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Muttiah Muralitharan has been ruled out of the first three one-day internationals against England. Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, confirmed that Muralitharan’s bicep injury had not healed.”We don’t want to rush him,” Jayawardene said. “He’s almost there, but we just have to make a decision whether we would like to risk him like this soon after injury. We will make sure that we will make a sensible decision.” Sri Lanka’s priority is to get him fit for their trip to Australia which follows almost immediately after the five-match series against England.Such is the shadow that Muralitharan casts over matches that at the press conference today Paul Collingwood, England’s captain, seemed reluctant to believe that he would not be playing. “We’re preparing as if Murali is playing and we will still prepare in this way,” he said.Sri Lanka called Kaushal Lokuarachchi into the squad as a replacement. A legspinner, he has 19 ODIs to his name and can more than hold his own with the bat. The Guardian reported that his inclusion was too much for Trevor Bayliss, Sri Lanka’s new Australian coach, who told the media, with some uncertainty, that Muralitharan’s stand-in was someone called Wakaroochi.Before the first game England take on a Sri Lanka Cricket XI, captained by Avishka Gunawardene, in a one-day warm-up match at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo on Friday. Besides Gunawardene, England’s opponents include seven players with international limited-overs experience, the most prominent among them being Malinga Bandara, the legspinner, who lost his spot in the national squad to Lokuarachchi.Gihan de Silva and Indika de Saram will vie for the wicketkeepers slot. The selection of de Saram, 34, comes as a surprise, considering that he played his last ODI in 2001.Kevin Pietersen is likely to captain England for the first time after Collingwood was hit by a stomach bug. Collingwood, Stuart Broad, Luke Wright and Alastair Cook are all struggling with what their coach, Peter Moores, described as a “stomach illness”. The match will also be a significant moment for Dimitri Mascarenhas, who will play for the first time in his country of origin.Sri Lanka Cricket XI Avishka Gunawardene, Viraj Perera, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilina Kadamby, Gihan de Silva, Gihan Rupasinghe, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ranga Dias, Akalanka Ganegama, Sujeewa de Silva, Ashan Priyaranjan, Indika de Saram (wk), Lasith Fernando.England XI (probable) Kevin Pietersen (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Phil Mustard (wk), Monty Panesar, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett.

A leading British newspaper has claimed the London bombers were initially ordered by Al-Qaeda to target the England and Australian teams during the 2005 Ashes series.Quoting a friend of one of the terrorists, said Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer allegedly received the orders at a training camp near Kotli, in Kashmir, during December 2004. The claims have been made by a family friend of Hasib Hussain, the bus bomber who killed 13 people. The friend, who is willing to pass his information to the police, uses the pseudonym Ahmed Hafiz.According to Hafiz, 32, the bombers were instructed to get jobs as stewards at Edgbaston and spray sarin gas inside the changing rooms. The second Test between England and Australia began on August 4.Hafiz, whose family have known the Hussains for 25 years, said he had received details of the bombers’ visit from members of his extended family, who were involved in running the camp. He claimed Tanweer, 22, objected to the plot, possibly because he himself was a cricketer. He was told by a witness Tanweer argued with Khan, 30, and a scuffle between them had to be broken up by a minder.

Australia A 120 for 6 (Jaques 56*) v Pakistan A
ScorecardGiven the decline in fortunes that Australia’s senior team has suffered in recent weeks, their A-team tour to Pakistan has suddenly taken on an added significance. But on the evidence of the first day’s play at Rawalpindi, only Phil Jaques has anything to be proud of, as their top-order was torn apart by Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul.By the close of a truncated day, Jaques was unbeaten on 56 having opened the batting, but his team had slipped to 120 for 6. Nazir, with 3 for 28, was the pick of the pacemen, and it wasn’t until Cameron White (23) helped add 45 for the sixth wicket, that they were able to reach triple figures.Michael Hussey, who was tipped by many pundits to take Matthew Hayden’s place for the current Oval Test, managed 2 before he was bowled by Nazir, while Brad Hodge, Dominic Thornley and Shane Watson managed only 12 runs between them. Brad Haddin, Australia’s reserve wicketkeeper, made just 9 before falling to Sami.

