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POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa, Feb 3 AAP – Steve Waugh’s absence is regrettable.He’s left the team without a motto.What is Ricky Ponting doing?Australia always had a motto when Waugh was captain.Most times, anyway. They were great.He came up with ‘No Regrets’ for the 1999 World Cup.Other expeditions were filed under catchy little phrases like ‘Never Satisfied’.Waugh spent an entire Ashes series mumbling “never satisfied, lads” from gully.And now?Nothing.A rumour spread this morning about the use of ‘No Excuses’.Perfect, perfect. Nods of approval everywhere.But then it was revealed ‘No Excuses’ was not the motto for this tour and even more alarmingly, there was to be no motto at all.Tragic.Australia needs a motto and it’s not too late to get one.The first game is still a week away.’No Excuses’ really would be would be perfect, reflecting the players’ belief that all things being equal, they should win this tournament.If they lose, they will have no-one to blame but themselves.No excuses.Going through unbeaten is not beyond the realms of possibility.They have wicket-taking and economical bowlers, run-hungry batsmen capable of dominating or dabbing, fieldsmen happy to throw themselves all over the place, a spinner who is out of this world, an aura of invincibility and an aggressive, progressive leader.Even if he can’t find a motto.South Africa has jumped on the motto bandwagon, adopting one that sounds vaguely familiar: `No Regrets’.Waugh should have put it under copyright.Surely the hosts could have been more imaginative.”Don’t Choke’ would have been good.Other nations are believed to be considering the following:India – No Quicks.Zimbabwe – No Matches.England – No Hope.New Zealand – Please, No.Sri Lanka – No Ball.

Ben Smith’s maiden CricInfo Championship century of the summer helped put Leicestershire in command on the opening day of their clash with Kent in Canterbury.Batting first on a sublime pitch, Leicestershire and Smith in particular took advantage of unusually short St Lawrence boundaries and some mediocre Kent bowling to post 296 for four come the close.Prodigal son Trevor Ward, the former Kent opener who graced Canterbury for 14 years before his switch to the East Midland two years ago, suffered a disappointing return when he went to the second ball of the day.Pushing forward to a lifting leg-cutter he edged to Paul Nixon to become the first of three victims for Martin Saggers.That bought together Iain Sutcliffe and Smith for a second wicket stand worth 190 in 75 overs – a new record for the Foxes against Kent beating Laurie Potter and James Whitaker’s 176 in Folkestone back in 1989.Smith scored his ton in 246 minutes and with 13 fours and Sutcliffe reached his half-century from the next delivery from 184-balls and with six boundaries.Their stand came to an end three balls after tea when Smith aimed to drive at Saggers but lifted the ball enough for Matthew Walker to claim the catch at cover.Sutcliffe’s vigil ended when he risked a single to Min Patel at cover, only to be sent back by Daniel Marsh and lose the race to re-gain his ground when Nixon whipped off the bails.Marsh made amends, however, lifting the tempo and the spirit of the innings with a chirpy 72 with 12 fours before falling in the final over of the day after being undone by the extra bounce of the new ball.

It would appear to be a fair statement to make that West Ham United endured something of a nightmare in the January transfer window.

Indeed, despite David Moyes making it abundantly clear that he had money to spend in the winter market, as well as the 58-year-old having identified three positions in his first-team squad that he felt required reinforcements, the Scot went into February with exactly the same group as players he had at his disposal in December.

However, this was not through the lack of trying – on the face of it, at least – with the Hammers reportedly seeing bids rejected for Benfica centre-forward Darwin Nunez, Leeds United duo Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha and Atalanta hitman Duvan Zapata.

Furthermore, in comments made towards the end of February, Moyes also revealed that West Ham came extremely close to landing Luis Diaz in the January window – only for Liverpool to beat the Irons to the £37m signing of the 25-year-old winger.

Speaking about his interest in the Colombia international, the 58-year-old said: “We were quite far down the line to sign him from Porto. My understanding was Liverpool were going to come in for him in the summer, and I was going to try to get him in January.

“I don’t know if us trying to get him in January affected Liverpool’s decision but he’s a really good player. I really hoped that he was going to choose West Ham. We didn’t get him in but our ambition to sign the best players to improve West Ham is good.”

