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Former New Zealand fast bowler Brendon Bracewell is leading the hunt for the fastest junior bowlers in New Zealand, and he could soon be taking his ‘Princes of Pace’ quest around the world.Bracewell, who now runs the Northern Cricket Academy in the Bay of Plenty, is hosting a session during the lunch break on Sunday at the second National Bank Test between New Zealand and India for young boys and girls, to run in and bowl their fastest ball possible.The competition is open to children between the ages of six and 15.The day is part of the National Bank family day.Bracewell still delights in the joys of fast bowling and its ability to hurry batsmen up for as he says, “A hurried batsman makes more mistakes than an unhurried batsman.”As a player who suffered the curse of stress fractures in his back during his own international career of six Test matches, Bracewell is aware of the problems of over-doing the exertion.”Kids love the instant feedback measurement of their deliveries and are highly receptive to coaching instruction providing tips to improve their balance, momentum and bowling action,” Bracewell said.”Balance is the foundation to maximising power therefore the kids quickly embrace safe bowling techniques to assist them in their quest for more speed,” he said.Bracewell said young players were naturally attracted to the feats of fast bowlers like Shane Bond, Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee but they rarely had the chance to know just how fast they were bowling themselves.”In parks, practice nets and school grounds all over the world, kids bowl as fast as they can, imitating the run-ups and actions of the ‘Princes of Pace’ but completely unaware of the actual speed they bowl at.”The coaching staff at the NCA have been using the ‘Jugs’ speedball radar on kids for the last 12 months with very encouraging results,” he said.A Prince of Pace club has been formed and an honours board has been set up to acknowledge a series of milestones that young players can achieve.Once 10-year-olds reach 90km/h they are listed on the honours board.Eleven-year-olds have to reach 95 km/h, 12 year-olds 100 km/h, 13-105 km/h, 14-110km/h, 15-115km/h and 16-120km/h.Coaching advice by video analysis is also offered to young players in the scheme while Bracewell has an online bowling advice service.Prizes for young players include tickets to the seventh One-Day International between India and New Zealand at Hamilton on January 14.

The number of countries represented at Trent Bridge’s Weekend of Legends has increased to nine with the introduction of Indian international wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia.The 31-year-old star has been drafted into the squad as a late replacement for South African Test stalwart Mark Boucher, who is unable to play after suffering a broken finger.Mongia will line up in the Superkings of Cricket match on June 30 when Sir Richard Hadlee and Sir Garfield Sobers manage teams of current world stars.This will be followed on Sunday July 1 by a World Cricket Masters challenge match between Graham Gooch¹s England and Allan Border¹s Australia.Mongia is a veteran of 140 One-Day Internationals and has been a regular in the Indian international set-up since taking over from Kiran More in the mid-90s.His inclusion adds another country to the list of those involved in the weekend which now includes; England, Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.Said event organiser Barbara Quinn: “We are delighted to have secured a replacement of the quality of Nayan to play in what promises to be a great match.”While Mark’s injury and subsequent late withdrawal was a blow, it is a measure of the event’s standing that Nayan was so quick to agree to play in his place.”Adult tickets allowing entry to both games are still available and can be purchased for as little as £20. Bookings can be made on the Ticket Hotline 0870 168 8888.

While Ange Postecoglou has formed a decent partnership in the heart of his Celtic defence this season, there are nevertheless some lingering concerns regarding Carl Starfelt’s ability at the highest level of the game, while Cameron Carter-Vickers is already attracting significant interest ahead of the summer transfer window.

As such, while Celtic will undoubtedly do everything in their power to retain the services of Carter-Vickers at the end of the season, centre-back could still be a position in which the 56-year-old Bhoys boss is once again required to strengthen ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

However, before splashing the cash on a big-money signing this summer, perhaps it would be wise for the Greek-Australian coach to take a closer look at one of the club’s most exciting up and coming players in the position – in the shape of Dane Murray.

Celtic’s next Ajer?

Standing at 6’4 tall, the 18-year-old centre-back already cuts an imposing figure in the heart of the Celtic backline.

