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Barbados and Jamaica are into the finals of the West Indies Under-19 tournament but not without controversy. Confusion initially reigned over who would contest the final of the limited-overs series after both semi-finals were wrecked by torrential rain and strong winds in St Kitts.Guyana’s team management said that on the basis of the tournament’s playing conditions, they had qualified for the final because of their No. 1 seeding from the preceding three-day tournament.Barbados, meanwhile, assumed they too had missed out on a spot in the final, based on the playing conditions laid down for the tournament. However, Derek Nicholas, the West Indies Cricket Board’s operations officer, revealed that Barbados and Jamaica would contest the final, based on standings after the three-round preliminary campaign.Barbados finished top of the standings with ten points while Jamaica and Leeward Islands were joint second on eight. Guyana were fourth with six points.Jamaica, sent in by the Leewards in overcast conditions at Cayon, had reached 70 for 3 after 21 overs when rain and wind, associated with the passage of Hurricane Dean, swept across the ground bringing a swift end to the contest. With the pitch waterlogged along with most of the outfield, umpires Cornelius Sam and Rudolph Wattley had no choice but to call off play.Before the abandonment, Shacoya Thomas, unbeaten on 24, and Andre Creary, on 5, were leading a revival after Jamaica had slipped to 53 for 3.In the second semi-final at Conaree there was even less play in the game between Guyana and Barbados. Sent in by Barbados, Guyana reached 22 for 2 before adverse weather lashed the ground rendering conditions unfit for play. Umpires Steadroy Techeira and Troy Mills made an inspection at 1.15 pm before making their final decision.Earlier, play began 66 minutes late due to late preparation of the playing area occasioned by extremely windy conditions. Barbados started positively when fast bowler Diego Stuart bowled Chris Pattadin for 4 with the third ball of the match to leave Guyana on 6 for 1. When the rain finally came the pitch was left uncovered as the ground staff, like the players and spectators, rushed to safety indoors as the wind speed increased rapidly.

India’s defeat in Durban triggered off the sort of hystericalover-reaction that has become a sad accompaniment to the country’scricket, but Rahul Dravid, who has faced much of the flak – along withGreg Chappell, the pet peeve – was philosophical when asked about theviciousness of some of the criticism. He insisted that his team were doingthe best, and that he couldn’t afford to expend energy thinking of thingsbeyond his control.”My team is not pretty aware of what is happening,” he said. “We’re verymuch focused on our cricket. It’s a country of extreme reactions andextreme emotions. We’re trying to play good cricket. We know we can playbetter and we’re focused on trying to put up a better performance on tour.We’re not aware or worried about what’s happening back home.”We’re always feeling the pressure to win, but that does not change thesituation. We need to win after that loss and we needed to win beforethat. We need to win all the time.”An official of the Indian board had gone on record to say that the playershouldn’t be paid for the Durban match, and the parliament in New Delhihad resonated with voices calling for Chappell’s head on a platter – withor without an apple in his mouth. “Can I be worried about something whichI cannot control?” said Dravid with a shrug, when asked about the flamesbeing fanned back home. “Somebody’s going to make a comment and someone’sgoing to react. We’re all entitled to our opinions, and I’m just asentitled not to react.”He also rubbished suggestions made by an Indian TV channel that he andChappell had a serious altercation prior to the Durban game. “I’m havingto laugh at some of these things,” he said. “There’s absolutely no issuebetween us. It feels funny to even deny such things. Everyone is allowedto say anything they want. You don’t have to prove it [these days].”Asked whether the criticism would act as a spur to his players, Dravidreiterated that it shouldn’t be the case. “I don’t think that should be amotivating factor for anyone,” he said. “It has never been for me. Everytime you walk out to play for India, you should be proud enough to go outthere and compete. You might not always do well and succeed.”There were some similarities to be drawn with 2003, when India followed upa disastrous 2-5 reverse in New Zealand with an embarrassing nine-wicketdefeat against Australia in their first big game of the World Cup. Perhapsstung by the vitriol, the players put together an eight-match winningstreak that only came to an end in the final. “I’d like to think that wefought back because we played good cricket and not because we werecriticised,” said Dravid. “You shouldn’t need anything other than the factthat you’re playing for your country to motivate you. I’m pretty confidentthat my boys have really worked hard, irrespective of the results. They’veshown enthusiasm, energy and a lot of desire to get things better.”