Ajit Agarkar, discarded from the Indian team for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, is all set to ply his trade at Lord’s. He is due to fly out from Mumbai soon to join Middlesex for a one-month stint that ends on August 20.If Agarkar joins Middlesex, pending permission from the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, he will become the first Indian to play for Middlesex, the county that plays at the home of cricket. He has already informed the SK Nair, the board secretary, of his wish to turn out for Middlesex, and the necessary paperwork is being processed. Agarkar’s contract with Middlesex is carefully drafted, however, allowing him to be released at any stage should the Indian team require his services.Agarkar is no stranger to Lord’s – he made a stroke-filled maiden Test century there in 2002 when India lost to England by 170 runs. This stint will be Agarkar’s first in county cricket.The opportunity to play for Middlesex came about when Nantie Hayward and Lance Klusener, originally signed as overseas professionals, were called up by South Africa to tour Sri Lanka. While it is not yet clear what all matches Agarkar will play, Middlesex are scheduled to play five National League (one-day) and two County Championship (four-day) matches between now and August 20. Should Middlesex qualify for the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup, Agarkar will get a chance to biff the ball around with all the enthusiasm that brought him his fastest one-day score, an astonishing half-century off just 21 balls against Zimbabwe at Rajkot.Middlesex can certainly do with some perking up. They’ve won only one of their eight county championship matches this season. But Agarkar’s arrival will also coincide with that of a certain Glenn McGrath, who has agreed to a month of county cricket between July 18 and August 15, a spell which will include four County Championship matches and five National League games. One way or another, it promises to be a mouthwatering partnership.

Just two days after the Delhi High Court allowed him to play domestic cricket again, Ajay Jadeja won two minor battles both on and off the field. Playing for Air Sahara in his comeback match in a local day-night tournament in New Delhi, Jadeja slammed 45 and a 78-ball 101 in consecutive games over the weekend.There was more good news for Jadeja today, when the Supreme Court declined the Indian board’s request to stay the High Court order and prevent Jadeja from appearing in any more domestic matches.The 1000 fans who turned up to watch Jadeja’s comeback were treated to some entertaining batting, as Jadeja belted eight fours and six sixes in his century on Sunday.Expectedly, Jadeja was pleased with his weekend’s effort. “It’s great to be back. I still dream of playing for India again. Cricket remains my first love. I just want to play.”Jadeja had been banned by the Indian board (BCCI) for five years for alleged links with bookmakers, but the decision was overturned by the Delhi High Court after Jadeja appealed against the ruling. The court, however, stated that Jadeja’s return to international cricket remained the prerogative of the BCCI and the selection committee. Despite an encouraging return, Jadeja is a long way from achieving that goal.

