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Australia’s captain Shane Watson and the West Indies coach Ottis Gibson both believed their sides missed a golden opportunity to go up 2-1 in the series in St Vincent on Tuesday. The dramatic tie has left the contest at 1-1 ahead of the final two matches in St Lucia, and both camps were left with a hollow feeling after the game.West Indies entered the final over needing seven runs for victory with one wicket in hand, and after a Darren Sammy boundary the scores were level with three balls to play. However, a brain-snap from Sammy’s partner Kemar Roach caused a run-out from the next delivery, and Gibson said there were mixed feelings in the rooms after the match.”We should have won today and we have quite a few disappointed boys in the dressing room at the moment,” Gibson said. “But, look at it this way, we didn’t lose the match and we are still in with a great chance of winning the series.”Today, we clawed our way back from five down for just 78 runs and kept pace with the target. The lower order kept us in the game and credit must go to them for the way they played. The last five wickets gave us close to 150 runs so that’s a really good effort. We keep showing the fight that we have spoken about for a long time and we are seeing signs of improvement. Our fielding effort and our bowling performance today were outstanding.”The way we kept going and kept ourselves in the contest was good to see. The last time the Australians toured the West Indies [in 2008], at this stage, the series was already over. They went on to win 5-0. Now at this stage we are still in it with all to play for.”West Indies left plenty of work for their lower order after slipping to 78 for 5 in a chase of 221 and Watson said it was disappointing his side had not been able to close out the game at that stage. However, he said the Australians were relieved at the final run-out, which gave them some consolation.”In the end, seven off the last over you’re thinking it’s one shot away,” Watson said. “So at that moment when we got the run-out you do feel like it’s a bit of a win. But you look back and probably even ten overs before that we should have closed out the game. It’s mixed feelings.”Watson was at the centre of a key moment in the game when he bowled Andre Russell off a no-ball in the 40th over, which gave West Indies an important reprieve. Watson’s frustration was compounded when he also bowled Russell off the free hit that followed, and he said he knew he had over-stepped when went back and checked his footmarks.”It was a bit of a weird situation, really,” he said. “I haven’t actually bowled a no-ball in a game for, well, I can’t remember the last time I bowled one. That was very disappointing, especially in that crucial time. To get a guy out, bowl him twice in two balls and get zero result out of it, and actually giving him a run, it’s very disappointing.””When I checked the footmarks I knew I had stepped over. That was not a good feeling, knowing where my spike-marks were. It’s not good enough.”The teams will now move on to St Lucia for the last two one-day internationals, to be played on Friday and Sunday.

Delhi Daredevils have picked Victoria allrounder Glenn Maxwell and South Africa batsman Gulam Bodi in their squad for the upcoming IPL season, in place of Colin Ingram and Travis Birt.Maxwell, 23, has played 14 List A games, averaging 25.44 and has picked up nine wickets at 37.55 in the format. He holds the record for the fastest half-century, off 17 balls, in domestic List A cricket in Australia. He’s also played 11 first-class matches, a format he’s fared better in, and as many Twenty20 games.”When Aashish [Kapoor, the Daredevils team manager] and I watched Glenn in the Emerging Players’ Tournament in Australia in July last, we saw him as a player of immense potential who loves being in the contest,” the Daredevils team mentor TA Sekar said in a release. “When we watched him bat, we were reminded of how we had spotted David Warner in 2008. We believe Glenn will play for Australia soon.”Besides being a dashing batsman, Glenn is a solid offspinner and an amazing fielder, with infectious enthusiasm,” Sekar said. “A multi-skilled player like him will add immense value to the side.”Bodi, 33, has played two ODIs and a Twenty20 for South Africa. He made his first-class debut in 1996-97 and since then has played 131 List A matches in which he’s averaged 32.40. He’s also played 64 Twenty20s, averaging 29.29 with a highest of 98 not out. Sekar said he remains a middle-order option.”Gulam was the best available replacement, given that we had to find someone within Birt’s base price,” he said. “Just the other day, he made a belligerent 90 off 51 balls with seven fours and five sixes for the Lions against the Warriors in the Twenty20 Challenge in South Africa.”

