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In the wake of Sunil Gavaskar’s statement that sportsmanship has gone out of the modern game, James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive, today revealed that they were deluged with 15 days of complaints from the public, along with a backlash from sponsors, after Glenn McGrath’s verbal tirade in the West Indies.Speaking at a business lunch, Sutherland said that CA were inundated with phone calls and e-mails following McGrath’s vein-popping rant at Ramnaresh Sarwan during the fourth Test in Antigua. McGrath later apologised to Sarwan and publicly expressed regret at his behaviour, but it has left significant ramifications for the game in Australia.Sutherland continued: “The damage that that caused Australian cricket and arguably our brand could never be measured, but judging by the reaction we got from the media and the public there was no doubt there was a diminution as a result of that unfortunate incident.”People were saying that the Australian team were poor role models anddon’t want (their) kids playing cricket and the captain needs to take controlof the team.”Sutherland, who at the time demanded Steve Waugh curb in his team’sbehaviour, also said sponsors had contacted him to say their brands weresuffering because of the backlash.However, he insisted Cricket Australia had learned much from the incident. While not condoning McGrath’s actions, he also believed that the Australian team had in some ways been a victim of their own success: “When you are successful in this day and age people do like to pick out the bad things and look for things that aren’t that great.”No action was taken by either the umpires or match referee, Mike Procter,against McGrath over the incident, but he was rebuked by Sutherland,who believed it was up to the umpires to clamp down and enforcecricket’s code of conduct to make sure such incidents were promptly dealt with.Sutherland said: "What we need to see is the umpires having the strength of their convictions to act and report players when they cross that line. We need to clarify it and the umpires need to back it up and perhaps stop trying to be everyone’s mate and actually take the hard line and nail players who cross the line.”

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 23 AAP – Brad Hogg is ready.The hyperactive, highly motivated chinaman bowler believes he will be a more fearless and relaxed player than when he made his inglorious debut almost seven years ago if he gets the nod as Australia’s No. 1 spinner for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies.Shane Warne’s suspension should lead to Hogg’s Test elevation.”It just comes down to backing yourself,” Hogg said.”I guarantee you I’ll be backing myself if I get the opportunity to go out there and play Tests again.”Hogg’s one and only Test was against India at Delhi way back in October, 1996.He took 1-69, scored four and one and wasn’t sighted again until he was chosen as 12th man for the fifth Ashes Test last month when Warne had a dislocated shoulder.With Warne out of the picture, Hogg will have the inside running over Stuart MacGill and Nathan Hauritz for a permanent Test berth if he continues his sprightly performances for Australia’s one-day side in the World Cup.”If that day comes in the Test team down the road I’m just going to have to keep doing what I do,” said Hogg.He will be trying hard to relax.”I wasn’t too unhappy with the way things went in India – it was a good thing for me,” he said. “It was just when I came back that things started falling away. I started putting too much pressure on myself. That’s one thing you can’t do and I’ve learned from that.”You’ve just got to go out there and enjoy it and show your stuff, throw your stuff down there and if it’s good enough on the day, it’s good enough on the day.”The last two to three years I’ve been really enjoying my cricket. There’s a lot of confidence now. I’ve been making a few runs and getting a few wickets and just enjoying the company of my fellow players.”Warne was already taking Hogg under his wing before his inglorious exit from World Cup, passing on technical tricks of the trade and toughening him up mentally.Hogg said he would call on Warne’s words of wisdom – or simply call him on the telephone – if his purple patch suddenly went off-colour.”All the time we’ve spent together has really added something to my bowling,” said Hogg.”Just his influence and being around him has really improved me mentally. It was good to be involved with him for a short period.”If things aren’t quite right I can remember a few things that he’s said and switch straight back on. Being around the king of spin, if you don’t take anything away from what he says to you, you’re stupid, really.”Warne’s phone has been running hot with commiserations for the ban dished out to him by the Australian Cricket Board’s anti-drugs tribunal. Hogg might be calling for advice soon enough.”He’s always there to help – you can ring him up and he will help you out,” Hogg said. “Down the track, when things settle down, I’ll give him a call and see how things are going with him and if there any problems I’ve got, hopefully he can help me out.”But hopefully I won’t have any problems to put on him, hopefully I can cheer him up in the next couple of weeks.”They could not be more different, Warne and Hogg. The right-handed superstar millionaire showman and the modest left-handed Perth postal worker.While Warne liked to camp himself at first slip, Hogg prefers to throw himself around in different positions in the field.”If I can have an influence with a run out or a catch … I’m always looking to do something spectacular in the field to help my fellow bowlers out and try to cut the runs down so our batsmen don’t have to chase quite as many,” he said.Australia’s Test squad for the Windies is due to be announced early next month.

