Bangladesh’s preparations for the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe have been overshadowed by political unrest in the country which mean that there is uncertainty whether national league games will go ahead.”Nothing could have been better than playing more league matches before going to Zimbabwe but everything looks uncertain due to the political crisis,” admitted Habibul Bashar, the captain. “I don’t think fatigue would be an issue in the World Cup because it’s always a better option to play matches.”Dav Whatmore led a training session in Dhaka yesterday, but Aftab Ahmed failed to travel from Chittagong because of the countrywide blockade.Whatmore hinted that the World Cup was the centre of attention rather than the Zimbabwe trip. “It’s hard to look into one with out thinking of the other. I think we have to look at both. It’s very close isn’t it…” he said. “You get just one week after returning from Zimbabwe and then you go to the World Cup.”The Bangladesh selectors meet today to pick the side for Zimbabwe, and the squad leaves for the four-ODI series on January 31.

Canterbury‘s bowlers kept their nerve to edge a tense thriller against Northern Districts at Whangerei. After making just 125 for 4 – a fairly low score for this format – the Canterbury attack needed to muster all of their acumen to restrict ND.The home side’s chase was going great guns while James Marshall and JosephYovich (21*) were batting, after coming together at 69 for 4. They added 45 between them but Marshall’s dismissal for 48 on the last ball of the 17th over proved the turning point.The team then needed 12 from the last three overs, but lost a further three quick wickets to put paid to their chances. Two of those fell in the final over, bowled by Leighton Burtt – Graeme Aldridge was run out, and then Daryl Tuffey was caught and bowled. Three runs were needed off the final ball, but they could only grab a single as Canterbury squeezed the win.Canterbury were indebted to their captain Chris Harris’s unbeaten 45, which rescued them from a spot of bother at 64 for 3.No such bumsqueaking at Auckland where the home side’s 212 proved insurmountable. Central Districts’ reply got off to a confident enough start – and then some – Ewen Thompson (25) and Jamie How (52) putting on 79 off the first 28 deliveries.But How’s dismissal triggered a collapse from which they couldn’t recover. Dave Houpapa was Auckland‘s topscorer – he struck 74 not out from 53 balls and his knock proved the difference.

Cricket lovers in the United States and the Caribbean will be able to watch the World Cup live on televisions and computers.EchoStar and its Dish Network said besides live matches, their customers would be able to watch replays, highlights and news. Simultaneously, it would provide background information on players and teams.Michael Kelly, Executive Vice President of EchoStar, which has exclusive distribution rights in North America and the Caribbean, said viewers in America, having a strong South Asian community, would be able to watch matches live during the day.But those who would miss the live action can watch the matches and replays on their computers though a broadband connection, he added. It also provides its customers with digital video recorder (DGV) on which they can record and see them later.The full package costs USD 199.95 and Kelly said because of licensing and technological problems they could not provide subscription on match by match basis. But those who do not want to see the matches on television can subscribe to watch these on their computers.

An inquest into the death of Bob Woolmer has been set for April 23. Patrick Murphy, the Kingston coroner, will conduct a hearing at the Jamaica Conference Centre and, according to , a dozen or more witnesses are expected to testify.Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18 and was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital. Five days later Jamaican authorities confirmed the cause of death to be asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation and the police are investigating it as a murder case. The inquest was ordered on March 24 and, said, it will be the first time that a detailed account of what is known of Woolmer’s final hours and the discovery of his body has been aired in public.The CCTV footage from the Pegasus hotel, where the Pakistan team had stayed and where Woolmer died , has been sent to the UK for “further consideration”, Karl Angell, the Jamaica Police spokesman, was quoted as saying by the BBC.Meanwhile Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has criticised the security arrangements at the Pegasus. “Four international teams were staying in one hotel – what security arrangements were made for them”, Inzamam asked in an interview with Geo TV. “There should be an investigation,” he added.Inzamam took full responsibility for Pakistan’s shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup and insisted that the team was not bad, it was just that they had played badly. Inzamam, who retired from one-dayers to concentrate on Tests, said that he would not reverse his decision to retire and that he had no problem playing under any captain.

