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The ICC’s annual conference in 2009 will be held at Lord’s, David Morgan, the ICC president, has confirmed. Lord’s had held the yearly conference since the first in 1909, but the meeting this year was hosted in Dubai, the first time it had been moved from the body’s former London headquarters.The shift to Dubai, where the ICC headquarters is located, came after it emerged that officials from Zimbabwe may not be granted visas by the British government due to the prevailing political situation in that country. But it’s believed the conference will be held at Lord’s next year even if visas are not granted to Zimbabwe officials, as the decision to host the meeting in England was unanimously endorsed by the ICC board, which includes Peter Chingoka, the president of Zimbabwe Cricket.”It is perfect timing as it will allow Lord’s, the ICC’s home for the first 96 years of its existence, to play a central role in our organisation’s centenary celebrations, as 2009 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ICC,” Morgan said. “That central role will involve not only the hosting of our biggest ever annual conference week, with all 60 Affiliate Members invited for the first time alongside the Associate and Full Members, but also the staging of matches in the ICC World Twenty 2009, including the finals of both the men’s and women’s events on 21 June.”The ICC’s centenary will be a time to look back at the legends who have shaped the game over the previous 100 years,” he said. “It will also provide an opportunity to look forward and celebrate the thousands of volunteers who sustain the game’s grassroots and, at the same time, the ICC will use the year to highlight the special spirit of cricket on and off the field of play.”Looking ahead to his two years as ICC president, Morgan said he would spend much of the next year meeting the ICC’s members – their officials and their stakeholders. “We are a members’ organisation and so we need to know what type of ICC our members want.”Do they want a toothless tiger that is only useful to blame for any failings when things go wrong? Or do they want a strong governing body invested with the power to run, and make decisions based on the best interests of, the game, and a body they can trust to do just that?”Haroon Lorgat [the ICC’s new chief executive officer] and I will travel to Full Members, Associates and Affiliates over the next 12 months to seek some answers,” he said. “But we also want it to be a two-way street. We want to meet boards and key stakeholders including players, ex-players, media, sponsors, even governments.”We want those stakeholders to know what the ICC does and to ask if we can do anything differently or better. And, at the same time, we will ask what they can do for the ICC.”By this time next year, when I report back to the ICC’s annual conference, we should have a better idea of how we can help our members – and how our members can help the ICC to ensure cricket remains a strong sport, growing stronger.”

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.

England captain Nasser Hussain insists that England will persevere with Matthew Hoggard despite two below-par performances in the NatWest Series.Hoggard finished with one for 53 from four overs during England’s three-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Headingley, but Hussain believes he can bowl his way out of his current difficulties.”I thought with the breeze at Headingley it would be good for Matthew to swing it and he did swing it, but he probably did it too much,” explained Hussain.”He’s struggling a little bit at the moment, but he’s a hard worker and straight after the game yesterday he was on at the coach about videos.”He will work hard and we’ve got to persevere with him because he’s a goodwhite ball bowler and if we’re going to have a World Cup squad we’re going toneed players who can take wickets with the new ball – and he’s done that in thepast.”Hoggard’s Yorkshire team-mate Darren Gough made an effective return to England colours, finishing with three for 45, and the winning runs which sealed England’s triumph.”It was a gamble playing him and we discussed it long and hard between myself, the coach and a few of the management boys,” said Hussain. “Playing him had a lot to do with the inexperience in our attack.”If we’d maybe had someone like Andy Caddick we could have held on for another couple of games for Darren, but not having the experience out there against teams like this is crucial.”You do need someone out there who knows when to bowl the slower ball or theyorker and talks to the other bowlers – that’s why we rushed him back againstSri Lanka.””I think if we are honest we were poor this afternoon and he (Jayasuriya)played brilliantly. And obviously Trescothick is going to his own levels. Today was one of the weaker batting line-ups, but with Alec Stewart coming in at eight you always have a chance.”There was a lot of pressure on them and they went about it the right way andit was important we won today.”Although Jayasuriya was made Man of the Match for his magnificent century, Marcus Trescothick’s 82 was a vital contribution to England’s triumph.”Those sort of scores were very realistic on that wicket. You could see howit was playing from very early on,” said the Somerset left-hander.”It was always going to be one of those high-scoring matches even withreduced overs, because of the pace of the ball on to the bat and off it.”I was very disappointed with the way I got out. I just thick-edged it straight to long-on. If I had stayed in the game was won. But the two guys who came in batted brilliantly. It was the sort of thing we have been crying out for for a long time.”Meanwhile Jayasuriya blamed poor bowling for his team’s defeat. “I think we got a good start but it is disappointing, and we had the best opportunities to win this match. We didn’t bowl well at all. We’ve put in a lot of hard work coming to this competition, and we mustn’t let it go.”England now move on to Durham for Thursday’s day-night match with India at Chester-le-Street.