Rarva Dikana, the Papua New Guinea captain, hopes to use the World Twenty20 qualifiers in the UAE to announce his country’s presence in world cricket. PNG are hoping to be one of two teams to qualify for the World T20 in Sri Lanka in September.Dikana is positive about his side’s chances and thinks T20 is the perfect form of the game for his players’ style of cricket. But PNG have a tough ask to upset the odds and reach the final of the 16-team qualifying tournament.”We see it as an opportunity to stamp our mark as a cricketing nation,” Dikana said. “Natural flair is the trademark of the team and the T20 format suits our style. We also have a strong ground-fielding unit with very athletic young players.”Ten of PNG’s squad have been playing club cricket in Australia. “Almost every player in the team has spent time playing cricket in Australia in the last two years which is in line with our preparation for the tournament.Asad Vala is having a good season with the bat and Joel Tom is the leading wicket-taker for his club. So they are two of the players to watch out for.”The qualifiers mark a new era for PNG, with new coach Peter Anderson taking charge for the first time. Anderson replaced former Australia fast bowler Andy Bichel, who left to become an Australian national selector in November.”Peter is a former first-class cricketer who played a lot for Queensland. He still plays at club level in Australia and is full of energy,” Dikana said. “I’m sure that energy will be transferred onto the players.”Another new addition to the PNG squad is former England wicketkeeper Geraint Jones. Having been born in PNG, Jones is going back to his roots to resume his international career after a six-year absence.”The players are excited to meet him and can’t wait to take the field alongside him,” Dikana said. “We are training with Geraint in a five-day pre-tournament camp in Canberra.”He is a good inclusion in the side, given his capabilities to perform at the highest levels of cricket, and pretty much balances our batting department. He will be the second-choice wicketkeeper for the tournament, he has been spoken to in that regard and he understands his role in the team.”Jones played in 34 Tests and helped England regain the Ashes in 2005. He will need to provide a significant contribution to help PNG qualify from Group A. Afghanistan and the Netherlands are the two highest-ranked sides in the group, which also contains Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong and Nepal.PNG begin their World T20 qualifying campaign against Afghanistan on March 13 in Dubai.Edited by Alex Winter

Andre Russell and Shawn Findlay have said that a lack of unity in the Jamaica team cost them the Caribbean T20 final against Trinidad & Tobago. Russell, the West Indies fast-bowling allrounder, said the players did not behave professionally because they were playing as individuals rather than as a team.”As a team it is about sticking together and we are kind of lacking in that department at the moment,” Russell told the . “It’s not professional for players to go on the field and some are doing one thing and some are doing another. We need to work together more as a team and if we can do that then just like how we win the other tournaments we can win the T20 as well.”Jamaica are the current champions in West Indies’ first-class and domestic 50-over competitions, and beat T&T easily in the Regional Super50 tournament final in October 2011; but they were thrashed by the same team in the Caribbean T20 final, which also cost them a place in the lucrative Champions League T20. Findlay, the Jamaica batsman, said the reversal in fortunes was due to division in the team.”The team spirit was not the best,” Findlay said. “Some of the players were not pulling for each other as we wanted it to be. We are not unified as we should be. On match days you tend to have one set of players pulling to one side and the others to a next. You’re never going to win a tournament like that.”When we won the Super50 tournament everybody was gelling together. We know we can win Twenty20 tournaments if we get to gel, as it is the gelling and chemistry that teams like Trinidad have over us.”David Bernard, the Jamaica captain, was less scathing of the team and said what was needed was more practice playing Twenty20 cricket. “A better preparation period, including the playing of more Twenty20 competitions and matches going into the next tournament, will go a long way towards helping us to get better,” Bernard said. “But to do this more resources are needed and one can only hope that the Jamaican Cricket Association can get the support from corporate Jamaica to do this going forward.”

Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid have denied media reports of a rift in the Indian team over MS Dhoni’s leadership and a lack of unity when under pressure. Reports suggested the team was split over Dhoni’s captaincy style and even suggested that one group wanted Sehwag, the vice-captain, to take charge.The Indian team is under gag orders that bar the players from speaking to the press outside the designated media interactions but Sehwag responded directly to the allegations of his own role, which appeared in Australian papers on Tuesday.”When teams start losing then these kind of things come, but there is nothing true in that,” Sehwag told the . “We are playing as a team, and we are fine. I can’t talk about anything else because there are rules, but you asked me about this and I can say it is rubbish. We are a unit, and we are carrying on for the next Test.”Dravid, who spoke at Wednesday’s press conference, echoed the sentiment. “When you are down 2-0, all these things happen,” he said. “Suddenly there’s all sort of stuff floating around. There is absolutely no truth to any of these things. Like I said, the spirit in the team is pretty good.”Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, also said before the Sydney Test that he felt Dhoni was not getting the on-field backing of his senior players. “Captains need help because they are under pressure every time,” he said on NDTV. “They need a vice-captain or a senior player who is going to come up at regular intervals and say, look, maybe try something different. And I don’t think Dhoni is getting that … Everybody is in their own cocoon, and that’s where Dhoni needs a lot more interaction from the group itself.”More recent was Brad Haddin’s observation that the Indian players “can turn on each other”. When Haddin’s team-mate and former captain Ricky Ponting was asked on Tuesday if he had actually seen anything on the field that might have led Haddin to feel that way, he said: “I haven’t seen that as such. And I haven’t really been looking for it. Whenever I have been batting, I have been trying to get myself into a zone, and try to focus on the next ball I have to face. Once again, I don’t think any of us has worried or focussed too much about what the Indian team has been doing.”

The player auction for the 2012 IPL will be held on February 4, the governing council has announced. The players from the Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchise, which was terminated earlier this year, will be part of the auction. The venue is yet to be announced.The council had earlier confirmed that the squad sizes for each team have been increased from 30 to 33, with eleven foreign players per squad, up one from the previous limit of 10. However, the number of foreign players that can be part of the final XI will remain at four. The teams will have an additional salary cap of $2 million.Should any of the Kochi players fail to attract the bid, their salaries will be covered by the IPL through the franchise’s bank guarantee worth Rs 156 crores that has been encashed by the BCCI. Among the leading players that will be part of the auction are Muttiah Muralitharan, Brendon McCullum, Mahela Jayawardene and Ravindra Jadeja.The governing council also decided that the first window for trading players will be between December 15 and January 20, with a shorter window after the auction. There is no financial cap on trading, though each franchise can add only a maximum of four players to their squad through trading.