Gill Woolmer, the widow of late Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, has offered her good wishes to the South African team as they prepare to take on Australia in the World Cup semi-final in St Lucia. On the eve of the clash between the top two one-day sides, she urged the team to win it in memory of Bob Woolmer, quoting “do it for Bob – I hope they win”, referring to his stint as coach of South Africa in the 1990s.South Africa have a chance at redemption after they were lost out in a thrilling tie in the 1999 semi-final at Edgbaston. South Africa needed one to get off four balls with one wicket in hand before a farcical run-out ended their World Cup campaign, as Australia edged ahead on net run rate. The result left the South Africans devastated ,and Woolmer later referred to that moment as the darkest in his career. Woolmer, who later took over as coach of Pakistan, was murdered in Jamaica after Pakistan’s early exit from the World Cup.The team has been flooded with good luck messages from several supporters in South Africa, including ex-players. , a South African daily, forwarded over 1000 SMS messages of support from readers to the team.”They must play like they played against England,” Helen Zille, the Cape Town mayor, was quoted as saying on the website . “We’re all with them, behind them, holding our breaths and supporting them all the way.”Gary Kirsten, the former South African opener who also played in the Edgbaston semi-final, also extended his wishes, as did the father of current opener AB de Villiers. “It’s just going to be a mental battle,” Kirsten was quoted on the same website. “We’ve got the players. We chased down 438 not so long ago – and they’ll still have that in their memory.””AB said we have a very good chance of whipping them and they’re all in very good spirits,” said de Villiers senior. de Villiers slammed 92 against Australia in a group stage match in St Kitts recently.

Division One

Lancashire put the seal on a one-sided win against Surrey at Old Trafford, wrapping up proceedings in the afternoon session. Glen Chapple prised out two wickets; Tom Smith removed James Benning who had resisted to make a top-score of 36, and then Oliver Newby bowled Jimmy Ormond for 20 as Surrey subsided for 120. Lancashire were in a brief flicker of trouble at 8 for 3, but they powered to their target of 90 without further alarm.Younis Khan struck a magnificent unbeaten 202 as Yorkshire piled on the runs on the third day against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. Younis and Matthew Hoggard, who made an obdurate 61, put on 152 for the third wicket before Gerard Brophy hammered a brisk hundred from just 113 balls, with Yorkshire declaring on 439 for 4. Chasing 443 Hampshire lost Michael Brown just before the close and trail by 427 going into the final day.Graeme Hick and Ben Smith both struck two fifties each, on the third day against Warwickshire at New Road, but Worcestershire still trail by 171 with seven second-innings wickets left in hand. In their first innings Hick struck a forceful 91, receiving good support from Smith (50), but there was little resistance from the middle and lower order who collapsed to 288 all out. Capitulation was in store second time round, too, with Dale Steyn rocking their top-order with two quick wickets. But Hick and Smith again combined to stave off a collapse and remained unbeaten going into the final day.

Division Two

Charlie Shreck’s six wickets for Nottinghamshire rocked Glamorgan at Trent Bridge, dismissing them for 205 to win by an innings and 8 runs. Resuming on 14 for 2 they were reduced to a perilous 57 for 5, with Shreck removing all five. Ben Wright (66*) and David Hemp briefly delayed the inevitable but Shreck returned to pick up his sixth, before Paul Franks and Graeme Swann chipped in to sink Glamorgan midway into the afternoon session.A disciplined display from Northamptonshire’s bowlers left Essex limping on 180 for 8 on the third day at Northampton. Johan van der Wath (94) and David Wigley (53) took their stand to 110 but, shortly after lunch, Steven Crook removed Alastair Cook for 37 to start Essex’s slide, but it was Jason Brown who did the damage with four late wickets, causing a slump in which Essex lost 6 for 56 before bad light stopped play. Essex lead by just 98 going into the final day.Cameron White’s 138 and good support from Somerset’s lower middle-order staved off a slide on the third day against Derbyshire at Taunton, though they went to stumps on 497 for 9, still trailing by a mammoth 304. White’s hundred came off 158 balls with 13 fours and a six, and there were fifties for Craig Kieswetter, Wes Durston and Peter Trego. Unless the pitch begins to break up tomorrow, this match is heading towards a draw.Tom New fell two short of a fine maiden hundred as Leicestershire conceded a first-innings deficit of 131 on the third day against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Marcus North took 3 for 53, and Steve Kirby 3 for 75, to dismiss Leicestershire for 376. Though the visitors hit back with two quick wickets, Gloucestershire extended their lead to 277 going into the final day.

