A sobbing Virender Sehwag, an incensed Indian team and an angry Sourav Ganguly, the captain, demanding an apology from coach John Wright. This was the tense scene in the Indian dressing-room at The Oval in 2002 after Wright hd held Sehwag by the collar and “barked” at him for throwing away his wicket in a NatWest Trophy match against Sri Lanka in England.The former New Zealand skipper has gone public with this sensational incident in his just-published book and more details of what happened emerged today from the then manager of the Indian team Rajiv Shukla, now a senior office-bearer of the Indian board.Asked about Wright’s revelation, a reluctant Shukla told PTI that he had kept the incident under wraps all these years because what happens inside the dressing-room is not supposed to be divulged. However, this no longer applied as Wright had spilled the beans, he said.”We were sitting in the balcony outside the dressing room at The Oval. Sehwag had just got out and gone into the dressing-room. Suddenly an agitated captain Ganguly came out from the room and complained to me that the coach had slapped Sehwag who was sobbing,” Shukla recalled. “I rushed to the dressing-room and found that Sehwag was indeed sobbing. He told me that Wright had pushed him. I patted him and controlled him.”Shukla then went looking for the coach. “He was not in the dressing-room but after some effort I found him in a small room adjacent to it. He was all by himself, tensed up and smoking as he usually did whenever he was in tension,” he said.Shukla said he had told Wright that he should not have treated Sehwag in this manner and that the opening batsman was justifiably upset. “Wright immediately accepted his mistake. My own view is that the coach wanted Sehwag to score more runs and when the batsman had got out he could not control his anger because of which he had got hold of Sehwag’s collar and pushed him.”I knew that Wright had affection for Sehwag and had reacted to his getting out like a reacting to the failure of a disciple. He always used to urge Sehwag not to lift the ball because he often lost his wicket that way.”An angry Ganguly demanded that Wright should apologise to the entire team and this, says Shukla, put him in a difficult position. He immediately consulted Sachin Tendulkar and the team’s media manager Amrit Mathur. “The advice I got was that in case Wright apologised to the whole team, his authority will be eroded. I thought this was a valid point,” Shukla said.”I persuaded Sehwag not to seek an apology from the coach in front of the entire team. Wright was also persuaded to speak to Sehwag and assuage his feelings when the team returned to the hotel. Both agreed to this. Wright spoke to Sehwag and admitted his mistake.”A potentially explosive situation was thus resolved and did not become public despite so many Indian and British journalists orbiting the teams.

Pakistan Under-19 found themselves on the back foot as they surrendered a 142-run first-innings lead to India Under-19 on the second day of their first four-day match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.After the Indians had taken their overnight first-innings total of 255 for 7 to 289, Pakistan were dismissed for 147 in reply. By the close of play on the second day, India had increased their overall advantage to 184 with all second-innings wickets intact.Spinners Piyush Chawla and Sunil Raju captured three wickets each for 39 and 36 runs respectively as the Pakistan batsmen responded erratically. After seamer Abu Nachim Ahmed had dismissed Ahmed Shahzad early, the second-wicket pair added 41. Saadullah Ghauri got 30 while captain Mohammad Ibrahim scored 39. Behram Khan and allrounder Imad Wasim made 23 each but the last six wickets managed to add only 51.Earlier in the day, fast bowler Raza Rehman captured the three remaining Indian wickets to finish with 3 for 76 off 23.3 overs. India added only 34 more runs to their overnight tally. In the second innings, they were 42 for no loss in 13 overs.Faisalabad’s 17-year old wicket keeper Abdul Rauf acquitted himself well with five dismissals in India’s first innings. He held four catches and stumped one batsman.

