Manoj Tiwary could not wait to get that India cap but now the man who had refused to recognise pressure or fear will have to learn a new, perhaps tougher trait – patience. While he sits and ponders, he can reflect on what Ravi Shastri said in Kolkata when Rahul Dravid got injured in the nets. “Getting injured is a part of the enjoyment process. This is not a game of marbles; it is a sport and you are bound to get injured.” But so soon?At the preparatory camp in Kolkata, Tiwary had impressed both Dravid and Shastri with his eagerness and enthusiasm. Ironically, it is that same enthusiasm which cost him his debut. Watching the incident, at Tuesday’s outfielding practice drill, at close quarters, one could immediately sense that Tiwary had had a bad fall. Yuvraj Singh had twice taken it easy and hadn’t risked his braced knee by diving to save a similar boundary. Tiwary, though, too young and fast to contemplate the consequences of a false move, dived to save that ball as if four runs were required off the last ball of a match.He saved the four all right but as he fell things slowed down. Unsuspecting team-mates shouted, “Manoj, char ja raha hai!. (It’s going for four!)” Tiwary didn’t get up, and waited for John Gloster to come and attend to him. Initial applause for the effort was slowly replaced by concern. That boundary didn’t really matter. His tour, now, for all practical purposes, has ended, as Cricinfo reported yesterday and Dravid confirmed today. “He probably won’t be available for the series. It’s really disappointing and we feel for the youngster. It’s sad for a kid to be selected and to have an unfortunate injury like this. We feel for him.”Tiwary’s attitude during the domestic championships had been a breeze of fresh air; he had talked big, saying he did not fear anything; he enjoyed bowlers sledging him; he seemed to love the big challenge. His international debut, therefore, was much anticipated; this was his chance to walk his talk. But all he can do now is wait, as Dravid said, “He is in good hands [Gloster’s[. The board will be behind him and hopefully he can get through this and come back for more… He has a lot of cricket ahead of him.”

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.

Shane Warne has rejected the comfort of the commentary box in Australia to spend more time with his children. With long-term links to the broadcaster and an easy-going style, Warne was heavily tipped to join Richie Benaud’s team when he retired after the Ashes.”We have said no to TV commentary,” Warne told News Ltd papers. “If I wanted to be in Brisbane for the first Test, then Adelaide and Perth and Melbourne etc, I may as well have kept playing.”The reason I retired was to have more time to myself for the children. I want to be there for the concert, I want to be there to play with them. That’s what I want to do with my time.”Warne, 37, is currently captaining Hampshire and is enjoying it so much he is considering extending his playing time in England. “We’ll see how it works out on our children,” he said. “For the short term, if the kids are happy, I have got a year to go on my contract but we could go longer than that if we’re happy. Everything is about enjoyment.”To see the full interview go here.

Division One

Hampshire fought back well against Durham after Michael di Venuto and Will Smith’s century opening stand put them on the back foot at the Rose Bowl. Resuming on 160 for 5, Hampshire lost their last five wickets for 72 today and then watched di Venuto pile up a century, as he and Smith (28) added 116, then Gordon Muchall (58) joined him to add a further 94. But di Venuto’s dismissal, for 124, heralded something of a collapse, with Durham falling from 210 for 2 to 247 for 7.Brad Hodge’s 46th first-class hundred put Lancashire firmly in the driving seat against Kent at Old Trafford. Hodge helped the runs to pile up, assisted by half-centuries from Iain Sutcliffe, Mal Loye and Stuart Law and they reached 451 for 5 before declaring. Kent were 14 without loss by the close.Warwickshire managed to boost their total from 86 for 4 to 343 at Edgbaston, thanks to the efforts of Jim Troughton, who hit his 13th first-class century. Worcestershire lost just Phil Jaques before the close, reaching 77 for 1.The leaders Yorkshire were given a thorough working over by the champions Sussex after play finally got underway on the second day at Headingley. Jason Lewry and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan proved virtually unplayable as they combined to reduce the top order to 26 for 5. Robin Martin-Jenkins and Mushtaq Ahmed did further damage as Yorkshire slid to 139 all out. A rare bright point was the 32 not out made by Ajmal Shahzad in just his second first-class match this season. 21-year-old Shahzad shared in two stands, for the ninth and final wicket, which boosted Yorkshire from 85 for 8 to 139. But Sussex have an early glimmer of leapfrogging Yorkshire to the top.

