Cricket Australia’s recent paranoia about what its leading performers can and cannot say might finally be easing, with players expected to be given greater licence in the future to speak their minds.The board plans to show greater leniency towards players who speak out critically or controversially on issues such as team selection, according to reports today in News Limited newspapers.Two seasons ago the fast bowler Matthew Nicholson was hit with a suspended one-match ban for saying he was reconsidering his future after being dropped by Western Australia. Brad Hogg was censured for urging a fellow player – within the privacy of a team meeting – to lift his game, while Adam Gilchrist was hauled over the coals for querying the legitimacy of Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action at a football luncheon.Last summer Brad Williams and Andy Bichel were both reprimanded for publicly grumbling about being dropped. Murray Goodwin, the Zimbabwean-born WA batsman, was officially rebuked after expressing misgivings about race-based selection processes in his homeland.The outbreak of slightly over-the-top punishments for largely innocent public remarks has provoked unease among some cricket followers. They fear that players’ personalities are being squashed and that the game, as a result, is no longer throwing up the same galaxy of larger-than-life characters who wore the baggy green in past decades.The players too are worried about the issue: a recent survey by the Australian Cricketers Association found that the Australian players were unanimous in their wish for greater freedom to speak their minds and vent their frustrations.”I think we need to take a more general view,” said the board’s operations manager Michael Brown. “Cricket Australia is working with the players on what is and isn’t detrimental to the game.”Tim May, chief executive of the players’ association, envisaged a possible “slackening” in the board’s approach to player freedom. “It is our understanding that Cricket Australia will adopt a more reasonable attitude – a greater level of understanding for the players’ circumstances – in determining whether to lay a charge or not,” May said. “That’s good for them and good for the public.”But he warned only time would tell: “Whether or not the players are being allowed more freedom, we will only know when a live situation comes along.”The main point of contention revolves around section one, clause 10 of the board’s code of behaviour. Headed “Detrimental Public Comment”, it states: “Players and officials must not make any public or media comment which is detrimental to the interests of the game or to a tour or series of matches in which they are or are likely to be involved.”It goes on to say that they cannot “denigrate” a country they are playing against, nor make “detrimental comment” about the “prospects of a selection of a player” or the “prospects of appointment of any official”.The key issue is how this loosely worded clause is interpreted; what constitutes “detrimental comment”? The feeling among players is that the board has been over-zealous in its interpretation.”The players definitely feel limited in what they can say,” Ian Healy, the association president, said recently. “If the players can be more relaxed but the guidelines are still there, you’ll see more freedom of speech.”

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.

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lankan captain, has responded to Matthew Hayden’s remark of subcontinental batsmen targeting personal landmarks. Ranatunaga said that Australian cricketers were not willing to “absorb” the success of Asian teams and even cited Hayden’s record-breaking innings, when he scored 380 against Zimbabwe, as an example of targeting personal milestones.”The best question you can ask him [Hayden] is why he batted till he got past the world record. They should have declared much before that,” Ranatunga was quoted as saying in a report by the Press Trust of India.”I feel when subcontinent cricketers are doing well, they [Australians] cannot absorb it. And it has been the pattern for so many years. The bottom line is that the subcontinental cricketers are very gifted and talented. It is the way they use their wrists and I think they are more natural sportsmen.”Ranatunga also added that he wasn’t surprised with Hayden’s comments and said, “I am quite used to it. The best thing is to perform with the bat and ball.” He touched upon the Australian tactic of mental disintegration when he said, “Normally they start with the top players and they try to put the mind into a different line.”There was also a mention of the current Indian side and Ranatunga likened them to his victorious team that won the World Cup in 1996. “I have always felt that it [the Indian team] was more like the side we had in 1996 with seven batsmen and four bowlers. Only thing is that they have to work little more on their fielding and fitness. If they do that, I am sure they will have a pretty good chance of winning the next World Cup.”

Sunil Gavaskar believes Sourav Ganguly’s form is plummeting because the Indian captain is spending too much time worrying about his team-mates. Gavaskar, who joined the squad as a batting consultant after receiving a call from Ganguly, now has him as one of his biggest problems.Ganguly made 45 in the first innings of the first Test but the nine he made at Chennai was torturous. Lacking in confidence and poking tentatively at Michael Kasprowicz’s off-cutters, he was dropped on nought and four before falling to Jason Gillespie. “As captain he is always bothered about the performances of the others,” Gavaskar said. “As a result his own batting has suffered. He should get over it.”Ganguly is struggling to find the right opening partner for Virender Sehwag and of greater concern is the inability of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman to torment Australia again. Laxman has 38 runs in three innings while Dravid has made 86 and Ganguly 59. “They are all quality players, they have all performed in the past,” said Gavaskar.The imminent return of Sachin Tendulkar for the third Test will be easing Ganguly’s mind. Tendulkar has been having a daily net session at the MIG Cricket Club in Mumbai, where he played as a boy.Tendulkar’s last game was a one-dayer on August 1 but Ganguly denied such a long layoff would make him too rusty. “I don’t think it will be a problem,” said Ganguly. “He is a cricketer par excellence. He will be able to get back into rhythm straight away.”Tendulkar’s latest net session began with barely a soul in sight. He started by bowling his legspinners with a yellow and red tennis ball. He batted while one of his best mates, Atul Ranade, bowled. Tendulkar faced a tennis ball for a few minutes then graduated to a match ball.Ranade bowled slowly until Tendulkar told him to “make it interesting”. Tendulkar stroked cover drives and late cuts and most of the other shots in his wide repertoire. Not once did he wince in pain. Asked whether he would play at Nagpur he said: “Should know in four days.” Tendulkar will have a fitness test on Sunday.