However, it is not simply his commanding stature that is noticeable about the youngster, but also his cool-headedness in defence, as well as his ability on the ball – with Kieran Maguire noting in an article for The Athletic that Murray has been regarded as one of Celtic’s most promising players from the 2003 age group.

Indeed, the Scotland U19 international has already made his first-team debut, with Postecoglou bringing the teenager on at half-time in the club’s Champions League qualification tie against FC Midtjylland in July of last year.

And, concerning his performance in this fixture, Martin Miller – one of Celtic’s youth team coaches – said of Murray’s display:

“He’s always been the same laid-back character. When I saw him play for the first team, I had a wee smile — a wee laugh to myself — because that’s exactly how he played with the U10s. He never looks rushed or under pressure at all, either in possession or facing up to a player defensively.”

Indeed, it would appear that Murray’s calmness in possession, as well as his ability to both carry the ball and to execute line-splitting passes through to his teammates, are all big strings to the young defender’s bow.

However, it would seem as if there is another characteristic of Murray’s that puts him in incredibly good stead to go on to break into the Celtic first-team – his leadership, with Miller once again stating of the 18-year-old:

“He was chosen to be a captain [of the U12s] because he is a leader through his actions, a leader in terms of his play. He was always a tough character in his challenge, on the ball, and in that respect, he was the complete leader.”

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As such, considering his height, calmness on the ball, strength in the challenge and ball-playing ability, it would very much seem as if Murray could be something of the perfect heir to Kristoffer Ajer – the Norway international who sealed a £13.5m move to Brentford last summer.

Indeed, despite his tender age, Postecoglou could do a lot worse than promoting Murray to his first-team squad this summer, as Murray’s father’s claim that “nothing fazes” the young defender would appear to not be wide of the mark.

AND in other news: Huge boost: Mark Guidi drops fresh Celtic injury update, Ange will be buzzing

	Doug Bollinger picked up a Cricket Australia contract last week and he has now been handed a ticket to the Caribbean © Getty Images

Doug Bollinger has been included in Australia’s Test squad to tour the West Indies as a replacement for Ben Hilfenhaus, who is suffering from a recurrence of a stress fracture in his lower back. Bollinger will make the trip as part of the 15-man squad as long as he can prove he has recovered from a broken foot he sustained in February.The news came while Bollinger was on his honeymoon, and barely a week after he was offered his first Cricket Australia contract. “I’m just wondering if they might bump me up to first class,” Bollinger told AAP before leaving Sydney for Honolulu. “It’s probably been the best week of my life. I’m so happy that it’s happened and I’m just so excited at the moment.”Bollinger, who was married to Tegan Sutherland on Friday, was unlucky not to be chosen in the original group for the Caribbean campaign following a breakthrough Pura Cup season. He topped the wicket tally with 45 at 15.44 despite missing the last three games with the injury.”I’ve had a bit of a bowl,” Bollinger said. “I’ve been running and I’ve been in the gym, so I feel really well at the moment.”Alex Kountouris, the Australia team’s physio, said Bollinger should be fine to make the trip. “Doug has recovered well from his fractured foot,” Kountouris said. “He has been bowling for the last couple of weeks with no complaints and, as long as he completes the final fitness test, we believe he will be fully fit to take part in the Test tour of the West Indies.”Hilfenhaus’ injury means he cannot bowl for several months, which rounds off a disappointing year after he collected 28 Pura Cup wickets at 43.82 and struggled to have the same impact as in his outstanding 2006-07. However, he did retain his Cricket Australia contract and the selectors said he would remain in the frame for future series.”Obviously this is very disappointing for Ben,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “However, given the amount of cricket facing the Australian side in all forms of the game over the next 18 months, a conservative approach to the management of his back injury is best to ensure he makes a full recovery.”Kountouris said the aim was to have Hilfenhaus fit and fresh for the start of 2008-09. “Ben had some lingering back pain towards the end of the Pura Cup season and recent scans have revealed a possible recurrence of an old stress fracture to the vertebrae,” he said.”His recovery will involve not bowling for the next few months but continuing on with a rehabilitation and strength program. We believe this will be his best preparation for the beginning of the 2008-09 season.”The squad gathers in Brisbane for a training camp in early May ahead of the three-Test series against West Indies. Five ODIs and a Twenty20 international follow before the players return to Australia in July.

