Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, has said that suspending England from international cricket was never really considered. On Wednesday, Mani watched the second one-day international at Harare Sports Club, when England beat Zimbabwe by 161 runs.”Talk of suspension was never on the radar,” he told reporters. “I think the ECB was right to protect its interests. The threat of suspension was a possibility, even if it was only a 1% or 5% or 10% possibility. It could have been a terrible penalty, which would have hurt badly.”The game would have gone backwards, and that was my concern, not punishing England. The tour is hugely important for the development of cricket in Zimbabwe. The country has enough problems without adding another.”Mani lives in St John’s Wood, near Lord’s, and is aware of the antipathy in England towards the tour. But at the same time, he supported the way David Morgan, the ECB chairman, has handled the entire affair. “He has gained a lot of respect in the ICC for the way he handled this issue. I could see that England were caught between a rock and a hard place, but he has been absolutely superb – honest and totally up-front with people. He has had to deal with a lot of domestic pressures, which is understandable because of the unique situation between England and Zimbabwe. The issue was not going to die down.”Mani wants to meet with England’s players within the next few day to talk about all aspects of their Zimbabwe experience. “It is very important to hear their views,” he said. “I want to know what they think about the level of cricket in Zimbabwe and their experiences in the country so far.”England are due to play back-to-back one-day matches at Bulawayo over the weekend.

Billy Bowden has encouraged both teams to take the fielder’s word when it comes to close catches ahead of Australia’s first Test against Pakistan at Perth. He said to Fox Sports that he welcomed any agreement between both teams that encouraged fair play.”If they want to come to us and say that, brilliant, beautiful,” Bowden said of any agreement between the captains, but added that the umpires would not propose the idea. “I believe in honesty whether it’s on the field or off the field. I just think for the good of the game, for the spirit of the game…”Bowden wanted to see loyalty and integrity return, but thought it was a decision best left to players. “I don’t mind players not walking if they hit it, that’s fine, it’s up to them. But when it’s a black-and-white decision about whether they’ve been caught or not, surely, if you can’t rely on a player what can you rely on in a game of cricket these days?”His feelings about technology ran along a similar vein. “I’m sure the players would like to see umpires still make the decisions even though they moan and groan when they get a bad one going against them. I still think the traditions of the game and the beauty of the game is it’s played by humans and should be run be humans.”

England return to the scene of their World Cup exit tomorrow, as the third one-day international against South Africa gets underway at Port Elizabeth. Back in 2003, England seemed to be cruising to victory against the mighty Australians, only for Michael Bevan and Andy Bichel to add 73 unbeaten runs for the ninth wicket, to engineer a stunning two-wicket victory on a slow and exceedingly low wicket.But come tomorrow, there will be only one side harbouring any "what-ifs", after the manner in which South Africa squandered a position of supremacy to tie a thrilling match at Bloemfontein. South Africa needed three to win from six balls, with five wickets in hand, but were held in check by Kabir Ali, whose nerves had at one stage looked so taut they might snap, but then eased at precisely the right moment for England.The first ball of the decisive over was a waist-high no-ball that Mark Boucher had swatted for four, and at that stage, Kabir wanted the ground to swallow him up. “I just thought ‘oh God, what have I done here?’ he told reporters afterwards. “I was nervous but I just tried to get as many yorkers in as I could.” With the scores level and one delivery remaining, he speared the ball into Andrew Hall’s blockhole for Geraint Jones to pull off a smart stumping and trigger wild celebrations in the England camp.”It was a real gutsy performance from the young Kabir," added Michael Vaughan, who was kept off the field by a stomach bug and played no part in the climax. "To gather his thoughts and be mentally tough enough to produce those yorkers was a great effort. The more death-bowling options we have, the better, and he is certainly one of those options.”Twenty-four hours later, the worst of Vaughan’s illness has subsided, and he looks set to take his place in the starting line-up at PE. "I am not too bad," he told BBC Sport. "I didn’t feel too good yesterday, but I hope to play, and it has got better.” But despite his final-over heroics, Kabir may yet miss out on a berth in the side, as Steve Harmison is fit again after suffering a calf strain, and England are eager to get him back among the wickets after his devastating disappointments in the Test series.England enjoyed a break from the grind today, as they took a trip round the Shamwari Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape. But despite the multitude of elephants on display, the only big game that’ll be in England’s sights tomorrow will be of the human variety. Kevin Pietersen, fresh from his maiden international century and showing no signs of being cowed by the hostile South African crowds, will be hunting for even more runs to boost his already formidable average of 234."Kevin’s innings from that position is what we ask of a senior player, not one that has played six games," said Vaughan, after Pietersen had clubbed 108 not out from 96 balls to lift England from a dicey position at 67 for 3. "His potential shone through. He showed last night he has a lot of passion playing for England and he is a huge talent who is strengthening our team.”South Africa’s captain, Graeme Smith, on the other hand, had less to be cheery about, after watching his side fritter away an unassailable advantage in the final over. But he put a brave face on the result nonetheless. "It was disappointing in the end," he conceded, "but we have a lot more confidence now than what we came out with [after the first match in the series].”South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 AB de Villiers, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Herschelle Gibbs, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 Justin Kemp, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Andrew Hall, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Andre Nel.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Geraint Jones (wk), 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Ian Bell, 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Steve Harmison, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

