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Harbhajan Singh has been banned for the remainder of the current IPL season for his altercation with Sreesanth at the end of Mumbai Indians’ match against Kings XI Punjab on Friday. The ban is for 11 matches, including last Sunday’s game, extendable to 13 if Mumbai progress to the semi-final and final.Sreesanth was let off with a warning after video evidence showed Harbhajan slapped him without any provocation. The duo embraced at the end of the hearing after Harbhajan offered an apology in front of the cameras. Harbhajan will not be appealing against the ban.”The referee studied video tapes of the incident and found the assault by Harbhajan was totally unprovoked. The footage exactly showed that Harbhajan went down the line, wishing all the players, shaking hands with a few players,” said Lalit Modi, the commissioner of the IPL who is also a vice-president of the BCCI. “Sreesanth was the third player that he met. Instead of shaking his hand he actually slapped him and continued down the line, shaking hands with the other players.”Farokh Engineer, the former Indian wicketkeeper who was the match referee, fined Harbhajan 100% of his match fee for Friday’s game. He will now be paid only for the first two matches of the IPL.Lalchand Rajput, the coach of the Mumbai side, has also been found guilty of a level 2 offence and fined 50% of his match fee. “Rajput was right behind Harbhajan when the incident took place,” said Modi. “He didn’t take any step to restrain him. He has been fined 50% of his match fee.”The ban on Harbhajan comes as a jolt for Mumbai, who have lost all four games so far in the tournament. “We don’t have a say in matter as far as the ban is concerned,” said Tushar Pania, head of corporate communications at Reliance Industries Limited, who paid US$111.9 million for the Mumbai franchise. “But it does have an impact on the team now especially considering Sachin Tendulkar is injured.”Harbhajan also faces separate action from the Indian board, which has asked him to explain, “as a contracted player”, his role in the incident which came to light after Sreesanth broke down in front of the cameras.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said on Monday that Sudhir Nanavati, a lawyer, has been appointed to conduct a “preliminary inquiry” and submit a report “within 15 days” to Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, who will refer the findings to the board’s disciplinary committee for possible action.Shah also confirmed that Harbhajan had replied to the board’s show-cause notice. “He has given his reply, but I cannot reveal its contents.”

A tap on the shoulder while fielding on the boundary’s edge at Lilac Hill today was the first that Adam Voges knew of his surprise call-up to the Australian squad, for Thursday’s third Test against England at the WACA.Voges, 27, a hard-hitting Western Australia batsman and part-time chinaman bowler, was the surprise pick in Australia’s 13-man squad, following the unexpected retirement of Damien Martyn. He duly celebrated with an impressive 71 as the CA Chairman’s XI overwhelmed their English counterparts by seven wickets.”It’s not quite sunk in,” said Voges. “To play a hometown Test at the WACA has been my boyhood dream. Obviously Andrew Symonds is in the 13 as well so I’ll just have to wait and see, but it would be amazing if it did come true.”Voges has enjoyed a fine start to the season with Western Australia, scoring two centuries and 320 runs at an average of 160 in his three matches, and Justin Langer, his state captain, described his selection as “outstanding”.”I always thought it was only a matter of time before he played cricket for Australia, either one-day internationals or Tests,” said Langer, “and it’s nice with the opportunity that has come up that he’s been selected.”I think it’s a very astute selection,” added Langer. “You pick character over cover-drives, and this bloke’s got a character. There are a lot of young blokes around who are very talented and can play all the shots in the world, but he is just a very strong character, a terrific young bloke with an outstanding work ethic, and he displays a lot of leadership traits.”Even if Langer did think his team-mate was in the frame for selection, Voges was completely taken aback. “I only learnt half an hour ago while fielding,” he said. “Tony Dodemaide tapped me on the shoulder and he said: ‘Come with me. You’re being substituted’. I thought I was in trouble. But instead I had a phone call saying I was in the 13. It’s all happened pretty quickly, and it’s been pretty amazing.”Voges holds the record for the fastest century in Australian domestic one-dayers, from 62 balls in 2004-05, but he insisted there was more to his game than big shots. “Over the past couple of years I was a bloke with a fairly attacking style of game,” he said, “but a winter over at the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence tightened my technique, and hopefully I’ve got a reasonable game.”Voges was as taken aback as most of Australia by the news of Martyn’s retirement, and the first he heard of it was an announcement over the PA system at Lilac Hill, shortly before Dodemaide came looking for him. “I played a fair bit with Marto at WA,” he said. “He’s been a fantastic player, a legend of the game, and he played a big part in my development. Obviously it’s a shame his career has come to an end, but it’s definitely an opportunity for me.”Ironically, Voges was dropped by Western Australia only last month against Queensland, to accommodate the return of their Australian international players. “When you get Martyn, Gilchrist, Langer and Hussey all in one side, you can’t complain,” he said. “It was only for one game and if Marto hadn’t retired this opportunity wouldn’t have been here.”Andrew Hilditch, Australia’s chairman of selectors, said: “We are excited to give Adam this opportunity to join the squad. He is an outstanding young player and his inclusion in the squad is a just reward for his efforts to date.”