SHANE WARNE walked out of Old Trafford after Australia’s World Cup match with West Indies two years ago, convinced he would be returning there the following sum mer as a Lancashire player.The world’s greatest leg-spinner and most charismatic cricketer had made his mind up that he was going to spend the summer of 2000 playing in English county cricket, and it looked as though the Red Rose County had won the battle for the most prized autograph in cricket.”I had a meeting with Jack Simmonds at Lancashire during the World Cup against the West Indies at Old Trafford. I left Lancashire probably thinking I would play there,” reveals Warne.But he hadn’t banked on persuasive powers of Robin Smith.”I’d known Judgie for a long time. Not really close, but I’d rubbed up against him in opposition at various times.” Once Smith knew it was Warne’s intention to play county cricket, he set to work on him like a dripping tap.”I spoke to Robin a few times on the phone and he just kept chipping away, saying ‘give us a chance before you sign.'” There was the now legendary meetings at a Buckingham Palace garden party with former Hampshire chairman Brian Ford, but the groundwork had been done. Warne was hooked.”There were two counties chasing me for last summer and three or four when I first hinted I might come over in 1994.”In the end, I didn’t come over for various reasons; injuries, the international schedule, birth of children. There were a lot of factors that cameinto it but last year was the right time.”What struck me about Hampshire was that they were a county who hadn’t had much success, they had a good group of young players who wanted to achieve something, and I wanted to come to a club that hadn’t tasted much successand try and take them to the top.”Unfortunately for Warne, that didn’t quite panout last year as Hampshire were relegated from the top flight of the National League, not that he could have done much more about it personally. You could stick Zinedine Zindane in the Exeter City midfield, but he wouldn’t get them into the Premiership, and thus it was with Warne.”I was disappointed last year. I could have gone to a bigger county where I perhaps would have had a lot of success, but I might not have enjoyed it,” said Warne.”Statistically I did very well with the most wickets in the First Division and nearly 500 runs, but I was disappointed. “I thought I could have done better. And I thought as a team we could have played a lot better.”There’s a lot of talented cricketers at Hampshire, it’s just a matter of getting consistency in the team and finding that balance between switching off and having the disciplines and all those things.”I would like to have the opportunity again because I think we could all do it a lot better.”If last summer was an uplifting experience for Warne, it was an education for many of Hampshire players, not all of them younger ones. All will say that they learned off him. His professionalism and his approach to every game was a cricket classroom.”I would like to think that some of the guys learned a bit last year, and there’s a lot more to learn,” says Warne who is eager to pass it on.”If the club want me back, the more opportunity we have to have time together as a team, the more we could learn together and do a lot better.”The $64,000 question is whether Warne will be back in 2003. Australia’s Sardine-tin Test schedule over the next 18 months rules out a return next summer, but Warne is keen to come back in 2003. He’s already had informal talks and made itclear that Hampshire would be his first choice of county.”I’ve spoken to a lot of people. Obviously they’re pretty keen, if everything works out depending on international schedules. “They’re showing a little bit of interest. I’ve shown a lot of interest to them and it’s a matter of finding out the balance. It might not be the right time for Hamsphire and they might want to go in another direction. Who knows?” says Warne, who was keen to shoot down one story doing the rounds, that he was coming back to Hampshire in 2003 as captain.”That’s not quite right,” he points out. “I was asked the question if I came back to Hampshire would I captain or consider the captaincy and my answer was whatever was best for the club, best for the county and for myself.”I didn’t say I wanted to come back and captain Hampshire. I said would love the opportunity to play for Hampshire again. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to do that again some way down the track and if the captaincy was an option I would consider it, if it was the best thing for the club.” One potential stumbling block to Warne’s return could be his chance to carve his name in cricket history.Having passed the 400 Test wicket mark in the Ashes series, Australia’s crowded schedule of the next 18 months could push him towards the magical 500-mark.Courtney Walsh has already beaten him to that, but if Warne could go down in legend as the first spinner to reach it, wouldn’t the temptationto reach out for it deflect his desire for another dose of county cricket?”Milestones and statistics have never been a driving force for me, “What you do is all about enjoyment. If you enjoy what you’re doing then you keep going. If you’re not enjoying it, it’s time to do something else.”At the moment I’m enjoying my cricket, I’m bowling probably better than I ever have. I can’t bowl any better than I did in the second innings at The Oval and the second innings at Trent Bridge.”No matter if it was ’92, ’93 or whenever it was, I can’t bowl any better than that, so it suggests to me that perhaps the best is yet to come. If that’sthe case then hopefully I can take a lot more wickets.”

