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Maurice Odumbe has been named in a provisional 30-man Kenyan squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, according to a report in the Kenyan The Kenyan selectors’ move is significant because Odumbe came under the ICC’s scanner for what it termed “inappropriate contact with a bookmaker”, a claim that Odumbe denied vehemently.Odumbe was adamant that he did not know the businessman that he was in touch with was also a bookmaker, and he denied allegations that he had taken money to throw matches. Odumbe is alleged to have received payments from at least one Mumbai bookmaker in 2002, so that he could coerce his team-mates into underperforming in matches.If found guilty, Odumbe – who has been the face of Kenyan cricket, along with Steve Tikolo, since that astonishing win over West Indies in the 1996 World Cup – faces a life ban. A formal hearing will start in Nairobi on July 27, and is expected to last five days. Both Odumbe and the ICC will have the opportunity to put forward their case, and call witnesses.Odumbe’s lawyer compared the case to others in the past, and said that the ICC had dealt with his client’s case differently, even though there was little evidence to support the charge.But by selecting Odumbe for the squad, the Kenyan selectors have diverged with the common worldwide practice of not picking players currently under investigation. It could be viewed as evidence of the faith that they have in Odumbe, but equally, it could be interpreted as backing for one of the few genuine matchwinners in the Kenyan team.

Gloucestershire have signed the up-and-coming New Zealand fast bowler, Ian Butler, as a temporary replacement for their allrounder, Ian Harvey, who has been selected for Australia’s forthcoming one-day series in the Caribbean.Butler joins Gloucestershire next week, when New Zealand’s tour of Sri Lanka comes to an end, and will stay until the end of May when Harvey is due to return from international action.”I am really looking forward to playing for Gloucestershire and I cannot wait to get started," said Butler. “I have not had a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka but I have been doing a lot of bowling in the nets, but nothing beats playing out in the middle.”Butler, 21, has played four Tests and nine one-day internationals in his brief career, which began with an unexpected debut against England at Christchurch in 2001-02, after Shane Bond withdrew with an ankle injury. Described by Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand’s chairman of selectors, as "the biggest call he had ever made", Butler has the ability to become one of the quickest bowlers in world cricket.

Adam Gilchrist has no regrets after earning an unfortunate place in Australian cricket history.In only his second Test as captain, Gilchrist became the first Australian skipper ever to lose a Test match after declaring and setting the opposition a target.It’s a surprising statistic – confirmed by Australian Cricket Board statistician Ross Dundas – and it took the innings of a lifetime from Mark Butcher to bring it about.Butcher stroked a chanceless 173 not out – the same score Sir Donald Bradman made at Headingley in 1948 when Australia made 3-404 to beat England.Rain had robbed the match of 117 overs, forcing Gilchrist to end the Australian innings ahead of schedule in pursuit of its goal of a clean sweep in the five-match series.He set England 315 to win off 110 overs, and England duly achieved it with six wickets in hand to revive memories of the famous Botham Test success at the same ground 20 years ago.Gilchrist’s declaration was in keeping with regular skipper Steve Waugh’s philosophy of backing his bowlers and he said he would make the same decision again.”We were a bit shy but we didn’t know the wicket was going to play that well and that someone was going to play the innings of his life,” Gilchrist said.”It was a really enjoyable experience, I’ve got to say, to captain the team in a Test that was fairly close, getting into the last hour of the last day.”It meant a lot to me to be captain and it hurt a great deal to lose but I have no regrets.”England made its second biggest final innings chase in history – trailing only the 7-332 from Percy Chapman’s side which beat Australia at the MCG in 1928-29.And Gilchrist likened Butcher’s innings off 227 balls to the 281-run knock from VVS Laxman in Calcutta which turned the second Test and the series for India earlier this year.Butcher struck 23 fours and a six and belted the last 12 balls he faced from Jason Gillespie for 29 runs – five fours, a six, a two and a one.The Australian bowlers, so potent all summer, showed signs of wilting under the final-day onslaught as Brett Lee returned 0-65 off 16 overs, Gillespie 2-94, Glenn McGrath 1-61 and Shane Warne 1-58.”Seeing that innings, the Laxman innings comes to mind,” said Gilchrist.”When he got his hundred I’ve never seen so many of our guys go in and congratulate a guy at once.”It was a tremendous innings. This guy was really taking it up to us and good on him – everyone felt that.”It’s probably one of the great Ashes knocks … given that he wasn’t meant to be playing at the start of the series and he got in by injury.”Gilchrist was roundly criticised after a tour game against Essex last month when he told his batsmen to play out the final day in order to get match practice before the first Test.The Australians were booed at the end of that game and Gilchrist was visibly unsettled.”I won’t be going into my shell and be bitten by the declaration bug,” he said.”I’ll look at today and think of Essex where I didn’t declare for whatever reasons and was told I showed contempt for the spectators and members of the press and cricket in general.”You’ve got to weigh up all these points of view but I’m comfortable with what I did.”The bowlers tried their all – they’ve been outstanding all tour and today they weren’t far off the mark and one guy (Butcher) was so far ahead of the mark.”I’m pretty happy with it all.”Gilchrist, who said injured captain Steve Waugh told him to go with his gut instincts throughout the game, was pleased that his tactics had helped provide such an entertaining spectacle.”There were 15,000 people out there soaking the game up,” he said.”That’s a very positive thing for the game.”I’m proud of my team, that we were all prepared to take that on … no-one complained when I declared.”We knew there was a risk of defeat and that’s the risk we take.”Hussain admitted England had been outplayed through most of the match and only Gilchrist’s willingness to pursue victory gave his side a chance.”I’ve got the utmost respect for this team,” he said.”Steve Waugh, I think he went out there and clapped Mark Butcher.”They give you a hard time and they get stuck into you but as I’ve always said, if you show them you can play, they come up to you at the end of the day and shake your hand and say ‘well done, son, we’ll be back at you at The Oval.'”Hussain was relieved that England had finally shown some heart.”Obviously Australia had their own motives, they wanted to beat us five-nil and get their winning streak back going again,” he said.”All credit to them, they’re playing cricket the right way and in exactly the right manner – positive batting, positive bowling, positive declarations.”But today we played cricket like we should. That was a special day’s cricket.”Today was the day we’ve been waiting for all summer … if you don’t dream, you don’t believe.”Now it’s on to The Oval for the fifth Test at The Oval starting on Thursday.England has its tail up and Australia hasn’t won at The Oval since 1972.