Amit Varma and Anand Vasu discuss the second day of the St Lucia Test
Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMAWhy did West Indies’ batsmen find the going much harder on the second day of the St Lucia Test than the Indian batsmen? Amit Varma discusses that with Anand Vasu, who wrote the bulletin for this Test, and who feels that it’s a combination of the pitch becoming more helpful to bowlers and India’s bowlers bowling much better than the West Indians did.Varma and Vasu also discuss Mohammad Kaif, who’s got a bit of a raw deal in his Test career so far, and whose success here might put pressure on VVS Laxman to come up with a big innings. Vasu also feels that it won’t necessarily be easy going for the Indians in this Test – not with Shivnarine Chanderpaul still at the crease.Listen in.Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA

Both England and New Zealand know all about being hit by injuries and key players from either side have been struck down in the build-up to their vital World Cup opener in St Lucia. James Anderson has broken a finger, Craig McMillan took a blow on the toe during training and Mark Gillespie has suffered an infection which has travelled to his shoulder.Gillespie was ruled out a couple of days ago, but McMillan has come through the Kiwis’ training session on Thursday and looks set to take his place in the middle order. Anderson, too, took part in England’s session but there were some clear grimaces as he held catches. The importance of the match is highlighted by the England management’s decision to leave the final decision until shortly before the toss on Friday.England’s planning had been built around the return of Anderson, who missed the latter stages of the CB Series with a back problem, with him earmarked to take the new ball and exploit any swing with the early starts. However, now the management have to decide whether to risk him causing further damage to his finger, or being a liability in the field, especially when Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett showed strong form at the end of the Australian tour.”I don’t think a decision has been made on Jimmy yet,” Andrew Flintoff told reporters in St Lucia. “He’s broken his finger and I’m not quite sure where he’s at. It depends how well he can protect it and it depends how well he can do all the stuff in the nets and how he feels pain-wise – and how he rocks up in the morning.””He’s been dogged by injuries and been really unlucky,” added Flintoff. “He’s had his back and one thing and another and we saw signs in the winter that he was back to his best. He was swinging the ball at pace, he was taking the new ball and taking a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and coming through so, fingers crossed, he’ll be all right.”Michael Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher, along with John Bracewell from the New Zealand camp, watched part of the Kenya-Canada game on Wednesday to see what hints they could collect as to how conditions would play. They will have seen the effect of Kenya’s spinners in strangling the scoring rate so the temptation will be for both teams to field two slow men.However, without anyone of express pace to watch it was difficult to judge the true nature of the surface. The two captains will be weary of being swayed too much by the performances of the two Associates. When England last played in St Lucia they twice failed to defend totals in excess of 280, but the opinion from commentators is that the current surface is not quite so batsman-friendly.Whatever the pitch, both sides have strong top orders; England bolstered by the return of Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen and New Zealand still holding memories of their massive run chases against Australia last month. New