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Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Monday hinted surprise changes in the list of probables to be announced later this week for the forthcoming World Cup.The mega event is scheduled to be held in South Africa in early 2003.Tauqir said that the board would determine if some senior players who missed the tough series against Australia on medical grounds were genuinely unfit or otherwise.He warned that if the senior players had avoided facing the Australians deliberately then he would say “good bye” to them.Veteran fast bowler Wasim Akram and opening batsman Saeed Anwar opted out of the series on pretext of taking rest while middle-order batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana were unavailable because of fitness problems. However, all four senior players have expressed their availability for next month’s tour of Zimbabwe.PCB chief said that Wasim stayed away citing a shoulder problem as one of the reasons for missing the Test series.Saeed, meanwhile, never indicated his desire to the PCB about his availability to play against Australia in the absence of some senior players.Tauqir, whose resignation was not accepted by President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf the patron-in-chief of PCB, in the wake of Pakistan’s recent spate of defeats, said that from now on, he would not depend on his advisors and would personally oversee every matter before taking a decision.To another query, Tauqir said that Shahid Afridi was sent to Sharjah for the third Test against Australia in place of injured all-rounder Abdul Razzaq. But after reaching Sharjah informed that he was not fit to play.He said that Shoaib Akhtar was the only match-winner bowler available in the current Pakistan side.Our Sports Reporter adds from Karachi: Pakistan is contemplating having different captains and teams for Tests and One-day Internationals. This proposal was discussed in detail by PCB hierarchy.In latest developments, team coach Richard Pybus has been asked to fly back with Pakistan squad at the end of series against Australia to give his views on the teams to be named for the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa.Chairman of selectors, Wasim Bari, and Pakistan ‘A’ coach Aqib Javed were originally due in Sharjah to discuss the squad with team management. But this plan has now been changed and meeting may take place at Lahore.PCB has also decided to hold a one-day match before the squad is announced to assess the fitness and form of Wasim, Saeed and Youhana.Selectors will pick the two teams for this trial game. Other players expected to be invited are fast bowlers Mohammad Zahid, Abdul Rauf, all-rounder Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan and batsman Naved Latif.Tauqir also held discussions on the revised constitution of PCB, the draft of which is shortly expected to be presented before President Musharraf for approval.Meanwhile, Tauqir was given detailed briefing about the development projects in progress. PCB chairman asked the general manager developments, Irfan Mirza, to speed up the work since he would like to have underdeveloped stadia ready before the year is out.

Afsar Nawaz struck a whirlwind 86 off 66 balls but his knock failed to prevent Delhi City Gymkhana going down to Tapal CC by six wickets in the Aga Khan Gymkhana Ramazan Cricket Tournament at AKG Ground here Wednesday.Tapal CC, chasing a target of 169, got home in only 18.5 overs thanks to a brilliant innings of 59 by Hasan Arshad.Hasan, named Man-of-the-Match, hammered 40 runs in boundaries as he pounded four huge sixes and four fours during his 33-ball knock.Farhan Iqbal also batted well to make 56 off 47 deliveries while sharing a third-wicket partnership of 91 with Hasan. Farhan stroked three boundaries.Earlier, Tapal CC’s skipper Hanif-ur-Rehman took three for 30 with his off-spinners.Afsar, who hit three fours and a brace of sixes, and Sharjeel Ashraf (33) were the only batsmen to shine in Delhi City Gymkhana’s total of 168 for four in 25 overs.Summarised scores:DELHI CITY GYMKHANA 168-4 in 25 overs (Afsar Nawaz 86, Sharjeel Ashraf 33, Ammaduddin 20; Hanif-ur-Rehman 3-30);TAPAL CC 169-4 in 18.5 overs (Hasan Arshad 59, Farhan Iqbal 56; Asif Nagri 2-22, Kalim Siddiqui 2-48).Saturday’s fixture: Landhi Friends v Mohammad Hussain CC at 1.00pm.

