Preparations for the inaugural Stanford 20/20 tournament stepped up this week as a US$2.75 million promotional and marketing campaign, due to start in May, was announced.Billionaire Allen Stanford and 13 of his West Indies legends took part in a shoot for a TV commercial in Antigua this week. The entire tournament will be shown on TV throughout the Caribbean, and it is being widely reported that there has also been considerable interest from around the world.”The Stanford 20/20 is a new spin on an old game. It’s the game we love like we’ve never seen it before,” Stanford said when asked to explain the tournament’s slogan The Game We Loved. Evolved.. “It’s big names with big career statistics and new names and lesser-known heroes. It’s heavy favourites and come-from-behind underdogs. This tournament is unique in so many ways, not only because of the prizes up for grabs but also for the different elements that we are going to add to the game that will make it even more exciting. I don’t want to reveal too much but I hope everyone will come out and see what we have in store.”Stanford is investing in the region of US$28 million in the event and there is a $1 million prize for the winning team, with $500,000 for the runners-up. Stanford’s longer-term aim is to establish a professional Super League in the Caribbean with two $5 million winner-takes-all games featuring a Caribbean Super Stars XI against world-class opponents.Meanwhile, the tournament committee met in St Kitts where the rules and regulations were nailed down and progress reports received from the 19 participating countries. Most countries have received the first three months of funding – totalling around US$45,000 – and most have also started spending the US$100,000 allocated to them as capital investment monies.The Stanford 20/20 begins on Tuesday, July 11 at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua.The countries due to take part are Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Maarten, St Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands.

Marvan Atapattu, the Sri Lankan captain, has been ruled out of the three-Test series in England beginning in April because of a recurring back injury.Jehan Mubarak will replace Atapattu while Mahela Jayawardene will lead the side with Kumar Sangakkara as his vice-captain. Atapattu missed the home series against Pakistan but was picked in the 16-member squad for England subject to a fitness Test.Following the news Atapattu said: “It is so sad that I am not able to make the tour. England is a special place for any cricketer to perform. On my part I am reaching the end of my career and would have loved to make some runs there,” but added, “Health comes first before cricket.”Atapattu was the leading scorer for Sri Lanka on their last tour to England in 2002 topping the Test batting with 277 runs at 55 from three Tests and a highest score of 185 at Lord’s. It was in England that he also made his highest one-day international score of 132 not out at Lord’s, to help Sri Lanka win the triangular series in 1998, an innings which he still regards as his best in this form of the game.Lalith Kaluperuma, the chairman of selectors, told AFP. “When he sat out of the Pakistan series we were expecting that he would recover in time and be available for the tougher challenge in England, but he has failed to recover. Obviously it’s a severe blow for us. He was our best batsman in England four years ago in the Test series and with him out we will find it extremely difficult to fill that slot.”Tommy Simsek, the physiotherapist, said that Atapattu may have to undergo surgery if he wanted to prolong his career. “Marvan’s problem was that the disc bone on his back was touching a nerve and we were hoping that it would heal naturally with rest, but a scan a few days back revealed that there’s no improvement,” said Simsek. “The only option available is that he has got to have surgery now.”

Senior officials from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Indian board (BCCI) will have a meeting on June 3 in New York, to unveil plans for the one-day international series to be played in the United States and Canada.Ken Gordon, the WICB president, said on Friday that the meeting had been convened to iron out further details on the new tournament and profit-sharing agreement signed by the WICB and the BCCI. Officials from the Canadian Cricket Association and United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) will also attend the meeting, as they are the organising committee.Gordon said the venues for the matches have not yet been finalised, but one match will be played in Florida. The series is expected to go a long way in helping the WICB to solve its debt burden – presently standing at US$25 million.”There will be no fewer than three matches and no more than five matches,” said Gordon. “Once the BCCI heard that North America was ready, they were also ready and we found what looks like a convenient avenue period when both team were available. Now we have to work out the details. We will be looking to firm up what venues we will be using.”North America comes under the guidance of the WICB, as far as the ICC is concerned. North America is a fertile area for us to develop. The Indian diaspora is a large one and so is the West Indian. It makes all kind of sense for us to take advantage of that, because we have captive markets. It starts with good economic planning and then from there, [what] we have are other logical reasons why we want to partner with India.”