Zealand were hurt when England pipped them to the CB Series finals and Stephen Fleming said that this game has been on their minds for a while.”We are smarting from England knocking us out in Australia,” said Fleming, “and to get off to a good start in the tournament we have to win this game and win it well. If we don’t we can come out with the excuse ‘it’s not too bad’ but we are desperate to win and set the standard for the tournament.”Defeat for either side won’t be terminal – although they would then have to beat Kenya and Canada to progress – but the value of the two points taken through against the fellow qualifier is significant. The confidence in both camps is high but there is a feeling one defeat could see that unravelling. It may only be their first match of the tournament, but the long-term prospects of both teams depend heavily on the final outcome.England (probable) 1 Ed Joyce, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Jamie Dalrymple, 8 Paul Nixon (wk), 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty PanesarNew Zealand (probable) 1 Lou Vincent, 2 Stephen Fleming (capt), 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Peter Fulton, 6 Craig McMillan, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Brendon McCullum (wk), 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 James Franklin, 11 Shane Bond

Shabbir Ahmed is once again eligible to play for Pakistan after the ICC lifted a year-long ban on him, imposed during the England tour to Pakistan last year. A report detailing the improvement in Shabbir’s action had been sent to the ICC from the Universiity of Western Australia, after which the ban was lifted.The ICC sent a notification to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) informing them that Shabbir could resume his international career with immediate effect. “The ordeal for me is finally over and I am very keen to try and fight my way back into the national team,” Shabbir told reporters in Karachi where he is playing in the Twenty20 Cup for Multan Tigers. “I have faced a hard time in the period the ban was imposed on me. I felt hurt because I was banned only because two or three of my deliveries were reported by the umpires,” he said.Shabbir, who has taken 51 wickets in 10 Tests, was banned from playing international cricket on December 19, 2005. He was the first person to face such a suspension under the ICC’s new legislation, which states that any bowler reported twice within a year can face a year out of the game.

Professor Bruce Elliot, the biomechanic specialist it appointed to review Shabbir’s action last mont, compiled the report. After forwarding it to the PCB, David Richardson, ICC General Manager, re-stated the ICC’s policy in relation to suspected illegal bowling actions. “The findings of the report means that Shabbir can resume bowling in international cricket,” said Richardson.”But the effect of the report by Professor Elliott or any other report from a biomechanical expert cannot be to clear Shabbir without limitation in the future. Everyone needs to be aware that no bowlers are ever ‘cleared’ as they could simply revert to bad habits.”All bowlers are subject to further reporting if the match officials are of the view that they have concerns about whether a delivery or deliveries conform to the laws of cricket when observed with the naked eye.”The report of Professor Elliott and his team at UWA concluded: “Ahmed should be congratulated on being able to modify the level of his elbow extension. However, both he and Pakistan cricket officials are encouraged to continue to monitor his delivery action to ensure it does not regress from a legality perspective.”If Shabbir is reported again, he will be suspended from bowling at international level until his action is reassessed.