Kenya take on Netherlands on Saturday in their latest ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Amstelveen, and the visitors are keenly aware how crucial the next couple of weeks are.Kenya are currently in third place in the table, six points behind Scotland and Namibia but, crucially, they have two games in hand and a place in the final is well within their grasp.”We know it’s in our own hands,” said their captain, Steve Tikolo. “If we win in Amstelveen and then beat Ireland back home in October, we will be through to the final. It would mean a lot to us because even though we have been close in the past, we have never won this competition.”Indeed, when Kenya got to the final in 2005 at the Wanderers Club in Windhoek, Namibia, it was Ireland who beat them.”We are not looking ahead to that game yet,” Tikolo said. “First of all, we must beat Netherlands. I know that Peter [Borren] and his guys will be confident after getting through to the ICC World Twenty20 at the qualifying tournament in Belfast last week but the four-day game is a different prospect.”They definitely have some good players. Tom de Grooth has been playing well and Edgar Schiferli and Mohammad Kashif are always dangerous but Netherlands are out of the running in this competition whereas we still have everything to play for.””We have a pretty strong side over for this and we’re determined not the let this opportunity slip from our grasp.”For all the bullish talk, Kenya have not enjoyed their tour of England, Scotland and Ireland this season. They were thrashed by a club side at Cranleigh and a warm-up against a Minor Counties XI was enveloped with rumours of poor behaviour by the tourists.Such claims were roundly dismissed to Cricinfo by Kenya’s chairman, Samir Inamdar, but the side’s fortunes slipped further when they failed to qualify for next year’s ICC World Twenty20 in England. Dismal conditions in Glasgow then washed out their Intercontinental Cup fixture against Scotland last week.Nevertheless, they face a Netherlands team who are missing the vital services of Ryan ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderent and Alex Kervezee, though once again the weather forecast is seasonally miserable. After a disappointing tour, Kenya will be desperate to turn their trip around with a bright finish.

LAHORE, Sept 23: Fine batting by Mohammad Umair (85) and Hasnain Abbas (71) helped Multan to earn a narrow three-wicket victoryagainst Rahimyar Khan in the National Junior (Under-19) Grade-II Cricket Championship at Mahmood Stadium, Rahim Yar Khan Monday, according toamessage received here.Multan, who gained a 86-run lead on the first innings, were set a target of 238 after Rahimyar Khan had piled up 323 in their second innings thanks to Shaharyar (82) and Mohammad Saleem (55).Meanwhile, to decide the Pool ‘D’ champions Faisalabad and Gujranwala will face each other at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala from Thursday.Owing to large of teams in this pool was divided into two groups. Faisalabad emerged as Group-I champions while Gujranwala topped the other group.The winners will play Pool ‘B’ winners Azad Jammu Kashmir in the semifinal.Summarised scores:*At Gymkhana Ground, Okara:Okara beat Kasur by five wickets.KASUR 231-8 in 80 overs (Shahid Hussain 53, Faisal Ayub 44; Zulfiqar Babar 5-67) and 149 (Zulfiqar Babar 6-35);OKARA 290 in 78.5 overs (Noman Nasim 105, Jawwad Hafeez 55; Mohammad Aslam 4-118) and 91-5 (Noman Nasim 42 not out; Ahmed Raza 4-24).*At Mahmood Stadium, Rahimyar Khan:Multan beat Rahimyar Khan by three wickets.RAHIMYAR KHAN 169 in 53.3 overs (Adeel Basit 65; Umar Zaman 5-43) and 323 (Shaharyar 82, Mohammad Saleem 55, Fayyaz-ul-Hasan 52, Afrahim Zia 41; Mohammad Umair 6-84).MULTAN 255 in 67.1 overs (Yasir Arafat 130; Aamir Akram 3-72) and 238-7 (Mohammad Umair 85, Hasnain Abbas 71; Adeel Basit 6-73).*At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad:Larkana beat Hyderabad by 22 runs.LARKANA 116 in 42.4 overs (Farrukh Zaman 4-9, Furqan Azeem 3-30) and 173 (Zafar Ali 46);HYDERABAD 162 in 68 overs (Salman Hyder 58; Wasim Hussain 5-46) and 140 (Suleman Haider 52; Wasim Hussain 3-35, Ahmed Ali 3-52).*At D.I. Khan, D.I. Khan:Haripur beat Dera Ismail Khan by 10 wickets.DERA ISMAIL KHAN 87 in 39.5 overs (Amjad Waqas 6-28) and 275 (Mohammad Imran Baloch 46, Falak Kamran 43, Mohammad Irfan Khan 41; Amjad Waqas 8-89);HARIPUR 321 in 75.4 overs (Babar Khan 78, Usman Sawati 63, Asghar Khan 54; Kashif Niazi 4-66) and 43-0.*At Nawabshah Stadium, Nawabshah:Match drawn.BADIN 273 in 79.5 overs (Imran Malik 86, Danish 46; Sharafat Ali 3-66) and 228 (Ahmed Khan 56; Sharafat Ali 6-65);SHIKARPUR 305-7 in 80 overs (Najeebullah 101, Asif Babar 98; Kamran 3-96) and 169-6 (Ghulam Yasin 84 not out, Najeebullah 62).

