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The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has set a deadline of October 30 for the appointment of a national coach.The decision comes in the wake of BCB’s ad-hoc committee supporting a proposal by the board president Major General Sina Ibn Jamali. “We have decided to appoint a new national coach before October 30. We are hopeful that we will be able to finalise it before the deadline,” Ishtiaque Ahmed, the vice-chairman of the BCB’s media committee, told the Dhaka-based . .Ahmed was reported as saying that John Dyson, the former Australian batsman who coached Sri Lanka, had expressed his interest but this was neither confirmed or denied by Gazi Ashraf Hossain, the chairman of the board’s cricket operations committee.”It is better to mention a name only when we can reach a certain level of communication with someone,” said Ahmed. “It is always good to set a target but that doesn’t mean we compromise with our requirements just to meet the deadline. You need some time to locate the candidates”The board had made a fresh start in its search for national coach, after all three short-listed candidates had either refused or been ruled out. John Harmer turned down the post after being the only one to make a presentation to the board. Prior to that, Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwe captain, had withdrawn his candidature citing family problems; while Jamie Siddons, the former Australian batsman, was out of contention after the board couldn’t match his terms and conditions.The board has been looking for a national coach since Dav Whatmore, who guided them for four years, refused to extend his contract. His last assignment was the home series against India in May. Shaun Williams has been interim coach of the team since the the away series against Sri Lanka in June and July.

Despite coming under pressure from the England and Indian boards, the UK-based players who have signed up to the Indian Cricket League have insisted that they will not renege on their contracts.In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Nixon said that Leicestershire have been under increasing pressure from the ECB to block him taking part. “At this stage of my career it’s an exciting challenge to play in the ICL,” he said. “Surely it’s a good thing for any county player to experience high-pressure cricket on surfaces where our national team has traditionally struggled?”Nixon entered into the deal with ICL after consulting with the Professional Cricketers Association in the summer, but since then the Indian board has upped the ante and threatened to bar anyone participating from its own official Indian Premier League. That has led to the ECB starting to flex its muscles but one county chairman stated that attempts to obtain clarification from the board had proved unsuccessful.The ECB has fallen into line with its Australian Pakistani and South African counterparts in taking an increasingly hard line towards players allied to the ICL. The official reason given is that the ICL has no drug-testing or anti-corruption controls and “would threaten media and sponsorship revenue generated by official competitions”.Darren Maddy is the only other England-qualified cricketer known to have signed. Two county-contracted Irish players – Surrey’s Niall O’Brien and Warwickshire’s Boyd Rankin – have also joined and a fifth as yet unidentified person is thought to have signed. While the Irish board will not take action against its pair, the problem comes if their counties qualify for the IPL as the Indian organisers will almost certainly block their participation.

“I signed up at the end of August,” Rankin told The Daily Telegraph. “I knew there was a bit of uncertainty, but I’ve been speaking to the Proffesional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) and I’m fairly happy about the position. I can’t do much about it now in any case …””My sympathies are with the players,” Neil Davidson, Leicestershire’s chairman told the paper. “I can’t see any point banning them because they appear in independent tournaments out of season, when they’re out of contract.”The ECB were forced to back down on their decision to deselect Maddy from the England side for last month’s Hong Kong Sixes when approached by the PCA’s lawyers. “The ECB seem to be going further in supporting the Indian board over the ICL than any other board and it is not clear to us why. We would like some clarification as to why,” Ian Smith, the PCA’s lawyer, said last week.What will be at the back of the ECB’s mind are the similarities with World Series Cricket, which ironically launched 30 years ago this month. Attempts then to block players who signed with Kerry Packer were overturned in the High Court in a legal case which cost English cricket a fortune. Their ultimate sanction this time – banning those involved with ICL – could well again be construed as restraint of trade.

