The England selectors have released Steve Harmison from the one-day squad, allowing him to play for Durham in their championship match against Worcestershire, which starts today.Harmison hasn’t played a single one-day international this season: he was on the bench throughout the three-match NatWest Challenge against Pakistan, and missed out in the first three matches of the triangular NatWest Series tournament as well. This has left him short of match-practice – he hasn’t played a first-class match since joining the England one-day squad almost three weeks back. The decision to allow him to play county cricket gives Harmison an opportunity to get in some overs before England’s first Test against South Africa on July 25.

Bangladesh 97 and 178 (Bashar 54, Al Sahariar 36; MacGill 5 for 65) lost to Australia 407 for 7 dec Australia, as expected, won their first Test against Bangladesh by an innings. They weren’t quite at their ruthless best, but they didn’t need to be. Bangladesh showed a singular lack of application in their first innings, though they showed some spine in the second before a sudden middle-order collapse brought them to their knees. Steve Waugh was in a relective mood after winning his record 37th Test as captain; Dav Whatmore could only watch in despair as Bangladesh lost his first Test as their coach; Stuart MacGill, the chief architect of Australia’s domination on the final day, picking up his seventh five-wicket haul, was exhilarated. Here is what they had to say:Steve Waugh
On what makes Australia special: It’s about our scoring rate and how quickly we can get our runs and put the opposition in. it’s a positive way of playing the game and we like to win in quick time.It helps when you have someone like Adam Gilchrist batting at number seven who can make the game go forward so quickly and put a lot of pressure on the opposition. We score so quickly that we have extra time to take those 20 wickets and we can put a lot of pressure on their batsmen.That’s the way cricket should be played and if all the countries can take a leaf out of that book then it’s good for world cricket.On how Tests involving Australia hardly ever last five days: A lot of the games are finishing early, but I think the quality of cricket we put out in that period of time is much better than five dull boring days. I’d rather have three exciting days and make the spectators enjoy the cricket we play; we rather play that way as well. I hope the public appreciate the way we play and I think we’ll continuethat way.Dav Whatmore
On what he makes of the team he’s just taken charge of: I’m just being a little patient to make assessments given the class of opposition that we faced here. It will take a bit more time to really separate and go on and I think we have to be patient before making any firm assessments.The positives from the game: There were indications of fight here and that’s promising and, really, the game, for me, wasn’t about winning or losing. It’s about being to see what we can do under pressure and try to match the opposition and be as competitive aswe possibly could.There were times when I thought Australia had to fight for their runs – the first 100-150 runs it was a real struggle for them. If it was any other team I believe there was enough pressure applied to pick up more wickets, which has a stabilising effect when you come to chase runs in the second innings, but it wasn’t to be.On how he felt at the end of the game: I don’t think any coach is satisfied – maybe [John] Buchanan [Australia’s coach] might be a bit more satisfied. I’m not sure if I will be satisfied for a long while yet, but it’s a matter of identifying areas where we need to improve -it’s a fairly easy area to identify for us – and going ahead and working on it.Stuart MacGill:
On the seventh five-wicket haul of his 24-Test career: I’ve learned through my career that when you get a chance with the ballyou have to make the most of it, so I’m really quite satisfied with how it went today.On how so many of his wickets in this game came from the wrong `un: Normally 90% of my wickets come from my legbreak and even in the first innings I got both my wickets with something different. In this game I felt if I was consistent with my legbreak perhaps thevariation was a chance and it was.On how county cricket has helped his bowling: I’ve been playing for Nottinghamshire in the English county championship and we play on really slow wickets and I think it’s improving my bowling because the margin for error is much smaller over there and I have to work alittle bit more on my consistency.On Mashrafe’s Mortaza’s slog against him (14 runs in an over): That last six I got hit for was definitely one of the biggest sixes off my bowling.Click here to read day 2 quotes.

