Australia’s skills training is neglected on tour and is one of the reasons for a spate of dropped catches, according to the coach John Buchanan. The slips catching has declined since the days of Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh, and it has been so bad this season that 15 of the remarkably high 18 misses in the past five Tests have come from the cordon.Buchanan said the record was a worry but travel and lack of time reduced the emphasis placed on catching. “One of the difficulties for a side that’s been on tour since mid-August is that the skill training is neglected because we’re in competition all the time,” he told The Australian. “Things like slips catching, even though we do a fair amount of it, are limited in terms of the length of time we can do it. You can also notice that our hit ratio on the stumps probably peaks somewhere in the middle of the season and tails off towards the end.”Buchanan said a touring side didn’t have the luxury of spending two or three days in hard training before resting, and by the end of the season it was more of a problem. In the first Test against New Zealand last week Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Shane Warne dropped easy catches while Michael Clarke spilled a sharp rebounding effort at first slip off Warne. Australia’s cordon was rearranged to cope with Matthew Hayden’s injured right shoulder, but he should return to his usual position at gully for the second Test starting at Wellington on Friday.

Sharad Diwadkar, the former Bombay allrounder and executive secretary to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has died in Bombay at the age of 69.Diwadkar played in 82 matches for Bombay and State Bank between 1957-58 and 1973-74, scoring 1803 runs at 24.04, including one century, and he also took 211 wickets at 26.17 with his offspinners. He was the brother-in-law of the Bombay captain, Milind Rege, and at State Bank he was a team-mate of the likes of Gundappa Viswanath and Hanumant Singh.He took 11 five-wicket hauls for Bombay and ten in the match on one occasion, but in an era of great Indian spinners, he was never called upon to represent his country on the field. Instead he represented India in the boardroom, taking over from Polly Umrigar as executive secretary in 1997, after Umrigar had resigned in protest at the poor functioning of the board.He held the post for five years, in which time his duties included accompanying the young Harbhajan Singh to England in 1998, where he underwent remedial work on his bowling action, under the guidance of Fred Titmus.In July 2003, Diwadkar he resigned due to ill-health, on the advice of his doctors. He collapsed and died in Bombay on the evening of March 1, while out on his evening stroll.

Close 4th day
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
If the first nine days of the series is anything to go by, nothing canbe predicted about the last day of play at Kolkata. Pakistan need 327runs; India need nine wickets; both teams have the capacity to win it,and to let it slip.India will be frustrated that the pitch hasn’t deteriorated as much asexpected, and it still playing easy, if a bit slower. As DineshKarthik demonstrated yesterday, application will suffice to survive onthis track. It will just take two batsmen to have a partership thatlasts a session-and-a-half, and the match will be safe. And if aquality player like Inzamam-ul-Haq or Yousuf Youhana really gets set,a chase could be on. Pakistan could also consider a wild-card move,like sending Abdul Razzaq at the fall of the next wicket withinstructions to hit out.India will take hope from the knowledge that both Anil Kumble andHarbhajan Singh are playing this game. They are both world-classspinners, and will not be as ineffectual as Danish Kaneria was. Theyhave won matches on pitches just like this one, and they will have theluxury of being able to put men around the bat in close-in positions,because there are enough runs on the board to attack. That is animportant consideration.

Hopes that the transition from the old to the new in Kenyan cricket would be a smooth affair were scotched when Sharad Ghai, the embattled chairman of the Kenya Cricket Association, told a local radio station that he was unhappy with the way that existing board officials had effectively been blocked from standing in this month’s elections.The new constitution barred the officials unless they were nominated as delegates by the provincial associations, but Ghai told Capital FM Sport that this was not in accordance with the decision made by Percy Sonn, the ICC’s vice-president, when he decided on the new rules.”There is one clause that is the issue, but as KCA we are not happy with that clause,” Ghai said. “It says that the people who are eligible for the election are among those 20 who have been nominated. The way the clause has been put yesterday, gives the right to only those 20 and morally we think that is wrong, and I remember Sonn … made a ruling that anyone can stand.”Ghai said that this would not block the elections set for May 22, but added that he would be raising the matter with the Africa Cricket Association.The changes to the constitution were made to avoid a repetition of the situation where a small number of people could effectively seize control of the national association, and sources close to the process maintain that the ruling made at the weekend was exactly what had been agreed.Although Ghai, who is facing a court case after being charged with misappropriating $3.3million of KCA funds, has insisted he will not stand for election, his comments will worry his long-standing opponents who fear that some of the old guard might not be willing to go quietly.