He stressed that no board official had been in touch with him since theDurban loss, and added that criticism was par for the course no matter howaccomplished a player you were. “I’ve withstood a lot of criticism as abatsman,” he said. “I’ve been out of the team for a year. I was goingthrough a period in 2001 and 2002 where I attracted a lot of criticism. SoI’ve had my share. It’s not always been smooth sailing as a player. It’sno different [as captain]. It’s not hard to accept as long as you know youare doing your best and trying to get the best out of your players.”You’re going to make mistakes, and things won’t work out as planned. Youhave to accept that some amount of criticism is justified, and some of itis obviously over the top as well. There’s only so much you can do as aplayer or a captain. You have to take some of the criticism with a pinchof salt.”And with the axe being sharpened for the likes of Suresh Raina, Dravidsaid that it was hard to draw a line when it came to success and failure.”If you fail consistently at this level, then the decision will have to betaken by the selectors,” he said. “Some will be better off going back todomestic cricket.”Some of these guys have been through that. It happens constantly. Youcan’t put a number to it, but there does come a time you have to reassessand look at your game. Probably with the exception of Sachin Tendulkar,everyone in this team has gone back to domestic cricket, and come back abetter cricketer for it. And sometimes, they haven’t come back.”If Andrew Flintoff and friends think that they’re having a hard time of itin Brisbane, they have no idea. Along with English football and SouthAfrican rugby, Indian cricket remains sport’s biggest soap opera, withfickle fans and inflated expectations making for an incendiary cocktailthat even Molotov couldn’t have thought up.

Australia’s dominance of the four-match Super Series has forced the ICC to abort a plan to stage it every four years. Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, downgraded the tournament from a regular event on the calendar following Australia’s 210-run Super Test victory at the SCG today.”For the concept to succeed it needs one team to stand out of the pack and be the best in the world,” Speed said. “We’ve seen that with Australia but it’s not something that we will put in on a regular basis or something we will play every two, four or six years. If a team emerges that justifies being called the best in the world we may take the opportunity to put the rest of the world together.”The move was a turnaround from the ICC’s public statements in the lead-up to the series. An ICC spokesman insisted the event was a trial and that no commitment had been made to play it on a regular basis in between World Cups and Champions Trophies.However, a press release on the ICC’s website said the organisation hoped the series would become a regular feature and was “planned to be played every four years”. “Every four years starting on 1 April 2005 the top team in the ICC Test Championship will qualify to play the Team of Champions in the ICC Super Series Test for a winner-takes-all prize,” the release said when the venues for the tournament were announced.Doubt over the future of the series was also shared with the issue of technology and Speed said the use of television replays for all decisions was still in the trial stage. “We will take a cautious approach with it and we’ve been quite careful with technology,” he said. “We will evaluate what happens here, just as we did after the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002.”The World XI performances during the series were disappointing but Speed said there were no plans to recall the international status given to the Test and one-day games. “The board was happy with the decision and we’ve been criticised because some other matches 20 or 30 years ago weren’t given it,” he said. “We don’t go back to review decisions of administrators of the past and we don’t expect the ones in the future to review these decisions.”While the series is expected to be a commercial success because of the massive global audience, Speed was disappointed with the size of the crowds and said he wanted an extra 4000 spectators each day. “We also would have liked more runs from the World XI,” he said.

Match facts

Tuesday, May 6 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

Four days ago, the Chennai Super Kings were sitting on top of the points table with four wins out of four. Two defeats and a Trans-Tasman exodus later, they’ve slipped to No. 4. Chennai’s loss of form, with the bat in particular, has been dramatic. They were swung out for 109 by Sohail Tanvir in their previous game, the lowest score by a team batting first in the IPL. On paper, they have batsmen who can fire, and bowlers who have shown the ability to contain. All teams are entitled to their bad days and Chennai would do well to erase those bad memories as soon as possible. They will take heart from the fact that their opponents Deccan Chargers are languishing right at the bottom of the points table. However, Deccan have several impact players such as Adam Gilchrist and Shahid Afridi who, can single-handedly change the course of a match. The middle-order also needs to back up the efforts of Rohit Sharma, who is among the leading runscorers of the tournament.