Virat Kohli, the captain of India’s Under-19 squad for the World Cup, may still be in his teens but he’s already aware of the kind of spotlight an Indian cricketer faces when playing on the international stage. As the team prepared to depart for Malaysia, Kohli said India were “expected to be favourites” and hoped to fulfill those expectations – backed by a strong batting line-up and a bolstered attack – during the 15-day tournament.The squad spent the last week at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, fine-tuning their preparations under the guidance of Dav Whatmore, who will be their coach for the tournament. Kohli said the team had worked hard on their fielding skills, which he felt needed to be improved, during the camp and the time spent together had helped build team-spirit.India have had a successful run in the lead-up to Malaysia. They won a Youth Test series in South Africa 1-0 as well as a triangular limited-overs tournament involving South Africa, who are grouped with India in the World Cup, and Bangladesh. The batsmen performed impressively in the tri-series, with Kohli, Saurav Tiwary, Tanmay Srivatsava and Manish Pandey all averaging above 50.”We have a deep batting line-up and most often our No.7 and No.8 batsmen have not had a chance to bat on the last two or three tours. So batting is a big strength,” Kohli said. “The fast bowling was lacking on the last tour so we’ve got more fast bowlers to strengthen that area.”India’s group also includes West Indies and Papua New Guinea and their practice-matches before the main tournament kicks off will be against two teams Kohli considered among the toughest in the competition – New Zealand and England.”We know most of the England team and the New Zealand team, which are the difficult teams. We don’t know much about Pakistan because I think the team has changed. But we’ve seen South Africa, England and New Zealand which are the strongest teams, so we know about them.”For most of the team, the World Cup will be their first experience of playing in front of a television audience. Kohli, however, said that thinking about factors such as television would only add to the pressure. “You don’t have to think about it much,” Kohli said. “We just have to play like we have been playing on the last four or five tours. We’ve been winning all the tours so we would like to keep up the winning streak.”While Kohli and his team-mates are thinking of the immediate future, and how it could be the launching pad for future international careers, their coach is able to look at the larger picture. The challenge, Whatmore said, was to “create the right pathways and competitions for the youngsters to come through.”

Mark Boucher has urged England to stick with Jonny Bairstow despite his struggles with the gloves in the Test series in South Africa.Bairstow has, by some estimations, been unable to take seven of the 23 opportunities (until the end of South Africa’s first innings in Centurion) that have come his way as wicketkeeper in the four Tests. While a couple of the chances he has missed – not least a stumping opportunity in Durban – have been fiendishly difficult, several have been relatively straightforward by international standards.In the current match, he missed opportunities against all three centurions – Stephen Cook, Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock – and there were times when his team-mates were unable to hide their frustration.But Boucher, the most prolific wicketkeeper in Test history, believes Bairstow has “a big future” at the top level and has urged the England selectors not to “mess around with his head” by dropping him now.While much the same could have been said about Jos Buttler – dropped for Bairstow after his form with the bat fell away – Boucher revealed that he and Bairstow had recently discussed the challenges of the role after Bairstow requested a meeting.”He just wanted to have a chat with me, I think it was after I did a stint on TV explaining the mental aspects he might be going through and a couple of small technical things that could help him out,” Boucher told Press Association Sport.”For a youngster to speak to a guy who’s been in the opposition side was fantastic to see and I used to do the same with people like Ian Healy. He’s very keen to learn about his trade.”It was a very relaxed chat. I just wanted to find out where his head was at and basically told him I’d been through some of the same sorts of things, that he’s not the only one who’s gone through it and he’s not alone.”As Boucher sees it, Bairstow’s problems are not so much technical as mental. While he accepted there are some technical adjustments Bairstow can make, Boucher feels that more significant progress can be made with a more resilient attitude and an ability to put any mistakes behind him, so they are not clouding his mind when the next opportunity comes along. He also made the point that Bairstow’s batting – which in this series has seen him score more runs than any England player other than Joe Root or Ben Stokes – is highly valuable.”I think there’s a big future for him at this level but he has to be as mentally tough as possible in the face of criticism,” said Boucher. “I don’t think he needs big technical changes, they are all pretty small. It’s more the mental aspect of getting over one or two dropped catches as quick as he can and not letting them affect the next one.”The step up to test keeping is quite big and he needs to close that gap but his attitude is good enough for him to do it.”Is he worth having in this England side? Absolutely. You don’t want to mess around with his head and drop him now. That’s a dangerous move to make because it risks showing a lack of confidence in a youngster’s game.”There is some room for improvement there. He’s not a natural keeper but he’s proved he has the goods with the bat and there is more than enough talent there for him to become a very, very good allrounder for England.”