After a week where the focus shifted dramatically from action on the field to action off it, England and Pakistan will face each other for the first since The Oval Test in Monday’s Twenty20 International at Bristol.In the aftermath of the events of the final Test this match, and the following five one-day internationals, were in serious doubt, so much so that the ECB put plans in place to play an International XI if Pakistan withdrew from the tour.However, following the Darrell Hair revelations the hearing into Inzamam-ul-Haq’s charges has been moved to the end of September. Although Pakistan still have the events of last weekend hanging over their heads they have vowed to move on with the rest of the tour.Andrew Strauss told Sky Sports News: “We’re looking forward to getting cricket back in the headlines for the right reasons. If we are going to do that, it means we’re going to have to win these games.”The most important thing is for people to see good cricket being played, to see good, tight games and then hopefully the attention will be turned back to the good parts of cricket rather than what’s just happened.”Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, added similar comments: “We want to play cricket, entertain everyone as much as we can and win this series. We are looking forward to the cricket and getting everything else that’s happened over the past week out of the way.”What’s happened in the past week has not been good for cricket. We just want to leave that alone now and get on with the rest of the tour. All the players want to do is forget what has happened. We think that is possible.”England will be aiming for a vast improvement from the first one-day portion of their summer, when they went down in the Twenty20 against Sri Lanka before being crushed 5-0 in the ODIs. That squad was full of experimentation, and so is the selectors’ latest effort at finding the right balance for England’s limited overs game.Stuart Broad and Michael Yardy have earned their first taste of international cricket after impressive domestic seasons, and Yardy arrives on the back of Sussex’s C&G triumph over Lancashire. For Broad, it was only a question of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ he would be selected after topping the economy tables in the domestic Twenty20 competition and impressing everyone who has watched him.At the other end of the age spectrum is the grand old-timer, Darren Gough, who has talked a good game all season and now gets the chance to push his claims for a World Cup spot. He is 36, has suffered sore shins in recent weeks, and isn’t the liveliest in the field, but England’s one-day efforts have been so woeful he is back by default.Pakistan will provide a stern challenge and under normal circumstances they would be clear favourites. But the last week has been anything but normal and it is still to be seen how much they really want to be here.Shoaib Akhtar is back after recovering from his ankle injury while Mohammad Asif showed his ability during the final Test. When you include Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and the explosive all round talents of Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi and the fit-again Shoaib Malik they are a formidable outfit. And that doesn’t even touch on the top-order batting.Whatever happens on the field for the remainder of the tour the extraordinary developments of the last seven days will still dominate. But for the two sets of players this is the start of the last serious cricket before the Champions Trophy and there are places up for grabs and trophies to win.England (from) Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Michael Yardy, Ed Joyce, Rikki Clarke, Jamie Dalrymple, Chris Read (wk), Stuart Broad, Sajid Mahmood, Darren Gough, Steve Harmison, Jon LewisPakistan (from) Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Shahid Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneira, Rao Iftikhar

Sri Lanka began their post Jayawardene-Sangakkara era on a winning note by defeating West Indies quite convincingly in the Test and ODI series, but captain Angelo Mathews admitted that his team will face their toughest challenge so far in New Zealand, later this year.”We played some really good cricket against the West Indies, we outplayed them in all three departments in all formats but it will be a completely different tour in New Zealand because conditions and the opposition are different,” Mathews said before his team’s departure on Thursday.”We have got to start off from zero, this is a bigger challenge for us because the weather is not going to be on our side, it will be tough and cold but it’s the mental aspect,” he said. “If we can get our mindset right we shouldn’t be too worried about the cold or anything else and make any excuses, we can just go on the tour and play to win.”New Zealand is a very competitive and strong team, not only at home but away as well. In the last couple of years they have played their best cricket. They are a very competitive unit right now, with a very good, balanced team of youth and experience and it’s going to be a tough ask for us to beat them. But I am pretty sure if we do our very best we can beat them.”Sri Lanka toured New Zealand last December and were thrashed 2-0 in Tests and 4-2 in the ODI series, at a time when Sangakkara was still playing and Jayawardene had yet to finish in ODIs. The present side is vastly inexperienced, with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath (65) and Mathews (54) as the only players with over thirty Test appearances.Mathews, however, believes that the level of experience is less important than the players applying themselves.”We are going to play some really good cricket and we expect to win,” Mathews said. “We don’t