The Central Zone Cooch Behar Under-19 Trophy match between Uttar Pradeshand Railways at the Kamala Club ground in Kanpur ended in a draw on Mondaywith Railways gaining 5 points out of the match since they took the firstinnings lead. Uttar Pradesh had to be satisfied with three.Railways who started their second innings on the final day got to score 152runs in 81 overs, while losing 7 wickets in the bargain. Manoj Srivastava(42) was the top scorer for Railways while the top order chipped in withsome sedate performances.Earlier on the second day Railways managed to take a slender 6 run lead,when the bundled out UP for 179 in their first innings. Apart from theopeners Faizan Khan (42) and A Kapoor (56), who added 86 in 37.5 overs,none of the others stayed long enough to forge significant partnerships.Raza Ali with 3 for 26 was the pick of the Railways’ bowlers.Railways who elected to bat on the opening day, were reduced to 185 after afine 84 run second wicket partnership between Surinder Singh (46) and MSSrivastava (43) which took the score to 101 in 39.2 overs. N Choudhary (3for 46) was the best bowler for UP.

It looked like being one of those sleepy subcontinental Tests, where the side batting first runs up a big score and the other team tries to match their total.And the first two days on a docile pitch at Colombo’s R Premadasa (formerly Khetterama) Stadium followed that template. India made 537 for 8, with centuries from Sidhu (his eighth in Tests), Tendulkar (12th) and Azharuddin (18th). India declared shortly before the end of the second day, and Tendulkar promised his bowlers would “attack for three days”. They claimed a wicket in the last over. It went to Nilesh Kulkarni, 24, a left-arm spinner from Bombay, who became only the 12th bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in Tests. But his dream start was to turn into a nightmare: he sent down 419 more balls without taking another wicket, and conceded 195 runs.Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, team-mates with Colombo’s Bloomfield club, batted throughout the third day (the 12th instance in Testhistory) and on through the fourth. No pair had survived two full days’ play before, although Garry Sobers and Frank Worrell almost managed it against England at Bridgetown in 1959-60: they also batted through two days, but an hour was lost to rain on the second of them.Jayasuriya had reached 326, Sri Lanka’s first Test triple-century, by the fourth-day close. He was within sight of Brian Lara’s Test-record 375, and in anticipation of a new mark the gates were thrown open on the final day. Over 30,000 crowded in, but many were still trying to find a perch when Jayasuriya, two balls after losing his partner for 225, was surprised by one that bounced from offspinner Chauhan and popped a simple catch to Ganguly at silly point. The Indian fielders all ran to congratulate the batsman, and clapped him off the field. Jayasuriya had made 340, from 578 balls in 799 minutes, with 36 fours and two sixes. He banished once and for all any notion that he is only a one-day hitter. Only three higher scores have been made in Tests – Lara’s 375, Garry Sobers’s 365 not out, and Len Hutton’s 364.Jayasuriya’s first task had been to ensure that Sri Lanka avoided the follow-on. “I was happy to go all that way,” he said. “I wasn’t going after the record – at least not until the end of the fourth day, when someone told me I was only 50 short. I felt a great pressure on me when I came out to bat [on the fifth morning], and obviously I am disappointed now – but at least my country has made a great achievement.”His partnership with Mahanama, who scored his first Test double-century, set several more records. They eventually put on 576 in 753 minutes, the longest stand in Test history and only one run shy of the highest in first-class cricket (577 by Vijay Hazare and Gul Mahomed in India in 1946-47). They cruised past the previous-highest Test partnership, the 467 of Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones at Wellington in 1990-91. This record was taken with some relish, as the suffering bowlers on that occasion were Sri Lanka’s.The record breaking did not stop when the epic partnership was ended. Aravinda de Silva showed little sign that he had been padded up for the best part of 13 hours, compiling a neat 12th Test century of his own, while skipper Ranatunga made 86, becoming the first Sri Lankan to pass 4000 Test runs during his innings. Mahela Jayawardene, 19, also chipped in on his debut.England’s 903 for 7 at The Oval in 1938, the highest Test total, was the next big target: eventually that too was surpassed. A score of 1000 seemed a possibility, but as there was no chance of a result a halt was called with seven of the last 20 overs bowled. Sri Lanka’s 952 for 6 is the third-highest total in all first-class cricket, exceeded only by Victoria’s two four-figure totals in Australia in the 1920s.Ona dead pitch India stuck well enough to their task, at least on the third and fourth days. Not surprisingly, the bowlers and fielders wilted on the final day as Sri Lanka piled on the runs with all prospect of a result long gone. Opening bowler Kuruvilla, who picked up a leg injury, was spared much of the punishment, but Chauhan, on his return to Test cricket after doubts about his bowling action, and Kumble both conceded over 200 runs.Tendulkar said the pitch was “unfit for Test cricket”, adding: “If we had lost the toss and batted second, we could also have played a massive innings. We only lost wickets because we took chances and looked for runs.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s effort to host a home series received another jolt with the West Indies turning down an invitation to play a one-day series later in the year.After being rejected by Australia, India and Sri Lanka for security reasons and scheduling problems, the PCB has now been told by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) that they can’t undertake a tour in August due to prior engagements.The PCB had invited West Indies and New Zealand to play a three-match ODI series in August to give its team some practice before the Champions Trophy in September. This would have also helped the PCB recover from the financial setback suffered due to the postponement of Australia’s tour in March. Bangladesh are currently in the country for a five-match ODI series and a Twenty20 international to cover for Australia’s pull-out.”Yes, the West Indies board has informed us that since they are already committed to play some games in Canada in August, they can’t accept our invitation,” Shafqat Nagmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, said. “We have sent a fresh invitation to New Zealand asking them to come and play a full five-match one-day series instead of three ODIs. We are awaiting a reply from them.”

