Stephen Harmison will fly home later today to undergo tests to determine the extent of the back injury which kept him out of the second Test at Chittagong.Harmison, who collected match figures of 9 for 79 in England’s seven-wicket win in the first Test at Dhaka, has suffered a recurrence of a lower-back injury that prevented him from training with the squad on Monday.Harmison told Sky Sports: “It is really disappointing for me after the way I bowled in the first Test, but playing in that match made me realise how hard it is to bowl with only two seamers, and I knew it wouldn’t be fair to either Michael Vaughan or the team that I played when I was only half-fit.”He went on: “I’m not worried about Sri Lanka at this stage. I am sure after a couple of weeks’ rest I will be all right – I am used to the heat now and I have acclimatised so it shouldn’t take me long to get back into it again.”

New Zealand Women 201 (Tiffen 66*) and 102 for 4 (Fahey 60*) drew with India Women 277 (Kala 109, Jain 55, Steele 5-79)
ScorecardThe only Test of the tour between India Women and New Zealand Women drifted to a dull draw on the fourth day of the match – and chances are that even if there had been four more days, it might have ended the same way. New Zealand Women crawled to 102 for 4 in 99 overs in their second innings, anchored by a doughty 60 not out by Maria Fahey. Fahey may have made more than half the runs for her team, but she took her time doing it – all of 303 balls, spanning more than six-and-a-half hours.The final day was a battle of attrition, with the few spectators being the ones to suffer. All of 93 runs were scored in 83 overs, as New Zealand Women batted with as much resolve as, but far less initiative than, their male counterparts earlier this year. Even hit-me balls were patted or padded away, and they appeared to be batting with the view that drawing the Test would be a moral victory for them.The experienced Neetu David was the most impressive of the Indian bowlers, plugging away to take 3 for 35 in her 37 overs – though one of those wickets was an umpiring blunder on the third evening, when Kate Pulford was wrongly given out caught behind. The New Zealanders complained, but while the decision meant that Pulford had bagged a Gooch-like pair on debut, it did not impact on the match in any way.The two teams now take each other on in five one-day internationals, which are bound to produce results and will, thus, be of more interest than what has to count as one of the dullest Tests of recent years. Perhaps women’s cricket needs an Australia.

Close Australia 344 for 7 (Gilchrist 172, Hayden 63) beat Zimbabwe 196 for 6 (Streak 64*) by 148 runs
Scorecard

Adam Gilchrist set the Bellerive Oval ablaze with a whirlwind 172 as Zimbabwe were routed by 148 runs in the fourth ODI at Hobart. Matthew Hayden’s 63 and Damien Martyn’s 47 were the sidelights. Brett Lee had a satisfactory comeback game, but this script had a dominant protagonist. And Gilchrist’s 126-ball blitzkrieg was the only theme.But first the formalities. Zimbabwe were confronted with a humungous target. Compounding their misery in the initial overs were the fiery short balls from Brett Lee and Brad Williams. Vusi Sibanda, Mark Vermeulen and Dion Ebrahim were all suckered into edging balls to Gilchrist. And when Grant Flower decided to gain some batting practice with watchful defense, only the burial remained. Heath Streak and Tatenta Taibu added 102 in 20 overs, more to prevent a humiliation, than anything else. Lee fired in a salvo of yorkers at the death, as if Australia were defending a paltry score. It just reflected the complete mismatch between the two sides.Streak began well with the ball too. He had frustrated Matthew Hayden in their previous encounter at Sydney and started off in a similar manner today. He zeroed in on a precise length and swung the ball just a shade. But Hayden thwarted this fine spell by a strategy that would have done a bully proud. Even before the ball was delivered, he walked impudently down the pitch and ensured that it was in a hittable range. And when the bowlers changed their length, he changed his tactic. He stood firm and creamed them; one ball nearly beheaded Douglas Hondo on his follow through. It was a lesson both in improvisation and intimidation. But he was edgy throughout the innings, and could have been dismissed anytime. He finally departed after making 63, as a thick inside edge flew to Sibanda at midwicket (140 for 1), but the run-rate was climbing. The momentum was well and truly seized.Gilchrist didn’t try anything out of his way. His innings contained 96 runs in singles and twos, but it was chancy. He edged over the slips in the first over, and was on 36, when he was dropped by Hondo. Initially he wasn’t allowed to uncork his rasping drives as the length the bowlers stuck to didn’t permit any freedom of the arms. But anything slightly short was given a fearsome tonking. Once Hayden was dismissed, Ponting walked out, and a calm period followed. They pierced the gaps easily and ran their runs, not letting the run-rate drop by too much.But the trigger was pressed on the last ball of the 33rd over. Gilchrist waltzed down the track and laced one through extra cover. The next over, Ponting lofted the a ball effortlessly over long-off. Stuart Matsikenyeri conceded 17 in the only over he bowled, and shots whistled into the crowd. And when Gilchrist hammered three fours off Hondo in the 39th over, even a total of 400 was on the cards.Though Ponting holed out to long-off (246 for 2), Damien Martyn proved an ideal support cast. Gilchrist was well in sight of Saeed Anwar’s record of 194 but he missed a straight ball from Sean Ervine, attempting to clear the midwicket fence (310 for 3). This innings was more notable for the fact that it wasn’t as much a brutal subjugation, as it was an easy hammering. It had moments of calm between explosive gushes. And it came when he was supposedly out of form.Martyn’s 47 off 57 balls contained a few elegent drives and pushed the total towards 350. Three batsmen fell for ducks in the end, but that was more in a mad rush for quick runs. In the end, 344 wasn’t too bad a score to finish with.

