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The Netherlands Cricket Board (KNCB) have been severely reprimanded for fielding Ryan ten Doeschate, the Essex allrounder, without permission in their European Division 1 Championship match against Scotland. ten Doeschate had not originally been selected in the Netherlands squad for this ODI.The ICC Europe participating nations agreement states that the process to replace a player in the original 14-man squad requires an application to the event technical committee prior to the match, which was not made. ODI countries were strongly encouraged and given absolute flexibility to play their best side available for the ODIs. However, Netherlands had not selected ten Doeschate in their original 14-man squad, yet still played him.On learning of their administrative error in not following the correct procedure, the Netherlands management made a retrospective application to replace him. Taking all the facts into account and in the interests of cricket and the tournament, the event technical committee has approved the application.However, it also issued a severe reprimand to the KNCB and stated that the decision of the committee does not set a precedent for future, and the KNCB should ensure it follows relevant procedures correctly.The committee also recommended that ICC Europe may consider a financial penalty in line with the other regional policies.On Thursday, Netherlands were granted exceptional circumstances to replace Daan van Bunge due to illness for their match against Denmark with ten Doeschate being drafted in.The committee looked at all the facts associated with this and determined that there was no link and the two were completely separate issues.

Lancashire Lightning will be fielding a changed side for the Norwich Union League floodlit match against Sussex Sharks at Hove on Tuesday 20th August.Warren Hegg is out of the side after suffering from a dislocated finger onhis right hand during the recent Roses fixture at Old Trafford and JamieHaynes will be keeping wicket until Warren is fit again. Stuart Law stepsin to take the Captains reins with Neil Fairbrother being rested for thematch, Neil will travel down to Hove for the Frizzell County Championshipmatch starting on Thursday. Peter Martin also returns after incurring aside injury.The side in full:

Andy Caddick was delighted with his bowling figures against Western Australia in Perth today, where he dismissed the top three batsmen before ending with the impressive figures of 4 for 49 from 19.5 overs, which included 9 maidens.At the end of the day the England paceman said: "I know that people criticise me and doubt my ability but all I can do is to do my talking on the pitch. I want to be successful for England on this Ashes tour, especially as I was overlooked the last time."Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson said: "Andrew has expressed his satisfaction with his 4 wicket haul in the first serious game of this Ashes tour and everybody at home is delighted for him."Marcus Trescothick also made light of his reported shoulder injury by taking a catch off his fellow Ciderman and by scoring an unbeaten 21 before the close of play."Earlier the left handed opener said how much he was enjoying his time `down under,’ and how he had linked up with two of his Somerset team mates.He told me: "The weather over here is terrific and the hotels are good. I spent a very enjoyable evening with Piran Holloway and Carl Gazzard who are both spending the winter here in Perth."`Banger’ told me that he was also hoping to get in some golf and a visit to some local horseracing before flying off for the final match before the first Test match in the Ashes series.Regarding his injury he said: "My shoulder isn’t too bad and not as serious as it was first reported. It certainly won’t prevent me playing in the first test match and I have had an injection which is helping things."Looking ahead to the next match and the start of the Ashes series he said: "All the team are in good spirits and feeling confident."