Lou Vincent, one of New Zealand’s opening batsmen, feels a safety-first approach will work better than outright aggression in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy from Friday. Australia crushed New Zealand in the Twenty20 international and Vincent was wary of the threat Brett Lee and Shaun Tait posed.”We have to soak up the heat rather than strike out and chance our arms too much,” he told stuff.co.nz. Lee removed Vincent first ball and Brendon McCullum a few overs later in Perth, while Tait got Jamie How and Ross Taylor, something he prided himself on after the match. New Zealand’s batsmen struggled through a disastrous tour of South Africa, where they could not cope with the pace of Dale Steyn and the other fast bowlers.Tait has already spoken of his aim to use the three one-dayers against New Zealand in his bid to get back into the Test frame. Having faced Tait before, Vincent was more concerned about Lee. “Tait hits the bat harder,” he said, “but Lee bowls with a beautiful straight seam and swings it away.”John Bracewell, New Zealand’s coach, said the batting just had to improve. “We have now seen how Australia are going to come at us and we will put in place strategies to try and counter that and take advantage of that,” he said. “We’ve faced fast bowlers in South Africa, we are going to face them in Australia, and we are going to face them against England later in the season.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

After the run-fest at the Wanderers on Tuesday night, it was back tonormalcy and worse for Kenya at Kingsmead. New Zealand may have enjoyed alengthy off-season and gone through a change at the top, with DanielVettori taking over from Stephen Fleming, but out on the pitch, it wasvery much normal service as the World Cup semi-finalists romped to anine-wicket win after bowling Kenya out for the lowest-ever score inTwenty20 internationals, 73.Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin and Vettori exploited the extrabounce on a well-grassed pitch to bowl the hapless Kenyans out with 19balls remaining of the 20 overs, and it took New Zealand just 7.4 overs toannounce their intent. But for a 36-run partnership for the fifth wicketbetween Thomas Odoyo and Collins Obuya, it might have been immeasurablyworse. A late flourish from Rajesh Bhudia and Jimmy Kamande nudged thetotal further towards respectability, but it was never going to stretch apowerful New Zealand line-up.Predictably, it was Bond’s pace that started the slide, with a balldarting back into Maurice Ouma and crashing into the stumps via the elbow.When the promising Tanmay Mishra then slashed one to point, it brought thecaptain, Steve Tikolo, to the crease.But worse was to follow as Gillespie took over. David Obuya went gingerlyback to the first ball, and ended up treading on his stumps, and fourballs later came the biggest blow as Tikolo was trapped plumb in front bya delivery that swung in at pace.Odoyo and Obuya revived matters somewhat, taking Jacob Oram for two foursin an over when he came on, but New Zealand had too much in reserve. ChrisMartin had Odoyo miscuing a pull to mid-off, and Nehemiah Odhiambofollowed in identical fashion before Vettori decided to get in on the act.

