On the eve of the game, a couple of Mumbai batsmen approached the curator, Sudhir Naik. It had been cloudy for a few days and Naik had not taken the risk of watering the track – not a single water drop fell on the surface for two days prior to the start. Naik recalls the batsmen being a touch apprehensive. Reason? Anil Kumble. They feared that the dry wicket might break up early and Kumble would harass them on a variable track. Naik had simply pointed to the elements and said he cannot do anything to help them.Their nervousness would have increased after watching their team-mate Ramesh Powar, tease the opposition on the opening day. The ball gripped the surface, spun and bounced. Even the young Iqbal Abdulla, albeit not getting big turn, got it to bounce. At times the ‘keeper had to gather deliveries from in front of his face.Cut to the second day. The sun was beating down hard when Kumble brought himself on in the 13th over of the innings. His first act was to set his field precisely. He even walked to short cover, made a mark on the ground with his feet and asked his fielder to stand on that spot.With a short leg and a silly point in place, he floated his first few deliveries but there was no sign of any bite off the pitch. Sahil Kukreja and Wasim Jaffer began to breathe easy and started to drive him fluently. After five overs of fruitless toil, where he was driven and cut, Kumble took himself off the attack and gave his partner Sunil Joshi a go. Joshi started off slowly before running into a better rhythm in the post-lunch session.And yet, neither Joshi, to a lesser extent, and Kumble were getting the same purchase off the track as Powar. Whatever moisture and dampness the pitch held on the first day was sucked-up by the harsh sun and the wicket could only offer slow turn today.Naik felt that the pitch demanded the spinner to flight the ball and give it lots of revolutions to purchase turn. “Powar did, the Karnataka spinners didn’t do it consistently enough and as a result Mumbai have a healthy lead,” says Naik.The pitch will deteriorate further and variable bounce should enter the picture. So will Kumble, but for that, the Karnataka batsmen need to get their act together.Joshi wished his batsmen had put more runs on the board. “If we had more runs, the situation would have been so different. The pitch had become slower; I never thought it would break up completely, as the Wankhede wicket is usually hard and holds up. And they batted well.”The Karnataka batsmen were overcautious in the first innings, scoring only at 2.17 runs per over. At the end of the first day, Pravin Amre, Mumbai’s coach, had hoped his batsmen wouldn’t commit the same mistake. “I want them to bat positively, not slog of course but punish the loose deliveries and even if we score one run more than them [Karnataka] per over, the job would be done.” Mumbai ended up scoring at 3.55 runs per hour and that was the difference between the two sides.Every time Kumble erred on length or width, the batsmen took full toll. Abhishek Nayar went one step further as he took the attack to Kumble and forced him to commit mistakes in line and length. He struck three successive boundaries of Kumble: two were swung over the leg side field before he cut the third as Kumble tried to correct his length but ended up bowling short.Prashant Naik, 21, the right-hand batsman making his Ranji debut, hit an assured 78 to lift Mumbai out of trouble after they had lost five quick wickets in the second session. Naik, who was run out at the fag end of the play, had been working with Amre to tackle the threat of Kumble. He was advised to stretch well forward, not plonk his left foot across and always look to play straight. “I took care to do that. It was a great experience playing a bowler like Kumble. Joshi got the ball to bounce but since it was turning slow I was confident of playing them well,” Prashant said.Naik drove Kumble through the covers, past mid-off and when Kumble went around the wickets looking for the rough outside leg stump, he swept him fine. Kumble had trapped Amol Muzumdar when he tried to play across the line, but had Naik learnt from that and took care to play in the V. Since Kumble didn’t get lift or pace off the track, Naik prospered. So did Mumbai.

Ashish Nehra, former India and Delhi left-arm seamer, has been ruled out for the next two months of the Indian domestic season after being advised to rest his ankle, which was operated upon recently. He missed Delhi’s first two matches of the Ranji Trophy Super League and is likely to return only by the end of January.”I had gotten my ankle operated during the domestic off-season and have been advised by the doctors to rest it for the next two months till I am fully fit,” Nehra was quoted in the . “I am sure to play the Duleep and Deodhar Trophies and one-dayers, and the Ranji Trophy knockout matches as well, if Delhi qualify.”Nehra will travel with the team for their fourth- and fifth-round matches against Himachal Pradesh (in Dharamsala) and Maharashtra (in Pune) respectively, and train with the team physio. John Gloster, the Indian team physio, will also work with Nehra during the first Test between India and Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi.Nehra, among the most injury-prone Indian players in recent times, said he was intent on taking things cautiously to avoid breaking down again.”I do not want to make the mistake again of playing until I am fully fit,” Nehra said. “Not only will that hamper my performance but also aggravate my injury. So I am going to take it light this season and come back the moment I know I am ready.”Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya admitted that Nehra’s absence would be felt, yet backed his decision to play it safe. “From a team’s point of view even an 80% Nehra is essential for the team, but from an individual perspective I think this is a good decision that Ashish has taken,” Dahiya said. “He aggravated his injury last season and this season he has chosen wisely to rest it and recover fully.”Nehra last played for India during the tour of Zimbabwe in 2005. Last season, he took 15 wickets in the Ranji Trophy at 41 runs apiece, and 13 wickets in nine one-day games.