Two English tourists who filmed New Zealand’s fast bowler, Daryl Tuffey, allegedly having sex with a Christchurch woman have gone to ground in Australia, refusing to contact even their own families.Paddy Curtis and Archie Brookbank, both 19, have been at the centre of an Australasian media hunt ever since The Christchurch Press newspaper revealed they had video-taped Tuffey allegedly having consensual sex with a 23-year-old Christchurch woman.Tuffey was hauled before the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) board to face serious misconduct charges on Wednesday, although NZC will not elaborate on the “off-field incident” from which the charges arose. The pair who made the video left Christchurch on February 26 to continue their overseas holiday in Australia. They stayed two nights at a Sydney backpackers’ hostel but have since disappeared.Curtis’s father, Edward Curtis, based in Ludlow, England, told AAP his family had heard of the allegations through Christchurch relatives, but efforts to track their son in Sydney had been fruitless. “I can’t comment on what he’s been up to,” said Edward Curtis. “We haven’t made any contact with him. We’ve been trying his phone [in Sydney] and he’s not answering.”It is understood the family of one of the teenagers has cut his money supply and will force him to return to England. One source, who had seen two other sex videos made by Paddy Curtis and Brookbank, described them as “immature young boys” who thought it was “cool to get girls on videotape and take it to pubs and show it off”.While the men are ducking for cover and Tuffey is refusing to comment, the woman in the video has denied all knowledge of Tuffey. The woman, a 23-year-old sales representative, her boyfriend and her father all denied this week a video existed. She admitted knowing Paddy Curtis and Brookbank through a mutual friend but, despite allegations she was involved in the video, she was adamant she did not know Tuffey.The woman says she first heard news of the Tuffey videotape “when a rumour went around three weeks ago”, but added: “I’ve never met him in my life.”The NZC misconduct inquiry is expected to be completed in two weeks.

As expected, the Indian selectors have names an unchanged 14-member squad for the second Test against Pakistan starting at Kolkata on March 16. VVS Laxman, who was under pressure to perform after an indifferent series against Bangladesh, scored a polished 58 in the first innings and Mohammed Kaif, who could consider himself unlucky for failing to make in to the squad for the first Test, will have to mark his time.Squad Sourav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh.