SYDNEY – NSW will wait until the morning of the ING Cup cricket final onSunday to make a call on the fitness of Brad Haddin and spearhead SteveWaugh.An MRI scan today revealed Waugh’s hamstring injury, suffered whilebatting in yesterday’s crucial win over South Australia, was low gradewith an expected recovery time of seven to 10 days.Similarly, Haddin was expected to take a similar amount of time torecover after straining his right hip flexor muscle while fieldingagainst the Redbacks.Both will travel to Perth with their team on Friday but a decision won’tbe made until Sunday morning on whether they can play.NSW takes on Western Australia in the final at the WACA Ground.

The Midlands Logan Cup squad has just been chosen and the team is as follows:Doug Marillier (Capt), Dirk Viljoen (vice-capt), Raymond Price, Craig Wishart, Travis Friend, Sean Ervine, Terrence Duffin, Colin Delport, John Vaughan-Davies, Campbell Macmillan, Luther Mutyambizi, Ed Rainsford, Craig Grant, Tarai Karambwa, James Kornford, Paul Reilly.The Midlands Management Team is as follows: Manager – Colin Sanders; Physiotherapist – Alan Locke; the team coach is still as yet unknown.The team are due to travel to Bulawayo this weekend to take on the Matabeleland side; this game is to be played at B.A.C. All of us wish our squad all the best for this upcoming game and hope that this year the result will be different.The Inter-town 30-over-a-side matches played on Saturday afternoons here in the Midlands are due to start shortly. This league has been bolstered with the inclusion of three extra teams; namely, Kadoma, Christian Boys C.C. and Kings C.C.With regards to the Castle Lager National Cricket Leagues that are now nearing the close, we are proud to say that our first team did well and came seventh overall. We are also proud to say that the second team have made it into the finals of their league with an outstanding victory over the last weekend. Kwekwe Queens who take part in the National North League had a game here in Kwekwe over the past weekend and they will need to do a lot better if their hopes of emulating the Sports club second team and reaching the semi-finals and finals of their division is to come true.This year our Logan Cup side will have a rather tough season as they will need to play four fixtures one after the other as a result of the postponement of the game with Mashonaland A, which will now be played from 15 to 18 March.We look forward to the return of both Ray Price and Travis Friend from India and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them both on their efforts in the First Test there in India. We are proud of them and proud to be associated with them as part and parcel of Midlands cricket.We would also like to congratulate Mr Ken Connelly on his appointment as the official Z.C.U. Midlands Administrator and wish Him all the best in the future. Colin Sanders has now taken over as the Midlands chairman until the next A.G.M. later this year.

Sri Lanka will now play Pakistan in the first game of the CBFS triangulartournament next week (October 26) following a last minute change to theitinerary.According to the previous itinerary, Sri Lanka were to face Zimbabwe in thefirst encounter.Friday is a holiday throughout the Middle East and traditionally attractsthe best crowds in Sharjah, most of whom are keen Pakistani fans. They willbe delighted with the change.The Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka match has been shifted to the following day.Originally, Pakistan were to play Sri Lanka on Saturday.However, there’s been no change to the rest of the matches.All the matches will be day-night encounters and will commence at 4:30 pmlocal time and end at 12:15 midnight.The Sri Lankan side will be leaving to Sharjah on Sunday.Fri 26 Oct – Pakistan v Sri Lanka
Sat 27 Oct – Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
Sun 28 Oct – Pakistan v Zimbabwe
Tue 30 Oct – Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
Wed 31 Oct – Pakistan v Zimbabwe
Fri 02 Nov – Pakistan vs Sri Lanka
Sun 04 Nov – Final