July 3, 2007
News – WADA urge ICC to tighten doping rules
July 2, 2007
News – Court has no jurisdiction in doping case
News – Our stand is vindicated: Ashraf
February 17
News – Pakistan conducts dope tests
February 11
News – Knee injury could end Shoaib’s World Cup dream
February 7
News – Jurisdiction of drugs panel under scrutiny
December 24
News – Former anti-doping head says bowlers still face ban
December 9
News – Role of PCB in inquiry under questionDecember 7
News – Ashraf reiterates PCB’s zero-tolerance policy
December 6
News – Sonn critical of Pakistan board’s ‘inconsistency’
Osman Samiuddin – Divergence in doping policies will not work
December 5
Audio – Rameez Raja: Shoaib and Asif have to live with the taint
Kamran Abbasi – Justice is done
Verdict – Dope on the doping scandal
News – ‘We respect the decision’ – Ashraf
News – ‘I am breathing again’ – Shoaib
News – Ban on Shoaib and Asif overturned
November 15
News – Drugs ban appeal delayed until November 20
November 6
News – Asif appeals doping ban
November 5
News – New three-member panel to hear doping appeal
November 3
News – Bans on Shoaib, Asif a blow – Inzamam
November 2
News – Sad but we had to make an example of Shoaib – Alam
News – Shoaib might appeal
News – ICC satisfied with judgement
Kamran Abbasi – Shoaib: What an almighty waste
November 1
News – Shoaib and Asif banned for drugs use
Osman Samiuddin – Firm but fair
Kamran Abbasi – Magic and chaos
News – PCB statement in full
Cricinfo XI – Dabbling with drugs
October 27
News – Second appearance before tribunal
October 21
News – Shoaib and Asif appear before tribunalOctober 20
News – Asif and Shoaib likely to attend preliminary hearing
October 18
News – Pakistan appoint three-man doping tribunal
News – Drugs-test hearing to be held within fortnight
News – Speed urges Members to conduct tests
October 17
News – ICC drugs policy under fire
News – Pakistan board to have zero-tolerance on doping
Tim de Lisle – Cricket loses some of its innocence
Osman Samiuddin – Was the substance abuse intentional?
October 16
News – PCB clarify sample confusion
News – ICC has kept players informed on substances – Speed
News – Players aware of what substances to take – Board
News – Shoaib protests his innocence
News – Woolmer admits responsibility for drug tests
News – What exactly is Nandrolone?
News – Asif and Akhtar to return home

Essex’s captain, Ronnie Irani, is set to fly to America next week to undergo hip and knee operations. Irani, 35, flies out to Colorado at the weekend for appointments with reputed surgeons Marc Philippon and Richard Steadman.Irani enjoyed an outstanding 2006 season for Essex, scoring 1075 runs at 59.72 in the County Championship, 379 runs at 63.16 in the C&G Trophy and 338 runs at 42.25 in the Twenty20 Cup. In addition, he led his side to success in the NatWest Pro40 and Twenty20 Floodlit Cup.Speaking to essexcricket.org.uk, Irani said: “I’m going to fly out on Sunday to Vale, Colorado to see a Doctor Marc Philippon, whose reputation goes before him. Ashley Giles went to see him to have surgery on his hip and obviously he’s now back and looking fit ahead of the Ashes.”He will be operating on my hip where the cartilage has come away a little bit on the hip joint and maybe also looking at doing a microfracture on the hip joint itself. I’ll probably be on crutches for eight weeks but I should be fit and raring to go for the next county season come April.”My left knee has also been playing me up for the last month of the season so while I am out in Colorado I’m also going to see the knee specialist Richard Steadman and hopefully he will operate on my left knee simultaneously.”It’s all part and parcel of being a professional cricketer – perhaps this career should have a government warning: ‘playing professional cricket can seriously damage your health!’.”

Craig Cumming and Mathew Sinclair return to Test cricket after being picked in New Zealand’s 13-man squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka starting December 7 at Christchurch.Sinclair last played a Test against Australia in Adelaide in 2004-05. John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, said that he had been picked on the basis on his performance in the last season.Sinclair played nine first-class games in New Zealand’s State Championship in 2005-06 and made 723 runs with three hundreds and five half-centuries at 51.64. “In the end, it came down to a sheer weight of runs compared with the other possible candidates,” said Bracewell. “We are rewarding guys who have been successful in the early rounds of the domestic competition.”Iain O’Brien and Michael Mason, Bracewell said, were returning to the Test squad from injury. “O’Brien has been the form bowler, especially his performances on very good batting strips, and Mason’s efforts have been very encouraging.”Hamish Marshall was not included after a string of poor scores and a Test average of 14.57 for 2005-06. In fact only Jamie How got picked from the four openers tried out in New Zealand’s tour to South Africa in April and May this year. Michael Papps, the opener for the second and third Tests against South Africa, is out due to injury along with Scott Styris and Kyle Mills. Mills was troubled by an ankle injury during the South African tour and has not played any first-class games this season. He will be assessed by the medical staff on December 4.One player will be released from the squad a day before the beginning of the Test.Squad Mathew Sinclair, Jamie How, Craig Cumming, Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Chris Martin, Michael Mason, Iain O’Brien