The continuing vagaries of air communication in the region left the West Indies cricket team short-handed yesterday.While the ten who actually made it to Georgetown the night before had their first practice session prior to the first Cable & Wireless Test against India, starting at Bourda tomorrow, the three Trinidadians Marlon Black, Merv Dillon and Brian Lara – were waiting for a flight out of Piarco after they were grounded on Monday night.They and team trainer/physio Ronald Rogers were expected by a BWIA flight late yesterday afternoon.They were booked to fly out on Monday night but were bumped off the flight when their plane was grounded with some sort of mechanical failure and was replaced by a smaller aircraft, team manager Ricky Skerritt explained.It’s a bit of a setback as we would obviously have liked everyone to be here as planned, Skerritt said, adding with a knowing shrug: I suppose we’ve come to accept these things by now.As the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) continues to use scheduled flights to transport both teams and officials the length and breadth of the Caribbean during home series, Skerritt’s philosophical reaction is understandable.Six years ago, a One-Day International in St Vincent was in jeopardy as the New Zealand team’s gear only arrived on the morning of the match, two days behind hand.Late departures and arrivals are as commonplace for high-profile international cricketers as they are for the ordinary, long-suffering traveller.There have been suggestions from various quarters that the WICB charter flights instead that would be a more convenient and reliable way of moving the sizeable entourage of players, administrators, umpires and media personnel around.The WICB’s official line for some time has been that it would be more expensive and unnecessary, given that foul-ups are infrequent.With the logistical nightmare it will have to confront when it hosts the 2007 World Cup, the latest disruption is a salutary lesson.Captain Carl Hooper supervised yesterday’s practice session at the Police Sports Club ground but did not actively participate.He is still carefully attending to the injury to his finger sustained in the Busta International Series final against Jamaica in Kingston on Saturday although he confirmed that he is fit enough to play.The finger is bruised, not fractured, and improving with treatment.There was encouraging news for the Indians yesterday as the MRI scan performed on off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s right shoulder in Port-of-Spain on Monday revealed no significant damage.He was returning to Georgetown on Monday on the same flight as the missing Trinidadians God and BWIA willing and would put the shoulder to the test in the final practice session today.Harbhajan, 21, is a key member of the attack and there was inevitable concern when he complained of pain in the shoulder after throwing a ball from the outfield in India’s warm-up match against the Guyana Cricket Board President’s XI at the Everest Sports Club here Sunday.The Indians took the day off yesterday, presumably satisfied with their preparations.It was a decision that did not entirely correspond with coach John Wright’s comment following their derisive go-slow batting in a pre-arranged limited-overs match Sunday that his players were keen to have some practice.

