pardeshi went on to make a critical point. “Selection on potential and future prospects is fine at the Under-19 level. But at this level you have to take into account more than that,” he explained. “Now that the money factor comes into it as well – the players are paid well for each Ranji match, you have to take into account performances in local tournaments, past Ranji matches and other important matches, not just potential.” With this in mind Baroda are looking to pack their team with batsmen and allrounders.What they did last season
Having topped their group in the league phase of the Ranji Trophy with 19 points, Baroda went into their semifinal against Bengal, at Kolkata, with high hopes. But their batsmen failed in the first innings, with only a century from Kiran Powar pushing the score up to 241. Bengal responded with a mammoth 619 – Subhomoy Das, Deep Dasgupta and Lakshmi Rattan Shukla all scoring hundreds, ending the match as a contest. Baroda’s batting once again let them down in the second innings, and when the match ended they were on 252 for 8 and lucky not to have been beaten outright.Men to watch
With their team weakened Baroda have looked to induct players from the Under-22 level. These include Ketan Panchal and Pinal Shah, the wicketkeeper, who has already played for India U-19. Broadly, Baroda have gone in for a flavour of youth, but their core still remains the veterans – Jacob Martin and Connor Williams, the top-order batsmen, and the likes of Ajit Bhoite. With Ashok Mankad, that wily old fox, as coach, you can expect that no team will take Baroda lightly and get away with it.

Mumbai
Mumbai have won the Ranji Trophy so many times more than anyone else that it is difficult not to peg them as one of the favourites. Amol Muzumdar, a veteran of 13 domestic seasons, has been chosen to lead this season, in place of Nilesh Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner, who will focus on his bowling.Mumbai have a new coach as well. Pravin Amre is well aware of the modern game and its demands, while being firmly rooted in the old style of Mumbai cricket. In recent years there has been talk of a decline in the lofty standards of Mumbai batsmanship – built on the premise that you put an extremely high premium on your wicket. It is this attitude, the mentality, that Amre is aiming to re-instill in this team. “See any team at the start of the season begins with an aim of winning the Ranji Trophy. It’s no different with us,” Amre told Cricinfo. “What makes me really positive is the fact that the selectors, the captain and the coach are all working in one direction. While we’re looking at developing youngsters and promoting them we’re also taking into account the important role the seniors play.” When asked what the primary focus would be, the coach said, “The batting department has to click. That’s crucial. We need to focus a lot on skill training, and that’s what I’ll be doing.”The one thing that has held Mumbai in good stead in the recent past, however, is the manner in which the team has fought back in a crisis. The lower order – especially the likes of Ramesh Powar, Sairaj Bahutule (now with Maharashtra) and Vinayak Samant have chipped in with vital runs when the top order has stumbled. The challenge for the team, though, is in the medium-pace department. With seniors Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan away on national duty, and Avishkar Salvi not in the squad for the first two matches, it provides an opportunity for someone like Kshemal Waingankar, who will be making his Ranji debut, a chance to prove himself.What they did last season
When Mumbai topped their group in the league phase with 16 points and set themselves up for a home semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium against UP, there was widespread hope that an outright win would pitchfork them into the final. There was an outright win alright, but it was for UP, by five wickets, as Mumbai’s batsmen failed to fire in either innings. Once the home of Indian batsmanship, Mumbai did not have anyone in the top six who had represented India. Knocked out in the semi-final, they were forced to lick their wounds, only taking consolation from the fact that they had lost to the eventual champions.Men to watch
There was a time when Mumbai was bursting with talent ready to force its way into the Indian team. At the moment, though, there’s really only one man on the fringe, and that’s Rohit Sharma, the middle-order batsman. For over a year now he has caught the eye with his stylish stroke play, but when he had the chance to make it count – in the Challenger Series – he could not make the most of it, coming up with two cameos but no innings of substance. Still, it is he that opposition teams will worry about, apart of course from the ever-prolific Muzumdar, despite no longer being the scary force he once was.

Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann has demonstrated his concerns about a diminishing supply of high-class pace bowling resources by revealing he tried to convince Mitchell Johnson to remain a limited-overs player after his retirement from Test matches in Perth.Johnson told Lehmann and the captain Steven Smith of his intention to leave international cricket on the third evening of the WACA Test against New Zealand. While they accepted their spearhead’s decision, Lehmann has said he floated the possibility of Johnson sticking around as an ODI or Twenty20 bowler for Australia but was rebuffed.”His mind was made up as soon as he spoke to Steven and myself after day three. He’d been thinking about it for a while, been talking about it in the media,” Lehmann told the Adelaide radio station . “We spoke to him about maybe playing the one-dayers, we think that was a really good option for us to have that experience there. But he’s not into it, he’s not into the training anymore, he’s had enough and he just wants to sit at home and watch us play.”While no longer eager to pursue the rigorous training and travel regimen of an international fast bowler, Johnson is set to keep playing in the game’s shortest format for some time yet. The Perth Scorchers have been in discussions with his manager Sam Halvorsen about a potential Big Bash League deal, and the WACA chief executive Christian Matthews has said that “we’ve had indications he’s keen to play for us”.Lehmann, meanwhile, has reflected on a shrinking supply of pacemen, with the loss of Johnson and Ryan Harris thrusting the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and James Pattinson very much to the forefront of the national team’s plans across all forms of the game. The selection of Andrew Fekete, who has since been dropped by Tasmania, for the postponed tour of Bangladesh demonstrated a wide open field beneath this quartet.”We’ve got a few injuries at the moment, with Harris and Johnson retiring and then you chuck in Pat Cummins injured at the moment,” Lehmann said. “We’ve got some depth in young kids, but these four [Starc, Hazlewood, Siddle, Pattinson] are prime bowlers for us and we’ve got to keep them on the park.”Hazlewood, Siddle and Pattinson are seemingly duelling for two bowling spots alongside Starc. Lehmann said that Hazlewood had not performed to his satisfaction in the first two Tests of the New Zealand series, but he was hesitant about being overly critical of a young bowler still learning his game and duly inconsistent.”He got better and better in Perth, he certainly bowled well with the new ball in the second innings, better than he probably has all series, so he looks like he’s running into a little bit of form there,” Lehmann said. “But it’s tough to spot because he’s a young kid, he bowls well in patches and we probably should have held a few catches to help our bowlers out a little bit as well. He’d like more wickets, as we would.”Bowlers on both sides have been neutered by flat pitches in Brisbane and Perth, but Lehmann stressed that he expected better of Australia’s pacemen in particular. While the likes of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have flourished so far, Lehmann contended that this was largely as a result of their not being put under enough pressure by consistent bowling to the fields set by Smith.”I certainly don’t think we’ve bowled as well as we should have,” he said. “I said that after the first Test and then the second Test. We’re certainly batting well enough at the moment, so if we get the bowling right, and get the ball in the right areas and put a bit more pressure on them, not too many free balls, that might be a different story.”

The Sri Lanka A squad for the tour of England starting in July is expected to be drawn from the squad of 19 players selected for training on February 21.Chandika Hathurusingha, the former Sri Lankan batsman who is currently coaching the Sri Lanka A side, said that the team comprising 16 players would be selected from the 19 already chosen for training, but added that it would probably include a few players from the national side who may not be needed for the home series against Bangladesh. Bangladesh is set to tour Sri Lanka from June 17 to July 25 to play in a series of three Tests and three one-day internationals.Of the 19 selected Malinda Warnapura, Ishara Amarasinghe and Kaushal Lokuarachchi were selected in the Sri Lanka team that recently went to Abu Dhabi to play in a three-match one-day series against Pakistan.The Sri Lanka A team’s tour of UK itinerary comprises nine matches, five of which are first-class games.The 19 picked for training are: Michael Vandort, Mahela Udawatte, Malinda Warnapura, Tilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandamby, Kanchana Gunawardena, Kaushal Silva, Ishara Amarasinghe, Akalanka Ganegama, Sujeewa Silva, Dhammika Prasad, Tharanga Lakshitha, Chanaka Welagedera, Rangana Herath, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Dilruwan Perera, Ranga Dias and Gayan Wijekoon.The tour itinerary: July 10-12: v MCC at Arundel, July 14: v Worcestershire at New Road, July 16: v Kent at Canterbury, July 19-21: v Sussex at Hove, July 25-27: v Warwickshire at Edgbaston, July 29: v Lancashire at Liverpool (tbc), July 31-Aug 3: v Yorkshire at Headingley Carnegie, Aug 6: v Derbyshire at Derby, Aug 8-10: v Durham at Riverside.