Watch out for …

… Adam Gilchrist taking on Makhaya Ntini. Ntini bowled a maiden over against Rajasthan Royals and was one of the few bowlers who returned decent figures after the assault. Rohit taking on Muttiah Muralitharan should be another interesting battle in the middle overs.

Team news

Shahid Afridi has had a rough time with the bat so far but his saving grace is his contribution with the ball so one would expect him to retain his place. Chamara Silva has been warming the bench since he arrived in India and could be slotted in instead of Herschelle Gibbs. Moreover, Rohit could use some support in the middle order and Silva’s finishing abilities could be just what Deccan need.Deccan Chargers: 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 VVS Laxman (capt), 3 Scott Styris, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Shahid Afridi, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Arjun Yadav, 8 Sanjay Bangar, 9 RP Singh, 10 P Vijaykumar, 11 Pragyan OjhaAs the only specialist foreign batsman in the side, Stephen Fleming needs to fire after two failures. Parthiv Patel hasn’t really pushed on after making starts. With only four overseas players to choose from, they are likely to retain their line-up from the previous game.Chennai: 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Stephen Fleming, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 S Vidyut, 5 Albie Morkel, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 S Badrinath, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Manpreet Gony, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Makhaya Ntini

IPL form (last five matches)

Chennai Super Kings: WWWLL
Deccan Chargers: LLWLL

Stats and trivia

Kenya’s players have finally received about two-thirds of the money owed to them from the 2003 World Cup and the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy after the government, and not, as reported elsewhere, the Kenyan Cricket Association, paid a lump sum of US$41,000 to help clear the arrears.Wellingtone Godo, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sports, said he hoped the payment would boost the team’s morale ahead of next week’s Intercontinental Cup tournament in Namibia. “The money may not be enough,” he said, “but we hope it will motivate the team to do well in the coming event.”It was these arrears which led to the players’ strike in 2004, an action which help escalate the demise of the old KCA regime headed by Sharad Ghai.The news came at the same time that the ICC finally released the remaining US$100,000 it owed under the old Project Kenya scheme. That had been withheld after serious issues arose about the way earlier funding had been used by the old regime. A strict condition of the final payment was that the money had to be put towards identified development projects and could not be used to clear existing debts.The KCA has inherited debts of at least US$500,000 from the Ghai regime, and there are almost no assets. Much of the paperwork for the final period of Ghai’s tenure has gone missing, and as a result it has not been possible to finalise accounts for 2004. As a result, the ICC is withholding quarterly payments of US$13,000 due to the KCA, arguing that without such financial details, it cannot hand over any more money. In the meantime, Ghai is due in court soon to face changes of stealing around US$3.3 million from the KCA in 1999.

Kevin Pietersen has claimed that racial quotas forced him into making the biggest decision of his life, to quit his native South Africa and move to England.In an exclusive extract from his new book Crossing The Boundary, being serialised in the Daily Mail, Pietersen said that he was left out the Natal side in 2000 because of the prevalent quota policy and that led to him making up his mind to seek his career in England.”I was dropped because the quota system was brought into South African cricket to positively discriminate in favour of ‘players of colour’ and to fast-track the racial integration of cricket in the country,” he said. “To me, every single person in this world needs to be treated exactly the same and that should have included me, as a promising 20-year-old cricketer. If you do well you should play on merit. That goes for any person of any colour. It was heartbreaking.”Even though it was very hard for me to take in at the time, it turned out it was the best thing that could have happened.”Not that that seemed to be the case when he was told that he was being left out so that Goolam Bodi could play. “I flew into a rage,” he admitted,” flinging a water bottle across the dressing-room and shouting ‘I’m leaving here’.”Pietersen said that he and his father tried to reason with Phil Russell, Natal’s coach, but got nowhere. And as for Goolam? “I’m not aware he’s made much impact … certainly not with the South Africa team.”Pietersen admitted that he had spoken to Nasser Hussain about the possibility of playing cricket in England when he played against the touring side earlier that season, and that by the time he fell out with Natal there was already considerable interest from several counties in England.Some players advised him to go, but the decision finally came after a meeting with Ali Bacher, at the time the key man in South African cricket. “He was rude to me in that meeting and he was rude to my dad. I had never met the man before. As far as I was concerned the least he could do was be polite.” Bacher failed to offer any encouragement that things would improve. “As soon as we left the meeting my dad said to me: ‘You’re going … the quota system will never finish’.”Pietersen immediately rang Clive Rice, the Nottinghamshire coach, and agreed to join them. He had an English passport which enabled him to do that, although he knew he still faced a delay before he could qualify for England. He also knew that he had played his last game for Natal and that his move had to be for good. “I wouldn’t call it an agonising decision,” he added. “It was well thought out. I’ve always been a confident bloke and I was sure I would be successful.”Pietersen also speculated that had he remained in South Africa he might not even be playing cricket now. “I would have been frozen out of the system … I would have gone out and done something else.”

