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The Pakistan Cricket Board has asked bowlers from domestic cricket with suspect bowling actions to report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore for a one-week remedial workout on their actions.Intially 41 bowlers were hauled up from last season for having suspect actions, but 19 have not reported to the board at all and have thus been banned. The remaining twenty two bowlers with suspect bowling action were suspended by the board from bowling in domestic competitions and were instructed through local Regional Development Managers/Regional Development Officers to report to respective regional Head Coaches for the first phase of remedial. However, only 15 reported during the first phase while two other bowlers had informed that they had decided not to carry on bowling.During the second phase of the remedial work, which will be held between December 18 and 23, 15 bowlers have been asked to report to the NCA. After completion of the next stage of the remedial work, an analysis report of each individuals will be prepared with the help of Quintic Biomechanics Software and will be presented to the board’s Suspect Bowling Action Committee for review.The following will participate in this activity: Zaheer Aslam (Kasur), Aqeel Ahmed (Faisalabad), Tariq Mahmood (Sialkot), Ihsan Sheikh (Muridke), Ahmed Naseem (Lahore), Nadeem Javed (Sheikhupura), Asad Zahid (Rawalpindi), Munir Ansari (Rawalpindi), Noor ul Amin (Mardan), Misbah Khan (Karachi), Aftab Ahmed Khan (Karachi), Noman Hussain (Karachi), Irfanuddin (Karachi), Mudasar Manzoor (Mirpurkhas), Agha Sharique (Mirpurkhas).

Match facts

Friday, April 18, 2008Start time 20:00 local time (14:30 GMT)

The Big Picture

After months of hype, excitement, controversy and speculation the high-profile Indian Premier League kicks off in Bangalore with the Royal Challengers hosting the Kolkata Knight Riders. “Eight teams, without any players, only warriors” is the maxim for the inaugural tournament and there’s plenty riding on it. Fans from all around the world will zoom in to see players who have squared off on the international level come together to try and trump others, and many, not least the organisers who have gone to town promoting the event, will follow with bated breath. Not since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket has an event so divided and stirred up the fraternity. It might be too much for a traditionalist but against the backdrop of a cricket-crazy host country, and with plenty of huge names involved, there’s little going against the lucrative tournament.

Watch out for …

After the Chinnaswamy Stadium is plunged in darkness, a spotlight will focus on the rival captains, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. The duo has been solid for India for over well over a decade and would’ve played against each other on the domestic front but this is something completely new.Dravid and Jacques Kallis are champions for their respective countries, one recently going past 10,000 Test runs and the other soon to get there, but they’ve done little of note in Twenty20 cricket. Kallis was unceremoniously axed from the ICC World Twenty20 at home and has only played seven matches; Dravid has played only two domestic matches. Pitted together in the same team, its going to be interesting to see how they adapt.Just 21 years and six first-class games old, young Debabrata Das could be forgiven for being a bit overawed around some of his acclaimed Kolkata team-mates. But with Pakistan’s Salman Butt on international duty, Das finds himself on the verge of playing in the big opener. He’s up against fellow Bengal batsman Wriddhiman Saha, but being a wicketkeeper may go against Saha given that Kolkata have Brendon McCullum. It’s a great opportunity to impress.Not many in India would’ve followed Ashley Noffke’s career. Ushered in for Bangalore as cover for fellow Australian Nathan Bracken, he can be expected to play the first game. Noffke, 30, has played one ODI and two Twenty20s for Australia, and apart from his skills with the ball he is also a capable lower-order batsman, with two first-class centuries.