The start of South Africa’s next domestic season could be threatened by the Griqua Diamonds’ decision to go the legal route in their efforts to become one of the six franchises who compete in the country’s premier local competitions.Griquas have filed a High Court order seeking to stop the implementation of the franchise review committee proposals accepted by the United Cricket Board (UCB) of South Africa’s General Council on June 11 and have named an astonishing 24 respondents – all six franchises, the provinces, the companies that run the main stadiums, the UCB, the South African Cricketers’ Association, the men who conducted the independent review (former Minister of Education Kader Asmal and legal experts John Smith and Norman Arendse), the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, and even their own sponsors, De Beers, the diamond mining giants.When a new franchise system was adopted for South African domestic cricket in 2003, Griquas were grouped with Free State in a Central Region franchise to be based in Bloemfontein. But the Kimberley-based union failed to agree with their Free State counterparts on how to combine forces and Griquas went to court in a bid to stop the inaugural season (2004-05) of franchise cricket.They halted their legal action when the UCB agreed to a fresh independent review of the franchise system, conducted by Asmal, Smith and Arendse, at the end of last season. The review suggested Griquas join with Free State in a 50/50 split of the Central Region franchise, with the headquarters to alternate between Bloemfontein and Kimberley.The Griqua Diamonds are still not happy and on Tuesday will seek an urgent High Court interdict setting aside the UCB General Council decision of June 11.The General Council decision of June 11 was on the back of a 16-0 vote in favour of the review committee’s recommendations. Franchises were awarded to teams based in Durban, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Centurion and Johannesburg, with East London and Port Elizabeth agreeing to alternate as headquarters of the Eastern Cape franchise.If Griquas are successful in getting the number of franchises increased, they will have to fight off stiff competition from Port Elizabeth, Benoni and Paarl/Stellenbosch for the extra places.Port Elizabeth is South Africa’s fifth biggest city and the home of the country’s oldest Test venue – St George’s Park. Benoni is in the Witwatersrand, 30 kilometres east of Johannesburg, but their provincial team – Easterns – was one of the strongest in domestic cricket, winning the four-day SuperSport Series competition in 2002-03. After the switch to franchises they joined forces with Northerns, based in Centurion.The Boland Cricket Board is based in Paarl, with a prestigious university situated in nearby Stellenbosch, and the area is a major producer of talent, especially among the coloured (mixed race) community.Griquas abstained from voting on June 11, but have been vehemently opposed to the franchise system from the outset. In 2003, when the new structure was first adopted, their representative on the UCB General Council said “we will stop this just like we stopped the Gatting tour”. Mike Gatting led a rebel English squad on a tour of South Africa in 1989-90, but it was cancelled due to unprecedented protests in most South African cities by anti-Apartheid demonstrators.Griqua Diamonds chief executive Brian Kidson said “he had nothing to say yet” when asked about their reasons for going to court.Ken Borland is a journalist with the MWP Sports Agency in South Africa.

Canterbury have announced that Chris Harris will be their captain for the 2004-05 season.”Chris Cairns had told us that he was unavailable for consideration for the captaincy during the upcoming season and Chris Harris was the obvious choice to take over,” Craig Thiele, Canterbury’s chairman of selectors, explained.Harris stood in for Cairns, the named captain, for much of last season. “He did an outstanding job,” Thiele added, “and we are delighted to appoint him.”

The Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s premier first-class inter-provincial four-daycompetition, gets underway on Tuesday with the four provinces in actionin Bulawayo and Mutare.A fierce battle is in store at Bulawayo Athletic Club where Matabelelandwill host Mashonaland. The last time the two sides met, in April thisyear, Matabeleland won by five wickets. Heath Streak, the then-Matabeleland skipper, put up a sterling allround performance in thatmatch to lead them to their first victory over Mashonaland in eightyears.He scored a century and took seven wickets as Matabeleland completelydominated. This time around Streak is available: he was willing to playbut did not notify the Matabeleland selectors that he was available,after spending most of last week trying to retrieve his boat which sunkin Binga a fortnight ago.Matabeleland will be captained by pace bowler Mluleki Nkala and boast astrong batting line-up that includes Mark Vermeulen, who is likely tobat down the order. Gavin Ewing, along with Keith Dabengwa and GregoryStrydom, are their proven allrounders. Nkala leads the Matabelelandbowling attack.Tatenda Taibu, skipper of the national side, captains Mashonaland, whohave won the Logan Cup five years in a row. They have an equally strongbatting line-up, including Brendan Taylor, Barney Rogers and EltonChigumbura. Their bowling attack will be led by Douglas Hondo.Taibu, a capable bowler himself, is likely to hand over the wicketkeeping gloves to Taylor, who is equally good behind the stumps. Taibu is still recovering from an injury to his left shoulder which he suffered duringZimbabwe’s match against Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy.In the other match, at Mutare Sports Club, Manicaland, captained by DionEbrahim will host Midlands, who are skippered by Alester Maregwede.

Glenn McGrath’s unrelenting pressure on England has continued off the field with him handing out batting advice to his Ashes rivals. A career No. 11, McGrath said England’s top order had taken “pretty bad options” when facing Shane Warne during the first-Test loss at Lord’s.”Shane bowled as well as I’ve seen him for a long time,” McGrath told . “But I just could not comprehend the way the openers tried to play him by repeatedly padding up. That is so dangerous for a left-hander against a legspinner turning the ball back towards the stumps. Even for someone like me batting at No. 11, if I was a left-hander I would think it was a pretty bad option.”While Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss were singled out, Ian Bell was also given a special mention after his fourth Test. “Shane set him up perfectly with a couple of big-turning legspinners then got him with the slider, the one that goes straight on,” McGrath said. “He told us that exactly the same thing happened when he played Bell in a county match, except in that game it took him two balls.”McGrath, who made 30 without being dismissed and took nine wickets at Lord’s, said nothing he saw changed his prediction that Australia would cleansweep the series. “It doesn’t matter what they do, if we play our game well, we’ll win,” he said. “We feel we can up our performance.”Australia settled after the frenetic opening day of the series, but McGrath said England’s body language would change when they were down. “We talked beforehand about how quiet England went on the field during the one-dayers when things weren’t going their way,” he said. “I really noticed it in one of those games when I was out on the field. Their body language wasn’t too flash, the quietness was surreal. I don’t think I’ve ever before played in a game where the atmosphere was like that.”

