Pakistan’s outstanding win at Bangalore has come in for high praise from their former cricketers. Wasim Bari, Imran Khan and Sarfraz all lauded the team for the victory at Bangalore, which allowed Pakistan to come back and level the three-Test series 1-1.”I think it won’t be fair to single out any individual for the wonderful performance at Bangalore which enabled us to square the Test series,” Bari, the chief selector, told . “Inzamam-ul-Haq led from the front and the entire team displayed tremendous fighting spirit in this particular game. Our team had been branded as a weak side at the start of the series, but the boys learnt their lessons quickly. They fought back so admirably and deserve all the credit for winning the third Test.”Bari also expected Pakistan to carry on its Test form in the forthcoming one-day series. “I am not predicting that we will win the series but I am confident that the hosts would be given a run for their money in the one-dayers. The Indians no doubt have a formidable one-day side but we have enough confidence to challenge them.”Sarfraz Nawaz, the former fast bowler bowler, also saluted the team. “They have shown that they have the talent and potential to take any team head-on,” Sarfraz was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India. “The only thing that has been questioned has been the commitment and unity. But in this series, they showed that they are a well-knit unit. The victory is a perfect icing on what has been an excellent and consistent performance by them.”Inzamam, whose captaincy skills had come under scrutiny after the disastrous tour of Australia, received several accolades from Sarfraz. “I think Inzamam stood out as a better captain than Sourav Ganguly. He [Inzamam] performed well with the bat, led the team better than Ganguly and above all, made a bold and calculated declaration.””Its a great win and all credit to the Pakistani team,” Imran told AFP. “It is always difficult to come back in the series after [being] one down and all credit goes to Inzamam for leading from the front and that too in his 100th Test match.”

The ECB is aiming to clamp down on cheating after it was revealed that the players condone some types of ball-tampering. Mike Smith, the former Gloucestershire left-arm seamer who played once for England, told a panel of first-class umpires about the use of lip salve, hair gel and sweets in the field, and also more extreme measures such as concealing part of an emery board in a finger plaster.Alan Fordham, the chief operations manager at the ECB, asked Smith to represent the Professional Cricketers’ Association at the meeting, and says that this issue needs addressing, although he doesn’t believe there has been a sudden increase in these incidents.Ball-tampering is covered under Law 42, sub-section three of which states: “It is unfair for anyone to rub the ball in the ground for any reason, interfere with the seams or the surface of the ball, use any implement, or take any further action whatsoever which is likely to alter the condition of the ball.”Fordham believes it is up to the players to show more restraint, but that the umpires also need to told what to look for: “We want to let the umpires know as much as possible so it gives them a better chance of spotting what’s going on,” Fordham told BBC Sport. “There is a big element of players needing to exercise self-restraint. The PCA told us the types of things that are going on, and it didn’t come as a big surprise, but we need to ensure that players play by the laws.”Mike Denness, the former ICC match referee, told that the onus must fall on the players: “The game should be played within the Laws and then within the [ICC] Code of Conduct, but primarily it should be up to captains and coaches to observe the spirit of the game.”If an umpire believes a team is guilty of tampering with the ball they can fine them five runs, and individual players can be reported and banned if they continue. Last season Mohammad Akram, who was then playing for Sussex, was reprimanded and received three penalty points for ball-tampering during the match against Warwickshire at Horsham.