India are in deep trouble. They did too many things wrong at Newlands: batting, bowling or fielding. If the opposition cannot be put away from a position in which India was in, then the hopes recede faster than the sum in your wallet in a club. This spells big time trouble.Sure, the lost chances in the field would be mulled over for long. Justin Kemp included, there were as many as three lives afforded to key South African batsmen. This is not just your ability with bat and ball failing you in testing conditions: it is a major negation of even ordinary skills which most of us cricketers possess at all times. There are too many pieces on the floor for India to pick up and rearrange in the thick of battle. The wind is too strong and the foothold too skewed, I am afraid.You can meet as many times as you want in the hotel; have as many meetings as you could possibly squeeze in; study as much video analysis as you humanly could; hold up coach or captain for your ills but the basic surge has got to come from the men in the squad. It is they who form the muscles, sinews, bones, everything of a team’s form. There simply are too many failures for any single individual to be held responsible. The buck stops with them.I have spoken to a few distinguished old-timers of Indian cricket in recent days and most of them are unanimous that there are not enough good core of talented cricketers in the land. They all speak of a core group of 15-18 cricketers and then the list runs out. It is thus a difficult choice for selectors: whether to lay off those who are not measuring up and replace them with some little known names.Wholesale replacements have never been the answer. I know fans and media back home are unforgiving and it is big-time trouble leading up to the World Cup but pulling these men out of the fray at this juncture is not going to help. Every time I speak in support of the visitors, the voice sounds shriller and lost in the din of criticism but I still feel this Indian team can turn things around. They can work on the South African batting and build on the advantage which they have over the top order.In both games, India have been good with the new ball and have made early inroads. They would like to believe that they have got the measure of the home captain and a few other batters in the line-up. It is a good starting point, the window of light, which should offer them energy and hope. They must push on from this basic premise, gather forces at this cape of reasonable stability. Otherwise, such defeats would have a knock-on effect on Tests as well.They could also look to scratch at the disquiet in the home camp over team selection prior to the Newlands game and see if the hurt runs deeper than a mere matter of Andre Nel’s exclusion. I am not sure if it was annoyance before the game which cost Graeme Smith his wicket but he sure had smoke coming out of his ears. The home top order, Smith including, was once again exposed and looked vulnerable. They sure have work to do.The return of Anil Kumble to the one-day bowling crease was in line with expectations: he was miserly and in complete control during his 10 overs. That he came at No. 11 and looked laboured in the outfield is a concern which must take the backseat for now.India must look to maximise its potential rather than look at the perfect picture. They have to draw on every ounce of their positive strengths if they are to be counted on this tour.

Scorecard

A scorching fifty from David Bandy and three wickets from Brad Hogg left South Australia limping at the bottom of the Twenty20 table with a 55-run defeat against Western Australia at Perth.In pursuit of a challenging 194, South Australia’s innings was anchored by Cosgrove, who came to the wicket in the fourth over when Darren Lehmann was bowled by Ben Edmondson. He struck three fours and two sixes in his 50, from 42 balls, but received scant support from the middle-order, although Ken Skewes briefly threatened in his blistering 20. After smacking Hogg for successive sixes, he was bowled attempting a third and thereafter South Australia’s innings fell away.Unlike their opponents’, Western Australia’s middle-order did fire – but only after an early alarm at the top of the order. Ryan Harris (2 for 25) removed both openers with successive deliveries, leaving Western Australia struggling on 2 for 29. But Marcus North survived the hat-trick delivery and, together with Adam Voges (42) put on 97 thrilling runs for the third wicket to stabilise the home side’s innings.It wasn’t until Bandy came to the crease, though, that the fireworks really started; in just 21 balls, he crunched an unbeaten 52 , with seven fours, twice clearing the boundary, as Western Australia romped to the top of the table.South Australia now face New South Wales, and Western Australia take on Tasmania, on Sunday.

Scorecard

Tasmania survived a late mini-collapse to keep their season alive with a three-wicket win at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium. In a match reduced to 45 overs a side due to early rain, the Tigers got to 4 for 150 chasing 182 when they lost 3 for 10 as they pushed for a bonus point. But New South Wales were unable to make the final breakthroughs required and Damien Wright and Xavier Doherty carried the visitors to victory.Doug Bollinger (3 for 30) removed Travis Birt and Dan Marsh within three balls to give the Blues a sliver of hope but their failure to take early wickets cost them dearly. Tim Paine and Michael Di Venuto survived some excellent swing bowling by Bollinger and Moises Henriques and built an opening stand of 66 before Nathan Hauritz dismissed Di Venuto for 32.Paine top-scored with 43 and George Bailey entertained the crowd with 42, including two huge sixes before the match petered out to a regulation Tasmania win. The Blues let themselves down in the field and should have had Bailey on 9 when he lofted Henriques into the covers but the confused Dominic Thornely and Ed Cowan each thought the other was going for the catch.The Tigers had the huge advantage of winning the toss and sending New South Wales in on a pitch that was dampened by rain as play started an hour late. Phil Jaques made a partial return to form with his first limited-overs half-century since November – his last was also against Tasmania – as he anchored the New South Wales innings with 54. David Warner provided a rare highlight when he lofted Marsh over the bowler’s head for six to get off the mark in his FR Cup debut.Marsh said Tasmania knew they required a bonus point at some point in their next few games to reach the final. “We were just behind the eight-ball and we just kept losing wickets,” he said. “We had a go, we thought it was a good opportunity to get a bonus point after getting them out for 180.”