On his record against Pakistan
My aim is to score against anybody whether it is Pakistan or anybody else. My aim is to just play my normal game and score runs.On the difference between his Mohali century and here
About 25-30 runs. You try and learn from your mistakes from other innings and when you play a long one like this then it feels good.On the state of the match
The wicket is still very good for batting. It depends on how we play tomorrow, if we bat well till tea for example then the pressure will be on Pakistan whether they want to play for a draw or go for a win. If we get near 500 quickly enough then the pressure will be on Pakistan.On getting out to Danish Kaneria
I think after I reached my 200 it would have helped if there was a gap of about one over in between. I lost my concentration a little bit. My aim was to stay and bat throughout the day but I was very sad at getting out so soon after my double century.On whom he found most difficult to face
I found no-one difficult today.On adapting between one-day and Test matches
I don’t want to change my game whatever the situation or the type of match. If you are performing well and scoring runs then you don’t need to adapt your game. You don’t need to change your thinking if you are doing well.On his confrontation with Mohammad Sami
I think I handled it well enough. He was trying to bowl short into my ribs and I just defended it. I just knew that I wasn’t getting out to his bowling. He was trying to put pressure on me by having a chat, trying to distract me but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to repeat it here.On who he dedicated this innings to
My wife, she was here today.On the pace of his batting
I don’t think about the pace of my batting. The only thing in my mind is that I have to hit the loose balls to the boundary. If I miss out, I always think I can do it off the next ball.On becoming the fastest Indian to reach 3000 runs
I didn’t know I was the fastest but I knew I was going to reach the landmark today.On the wicket
I don’t think it is a good Test-match wicket. Pakistan made nearly 600 runs and we have made nearly 400 runs. So many runs in three days of cricket can’t be a good wicket for Test match cricket. Pitches have to help both bowlers and batsmen to make it interesting.

Shoaib Akhtar was left out of the Pakistan squad for the tour of West Indies on disciplinary grounds, Inzamam-ul-Haq has said. It was widely assumed that Shoaib had been left out because he was unfit. Akhtar, who had recovered from his hamstring injury, was asked to shed some weight to be fully fit.”Shoaib has disciplinary problems and I believe no player is bigger than the team,” Inzamam was quoted as saying by The News. “We’ve had these problems with him in the past and my concern is that it has a negative impact on other players also.” Akhtar has been questioned several times in the past for his off-field activities and his approach towards the game.Inzamam also brushed off the suggestion that the team would miss its spearhead. “What I learnt in India was that when every player contributes and you play strictly as a team, the absence of even the best player is not felt. In the West Indies to be successful we’ve to again play as a team and with spirit to do well. The strength of our bowling attack is not such a big issue.”Pakistan have never won a series in the West Indies and are scheduled to play in three one-day international and two Tests. The first one-dayer is on May 18 in St.Vincent.Younis Khan will lead the side in the first Test, in the absence of Inzamam, who has to serve a one-match ban for showing dissent in the third Test against India in Bangalore. Inzamam remarked that Younis would find no difficulty in captaining the side. “Even if I’m not playing I’ll be there involved in everything and the planning. As far as Younis Khan’s ability to lead the side is concerned, he is a good future prospect and will be an asset for the team in future.”

A three-match exhibition series in Houston, featuring leading players from India and Pakistan, has had to be postponed after organisers failed to arrange for visas for several Pakistani players. The games had been scheduled for June 16, 18 and 19, and Hasan Jalil, the main organiser, told that the contests between an Asian XI and a World XI would most likely be slotted in between June 30 and July 3, a long weekend in the United States.Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were among the stars signed up from India, while Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Yousuf Youhana had pledged their participation from Pakistan.”We are disappointed that because of this last-minute hitch in getting visas for the Pakistani players, the matches have to be rescheduled,” said Jalil. “We will now try to secure visas for the Pakistani players from Islamabad. There is no such problem with the Indian players as they have visas for the US.”