Somerset 345 for 6 (Smith 108, Jayasuriya 101) beat Australians 342 for 5 (Ponting 80, Hayden 76)
Scorecard

On Monday it was Australia’s batsmen who imploded in spectacular fashion. Today, as if to prove a point, it was the turn of the bowlers. Somerset, powered by two brilliant centuries from their international imports, Sanath Jayasuriya and Graeme Smith, chased down a monumental target of 343 to win by four wickets with a massive 19 deliveries to spare.Two days ago, Ricky Ponting tried to laugh off the relevance of Australia’s 100-run defeat in the Twenty20 international, but he will have to come up with a better excuse this time around. This was a bona fide humiliation for Australia. Michael Kasprowicz was belted for 89 runs in eight innocuous overs, and the management’s worries were compounded when Brett Lee left the field with a shoulder problem.All of a sudden, Australia are being forced to face up to a crisis situation. In years gone by, they have had merely to step off the plane and their opponents would prostrate themselves at their feet. Not any more. Where once Somerset might have been tempted to rest several key players to save them for the Championship, today they fronted up in the manner that any self-respecting state side would do if England came to call.Smith and Jayasuriya caught the mood magnificently, and had elderly members recalling the days of Gimblett and Alley as they clobbered 26 fours and four sixes between them while adding 197 in just 23 overs. They each brought up their half-centuries in a mere 42 balls, and then accelerated on from that point, flogging Kasprowicz for 61 runs in his first six overs. Smith was eventually stumped for a superb 108 from 74 balls, and Jayasuriya was scarcely any slower, rattling along to 101 from 79 until he was caught at fine leg off Glenn McGrath.McGrath, as usual, was the pick of the attack, but he was still dispatched at nearly five runs an over, and such was Australia’s disarray that he had to bowl all ten of his overs long before the end of the innings. He added the wicket of John Francis as well to peg Somerset back to 254 for 3, and when Ian Blackwell’s potent innings of 25 was ended by Shane Watson, Australia began to believe they could haul the match out of the fire.But they had reckoned without the nerveless 20-year-old, James Hildreth, who climbed into Kasprowicz’s second spell and turned a taxing run-chase into a cakewalk. The wicketkeeper, Carl Gazzard, chipped in with 21 from 12 balls and Australia were a beaten outfit well before the end.The day had started so well for Australia. After Ponting had won the toss on a belter of a pitch, Matthew Hayden laid into a Somerset attack lacking the services of the injured Andrew Caddick, and did his utmost to erase the memory of that 79 all out at The Rose Bowl. Of the top six, only Simon Katich – opening in place of the rested Adam Gilchrist – failed to make an impact as he fell for 12, and while Hayden was crashing along to 76 from 53 balls, the sky seemed the limit of Australia’s ambitions.Both Ponting and Hayden chose to retire to give their team-mates a chance, but 342 still seemed a formidable total. In the event, but it proved to be some 25 runs too few. Australia’s opening encounter of the NatWest Series takes place at Cardiff on Saturday, where Bangladesh can expect to feel the full backlash.

What was turning out to be an exciting series between Sri Lanka A and West Indies A has now been reduced to a damp squib, with the departure of eight players from the West Indies A side to join the ranks of the senior team.The three-match unofficial series was nicely poised at one-all, with everything to play for in the third and final match at the Saravanamuttu Stadium. But the match loses much of its edge and competitiveness with both teams having made dramatic changes. Sri Lanka A have strengthened their side by including two Test players, in Tillakaratne Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof, whereas West Indies A have called upon replacements who are inexperienced and will struggle to compete at this level.Ranaga Herath, the left-arm spinner, has been forced to withdraw due to a strained leg and has been replaced by the offspinner Suraj Mohamed. From the 14 named for the Test, batsmen Michael Vandort, Malintha Gajanayake and Gayan Wijekoon, the allrounder, will be the ones most likely to miss out, making way for Dilshan, Maharoof and Mohamed.Ian Daniel, the opening batsman, and fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige will get their first game of the series. Mohamed will play the support role to Sajeewa Weerakoon, the left-arm spinner who, with eighteen wickets in the first two A games, has been Sri Lanka’s outstanding bowler so far.Russel Arnold, the Sri Lankan captain – who has won a recall to the senior squad against West Indies – said that his team would play their normal game and not start thinking about the opposition. “It is not our problem what team they put out for the match. We will play to our potential and try to win.”He said that apart from a few players whom Maharoof had some knowledge of, he was in the dark about the rest of the newcomers. “Not knowing their capabilities makes it more difficult for the opposition to size up the opponents,” he said.The sides face each other again in five one-day matches, the first of which starts on July 13.