Division Two

Essex’s seamers took three quick wickets to leave Middlesex struggling on 74 for 3 – trailing by 302 – on a curtailed second day at Lord’s. Essex’s lower order was quickly wrapped up – bowled out for 376 – but Alex Tudor made the most of the swinging conditions to remove Billy Godleman and Owais Shah, while Martin Saggers dismissed Nick Compton. Heavy rain ended the day early.Somerset continued to boss proceedings in a way to make Alan Sugar proud – with gritty authority – at Bristol, dismissing Gloucestershire for 121. But Andrew Caddick’s performance was from no apprentice – he took 7 for 30 from 18.5 overs. Marcus Trescothick took five of those catches, although he was later to lament a duck. With conditions favouring quicker bowlers, Justin Langer used just four bowlers; Charl Willoughby claiming two and Peter Trego the other. Langer was Somerset’s other faller as Neil Edwards and James Hildreth quickly erased the deficit and ended up with unbeaten half-centuries.Leicestershire piled on the misery for Northamptonshire on another truncated day at Northampton. Resuming on 53 for 3, they struggled to 105 for 6, before David Sales (72*) and Steven Crook (32*) put together the first meaningful partnership of the innings. They added an unbeaten 66 before an early stumps, with David Masters now having three wickets to his name.A ball has still yet to be bowled between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire at Nottingham.

Nepal’s success at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) women’s tournament has prompted the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to consider organising an inter-school Under-11 combined (boys and girls) tournament in their bid to develop women’s cricket.Nepal reached the final of the week-long tournament at Johor in Malaysia where they lost to Bangladesh by eight wickets. Mohan Singh Rathaur, Nepal’s State Minister for Education and Sports, gave NPR 10,000 (US$ 153) to each of the 14 players and the coach Jung Bahadur Thapa for their achievements in Malaysia.Nary Thapa, the Nepal captain who won the bowler of the tournament award for her 12 wickets, said her side hadn’t imagined reaching so far in the tournament.Binay Raj Pandey, the CAN president shared her sentiments. “I would have been more than happy even if they had reached the last four but returning with runner-up trophy is simply an exceptional achievement,” Pandey told the . Thapa, the Nepal coach, was also pleased with the team’s performance. “We were an improved team in every other match,” he said.The matches at the ACC tournament were Nepal’s first-ever international fixtures. The tournament is expected to be played around the same time again next year.

The international career of Kennedy Otieno, the Kenya wicketkeeper, appears to be over after Cricket Kenya failed to offer him a new contract. Otieno, 35, announced on Tuesday that he would return to Australia to play for Caboolture, a club in Queensland which he represented for six months last year.”If I was offered a contract I would not have gone to Australia,” Otieno said. “It is a polite way of telling me that I am not needed. I would have loved to continue playing for Kenya but I have to look elsewhere for a livelihood.”Otieno first headed to Australia last year, but his unavailability for Kenya’s training camp ruled him out of the World Cup in the Caribbean. Now he has been overlooked for Kenya’s series against India A and Sri Lanka A next week.After two three-day matches between Kenya and India A, the teams will play a triangular one-day series from August 14-20.

New Zealand’s decision to hand Daniel Vettori the Test captaincy after ten years with Stephen Fleming at the helm was a fair call, according to several former New Zealand players. The consensus was that although there could have been benefits in leaving Fleming in charge, appointing Vettori would bring a freshness to the team.Martin Crowe said Vettori would need to learn quickly and would face challenging decisions over how often to bowl himself. “Stephen’s had a pretty good whack and at end of the day it is sport,” Crowe told the . “I don’t have a major problem with the call.”But I just wonder whether Fleming would have got more out of Vettori as a bowler in the upcoming Test matches than Vettori will out of Vettori, just in his first year. They are big shoes to fill for Dan and things will need to go his way. Flem was a scientist in the one-day game and Dan will need to learn that. You can’t go five overs umming and ahing.”Ian Smith said the writing was on the wall for Fleming when he quit the ODI captaincy after the World Cup as split leadership would not work. “If you have sides that are six or seven players different then two captains might work,” Smith said.”But I can’t see how the same sides can have two different leaders in a dressing room. It just wouldn’t work. As far as Dan goes I have no problem. He is a great student of the game and he is genuine allrounder whose place in the side is never in doubt.”Adam Parore described Fleming’s captaincy as outstanding and said the only other leaders who had come close to matching him were Steve Waugh and Michael Vaughan. “He was the best going around,” Parore said. “It’s inevitable with age and time that you get sameness no matter who you are. It is not a problem you can fix.”

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.

Pakistan were dealt a blow ahead of their semi-final against New Zealand with Mohammad Asif in doubt for the match with an elbow injury.Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan board, said Asif had sustained the injury during the net practice before the game against Australia and has been in pain since then.”That is why he has looked out of sorts and struggled with his line and length, Ashraf told . “He has played because of the importance of the game against Australia but I think the team management should have given him rest for the match against Bangladesh.”Asif has taken nine wickets at 17 from five matches in the tournament so far. Ashraf said he had played after taking injections but he was still not 100% fit.”The manner in which Asif bowled against Bangladesh, he does not bowl like this even in the nets,” he said.Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, admitted that Asif was crucial to the team’s chances in the event.

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.