Ross Emerson took his three young children to the Perth Water Slides on Friday, as far away from the WACA and another confrontation with the Sri Lankans as he could find in his homecity and the perfect place to begin the rest of his life.The umpire at the centre of the latest crisis to hit cricket has experienced too much trauma and real danger to become worked up about the week that could end his involvement in the first-class game.Emerson is a man alone. For the last week the cricket world has been in a stampede as players and officials have sought to distance themselves from him. Yet the umpire who rocked the sportby deciding to call Muttiah Muralitharan for chucking in Adelaide last Saturday has no regrets. His decision, he insists, was something that “came from the heart”.Emerson is not prepared to go into detail about the events of the last week; about the shameful behaviour of Arjuna Ranatunga, the Sri Lanka captain, that shattered the calm of the Adelaide Oval; about the revelation that he has been on sick leave from work at the Ministry of Fair Trading in Perth for eight weeks; about the decision to stand him down for Friday’s rematch between England and Sri Lanka. And he will not comment about the arrogant way in which Ranatunga chose to bulldoze through the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct by threatening to drag cricket through the courts if he was suspended. Emerson is not prepared to jeopardise what little chance he still has of officiating in an international match again – but it is clear that he feels let down, angry and bitter.”I can’t imagine why you’ve rung me,” he laughed when he was tracked down on Friday just as Muralitharan was preparing to bowl his first ball at the WACA. While umpire Peter Parker stood inthe square leg position that was supposed to be occupied by Emerson, the former policeman was spending the day with his young family and was doing his best to get away from it all. “I’m not thinking about cricket today,” insisted Emerson. “When you’ve been through as much as me you learn to compartmentalise your life.”Emerson’s colourful background is the key to understanding theman. For whatever is felt about his motives for repeating hispublic humiliation of Muralitharan of three years ago and abouthis reputation as being confrontational, cocky and a’grandstander’, it is clear he has lived a fascinating life.It is one that saw him driven away from his Sydney home by deaththreats during a distinguished career as a police officer. He waseven praised in the Australian parliament as a “very fineofficer” for his part in investigating internal corruption in theNew South Wales force. More recently, however, his life hassuffered a new setback in Perth where the cause of his”stress-related” condition remains a mystery. It is said thatEmerson has clashed with his superiors over their failure toprosecute companies he has investigated and is furious with themfor revealing that he was away from his desk. He plans to returnto work this week for yet another showdown with his employers,after which he will discover whether he still has an umpiringfuture.Emerson, approaching his 45th birthday, has never officiated in aTest match and almost certainly never will. After a stormymeeting with Denis Rogers, chairman of the Australian CricketBoard, on Tuesday, even his place in Shield matches may now be indoubt. Apparently, the pair parted on poor terms after Rogerstold Emerson he was standing him down from England’s match onFriday, ostensibly on health grounds but surely related to theevents of Adelaide.But not everyone has turned against him. Since the events of lastweekend, Emerson, whose brother-in-law is the former Australianfast bowler Terry Alderman, has received a number of messages ofsupport, including a call from Geoff Marsh, the Australia coach.He also received words of encouragement from several Englandplayers who witnessed at first hand his bitter confrontation withRanatunga. All this is likely to count for little, though. It isalmost certain that the ACB and the ICC will decide that tore-appoint such a controversial figure would be simply too muchtrouble.Emerson, who shot to prominence when he called Muralitharan forthrowing seven times during his first international umpiringappearance at the Gabba three years ago, is not the only officialnursing private grievances. Darrell Hair, the Australian whostarted the Muralitharan ball rolling in the Boxing Day Test of1995 at Melbourne, is still waiting to hear when he will becalled to account by the ICC for bringing the game into disreputeby calling Muralitharan’s action “diabolical” in hisautobiography.The only communication Hair has had from the ICC since he wascharged was a fax at home telling him not to wear his ICCNational Grid panel jacket until the hearing. Australia will haveone umpire at this year’s World Cup, with Hair in theory the hotfavourite to fill the place. Do not be surprised, however, ifDaryl Harper, of South Australia, gets the nod instead.Law 24.2 stipulates that an umpire must call a bowler forchucking if there is any doubt in his mind that a delivery islegal. Looking at