A jury in Jamaica has recorded an open verdict on the death of the former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, after deciding that there was insufficient evidence of either a criminal act or natural causes. The 11-member jury, which began considering a verdict last week after five weeks of evidence, received more instructions from the coroner Patrick Murphy before agreeing they were unable to decide.Murphy originally told jurors about possible outcomes a week ago as they began to consider whether Woolmer’s death occurred by natural causes, accidental death, suicide, murder and involuntary or voluntary manslaughter. The verdict came after 26 days of testimony from 57 witnesses and the local police have closed their case.”We do not intend to go any further with these investigations,” said the Jamaican deputy police commissioner Mark Shields said. He explained the police had already “conducted a thorough and one of the largest investigations in recent years and had always been confident that Woolmer died of natural causes”. They interviewed more than 400 people, collected statements from 250 witnesses and pursued 500 lines of inquiry.Murphy, who presided over the inquiry, said the cause of death would now be left up to Jamaica’s chief prosecutor, adding that another inquest was not possible. “You’ve done your job, thank you very much,” he told the jury. “The inquest is now over and you are excused.”The ICC, in its reaction to the verdict, noted that extensive investigations by the Jamaican Constabulary Force and the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit found no evidence of match-fixing or corruption of any kind in this case.Woolmer was found in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on March 18, one day after Pakistan crashed out of the World Cup. He was later pronounced dead at the University Hospital of the West Indies.A post mortem conducted by the government pathologist Ere Sheshiah led him to conclude that Woolmer was killed by asphyxiation due to manual strangulation. Jamaican police decided they had a murder on their hands but later abandoned the investigations after consulting with other experts who determined Woolmer’s death was due to natural causes. Sheshiah and those who found no evidence of wrongdoing each made their case over the past two months before the jury’s verdict.

Jumping Jaques
Phil Jaques continued his fine scoring streak since replacing Justin Langer with his fifth consecutive innings of at least a half-century. Since re-entering the team in November he has 100, 150, 68, 66 and 51, which make him the team’s leading run-scorer of the year. This is only Australia’s fourth Test of 2007 and Jaques (435) is ahead of Michael Hussey (374) while Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke are both on 320.Harbhajan sings when Ponting steps out
Harbhajan Singh has moved to third on Ricky Ponting’s list of least-liked bowlers. The pair has played in eight Tests together and when Ponting glided Harbhajan to Rahul Dravid at first slip on 3 it was the sixth time he had fallen to the bowler. “I have some success against him, but I don’t know how or why,” Harbhajan said. “It was my 250th wicket, that means a lot.” Anil Kumble, who will have to wait till Sydney to try to add to his tally, is second in Ponting’s nightmares on seven, one behind Darren Gough.Costly misses
Zaheer Khan delivered the ball of the match with an outstanding offcutter that bowled Andrew Symonds on 7. The initial problem was that it was a no-ball, but as the Indian fielders questioned their luck, the ball squirted passed Mahendra Singh Dhoni and was ignored. Once Symonds realised he wasn’t headed for the stands he signalled Michael Clarke for a cheeky run. “It was an amazing ball, it skidded on, and both Symmo and myself were a bit surprised,” Clarke said. “Then he called me through for a single. I was like: ‘What are you running for? You’ve just been bowled.’Out of step
A couple of overs later Zaheer transgressed again and his loud lbw appeal for Clarke was cut short by Billy Bowden’s out-stretched arm. Anil Kumble did well to remain calm during Zaheer’s 12 no-balls for the innings.Things we learned today
“I call the MCG Shane Warne’s ground because I used to see him on TV bowling here,” Harbhajan said. He also revealed what Ponting said after Harbhajan was hit a stinging blow on the chest by Brett Lee on day two. “He asked me if the ball had gone out of shape. I’m still fine.” Harbhajan then patted the area and smiled.Cap’s on for Clarke
Three years ago Clarke called for his baggy green when he was in the 90s so he could wear it when he made his century on debut. With Kumble and Harbhajan operating in tandem, Clarke had another chance to send the helmet to the dressing room, but this time there was no bat raise. He missed Kumble’s wrong’un and was stumped on 73.