Victorian elite coaching co-ordinator Brian McFadyen will be switching to a new home within a month after winning appointment today as Tasmania’s new cricket coach.In a move that formally marks the end of Greg Shipperd’s 11-year reign at the helm of the Tasmanian team, McFadyen has been tied to a deal that will see him take over the post until at least the end of the 2004-05 season.”We are confident that, in Brian McFadyen, we have secured a coach who will take Tasmanian cricket forward and play a leadership role in developing the blueprint for the development of sport in the state,” said Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA) Chairman, Denis Rogers, in announcing the decision at a press conference in Hobart this afternoon.”We believe Brian has the vision, coaching skills and leadership attributes to take the team and Tasmanian cricket to the next level,” he added.Shipperd had been considered an early favourite to retain the position on the back of a spectacular late season rally that saw the Tasmanians qualify for a berth in the 2001-02 Pura Cup Final.Added to his claims was the distinction of having guided the Tigers into three Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup finals matches in all; renowned skills as one of the most meticulously prepared coaches in Australia; and strong support from the state’s players which peaked at the Tigers’ end-of-season awards ceremony a fortnight ago when several key members of the squad spoke passionately in his defence.But McFadyen’s growing reputation as one of Australian cricket’s finest strategists; his tactical acumen; and his involvement in helping Victoria to reach two successive Pura Cup finals in 1999-2000 and 2000-01 ultimately swayed the decision in his favour.”I’m very excited about this opportunity,” said McFadyen this afternoon.”I’d like to help stimulate the playing group and like to see everybody really enjoying their cricket and maximising their own potential. If they can do that individually, and if we can do that collectively, we’ll have a lot of success.”It’s a very good group,” he added of the playing list that has made Tasmania one of the best-performed states in first-class competition over recent years.”It (contains) exciting talent with some younger guys coming through who have been most impressive.”There’s also certainly a foundation that’s already been laid by the second half of last season. I think the players will already all be very excited about what potentially lies ahead next year.”McFadyen’s coaching background most recently includes four years as an assistant with the Victorian state team but has extended to take in stewardship of the Victorian ACB Cup team, and a number of Victorian underage sides. He also operated as Australia’s assistant coach during the recently-completed VB Series of one-day international matches against New Zealand and South Africa.As a player, he was a member of the South Australian and Victorian state squads and won the Bradman Medal as Adelaide’s best first grade cricketer in his role as a right arm paceman for Port Adelaide in 1990-91.Before injuries forced an early end to his career, he was additionally a member of Australia’s team at the Youth World Cup of 1988 and toured New Zealand with an Academy side two years later.The 33-year-old already shares connections with two of Tasmania’s most experienced players in Jamie Cox and David Saker.Along with Cox, he was included in the elite group of 16 cricketers handpicked as the first-ever inductees of the Academy back in 1988. His close bond with Saker meanwhile stems back to his intensive work with Victoria’s core group of fast bowlers early in his association with the Bushrangers.Shipperd, who is still in contention to complete an interchange with McFadyen by taking over as Victoria’s new coach, expressed disappointment at the outcome but wished his successor good fortune.”It has been a wonderful journey and honour to have played for, coached and (helped) administer Tasmanian (teams) for 14 seasons. I am satisfied that I have given my all to the challenges that were presented,” he said in a short statement released late this afternoon.”I am naturally disappointed at not retaining my post; however, I wish the new coach and especially the players great success in the future.”Over 30 applications in total were received for the position after the TCA acted more than three months ago to appoint a selection committee to review the Tigers’ coaching set-up.Aside from the claims of McFadyen and Shipperd, the committee also closely scrutinised the potential suitability of current Australian Cricket Academy mentor Wayne Phillips when the field narrowed to eight for the final round of interviews earlier this month.The five-man selection panel (consisting of TCA chief executive David Johnston, Australian Cricketers’ Association chief Tim May, legendary former Tasmanian and Australian player David Boon, and TCA Board members Geoff Rowlands and Tony Harrison) is also believed to have included former state captains Brian Davison and Roger Woolley among the group invited to the closing stages of the interview process.McFadyen, who had also been a frontrunner for head coaching positions in both Queensland and Victoria, was ultimately offered the position in the middle of last week.He will be formally relocating to Tasmania before the end of May.