A few years ago when the Justice Qayuum report announced its verdict, served us with a warning and cautioned the PCB, nothing was done about it. That’s not the fault of the Justice Qayuum committee. I don’t think this verdict will make a difference to Pakistan or international cricket. If some players are out of the Pakistan team, others will take their place.
I am sad about what has happened because it involves sportsmen, but at the same time I think justice has been done because if you do something wrong you pay the price. I just feel sad for Pakistan cricket as well, because cricketers are not supposed to be associated with crime and corruption. But I think in a way it is good for Pakistan and world cricket as it should serve as a deterrent to others.
“I think the PCB should have played a more pro-active role last year when the issue came up and brought the players back to Pakistan immediately and tried them under our code of conduct. They should not have let the matter go into the hands of the ICC. It is shameful that today Pakistan cricket is facing such a day, but this is what happens when you don’t react quickly enough to fight corruption.
This verdict should be a clear warning that corruption is something that cannot be put on the backburner ever. You have got to pro-actively chase issues that might lead to corruption in the game. It is quite a strong message to the PCB that they failed to effectively have an anti-corruption programme for its players. I hope they take the hard lessons that have come out it, and make sure such a thing never happens again. There were a number of other players whose names came up [during the trial]. I hope the ICC would look at it seriously and not just assume the guy [Mazhar Majeed] was lying. The ICC did not assert its concerns to the PCB about the tour of Australia that preceded the 2010 England tour strongly enough. If the ICC has concerns about corruption, it should be much more robust in getting the message across to the boards and the players.
I’ve felt deeply let down by the scandals we have seen … Look at life in Pakistan and what do you see? You see corruption, you see people trying to make money overnight and unfortunately what the cricketers see around them is responsible for their behaviour. The Pakistan team management handled the issue very badly. They left cricketers thinking they could do something wrong, they could even get caught but, through influence or public opinion, they could get out of it. Pakistan has to start with a clean slate and move in a direction that is far, far removed from this sordid business.”It is a very disappointing and sad day for us in one way, for the players and for Pakistan cricket to be caught up in criminal proceedings. But they did something wrong and they had to pay the price for it. As manager, I had spoken to all the players on that tour and had talked about focusing on cricket and keeping their eye on the ball, but in the case of some, they didn’t.I think the impact of the entire incident has already been felt months ago, when the case first came up, when the players were banned by the ICC. What is required now is to forget everything and move ahead. These things have happened in the past and the game has moved on. India had its own case and banned its players. The biggest jolt has already happened for Pakistan cricket and it could not get worse.But we have recovered from this and the team is doing well, I don’t think the verdict will hurt the team now, there is no shortage of talent in Pakistan. We had good players who could replace the players involved in this case and they have done so. We just want the team to keep doing well now.
This verdict is the best example for the world of cricket because, in the past, cricketers who were corrupt would get away with what they did and be spared; they were never caught. Now the entire legal process has taken the full course and we have to give credit to the English prosecution and the court proceedings. They were able to use all the evidence and all the technology they had to be able to complete this case and make it an example for cricket in the future.The impact of the Qayuum report lasted only a few months because the boards who knew that their players were up to something were insecure, they tried to bury it under the carpet, they decided to push for victories on the field, distract the public and not tackle the issue at hand. I hope the impact of this lasts for a long time and that boards take responsibility to see what is happening.The damage to Pakistan cricket, to its credibility, had already been done when the news of this case first broke. We have lost some of our best cricketers and I hope that this sends a message out to upcoming players that these short-cut methods to earn a quick buck can cost you respect and your career. No matter how much money you make quickly, it vanishes and so does the rest of your life.
Integrity and fair play are the foundations for any sporting contest. The ECB fully supports the work of the ICC Anti Corruption unit. We have established a unit at Lord’s to both educate players and officials, and seek to protect the integrity of the sport. We hope that criminal proceedings will act as a strong and firm deterrent to complement this work.
David Collier, the ECB chief executive

Sri Lanka Cricket has been given an official ICC warning for preparing a “poor” pitch in Galle for the first Test against Australia that was played from August 31-September 3. The ICC’s pitch consultant Andy Atkinson will inspect the pitch at the end of this month and make recommendations about any corrective action required. SLC, for its part, will need to submit a report confirming the recommended corrective action, if any, has been taken prior to staging its next international match in Galle.The Galle Test, won by Australia, lasted four days, with the home team being dismissed for 105 and 253 in its 125-run defeat. The match referee for the game Chris Broad had expressed his concern about the pitch to the ICC. Richardson and the ICC’s chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle, relying on Broad’s report, the SLC’s response and video footage from the game, then made their decision.”We have come to a decision that the pitch prepared for the match should be rated as ‘poor’,” Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager for cricket, said in a statement. “It was clear from the video footage of the match that the amount of turn, especially early in the match, was excessive and there were occasions (even on the first day) where the ball went through the surface of the pitch, bouncing unusually steeply from a good length.”Whilst it is understandable and acceptable for a pitch to deteriorate over the course of the match, for a pitch to exhibit this type of behavior at relatively early stages of the match was not acceptable. Whilst we do not wish to see a pitch that is too heavily weighted in favour of the batsmen, in this instance, the balance was just too much in favour of the bowler.”Richardson said that since this is the first time the Galle pitch has come up for such scrutiny, the penalty was confined to a warning. “Taking into account that it was the first time that a pitch at Galle has been rated as “poor” and given the intention of the curator to prepare a pitch that provided a fair balance between bat and ball, we have decided to impose a warning as the sanction,” he said.”We have also directed that ICC’s pitch consultant Andy Atkinson carry out an inspection of the square with a view to making recommendations to ensure that in future the manner of preparation is in line with what is required to ensure that a better balance between bat and ball is achieved.”The ICC has imposed harsher penalties in the past. The Ferozshah Kotla ground in Delhi was banned from hosting any international matches in 2010 after an India-Sri Lanka ODI in January that year had to be abandoned due to a “dangerous” pitch.

Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman, has said that he will give his best if he is made the captain of the national team. He is touted to be Shakib Al Hasan’s successor after the all-rounder was sacked from the captaincy last Monday along with vice-captain Tamim Iqbal.Mushfiqur was the only remaining protagonist left to say his piece in the ongoing drama of Bangladesh cricket. So after Shakib, coach Stuart Law and Tamim had spoken, Mushfiqur’s words, more due to his current standing in the team, were much awaited. And as it turned out, he was confident about the captaincy that is supposedly headed his way.”I am also hearing it from the media but my main target is to perform well in the coming series against West Indies. As a team, we are also looking forward to the next assignment. I will try my best if it (captaincy) is coming my way,” he said.Mushfiqur emphasized the need for a team performance in the West Indies series next month, a theme that went missing on the recent tour of Zimbabwe. Bangladesh were expected to prevail against Zimbabwe, who were making their Test return after five years out of the format, but slid to an embarrassing 130-run loss in the only Test in Harare. Bangladesh’s misery continued in the five-match ODI series that followed, as they went down 0-3 before winning the dead rubbers.”Our batting and fielding was poor and that was the reason behind the failure in Zimbabwe. I don’t think there was anything else other than that behind the debacle.”There were some individual performances but as a team we could not perform well, so our main target would be to perform well as a team against West Indies,” said Mushfiqur, who added that discipline was never an issue.”If you travel with other teams, you can understand how disciplined we are as a team. As our coach said, we are the most disciplined side both on and off the field.”And much like Tamim and the coach, Mushfiqur too praised the man who was removed from the captaincy. “Shakib is our key player and it’s always an advantage for a performer to lead the team. He was excellent as a captain and performed with the bat, ball and also he was superb in his fielding. He always motivated us as a captain.”

Andrew Strauss hopes that MS Dhoni’s gesture to allow Ian Bell to resume his innings following the controversial run-out, at tea on the third day at Trent Bridge, will prompt other captains to uphold the spirit of cricket.The series threatened to descend into acrimony when Bell was given out the last ball before the interval, when he started to walk off the field before ‘over’ was called having thought he’d scored a boundary. He admitted to being naive and stupid, but India themselves had concerns about the situation as they met in the dressing room and were in deep discussion before Strauss and Andy Flower asked them to reconsider.”It was very commendable that they changed their mind and took back the appeal,” Strauss said. “It’s one of those circumstances where there are always shades of grey but I think it was good for the game of cricket. In years to come it will be looked upon as a step in the right direction for the game of cricket and hopefully other people will follow those decisions.”I think one of the things that has set the game of cricket slightly apart from other sports is that you have the opportunity to show some spirit. It’s good for the game of cricket going forward and therefore the game of cricket is the better for it.”Strauss has been involved in recalling a batsman to the crease when he allowed Angelo Mathews to resume after he was given run-out following a collision during a Champions Trophy match in 2009. He agreed that, by the Laws, Bell was run-out although he felt that the fact that he wasn’t trying to take another run was a factor in his defence.”When it first happened there was a lot of confusion, and myself and Andy went down to the umpire’s room as we just wanted to clarify the situation as regards to the Laws of the game,” Strauss said. “We were entirely comfortable that in the strict rules of the game Ian was out. [But] we felt that it was pretty clear that he was just walking off for tea and wasn’t attempting a run and so we asked India to reconsider their appeal and then left it at that.”Dhoni confirmed that the Indians had reservations about the dismissal which “didn’t feel right” and took the chance to say that more could be done by the game as a whole to uphold the spirit of cricket which he felt wasn’t being applied consistently.”We weren’t feeling good at heart,” he said. “A similar kind of incident happened in West Indies when VVS Laxman got stumped. After we took the decision we were really satisfied. There are a lot of things where spirit of cricket should be followed. It needs to be equal but it’s about what we feel as a team is important.”If a fielder takes a one-bounce catch he’s called a cheat but if a batsman stands after nicking it he isn’t,” Dhoni added. “Going up to a batsman and swearing isn’t in the spirit of cricket. We’ve seen quite a few things happen. If you want to follow you should follow it 100%.”