Two days before the Perth Test the sun finally shone through the cloud that has been hanging over this series for the past week, with India dropping their charge of abuse against Brad Hogg, Australia’s chinaman bowler. Later in the day, it would emerge that the two captains had agreed to scrap the contentious catching agreement that sparked off the controversy surrounding Michael Clarke.Hogg was accused of making an offensive remark to Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the second Test in Sydney and charged under Level 3 of the ICC Code of Conduct following a complaint by Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan.The decision to drop charges was taken at a meeting of the two captains, Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble, convened by Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC’s chief match referee, who was flown in in the aftermath of the Sydney Test controversy. It capped an evening of fast-moving developments that saw six statements read out at the local Hyatt in the space of a couple of hours.It gives the Indian team the moral high ground and transfers pressure back on to Australia to drop the racism charge levelled at Harbhajan Singh – which will now be heard after the Test series – and Kumble, it is believed, indicated during the meeting the ball was in Australia’s court. However, it is understood that Australia will not be able, on technical grounds, to drop the racism charge against Harbhajan. The charge against Hogg was levelled by Chauhan, who withdrew it on Monday, while in Harbhajan’s case, the charges were brought by both the on-field umpires after a complaint by Ponting.Nonetheless, it was a significant decision and Kumble, explaining it, said the game had to move on. “Ricky and I had a discussion with Ranjan [Madugalle] and after that it was important that the game of cricket moves on,” he said. “Cricket is larger than any individual. It is important we forget what happened in Sydney, it was just one of those bad moments, just an incident probably in the heat of the moment. And we decided as a team to move on and remove the charges against Brad Hogg. It’s important that we moved on.””I enjoyed a productive meeting which I had with Anil Kumble and Ranjan Madugalle in which we talked through all the issues thoroughly,” Ponting said. “I am convinced that both the teams can move into the next game clearly understanding the parameters under which the game should be played and the teams acknowledge that the game must be played in its true spirit.””It’s a kind gesture, lovely gesture by the Indian team,” Hogg said. “It’s much appreciated by myself and the Australian cricket team. Hopefully the future contests between India and Australia are good viewing for the spectators and enjoyable for the teams.”Madugalle, who had earlier met the team managements separately, met the two captains at 5:15 pm. After the meeting, which lasted about half an hour, he was optimistic of the series carrying on in the right spirit.”Over the last couple of days we’ve had very useful discussions with captains and managers of both teams resulting in meeting with Anil and Ricky today,” Madugalle said after the meeting. “Both of them realise the importance of moving the game forward as opposed to reflecting on the events of the last week. And as captains they have the responsibility to uphold the game in the right spirit and play the game with mutual respect for one another. And I’m very confident that the next five days will see just that. So let’s all look forward to a great Test match.”Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, said he hoped the decision would help get the focus back to the game. “The decision to drop the charge against Brad Hogg was taken in the larger interest of the game,” Shetty told . “India has always upheld the spirit of the game and the on-field issues should not be taken outside the field.” On whether Australia would reciprocate and drop the charges against Harbhajan, Shetty said, “We really hope that Australia looks at it positively”.Mike Procter, the match referee at the SCG and the man in charge of the hearing today, called it a “magnificent” gesture. “I was tendered a letter from the [India] captain and the manager when the hearing started. So that’s all behind us now and we can get on with the cricket, which is great news. A wonderful gesture by India showing sportsmanship they possess and the way they play their game.”