Australia’s women’s cricket team, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, will play seven one-dayers and a one-day practice game in a three-week long tour of India.This will be Australia’s first tour of India in over 20 years, notwithstanding the World Cup in 1997-98. Australia emerged victorious in the World Cup, beating New Zealand by five wickets in the finals at Eden Gardens.Australia begin with a game against India A at Mysore on December 9, and will then play the first two games of the series at the same venue.After the tour, Australia will take on New Zealand at Perth before embarking on a World Cup campaign to South Africa, which will be followed by the Ashes in August 2005.Itinerary of India tour
December 9 Australians v India `A’
December 11 Australia v India
December 13 Australia v India
December 16 Australia v India
December 19 Australia v India
December 22 Australia v India
December 24 Australia v India
December 28 Australia v India Australia squad 1 Belinda Clark (captain), 2 Karen Rolton, 3 Alex Blackwell, 4 Kate Blackwell, 5 Leonie Coleman, 6 Shelley Nitschke, 7 Cathryn Fitzpatrick, 8 Julie Hayes, 9 Melanie Jones, 10 Lisa Keightley, 11 Clea Smith, 12 Lisa Sthalekar, 13 Emma Twining

Vijay Hazare, the former Indian captain, has died in Vadodara after a prolonged illness. Hazare, 89, was suffering from intestinal cancer and had been kept on a life-support system in a private clinic for the last couple of days. The end came on Saturday afternoon.Hazare led India to their first Test victory, against England at Madras in 1951-52. He captained India in 14 of his 30 Tests, in which he scored 2192 runs at the impressive average of 47.65, with seven centuries – two of them in the same match, against Don Bradman’s “Invincible” Australians at Adelaide in 1947-48. There were two more in his first two matches as captain, against England in that 1951-52 series.He was one of the heaviest runscorers in the history of Indian domestic cricket, and once put together a run of 264, 81, 97, 248, 59, 309, 101 and 223 in first-class matches in 1943 and 1944. He shared a mammoth 577-run partnership with Gul Mohammad in the Ranji Trophy final between Baroda and Holkar in 1946-47, a world record for any wicket in first-class cricket.

Inzamam-ul-Haq has revealed his doubt over leading Pakistan, a mindset that doubtless has a great deal to do with the rigours of the current tour. Inzamam’s comments came in the wake of a tumultuous week for Pakistan, in which a rape allegation was levelled against one of their players.”I am uncertain about it,” Inzamam told when asked about his future as captain. “There’s been a lot of criticism in Pakistan about me. I am not feeling good on the inside and I am not sure whether it is something I want to keep doing.”After Pakistan were crushed in the three-Test series, where he missed two Tests due to injury, Inzamam had to contend with scathing remarks from various quarters. Inzamam admitted that it was the “hardest tour” that he had been on. “The Australian tour is always hard,” he said. “The conditions are different and Australia is the best team in the world. But this tour has been harder than normal, especially for me.”Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, had termed Pakistan’s performance “spineless” and suggested that Younis Khan be given the captaincy. Pakistan are scheduled to tour West Indies in May and Inzamam said he would consider the future of his captaincy at the end of that tour. “I don’t know why he [Imran] is doing this and saying these things,” Inzamam said. “It is disappointing. It’s not good for me and not good for the young boys in the team. Criticism is OK. But I don’t think the performances have been that bad.”Inzamam found some form in the last two games of the VB Series with a composed 68 in the four-wicket loss to Australia at Hobart and a rapid 62 from 51 deliveries that took his side to victory against West Indies at the Gabba.

Scorecard

What should have been the showpiece of New Zealand’s domestic cricket, the State Shield final, turned into another damp squib as a result of the pitch at New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park.The two best teams qualified for the final, and after some of the cricket they had played this year, it was reasonable to expect a high-scoring contest. But it wasn’t to be. Overnight rain meant the pitch favoured the medium-fast bowlers and batsmen rarely had an opportunity on the slow, holding pitch.Too often in New Zealand the conditions have dictated, and this was yet another example. Under the circumstances, Daniel Vettori, the ND captain, demonstrated his knowledge of the captaincy craft in an emphatic manner that left no doubts his future prospects as a leader of his county. To defend 190 against a team that has made run-scoring the feature of its campaign this year, on a ground that he had never played on before, was an exceptional effort.ND were asked to bat first and would have been concerned over their lowly total, but it didn’t show in the field. Of their batsmen Alun Evans, the Glamorgan professional, played a watchful innings that grew in stature the further the innings went. He scored 39, but in the end it was worth much more. So too, were the lower-order contributions by Peter McGlashan (19 not out), Joseph Yovich (17) and Daryl Tuffey (13)CD made a calculated start in their chase for their target with Jamie How (14) and Craig Spearman (10) getting them through the first stages. But Vettori’s decision to bowl his spearheads, Graeme Aldridge and Daryl Tuffey, for longer than usual proved worthwhile and they got the breakthrough which left CD 32 for 3.Mathew Sinclair batted well, but while his captain attempted to see the side through, he lost partners too regularly and was left on 40 not out at the end. Aldridge again did the damage, taking four for 38 off nine overs, and in the process he broke the record for most wickets in a domestic summer in New Zealand. He ended with 30, two more than Andre Adams’s old record.