A move has been initiated to shift the Indian cricket board’s headquarters from Mumbai to Delhi and, more significantly, change the place of its registration from Chennai to the national capital. The proposal has come from Jagmohan Dalmiya, former board president, and has the support of many BCCI members.According to the plan, the BCCI is not just keen to shift the headquarters to Delhi but also construct its own state-of-the-art offices, a stark contrast from the decrepit headquarters at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.According to the Indo-Asian News Service, Dalmiya raised the issue on behalf of the CAB at the emergent working committee meeting in June and the matter again came up at the August 15 meeting in New Delhi.”The two proposals were raised by Dalmiya and have been duly listed in the minutes, just in case someone wants to see them as a proof,” said an official. “It was also agreed at Kovalam that legal opinion would be obtained to have the registration changed and that the process should be initiated.”The BCCI was registered as a society under Act XXI of 1860 at Chennai, November 28, 1940.But while many would like the headquarters to be shifted, the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Lalchand Rajput, a former Test player, registered his opposition. Apart form Rajput, Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) President Inderjit Singh Bindra is also opposed to the idea of the change.”Shifting of the headquarters would need an amendment in the BCCI Constitution, which requires two-third of the members of the general body supporting the move,” said Bindra. “And so far as changing the board’s registration is concerned, I’m not sure if it is legally possible – because then the board (as it is known) will cease to exist.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Irfan Pathan enjoyed another swing-fest on the opening morning at Harare, finishing with his best figures in Tests, and flattened Zimbabwe for a paltry 161 with a devastating mix of curve, swerve and seam. Gautam Gambhir then led a ferocious Indian batting assault and helped them end the day on an imposing 195 for 1, a lead of 34. They are now just a step away from another easy triumph.Zimbabwe knew exactly what they were up against when they had to face two left-arm seamers after Sourav Ganguly inserted them on a lively pitch. But such knowledge solved none of their problems. Pathan smacks his lips when he sees batsmen rooted to the crease, plonking their front foot down the track and failing to read the vicious dip into their pads. The Bangladesh batsmen found that out late last year, when he routed them 18 wickets in two Tests, and Zimbabwe were helpless when he treated them like sharp-shooting targets on the third afternoon at Bulawayo. Today was no different and his swerving darts had the batsmen edging, missing and finally falling.Brendan Taylor lasted just three balls before his technique was exposed – feet rooted to the crease, bat dangling out as the ball grazed the edge. Terence Duffin received a peach of an outswinger, Hamilton Masakadza missed a similar delivery that angled in; Tatenda Taibu got a jaffa that seamed away. The tailenders were plain clueless.Like his recent destructions, Pathan’s spell today was built on simplicity: full length – he only bowled seven short deliveries in all – good rhythm and just enough variation to unnerve the batsmen. Beating the batsman comprehensively by an away cutter is as much part of the plan as delivering the knockout inswinger the next ball and Pathan set all the batsmen up without too much of a hassle.Once he set the tone, the Indian batsmen seamlessly latched on to the momentum and pushed Zimbabwe further into a corner. Virender Sehwag kickstarted the innings with a run-a-ball 44 but he continued his mystifying trend of not making a big score against weaker teams – he has only one half-century in five Tests against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

However, Gambhir came into the Indian side with the reputation of being a domestic bully and he has often manhandled similar bowling attacks in first-class cricket where he averages close to 55. Today, he rarely let a loose ball go by – savagely cutting when provided with width – and spanked 17 fours in his assured effort. Unlike Sehwag, he isn’t one who will intimidate bowlers at the outset but, as his 116-ball 95 showed, he is well capable of chugging along at a considerable pace himself. Gambhir should face little opposition in reaching his second Test hundred tomorrow – his first was against Bangladesh at Chittagong – but it remains to be seen if he can replicate such innings against superior bowling attacks.One man who has done that for a number of years, Rahul Dravid, was with him for most of the innings and guided him along the way. Dravid survived a few testing overs from Heath Streak, the pick of the Zimbabwe bowlers, when he came in but overcame that phase with minimum fuss. That was probably the only time all day when India were made to sweat.

Zimbabwe
Brendan Taylor c Dravid b Pathan 4 (4 for 1)
Terence Duffin c Laxman b Pathan 12 (31 for 2)
Tatenda Taibu c Karthik b Pathan 0 (31 for 3)
Dion Ebrahim c Karthik b Zaheer 14 (31 for 4)
Heath Streak c Gambhir b Harbhajan 14 (75 for 5)
Hamilton Masakadza lbw Pathan 27 (83 for 6)
Andy Blignaut c Karthik b Pathan 13 (122 for 7)
Charles Coventry c Dravid b Harbhajan 37 (136 for 8)
Blessing Mahwire lbw b Pathan 1 (138 for 9)
Keith Dabengwa c Laxman b Pathan 18 (161 for 10)
India
Virender Sehwag c Taibu b Streak 44 (75 for 1)