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India lately has been hoping for Virender Sehwag to come good. There have been endless public assurances and even bouts of captaincy for good measure. It hasn’t worked. Jamshedpur only added to the unease.India might not fret a great deal about the loss in the sixth one-dayer. Heat was terrible and there were far too many replacements, including a new set of medium-pacers. But it needs a reassurance on its top order. India is not willing to let go on Sehwag or Mohammad Kaif, or for that matter Sachin Tendulkar. But time is running out.Ideally, all of India would love to have these men in the 2007 World Cup. But it also needs time to think of alternatives. Between now and the Caribbean Carnival, a new player could at the most have 15 one-day internationals. If India must change horses in the midstream, the time to do it is now. That Sehwag has been affected is there for all to see. His initial bravado has given way to skepticism. Sehwag in repose at the crease has resembled a cat ready to pounce on anything which comes his way. A cobra in coil, a panther on haunches, a falcon in that strategic patrolling of the sky. He is a quintessential four-man; always visualizing the shortest and swiftest passage of the ball to the boundary. Not at the moment though. Bowlers now are teasing him outside the off-stump and he is curbing himself. He has put his instincts on hold which is a dangerous ploy for those who are nature’s product. He has even begun to weigh the virtue of pull shot these days. Sehwag is not the kind of batsman who can get away by restructuring his batting.Mohammad Kaif’s case is equally a study in regret. He has been dealt harshly by fate: his 90s and 50s have usually resulted in his omission in the next game while for others it generally is a license for the next dozen games. Now when a string of failures have come, Kaif is leaning not so much on his reputation as on goodwill. Not long ago, he was one safe pair of legs in a bunch of no-gooders. Now even he doesn’t stand out among Generation Next of Indian cricket. Kaif of today will increasingly have to lean on his batting to firm up his base. Mere fielding will not do.One guesses there are still three games for these men to sort themselves out. It isn’t the case of loss of ability; but a snapping up of confidence. They are lucky that India is winning otherwise they would have been still more untenable. One senses that India would still have decided on the two by the end of Abu Dhabi gamesAmong the youngsters, Ramesh Pawar has steadily gained in impression. In Jamshedpur, he stuck it out with bat. He has the sort of frame which would be ridiculed in modern era. One is now used to seeing a lot of fitter, stronger and mobile cricketers on the field. He is a complete antithesis of it and sooner or later the cry on his frame would only get shrill. For the moment though, he is allowing India to play with five bowlers. Pawar’s presence has also galvanized Harbhajan Singh, who has by far been the best bowler on either side in the one-day series. Against better players of spin than England, it would be tricky for India to choose between the two of them.England, on their part, would be happy for the form of James Anderson who has been one spirited presence since the Mumbai Test. Andrew Flintoff now probably can choose to stay in the hut in Indore as well. Andrew Strauss too could smile as there wasn’t an Irfan Pathan to keep him in torment. Ian Bell didn’t have to bat out of his skin because of the low target and it suited England fine. By the evidence of this game, it seems okay that these three Indian medium-pacers are not the first choice of the team management.Finally, it is nigh difficult to believe that any cricketer would be keen for competitive cricket in weather as severe as the one in Jamshedpur. Mercury is rising in India and it’s time to lay down the arms.

Surrey’s ignominious performance in the field against Nottinghamshire has been exacerbated by the news that they have been given a five-run penalty for ball-tampering, after an incident that came to light after the first day’s play at The Oval.The match umpires, Mervyn Kitchen and Nigel Llong, revealed that they had taken the overnight decision because of alterations to the condition of the ball. No single player could be singled out, they stressed to reporters at the match, although the pair added that Mark Ramprakash, Surrey’s captain, had been warned after 35 overs after it was spotted that the quarter-seam had been lifted.Llong checked the ball again with five overs of the day remaining and found no further evidence, but when he discovered at the close of play that the condition had altered once again, he reported the matter to the England & Wales Cricket Board. The old ball is now in the possession of the ECB, and Nottinghamshire’s batsmen were permitted to chose a new one for the resumption of play. They chose wisely as well, as Stephen Fleming hurtled to a magnificent double-century against a demoralised attack.Alan Butcher, Surrey’s stand-in coach, told the Press Association: “Further to the umpires’ ruling and the alteration of the condition of the ball we will co-operate with any inquiry by the ECB. We are conscious of the need to uphold both the spirit and the letter of the laws of cricket.” Nottinghamshire’s coach, Mick Newell, added: “I thought the umpires got it about right.”