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, has stood by the selectors’ decision to leave out legspinner Malinga Bandara from Sri Lanka’s 15-man squad for the CB Series in Australia while selecting six fast bowlers.The omission of Bandara, who took 14 wickets from nine matches in Sri Lanka’s campaign in the 2005-06 tri-series in Australia, has become a talking point in Sri Lanka, but Jayawardene said it was difficult to accommodate him as the second spinner since the team management had decided to go in for a solitary specialist spinner in Muttiah Muralitharan.”When you’ve got Murali and if he is playing in the side, with the conditions we get in Australia, there won’t be any room for a second spinner. It will not give us the adequate balance in our set-up. Our combination could be three quicks and a spinner plus seven batsman or we might go with six batsmen, four quicks, including an allrounder, and a spinner. Banda will only come into play if Murali gets injured. That’s why he is a standby.”While Dilhara Fernando has been ruled out of the series due to injury, Jayawardene has six other fast bowlers at his disposal, including the inexperienced right-arm seamer Ishara Amerasinghe, who has played one ODI, and the uncapped left-armer, Chanaka Welegedara. “We have three fairly experienced bowlers Vaasy [Chaminda Vaas], Lasith [Malinga] and Maha [Farveez Maharoof] in the line-up.”The other three are fairly new. Even though Kulasekera has been around he hasn’t played consistently, Welagedera is a young guy finding his way in international cricket and Ishara – we picked him for his pace and accuracy. He’s bowled pretty well in the last 6-12 months in A team cricket. This probably would be a place for us to see what he can do.”Jayawardene said a positive brand of cricket would help his team in the tournament. “A lot of our batsmen do enjoy the ball coming onto the bat which is a good thing. If our bowlers can pick up wickets on a consistent basis it will give us a very good opportunity. But I feel the area we could definitely dominate would be on the field, where we can create opportunities and with our energy, a lot of pressure.”Australia and India are much stronger in their batting than in their bowling. The important thing is we concentrate really hard, bowl in good areas and pick up wickets. If we create a lot of pressure on the field and create opportunities, then we can control the game. Foremost we have to believe in ourselves that we will get to the finals,” he said.In 2005-06, Sri Lanka qualified with Australia for the best-of-three finals and lost with a 2-1 margin.

Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, will take up an assignment with the Delhi Daredevils, the Delhi-based IPL franchise, which also appointed TA Sekar, the chief coach at the MRF Pace Academy, to be in charge of it’s cricket operations.Meanwhile, the GMR Group, the owners of the franchise, said that Virender Sehwag will lead the side in case their request to the IPL governing council to grant him ‘icon’ status, which means that he will not be available for tomorrow’s player auction, is accepted.”Though it has not been finalised, he would lead the team if our request is considered,” B Vanchi, a senior director of GRM Group, said at a press conference organised at the Ferozshah Kotla, where the Delhi-based team kick off their IPL campaign when they take on their Jaipur counterparts on April 19.Meanwhile, Sekar said that one of his first tasks would be to get the Delhi Ranji trio of Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia and Shikhar Dhawan, on board, adding, “In the mandatory under-22 category, we have identified Viraat Kohli, Pradeep Sangwan and Tanmay Srivastava of UP [Uttar Pradesh]”.

Central Zone 99 for 4 beat West Zone 98 (Chawla 3-11, Praveen 3-18) by six wickets
Scorecard

The Central Zone swing bowlers utilised a helpful surface, a 9am start, and overcast conditions to push the West Zone innings right to the edge of the cliff, before the spinners came and pushed it over swiftly. A total of 98 was an aberration in a high-scoring domestic one-day season, and Central got to the target without any major hiccups as the opening Deodhar Trophy match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium finished half an hour after lunch.Central won by six wickets, with a bonus point, while defending champions West were docked a minus point.Right from the moment Praveen Kumar bowled the first over, after Mohammad Kaif had put West in, it was obvious West were going to have a hard time. Yusuf Pathan, in prodigious form throughout the season, was embarrassed by two in-swingers that preceded an out-swinger, and seemed to have no clue about which way Praveen swung the ball.Wasim Jaffer hit two beautiful cover drives off the back foot before he got a peach from Praveen in the third over. This one swung late after having angled in, as opposed to the early swing that Jaffer was leaving alone, and took the edge for a low catch for Kaif at first slip. RP Singh soon trapped Pathan with an in-swinger to pull West down to 15 for 2.Rohit Sharma, fresh from 235 runs in the CB Series in Australia and Ajinkya Rahane, also in good form, got a mini partnership going. It wasn’t a convincing one, however, as regular edges kept the bowlers interested. The duo had added 24 before Praveen changed sides and came on from the BEML end. He needed little time if forcing Rahane to chip one to point, and that dismissal triggered a frenzy. Two more wickets fell at the same score and the No. 7, Abhishek Nayar, was caught unawares and just about avoided being timed out. Rohit played an expansive drive and edged Sandeep Singh, Parthiv Patel followed a Praveen in-swinger, and 39 for 2 became 39 for 5.Nayar might have taken a long time in coming in to bat, but he did stay in the longest to help West get close to 100. Together with Venugopal Rao he forced Kaif to opt for the spinners as they batted sensibly to add 31 for the sixth wicket. Kaif wanted to finish the game off with swing bowlers only, as he continued with Praveen (3 for 18), RP (22 for 1), and Sandeep (21 for 1) for 22 overs. The introduction of spin, normally a reason for cheer given the way the medium-pacers bowled, proved to be the kiss of death for West. Piyush Chawla bowled Rao round the legs with his first delivery, continued to get Iqbal Abdulla caught down the leg by wicketkeeper with his third, and a one-sided contest was reduced to a no contest.Murali Kartik enjoyed the situation with a number of dangerous arm-balls, one of them trapping Ajit Agarkar in front. When he tossed one up to Munaf Patel, the tail-ender obliged by skying it to mid-off. Another collape, as West slipped from 70 for 5 to 81 for 9 in four overs. Nayar hit two boundaries and a six before being caught at the boundary off a full toss from Chawla, who finished with 3 for 11. When Nayar and Rao were batting, it seemed West might struggle and bat out the 50 overs, but their innings ended in the 30th over.By the time Munaf, Agarkar and Siddharth Trivedi started bowling, the pitch had lost much of its early-morning freshness, the sun had come out, and the only thing going for them was the good bounce. But the minimal target meant that Faiz Fazal and Naman Ojha, the Central openers, were under no pressure and they negotiated the new ball well. Fazal looked more intent at finishing the game early, and by the time he edged Trivedi to second slip, he had scored 24 off 30 balls, and Central had reached 41 in 7.5 overs.That Central lost Ojha, Suresh Raina and Kaif just at the brink of the win will leave West wondering what could have happened had they batted through the innings and struggled their way to perhaps 170-odd.