At 180 for three, Tamil Nadu seemed to be cruising along when Kerala’s NJ John caused a sharp collapse on the opening day of their three day Cooch Behar Trophy South Zone league match at the Medical college ground in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. John took four wickets as Tamil Nadu slid to 212 for seven before an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 32 runs off 9.1 overs pushed the score to 244 by stumps when play was called off about ten minutes before before the scheduled close due to heavy rain. The downpour rendered the ground unfit for play on the second day which was abandoned on Thursday. The decision to call off the day’s play was taken after lunch when the umpires had made a second inspection.The start of play was delayed for 140 minutes because of the dampness in the pitch. Put in to bat, Tamil Nadu lost R Sainath (18) at 31 but K Vasudevadoss (35) and R Prasanna (36) steadied the boat with a second wicket partnership of 64 runs off 21.2 overs. Both batsmen fell in the space of two overs but then V Kudawla (45) and Aditya Srikkanth (41) added 80 runs for the fourth wicket off 16 overs to put Tamil Nadu in a position of some strength. This was when John struck. He had both Kudawla and Srikkanth leg before and then he bowled skipper S Vidyuth (24) and T Dushyanth (0). John finished the day with the splendid figures of 9-1-13-4. E Suresh (14) and wicketkeeper KKD Karthik (12) were in the midst of a rescue act when the day’s play was halted.

The BCCI has appointed former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar as the director of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, confirmed that Vengsarkar would hold his position in an honorary capacity.Vengsarkar, who is the vice-president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, said he accepted the offer readily, but conceded the job posed a challenging task. He said his priority was to revitalise the NCA, which he felt had become “defunct” and needed to be put back on the tracks.”Over the years it [NCA] has been the supply line for Indian international cricket,” Vengsarkar said. “It is challenging to spot and groom talent from all over India. There is a huge amount of talent in India, but it has to be groomed and nurtured and the NCA can play an important role in that process.”Vengsarkar was of the view that the NCA had become stale over the last few years. “For the last four to five years, it is as good as defunct. And it had no direction. So I will have to focus on the restructuring and make sure that Indian cricket can get good cricketers and we can have a good bench strength.”Vengsarkar will take over from Brijesh Patel, who reportedly had to step down from his position owing to the conflict-of-interest guidelines introduced by Manohar. Patel started his second stint as NCA director last year after the conclusion of the IPL, having served in the same position between 2001 and 2004. Patel is the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association as well as being the director of cricket operations at the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise, positions he has stressed as being honorary.Immediately upon taking over as the BCCI president, Manohar had mentioned that revamping the NCA was part of his immediate goals. “The board would also look into the starting of National Cricket Academy (NCA) again, whose activities are not up to the mark as of date,” Manohar had said. “And we would see to it that the NCA functions round the year so that cricketing talent is developed in this country. Today we are short of the second line. There are no spinners in this country. So it is also our duty to see to it that we have an available lot as a replacement for the current players.”Scouting and grooming talent has been part of Vengsarkar’s strengths in the past. He was the head of the BCCI’s talent and research development wing a decade ago, and then served as the chairman of the national selection committee, positions he believes will help him in his new job. Vengsarkar said he was yet to chalk out a plan, but would present his vision to the NCA board during the first week of December.The NCA board, a BCCI sub-committee, is headed by veteran administrator Niranjan Shan along with Vengsarkar and former India Test opener Chetan Chauhans. The other members on the board are Amitabh Choudhary (BCCI joint secretary), Subir Ganguly (East zone), Prashant Vaidya (Central), Sanjay Desai (South) and Vishal Marwah (North).