The usually unflappable Rahul Dravid lost his cool today when asked to comment on a leaked report by Chetan Desai, the manager of the Indian team on the tour of South Africa, that claimed that Greg Chappell and Virender Sehwag had had a spat ahead of the Durban Test.A television channel had quoted Desai’s confidential report to the Indian board – which the Board today said it had not yet received – as claiming that an argument took place between Chappell and Sehwag when the latter refused to attend a special practice session on the eve of the second Test at Durban.”I’ve not read the report, but to be honest, there’s no problem in the team. I think it’s important to put it in perspective and understand things,” Dravid snapped when asked about the story in the press conference ahead of the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Kolkata tomorrow. “I’m being asked questions and being asked my views on a report given by someone who, when I last looked at the history of Indian cricket, I didn’t necessarily see his name featuring very prominently,” said Dravid of Desai, who is the honorary secretary of the Goa Cricket Association.Having made the sharp comment, Dravid, who usually does not get into controversies of any kind, pressed on. “When I’m asked a question regarding comments or opinions of people, I would expect you to ask me questions about people who have at least played the game and have some standing in the game and been involved with the game in some capacity,” he said. “Anyone’s entitled to give an opinion, anyone’s entitled to file reports but me commenting on that – I think you know I will comment on it only if its worthy of my comment.”At the same time, Dravid neither denied nor concurred with the contents of the said report. The news story alleged that Desai’s report, while speaking in broad terms on Sehwag’s indiscipline, also referred to Dravid backing Sehwag’s inclusion – in the face of near-unanimous opposition – in the side for the second Test .The BCCI, meanwhile, declined to comment on Dravid’s comments in Kolkata and said that a thorough inquiry will be made into how the tour report was leaked.”The President [Sharad Pawar] received the report today. We are now trying to find out how it was leaked to the media before it reached the President’s office,” Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI vice-president told PTI. “We will go through the contents of all these reports and if any corrective measure needs to be taken, it will be done.”

Queensland’s slim hopes of competing in their ninth straight Pura Cup final hinge on their trip to the SCG this week as the second-last round of games approaches. Three matches begin on Thursday and each could shape the final with only South Australia out of contention.New South Wales and Tasmania could all but ensure they battle for the title if both claim victory but the winner of the Victoria-Western Australia clash would also remain in the hunt. One of the most intriguing games should be at Sydney, where the defending champions and fifth-placed Queensland take on the top-of-the-table New South Wales.Only six points (one win) separate the two teams and the Bulls will be brimming with confidence after their away-from-home Ford Ranger Cup win at Melbourne on Sunday. Nine members of their Pura Cup squad played in the one-day triumph and the Queensland top order has found form at the right time.Jimmy Maher struggled for four months before making his first century of the season in the Bulls’ last Pura Cup game and followed up with a limited-overs hundred on Sunday. His trouble finding a reliable opening partner appeared over when he built a 263-run stand with Ryan Broad against South Australia, in a match when Clinton Perren was also amongst the runs.The reliable Andy Bichel, who has 36 wickets this season, and Ashley Noffke must be at their best to ensure Phil Jaques’ return to first-class form is only temporary. The Blues have won at home only once in 2006-07 and they will sorely miss Brad Haddin, the Man of the Match last time the two teams met, and Stuart Clark. However, a win for them could set up a playoff for the right to host the final when they tackle Tasmania in Hobart next week.The second-placed Tigers deserve favouritism in their clash with the winless South Australia at Adelaide. Despite the loss of their captain, Dan Marsh, to a calf injury Tasmania are arguably the most settled of all sides, with none of their regulars missing on World Cup duty.

South Australia have shown signs of improvement lately, especially in their batting, but they have little more than pride to play for. George Bailey’s Tigers could move one step closer to hosting the final for the first time with victory at Adelaide.The most hotly-contested match could be between Victoria and Western Australia at the MCG, where a loss to either team would make it difficult to fight back in the last round. The Warriors will be buoyed by their form away from home this year – they have won two out of three and against the Blues were only two wickets shy of making it a perfect record.Their top order – Justin Langer, Chris Rogers, Marcus North and Adam Voges – is formidable. Steve Magoffin and Ben Edmondson’s new-ball attack has been consistently dangerous and the Warriors’ fourth-placing belies their ability.The Bushrangers have carried few passengers this season and although they will miss Brad Hodge, they have five other century-makers in 2006-07. Their bowling could determine their chances of a second successive Pura Cup final and much will depend on Shane Harwood and Mick Lewis.By Sunday, the teams and location for the final might remain uncertain; five states could still be in contention with one round to go. But the two sides with their destinies firmly in their own hands – New South Wales and Tasmania – can this week go one step closer to Pura Cup glory.