Within a few hours of securing a series win against Sri Lanka for his country, Marcus Trescothick was back at the County Ground preparing to lead Somerset in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy fourth round tie against Hampshire at Taunton tomorrow.At the same stage of the competition last year Marcus scored a devastating 121 against Glamorgan, including a century from 69 balls, and will doubtless be looking to lead from the front again tomorrow.Looking ahead to the match he told me: “I’m very excited about it, after all it’s the first chance that we have had to defend the trophy, and of course we will be going out to try to retain it this season.”He continued: “We need to build upon our first NUL win on Sunday a get a roll going. We have been slowly moving forward and are getting better all the time. Now we need to keep it going.”Marcus will lead a Somerset side that will be without Andy Caddick, who is suffering from a side strain, but batsman Jamie Cox could also be missing.The Tasmanian missed the NUL game at Bath on Sunday after taking a blow to his hand during the Hampshire game, and did not bat in the nets this morning.Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: “Jamie will have a late fitness test in the morning before we make a final decision. Of course we hope that he will be able to play, but if he doesn’t then Matt Wood will take his place.”Kevin added: “Even without Andy and Jamie I think that we have got a good side, and we pulled off a great win on Sunday which has done us all a lot of good.”The full Somerset squad for the Hampshire match is: Marcus Trescothick, Peter Bowler, Jamie Cox, Mike Burns, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Richard Johnson, Steffan Jones, Matt Bulbeck and Matt Wood.Certainly the players were in buoyant mood ahead of the tie. Peter Bowler told me: “Of course I’m looking forward to it, and we are well equipped to beat them. We are a good side and are going into this game on the back of two one day victories.”Fast bowler Richard Johnson who enjoyed match figures of 10 for 75 against Hampshire at Bath last week told me: “I’m looking forward to a good victory tomorrow.”Play gets underway at the County Ground tomorrow at 10.45am, and tickets will be on sale at the gate priced £10 and £7.

He was only kidding.Australian captain Steve Waugh has reneged on his claim that England deserved favouritism for the upcoming Ashes series,saying a straight-faced “throwaway line” delivered at an official function yesterday should not have been taken as gospel.Waugh and his Australian one-day squad left Sydney today for Turkey, where visiting Gallipoli will be the highlight of atwo-day stopover en route to London.Strong in his belief that England – victorious in four straight series and leading Pakistan 1-0 in a two-Test series – is the genuinearticle for the first time in a long time, Waugh does not seriously think the old enemy deserves top billing.”It’s going to be a good contest and I believe we can win – I said otherwise yesterday but it was a bit of a throwaway line andyou guys took it nicely,” he said with a grin at Sydney Airport.”We’ve got the side, we’ve got the talent and we’ve got the experience, but England are going to be very tough, they play goodcricket and we can’t expect to cruise through the series.”If we’re not on our best behaviour on the field, so to speak, we’re going to get beaten.”Waugh will be awarded the world championship trophy before the first Test at Edgbaston on June 5 as reward for Australia’sunprecedented 16-match winning streak that ended in India.The first Test between England and Pakistan, won by an innings and nine runs by Nasser Hussain’s men, was the first clash ofthe fledgling ICC championship.Waugh said England was probably the third, fourth or fifth best Test nation in the world at the moment.”It’s hard to put a rating on anyone but they’re playing as good a cricket as anyone, they’ve won a lot of Test matches andthey’re on the verge of winning five series in a row, which is a significant achievement,” he said.”They’ll be trying to get a gauge off us.”If they beat us, they’ll probably think they’re No.1 or No.2 in the world.”Waugh labelled England as favourite for the five-Test series at the Ashes farewell luncheon at Darling Harbour ConventionCentre yesterday.Meanwhile, the Test players who aren’t part of the one-day squad leave for England on June 19 and were enormouslydisappointed to miss the trip to Gallipoli, which Waugh expected to be quite emotional.”It’s going to be a real learning experience,” he said.”I’d like to know more about what happened there and the people who fought for our country so this is an important part ofthat process.”It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and every Australian, if they can, should go there and have a look and learn about ourhistory.”It’s good for the team – a great bonding exercise, probably the best one we’ll ever be on.”Australia will play a one-day tournament against England and Pakistan throughout June before the real business of the Testsbegins at Edgbaston on July 5.