Ngconde Balfour, South Africa’s sports minister, will meet the leaders of the country’s major sports federations at Johannesburg this week to discuss restructuring the way they operate.Talking to the media today, Balfour said the meeting would also focus on weakness in the administration and management of sport, and the value of a code of ethics. “We will look at the weaknesses in the federations, especially in the administration and in the structure of sport.”He picked out cricket and rugby as having particular problems. “There are problems … that are structural. I have met the administrators of both sports, and we are mapping the way forward.”Balfour also criticised the managements for not focusing on the performances on the field: “Some of them seem to have abandoned performances on the field of play in favour of boardroom squabbles, leaving the perception of structural weaknesses that impact specifically on team sport.”However, Balfour stressed that despite these problems, the country wasn’t on the brink of collapse. He decreed, “We have what it takes to be a winning sports nation, but a few things need to be fixed.”On a better note, he also announced that by the end of this financial year, the government would have spent R500-million on basic sports facilities in disadvantaged communities.

The pick of Somerset’s young cricketer’s have just resumed their regular Friday evening squad sessions at the Centre of Excellence at the County Ground in Taunton.Somerset Youth Development Officer Pete Sanderson told me: "Over the next few months all of the age group squads will be coming to Taunton every third week, between 6.30 and 9.30 pm."He continued: "During the time that they are here the young players will be carrying out various activities across the five core areas of their training -technical, tactical, mental, physical and lifestyle."In all well over 120 players will be involved in the Friday night sessions which will also include specific sessions, including playing spin bowling which will be taken by the Cidermen’s 2003 skipper Mike Burns, a regular physical session taken by the club’sfintess intsructor Andy Hurry, and a session on nutrition that will be taken by the Head of Injury Prevention Darren Veness.The Youth Development Officer continued: "Below the squad sessions we are also resuming the district sessions across the county and these will be taking place at five different venuesat Wraxall, Wells, Langport, Writhlington and also here in Taunton, and any lads who do well at district level will be added to the county squads."He concluded: "There is a lot of junior cricket going on across the county and hopefully we will identify all of the promising young talent that there is in Somerset through these activities."

Mahanayake of the Asgiri Chapter, the Most Ven. Udugama Sri Ratnapala Buddharakkitha Thera, has criticised the commissioner of Buddhist affairs for creating a storm over the lease of the land which is home to the Dambulla International cricket stadium.At a media briefing yesterday in Kandy, the Chief Priest said the right protocols were followed in the lease of the land to build the stadium.It was upon the recommendations of the commissioner of Buddhist affairs, who declared the leasing could not be approved, that the interim committee of the board of control for cricket in Sri Lanka decided to shift the matches in the triangular series involving New Zealand and India away from Dambulla.The Ven. Inamaluwe Sri Sumangala Thero, with whom the ousted executivecommittee negotiated the leasing of the stadium also blamed theauthorities. Sumangala Thero, speaking at the briefing, said that all the higher authorities in the country, including the president, Her Excellency Chandrika Kuamarathunaga, then minister of Sports S.B. Dissanayake, and Buddhist affairs minister Lakshman Jayakody were made aware of the matters pertaining to the lease of the land and the construction of the stadium.The confusion has arisen because the Buddhist commissioner, who has createdthe controversy by saying the leasing couldn’t be approved, had written tothe then president of the BCCSL asking to finalise the matters pertaining tothe leasing of the land with the Mahanayake of the Asgiri Chapter.At the moment Sri Lanka is hosting a four-day game against Pakistan A atDambulla which was built at an estimated cost of close to 400 million rupeesin 175 days. But the three matches of the one-day triangular tournament have been taken away from the ground because of legal matters pertaining to the lease of the stadium.What the Buddhist monks argue is that everything was carried out with the blessing of the higher officials. They say the agreement was signed in front of a large number of people and published in the media the very next day. They say there was nothing secret about it and that it is ridiculous to question matters pertaining to the leasing after everything is over.The move to shift the games from Dambulla could have its consequences;the matches are being played during a season when it usually rains in mostpart of the country and Dambulla being a dry zone can host the games withoutmuch trouble. Removing the games from Dambulla could lead to more games being washed out.Close to 70% of Sri Lankans are Buddhists and the Asgiriya chapter earns the utmost respect of the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. When the Mahanayake has declared right measures were followed in leasing the land, if the authorities are going to stick to the recent decisions they have taken after being quiet for so long, that is not going to stand in their favour.

Somerset 139 for 4 (Gazzard 59*) beat UAE 138 (Khurram Khan 67) by six wickets
ScorecardSomerset cruised to a six-wicket win over UAE with almost 19 overs to spare in the Pro ARCH Trophy at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.On a day when Somerset’s attention was centred on Marcus Trescothick, who pulled out of this tour at the 11th hour, this one-sided match barely registered on the radar.UAE were always second best, slipping to 32 for 4 before a gutsy 67 from veteran Khurram Khan gave them respectability but nothing remotely close to a winning score. Khan was the last man out.Carl Gazzard, opening in Trescothick’s absence, made an unbeaten 59, including consecutive sixes to finish the match, while James Hildreth chipped in with a breezy 29.