Moyes had a nightmare on Diaz

Considering just how impressive Diaz has been since his January switch to Liverpool, the fact that West Ham appeared to be extremely close to sealing a deal for the winger is sure to come as disappointing news to the London Stadium faithful.

Indeed, over his six Premier League appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side so far this season, the £58.5m-rated forward has been in electric form, having already scored two goals and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 3.2 shots and making 1.8 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the player who Andy Robertson dubbed both a “special” and “unplayable” talent average a quite extraordinary SofaScore match rating of 7.18, ranking him as Liverpool’s eighth-best player in the top flight of English football.

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As such, it is clear for all to see that the €67k-per-week (£56k-per-week) sensation would have made a fantastic addition to West Ham’s current attacking arsenal – leading us to believe that missing out on the 25-year-old’s signing this winter has proven to be a nightmare for Moyes and his side.

AND in other news: DM can land the next Bowen as WHU plot bid for “special” 20 y/o “destined for the top”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Damien Martyn’s 60 wasn’t enough as India XI completed a ten-run win over World XI © ICL

The ICL India XI may have not reached a target they would have expected after a solid start, but a superb spell of bowling (4-1-10-1) from Syed Mohammed left ICL World XI with a stiff task during their chase, and despite Damien Martyn’s 60, it was India XI that prevailed to clinch the title.India XI, looking for their fourth successive win, decided to bat at the toss. The going was slow, with Johan van der Wath bowling a maiden first up and Daryl Tuffey conceding only one in his opening over. However, from then on, G Vignesh and Ibrahim Khaleel picked up steam as they put on an opening stand of 76.Khaleel, who was later declared the Player of the Series, fell for a run-a-ball 34. Vignesh, dropped early in his innings, was the more aggressive of the openers, and was severe on Andrew Hall, hitting a six and two fours off the South African. Vignesh survived a stumping chance off Upul Chandana on 38, and brought up his fifty as India XI went past the 100-mark, before he fell to the same bowler for 57.However, World XI fought back well in the latter half of the India XI innings, with Russel Arnold conceding only six runs off his two overs. At 104 for 2 after 13 overs, India XI looked poised for a score over 160, but the last seven overs only fetched 44 runs as they were restricted to 148. Hall and Chandana finished with two wickets apiece.Matthew Elliott perished early during World XI’s reply, but Martyn and Vincent kept the runs ticking over and after eight overs, they were at 61 for 1. Mohammed then came into the attack, and his first two overs went for only one run each. Martyn had till then dominated the scoring, and Vincent had begun to gather momentum, hitting a six followed by a four off T Kumaran and Ali Murtaza. However, Mohammed had him stumped in his second over.The runs from then onwards came at less than the required-rate for World XI, and the pressure got to the batsmen, with captain Chris Cairns and Martyn dismissed by run-outs. Despite the best efforts from the rest, the target remained unconquerable; a ten-run win capped a four-match unbeaten streak that helped India XI conquer the title. Vignesh won the match prize, with two wickets to add to his fifty.

Marlon Samuels: called up as Ramnaresh Sarwan’s replacement© Getty Images

The Jamaican batsman, Marlon Samuels, has been drafted into the West Indian squad as a replacement for their injured captain, Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was forced out of the tour after damaging his shoulder in a fielding accident at Headingley last week.Samuels, 26, was surprisingly overlooked for the original squad, after featuring in last month’s World Cup, where he made 63 in the opening match against Pakistan, and 51 in the narrow one-wicket defeat against England at Bridgetown.In Tests, however, the big-hitting Samuels has consistently underperformed, averaging just 28.21 from 23 matches. His solitary century came against India in Kolkata five years ago, although in the absence of such big names as Sarwan and Brian Lara, the selectors hope that he can finally fulfil his promise.The captaincy, meanwhile, is set to pass to Daren Ganga, who deputised at Headingley after Sarwan had damaged his AC joint after landing heavily while trying to prevent a boundary.In the absence of their captain, West Indies lost the Headingley Test by a record margin of an innings and 283 runs, thanks to a career-best 226 from Kevin Pietersen, and Ryan Sidebottom’s eight-wicket haul. Their next match, a three-day fixture against MCC in Durham, gets underway on Friday, before the third Test at Old Trafford begins on June 7.