Team news

With only four overseas player allowed in a team, its unlikely that Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Cameron White will both play and White’s excellent Twenty20 record puts him ahead. With Anil Kumble ruled out through injury, White is also placed to take the lone spinner’s slot ahead of local lad KP Appanna. Kallis and Mark Boucher were expected to leave for the South African domestic Twenty20 competition but will now stay back but with Dale Steyn absent, Noffke could easily fill in. Misbah-ul-Haq will miss the opening clash because of the ongoing series in Pakistan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul is reportedly carrying an injury so another of the local boys, B Akhil or Bharat Chipli, could come into the middle order.Bangalore (likely) 1 Praveen Kumar, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Cameron White, 7 B Akhil, 8 Mark Boucher (wk), 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ashley Noffke, 11 R Vinay KumarKolkata are without Butt and Umar Gul, in Bangladesh, and that opens up slots for young Das and Ashok Dinda, the Bengal medium pacer. Ganguly has said he will open, which means the explosive McCullum would come in after Ricky Ponting at No. 3. David Hussey and an in-form Laxmi Ratan Shukla strengthen the middle order. Shukla will assist Ishant Sharma and Ajit Agarkar and Murali Kartik – with Twenty20 experience in England – adds variety with his left-arm spin and handy lower-order batting. Chris Gayle has yet to arrive for the match and so his place in some doubt.Kolkata (likely) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Brendon McCullum (wk), 5 David Hussey, 6 Debabrata Das, 7 Laxmi Ratan Shukla, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashok Dinda.

Stats and trivia

Shaun Pollock is likely to be dropped from the South Africa team for the first Test against Pakistan after the team management decided to rely on faster bowlers for matches on the subcontinental wickets.”We have been speaking to Polly about bowling less on the subcontinent since we were in Ireland in June,” Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, told . “We feel the faster bowlers will get more assistance [from the wicket].”Pollock averages 130kph to 135kph while Dale Steyn consistently bowls at speeds above 140kph and Makhaya Ntini also clocks 135kph and more. Between 1997, when he first toured the subcontinent, and 2006, Pollock has played 17 matches in the region and taken 60 wickets at 23.18 against the four sides – India (13), Pakistan (18), Bangladesh (7) and Sri Lanka (22). In comparison, Ntini has taken 28 wickets from 11 Tests at 39.42 between 2000 and 2006.Paul Harris, the left-arm spinner and Morné Morkel look certain to make the XI. “We will then select two of Ntini, André Nel and Steyn to complete the team,” Arthur said. “It’s a chance for Dale and Morné to show what they can do. It will also help strengthen our depth in bowling.”He [Pollock] is a proud player and he still believes he has a role to play in the team,” Arthur said.Pollock, who is South Africa’s highest Test wicket-taker with 416 wickets in 107 Tests, has been excluded from the team for the ongoing warm-up match against Patron’s XI.The first Test of the two-match series starts on October 1 in Karachi.

Keeping the customer satisfied
A spectator in the crowd to the left of the press box was presumably tired of watching Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan hit four after four and began to chat “We want a sixer”. Soon several hundred joined in and chanted in unison and it’s possible that Pathan heard them for he stepped out and lofted Danish Kaneria cleanly over the midwicket boundary the very next ball. The fans celebrated feverishly before chanting “We want another” as Kaneria ran in again.Entering uncharted waters
Ganguly’s celebration when he got to his century on the first day was subdued compared to Yuvraj Singh’s, after all he’d just scored one – his first in front of his home crowd – in Kolkata and celebrated with enthusiasm. However, on the second day, the Bangalore crowd witnessed another Ganguly first – his maiden double hundred – and as he sprinted through for the second run to reach the landmark, he raised his arms in celebration. There was no fist-punching or jumping but Ganguly savoured the moment just that little bit longer. Incidentally he went on to beat Vinod Kambli’s 227 for the highest score by an Indian left-hander.Doing it in style
Pathan was approaching his maiden Test century with confidence when there was a blip at the other end. After Ganguly was bowled, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were dismissed in quick succession leaving Pathan four runs away from the hundred with No 11 Ishant Sharma at the crease. Sharma survived four deliveries from Yasir Arafat but evidently didn’t fill Pathan with confidence. Off the next delivery he got to face, Pathan stepped out and lofted Kaneria into the stands at deep midwicket and broke into celebration.Desperate times
Giving a part-timer a bowl shortly before the end of a session is a common practice. The batsmen are looking forward to the break and a relatively easier bowler could cause a lapse in concentration. However, when Younis Khan turned to Salman Butt for the last over before lunch on the second day, it was more due to lack of options than anything else. Arafat, Mohammad Sami and Kaneria had toiled through the first session because of Shoaib Akhtar’s forced absence and the other options were Yasir Hameed and Younis himself.Kaneria goes down
Ganguly was timing most of his shots impeccably but the straight drive in the 111th over against Kaneria was especially well struck. It would have certainly sped towards the straight boundary had Kaneria not attempted to stop it. The ball hit him hard on his foot and he hobbled away to the side. The physio came out to check and several of the other Pakistan players gathered around. With the injury to Shoaib on the first day, Pakistan could not afford another bowler in the medical ward.Akmal’s greasy gloves
The value of his match-saving hundred in Kolkata may have distracted attention from Kamran Akmal’s drop off Sachin Tendulkar and his general poor form behind the stumps. His bout of butterfingers continued in Bangalore when he grassed an edge off Pathan off the bowling of Kaneria. He’s also conceded 13 byes in the first innings. It’s time for another valiant hundred, Kamran.Shoaib’s forced absence
Shoaib’s fitness has been an issue throughout the series and he’s often gone off the field to recuperate after bowling short spells. Today, he had to spend 205 minutes on it before he would be allowed a bowl. The forced absence was because Shoaib went off the field after the 32nd over on the first day because of back pain and did not return. As it turned out, Shoaib did not bowl even after tea on the second day as India amassed a massive total.