CFX ACADEMY MEDIA OPEN DAYThe CFX Academy held a Media Open Day on the morning of Monday 29 April, which was attended by ten local media representatives, including CricInfo and one pressman each from Bulawayo and Mutare.The morning began with refreshments at ten o’clock, and was followed by a welcome from administration manager Temba Mkhosana. He followed this with a brief history of the Academy, the brainchild of Dave Houghton, and a video of the South African SuperSport programme Extra Cover, which showed Mike Haysman interviewing Houghton about the Academy.Mr Mkhosana then went into more detail about the history and the function of the Academy. It opened on a wing and a prayer in 1999, most of the money coming as the result of Houghton’s sponsored walk from Bulawayo to Harare the previous year, which raised public awareness as well as money.There followed a question time and tour of the Academy facilities and the house where the students live, 100 metres from the ground. Finally the media were able to observe a practice session run by Eddo Brandes, who has taken over as head coach from Dave Houghton, and speak to some of the students.Below are some extracts from the Media Pack produced for the day.HISTORY OF CFX CRICKET ACADEMYThe CFX cricket Academy in Zimbabwe was established by Dave Houghton who raised the initial capital with his sponsored walk from Bulawayo to Harare which took 22 days in June 1999 and raised over Z$900 000.The CFX Cricket Academy is a non-profit organization funded by the community at large and the business community in particular. A fully equipped pavilion with state-of-the-art presentation facilities is complete. The ground has been upgraded and now has a wicket that the New Zealanders described as the best wicket they had played on. Bob Woolmer, on a recent coaching visit, commented that the Academy’s facilities were among the best he had seen anywhere in the world.The initial set-up of six all-weather nets with floodlights, three turf nets and three cricket cages were included in the original capital budget. The CFX Cricket Academy falls under the umbrella of the governing body, ZCU, who have helped with the capital start-up costs and have also purchased a house for the students to live in whilst they attend the Academy.The name `CFX Cricket Academy’ is derived from our main sponsor, CFX, who have committed themselves to sponsor the Academy up to the next World Cup in 2003. Joining CFX are individuals and businesses who are approached to sponsor the CFX Cricket Academy and who are identified by boundary board advertising around the cricket ground which is at Country Club.The other large source of support is directed at individual student sponsorship of $100 000 a year, and the CFX Cricket Academy is indebted to its longstanding sponsors. There is both plenty of scope for new sponsors who are interested in supporting the development of cricket among the youth of Zimbabwe and gaps around the boundary for their advertising boundary boards!For two years, students of the CFX Cricket Academy spent their winter attached to cricket clubs in the UK. This has proved to be an invaluable experience for the students who have come from diverse backgrounds. Candidates have been selected from all walks of life and from urban and rural centres. There have been representatives from Bulawayo, Chivhu, Chitungwiza, Gweru, Harare, Karoi, Mhangura, Norton, Ruwa and Selous, from both high-density and low-density areas.Judging by the number of students who have been selected for both the national and the Zimbabwe A sides, the principle of selecting students on merit has proven successful. The most recent CFX Cricket Academy ambassadors in the public eye include Dion Ebrahim, Sean Ervine, Gary Brent, Douglas Marillier and Travis Friend, who has firmly established his position in the national side. Since its inception CFX cricket Academy has been responsible for the training of several students who have been selected for both the national and A sides.The CFX cricket Academy itself has played most of the touring international sides, including New Zealand, Bangladesh, India and West Indies, the most notable performance being a four-run loss toe West Indies in a nail-biting finish watched by about 2000 supporters.Our major objective is to produce players of international calibre and also to promote the development of the game in the remotest corners of our country. We rely heavily on companies to sponsor cricket through us by student sponsorship, boundary board advertising and donations.MANAGEMENT STRUCTUREMr Gwynne Jones left the Academy to take up a post with Scottish cricket at the end of 2001 and since then a new team has been engaged to run the affairs of the Academy. Unfortunately we have also just lost the services of the founder of this Academy, Mr David Laud Houghton, who has decided to move to England for a short while. The new structure is as follows:Head Coach: Eddo BrandesAdministration Manager: Temba MkhosanaAssistant Coach: Walter ChawagutaBatting Coach: Alistair CampbellSecretary: Anthea ReelerBookkeeper: Trish HawkesFitness Trainer: Steve ScottPsychology Consultant: Graham PriorMarketing Agent: Jacky WhiteTo assist the above team and map out the policies of the CFX Cricket Academy is a Management Committee that also includes the Administration Manager and Secretary.Chairman: Ray GripperCFX Bureaux de Change: Kevin ButlerFinance: Zed RusikeZCU Board Member (i/c Development): Mac DudhiaMarketing: Pip Maxwell and Craig AnticevichThe Academy year is now set to run from February to September, after which the students will be posted to the five major provinces in Zimbabwe – Masvingo included from 2002/03 season – to play and coach. The aim is to prepare the students to be good citizens as well as sportsmen, and therefore the curriculum includes subjects not directly connected with the game. The booklet lists six areas: sports management, cricket studies, physical development, sports psychology, sports medicine and injury prevention, and life skills. The programme includes several sessions on studying other cultures, mainly African and Asian.After the students leave at the end of September, the Academy facilities will be available for the junior age-group sides, the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-19s, to prepare for their annual visit to South Africa at the end of the year.There is also recognition of the need to work together with other academies and countries involved in cricket development. It is hoped to offer Academy places to students from Kenya, Namibia and possibly Zambia in future years. There is also the possibility of hosting foreign age-group teams during the end-of-year period.

