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The feud between Digicel, the sponsors of the West Indies cricket team, and their rival telecommunications company, Cable & Wireless, was no closer to a resolution last night, after an attempt by Dr Keith Mitchell, the prime minister of Grenada, to instigate an arbitration process was blanked. As a consequence, the prospect of Brian Lara and six of his team-mates being selected for next month’s Test series against South Africa is receding. They have signed personal endorsement contracts with C&W that are in direct competition to Digicel, and were last week dropped from the team pending a resolution to the dispute.According to a report in The Trinidad Express, the two companies met last Monday with representatives of the West Indies Cricket Board and the Players’ Association, in an effort to salvage a situation that is fast becoming the most divisive yet to affect the troubled fortunes of cricket in the Caribbean. In a radio address on Friday evening, Dr Mitchell appealed for the recall of the seven key players – Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Smith – but according to Digicel, this is not acceptable in the current climate.In his address, Mitchell had indicated that a possible formula to end the impasse has been reached, claiming that the players’ contracts had been scrutinised by WICB lawyers and that concerns had been dealt with. “In light of the above,” said Mitchell, “the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket hope that the West Indies Cricket Board will no longer exclude the seven players with Cable & Wireless contracts from the squad selected to prepare for the impending tours.”This, however, has cut no ice with Digicel, who released a media statement to make plain their displeasure with C&W, who had been West Indies’ principle sponsors for nearly 18 years, until they chose to withdraw their support last year. “[C&W] decided not to match the unprecedented five-year US$20m sponsorship package which Digicel was prepared to undertake,” read the statement, “and while negotiations were taking place, [they] deliberately signed six players to personal sponsorship contracts coinciding with Digicel taking over as title sponsor of West Indies cricket team. C&W did this in the full knowledge that their actions would create great difficulty for the WICB, the six players and the title sponsor, Digicel.”Digicel added that, with regard to Lara and his special status in terms of endorsement deals, they had attempted to offer an enhanced personal contract to replace his existing one with C&W that was due to expire in September 2005. “This approach to representatives of Mr Lara was made in an effort to solve the contract issue and in the interests of West Indies cricket,” read the statement. “Unfortunately these efforts were not responded to and in 2004 Mr. Lara extended his C&W contract to a period beyond 2005.”Consequently, Digicel have rejected outright all attempts at arbitration, accusing C&W of jeopardising the future of West Indies cricket by investing US$500,000 on a select group of individual players. Nevertheless, with the Test series against South Africa – Digicel’s first as title sponsor – fast approaching, they remain hopeful that a resolution can be reached. “[The series] promises to be a rewarding, fun and memorable experience for the team and fans and our commitment to the entire team is unwavering.”

The England cricket team were named as the recipients of the Spirit of Cricket Award at the ICC Awards celebration in Sydney on Tuesday. The Spirit of Cricket Award was presented to the Full Member team which, in the opinion of the Emirates Elite Panel of Umpires and Referees and the captains of the ten Test teams, has best conducted itself on the field within the spirit of the game.This Spirit is described in the preamble to the Laws of Cricket: “Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself.”The preamble goes on to say:”The Spirit of the Game involves respect for:
*Your opponents
*Your own captain and team
*The role of the umpires
*The game’s traditional values”
Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, said: “On behalf of the ICC I wish to congratulate England for winning the Spirit of Cricket Award. Michael Vaughan’s side has enjoyed considerable success on the field during the voting period and this award shows they have done so by upholding the traditional values of the game.”Andrew Flintoff, who also shared the Player of the Year award with Jacques Kallis, said that the credit belonged to his captain, Vaughan. “Over the past two years since he has taken over we have beaten every side we have come up against,” said Flintoff. “Vaughny has wanted the lads to have no fear of failure, enjoy playing cricket and enjoy each others company.”I think we have played the game in the right way. He’s brought the best out of me, and is still bringing the best out of me. We are a happy bunch of cricketers, we enjoy playing cricket and I think it shows in the way we play.”England were the second recipients of the Award after it was won by New Zealand in 2004. The Spirit of Cricket Award was one of eight individual and team honours handed out during the ICC awards.