expect to go there and lose or compete, whether it is inexperience it doesn’t really matter. We had experienced guys in the last couple of years and we still lost to some countries over the years. It’s about applying ourselves, we are definitely not going to lose or compete it’s just a matter of taking up the challenge and doing your very best.”Especially in the Test line-up we have loads of newcomers and only a couple of senior guys in the batting who have played more than 20 Test matches. It’s going to be a tough tour but if we apply ourselves and take up the challenge I am pretty sure we can give New Zealand a good run for their money.”Mathews also refused to accept that batting was the weak point of his team. “We’ve got an inexperienced batting line up but skill-wise even the newcomers have scored a lot of runs. When it comes to Kithuruwan [Vithanage] and Udara Jayasundara – they have scored a lot of runs in New Zealand and they have a good feel of the conditions,” he added.Mathews also stated that Jerome Jayaratne, the interim head coach of the team, was working very closely with the batsmen by helping them ‘to counterattack and hang in there when difficult situations arise”.Mathews said that for practice, his team has been playing on tracks that will be similar to the seam-friendly wickets of New Zealand, but due to the weather and conditions it has been difficult for them to prepare those kind of pitches.”Even the pitches have been prepared in a way where the seamers have a lot of assistance. We’ve been training for the past two weeks on those tracks,” Mathews said. “We are trying to practice on surfaces similar to ones that we will get in New Zealand. You don’t get the ideal wicket because our weather and conditions but we have tried our level best to prepare wickets as close as possible where it helps seamers quite a lot and the batsmen have been batting pretty well on it.”Bowling is an area where the pacers have delivered for Sri Lanka but the inexperience shows. Sri Lanka’s pace quartet of Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal and Dushmantha Chameera have a combined total of 66 Test matches and captured 167 wickets compared to the experienced Herath, who has taken 293 wickets from 65 Tests and will be Sri Lanka’s key strike-bowler on the tour even though the conditions may not be to his liking.One of the main causes for Sri Lanka’s defeats in New Zealand was their poor catching and fitness. However, on this occasion they have addressed that area carefully with the help of their English trainer, Michael Main, who has put them through their paces and the results of it were seen in the recently concluded series against West Indies.Another key area Sri Lanka has worked on is removing the fear of failure, which the players had when Jayaratne took over as head coach for the West Indies series.”We talked a lot about it when it comes to dressing room atmosphere and the fear these individuals have,” Mathews said. “We tried our very best with Jerome’s help to make sure the players get rid of their individual doubts as well as play with a lot of freedom. He’s worked a lot with the support staff as well to clear the environment so that we are not afraid to do mistakes.”The coach has a very big part to play in the team and he has to get involved in making the players mindset right, trying to give them a lot of confidence and make sure they get rid of their individual fears. It plays a massive part in the team as well you feel the team environment is really good, the boys are very happy. You can still do mistakes but the fear of failure is not there.”Mathews then revealed that playing music in the dressing room has helped the team relax and keep the dressing room alive during a Test.”That is the fear that the individuals have, the fear of failure is something that each individual has and if you can cope with that, if you think you are not afraid to do any mistakes, less number of mistakes will occur. It’s just a matter of mindset and we tried to keep the dressing room alive by playing a little bit of music and keeping it relaxed and it has helped a lot. We introduced it initially in the Test series and it worked pretty well they are very happy and they are moving in the right direction.”Mathews was optimistic that if his team could come through in the New Zealand tour with a win it would have a massive impact on the players for the future.”We are quite an inexperienced team when it comes to Test cricket and also beating New Zealand in their conditions is very tough, not many teams have done that. If we can do that it will make a huge impact and create a lot of confidence in the group going forward,” Mathews said.

"I won’t be seeing you tomorrow, sir. I am going out of town," says an eight-year-old to the 70-year-old grey-haired gentleman in whites.Nari Contractor chuckles. "You see they are not in awe of me," he says to this reporter. "This is the result of interaction." Contractor is the director of the Cricket Club of India’s (CCI) Cricket Academy, and Interaction and Correction are the two buzzwords of the guardians of this academy. Contractor’s colleagues in this venture are: Hanumant Singh, the former director of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, and Vasu Paranjpe, former Mumbai player and coach.Interaction is an important tool coaches forget when they impart training to the players, feels Contractor. "If you can make the player express his viewpoint then half the job is done." Contractor says that the age gap between the coaches (average age: 60-plus) and the trainees (under-16) doesn’t matter, because the kids have respect for the elders and the transparency means that the unit gels well together.The unique thing about this academy is that players from across the