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.

Another serious blow has battered Zimbabwe cricket. Dave Houghton, coach at the CFX Academy, has responded to the ongoing situation in the country by resigning his job, and by the end of April he will have immigrated to England to take up a job there with television companies.Houghton was one of Zimbabwe’s greatest batsmen who might well have achieved the same sort of reputation that Andy Flower now holds in world cricket had Zimbabwe been admitted to the Test arena a few years earlier. He scored a century against India in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test match and still holds the record for the country’s highest Test score, 266 against Sri Lanka, and shares one-day record with 142 against New Zealand in the World Cup of 1987/88.While still at his peak as a player, he was employed by Worcestershire as a coach, and then progressed to the position of Zimbabwe national team coach while still a player. He then became coach at the Academy, where he was held in high regard by the students; they will be shattered by his departure and it may well prove impossible to replace him adequately, especially in the current situation in the country.Zimbabwe cricket cannot afford to lose Dave Houghton. He could have given so much to the future of cricket in Zimbabwe. How many more invaluable cricket people will be lost before the current tragic situation in the country ends? So far the rest of the world has been of little help, and the response of the Australians by cancelling their tour has been an appalling blow to cricket in the country. Not to mention the apathy of the ICC in this situation. Is the cricketing world going to stand by and watch Zimbabwe cricket die – or even play their part in helping it to die?***This issue consists mainly of biographies, as there has been little action on the field. We feature Conan Brewer and Allan Mwayenga from the CFX Academy and updates of the biographies of Patrick Gada and Matabeleland players Ryan King and Clement Mahachi.

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.