Hampshire County Cricket Club has received permission from Eastleigh Council to erect permanent floodlights at the Rose Bowl near Southampton, thereby improving the ground’s chances of becoming the premier venue for day-night internationals in England.Last season, the Rose Bowl was chosen alongside The Oval and Edgbaston as the venues for the ICC Champions Trophy, although it did not attract rave reviews, with access to the ground for England’s key fixture against Sri Lanka proving extremely difficult, as 16,000 spectators descended on the area.But Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire’s chairman, retains mighty ambitions for the ground, which hosted its first first-class match in 2001 and will this season host England’s first Twenty20 match, against Australia on June 13.Hove, Chelmsford and Derby are the only current grounds with permanent floodlights, although none of these has the capacity to host a one-day match, a fact of which Bransgrove is keenly aware. “I am confident we are offering the ECB something it both wants and needs,” he said, during the Champions Trophy.The plan is for six floodlights to be in place for the start of the 2006 season, although the county is taking something of a leap of faith, seeing as income from county cricket alone is not sufficient to meet the running costs of the ground. “Give us the opportunity to compete on the world stage,” Bransgrove concluded, “and make the Rose Bowl an international [cricket] centre.”

A volatile Sikh with a fast bowler’s temperament, and a willowy legspinner whose polio-crippled arm became a deadly weapon. Bishan Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar were the two most famous members of India’s all-conquering spin quartet of the 1970s, and a partnership of opposites whose very diversity made their union stronger.Bedi was a master of deception. He finished with a vast haul of 1560 first-class wickets, more than any other Indian bowler, and all of them were garnered with his stealthy array of flighted, loopy, spinning deliveries – some quick, some slow, all potent and beautifully delivered from the purest of bowling actions. His passion for the game was plain for all to see, and he made a bristling and bold captain as well.Chandrasekhar’s style could hardly have been more different. With a big bounding run-up and a whippy seam-bowler’s action, he would fizz topspinners, legbreaks and googlies at his bewildered prey, many of whom would be beaten for pace as much as guile. He was the master of the unplayable delivery, and as such, he became India’s greatest overseas matchwinner, with 42 wickets in five famous victories.Together, Chandrasekhar and Bedi gave India’s bowling a much needed cutting edge, and they are destined to be remembered as one of the finest partnerships to have graced the game.

Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain who’s now on the threshold of a Test recall, has said that thoughts of retirement never crossed his mind after being dropped from the team earlier this year.Ganguly is expected to be included in the Test side that is to be named tomorrow, with several voices calling for more experience in a batting line-up struggling for form.In an interview to after Bengal’s Ranji Trophy win against Punjab at Mohali earlier this week, Ganguly insisted that he had it in him to give his best at the highest level, and that it was too premature to give up.”It’s true, a lot of people said I should retire,” he said. “They told me that I had achieved everything in any case, played for the team for 11 years, been captain for five – what else did I want to get out of the game? But I just felt I still had it in me to play at the highest level for longer. At some level, I felt my career will be incomplete if I simply give up now.”Ganguly has had a good start to the domestic season, with a hundred in a Duleep Trophy match against North Zone and a crucial 43 in a low-scorer at Mohali. He has also been among the wickets, picking up nine in three games. Often found wanting against the rising delivery, Ganguly said that he had consciously worked on keeping the ball down during his time off from the Indian side.”When you are out of the team, you get a lot more time to analyse your batting, otherwise you’re just going from one series to another and you don’t get much of a chance. I’ve had time on my hands and I’ve worked on certain things. That’s why I’m so happy with the way I’m playing right now.”Yes, I do have a bit of a problem against short bowling, but you have to understand that a batsman at this level has a lot of strengths as well. If I actually had as big a problem against the short ball as people say, I could not have scored 15,000 international runs. I could say that Virender Sehwag has a problem with balls directed at his body. I could say Dravid has a problem with so-and-so delivery. The point is that you have to play to your strengths and cover your weaknesses.”Ganguly has a reasonable record against South Africa in their backyard, averaging over 43 in nine one-dayers and an average of over 32 in five Tests. He began India’s last tour in 2001-02 with a blistering ton in a one-dayer at Johannesburg, followed by an equally aggressive 85 at East London sending out a statement that he was back among the runs following a lean patch. Recollecting the tour, five years on, Ganguly remained optimistic that his reflexes are still strong to unleash the strokes that fetched him those runs.”I certainly think I can play knocks like the ones you’re mentioning. Otherwise I would’ve given up the game a long time ago. I still feel I have it in me to play those innings again, and perhaps even better ones. Why else would I be fighting to get back into the Indian team?”