For a side that had to win this match to maintain a chance of reaching the final, Sri Lanka produced a totally inept batting performance, only to fight back well with the ball to keep their hopes alive to the very end. Well though India bowled on a pitch offering considerable help to the seam bowlers, a succession of batsmen did nothing to help by playing what could only be described as injudicious and technically inadequate strokes to end the innings on 187 with ten balls unused. At the fall of Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket, however, Sri Lanka were right back in it, only to run out of fire power as India won, slightly nervously, by four wickets with 11 balls to spare.Sanath Jayasuriya began the Sri Lankan innings by continuing in the form he had re-discovered against England at Headingley. The second ball he received from Zaheer Khan was short and very wide of the off stump. The Sri Lankan captain launched himself at it with a cut that took the ball several rows back into the crowd at point for an extraordinary six.At the other end, Ashish Nehra was finding considerable lateral movement with the ball and had Jayasuriya dropped at second slip by Dinesh Mongia as he slashed yet again. However, Nehra got his revenge when Jayasuriya again waved his bat outside the off stump only to get a bottom edge that dragged the ball onto his wicket.Three overs later, Ajit Agarkar was introduced into the attack and with his first ball induced Romesh Kaluwitharana to chase a wide one and edge to the wicket-keeper. Kaluwitharana looks a mere shadow of the batsmen who terrorised attacks a few years ago and is doing little for the Sri Lankan cause.It was left to Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene to apply more conventional technique to the art of batting as they revived the innings with a fifty partnership with elegant rather than excessive strokes to stabilise the position for Sri Lanka.After Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene had added 84 for the third wicket, albeit from 118 balls, both batsmen were dismissed in the space of nine balls bowled by Anil Kumble. With the score on 125, Jayawardene gave himself room to hit Kumble inside-out over the covers only to give Ashish Nehra a catch at long off.Atapattu went to his fifty from 70 balls, but before his score had advanced he was beaten in the flight to be bowled by Anil Kumble with a ball that might have just come back into the batsman off the pitch.There was an obvious need for Sri Lanka to rebuild once again rather than pressing on, even though their scoring rate was well below what they might have wanted. However, Avishka Gunawardene tried to pull Khan to mid-wicket but only succeeded in offering a simple catch to backward point, Thilan Samaraweera heaved what might charitably be described as a drive to slip and Russel Arnold sacrificed his wicket. A push to backward point, a hesitation and a throw from Yuvraj Singh to the bowler’s end left him stranded out of the frame.Chaminda Vaas slashed and thrashed to some effect, hitting four boundaries from 20 balls in his innings of 26 before one more slog to deep extra cover brought about his downfall. Upul Chandana tamely chipped Ajit Agarkar to mid-off in his first back and Pramodya Wickramasinghe was run out by Yuvraj again to bring the innings to a premature and most unsatisfactory close.For the second time in consecutive matches, India found themselves a wicket down from the first ball of the innings. At Chester-le-Street it was Sourav Ganguly; this time Virender Sehwag was beaten neck and crop by the first ball from Vaas to be bowled. Things could have got worse for India because Ganguly was adjudged not to have got a touch to the last ball of that over as it brushed something on its way through to the wicket-keeper, and the same batsman was dropped by Chandana at backward point in the following over bowled by Dilhara Fernando.Having dropped that sharp but eminently catchable chance, Chandana was forced to watch as Ganguly and Mongia went about the task of stabilising the innings. They could do so without undue concern about the run rate because of the low target. However, the batsmen were also aware that the ball was still seaming about.Lateral movement had little to do with the dismissal of Mongia when the score had reached 30 in the 13th over. He shaped to turn Vaas to leg, but got a leading edge that sent the ball ballooning to Jayasuriya’s right at mid-off where he held a good catch low down. Vaas ended the over with a loud appeal against Tendulkar as the ball narrowly missed the edge of the bat but brushed the thigh on its way through to Kaluwitharana. It was a cracking delivery, but a little high for an lbw decision.Ganguly’s luck finally ran out in the next over, with Kaluwitharana involved again. Ganguly edged Wickramasinghe to slip where Jayawardene only parried the ball, but straight to the wicket-keeper who completed the catch. Suddenly the Sri Lankan total took on a greater magnitude and, not for the first time in his career, much rested on the shoulders of Tendulkar.So often in the past he has carried the team through whatever crisis it faced, but this time it was not to be. He chipped an easy catch to Fernando at backward point off Chandana only to see the fielder make an awful mess of it. Both Sri Lankans would have been all too aware of each other’s feelings. However, Fernando was brought into the attack next over and his first ball brought about the end of Tendulkar as he pushed a catch into the covers.As ever when a batsman of Tendulkar’s stature goes cheaply, nerves were now jangling. They were not eased when Rahul Dravid tried to turn Fernando to leg, and sent a leading edge into the covers into the hands of Arnold. Sri Lankan celebrations were truncated when it was noticed that the umpire had signalled a no ball for over-stepping.By such slender margins are matches won and lost. Dravid went on in company with Yuvraj Singh to fashion a recovery that led India towards victory. Both usually free-scoring batsmen took their time as the situation demanded. Having halted the fall of wickets, Yuvraj did greet Jayasuriya into the attack by hoisting him for six over long-on and expanding his repertoire. Not all the runs came off the middle of the bat, but they all counted towards the total that was getting ever closer to the target.Sri Lanka needed wickets and brought Vaas back. He continued to pose a threat to the batsmen but failed to make the breakthrough and the other bowlers lacked the penetration or accuracy to maintain the pressure that might lead to a mistake.When that mistake eventually came, it was too late to affect the outcome of the match. Yuvraj sliced a Fernando full-toss to Chandana at backward point after the fifth wicket partnership had realised 91 runs in 20 overs.Dravid went on to his fifty from 82 balls with a six and four fours and appeared destined to be there at the end when the victory he had worked so hard to earn was achieved. He would have been had a direct throw from Fernando not run him out when just nine runs were required, but he had done enough to earn the man of the match award and could watch as Chandana bowled a wide with the scores level to end the game. It was the 13th wide bowled by Sri Lanka along with five no balls and it does not take an acute cricketing brain to work out that such generosity to the opposition does not make it easy to defend a small total.