Ryerson won the first Canadian National Universities Twenty20 tournament late on Friday night, beating McMaster University (Hamilton) in the final.The scheduled final almost did not take place as the tournament supervising umpire from the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) proved a highly immovable object to the sentiments of the participating teams. McMaster beat Seneca College in one semi-final and Ryerson edged out the fancied University of Toronto Scarborough (UTS) campus in the other.It was noticed that one of the Ryerson batsman had not been declared in the original team list of 11 players. At one point, Ryerson were deemed to have lost, and UTS were told the final would be forfeited if they did not take the field. There was a lot of sympathy from the attending students as both last and this year’s event owed a massive debt to the key organiser from Ryerson.Figures showing how McMaster had qualified ahead of Ryerson on run-rate for last year’s final have not been publicly disclosed, to the best of my knowledge. I arrived on Friday morning uncertain as to the four semi-finalists. It seems the calculations and discussions went on until late. The ability to advise local media of the line-up for the big-day and a desire to draw a decent crowd evaporated during Thursday night’s deliberations and confusion.

The designated CCA vice-president responsible for schools, colleges and universities cricket, as well as umpiring and scoring, was not present. He attended the opening ceremony on Monday. Eventually the CCA president arrived and about 50 minutes later a replay of five-overs-a-side between Ryerson and U of T Scarborough began.U of T Scarborough, including Trevin Bastiampillai, one of Canada’s batting hero’s from the recent ICC Intercontinental Cup win over UAE, made 45 for 4. Ryerson overhauled this total in the fourth over for the loss of two wickets.Closing speeches followed before McMaster went out and scored 104 for 5 wickets in a match shortened to 12 overs because of problems caused by the setting sun, Hassan Mir leading from the front with an unbeaten 49. Those with long memories recalled he hit 45 earlier in the day against Seneca. A couple of Toronto and District players formed the bedrock of Ryerson’s chase, Harvir Baidwan making 29 off16 balls and Rahath Mirza 37 off 25 to guide them home with an over to spare. In fairness, the fielding side struggled in far from ideal conditions as the sun set and dusk arrived.

Essex County Cricket Club has announced that it will not be renewing the contract of left-hand batsman Richard Clinton and that they have mutually agreed that it would be in the player’s best interest for him to move on. 21-year-old Clinton joined Essex last season but has had only limited first-team opportunities due to unfortunate injuries.Essex Chief Executive David East commented: “Richard is a highly promising player, but because of the depth of batting we have in Essex at the moment, he would probably not get sufficient chancesto play first team cricket, which would be very disappointing for a player of his potential. Richard is very keen to continue his career elsewhere and we wish him well for the future.”Clinton commented: “I have enjoyed my time at Essex and am extremely disappointed that things have not worked out. I very much want to continue my first-class cricket career and will be looking for other openings in the near future.”

Goolam Rajah has been appointed to manage the ICC World XI teams for the forthcoming Super Series in Australia. Rajah, South Africa’s manager, is the most experienced team manager in the international game.He has been involved at a senior managerial level for more than 11 years and will find time to squeeze in managing the Africa XI side in the three-match one-day series against an Asian XI, before working the World XIs.Malcolm Speed, ICC’s chief executive, was delighted to welcome Rajah on board. “[His] background and experience will be an important asset in making sure that players arriving in Australia from around the cricketing world are well planned for and looked after during the series. I have every confidence that he will do an excellent job.””I thought I had experienced most of what the game had to offer in team management roles,” said Rajah, “but the opportunity of working with the ICC World XI teams is a great honour and a personal privilege. It will certainly be a highlight for me and I can’t wait to get started.”Playing Australia in Australia will be a huge challenge for the players and I see my main role as making things work smoothly and efficiently as part of the management team, leaving the players free to concentrate their energies on training and preparation,” he added.