Ricky Ponting is confident Australia can retain their ranking as the top Test side in the future after winning the ICC Test Championship for the fourth year in a row. However, despite last year’s World Cup win, Ponting’s men could not secure the double as South Africa prevailed in the ICC ODI Championship, finishing a fraction of a point ahead of Australia.India, who were 30 points behind Australia, were the runners up in the Test list and Ponting believes they will be one of the sides that can threaten his team in the next year. He said Australia’s future prospects depended largely on the younger members of the team continuing to improve after making excellent progress during 2007 and 2008.”If they can do that and the older guys like me, Matty Hayden and the other guys keep pulling our weight we can hopefully remain No. 1,” Ponting told after collecting the trophy, the ICC Mace, in Mumbai. “There were a lot of question marks around the team at the start of the last Australian summer, losing the … great players that we lost. But I thought some of the younger guys who came into the side like Phil Jaques and Mitchell Johnson handled themselves really well at the international level.”India certainly have a great team together at the moment and South Africa have played excellent cricket for a number of years in both forms of the game. So we just have to wait and see.”The winning teams of the Test and ODI championships each collected US$175,000, while the runners up pocketed $75,000 – small change for some of the men who are about to play in the Indian Premier League. South Africa’s former captain Shaun Pollock picked up the ODI trophy, the ICC Shield, on behalf of his team-mates, and he said it was especially pleasing to finish ahead of the World Cup winners.”Australia is the benchmark in all forms of the game and especially one-day cricket,” Pollock said. “So for South Africa to take over the top spot in the one-day table is a huge achievement for the playing group as well as a great honour for everyone connected with South Africa cricket.”Gary Kirsten, India’s coach, said: “It has been a tough 12 months for us as a Test team but the fact we have risen to many of the challenges put before us is reflected in our second position. We now have to press on and try and close the gap to Australia as well as stay ahead of the sides below us.”

Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard will have the opportunity to fight for their England places from the start of the domestic season after being released to their counties for all the matches ahead of the first Test against New Zealand on May 15.Most of the players who have been involved throughout the winter are given some extra time off, although Ian Bell is available for Warwickshire’s first Championship match against Worcestershire on April 16.Kevin Pietersen won’t appear for Hampshire until the Friends Provident Trophy match against Somerset on May 2 while Paul Collingwood is also rested until that Bank Holiday weekend. Michael Vaughan has been made available for all Yorkshire’s first-class matches ahead of the first Test.Given that it is England’s one-day cricket that needs developing it is interesting that Bell and Alastair Cook have only been released for County Championship matches and not FP Trophy games. Tim Ambrose, Monty Panesar, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and James Anderson are all rested from the first round of Championship matches.Owais Shah, Andrew Strauss, Phil Mustard and Graeme Swann are also available to their counties from the start of the season.