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Lt Gen Tauqir Ziawas disappointed with team’s performance and said analysis needed to be done.”The team management needs to put their heads together and decide where we went wrong,” he said on the eve of his departure for Cape Town where the ICC executive council begins this week.Pakistan were mauled by eight wickets in the Asian Test Championship final by Sri Lanka at Lahore. Pakistan had come into the game with six successive victory under their belt. “Even if we had won, I would have liked them to examine the performance. But I admit the performance has been poor and very disappointing,” he said.The General said his establishment can provide all possible assistance and facilities to the players. “But its upto the boys to make better utilization of them. The boys need to evaluate their performance and decide how to lift themselves.”There are serious reports of rift in the team with communication gaps clearly evident between the selectors, captain, coach and the vice-captain. “Investigation is a hard word since no crime has been committed. But yes, if things have to put in the right place, all issues need to be addressed,” he said. The defeat was Pakistan’s sixth in 14 Tests at home.Pakistan are to appear in a tri-nation one-day tournament in Sharjah in April before taking on New Zealand in a two-Test and three-match one-day series between April 18 and May 12.Meanwhile, former captain Intikhab Alam blasted the team’s performance and said the management was bound to answer certain questions. “I think people need to know why Saqlain Mushtaq was not played, Wasim Akram not considered for selection and what was the logic of playing on a lively pitch after contesting previous four Tests on docile wickets.”There looked clear lack of planning. Against one of the best sides like Sri Lanka, you can’t win if you commit so many mistakes,” he said.He argued that if the team management thought Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi would deliver the goods with the leather, they were living in fools paradise. “They are batsmen-cum-bowlers. They are not in the same class of Saqlain Mushtaq who is a match winner.”Intikhab advised Wasim Akram not to be selective. “If he wants to be selective, then its better that he calls it a day. I think Wasim is the best bowler Pakistan has at the moment. I also feel that he fits into our World Cup squad.”If that’s true, then he needs to play in all the games. The selectors also need to give him the respect he deserves. I believe he has been roughly treated. No team in the world would have handled Wasim the way we have,” he said.Hasib Ahsan, former chairman of selectors, felt it was time that the team be allowed to stabilize. “We have had enough of experimentation. Chopping and changing has only brought established players under pressure and they are not performing, the way they are capable of. “It’s time that the selectors pick 14 players and persist with them so that the team can be prepared for the World Cup,” he said.He felt that the basic mistake in the humiliating defeat was the dropping of Saqlain and Wasim, adding that the team management was nothing but spectators. “I don’t know what influence the selectors have in picking the squad but to me, dropping Wasim and Saqlain makes no sense. As regards the manager and coach, they looked least interested in the performance of the team because there was no improvement in the players approach and commitment.”Hasib said Yawar Saeed and Mudassar Nazar were looking after their own interests and needed to be shown the door. “The team needs officials who can interact with players and know the youngsters playing in the domestic circuit. Yawar and Mudassar are not contributing to the cause of the team or the players as evident from the performance of the squad.”He added that the investment made by the PCB chairman would only be justified if the team produced results. “Unfortunately that has not been the case so far. We won against poor teams but against a team of our strength, we fared badly.”He called for the ICC to review the bowling action of Muttiah Muralitharan who once again bamboozled Pakistan with eight wickets in the match. “I am not saying he throws. But his arm definitely bends and that needs to be reviewed immediately.”

West Indies have retained left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and opener Kieran Powell for the limited-overs series against Bangladesh, starting November 30. Permaul made his Test debut in the opening game of the two-Test series against Bangladesh in Mirpur and picked up four wickets. He is yet to play an international limited-overs game. Powell made a century in each innings of the Mirpur Test, which West Indies won by 77 runs.Kemar Roach, who is not playing the Tests due to a knee injury, was passed fit for the five ODIs and one Twenty20 international on this tour.Six players from the current Test squad will be returning home. They are: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin and Denesh Ramdin. Allrounder Dwayne Bravo missed out again, having failed to recover from a thigh strain that had ruled him out of the Champions League T20 in October. There was no place for opener Johnson Charles, who played the ODI series at home against New Zealand.Kieron Pollard takes over as vice-captain in Bravo’s absence. In addition to Pollard and Roach, allrounders Andre Russell and Dwayne Smith, wicketkeeper Devon Thomas and opener Lendl Simmons will join the one-day squad.West Indies squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Kieron Pollard (vc), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Devon Thomas (wk).

North Zone batsmen started their Vijay Hazare Trophy final against holdersEast Zone in style by piling up 398 for seven by the end of the first dayat the RSI grounds in Bangalore on Thursday. Centuries by Paras Dogra (110)and Gaurav Gupta (105*) were the highlights of the day.Put in to bat, North Zone were given a good start with openers VishwasBhalla (14) and Rahul Arora (39) putting on 36 runs off 8.5 overs. Bhallawas the first to be dismissed caught by SP Priyadarshan off S Sarkar. Hispartner Arora soon joined him in the pavilion as he offered a return catchto Avik Choudury in the 14th over. In the very next over Sarkar sent backHimanshu Mehta (2).This brought Paras Dogra and Deepak Soni (25) together and they steadiedthe ship with a 107-run fourth wicket stand in 29 overs. Dogra was thechief contributor in the partnership. Scoring his runs at will, Dograreached his fifty needing just 41 balls. The partnership was broken whenSoni was bowled by SK Ray. Then Gaurav Gupta joined Dogra and forged a77-run fifth wicket partnership. During the course of the stand, Dograreached his century, needing 114 balls in all. Dogra got bogged down alittle and by the time he was dismissed in the 61st over, he faced 177balls and hit 16 boundaries.The fall of Dogra brought Abhinav Bali (55) to the crease. Along withGupta, he further tormented the East attack for a 102-run sixth wicketstand. Gupta then lost one more partner that of Bhupinder Singh (8) even asthe score proceeded beyond 350. At the end of the day, Gupta remainedunbeaten ably supported by Abhishek Sharma (8). Arshad Iqbal was the mostsuccessful bowler for East with figures of three for 84.