Queensland has strengthened its chances of hosting a second Pura Cup Final in succession by coasting to an important outright victory over Western Australia in theteams’ match here at the ‘Gabba this afternoon. The eight wicket success, which arrived shortly after lunch on the third day, has allowed the Bulls – temporarily at least- to skip away to an eight point break at the top of the Cup table with just two rounds of matches left to play.After starting the day with a lead of 113 runs and with only three second innings wickets still in hand, the Warriors’ tailenders went out in an attempt to build acompetitive target for the Bulls to chase. However, the Western Australians added only another twenty-one runs. Paceman Andy Bichel claimed two of the final threewickets to fall, and returned the impressive figures of 5/74 in the process. Adam Dale (3/56) was the morning’s other Queensland wicket-taker.With only a small target to chase, Bulls openers’ Jimmy Maher (59) and Jerry Cassell (27) looked to wrap things up in quick time. In aggressive style, they posted aneighty-one run partnership prior to lunch before Cassell fell to the spin of Brad Oldroyd.Following the lunch break, Andrew Symonds was given a promotion in the batting line-up and came in at number three. The first and third balls of the first over afterlunch were sent sailing into the ‘Gabba grandstands off his bat; another three boundaries came from the next Oldroyd over; and then a further six was struck in thefollowing over to ensure that the Bulls’ win was secured the mere matter of twenty-five minutes after the resumption.Maher, while quite obviously scoring more slowly, continued to play well at the other end on his way to an impressive half century.Oldroyd had gone into lunch with the figures of 1/0. However, he might now wish that he had stayed in the dining room because, when he returned to the middle, theSymonds and Maher onslaught blew his figures out to 1/42 off the only five overs that he bowled for the match.Matthew Nicholson (1/25) eventually exacted a small measure when he claimed Maher’s wicket with only two runs required for victory.The winning runs were, however, duly polished off quickly to give the Bulls what is now an eight point break over second-placed Victoria and a twelve point lead overthird-placed New South Wales.But, whilst the Queenslanders will likely head into their upcoming road trips to both South Australia and New South Wales brimming with confidence, their captainStuart Law warned that his side needs to guard against complacency.”The side is aware of the fact that a Final is possibly around the corner but it has been a long, hard season and we’ve worked hard to get in this position. It would be atragedy if we started having a hiccup now,” he said after play.”The hard work begins now for us, especially with these games in Sydney and Adelaide which are vitally important.””The match in Sydney will be (especially) tough. We have to dig deep there; the pitch will be a dust bowl and we have to be ready for it.”Warriors’ captain Tom Moody later refused to concede that his team (which is now as many as eighteen points behind today’s opponent) was out of the Pura Cuprace. But it was another disappointing day overall for the Warriors and for Moody himself given that it was his last-ever match in Brisbane.Western Australia’s double losses here this week – today’s heavy defeat was preceded by a 65 run drubbing in a Mercantile Mutual Cup match – could probably nothave come at a worse time, with the one-day Final approaching next weekend.Moody was adamant, however, that his team will have salved any mental and physical scars by the time that it takes the field in that match – against New South Walesin Perth on Sunday.”I don’t think it will affect our focus,” he argued.”Ideally, we came up here to get a roll in both the one-day and four day matches, and this may well come as a timely kick up the backside.””It lets us know where we stand: we have a lot of good players who we need to get going.”

Ricky Ponting has bowed to long-term interests by taking a mid-series break despite wanting to stay on and lead his team through its current slump. Australia’s selectors have rested Ponting for the next two fixtures with New Zealand even though his side is behind after losing the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee Series in Perth on Sunday.Ponting said it was “painful” to leave the current situation. “There is never a good time to be rested from the Australian side and I accept that this certainly is not a good time,” Ponting told the Australian. “The selection panel were determined to rest me no matter what. There had been suggestions I have a break earlier, but I did not think there was ever an appropriate opportunity and I am not sure there ever will be a good time to do it.”Australia have suffered Test and ODI defeats to South Africa, which followed the Test loss in India, but Ponting maintains committed to leading the team through the transition. “But I can see that the long-term interests of my health and the team are best served if I am fit and rested before embarking on another long year of cricket,” he said. “I will leave the side reluctantly but hopefully return refreshed and more determined than ever to rebuild our reputation and lead the team to the best of my abilities.”Callum Ferguson, the South Australia batsman, and Adam Voges, from Western Australia, have come in to the 13-man squad for the matches in Melbourne on Friday and Sydney on Sunday. Shaun Marsh, the opener, is injured after tearing his left hamstring in Perth.Phillip Hughes and Simon Katich were both overlooked despite being in outstanding touch for New South Wales. Both batsmen scored centuries in the win over Tasmania in Newcastle and were part of the squad that won the domestic Twenty20 tournament.”You couldn’t ask for better form,” Katich said of Hughes in the Daily Telegraph. “Phil’s form in the Twenty20 was outstanding, he got runs and got them quickly. He’s probably disappointed to have missed out but at the end of the day he’s in contention for the South African tour and hopefully he gets the thumbs up.” The selectors will meet on Wednesday to choose Matthew Hayden’s replacement.