Helen Cohen Alon, the 45-year-old woman at the centre of the latest Shane Warne scandal, is set to be sued on charges of extortion.Gavin Varejes, an associate of Warne’s, has levelled the charges after Cohen Alon claimed she had been bombarded with telephone calls and lewd text messages, including the revelation that Warne “often told her he was lying next to his wife thinking naughty thoughts”.Warne, who is currently serving a 12-month ban for failing a drugs test, has received support from his Test captain, Steve Waugh, who blamed his "enemies in the media" for kicking him when he was down.”I don’t know the full story, I’m sure you guys [media] don’t know it either," said Waugh. “You’ve got to give the guy a fair chance and let him have his say and when he does that, respect what he says and then make a judgment from there. But I think a lot of people have made their judgment before they know the facts.”Waugh added he had sympathy for Warne and his family, after they had become embroiled in another controversy. “I am part of the cricket side and we have some loyalty to each other. He’s human, he makes mistakes and I think he pays for his pretty heavily. I certainly support Shane and his family.”It’s a tough time, a lot of people are sort of kicking the boot in right now and a lot of his enemies in the media are having a crack at him. As a team-mate I feel sorry for him and what’s happened, particularly his family.”

In seven previous series in India, New Zealand have won just two Tests and lost 10. Wisden Cricinfo looks back at the highlights of those seven series.1955-56
It was New Zealand’s first tour of India, and the only time that they played a five-Test series here. India romped home 2-0, winning both Tests by an innings. Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Manjrekar and Pankaj Roy hammered two hundreds in the series, while Subhash Gupte was a one-man army with the ball, taking a phenomenal 34 wickets – exactly as many as all the other Indian bowlers put together. Despite the domination by the Indian batsmen, only once did their opening pair put together a century partnership. When they did manage one, though – in the fifth Test – Vinoo Mankad and Roy went on to add 413, a record for the first wicket which stands till today. Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid were the only two New Zealanders who conquered the Indian spinners, hitting two hundreds each.1964-65
A superb debut series for S Venkataraghavan, who took 21 wickets in four Tests and singlehandedly fashioned an Indian victory in the last Test, the only decisive match of the series. Venkat wheeled away for 112.4 overs and took 12 for 152 at the Feroz Shah Kotla to turn an evenly contested series – New Zealand took the first-innings lead twice in four matches – India’s way. New Zealand found an unlikely hero in Bruce Taylor, the allrounder, who scored a century and took a five-for on debut in the second Test at Calcutta, the only player to have achieved the feat till today.1969-70
The Indians had a mighty spin line-up in Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan, but New Zealand found a spin spearhead of their own in Hedley Howarth. His nine wickets in the second Test at Nagpur gave New Zealand their first Test victory in India. This was a series New Zealand dominated – they took the first-innings lead in all three Tests, and despite losing the first one, nearly snatched the series: requiring 268 to win in the last match, India just about managed to hold on for a draw, finishing on a miserable 76 for 7.1976-77
This time there was no stopping the Indian spinners. Bishan Bedi led the charge, taking 22 wickets in three Tests, including two five-fors, as India romped to a convincing 2-0 win. The crucial difference between the previous series and this one was the emergence of a solid Indian batting line-up – Sunil Gavaskar, Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder Amarnath and Gundappa Viswanath formed a formidable top four, and with Syed Kirmani chipping in handily in the lower order, New Zealand just could not find a way to dismiss India cheaply enough. This was also Richard Hadlee’s first series in India, and while 13 wickets in three wickets was a fair effort, it was too little to make a difference.1988-89
Richard Hadlee (10 for 88) and John Bracewell (8 for 132) led New Zealand to only their second Test win, by a thumping 136-run margin at Bombay. New Zealand lost matches on either side of that Test, though, to lose the series 1-2. In a bowler-dominated series, India topped 300 just twice, while New Zealand’s highest was 279. The pitches were tailor-made for India’s spinners – they accounted for almost 80% of the wickets taken by the team – but Hadlee showed that he could deliver even in inhospitable conditions. Tormenting the Indian batsmen with seam, swing, and impeccable accuracy, he took 18 wickets at 14, with a scalp every five-and-a-half overs.1995-96
A series marred by inclement weather. India won the first Test at Bangalore, and then held on to the lead as rains played spoilsport in the next two. Anil Kumble has reason to remember the series, though: Martin Crowe became his 100th Test victim in the Bangalore Test, as Kumble took nine wickets in the match and was largely instrumental in fashioning the victory.1999-2000
The three-Test series started off in sensational fashion when, on a damp and green pitch, Dion Nash and co. bundled out India’s much-vaunted batting line-up for 83 in a mere 27 overs. Incredibly, only 17 wickets fell in the next four days after the first day produced 13, as the match ended in a draw. The second Test was on a more conventional turner, and Kumble starred in yet another home win, grabbing six wickets in the second innings, and ten in the match. This series also marked the return to captaincy for Sachin Tendulkar, while Kapil Dev took over as coach. Tendulkar’s batting was not affected – he notched up his maiden Test double-century in the third match – but his high-profile partnership with Kapil didn’t quite produce the desired results for Indian cricket: a three-nil drubbing in Australia was followed by a more shocking two-zero whitewash against South Africa at home, and Tendulkar’s second stint as captain came to an unceremonious end.