Western Australia has made a strong start to its Pura Cup match against New South Wales here at the Sydney Cricket Ground today. The visitorshad reached a first innings score of 2/147 by stumps in answer to the Blues’ modest tally of 215.It was a milestone 50th first-class clash between the two states and, from the outset, it was the Warriors who looked the most determined to createa satisfactory new slice of history for themselves. The Blues have won 27 of those past 49 battles but their opponents, conscious of the chance tonudge their way into second place on the Pura Cup table by the end of this one, established a good early position in a bid to let the record bookswrite this victory down to them.After their bowlers counteracted the effect of a loss at the toss, the Western Australians received a great start to their innings with openers ScottMeuleman (60) and Mike Hussey (55*) unfurling a calm, unhurried and, importantly, productive partnership at the top of the order.In the course of a 127-run liaison, Meuleman backed up last week’s century against South Africa with a polished half-century – a milestonesymbolically reached with a clattering off drive off opposing youngster Aaron O’Brien (0/42).And left handed Hussey was also in control, relying on a positive mindset and attractive footwork to carve a half-century of his own.Meuleman was eventually beaten by paceman Stuart Clark (2/31) and outside edged a catch to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, and the position was furtherweakened when nightwatchman Kade Harvey (5) edged a catch to Mark Higgs, standing at second slip to the same bowler.But Hussey and Simon Katich (11*) encountered no further alarms and duly consolidated an excellent day’s cricket from their team.New South Wales, for its part, was on the back foot by as early as the first over of the day – when Greg Mail (0) was removed by Brad Williams(3/71) for a duck. The Blues’ cause was partially resurrected by aggressive contributions from Haddin (50), Michael Clarke (43) and Michael Slater(40) but the balance was never fully restored and the innings was wrapped up before even two full sessions had been completed.Despite surviving a huge early appeal for a catch, as a Williams delivery ended in the hands of Hussey at slip, Slater’s innings provided particularencouragement for the home team.As he added 66 in a partnership for the second wicket with stand-in captain Michael Bevan (26), it even looked like he was in the midst ofproducing a hand that would restore his very best form. As his team adjusted to the loss of regular captain Shane Lee to a knee injury, he found theboundary on five occasions – and even cleared it once – with a succession of crisp, clean strokes. But that was all before he drove a MatthewNicholson (1/31) delivery on the up to Brad Hogg at cover.Career-best first-class figures for Harvey (4/43), and similarly excellent contributions from fellow pacemen Williams and Jo Angel (2/68), layat the core of the Blues’ troubles. Williams and Angel combined to remove the bulk of the top half of the order, while Harvey swiftly put his previousbest analysis of 3/30 into the shade by snaring the wickets of Clark (15), Don Nash (15) and Nathan Bracken (2) at the end.

Big Central Districts all-rounder Jacob Oram is on the verge of making his comeback from injury.One of the finds of last summer when he made his debut for the CLEAR Black Caps, Oram has suffered a broken bone in his foot, and then when close to recovery suffered a setback with the foot.He has been named by Central Districts as the manager on their trip to Alexandra for their State Championship match against Otago. That has been done to allow him to train with the side each day before attempting to make his comeback in the next match against Canterbury, starting on Monday next week.Meanwhile, the Northern Districts team was missing Mark Bailey’s name when it was released for their match against Wellington starting tomorrow. The languid right-hander played 89 first-class games and has been a stalwart of ND cricket for the past decade.While he never played a Test match for New Zealand he was called to the West Indies in 1996 as a replacement player and he was a member of the New Zealand one-day team which played in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.A portable pitch on the main oval at Eden Park will be used for the Auckland-Canterbury game. It is another test for the portable pitch after the disappointment caused by drainage problems in the tray the pitch sits in for last summer’s match against Pakistan.Canterbury leads the championship at the moment. Points are: Canterbury 16, Auckland 13, Northern Districts 12, Wellington 9, Central Districts 6, Otago 4.Teams for the next round of State Championship play are:Auckland: Brooke Walker (captain), Matt Horne, Aaron Barnes, Tama Canning, Chris Drum, Nick Horsley, Llorne Howell, Tim McIntosh, Rob Nicol, Mark Richardson, Gareth Shaw, Reece Young.Canterbury: Gary Stead (captain), Jarrod Englefield, Robbie Frew, Shanan Stewart, Aaron Redmond, Gareth Hopkins, Paul Wiseman, Warren Wisneski, Stephen Cunis, Ryan Burson, Peter Fulton, Chris Martin.Northern Districts: Robbie Hart (captain), Scott Styris (vice-captain), Graeme Aldridge, Grant Bradburn, Simon Doull, Matthew Hart, James Marshall, Hamish Marshall, Bruce Martin, Joseph Yovich, Michael Parlane.Wellington: Matthew Bell (captain), Richard Jones, Selwyn Blackmore, David Sales, Grant Donaldson, James Franklin, Matthew Walker, Andrew Penn, Mark Gillespie, Jeetan Patel, Mark Jefferson, Glynn Howell.Otago: Craig Cumming (captain), Andrew Hore, Robert Lawson, Simon Beare, Chris Gaffaney, Martyn Croy, Craig Pryor, Nathan Morland, David Sewell, Kerry Walmsley, James McMillan, Rob Smith.Central Districts: Glen Sulzberger (captain), David Kelly, Peter Ingram, Mathew Sinclair, Ben Smith, Peter McGlashan, Campbell Furlong, Bevan Griggs, Andrew Schwass, Brent Hefford, Michael Mason, Lance Hamilton.

Samir Singh, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of WorldTel, died in Bangalore on Saturday night, when his car crashed into a bus. It may be recalled that Mark Mascarenhas, the man who founded WorldTel, was also killed in a road accident early last year.WorldTel revolutionised the sports-endorsement industry in India, especially once they became Sachin Tendulkar’s agents in 1996. Tendulkar, currently in the United States recovering from hand-surgery, is still represented by them.WorldTel issued a one-line statement on Monday, saying that they “regretted toannounce the untimely demise of Singh.” Singh, who worked in England for several years before taking over at WorldTel, was just 31.