it in cold terms, it is easy to see why Emersonand Hair felt it necessary to no-ball Muralitharan. But they arepaying a heavy price for their conviction.England, meanwhile, arrived in Sydney last night after theirthumping victory over Sri Lanka on Friday with David Graveney,the manager, saying he felt “more emotional about watching thatEngland victory than any other game”. Graveney added: “We hadlost a couple of games and we had had a demanding few days. Then,at 34 for four, we were looking down the barrel. To then win bythe margin we did was extraordinary.”England have been given the next two days off by Graveney, nowthat they are on the brink of qualifying for the final of thetriangular series, and they will be back in action at the SCG onWednesday. Graveney will spend the time briefing the England andWales Cricket Board about his observations on the Adelaideaffair.”I am fully confident as a result of all this that theregulations of the ICC will be altered to try to keep lawyers outof disciplinary hearings,” he said. “The situation has to bemoved on from here.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said that it will oppose the ICC’s proposal to allow teams to appeal against decisions made by the on-field umpires during the annual ICC meeting in London on July 2.The ICC’s cricket committee made a recommendation last month that both teams be allowed three appeals to the third umpire if they feel there is doubt about a decision of the on-field umpires. If approved, it would be tried out on an experimental basis in the Champions Trophy in India in October.But the PCB, after conducting their own survey, fear that such an innovation could have a negative impact on the Spirit of Cricket.”We are opposed to this proposal and we will put across our point of view strongly to the ICC,” Shaharyar Khan, PCB chairman, told Reuters. “We conducted a survey of 35 of our players and umpires and 33 of them are opposed to this law. They feel it will undermine the spirit of the game and the umpire’s authority even if it is experimented with in the Champions Trophy.”Incidentally, Javed Miandad has also voiced a similar opinion on the issue, saying that it would make a mockery of the game.Meanwhile, Shaharyar also told Reuters that they intend to push for six-day Tests during the winter season for matches held in Punjab. The proposal is meant to compensate for time lost due to bad light mostly to fog during the season in that region. Play was lost on a daily basis in Faisalabad and Lahore when Pakistan hosted England and India last winter and the PCB made a request to extend play by a day, which was initially rejected.”The ICC rejected our earlier request but we have not given up and we think we might get a chance to go for bilateral arrangements,” he said. “If the ICC does not allow six-day tests nor floodlights then they must come up with a viable solution because this is a real problem for us in winter.”

Leicestershire have confirmed that legspinner Mansoor Amjad will stand in as their overseas player while Dinesh Mongia is away on international duty.Mansoor, 18, is flying direct from his country’s participation in the Top End Series in Australia and officials hope he will arrive in time to play in Wednesday’s Championship match.He had been scheduled to play for Leicestershire’s 2nd XI for the remainder of the summer anyway, and spent time working with Tim Boon, Leicestershire’s coach, earlier in the season.”This is very much an investment in potential and follows the Club’sphilosophy of developing emerging talent which can grow with us in thefuture,” Boon said. “I first spotted Mansoor when I was out in Pakistan last winter when he took five wickets against England in Lahore. He also comes highly recommended by Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer.”He is a wrist spinner who will hopefully give us a vital cutting edge which we have been missing in Championship matches on occasions when we have been in strong positions. He is also a more than capable middle order batsman who at 18 already has two first-class hundreds to his name.”

Balwinder Singh Sandhu, the former Indian fast bowler, has been appointed coach of Madhya Pradesh. He succeeds Devashish Nilosey.Jyotiraditya Scindia – the newly-elected president of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), who is also a Member of Parliament – announced that Sandhu had been appointed for a one-year period, and would begin his duties from Monday.”The Association will now focus on club cricket and divisional units will be strengthened,” Scindia told reporters.Sandhu coached Baroda in the Ranji Trophy and West Zone in the Duleep Trophy till the last Indian domestic season. His most productive period was with Mumbai – whom he coached from 1996 to 1998-99 – helping them become the Ranji Trophy Champions in 1996-97. He later served as bowling coach at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore last year and was one of the candidates for the coach of Mumbai this season, ultimately losing out to Pravin Amre.Madhya Pradesh begin their Ranji Trophy season against Railways at New Delhi on November 23.