Glenn McGrath has reasons to look pensive © AFP

Glenn McGrath is expecting a pay cut after taking time off to support his wife during her battle with cancer in Cricket Australia’s list of its 25 contracted players for the 2006-07 international season.The season is an important one, in which Australia will attempt first to regain the Ashes at home and then retain the World Cup in the West Indies soon after. reported that McGrath’s management team was certain the 36-year-old would slide down the rankings list, having missed Australia’s recent tours of South Africa and Bangladesh due to his wife’s illness.Despite another consistent international year – 43 wickets in 10 Tests, and 16 wickets in 16 ODIs – by the time McGrath is back his absence from the national side will have stretched to ten months. That absence, believes McGrath, is likely to result in a drop down Australia’s rankings and a pay cut.Warren Craig, McGrath’s manager, while confirming the player intends to return to international duties for Australia’s next fixture, a triangular one-day series in Pakistan leading into the Champions Trophy, acknowledged that Stuart Clark’s emergence during the South Africa tour and Brett Lee’s good form may leave his client with a reduced role over the coming year.”Glenn isn’t expecting to hold his existing place on the list,” Craig told . “He was fairly high last year and he is realistic about things this time around. We will meet with Cricket Australia and find out officially where he is in the next couple of weeks. But he is expecting to slip a bit, just hopefully not too much.”The biggest beneficiaries, the paper reported, are likely to be Michael Hussey and Brett Lee, on the back of exceptional performances over the last season. Hussey, in particular, has had a phenomenal season; since making his Test debut he has scored 1139 runs at 75.93 in 11 matches and also played 35 of his 40 one-day internationals over the past year. Lee’s return to the Test arena after an 18-month absence, has seen him transformed into Australia’s spearhead. In 17 Tests, he has taken 72 wickets and his ODI performances have been impressive as usual, claiming 51 wickets at 25.29 from 31 appearances.Mick Lewis, Cameron White and James Hopes have not been so lucky and have been taken off the contracts list entirely, while Clark, Phil Jaques and Mitchell Johnson have been offered full contracts for the first time. Mark Cosgrove and Brett Dorey also miss out on a contract. Jaques, soon to be married, was pleased to learn of his contract though he was realistic about his immediate chances. “I am behind Australia’s best opening partnership of all time, so I have to bide my time for opportunities to come up. It would be a dream come true to play a revenge Ashes series this summer.”Cricket Australia will inform all players of their ranking and earnings over the next fortnight. Michael Brown, operations manager, did reveal that the base contract would increase from $145,000 to $150,000, while match payments of $12,250 for Tests and $4900 for one-day internationals would not change. The top contract, for the likes of Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist, and the entire payment pool would remain confidential.

Andrew Strauss has added another prize to his Man-of-the-Series award against South Africa © Getty Images

Andrew Strauss has capped a “dream” year by being named England’s Player of the Year in London. Strauss, the 28-year-old opening batsman, picked up five centuries in his first 12 Tests and said the award was a great honour.”It has gone far better than I ever thought it would,” he told . “The key was getting runs early on and proving to myself I could play at that level.”Strauss boosted England with a Man-of-the-Series display in the win over South Africa as he scored 656 runs and collected three hundreds. “The only chance I have had to sit down and reflect upon what has happened was after the tour of South Africa,” he said. “When we did get a break I just thought ‘that was a hell of a 12 months’. I really have been living the dream.”Despite a poor start to the county season, Strauss is ready for the Bangladesh series that starts on Thursday. His stunning rise also helped England to an unprecedented unbeaten year in 2004. “It is easier to perform in a successful side,” he said. “You can afford to go out and be positive about the way you play and back your gameplan. We have all fed off each other over the past year.”

Brian Lara on Viv Richards: ‘To consider disrespecting him is unthinkable’ © Touchline