Close
ScorecardOvernight rain, followed by intermmitent showers, meant that no further play was possible on the second day in the tour game between the Board President’s XI and New Zealand at Visakhapatnam.For more than an hour after the scheduled start of play at 9am, the sun was shining, and cricket looked eminently possible – until a big black cloud moved over the stadium, hovered for 10 minutes, and poured out torrents of rain.With big puddles of water still on the covers, the start of play was put off till an inspection at 1pm. At that time, with the outfield clearly too soggy to start, the umpires informed the captains that play would be called off. With no result feasible tomorrow – the final day – there is a strong possibility that, weather permitting, a limited-overs match will be held to give the crowds something to watch and the players some cricket.Day 1 Bulletin

In every sense, except the one that matters most, Colombo’s weather has been regular as clockwork. At three o’clock this afternoon, with the groundstaff hovering expectantly between two practice nets in the middle of the Premadasa Stadium, the clouds rolled over and the rain came pouring down. It was the same story yesterday afternoon, and in all probability, it will be the same tomorrow as well, when the second one-day international is due to get underway.As things stand, the rain may be regular, but, in fact, it shouldn’t be raining at all. The current weather pattern has got the locals stumped. Sri Lanka’s captain, Marvan Atapattu, was at a loss to explain the conditions, which are usually dry and sunny by this time of the year, with the monsoon left long behind. “It is pretty unusual,” he said. “I can’t remember it raining this consistently in the past.””We can’t control the weather, so we leave it well alone,” said John Dyson, Sri Lanka’s new coach, who was still beaming at the facile nature of his first match in charge. Nevertheless, as an Australian, Dyson was far more bullish about his homeland’s prospects in Saturday’s rugby World Cup final, than he was about Sri Lanka’s chances of a clean sweep in this series. Strange really, seeing as he shares his name with a vacuum-cleaner manufacturer.”I would expect England to come back strongly,” warned Dyson. “After the Bangladesh series, maybe they were finding their cricket a little too easy. Tuesday’s game will have been a useful wake-up call, if that is what they needed. It is clear that they are starting to gel into a good unit, so I’d be surprised if they play like that again.”They were magnanimous words, but the gloomy weather has been the only appropriate reflection of England’s current mood. Just about everything that could go wrong in the last 48 hours, has gone wrong. As if the massacre in Dambulla wasn’t bad enough, England are now facing up to the probable loss of half their strike force for the first Test at Galle. Only minutes after Steve Harmison’s withdrawal had been confirmed last night, James Anderson twisted his ankle playing squash, and now faces a two-week lay-off.”The injury is less than 24 hours old and we will need a few days to assess it,” said Dean Conway, England’s physio. “We are quite optimistic at this stage that he will be back in 10 days to two weeks, but that is based on a quick judgment.” With Richard Johnson staying out in Harmison’s place, and Matthew Hoggard already flying out to join the squad, no decision has yet been taken on whether a replacement will be required for Anderson.But it just so happens that the next cab off the rank – to use the Australian vernacular – is the man against whom Anderson was playing when he suffered his injury. “We were just trying to get a bit of a sweat on,” protested James Kirtley, who is sure to take Anderson’s place tomorrow. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”I was actually at the other side of the court, attempting a return,” he added, disassociating himself from the injury as far as he possibly could, “when I heard a thud. We immediately feared the worst.”Kirtley is well aware of the success that another skiddy English paceman enjoyed in the 2001 series: “Darren Gough and I are not dissimilar in style.” It remains to be seen whether Kirtley would be as able and willing to go through his full repertoire of slower balls and legcutters to make an impact, although, it has to be said, the conditions are far more favourable than they were for Gough’s tour.For the time being, however, England’s chances of a swift revenge are very much in the hands of the elements. The most recent match to be held at the Premadasa Stadium was the Champions’ Trophy final between Sri Lanka and India, in September last year. That match really was scheduled slap-bang in the middle of the rainy season, and the upshot was a two-day farce in which no Champion could be determined, and no Trophy could be awarded outright.Once again, a reserve day has been scheduled – just in case – although that is unlikely to find much favour with either England’s players or their punters. Saturday’s rugby final might just ensure that the ground would be devoid of travelling supporters, long before the rains had their say.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dinusha Fernando, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Ian Blackwell, 8 Chris Read (wk), 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 James Kirtley.