As expected, England and Australia will contest the world’s first Twenty20 international next summer, as part of the 2005 Ashes tour. (The first by men, anyway. England’s women are playing one against New Zealand later this summer.) The match will take place at Hampshire’s Rose Bowl on June 13, as a curtain-raiser to the NatWest Series, which will also feature Bangladesh, whose maiden Test in England will start at Lord’s on May 26.The ten-match one-day NatWest Series will be followed a further three one-day fixtures, also against Australia, before the main event of the summer gets under way. The five-Test Ashes campaign starts at Lord’s on July 21, and, happily for the players involved, there will be plenty of breathing space between the matches.The second and third Tests at Edgbaston and Old Trafford will be back-to-back affairs, but the other games all have a ten-day break between them. With England and Australia set for their most evenly contested series in years, this should reduce the danger of player burnout.

npower Test series

May 26-30 1st Test v Bangladesh, Lord’s
June 3-7 2nd Test v Bangladesh, Chester-le-Street

NatWest Twenty20 International

June 13 v Australia, Rose Bowl

NatWest Series

June 16 England v Bangladesh, The Oval
June 18 Australia v Bangladesh, Cardiff
June 19 England v Australia, Bristol
June 21 England v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge (D/N)
June 23 England v Australia, Chester-le-Street (D/N)
June 25 Australia v Bangladesh, Old Trafford
June 26 England v Bangladesh, Headingley
June 28England v Australia, Edgbaston (D/N)
June 30 Australia v Bangladesh, Canterbury
July 2 Final, Lord’s

NatWest Challenge

July 7 v Australia, Headingley
July 10 v Australia, Lord’s
July 12 v Australia, The Oval

npower Test series

July 21-25 1st Test v Australia, Lord’s
August 4-8 2nd Test v Australia, Edgbaston
August 11-15 3rd Test v Australia, Old Trafford
August 25-29 4th Test v Australia, Trent Bridge
September 8-12 5th Test v Australia, The Oval

Close England 163 for 4 (Vaughan 52) trail Sri Lanka 382 (Dilshan 63, Fernando 51*, Giles 5-116) by 219 runs
Scorecard