Brian Lara has denied reports that he overruled Viv Richards, West Indies’ chief selector, by changing his team moments before the toss at the start of the fourth Test at Centurion. In his column for the Trinidad Guardian, Lara said that he had great respect for Richards and that to “consider disrespecting him is unthinkable”.Neil Manthorp, writing for Wisden Cricinfo, said that Lara reinstated the fast bowler Mervyn Dillon to the starting XI even though Richards had insisted on his omission. “Lara asked him [Graeme Smith] whether he was carrying a pen,” wrote Manthorp. “A perplexed Smith looked in his pocket, found a pen and offered it to Lara. Odd became odder when Lara asked Smith to make the change himself, holding the teamsheet and requesting that Smith put a line through Adam Sanford’s name and write ‘Dillon’ in its place. A dazed Smith duly did as he was told.”Lara insisted that the decision to play Dillon rather than Sanford came about because of the state of the pitch. “After looking at the pitch, I noticed that there were visible cracks and moisture, which would have worked in Dillon’s favour, because of his height,” wrote Lara. “Sir Viv was not there and he had to be contacted. When I reached him, he agreed and, as you know, Dillon was selected.”Lara added that the article was penned by a foreign journalist (Manthorp is a leading South African cricket writer), although Tony Cozier, writing on the series for various Caribbean-based newspapers, reported that Manthorp’s version of events had supporters. He wrote: “Individuals who were in the middle when the toss was made have confirmed the report that Lara did belatedly alter the team-sheet.”Ricky Skerritt, the West Indian team manager, refused to confirm or deny the matter. “I am out of the loop as far as team selection is concerned,” he said. “You would have to ask Brian or Sir Viv.”

After a drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka in their last match, to say nothing of defeat in the final Ashes Test, Australia got back to winning ways in the latest VB Series encounter with a tense victory over England in Hobart. With a hundred from Damien Martyn, and some wayward English bowling, Australia managed to get just enough to withstand an opening partnership of 165 by Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight that appeared to have put England right on course for a win. Then a mid-order collapse left the later batsmen with just too much to do and Australia got home by a mere seven runs.The Australians had suffered a collapse at the start of their innings. They were reduced to 53 for three in the eleventh over, having lost Adam Gilchrist – given out lbw despite an inside edge – and Ricky Ponting to Jimmy Anderson before Matthew Hayden gave a return catch to Steve Harmison’s second ball.It was a day, however, when Harmison’s radar proved to be on the blink. He bowled five wides in that first over, and 11 in total during his eight overs. The total of 22 wides in the innings proved to be England’s undoing. The Australian bowlers delivered only two wides and six no balls throughout the England innings and England coach Duncan Fletcher will no doubt impress on his attack that in this form of cricket such indiscipline can prove to be costly, as it did here.After the dismissal of Hayden, Martyn began to stage the recovery, featuring in century partnerships with both Michael Bevan and Jimmy Maher. Bevan is as adept as anyone in world cricket in these situations. He was ruffled by being hit on the grille by Anderson, but came through to restore Australia to a competitive position.When Bevan fell for 52, edging a ball from Ian Blackwell onto his stumps, Australia were 171 for four after 35 overs, allowing the new batsman, Maher, to play with more freedom. But while he was seeing the innings through with a run-a-ball 49, Martyn was also becoming more expansive so that 89 runs came from the final ten overs.Martyn was dropped by Paul Collingwood off Anderson when he was on 51. It was one of a number of missed opportunities by England, but this proved to be the most costly by far as Martyn steered Australia towards a defendable total. After facing 113 balls and taking nine fours, he turned the last ball of the innings off Andrew Caddick to fine leg for another boundary to bring up his fourth one-day international hundred.Glenn McGrath was back in the Australian attack but he suffered like all the bowlers as Knight and Trescothick got the innings away to a perfect start for England. However, it was not his bowling that proved painful to McGrath for he was not leaking runs at the same rate as the others. It was his back, and he was forced to limp from the field after bowling seven overs.After such a good start, it was the fall of Knight’s wicket when he was bowled by Andy Bichel for 85 that began a collapse that saw seven wickets fall for the addition of 99 runs inside the last 20 overs of the innings. Left-arm wrist-spinner Brad Hogg picked up three of those wickets, including Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood in one over as England lost the momentum given them by the openers.Nasser Hussain stayed to anchor the innings, but found nobody to support him and inject the necessary acceleration as overs ran out. There was a brief period when Alec Stewart appeared to be doing just that, adding 41 in five overs with Hussain for the sixth wicket. Had this pair been able to bat through to the end in this fashion, England would have got home with something to spare.Australia’s fielding had not been flawless, but Martyn made no mistake when holding Stewart off the bowling of Shane Watson. Watson, given the last over, then bowled Hussain for 43 with the 38th ball the captain had faced. Caddick took two off the next ball but two swings and two misses off the final two balls saw England’s total remain seven runs short of Australia’s and it was the home side who secured their place in the finals.