At the appointed hour, 20 minutes past five, Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar’s car pulled into the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). He stepped out ceremoniously, and wanted to lead the way into the president’s office, but couldn’t compete with the TV crews and photographers. A strong believer in doing things at auspicious times, Wadiyar sat in the president’s seat at 5.30 PM and threw the floor open to the media.Wadiyar’s working relationship with Brijesh Patel, the man he fought bitterly before and during the election, was one of the main points raised. Patel retained his post as secretary of the KSCA.”The first priority is the one day international here on September 29 [against Australia],” Wadiyar said. “We have to conduct it well and Brijesh Patel is well aware of the day to day affairs of conducting an international match. I will discuss it with him and we need to ensure that the match goes well.”Yes I know that we are two groups working together and we need to find a formula of compromise so that the best ideas are used. When I say compromise I mean to sayno-confrontation, at least in the beginning. There is no point in starting with a confrontation with Brijesh.”When asked of the charges of financial misconduct leveled against the rival groupduring the course of the election campaign, he refrained from making any comments.”We have stated the facts and in fact we discussed these issues in the AGM (Annual General Meeting) too yesterday,” he said. “Yes we did speak about these issues during the election campaign and the facts are there but I don’t want to say anything more at this stage. The law will take its course.”On the priorities of the KSCA apart from Bangalore’s international matches in the upcoming home season, Wadiyar addressed the need to develop cricket in Karnataka, especially in the districts. He also mentioned that the proposed salary hike for all KSCA staff will be discussed later with Patel.”Promoting cricket at all levels is the number one priority,” said Wadiyar. “Improving cricket in the mofussil areas, improving the standard of club cricket, all these are issues that we need to work on.”Patel then walked in, posed for photos along with Wadiyar. There was a momentary awkward silence, which Wadiyar broke, saying “See we are sitting together and we will work together,” as the gathered media and KSCA members broke out in laughter. “We will take the best ideas from both groups and work together for the game. Yes in the campaign, a lot of words were exchanged.”But even political parties become friends once the elections are over. And here we are not talking about political parties, there are no high-strung egos. And I believe two different heads are better than one and I am sure we will work well together.”Patel then played down the pre-election jousting. “We are all sportsmen and as Wadiyar said `two heads are better than one.’ They are also sportsmen who have the good of cricket at heart and I am sure the differences can be worked out.”He also wanted to put all the mudslinging and threats of lawsuits behind him. “Let us not talk about that. It’s all over. We want to work towards improving the game. We have already done some good work and we need to carry that forward.”

Faisal Iqbal has admitted that he’s happy to carry on a family tradition of Test match backchat. He has been engaged in a summer-long battle of wits fielding at short-leg during the ongoing series against England prompting comparisons with fiery, former captain Javed Miandad… who is his uncle.”I enjoy fielding close in, I have always talked to the opposition,” Iqbal said. “They give it back too me when I’m batting. It must be in my genes. It’s natural and normal. I like to have a chat.”Iqbal hit an unbeaten 58 on Saturday in Pakistan’s 504 all out in the first innings of the fourth and final Test at The Oval as the tourists look to salvage some pride after already losing the series 2-0.The middle-order batsman Iqbal had endured a poor series up until Saturday making just 91 runs at an average of 15.16. But he was in fluid form on Saturday making the most of some wayward England bowling.”The skipper [Inzaman-ul-Haq] has always supported me and encouraged me to do well,” said Iqbal. “I have been learning from my mistakes. I enjoyed the short ball today and getting on the front foot. You have to be courageous and positive.”