The Barbados government has rejected out of hand a plea by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to allow it to use Kensington Oval’s World Cup (CWC) gate receipts to clear some of its US$15 million debt.”It would be an act of irresponsible folly for us to take the only thing we would get from the World Cup and give it to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to pay its debts,” prime minister Owen Arthur said yesterday evening. He urged WICB president Ken Gordon and other officials of the cricket-managing body to “pass over the gate receipts so that we can start dealing with our financial matters at the Oval”.Arthur made the call while addressing Barbados Labour Party (BLP) faithful at Christ Church Parish Centre attending the uncontested nomination of minister of health Jerome Walcott, the sitting Member of Parliament, as candidate for Christ Church South. Arthur said Government had raised “a lot of money” to redevelop Kensington Oval with the understanding that the Local Organising Committee (LOC) would get the gate receipts from the matches played there.However, he disclosed that Gordon had written him, saying the board had a US$15 million debt “and they want us to agree that we will give them the gate receipts to pay their debts”.The Prime Minister said: “Now I have already written him to say that the Government of Barbados does not and will not agree . . . .” He said while he was sympathetic to the needs of the WICB and wanted to see its debt problem addressed, the board should hand over the gate receipts to the various countries that hosted CWC games “so that they can start paying their debts for building these stadiums”.Arthur also dismissed what he said was a statement by Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) president Tony Marshall that his group owned Kensington Oval. He said what the BCA owned was the land at Kensington Oval. Government owned 90% of the property development company that had been set up to develop Kensington, with the BCA owning the rest, Arthur said. Government, having spent over $100 million to redevelop the Oval, “shall not surrender our interest in it”, he declared. But he told the meeting: “We would like the partnership to continue.”The prime minister also announced that he had summoned a meeting with “all concerned” to deal with the ownership issue as well as the management of the Oval. “What the Government owns is ours and we have to put together a company to jointly manage it and a company also has to be put together to jointly own it and manage it, using a partnership.”

Kookaburra, the company sponsoring Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, will have its banned bats tested using laser vibration in a bid to show the graphite stickers on the back do not increase its power. The Marylebone Cricket Club last week ruled three of Kookaburra’s styles were illegal and the company withdrew the products from Test and ODI markets.Ponting will use his Kahuna and Hussey his Beast in the one-day games in South Africa, but the pair needs replacements for the three-Test series starting on March 15. “There’s a couple of good ones at the moment I don’t really want to part company with,” Ponting told . “I’m going to be right to use those bats until the end of the one-day series and then it’s going to be up to me over there to get the black graphite off the back of the bat so I can use them in the Test series.”The reported Kookaburra had provided scientific evidence from independent sources to argue the strip does not form an integral part of the blade and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology would conduct vibration testing. “The MCC says its experts have raised the point that the covering changes the amount of vibration and thus increases the power,” Rob Elliott, Kookaburra’s managing director, told the paper. “We know this isn’t true, from anecdotal evidence and testing, and now we’re proving it.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq admitted that a target of 282 was achievable, but blamed the sudden batting collapse for Pakistan’s tame defeat. Here’s what he had to say in the post-match press conference:

On whether Pakistan was complacent today after winning the Bangalore Test
Tests and ODIs are very different games. The boys worked hard today in the heat but sometimes these things just happen.On the first-ball let-off for Virender Sehwag
He’s a good one-day player and if you drop him it will always be expensive. Without him India would not have made 281.On Sachin Tendulkar’s golden arm
Non-regular bowlers occasionally pick up wickets. Today was a good day for India when everything they did worked.On the target
The target of 282 was a gettable one, it shouldn’t have been difficult because the pitch was still in very good condition. The turning point came when we slipped from 45 for no loss to 64 for 4 very quickly. After that it was very difficult.On why Shahid Afridi didn’t open the batting
He has batted lower down the order for us in the last 15-20 matches and he has been very successful, so we decided to keep him there.On the weather
Obviously the weather was very difficult and it was very hot. The gloves were becoming difficult to grip because of the heat but we are professionals and we should be able to adjust to these weather conditions.On Younis Khan’s fitness
He is still not fit but we have two more days to go before the next game so he can’t be ruled out yet.

Five years after being unceremoniously axed from British television, Geoff Boycott has been brought in from the cold by Channel 4 and will join their commentary line-up for next summer’s tours by New Zealand and West Indies.Boycott was ostracised by the British media following a high-profile court case in France in 1998, although he continued to work regularly overseas. In 2002 he was diagnosed as having throat cancer, which he successfully fought, and made a few low-key guest appearances for Channel 4 last summer.Announcing the news, David Kerr, Channel 4’s head of sport, told The Guardian: “Geoff Boycott is one of the great voices of cricket and we are very happy to be bringing him back to the commentary box. He has strong opinions informed by a career playing cricket at the highest level and a unique insight into the game of cricket.”After Geoffrey commentated on the C&G final this summer we had a very positive response from viewers and we wanted to give them the chance to hear his thoughts over the coming summer."Boycott remains one of the most popular media analysts, renowned for his blunt comments.