Chris Gayle has been retained as West Indies captain for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka in March, which involves two Tests and three one-day internationals. Gayle has recovered from a hamstring injury and broken thumb that he sustained in South Africa and the selectors decided to name him as captain ahead of Ramnaresh Sarwan.Gayle was given the captaincy for the tour of South Africa in December 2007 because Sarwan was injured and he led West Indies to their first Test victory in South Africa in Port Elizabeth. However, he had to return home before the third Test because of a hamstring injury and a broken thumb and missed the one-day series that followed after the Tests.”I heard from Sarwan. He called me and congratulated me and we talked and so on,” Gayle told CMC Sports. “There is no noise between us or anything like that. This thing won’t affect us or get between us. But he did call me and I appreciate that.”Sri Lanka’s tour of the West Indies will be their first since 2003 when they lost the Tests 0-1 but won the ODIs 2-1. Australia are scheduled to tour the Caribbean in May, after Sri Lanka complete their tour.

Stephen Fleming had been looking forward to winning in Benoni on Sunday, hesaid, “to give the wicket some”. Grumbling about the pitch after losing, hesuggested, always sounded a bit like sour grapes. But he went on and had amoan anyway.The New Zealand captain had good cause for complaint anyway in spite oflosing the second Standard Bank one-day international at Willowmoore Park inBenoni on Sunday by six wickets to South Africa and because of the defeat.By any reasonable standards, it was not a pitch suitable for internationalcricket. “It looked like a wicket that was going to deteriorate,” saidFleming. “We didn’t think it was going to deteriorate after the secondball.”Winning captain Shaun Pollock was slightly less damning. “I don’t think itplayed as bad as it might have looked,” he offered, and then immediatelyseemed to contradict himself. “The odd ball kept a bit low and sort of heldback and came through a bit slow,” noted Pollock, before adding that Benonicould be a good ODI venue “once they get a wicket that’s more conducive tostrokeplay.”Allowing for the vagaries of the pitch, then, it has to be said that theSouth Africans picked the better-suited team for the conditions and thenexploited them more capably than New Zealand.The tourists sprung something of a surprise by resting Geoff Allott andleaving out Shayne O’Connor and choosing spinners Paul Wiseman and BrookeWalker instead. The South Africans had a five-man seam-up attack at Pollock’s disposal and they all bowled straight, just short of a length and allowedthe pitch to do the work.New Zealand never really got going in making 194 for eight. Nathan Astlelaboured away for nearly 40 overs for his 58, but no one managed to staywith him as wickets fell at regular intervals. The first six wickets to fallall went either bowled or leg before and with Roger Telemachus, back in theside after a one-game suspension, near impossible to get away (10-5-16-1),the New Zealand innings failed to gather momentum at any stage.Still, they had them. South Africa had to get them and the home team neededa decent start. They got it from their second-wicket pair, Gary Kirsten andNicky Boje. Kirsten has a wealth of experience and his 57 was his 34thone-day fifty, but it is Boje who is in the best form of his life.On Friday he hammered out an unbeaten 105 at better than a run-a-ball, andon Sunday he simply picked up where he left off in Friday’s washout.As in Potchefstroom, Boje was a little scratchy to start with, but he’sfinding the gaps unerringly at the moment and he rode his luck until he cameto terms with the wicket.”I’m probably a bit like a cat with nine lives at the moment,” he grinnedafterwards.Together Kirsten and Boje put on 111 for the second wicket and althoughneither was able to see it through, they had batted New Zealand out of thematch. Boje went a little tamely in the end, chipping Chris Harris to mid onfor 64, and although Daryll Cullinan could manage no more than a 14-ballduck, Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes took South Africa home at a canter.The series moves on to SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday and to apitch that usually throws up scores of around 280 as par. Not just NewZealand will be hoping for a better pitch than Benoni.”On the whole we were disappointed with the quality of (the pitch),” saidFleming. “All concerned were disappointed. It wasn’t conducive to sportsentertainment which is what one-day cricket is all about.”Most people will agree with him.