When Carlton Baugh was trapped in front of the stumps by one of those typical Farveez Maharoof deliveries – a ball that just failed to come on a touch as the fingers had been dragged on it – Maharoof fell to the ground. It’s not clear whether he was touching his forehead to the ground, as devout Muslims sometimes do, or whether he was kissing the turf, as devout cricketers often do, but any which way, the message was clear – thank you for this pitch, thank you for these wickets.But it wasn’t as though the pitch was madly up and down and batsmen were forced to take extreme measures to survive. Maharoof admitted as much in the post-match press conference. “It was a good pitch,” he said, and why wouldn’t he, after picking up career-best figures. “It didn’t do a lot. It’s just that we bowled well as a group. There were some bad shots as well, but overall we bowled well. I don’t find any bad things about the wicket, it was a good track.”Maharoof was no doubt helped along by some bad West Indian shot selection, but he chose not to dwell on the manner in which the opposition played. “We don’t know what their gameplan is. We had to bowl to our strengths and wait and see what happens. Luckily we bowled well and it paid off.”In the last game, life was not quite so easy for Maharoof. Zimbabwe took him for as many as 37 runs from four overs, at close to 10 runs per over. But Maharoof was sensible enough to learn from that game, and he explained how. “I just assessed my bowling with respect to the wicket. I thought in Ahmedabad I gave a bit too much width, and got driven through the off side,” he said. “Here I set a goal for myself to bowl wicket to wicket. Mahela and Tom [Moody] spoke to me before the match and really backed me up. I just went out there and kept it simple.”Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, was quick to praise Maharoof for the manner in which he turned things around. “He worked with Tom on his run-up, looked at videos of his bowling, worked hard and today bowled nice and straight,” he said. “These guys know that it’s their responsibility to improve themselves.”Ironically, it was always as a batsman, and now as a bowler, that Maharoof caught the eye as a young cricketer. That he had potential with the bat was unmistakable – he batted at No. 4 for Wesley College, and scored 1000 runs in a season twice in succession, including a highest of 243 – but would he turn out to be another of those bits and pieces cricketers that Sri Lanka tried and discarded?It was not quite the search for the next Ian Botham, but there was a certainly a concerted effort to find a first-or second-change bowler who could bat a bit and shoulder Chaminda Vaas’ burden. For a time Suresh Perera seemed to fit the bill, but with his action coming under increasing scrutiny, Sri Lanka had to look elsewhere, and they found Maharoof. And on the day – some people are already referring to it as a coming of age – he returned with 6 for 14, the best-ever figures in the Champions Trophy. “Fantastic. You can’t ask for more,” said Maharoof. “I’m just overjoyed with my performance. I didn’t have a good time in the last match but my hard work paid off and I’m really happy for my team.” Sterner tests await, and though he is yet to make that one big score with the bat, he has at least ticked off the bowling department.