country, plus a few from outside, get to hone their skills during the two-month-long camp at the spacious lawns of the Brabourne Stadium. The academy invites two players from each state association and prunes it down to 20 players after the selection trials. These players are not the top players of the individual state as the cream visit the NCA or the NCA’s three zonal academies or the state academies. Two players each from Kenya and Nepal respectively also took part in the camp this year.The normal day of the CCI trainee lasts up to six hours split into two sessions – morning and afternoon. The morning session starts at around 7am with stretching exercises, nets, a mini-break for breakfast and then nets again. The players come back in the afternoon sun to go through another session of nets along with physical training. Three days a week, there are yoga sessions, and then there are random, strenuous fielding practise slots.The academy is two years old and keeps adapting to the modern standards of the game and its various demands. Video analysis of each player is carried out, once when the trainee is inducted and again when the camp is ending. The video helps the player understand how he has progressed and also aids the coaches in correcting any defects that they may see.Films on cricket are also shown so that the trainees learn about the game from the likes of Don Bradman, Garfield Sobers et al. Fitness tests are carried out at the beginning and at the end of the camp to monitor the physical condition of a player. The player is given a programme he can work on after he leaves the academy and a CD about his progress at the camp.Bob Simpson paid a week-long visit and religiously worked with the players which boosted their spirits. One of the trainees who met Simpson’s eye was the 24-year-old Nepali Raj Kumar. Already a national player, Kumar is a short, sturdy, legbreak bowler and has impressed the coaches here with his fielding. Speaking in Hindi, Kumar says, "my action was very clumsy and back in Nepal there are no coaches to correct the faults. But this visit has taught me many things … like my body movement when I bowl. He [Simpson] told me the importance of each part of my body movement as I deliver the ball and now it has helped me get into a nice rhythm."Maurice Ouma, who was there for a week during Simpson’s visit, impressed everyone with his glovework behind the stumps. In fact, Simpson mentioned him in his column in The Sportstar as being better than their [Kenya’s] World Cup wicketkeeper.Contractor delivers the final word. "We can only take the horse to the well," he says. "From there, what it does is its business." Outside, the youngsters run, and run, and run.

After Kapil Dev and Kiran More it may now be the turn of Sandeep Patil to lose his pension from the Indian board (BCCI). Patil is the latest among former Test cricketers to join the Indian Cricket League, a potential rival to the Indian board, and the BCCI is contemplating strict action, including the withdrawal of monthly pensions, on players associated with cricketing activity not recognised by it.”We have written to all associations and specifically informed that former and current players involving themselves in any tournament or body that does not have the approval of the BCCI should be stopped from getting any benefits,” Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, was quoted in the .The monthly pension of approximately Rs 35,000 (approx $ 900) is reportedly no longer available to Kapil and More, who have been removed from the BCCI’s pension list, and More indeed confirmed that the Baroda Cricket Association, whose secretary he is, had communicated with him in this regard.The formation of the Indian Cricket League was announced by Subhash Chandra of the Essel Group in April. The Essel Group-owned Zee Television has earlier been involved in disputes over television rights with the BCCI. The league is rumoured to begin in October, and according to the May issue of magazine, big names such as Shane Warne, Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath have been approached.

Tom Moody said there would be no sweeping changes in the Western Australia’s cricket team despite the fact the Warriors have not won a Pura Cup since 1998-99, when Moody himself captained them to victory. Western Australia scored a major coup by securing Moody, who recently guided Sri Lanka to the World Cup final and became one of the hottest properties in international coaching.Moody has initially signed on for three years and said one of his main aims was to set up the state for future success by helping junior players reach their potential. “It is important that the message we deliver at the top is learnt at under-17 and under-19 level,” Moody told .”We need to start the pattern so that 15- or 17-year-olds know what is expected to play state or international cricket. Whether it is technically, physically or mentally, or just game-wise, we want to make it clear that is the way the Warriors play and this is our brand of cricket.”Moody, one of Western Australia’s favourite cricketing sons, said he would initially take a careful approach with the Warriors. “I have to evaluate the cricketing structure and review what has been and what are the issues that need to be addressed,” Moody said.”I have my ideas but I am not going to come crashing through the door like a bull in a china shop. WA have been very successful but perhaps in the past couple of years they have stumbled a bit at critical times.”Moody confirmed he had approached Simon Katich, the former Western Australia batsman who has spent the last five seasons at New South Wales, about returning to Perth. However, Katich is likely to stay on at New South Wales and continue captaining the state.