In a statement that is likely to have a large bearing on the immediate future of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar has revealed that India’s cricketers would be most disappointed with Greg Chappell, the coach, if he questioned their attitude.In a rare public outburst, Tendulkar, not known to air his views on controversial issues, expressed his anguish. ” (Things have gone a bit too far to keep quiet). I’ve given my heart and my soul for 17 years. No coach had mentioned even in passing that my attitude was not correct,” Tendulkar told . “Cricket has been my life for all these years and will always be.”His statements come in the wake of reports that many members in the team have rallied together against Chappell and Dravid and want Tendulkar to take up their case to the board. Cricinfo had reported on the crisis in the team , one largely owing to the rift between Chappell and the senior players, and Tendulkar’s statements reinforce the players’ stance.”Tell me, the world has gone on talking about all this [our defeat and exit] but has anybody spared a thought for us?,” asked an emotional Tendulkar. “Did they try to find out what we have been going through?

“I am shattered beyond words and I feel helpless. I’ve never felt so bad in my entire career.” he said. “No matter how many Tests or one-day series you win, nothing else even comes close to a World Cup triumph. The World Cup was our passion, our collective goal, our dream and that has been shattered. And we all are terribly disappointed over it.”Tendulkar took responsibility for the World Cup debacle but responded to what he perceived as a slight to his commitment. “Again, it’s not that we are defending ourselves. We do realise that we played badly and, as a team, we take full responsibility for that. But what hurt us most is if the coach has questioned our attitude.”The Indian board’s working committee meets on April 7, following the meeting of the review committee the day before. It is expected that Chappell’s report, due to be submitted to the board before April 6, will be scathing in its criticism of the attitude of the senior players including Sourav Ganguly, Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh. The working committee meeting will be attended by BCCI’s office-bearers and seven former captains, including Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and S Venkatraghavan.

The standoff between the Indian Premier League and the media over controversial guidelines for covering the inaugural tournament looks set to ease after a meeting between officials of both sides on Monday. The IPL has toned down some of its earlier restrictions, especially benefiting the print media, though it has not relaxed its ban on websites covering matches from the ground, nor its ban on news agencies supplying websites with images.It was also disclosed that the date for submitting accreditation forms would be extended beyond the original April 8 deadline.”We have successfully concluded with them [media representatives] the way forward and there are no issues on the table,” Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, said after the meeting in Mumbai. “New media guidelines are being issued this evening, and will be published [on the IPL website].””It was two-way traffic at our discussions and it was a happy ending,” Pradeep Vijayakar, vice-president of the Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI), said.Barry Parker, South-East Asia bureau chief of Agence France Presse (AFP), told Cricinfo that he and the international media coalition that also includes AP and Getty Images are waiting for the written version of the new guidelines before they decide on their next step. Parker had earlier said the terms and conditions as existed “don’t allow us to cover the event.”The day’s bad news was reserved for websites, whose representatives will be granted accreditation for the tournament but not match tickets, enabling them to report on pre- and post-match activity but barring them from the press box during play. This, IPL officials said, is because the league wishes to protect the portal rights it has sold to an American firm.The other contentious clause that remains is preventing news agencies from selling their pictures to websites, who will have to source images from the IPL database. Modi said the IPL’s planned photo database would integrate resources that can take about 10,000 photographs on a single day at various venues.”That makes things difficult,” Parker commented. “There’s more than one issue as far as the AFP is concerned.”However, there was resolution on other major contentious issues, largely surrounding use of images. Contrary to the earlier guidelines, the IPL will not have the rights, free and without restrictions, to all photographs taken at the matches; and news organisations will not have to upload on the IPL site, within 24 hours, all images taken at the ground. The IPL has also allowed newspapers with their own web publication to upload six different pictures on their online photo galleries in addition to the pictures published in print.