Samir Inamdar, the newly elected chairman of the Kenya Cricket Association, has said that one of his priorities will be to ensure that the team gets back its official ODI status. The quoted him as saying that he would bring up the issue in a meeting with Ehsan Mani, the ICC president.”I have received an invitation from the International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani to [come to] London towards the ICC annual conference and we shall discuss the matter,” said Inamdar. “He wants to meet me but this issue will feature prominently because I think there is more to it. We will make a presentation and we hope that we will be given a hearing.”The ICC executive committee had, at its meeting in March 2005, recommended that Kenya be stripped of their ODI status, and Percy Sonn, the ICC vice-president, said that only a formal ratification remained to be done. “Kenya’s one-day status is gone. It will be done formally in London during the June 24-25 annual general conference.” If this does happen, Kenya will then be demoted to associate-member status and will lose the right to qualify automatically for the 2007 World Cup.Inamdar, though, was still hopeful that the decision will be reversed. “Tom Tikolo [the chief selector] and I will be fighting to preserve this status as being a necessary stepping-stone for any country, including Kenya, to proceed to Test status.”Meanwhile, Inamdar said that the government had made arrangements to fly in four Kenyan internationals – Steve Tikolo, Collins Obuya, Thomas Odoyo and Hitesh Modi – who have been selected for the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia in Windhoek from June 2-4. Inamdar also expressed his satisfaction over the government’s decision to pay daily allowances to the players for the three-day game. “This is a good gesture by the government, especially the [sports] minister Ochilo Ayacko. We are pleased with the government for according cricket the seriousness it deserves.”

Latest tables

Midlands/Wales/West

Justin Langer is taking to Twenty20 cricket like a duck to water, but his latest impressive knock – 97 against Northamptonshire at Taunton – was not enough for the current champions, Somerset, who are now watching the title slip from their grasp. Langer’s innings pushed Somerset to 188 for 6, but David Sales responded with 62 not out from 42 balls as Northants crossed the line with three balls to spare.Glamorgan and Warwickshire had to make do with a point each when rain washed out their match at Cardiff after just three overs. Preparations were made to have a six-over-a-side thrash but another deluge put paid to those ambitions. The match was finally abandoned at 9pm.

North

No change at the top as Nottinghamshire maintained their winning ways, beating Yorkshire by seven wickets in the final over at Headingley. In truth, the result was hardly in doubt with Stephen Fleming and Graeme Swann at the helm, giving them a decent start. Yorkshire were then in trouble at 22 for 3 – and had reached only 50 for 3 by the ten-over mark – but some powerful hitting lifted them to 160. Yet it wasn’t enough.Leicestershire dispatched Derbyshire for the second time in a fortnight to give themselves a chance of making the quarter-finals. HD Ackerman’s 41-ball fifty boosted Leicestershire to a par 161 for 6, and then some tight bowling at the death helped them to an 18-run victory at Leicester. Steve Stubbings gave Derbyshire their best chance with a fifty but when he holed out to long-on the momentum seeped away from the innings and Leicestershire grabbed the points.

Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, has responded to the widespread criticism he received for his remark that his biggest mistake was to trust Rahul Dravid with team selection, by expressing support for his team.”I have read all the reports in the media over [the last] few days with considerable dismay. Matters are not only being blown extravagantly out of proportion but my initial comments in response to Charu Sharma have been twisted and turned in a bizarre manner,” Mallya said. “The Royal Challengers is my team and I have full confidence in them. Admittedly, there are issues on team composition and non-performance but I hope that I can enjoy the legitimate privacy of sorting out issues within my own squad.”He was confident the team would get over its performance in this IPL season and come back stronger in subsequent editions. “I continue to believe that I made the right choice in acquiring an IPL franchise which will create great value going forward,” Mallya said. “I like winning but losing round one doesn’t mean that I have lost the fight.”Mallya’s public statement came a day after Anil Kumble, India’s Test captain and a member of the Bangalore team, said it was time the “people who matter” understood what sport was all about. Mallya had publicly criticised the team leadership – Charu Sharma, the sacked chief executive, and captain, Dravid – for the selection of the squad, which has performed poorly in the IPL.

Scorecard

A superb fighting century by Chris Read, England’s forgotten wicketkeeper (by the selectors, if nobody else), lifted Nottinghamshire from a position of danger to one of dominance against Yorkshire on the third day at Headingley.”It’s not an easy pitch to score runs quickly on” seemed to be the common verdict. To all appearances, though, the pitch underwent quite a transformation after lunch, as Read and his enterprising sixth-wicket partner, Graeme Swann, tucked into the hapless Yorkshire bowling attack, which was missing Morne Morkel with a hamstring strain. For the first time in the matchthe scoreboard fairly galloped along as the pair added 136 runs, and in the process turned the match on its head.Until Read and Swann joined forces, Yorkshire were taking a grip. Their bowling was useful rather than threatening, while Nottinghamshire’s top order, with the exception of Mark Wagh, had disappointed. Matthew Hoggard and Morkel made the batsmen fight for runs, with Morkel wayward in direction at times, but then producing the odd vicious rearing delivery reminiscent of an inspired Steve Harmison.Wagh made a steady start to a solid innings, reaching fifty off 125 deliveries, but was handicapped by a heavy outfield. Darren Gough did not take the new ball for Yorkshire, but when he did come on, he proved expensive. In his second spell, though, he immediately took the vital wicket of Wagh, whose low slash to gully was splendidly held by Adil Rashid. Without his 56, the heroics that followed might never have occurred. Nottinghamshire were reeling at 115 for 5.Swann was the man who first began to change the complexion of the match. Until then, no batsman had really taken the bowling apart successfully, though Gerard Brophy had not done too badly on the first day, but Swann was not prepared to bow to convention and soon pulled Gough for six. In fact, apart from Wagh’s wicket, it was not destined to be a good day for the Yorkshire captain with the ball. Read decided to join the party, as the modern saying goes, and smackedhim for three fours in the next over.Legspinner Rashid was the next bowler to suffer, as Swann hit him for two sixes, over long-on and then straight, as he ran to his fifty off 57 balls. Read joined him in the following over, taking 80 balls. In all, 147 runs came in the afternoon session for just one wicket, by far the most productive batting period of the match.Morkel said after close of play that the pitch had become slower on the third day, while the bowlers were no longer able to get the ball to swing and they found conditions less favourable, especially with the old ball which lost condition badly.It took a surprise delivery from Anthony McGrath to break the stand: a quicker, straight ball kept a little low and trapped Swann lbw for an invaluable 68. But there was no respite for Yorkshire’s suffering bowlers, as Read had his sights set high and Stuart Broad looked every inch an allrounder, especially when he drove with power and élan through the covers.Read survived a difficult chance at second slip on 93, but reached his 12th career century with a handsome boundary through extra cover. It took him 168 deliveries, and Broad soon arrived at his fifty off 70 balls.The pair batted through a period of dim light until the sun-bathed close of play, by which time all Yorkshire had left to hope for was a salvaged draw. Nottinghamshire were 57 runs ahead with four wickets still standing, and everything to play for on the final day.