A restaurant, apartments and an ice rink are all plans being proposed by MCC © Martin Williamson

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.”

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.”

Jermaine Lawson will undergo analysis on his bowling action © Getty Images

West Indies bowler Jermaine Lawson has been reported for a suspect bowling action, the ICC confirmed on Sunday. Lawson’s action was called into question by the match officials after the first Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, and they immediately reported him.The report was submitted by the umpires Simon Taufel, Nadeem Ghauri, third umpire Peter Manuel and fourth official Ranmore Martinez who were concerned about the angle of Lawson’s elbow.”The match officials had concerns with potential elbow flexation when viewing the bowler’s action with the naked eye,” explained the ICC match referee, Mike Procter. “This assessment has led the team of officials to request the ICC to commission a biomechanical report into the bowler’s action in accordance with the new process introduced earlier this year.”In accordance with the ICC’s recently revised bowling review process, Lawson’s action will now be analysed by a human movement specialist at the ICC within the next three weeks. Video tapes of the match will also be submitted for analysis. After the analysis is completed, the biomechanical expert will report back to the ICC, confirming if the action is legal. Lawson will be free to play international cricket in the meantime.

India’s tour of Pakistan has been delayed by a week due to logistical problems, and will begin no later than the second week of March.According to a report by Rediff.com, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Indian cricket board head, announced that security was also a reason for the postponement.”The tour will be delayed by about a week,” Dalmiya said. “It shouldn’t start later than the second week of March, but the team won’t be able to go earlier because we are trying to fully cover all points, security as well.”The Indian cricket board is expected to announce the tour itinerary on Saturday. India is due to play three Tests and five one-dayers in their first full visit to Pakistan since 1989-90.

Shane Bond has made a lightning-like rise up the world Test bowling rankings after his seven-wicket bag in the first Test victory over India at the weekend.He is now ranked eighth in the world, the preserve of only Sir Richard Hadlee, Simon Doull and Chris Cairns in the PricewaterhouseCoopers rankings in the past.It is another acknowledgement of the influence Bond has made since coming into the side last summer. And while he missed the England series at home, he came back to play a key role in New Zealand’s success in the West Indies and his three-wicket blitz on Saturday effectively ended Indian hopes of winning the Test.Cairns is now at 12 on the bowling list, Daryl Tuffey has risen to 21, Daniel Vettori is on 24 and newcomer Jacob Oram comes in at No 75.Mark Richardson’s 89 has seen him move up the batting list to No 16.Of the other New Zealand batsmen, Nathan Astle is at 22, Craig McMillan at 29, Cairns is at 38 and Stephen Fleming at 40.

Hyderabad earned their second consecutive win in the South Zone Ranji Trophy One-day Tournament by thrashing Karnataka by eight wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.After having reduced Karnataka for 142, the Hyderabad openers Daniel Manohar (40) and A Nandakishore (62 not out) gave the team a rousing start adding 61 runs in 11 overs. Manohar was the more flamboyant of the two. During a 55 minute stay at the crease he belted the bowlers especiallyGanesh who went for 41 runs in his 7 overs.After the departure of Manohar, caught by Arun Kumar off Bharadwaj, VVSLaxman joined Nandakishore. Laxman (2) failed to impress and five runslater fell for a catch to Beerala off Yalvigi. But Nandakishore and VankaPratap (31 not out) made sure that the team romped home in 30.5 overs. Forhis unbeaten innings, Nandakishore faced 90 balls while finding theboundary ropes on 4 occations.Earlier, opting to bat, Karnataka came up against the willy guiles ofVenkatapathy Raju (4 for 36). Though stumper VST Naidu (30) and Yalvigi(25) had a good start in their innings they filed to capitalise on thatleaving the Karnataka bowlers to defend a paltry 142.