South Australia 225 and 2 for 122 drew with Victoria 8 for 331 dec
Scorecard

Victoria had to be content with two points from their Pura Cup match against South Australia after rain washed out the last day’s play and the game ended in a draw. With these points, Victoria moved 12 points clear of second-placed Tasmania. This result also means that they will host the final regardless of the result in their last two matches.The match was called off a little after 2pm local time. This meant that Greg Blewett’s dismissal, LBW to Cameron White for eight, on the third day, ended up being the final ball of the match. In addition to the final day being abandoned due to rain, three hours of play were lost on the third day.The big plus from the match was the form of Matthew Elliott. Even though he recently told an interviewer he thought his days of playing for Australia were well behind him, there must be hope, if he can consistently rattle up big scores. The 154 not out he made in Victoria’s only innings, formed almost half the team’s total and included 15 fours and a six.

Simon Jones has done enough to convince the England A management that he is fit and raring to go, and is likely to be wrapped in cotton wool and sent home – straight into the squad for the tour of West Indies.Rod Marsh, England A’s coach, is suggesting that Jones isn’t risked in any more matches in India. “Assuming the other selectors agree with me, we will leave the decision to Simon,” Marsh explained. “He’s not had much match practice since he came back and may want another four days on the park. It’s down to him.”England A face some gruelling travelling in the next few days, in particular an eight-hour train journey between Delhi and Amritsar. Marsh is determined to ensure that Jones’s fitness is not compromised by the punishing itinerary.Marsh has summoned Yorkshire pace bowler Steve Kirby from Madras, where he has been in the academy there, training with Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation. Lillee is reported to be impressed with Kirby’s pace, and that is good enough for his former team-mate Marsh.

Joe Harris, recalled to lead Canada in the recent ICC Six Nations Challenge, has again quit as captain, and this time he says it is for good.Harris, who moved to Barbados last year, stepped into the breach at short notice, but all five matches in the tournament ended in defeat, and even allowing for the absence of John Davison – indisposed in Australia – it was disheartening stuff. Coupled with the performance last month of the side in the Under-19 World Cup – they were also winless – it’s been a wretched month for Canadian cricket.Harris, 38, made the announcement after Canada’s defeat by Namibia in their final Six Nations match, adding that he had also played his final game for his country. He subsequently returned to Barbados.”We are disappointed that we did not win a match,” said Mike Henry, Canada’s manager. “The effort was there and we played well enough to come out on top in at least two games, but we were not victorious and that was very disappointing for us. It’s evident that we have not progressed after the World Cup. Some of our older and experienced players are past their best and we cannot depend on them any longer to help us win games.”Bryan Mauricette, who captained Canada in the 1979 World Cup and is now their coach, was equally scathing. “Our mental approach to batting at this level was absent,” he fumed. “It was one of the worst displays of batting I have ever seen at this level of cricket.”

On his own form
From the second Test against Australia I started to play my natural game and I have been in better form since then. There are little things that can go wrong when you play a lot of international games, which sometimes which you even don’t know. I have been ironing out my faults with Owen Mottau individually since the second Test against Australia. It helped me a lot. He worked with me for a long period.On today’s innings
If I get into the 30s, 40s or 50s, I always want to get a big score. When I am batting well I always try to get big hundreds. The ball that I got out to bounced more than I expected. I don’t set any targets when I go out to bat, but I will try to get as many runs as possible.Marvan [Atapattu] and myself know each other very well, and we were rotating the strike with singles and fast running between the wickets. That was essential because the outfield was not that fast. We were trying to convert twos into threes. We have a good understanding having opened in Tests and one-dayers.Before I got out he came up to me and said we have got 281, we’ll try and get the 19 runs for the 300, but next ball, unfortunately, I was out. It was disappointing that we lost some cheap wickets. The middle order batsmen should have got more runs on the board as they had a good opportunity to do that today. It is a good pitch, but it is not easy to play shots. You have to play yourself in otherwise you don’t find the ball hitting the middle of the bat. Once you get in you can get runs, but you have to occupy the crease longer here than in Sri Lanka.

Simon Katich has said he would not have gained “any satisfaction” from playing a weakened Zimbabwe side, but Justin Langer is “very disappointed” about the cancellation of Australia’s two-Test series.The pair, both Test specialists, arrived home on Sunday with quite different feelings about the whole experience. “Personally, I’m very disappointed because I went there to play cricket,” said Langer.He did not accept the theory that Test cricket’s standards would have been sullied had the series gone ahead. “There’s been a lot of Test cricket played … and not all of it has been against Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh and Wasim Akram.”There’s been a lot of cricket over time that’s been against lesser oppositions, so I think you’ve still got to make runs. I don’t think you can ever say they’re cheapened runs in Test cricket.”Katich thought otherwise. “I don’t think I would have got any satisfaction out of playing a second-string side,” he said. “If their best players aren’t playing the meaning of Test cricket is reduced. You want to be challenged and, judging by the way the games went against Sri Lanka, it was pretty obvious that it was going to be a lopsided affair.”Cameron White, who described his maiden Test tour as a “bizarre stay” and an “eye-opening experience”, saw it as an opportunity lost.”I probably wouldn’t have played anyway because of Warnie,” he said. “But it would have been good for me to see how everything went and how an international Test match is played, even though the opposition mightn’t have been the best … I just wanted to learn as much as I could.”The non-one-day-playing trio all returned to Australia on Sunday, while Shane Warne was back playing for English county side Hampshire, thus ignoring the former England captain Tony Greig’s plea for them to hang around in Zimbabwe and help out.”Their threat to come straight home shouldn’t implemented,” Greig had said on Friday night. “Australian cricketers have a responsibility to make sure Zimbabwe cricket doesn’t disappear off the face of the earth. If they really do care about Zimbabwe cricket, as they say they do, they should take time out to stay there and see what they can do to help these younger cricketers get the idea of what the big time’s all about.”

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.

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.