It was Wasim Jaffer’s day at the Municipal Stadium, Rajkot on Thursday. Day three of the West Zone-Central Zone Duleep Trophy clash saw the Mumbai opener accomplish the rare feat of scoring centuries in both innings. The 103 not out that he made in the West Zone second innings saw his team assume complete command. With just a day’s play remaining, West Zone now have a massive lead of 388, including a first-innings lead of 175.In the morning, Central who started on 154 for four were devastated by a pace and spin barrage from the West. Wickets fell line ninepins as Central lost their last six batsmen for just 81. Only Jai P Yadav, who has had a fine Ranji season with the Railways, was able to offer any resistance. He reached 61 before running out of partners. For West, Irfan Pathan Juniour claimed 4-74 while spinners, Rajesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule claimed three wickets each.When West began their second innings, Jaffer was in fine form yet again. He and his opening partner Connor Williams (39) put on 72 for the first wicket before Williams fell. Captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who was out for a duck in the first innings, looked good while making 40. But towards the end of the day, he was snared by veteran leg-spinner Narender Hirawani. Jaffer, however, went on to raise his hundred on a day which also saw him complete 1,000 Duleep Trophy runs in his 11th match. Altaf Merchant (15*) was keeping him company when stumps were drawn.West who have already secured the first innings lead will now be looking to seal an outright win and claim the maximum of eight points there for the taking.

The Bombay High Court has dismissed MSM Satellite (Singapore) Pte Limited’s petition asking it to prevent World Sport Group (Mauritius) from seeking to resolve their dispute over the IPL media rights ‘facilitation fee’ through international arbitration.The original agreement between WSG and MSM states that any disputes between the two parties must be settled by an international arbitration under English law conducted by the International Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. However MSM, the official broadcasters of the IPL, opposed the arbitration process and wanted the High Court to rule on the dispute.Justice Roshan Dalvi’s dismissal of the case means the arbitration process can go ahead unimpeded. “The court has taken a very clear stand,” Suhas Tuljapurkar, a lawyer for WSG, told Cricinfo. “If you have agreed to arbitration, you have to go through arbitration.” Cricinfo has learnt that these proceedings are already underway and typically take about a year to complete.The facilitation fee arose out of the restructuring of the television rights deal following the first IPL. WSG India had originally bought the worldwide telecast rights of the IPL for ten years (2008 to 2017) at a cost of over $1 billion. Meanwhile MSM had secured the rights to broadcast in India for five years (2008 to 2012) and had the option of securing the rights for the remaining five years (2013-2017) by paying WSG an option fee of $25 million.However, the board cancelled the original rights deal in 2009 and renegotiated its deal with WSG Mauritius. On its part, MSM did not want to renegotiate with WSG, wanting a direct contract with the board instead. The result was that MSM eventually negotiated a deal with the BCCI for the same price and duration as WSG Mauritius, in lieu of the latter relinquishing its rights.In a statement released by MSM on April 23, 2010, the company stated the payment of the fee to WSG Mauritius was “for the original option fee of $25 million (Rs 115 crores approximately) to extend the rights to years six till 10 and an additional fee over the nine years of the contract of Rs 310 crores ($55 million approximately).”These fees were to compensate WSG Mauritius for returning its rights for IPL season 2 – 10 to BCCI in favour of MSM, and were necessary if MSM was to secure the rights to IPL season 2-10. “The BCCI subsequently argued that the fee was an “improper payment” and restructured the media rights agreement with MSM in June to recover the facilitation fee from WSG. A representative for MSM declined to comment for this story.