The IPL also relaxed its limit of accreditations for each organisation – there will now be two accreditations each for reporters and photographers from any media house.”There has been a misunderstanding to a certain extent as far as the guidelines and there was no clarity on the guidelines,” Modi said.The original guidelines, published last week, had provoked widespread outrage in the media. The influential Editors’ Guild of India criticised the “prohibitive conditions” that it said were “unprecedented and unacceptable to the Indian media.”The SJFI had also issued a statement expressing “alarm and concern” over the IPL’s conditions and asked that the “unfair and unethical restrictions being placed on the media be withdrawn unconditionally”.

ScorecardSteve Tikolo drew on all his experience with a masterful 89, remaining unbeaten at the end, to take Kenya to a tense one-wicket win over Bermuda in the final one-dayer in Nairobi. In doing so, Kenya swept the series 3-0.Tikolo won the match with an emphatic six off Rodney Trott over long-off, but Bermuda’s bowlers were well on top for much of Kenya’s innings. Tikolo eventually found good support in Jimmy Kamande (22) until Trott, the pick of the bowlers, bowled him around his legs. And 131 for 5 quickly became 134 for 7 when Nehemiah Odhiambo was bowled through the gate by Dwayne Leverock’s sharply turning offbreak, leaving Kenya struggling.Tikolo was fast in danger of being stranded once Hiren Varaiya’s careless slog handed Trott his fourth wicket. But with 14 required, and one wicket remaining, Tikolo finally took command and picked off nine runs off a wayward over from Malachi Jones. A huge six over long-off ended the match and the series.Bermuda’s bowling performance was encouraging, and certainly an improvement on the previous two ODIs, but again their batsmen let them down. Four registered ducks (including three of their top five) and five batsman were bowled, either shuffling across their stumps in the case of Stephen Outerbridge, or misreading the turn ala Janeiro Tucker. Only Jekon Edness, the young wicketkeeper, seemed prepared to battle with a fine 72.Kenya and Bermuda’s Intercontinental Cup clash begins on November 1 at the Gymkhana.

Andrew Flintoff will return for England as a fully-fledged allrounder and not a specialist batsman after his latest ankle surgery, according to chairman of selectors David Graveney.Flintoff, who has already missed the first two Tests of the ongoing series against the West Indies and will sit out the third Test, underwent his third ankle operation in as many years last week.The injury is believed to be a result of the massive strain his large frame puts on his ankle during delivery. With a packed international schedule, it has been suggested in some quarters that he reduce his workload and play as a batsman only in ODIs to prolong his career.But Graveney was confident Flintoff would make a full recovery and play a full part with England. “It’s an interesting theory,” said Graveney. “But as far as we’re concerned Freddie is injured and has a number of weeks to get over this operation but when he comes back we would anticipate him taking part in all forms of cricket whether it is one-day or Test matches.”There has been a lot of speculation about whether Freddie will continue in the role he has been as one of the leading all-rounders in world cricket, but we believe he’ll be playing a full part for England before the end of the summer.” After the West Indies series, India are due to arrive for three Tests and a series of ODIs.”Freddie had his operation on Friday and there is nothing they found there which they weren’t expecting, although there’s some debris in his ankle,” Graveney added.England, who have named an unchanged XI for the third Test against the West Indies, are suffering from a spate of injuries to their fast bowlers; in addition to Flintoff, they are without Matthew Hoggard. Simon Jones, who was so influential in the 2005 Ashes success, has not played internationally since then and Sajid Mahmood is due to undergo a double hernia operation that will keep him out for most of the summer.