Hampshire’s players reported back for pre-season training after the Easter holidays today, with four fresh faces and a new trainer/physiotherapist to meet.Captain Robin Smith, who returned this weekend from hosting a touring party to New Zealand, introduced new signings John Crawley and Nic Pothas to the squad, along with last seasons’ successful second XI players Chris Benham and James Tomlinson, who joined the full time staff.Crawley, after his traumatic winter, was fitting in well with his new teammates and looked in fine touch in the nets against the pace-men and the spinners. He was also marvelling in the splendour of his new surrounds.Pothas, the South African who holds a Greek passport, confessed to having never previously met his new captain Robin Smith before today.He was reminded, however, by the webmaster and club statistician that it was Smith who had caught him out in December 1995, when he hit his maiden first-class century (147) for South African Combined Universities against the England tourists at Pietermaritzberg.Overseas star Neil Johnson, all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas and batsman-wicketkeeper Iain Brunnschweiler were missing, as they are still involved in their domestic cricket in South Africa and Australia respectively.Also making his first appearance with Hampshire was Australian trainer Patrick Farhart, who was kept busy during the day with various niggles, including a stress fracture problem for James Schofield and the continued recuperation of spinner Charlie van der Gucht.

By virtue of their first innings lead of 112 runs over North Zone, Central Zone moved into the final of the CK Nayudu Trophy (under-19) tournament at the BOS Engineering ground in Cuttack on Friday. They now meet South Zone in the final which commences on January 28.North Zone, who resumed at 198 for six in their first innings, faced an uphill task in the face of Central Zone’s 343. Medium pacer CE Atram never gave them a chance of even getting anywhere near the Central Zone total. He took three quick wickets and North Zone were dismissed for 231. Attram finished with six wickets for 58 off 19 overs.In the remaining time, Central Zone had good batting practice before the final. Skipper A Kapoor and SM Dholpure both hit centuries, adding 209 runs for the second wicket off 47.3 overs. While Kapoor, who opened the batting, faced 150 balls for his 103 and hit 17 fours, Dholpure who also scored 103, faced 153 balls and hit 12 fours and five sixes. Central Zone finished at 306 for five off 69 overs as eight North Zone bowlers turned their arm over.

Railways cricket team manager today lodged a protest with the matchreferee against the “controversial” umpiring decisions on the finalday of the Ranji Trophy final played at Baroda. “Some of the decisionstaken by umpires during the final were clearly biased againstRailways,” Kamlesh Gupta told PTI on phone from Baroda.Gupta said he had yesterday drawn the attention of the match refereetowards a couple of wide ball decisions given by umpires. “I drew theattention of the referee and the matter was amicably solved and afterthat no controversial decisions regarding wide balls were given. Guptasaid he was today forced to voice his protest in writing after thecontroversial dismissals of Yere Goud, Shreyas Khanolkar and MuraliKartik in Railways second innings. “All the three – Goud, Khanolkarand Kartik were definitely not out. We watched the TV replays and areconvinced they were not out,” Gupta said, adding, “I am not sure evenwhether Kulamani Parida was out”.Gupta said he had urged the referee to intervene much before Railwaysconceded the 21-run defeat to the hosts. However, Gupta also conceded”the referee could not do so in keeping with the code of conduct whichsays the game can not be interrupted in between.”While Goud was given out, caught behind by Nayan Mongia off ZaheerKhan, Khanolkar was declared leg before wicket for deliberatelypadding the ball. Tempers frayed when Kartik was given caught behindoff Ajit Bhoite. Kartik gestured angrily at the umpire beforereturning to the pavilion.