With Muttiah Muralitharan’s action coming under the microscope again and the entire cricket world having varied views on the subject, it is hard to ignore the sentiments of the man who has backed Murali all the way from the word go, Arjuna Ranatunga.Ranatunga, in a recent telephone interview with The Times of India, lashed out at the Sri Lankan board and accused them of handling the whole situation ineptly. He also felt that the chances of Murali touring Australia were very slim. “Frankly speaking, I don’t see him going to Australia. Not after the manner in which the whole thing has been handled by our board. I don’t see why he should be subjected to more humiliation. It will be perfectly understandable if Murali chooses not to go.”Actually, the fault lies with our board. The ICC did not direct Murali to take the test. Some of our board officials, who know nothing about cricket, jumped the gun and misguided Murali to take the test. The board should stand by him, instead the officials have put the ball in Murali’s court.”Ranatunga, who is currently a minister in the Sri Lankan cabinet, was also critical about Murali apparently being the only bowler whose action was scrutinised in such great detail. “If the bio mechanics test is so accurate then shouldn’t all bowlers with suspect actions be subject to it?”When asked about the whole controversy surrounding the action with which Murali delivered the doosra, Ranatunga said, “I don’t think Murali has changed his action over the years. He always used to bowl the occasional legbreak, which has now been christened doosra by the media. Of course, he bowls it more often these days. And in my book, you can’t chuck a legbreak.”The main problem, according to Ranatunga, was the mindset of people in Sri Lanka, which caused them to get easily impressed by the foreign sentiments. “We tend to follow it blindly,” he lamented.

Little went right for South Africa against India in their first match of the TVS Cup. Thrust into the captaincy hot-seat, Graeme Smith learned some tough lessons as India first put 307 for four on the board and then skittled out South Africa for a mere 154. Only once before has South Africa lost a one-dayer by more than the eventual margin of 153 runs.Solid batting performances from Sourav Ganguly (75), Mohammad Kaif (95 not out) and Dinesh Mongia (55 from 38 balls) set things up perfectly for India. The South African batsmen simply did not have it in them to mount a serious challenge in conditions tailormade for spin bowling.Leading a side in one-day cricket is not easy at the best of times. Smith today found out what it’s like on a bad day at the office. Right from the toss, which he lost, it was downhill all the way for Smith.Virender Sehwag (37), dropped by Robin Peterson in the first over of the match, made the most of the opportunity. Whipping the ball through midwicket with aplomb and slashing hard through the offside, Sehwag made the bowlers pay, whichever side of the wicket they bowled. His fiery start gave Gautam Gambhir a chance to settle down and get his eye in. But after he did just that, Gambhir (18) played an awkward pull and gloved the ball to the keeper, giving Makhaya Ntini his 100th ODI wicket.An indiscrete shot from Sehwag in the 17th over cost him his wicket and forced Ganguly to put his head down and build a partnership with Kaif. The 86-run partnership that followed brought out the best in the two batsmen. Kaif sprinted like a man possessed, pushing his partner harder with every successive run.Ganguly’s effortless hitting against the slower bowlers took him to 75. Two cleanly-struck sixes and seven boundaries bolstered his knock, and his disappointment at missing out on a century would only have been offset by the satisfaction of playing a vital hand in building a big score.Kaif played second fiddle brilliantly, biding his time, until Ganguly played an ambitious drive off a slower ball from Dawson to be caught at mid-off (175 for 3). His dismissal was followed by the run-out of Yuvraj Singh (11), and there was a suggestion that the Indian scoring-rate might dip.Kaif and Dinesh Mongia had other ideas. With a flurry of strokes on either side of the wicket, the pair launched a ferocious assault on the South African bowlers. Sparing neither slow bowler nor fast, the pair bludgeoned 110 runs in 11.4 overs.Regaining a long-lost touch, Mongia unveiled an array of drives that pierced every available gap in the offside. Kaif joined the party, picking up length balls and clattering them over midwicket with regularity.He came tantalisingly close to a century, finishing unbeaten on a 103-ball 95, while Mongia provided just the impetus that India needed, slamming 55 from just 38 balls. The assault left South Africa gasping for breath and ragged in the field, as they dropped catches and conceded overthrows.South Africa have rarely looked more clueless on a cricket field. They needed a superhuman batting effort to lift them out of the mire that their bowlers had landed them in. All they got was staunch resistance from Mark Boucher (48) and a cameo from Herschelle Gibbs. A string of shaky batting performances added up to a mere 154 – not even enough to deny India the bonus point.Ajit Agarkar started the rot, claiming two wickets – Smith, chopping onto his stumps, and Jacques Rudolph, caught at slip – in a tidy opening spell. Pushed onto the back foot, South Africa never looked the part against Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and even the part-time off-spin of Sehwag. While Mishra picked up a wicket in his second over of international cricket, Harbhajan, aggressive as ever, returned two for 22, and Sehwag ended with three for 28 as South Africa skidded to a morale-deflating loss.Every team has a hard day at the office, and South Africa had theirs today. If they can look forward to anything after being crushed, it is their next game – against a Bangladesh that looked even more inept against India than they did.