International Cricket Council match referee Mike Denness confirmed the punishments handed down to six Indian Test players relating to incidents in the second Test match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, but refused to elaborate on his decisions at a press conference that rapidly descended into farce at St George’s Park on Tuesday.Amid accusations of bias and conspiracy, Denness sat tight-lipped next to United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola in what amounted to little more than a puppet show as angry Indian and South African journalists sought vainly to establish exactly what Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Shiv Das, Deep Dasgupta, Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly had done to deserve their punishments.Five of the players received suspended sentences from Denness, but Sehwag has been banned from playing in the third Test match at SuperSport Park starting on Friday.Exactly why, however, remains a mystery with Denness claiming that he is not allowed to talk to the media by ICC regulations. Which, of course, begged the question of why he was at the press conference in the first place. There was no answer to this.To further raise the temperature, it was alleged at the press conference that Indian president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, has threatened to call off the remainder of the tour if Denness was not removed as match referee.According to a press release issued by Majola, Denness held four separate meetings with the Indian players on Monday relating to incidents during the South African second innings on Sunday.Majola apologised for the leak of the punishments on Monday night. It emerged that Denness had specifically asked the UCB not to make an official announcement until Tuesday morning, but at least one journalist was informed of the disciplinary by the Indian team management on Monday night.So reticent was Denness to say anything that at one point Indian commentator Ravi Shastri asked what he was doing there in the first place. “We all know what he looks like,” said Shastri.Majola said that he would talk to Denness after the press conference and try to obtain a more coherent explanation for the sentences. Two things, however, are abundantly clear: in the first place this matter is far from over; secondly, despite attempts to streamline it, the match referee system remains clumsy, inconsistent and, in this instance, incoherent.It might even be fair to say that Denness has done far more damage to the game than the six players he punished.

It’s all a numbers game, really. Following four years of preparation, it comes down to just 100 overs between two teams for one World Cup berth – the fourteenth, and last, on offer for entry into the 2003 version of the event in South Africa.Scotland and Canada have each played in a World Cup before but barely will there have been more important matches of cricket in their respective histories than the one they will contest tomorrow at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. So high are the stakes in the World Cup Qualifying Final of this 2001 ICC Trophy tournament that the difference between the impact of a win and a loss is almost beyond even so much as contemplation.For the winner, it’s not only that berth in world cricket’s ultimate tournament that awaits but also the chance to harness all of the benefits that participation at the elite level delivers. For the loser, it’s precisely the same opportunity gone begging; the chance to accelerate the sport’s growth within its borders during the next two years and beyond seriously diminished.All associated with Scottish cricket well know the rigours, the emotions and the pressures of this day. They were in the same position four years ago in Kuala Lumpur when they dodged teeming rain and stifling tension to prevail over near-neighbour Ireland by 51 runs in what still ranks as their country’s greatest ever cricketing victory.This time, they come to the TCSCC with the adornment of seven players with experience from the last World Cup and a record that includes just two losses in Toronto. They also bring to the match a reputation as a side that has learned much in the way of professionalism and preparation during the last four years. A reputation that they will hope will be worth its weight in gold out on the field now.Wicketkeeper-batsman Colin Smith has clearly been one of the stars of the tournament; fast bowler James Brinkley and spinners Keith Sheridan and Gregor Maiden have led a consistent attack; and youngster Drew Parsons has given many indications that he is an exciting player on the rise. Where the side has not done so well is in providing batting support for Smith and in fully taking its opportunities in its biggest games.In Canada, they will find a team that will quickly expose any such weaknesses. This is the first time in six attempts that they have reached the last four of an ICC Trophy competition but the Canadians have tangible crowd support; a well-balanced team, the batting of Joe Harris; and the spin bowling talents of John Davison and Barry Seebaran to bolster them on this occasion.By necessity, the hosts’ game plan will hinge around resisting the Scottish bowlers and crashing through their opponents’ batting. Against arguably the most evenly balanced attack in the tournament, the Canadian batsmen might well face their sternest examination of the competition and any exercise in leaving the bulk of the scoring responsibilities to Harris, as has been done more than once already over the last three weeks, would be fraught with risk. The makeup of their upper order batting has undergone several changes of face already in this tournament; there is no better time than now to have it click.How much of a factor the crowd will play in the match is anyone’s guess. The game will be contested on a work day in Toronto but it’s likely that more than just the odd alteration will be made to employment schedules around the city. Support for the Canadians has been strong throughout the event and the momentum created by the side’s Super League successes has only added to the numbers of wellwishers uniting forces behind them.Conversely, there will be no Tartan Army here to support the Scots; moreover, the players will be lucky if they see any Tartan soldier at all straying so far from home. Instead, it will need to be eleven men banding together to produce a collective, committed performance. Albeit that they are light on for numbers, they simply have to win this one.