Obuya was smartly stumped off a leg-side wide, and Alex Obanda bowled offthe pad, and after Budhia slammed a six to slightly tarnish Martin’sfigures, two full tosses from Gillespie finished things off.Kenya needed early wickets, but after two vociferous appeals from Odoyowere turned down, Lou Vincent and Brendan McCullum made short work of aminiscule target. Vincent crashed four fours and a six in his 27 beforesmashing one low to mid-off, and after Peter Fulton survived an excellentshout from Peter Ongondo, two huge sixes off Bhudia put the seal on anemphatic display.Bond’s figures of 2 for 12 were the best for a completed spell in aTwenty20 game, but Gillespie’s 4 for 7 fetched him man of the matchhonours. And the four zeroes at the top of the Kenyan order were anominous sign as Vettori’s team illustrated just why the All Blacks aren’tthe only team in with a chance of a world title in the not-too-distant future.

Leicestershire have defended their use of Kolpak players and insist they won’t mean that young English cricketers will be kept out of the first team.There have been plenty of arrivals at Grace Road during the off season with South African quicks Garnett Kruger and Dillion du Preez along with Jermaine Lawson, the West Indies fast bowler, joining on Kolpak deals. They join HD Ackerman and Claude Henderson, while the official overseas player is Boeta Dippenaar.However, chief executive David Smith told the that the club’s aim is to push forward young talent. “Our medium-term plan is to develop Leicestershire and Rutland-born cricketers,” he said. “This will help us engage the local business community as the team will reflect the multi-cultural diversity of our city. This is vital if we are to underpin the financial stability of the club over the coming years.”He says that the Kolpak route isn’t one that the county takes lightly, but draws on the example of Durham to prove how it can be successful.”Kolpak cricketers are not popular but we have used the Durham blueprint for success in an effort to develop our team in the mid-term and hopefully provide England with some international cricketers.”However, Durham have produced a number of England players in the last five years – Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison, Liam Plunkett and Phil Mustard – while Leicestershire’s only major success story is Stuart Broad who has now moved to Nottinghamshire.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ricky Ponting’s Australia emulated Steve Waugh’s run of 16 consecutive Test wins as they took a 2-0 lead in the series against India in a thriller of a game that went right down to the wire at the SCG. With only six minutes to spare as the shadows lengthened Michael Clarke picked up the last three wickets from only five balls as Australia sneaked home. India will be gutted, not merely because they had resisted stoutly but because once again they were at the receiving end of some umpiring decisions that will be talked about for some time to come.At the end of a very long day it seemed as though India had hung in there for the draw that left the series open heading into Perth when Clarke was thrown the ball in the 69th over of the day. Anil Kumble, who had resisted admirably, negotiated it with little trouble. But it was the next Clarke over that knocked the last nails into India’s coffin.Off the first ball, a brute that reared and took the outside edge to be smartly caught by Michael Hussey, Harbhajan Singh was dismissed. RP Singh planted his foot down the pitch to the next one but only interrupted the ball’s onward journey to the stumps and was lbw for a first-ball duck. Ishant Sharma negotiated the hat-trick ball, another straight one, and dabbed the next to the on side but the fifth ball did for him. Tossed up and outside the off, the ball gripped the surface and went via outside edge straight to slip, and Australia had the result they wanted.The knock of the innings came from Kumble, and you had to feel for him when he was left stranded on 45 off 111 balls as the last wicket fell. Kumble was a picture of concentration and determination, and if there was any anger at the decisions that went against India it was channelled into a batting effort that would have done many top-order batsmen proud. Although more comfortable playing off the back foot Kumble ensured that he came forward to the spinners when he could, taking the lbw out of play as much as possible.At the end of the day Australia won a dramatic Test but it was not entirely without some help from the umpires. When you pick up a pack of Benson & Hedges you get a statutory warning: “Smoking cigarettes is injurious to health.” From this day on, the firm of Benson & Bucknor may well have to come with some sort of warning. It’s a shame when you have to spend more time talking about the umpiring than the wickets taken or the runs scored, but when the errors umpires make play a big role in deciding the course of a game, there’s little choice.The first bad decision of the final day went against Rahul Dravid, who was a key component in India’s stonewalling after Australia had set them 333 from a possible 72 overs and shut them out of the game. Dravid’s dour approach at the top of the order has raised a good many eyebrows and elicited ironic jeers and cheers from Australian crowds, but it was just what India needed.Dravid was positive in his judgment of what to play and what to leave, confident in defence and when the occasion presented itself, willing to drive safely. He had consumed 103 balls for his 38 when he tucked his bat completely behind pad with all the safety of a Swiss banker and padded Andrew Symonds away. Even with no part of blade visible, Steve Bucknor upheld a spirited appeal for the catch behind when the ball had come off the knee roll. Dravid has copped his fair share of debatable decisions as he has tried to bat his way out a lean patch, but this one took the cake, and he shook his head in disbelief all the way back to the dressing room.When Dravid fell, India were 4 for 115 and precariously poised. Already Wasim Jaffer had gone for a duck, edging Brett Lee to Adam Gilchrist, VVS Laxman had been trapped plumb in front by a clever bit of bowling from Stuart Clark and Sachin Tendulkar had dragged one back onto his stumps.Sourav Ganguly batted as though he was under no pressure, bringing a refreshing confidence and positive mindset to the middle. Just as Dravid’s defensive approach was best for him, Ganguly had found a way to launch his own resistance and it was certainly more pretty to watch. Planting his foot well down the ground and driving superbly through the off side, Ganguly was scoring at a run-a-ball when none of the Indian batsmen before him had come close to doing so.