MCC is preparing plans to redevelop Lord’s and add an additional 10,000 seats according to .Keith Bradshaw, the newly installed Australian secretary and chief executive of MCC, which owns Lord’s, is keen to expand the capacity of the London ground whose space currently holds 28,500. This is dramatically short of most other grounds in the world, particularly those in Bradshaw’s Australia, but the additional concern is to retain Lord’s famed and unique atmosphere which, it is feared, might be lost.”We’ve been shown plans that could increase the ground capacity to 35,000 or 40,000 – although that might be too many in case the character and ambience of the ground is altered and it becomes difficult for people to circulate around the ground during a match,” Bradshaw told .Another of Bradshaw’s innovative plans is to relocate MCC’s museum, which holds the Ashes urn, to its own premises on St John’s Wood Road, thus opening up a section of the perimeter wall to enable easier access to the ground. And Bradshaw also revealed that Lord’s could be used for purposes other than cricket: apartments, an ice rink in winter and a restaurant are all plans being mooted.”The outcome will be a hybrid of everything presented to us and we have to engage the members,” Bradshaw said. “I am not for or against apartments and moving the museum will give the public greater access to it. We could start tours of Lord’s from there.”

Sunil Dhaniram, the stand-in Canada captain, is upbeat about his side’s chances of beating UAE in the Intercontinental Cup this Friday, although he is without three important players.Dhaniram replaces regular captain Ashish Bagai, who has work commitments, while opening bowler Umar Bhatti and experienced all-rounder Jon Davison are also missing. Their replacements for the match in Toronto are Steve Welsh, Aftab Shamshudeen and Hemnarine Chattergoon.”We are missing a couple of guys but I think we have the players who can win,” said Dhaniram, the 38-year-old slow left-arm bowler and middle-order batsman. “I have every faith in the replacements coming in and I know we are going to give it our best shot.”I have played a few times against the UAE and they are always tough to play against. I think their batting is really their strength with Saqib Ali and Khurram Khan especially. But we will be trying to restrict them and then we will go in and get the heads down and try to get a win.”It is imperative for Canada to get their campaign back on track after losing by 45 runs to Netherlands last week. In a seesawing game, Netherlands’ all-rounder Peter Borren took responsibility in the second innings, scoring his maiden first-class century and setting up victory for his side. Borren was then the destroyer on Tuesday, with 96 off 70 balls as he helped Netherlands to an 117-run win in their ODI against Canada at Toronto CSCC.For Canada, the four-day version of the game takes priority from Friday and the quick bowling of Henry Osinde could be key. His performance was a highlight of the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against the Netherlands as he took seven wickets in the match and showed that even though he was batting at number 11, he can still contribute meaningfully in that department too, scoring 60 in the first innings and six not out in the second.Good form was also shown by Shahzad Khan, Dhaniram and Qaiser Ali with the bat and Bhatti (until he injured his hand) and Kevin Sandher with the ball. So all is certainly not lost for the north Americans.Meanwhile, the UAE began this tour with a visit to a wet and rainy Ayr to take on Scotland. However, only 46 overs of that match were played with Arshad Ali’s team recovering from 18-3 to 174-4 before the rain returned to call a permanent halt to proceedings.Coming from the heat of the Emirates’ summer, Arshad would have been nervous playing in what were typically Scottish conditions so he would have been happy with how his side recovered on day one.If he was, perhaps, secretly relieved to get away from Ayr with a draw, Arshad will feel he has the ammunition to threaten Canada with an outright win and victory will almost certainly put his side on top of the table at this early stage.Apart from the captain himself, the team boasts some consistent performers such as Saqib, the experienced Khurram and wicketkeeper-batsman Gayan Silva. There is also plenty of know-how in the bowling line-up with Ahmed Nadeem, Mohammad Tauqir and Javed Ismael having been on the scene for some time now.With rain having followed the UAE across the Atlantic Ocean, there may be some interruptions over the four days of the match but both teams need a victory so expect the players to make the most of conditions when they do get out on to the field.Canada in particular will be anxious not to lose two matches in a row at home. Given there is a new format for this tournament in place it is not yet clear how many defeats a team can afford to suffer and still hope to qualify for the final but two successive losses would be a serious blow to Canada’s chances of making another final, as it did in 2004 and 2006.