Sourav Ganguly and Lou Vincent were much talked about on the final day of the Ahmedabad Test. Ganguly, for letting things drift and being unable to force a win; Vincent, for his mastery of the conditions and the Indian spinners. Here’s what they had to say:Sourav Ganguly
On India’s bowling performance: I thought we bowled pretty well. The pitch got slower and slower as the game progressed, and there was notmuch help for the bowlers. I thought they tried very hard.On the surface: It’s the responsibility of the BCCI pitches committeeto prepare wickets accordingly, which they have not done here.On the pressure on India at Mohali: I thought we dominated them here, so there won’t be too much pressure. It will be a different surface inMohali, and if we can put up the runs on the board, we should win. But to win the series, we have to win there, so that’s the bottomline.On his groin infection: The infection has not healed very much, but it isbetter than on the first day. We’ll have to wait for a couple of days to see.On why he started off proceedings on the fourth daywith Kumble and Balaji: There wasn’t much for the spinners, and I thoughtBalaji bowled well in this Test. He had gotten RobbieHart the night before and had troubled Paul Wiseman afew times. He brought the ball into the batsman too. Ithought he bowled well and was unlucky not to getwickets.On the playing XI for Mohali: Playing five specialist bowlers is definitely a thought. With Ajit Agarkar coming in for the injuredAavishkar Salvi, we can afford that. But we’ll have towait and see the pitch before decidingLou Vincent
On his innings: In the morning it was a pretty tough situation. Indiahad 18 overs at us last night and went all out to get a few wickets. After Zaheer Khan performed well in the first innings and took three early wickets, it wasimportant for somebody to hang in there and see the shine off the ball. I was surprised to see Mark Richardson go, because he had been in good form forNew Zealand.If we’d had a good couple of sessions, wecould have set up a good chase in the final hour orso, but things didn’t turn out that way. As you couldprobably have seen, I was gutted to get out. I wasdisappointed to miss out on a century.On the wicket:It was pretty flat, although the footmarks weregetting rather nasty by the time the game ended. It’smy first Test in India, and I don’t know much aboutpitches here. It had both spin and bounce, though, andin my limited experience, I thought it was a good Test wicket.On perceived friction between Anil Kumble and StephenFleming on the field: I didn’t see any, from where I was, but it’s alwayslike a war out there. If, from a spectator’s point ofview, I saw the teams applauding each other’s runs andwickets, I’d think: “What are the wallies doing?”On New Zealand’s strategy for the Mohali Test: Well, we’ll have to see. Right now, we’re just happy to get through this little battle. We lost only fivewickets in the final day to two world-class spinners, so we’re pretty happy about that.On the heat: Ah, I don’t know how you Indians live here! It’s souncomfortable! But as professional athletes who playso much in Asia, it’s important to adjust and be ableto perform regardless of the conditions.

What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago Pakistan cricket was buoyant. Test and one-day whitewashes at home to Bangladesh had been followed by back-to-back wins over South Africa in the first two games of their five-match one-day series. Seven days – and three straight defeats – later, the all-too-familiar concerns and criticisms are back.The rumour-mill is in full swing. Stories have circulated that several players embarked on a late-night drinking binge hours before Sunday’s deciding ODI at Rawalpindi, which Pakistan lost by seven wickets; Shoaib Akhtar and Shoaib Malik were supposedly sighted at a fashion show late on Saturday evening; and Pakistan’s batting, which was often suspect against Bangladesh, was torn to shreds in the fourth and fifth ODIs and the subject of fierce media criticism.To add to the troubles Inzamam-ul-Haq, their new captain, tore a hamstring on Friday and is now doubtful for Friday’s first Test. “It was disappointing to lose three matches in a row and the series in this way,” he told reporters. “We were not expecting it to end this way. We need to now pay special attention to our batting and will need more experience for them.”Inzamam was cautiously defensive when asked about the presence of the two Shoaibs at the fashion show. “Our curfew timing is 11pm,” he explained. “I think they were back then but if anyone breaks the discipline, action will be taken against him.”With Yousuf Youhana another doubt for the first Test – again with a hamstring strain – in normal circumstances Rashid Latif would be favourite to regain the captaincy which he was stripped of last month – but he has publicly said that he intends to miss the two-Test series. That would put Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq in the frame as likely stand-in skippers.