Sri Lanka moved into a dominating position on the second day of the Kandy Test, finishing with a lead of 219. After Sri Lanka’s tail again wagged to great effect, adding 112 for the last three wickets to reach a total of 382, England wasted a rollicking start by the openers to falter to 163 for 4 by the close.England are still in the game, thanks partly to a brave stand between Graham Thorpe and Paul Collingwood towards the end of the day. However, the news that the Sri Lanka team management have allegedly filed an official complaint to Clive Lloyd, the match referee, after Nasser Hussain called Muttiah Muralitharan a cheat and a chucker won’t have done their camp any favours.Quick wickets were the order of the day for England when play started, and their prospects were looking up when Andrew Flintoff broke through with his 12th ball of the morning. Bowling with great pace and hostility, Flintoff surprised Hashan Tillakaratne with his extra bounce, and Mark Butcher took a well-judged catch just inside the fine-leg boundary. Sri Lanka had added just one run to their overnight score at this stage, and with James Kirtley zipping the ball every which way, England had hopes of a quick finish to the innings.But they had reckoned without Dinusha Fernando and Kumar Dharmasena, who added 76 for the ninth wicket. Fernando batted with great style and composure, playing a succession of sweetly timed drives and pulls. Dharmasena, meanwhile, provided important ballast to the innings, playing more carefully in his watchful knock. Ashley Giles had three good shouts for lbw turned down as the umpiring continued to raise eyebrows, but the real issue was England’s inability to blow away Sri Lanka’s tail – yet again. Their four bowlers did well on the first day, but Vaughan’s lack of options were starting to tell.Giles finally broke the frustrating partnership soon after lunch with the scalp of Dharmasena, who was trapped in front heaving across the line (354 for 9). But England’s agony didn’t end there. Murali provided his usual end-of-innings entertainment, twice swatting Kirtley through midwicket for four, and Fernando then signalled brought up his half-century with a confident swing of the bat over extra cover.Murali flicked Giles for a straight six, and it seemed that even the umpires wanted him to continue his torment of the England attack. He gave himself room to cut Giles, and although the ball clipped the top of off stump, Aleem Dar initially gave him not out, presumably thinking that Chris Read had knocked off the bail with his glove. However, after a slight delay and some badgering by Vaughan, the umpires consulted the third umpire, who correctly gave Murali out.Vaughan and Trescothick rushed to the pavilion to put the pads eager to make up for lost time, and they made a blistering start. While Chaminda Vaas was his usual steady self, Fernando was all over the shop. Perhaps he was feeling the effects of his batting heroics, but he produced a mixture of no-balls and long-hops. He overstepped three times in one over, and was also smashed to the rope three times by Trescothick.Vaughan stroked a brace of elegant drives past extra cover as the run rate raced to over five an over, and the fifty partnership was posted off only 55 balls. Vaughan cracked two successive short ones from Vaas to the square-leg boundary, and even clubbed Murali past midwicket for his sixth four. But you can’t keep Murali down, and in the final over before tea he dented England’s progress. Trescothick propped forward and got an inside edge which flew via the pad to Tillakaratne Dilshan at short leg (89 for 1).That dismissal then started a slide of four wickets for 30 runs to put England firmly on the back foot. Butcher got off the mark with a cracking four past long-on – but that was as good as it got. He came down the track to Dharmasena, was beaten by the turn and easily stumped by Sangakkara (100 for 2).Vaughan notched up his half-century with a crunching sweep, but Murali got his revenge in the next over. He sent down a peach of a doosra which caught Vaughan’s outside edge and was well taken by Mahela Jayawardene at first slip via Sangakkara’s glove (119 for 3).

Hussain usually thrives in these backs-to-the-wall situations, but he wasn’t up to the task today. Instead, he was more interested in mouthing off Murali. Like Butcher, Hussain opened his innings with a four, but he was then trapped lbw for no further score. Vaas pitched one on a good length which straightened a fraction and caught him in front of off stump (119 for 4).England were on the brink of disaster, and in danger of throwing away all of yesterday’s hard work, but Thorpe and Collingwood – the master nudger and his apprentice – prevented a landslide with a steady 44-run stand. As usual, there were no frills, just ones and twos and the odd boundary. It was just what England needed to calm the nerves.The clouds slowly rolled over the ground and seeped a steady stream of drizzle, but it wasn’t hard enough to let England leave early and regroup. Collingwood and Thorpe certainly saved a tricky situation, but there is still plenty for them to do tomorrow.