Dilhara Fernando, Sri Lanka’s quickest bowler, is ready to return to international cricket after seven months on the sidelines. Fernando, now 24, has battled his way back to full fitness after a stress fracture – the second of his career – during a quadrangular tournament in Sharjah earlier this year.Champaka Ramanayake, Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling coach, was hopeful that Fernando would return to the Sri Lankan side soon, perhaps even for the first Test against England, which starts on December 2 at Galle. Fernando has been selected in the Sri Lankan Board President’s XI, which will take on England in a three-day warm-up match at the Colombo Cricket Club from November 26.”Dilhara has recovered fully from his spine injury and has been bowling long spells for SSC [Sinhalese Sports Club] in the Premier Trophy competition without any discomfort,” said Ramanayake on Monday. “He has been out of international cricket for nearly seven months and needs to get some exposure against an international team to regain his confidence.”He had a technical error in his bowling action which is called counter rotation which twisted his spine and resulted in the stress fracture. We identified the fault and changed his alignment so that he is bowling more upright now.” Fernando has captured 12 wickets for 220 runs in four matches for SSC in the ongoing Premier Trophy, Sri Lanka’s main first class competition.The other likely contenders for Chaminda Vaas’s new ball partner in the Galle Test include Nuwan Zoysa, Dinusha Fernando and Nuwan Kulasekera. Sri Lanka are only likely to play two fast bowlers, unless conditions aid seam bowling.

Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), faces an anxious week. A long and complicated legal battle is drawing to a close, and on Thursday (January 8) Sumathipala will appear before a Sri Lankan court.Sumathipala, who is also the chairman of the state-owned Sri Lanka Telecom, has been caught up in passport scandal after allegations that Dammika Amarasinghe, an alleged underworld figure, traveled to England to watch the 1999 World Cup as a guest of the cricket board, apparently on a false passport.Sumathipala is also alleged to have authorised the release of £1500 in travellers’ cheques to Amarasinghe from the cricket board’s coffers. Last week, a Criminal Investigations Department (CID) team obtained a court warrant and raided the SLC headquarters in Colombo in search of accounting documents.Should Sumathipala be charged on Thursday it may shatter his dream of heading the International Cricket Council (ICC) when it is Sri Lanka’s turn for the rotated presidency. That has been a personal and oft-stated ambition, which he had looked certain to achieve thanks to a formidable power-base of support in neighbouring Asian countries, especially India.Wisden Comment by Charlie Austin:<BRThilanga Sumathipala's power-base in Sri Lanka, among the clubs and associations that vote in cricket-board elections, is rock solid. Although his two previous administrations were cut short by the government, he won a landslide victory to claim a third term in June 2003. The clubs respect the dynamism and business acumen that has transformed the way cricket is run in Sri Lanka.No-one, whether friend or foe, can deny that it was Sumathipala that sent board revenues soaring in the late 1990s. On the cricket side he has also presided over several notable achievements: the construction of the Dambulla International Stadium, a frenzy of developmental activity in country areas, the launch of a new provincial tournament, and a new intensive international programme for the Sri Lankan A team.Sumathipala's fate is not clear. If you believed every word printed by the Sunday Leader, the newspaper that broke the story, then his future is bleak. They claim that CID sleuths have uncovered a mountain of incriminatory evidence in the last month: travellers-cheque stubs, memos and letters, and visa documentation, to add to the original explosive testimony from a former crony of Amarasinghe that first linked Sumathipala to Colombo’s mafia.However, the newspaper’s claims have to be treated with caution. The manner in which they have pursued Sumathipala is more akin to a witch-hunt than balanced investigative journalism. News articles have been clouded with comment, and you cannot entirely rule out Sumathipala’s claim that he is the unfortunate victim of a malicious political conspiracy.Nevertheless, Sumathipala is clearly facing the biggest fight of his career. Those who have followed his meteoric rise closely, as a self-made and highly successful businessman and cricket administrator, will still back him to emerge from scandal for his canniness and determination is legendary but the next few days will be crucial to his future.