Andrew Symonds was the one to suffer the most against Ganguly, being taken for three consecutive boundaries through cover in one over, as well as having him dropped at slip off his bowling. The fast men did not trouble Ganguly much either, that is until the ball that terminated his innings. Having raced to a half-century Ganguly slashed one to Clarke in the slips cordon. Clarke went low to take the catch and it was not clear if he had got his fingers under the ball, but that should have proved to be irrelevant as he subsequently grounded the ball, tumbling to his left in the process of completing the catch. Mark Benson, called upon to rule on this one, chose not to ask his partner at square-leg, or go to the third umpire, and instead was satisfied by a word from Ricky Ponting, also stationed at slip. Only a few minutes before this Ponting had claimed a bat-pad catch after clearly grounding the ball in the process. Why Benson chose to take Ponting’s word for it, after all that had happened, is something only he knows the answer to. Either way it was time for Ganguly to go, on a well-made 51 and India were 6 for 137.Then a fresh rearguard began, with two new protagonists in Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kumble. Dhoni has not been a force with the bat in the Tests so far and it was not his brute force but his mental strength that was called upon. Dhoni left his big shots back in the pavilion and defended stoically, albeit in somewhat unorthodox fashion. He was fidgety outside the off stump but ensured he did not nick the ball.The Dhoni-Kumble stand had pushed on to 48, and more importantly eaten up precious time – 21 overs to be exact – before an error of judgment from Dhoni, when he padded up to an offbreak from Symonds and was plumb in front, separated the two. Then came the Clarke special that sealed the deal. He’d endured a poor match with the bat, picking up more wickets than scoring runs, but playing such a big part in the win, he’ll take it.And Clarke’s wickets could not have been more timely. When Ponting prolonged the Australian second innings till they reached 401, thanks mainly to an unbeaten 145 from Hussey, there was just the thought that he hadn’t the time to bowl out the Indians. At the end of the day, 72 overs proved to be enough, albeit by the thinnest of slivers.

Johann Louw, the South African-born allrounder, has rejoined Northamptonshire for the 2008 season. Louw last played for the club in 2004, after which he signed for Middlesex.”We are fortunate that we have been able to attract a player of Johann’s quality back to the club at this late stage of preparation,” David Capel, the Northamptonshire coach, said. “We needed to reinforce our seam bowling department due to the ECB blocking Johann van der Wath and Andrew Hall’s registrations for 2008, and although we will not have Johann available for the opening two Championship and Friends Provident Trophy matches he will be a welcome addition to our squad.”He has expressed to me how excited he is about returning to us and I feel that he is capable of matching his best season for us when he took in excess of 60 first-class wickets. He has obviously been in good form during the South African domestic season, which he will be looking forward to continuing when he joins us at the end of April.”Louw said he was looking forward to returning to the club, adding: “Hopefully we can achieve what the club has being working towards and personally it will be great to be under the watchful eye of David Capel. I am very excited about the season and can’t wait to join the squad at the end of April.”