New South Wales 3 for 200 (Cunneen 56, Keightley 49, Goszko 43*) beat Victoria 179 (Edwards 64, Hayes 4-31) by 21 runs
ScorecardNew South Wales Breakers can wrap up their eighth Women’s National Cricket League trophy in nine seasons tomorrow, after beating Victoria Spirit by 21 runs in the opening match at Bankstown Oval in Sydney.Julia Hayes, the captain, led her side to victory with 4 for 31 from 10 overs, while Kate Blackwell was involved in two run-outs as the Victoria chase regularly stumbled. The Spirit began badly when Belinda Clark and Mel Jones were gone by 23, and the target proved too difficult despite Sarah Edwards’s half-century.New South Wales began brilliantly with Lisa Keightley (49) and Shannon Cunneen, who made 56 from 82 balls, putting on 103 for the first wicket after being sent in to bat. The decision further backfired for Victoria when late hitting from Michelle Goszko and Martha Winch steered them to 200.The best-of-three series continues at Bankstown Oval tomorrow, with a third match slated for Sunday if required.

Last night, Anil Kumble’s critics – and there are still a fair few pesky individuals around, eyes opaque from too many pints of nostalgia – were challenging his assertion that India could defend 300 runs on the final day at the Eden Gardens. Not having learnt anything from large lashings of humble pie, they defied him to walk the talk. Today, such sad individuals will once again be scurrying for shadows to blend into after India’s greatest-ever bowler thumbed his nose at the cynics for the umpteenth time.Kumble has built a career on his ability to quieten the naysayers, delivering time and again when asked to. Almost every single Indian victory of consequence since 1993 has had his inimitable imprint on it, and today, his contribution was that of a colossus. Starting with a fiendishly clever delivery darted down the leg side – the manner in which Dinesh Karthik affected the stumping suggested that some thought had gone into the dismissal – which flummoxed Younis Khan, he was relentless, probing away with the boundless enthusiasm and tremendous accuracy that are his calling cards. No batsman mastered him, not Inzamam-ul-Haq – whose hesitant innings was ended by an equally half-hearted prod – and certainly not Yousuf Youhana, whose out-of-character stodginess was halted by a faint tickle that flew to forward short leg off the pad.But to suggest that this was some one-man show would be a grave injustice. Lakshmipathy Balaji did the hard yards in conditions that offered little encouragement, picking up Taufeeq Umar with a magnificent delivery, while Harbhajan Singh – despite being some way below his usual Eden self – bottled up one end and constantly harassed Asim Kamal, who ground out the most accomplished and composed innings on view.It was Kumble, though, who never allowed any batsman to impose their own rhythm, varying his pace, trajectory and line constantly. The flighted delivery would be followed by the express one, and that which accounted for a flabbergasted Abdul Razzaq was a throwback to his mid-1990s halcyon years when batsmen grew accustomed to looking back and seeing their stumps splayed in grotesque fashion.Back in those days, however, there was always the insinuation that Kumble merely profited from designer dustbowls that made a mockery of Test cricket – never mind that India invariably totalled in excess of 500 on them. Today, there was no scope for such back-handed compliments. Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Khalil and Danish Kaneria, who aren’t exactly in the Sunil Gavaskar class when it comes to playing the turning ball, played out 107 deliveries between them on a pitch that was up-and-down – like most fifth-day surfaces – without ever being unplayable.At Mohali, Kumble has fallen a little short of his own exceptional standards, stymied by a placid pitch and a lack of consistent support. Here, there was enough in the surface to prompt a spinner to unveil his repertoire, but even then, with a touch of luck and without the periodic interventions from a tireless individual, Pakistan could certainly have pulled off a second successive great escape.In recent times, Kumble has experimented far more than he once did, often sacrificing metronomic accuracy for variation. Here, there was both, and he conceded only 161 runs from the 75.1 overs that he bowled in the match. Pakistan, who had no answers when he scalped 14 for 149 at Delhi six years ago, still play him with a distinct lack of assurance. While his 460 career wickets have cost him 27.76 apiece, the 53 against Pakistan have come at 23.34, and a stunning strike-rate of 48.21.Mind you, none of those figures will mean anything to the blind snipers. Only Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne of the modern-day titans have won matches more often than Kumble, but while they are rightly venerated where they come from, Kumble will have to keep shutting nonsense-spewing mouths till the day he walks off a cricket pitch for the last time. Being the champion that he is, even that will probably be with the match-ball in hand.