Australia’s crown jewels, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, will make their long-awaited comebacks within 24 hours of each other, after their lengthy absences through injury and suspension.McGrath, who has undergone ankle surgery since his disappointing performance against Bangladesh last July, intends to play for a New South Wales second XI in a four-day game against Tasmania on February 9. The very next day, Warne’s year-long suspension for taking a banned diuretic comes to an end, as he joins Victoria’s second XI for the last three days of their fixture against Queensland.The initial target for both bowlers is a place in Australia’s Test squad for the forthcoming tour to Sri Lanka, although it will be a tough ask for them to regain sufficient form and fitness in so short a time. After a five-match one-day series, the first Test begins on March 8 at Galle.Nevertheless, Ricky Ponting, who will be taking over from Steve Waugh as Australia’s Test captain, was buoyed at the prospect of having his champion bowlers available once again.”When you know you’ve got guys like McGrath and Warne to come back it is pretty exciting,” said Ponting. “Glenn’s probably been frustrated a fair bit over the last few months, having got back and then needing another operation on his ankle. I’m sure he’s dying to play again and get back into this Australian side.”Ponting hinted that the absence of Warne and McGrath was a major factor in Australia’s disappointing showing against India. “That was probably the most disappointing thing about this summer, the Test series against India, that we didn’t ever get a chance to have our full-strength bowling against their full-strength batting attack. That would, I’m sure, have led to even better cricket.”McGrath completed a bowling session in the SCG nets on Wednesday morning, after admitting on Sydney radio that he was confident about his ankle being right. An NSW spokesman added: “He’s a pretty good chance of playing in that second-XI match.”

Scorecard
New South Wales, the defending one-day champions, have only a mathematical chance of playing in the limited-overs final after Queensland pulled off a remarkable 25-run win at the Gabba. Defending a modest total of 229, the Queensland bowlers bowled NSW out for 204 in the 48th over. The loss left NSW with 14 points, nine behind second placed Victoria. Queensland lead the table with 22 points, with two matches to play.It was a stunning Queensland fightback after NSW got away to a flying start thanks to the clean-hitting of opener Phil Jaques (61 off 67). But from 1 for 89 in the 17th over, they lost a steady stream of wickets as the bowlers, led by Michael Kasprowicz (3 for 38) and James Hopes (3 for 34), tightened the screws.The pivotal moment came when Ashley Noffke produced a brilliant run-out off his own bowling to dismiss Mark Waugh (20 off 28) when the score was 5 for 158 in the 38th over. Mark had steadied the ship after brother Steve (16) had been caught behind off James Hopes. Hopes fittingly produced the final act by bowling Doug Bollinger with the first ball of the 48th over.That the match could be played out over almost the full 100 overs was testament to the efforts of the ground staff after a frightening electrical storm lashed the Gabba midway through Queensland’s innings, the highlight of which was an 83-ball 75 by Stuart Law. At 2 for 130, Queensland were on track to register an imposing score before the storm caused a 76-minute delay.Once play resumed, after the massive puddles drained away, NSW duo Stuart MacGill (2 for 28) and Stuart Clark (3 for 43) sparked off a collapse. Queensland lost their last eight wickets for 99 runs, including four wickets for only 12 runs a five-overs spell. It was triggered by Craig Philipson’s run out when his bat jammed in the wet grass when sliding for a quick single.Clark and MacGill built pressure from both ends and it was only the fine rearguard efforts of Nathan Hauritz (26 off 29) which got Queensland past 200. Law provided the initial fireworks by belting eight fours and a straight six to continue his rich vein of one-day form.