Pollock trumps his former captain
It was one of the mini-battles of the day: Shaun Pollock vs Graeme Smith. Having tied Smith down in his first over with accurate line and length, Pollock returned in the next over to deliver smartly disguised slower one. Smith came down the track to drive, missed the ball completely, and perhaps thinking that he was bowled, began to walk off without looking back. He did not realize that the ball had missed the stumps and the wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale had fumbled it. Takawale had enough time to recover and stump Smith, who was walking briskly towards the bowler’s end. But Pollock’s excitement was multifold as he jumped in air and repeatedly swung his arms in child-like excitement.Keep it straight and simple
Ashish Nehra may not have Dale Steyn’s pace but he can swing the ball.Yusuf Pathan was facing his first ball from Nehra and attempted the ambitious slog over deep midwicket straightaway. He missed and Nehra swung the ball back into him and hit the stumps. A few overs later Shane Watson, who threatened to blast Mumbai away, also paid the price for a horizontal-bat heave against Dwayne Bravo, who had gone round the wicket to angle the ball away from the right-hander.Terrific Takawale
Tracking the flight of the ball, while running towards the boundary, is never an easy task for a wicketkeeper especially when he is squatting to begin with. Yogesh Takawale displayed agility and excellent judgement as he set off immediately with his eyes fixed on the ball after Ravindra Jadeja had top-edged Dhawal Kulkarni over his head. Takawale ran as close as he could and dived to cover the remaining distance to pouch an outstanding catch. It was one of the four dismissals he affected.No cause for cheer
One set of cheerleaders were unusually quiet today and it wasn’t because of crowd trouble or because they hurt some conservative politician’s sentiments. The three sets of Rajasthan Royals cheer girls, dressed in white, yellow and red, were left seated for the majority of the first innings as Rajasthan crashed and burned for 103, the lowest first-innings score of the IPL.The name’s Warne
Takawale was having a superb match until he came face to face with Shane Warne. He prepared to face the first ball, perhaps expected the leg break, and shaped up to pull. Warne ripped in the flipper on off stump, cramped the batsman for room and the ball brushed the pad on its way through to hitting off stump.

Chris Harris hopes he can still play domestic matches for Canterbury this season despite signing with the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Harris joined his former New Zealand team-mates Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle and Hamish Marshall in joining the ICL, which does not have official backing.Harris turned down a new deal with Canterbury for 2007-08 as New Zealand Cricket said none of its nationally or provincially contracted players would be released to play in the ICL. But Harris expects his ICL commitments to finish in late December and he would like Canterbury to consider picking him after that.”I’d like to think I could play for Canterbury again but there is a lot of water to go under the bridge yet,” Harris told the . “It was hard turning down the Canterbury contract but I wanted to keep my options open. I’d still love to play for Canterbury, if they wanted me in the future.”Although he turns 38 next month, it appears Harris still has plenty to offer at first-class level. Last season he made 428 runs at 42.80 in the State Championship, and collected 13 wickets at 41.38. He was Canterbury’s leading one-day run-scorer with 362 at 60.33 and has just returned from a stint in the Lancashire league, where he topped the competition’s wicket tally with 83 victims.He said reports that he could be paid up to NZ$500,000 for signing with the ICL were not true but the deal was still worth his while. “The numbers are nothing like what have been quoted in the media but are still significant,” he said.Harris was confident the ICL would draw a strong following from the Indian public with big names like Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq already committed to play. “Given how the world Twenty20 event took off and that India won it I’m sure it will be well received over there,” Harris said. “It should be great for the game.”