Michael Slater still harbours hopes of a recall to the Australian side, but at the moment he has a far more serious battle on his hands.While Australia prepare to take on India in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, Slater is laid up in Sydney’s North Shore Private Hospital, battling a mystery illness which has left him unable to walk unaided.Unbeknown to most people, Slater has suffered from Ankylosing Spondylitis – the same degenerative spinal condition which affects Michael Atherton – throughout his career, and on December 7 he was admitted to hospital with what was thought to be a recurrence of that ailment. At the time, his ankles were so swollen he was unable to walk.But after undergoing extensive tests, doctors said that he was suffering from an unknown virus, and he will be discharged in time for Christmas but far from back to normal.”Best case – he could be OK to play in the latter part of the season,” said Greg Daniel, New South Wales’ cricket mamager. “Worst case – it could be the middle of the year before he’s fit enough again to play interstate cricket, so nobody really wants to make a call on it [his future] because it’s probably too early to know how it will pan out.”He’s not at the stage of contemplating retirement or being out of the game,” Daniel added. “He’s got a belief he will beat it and get back to playing for NSW.””Anything that stops you from playing can prove to be career-threatening, as I found when I was dropped in England two years ago,” Slater said recently. “If you’re out of the side, you’re giving someone else an opportunity. But I’m very optimistic. I’ve been in this situation before and I’m confident I’ll get back on top of it and be back to peak fitness shortly.”

Gauteng have called into question the spirit of cricket by choosing to field a second-string side for their first-class SuperSport Series game against Easterns, while sending their first team off to Potchefstroom to prepare for the forthcoming Pro20 series. It is a major snub, not only to the opposition and South Africa’s United Cricket Board, but also to their own fans and sponsors.The decision also has serious ramifications for the Shield table. At the start of the match, Easterns had an almost unassailable lead at the top of the table, while Gauteng were cut adrift at the bottom. The decision to field such a weak side, with four players making their first-class debuts, has effectively wrecked any hopes second-placed Boland might have had of taking the title.”It is not an ideal situation,” said a UCB spokesman. “We are not happy with it, but there is nothing in the laws or rules that says we can tell them who to pick.”But Ray Jennings, Easterns’ coach, was less conciliatory. “To what depth have the values and principles of the game fallen?” he asked. “In my long career I have never seen something like this happen. A team placing practice ahead of a committed first-class fixture just does not make any sense.”Gauteng’s coach, Jimmy Cook, was initially opposed to the move as well, but with the new franchise system coming into effect from April 1, he discovered his hands were tied, and says the team playing at Benoni is “the best available”. The senior players are already contracted to the newly created Highveld Strikers team – a ludicrous situation, given that the current South African first-class season hasn’t ended yet.If Gauteng had been in the running for the SuperSport Shield, one suspects an alternative solution might have been found.

National League Division OneEssex v Worcestershire at Colchester
Scorecard
Essex scrambled to a thrilling two-wicket victory over the C&G finalists Worcestershire at Colchester, in a match that had been decimated by bad weather. Worcestershire, who batted first, were limited to just 25 overs, enough time to post a competitive 141 for 3, thanks to Anurag Singh’s 43, and an unbeaten 51-run partnership between Justin Kemp and Gareth Batty. Essex had barely begun their reply when the heavens opened again, and they were eventually left with 10 overs in which to score 83 runs. They did so with a solitary delivery to spare, and in effect a solitary wicket as well, after Darren Robinson had been stretchered off with a groin injury.National League Division TwoSussex 173 for 9 beat Scotland 191 for 9 by one wicket at Edinburgh (D/L)
Scorecard
Scotland slumped to their 11th defeat of the season in the meeting of the bottom sides, but Sussex remain two points adrift of Scotland despite their one-wicket win. Sussex won the toss but squandered the advantage with some loose bowling as Scotland reached 105 for 2 thanks to a second-wicket stand of 85 between Ryan Watson (48) and Colin Smith (38). But Sussex found their line in the second half of the innings as Paul Hutchison (4 for 29) and Carl Hopkinson (3 for 19) settled into a groove. There was a anticlimactic farewell for Rahul Dravid who ended his spell with Scotland with a two-ball 1. Set a revised target of 170 from 31 overs, Sussex looked down and out when they were reduced to 69 for 6, but Hopkinson cracked 67 not out from 48 balls, guiding them to a dramatic win with a four off the last ball.