Post-match press conferences, at the best times, are a good study in contrast, the winners on the day beaming away, chattering excitedly, and the vanquished, heads down, answering in as few words as possible. But the second game of the Champions Trophy saw a particularly bad mismatch, on and off the field. Handed a sound thrashing, the Zimbabwe captain, Prosper Utseya, who might well consider a name change if he stays in his current profession, could only say, “We didn’t apply ourselves when we were batting. We tried to play too many shots early on. And at the same time there was some poor shot selection.”Brian Lara, of course, was meeting questions with a booming bat. “We came here to win this game emphatically, and we did that,” he said. “The bowlers had to get a run and they got five-six overs under the belt and performed well. We did well in the field too. It doesn’t matter what the opposition got – we went out and batted with purpose, which was important.”Lara didn’t have much work to do, only 16 minutes at the crease, but even in that he managed one classy square-drive, and put the last nails in the coffin with two big sixes. “I asked [Ramnaresh] Sarwan if I could have a knock, because I didn’t play in the practice game. I just wanted to hit a few balls with the middle of the bat, and I was happy to do that,” insisting that he didn’t come out to bat planning to finish the game off in style. “It just happened. I just thought I should play each ball on its merit. I took the field into consideration as well. Yes I could have gone out there and blocked a few. But I get more confidence from my innings if I approach it the way I did.”At the same time, Lara was not ungracious in defeat. He did concede that “something like 200-plus was definitely on the cards for a team like Zimbabwe,” on this pitch, but would not be drawn into suggesting that one-sided matches like this took the sheen off this tournament. “I think it’s very important to encourage the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and other lower-ranked teams. They want to get out there and play against the best teams in the world and it’s an opportunity for them to spring a surprise on anybody,” he said. “If Zimbabwe was not here for this tournament you might say Bangladesh shouldn’t be here as well, but they’ve beaten Pakistan and Australia and you have to give them the opportunity. It’s good for cricket on the whole and we just have to accept that.”Sandwiched between the strident Lara and the crestfallen Utseya was a jocular Chris Gayle, the Man-of-the-Match for his breezy 41. “I was feeling a bit weak so I started slowly, and later I tried to be a bit more positive and get it over as quickly as possible,” he said, not trying to be politically correct. When asked why he went for the third big hit, and was caught, despite being dropped twice, he choked down a chuckle and said, “It was a bit entertaining as well. You know Chris Gayle already. I like to entertain and be positive and play a few shots. I wasn’t taking anything for granted, though, just playing each ball on its merits.”But there was little merit in Zimbabwe’s cricket on the day, and Utseya was resigned to this. “It is quite difficult because the morale and the confidence of guys goes down,” he said. “To be honest we didn’t play to the best of our ability today. I’m sure we can do better in the matches to come.”

Pravin Amre, the former Indian middle-order batsman who’s most remembered for his century on debut at Durban, has a word of advice for the current crop of Indian batsmen who’ve embarked on the tour to South Africa: “get beside the line and not behind it”.”I was a front-foot player but because the ball was bouncing chest-high, I adapted by going back and across,” he told Cricinfo. “I didn’t try to keep the ball down. So rather than trying to get behind the line, what I would advise for the present lot of batsmen is to get beside the line and bring out the horizontal shots in play. It’s up to the individuals. That worked for me, but I can’t say that’s the way to play. Each one has to figure out what works best for him.”Amre, who was recently appointed as the Mumbai coach, felt that the choice of Wasim Jaffer in the one-day squad was a good one, adding that his back-foot technique would be an asset on the sporting tracks expected to be laid out for the series. “We have a lot of strokemakers around him and he could play the anchor’s job perfectly.” Yet he cautioned that Jaffer needed to watch out while playing forward. “He’s a bit late, at times, in shifting his weight on to front foot. He has worked on it a lot. But having said that I think the South African pitches would suit him actually.”Amre’s debut hundred might not have been possible without a 101-run partnership with Kiran More, India’s wicketkeeper at that time. More, who, until recently, was the chairman of selectors, concurred with Amre regarding Jaffer. “He’s a very good batsman. He stands tall and plays well of the back foot which would be vital on those tracks. Moreover, he is a natural opener and opening is a specialist job.”India’s touring party comprises two wicketkeepers – Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik – and More didn’t rule out the possibility of both playing. “Karthik is a very good talent and he’s been in fantastic form as a batsman and a wicketkeeper.” India have struggled to summon the final kick at the end of one-day games – with Suresh Raina failing and Mohammad Kaif not getting a chance to play – and More felt that Karthik could solve India’s No.7 pickle.”Initially it will be difficult, but if the batsmen continue to fail, then why not?” In his playing days, More had played in teams with two wicketkeepers: Chandrakant Pandit played as a batsman while More donned the gloves. “Yes, I remember and that’s why I won’t be surprised if we see Karthik and Dhoni playing.”Both Amre and More had no doubt that the pitches would assist pace and bounce, yet added that it would mean more scoring opportunities. “The ball comes on to bat well, you have to take your chances and constantly keep looking for runs,” said Amre. However, he had some words of caution to the present team. “We would be playing in November and December. That’s the start of the season in South Africa. The wickets will have juice and the ball should move around.” If you are an Indian fan, be afraid. Be very afraid.