Scorecard

China made their way into the semi-finals of the ACC women’s tournament after beating UAE by seven wickets in Johor.China’s was a schizophrenic performance throughout. At times they looked at par with Bangladesh and Hong Kong in the field yet at other times they looked the rawest of beginners. “”, said China’s manager afterwards: “A fault is one step away from the truth.”Invited to field, China’s bowlers, with the exception of the seamer Wang Meng, bowled a succession of wides and deliveries. But in between those extras they bowled decently and fielded with precision effecting three-run-outs. UAE’s top score was six and six batsmen didn’t score at all. China had UAE on the rack in the ninth over when they took three wickets in three deliveries but they undid the good work with some undisciplined bowling.With China bowling so sloppily UAE cashed in for a while by nudging runs of any delivery on the stumps. Overs passed, extras mounted and suddenly UAE felt they could not only pass 50, they could bat out the 30 overs.Crushed by Bangladesh in the opening game, ACC Development Officer Rumesh Ratnayake had been invited by the UAE manager to speak to the team before this game, and his simple advice to “take things one ball at a time” became the inspiring mantra which the UAE team adopted.Though UAE didn’t bat out the full quota of overs they did pass 50 and it meant China, having given away 37 extras, would have to work on their bowling before they face up to Hong Kong in the semi-finals. They will have an opportunity to correct their faults when they take on Bangladesh tomorrow.UAE are a better bowling side than they are batting with Natasha Michael and Jesar Shah bowling wicket to wicket, hitting the deck, and extracting bounce off the pitch. Left-armer Samiya Salim spears in yorkers off a short-run up. Three Chinese wickets fell quickly and the UAE were sensing the possibility of a major upset.But the early wickets just meant that China’s best batsman, Hu Ting Ting (19) had more time to influence proceedings. The first delivery she faced was edged high just short of third man but after that she played with calm assurance. Michael and Shah induced both inside and outside edges but Hu Ting Ting remained unperturbed.Her 31-run partnership with Duan Qiong took China to victory. Back in the shade, she stripped off her pads, rolled up her trousers and showed off some humungous strapping around her left knee. Having strained a ligament in training, she was playing against doctor’s advice. “I have played with worse injuries when I was a footballer. I wanted to help my team win this match,” she said. “I am playing for them.”

Sharad Pawar, the Indian board (BCCI) president, insisted that the BCCI is against “money-making” ventures and will only support series that promote Test cricket. Refusing to back down from his stance against the Indian Cricket League (ICL), Pawar again scoffed at the recently floated Twenty20 series proposed for October.”Test cricket is the real thing. It is the top level of the game and brings out the best in the players. We would be only happy if anyone does something for the sake of Test cricket. We will encourage it,” Pawar told PTI. “But Twenty-20 is for glamour. It can only bring in money.”On August 6, Digvijay Singh, general secretary of the Congress, the biggest party in the ruling federal coalition in which Pawar is a cabinet minister, wrote a letter to the latter requesting the BCCI to give up its “confrontationist” attitude against the ICL. “Instead of taking a confrontationist stand, you should act as a facilitator for the ICL to succeed,” Singh wrote. “I am sure the objective of the BCCI is not to make the millions but to popularise the game of cricket. I am sure you will prevail upon the hardliners in the Board and make them understand the sentiments of millions of cricket lovers in India.” Pawar chose not to comment on this.The BCCI secretary, Niranjan Shah, recenty said that players who take part in the ICL will never be eligible to play for India and would also be banned from domestic cricket in the country. Pawar maintained, however, that the BCCI would not interfere if retired players chose to associate themselves with the game: “I had said in Bangalore a few days ago that those who have retired from the cricket and pursue the game in whichever form and we won’t come in the way.”