Shane Warne lost the plot while trying to break the world record at Bangalore and will “jump off the nearest bridge” if he falls short in the second Test.After three weeks of claiming he was not overly bothered by being on the verge of history, Warne has finally admitted that the milestone was messing with his mind. He needs only two wickets in the match starting tomorrow at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium to overtake Muttiah Muralitharan’s tally of 532.Warne seemed certain to take the record on the final day of the first Test but, with four wickets up for grabs, lost his concentration after eight unsuccessful overs and was smashed by India’s tail. “Human nature takes over,” Warne, who bowled 60 overs at Bangalore, said. “You tell yourself you’ll be relaxed and patient, and I was for 55 overs. But as soon as the game was there to be won – we all knew we’d win on the last day – my own expectation and everybody else’s, the team’s, the spectators’, was that I’d get the last two wickets and get the record.”Warne will push for the mark at a ground where he had a “terrible game” and finished with the self-estimated figures of “0 for 2000” in 2001. He claimed 2 for 181 in India’s two-wicket victory that sealed the series. “You try and tell yourself there’s no pressure,” he said. “You just go out and play but the other day, I just thought, ‘There are four tail-end wickets to get, I only need two of them’. I just thought I’d toil away and toil away but after about eight overs for about 10 runs, nothing really was happening.”It’s a team game but when you get an individual record like that it’s a pretty major one so hopefully I can get it this game. Otherwise I’d be pretty frustrated by the end of the five days. I’ll be jumping off the nearest bridge.”Warne, 35, repeated his belief that Muralitharan, 32, was going to end up with close to 1000 Test wickets. “If I only hold the record for a week, at least I’ve got the opportunity to say I was the world-record holder,” Warne said. “If I get the record and play a part in winning the series, that’d be great. If I only hold it for a couple of months, so be it.”Asked how long he would keep playing, Warne replied: “If I hadn’t had that suspension I’d probably be finishing pretty soon. But having that year off and doing all my fitness stuff, and realising how much I missed the game, I’d like to think I’ve got a couple of years left.”

With the national selectors still juggling to find the correct balance for the South African squad, four changes have been made to play against Bangladesh in the third Standard Bank One-Day International in Kimberley on Wednesday (D/N).Robin Peterson, completing a successful weekend in the SuperSport Series, returns to the squad after being left out of the first two internationals. He was a late inclusion in the recent tournament in Sri Lanka after an injury to Nicky Boje.Ashwell Prince, after a good series against Australia `A’ and Bangladesh, receives his first call-up to the one-day squad. Prince has played in three test matches.Steve Elworthy once again finds himself back in the squad. In and out of the squad since 1999 Elworthy has never been given the chance to establish himself in the team. His selection could have something to do with the exclusion of injured Mfuneko Ngam. Ngam’s chances of regaining fitness before the World Cup seem fairly remote.Surprise exclusion from the squad is Lance Klusener. Klusener, who has been having a lean period with the bat, joins his fellow KwaZulu-Natal teammates, Errol Stewart and Dale Benkenstein, on the trip back to Durban.Jonty Rhodes, after a rest, returns to the team.Martin van Jaarsveld who did not manage to get a chance to bat in his debut at Benoni on Sunday has been retained.The full squad is:Shaun Pollock KwaZulu-Natal (captain)
Mark Boucher Border (vice captain)
Boeta Dippenaar Free State
Allan Donald Free State
Steve Elworthy Northerns
Herschelle Gibbs Western Province
Jacques Kallis Western Province
Makhaya Ntini Border
Robin Peterson Eastern Province
Ashwell Prince Western Province
Jonty Rhodes KwaZulu-Natal
Graeme Smith Western Province
Martin van Jaarsveld Northerns

Sir Paul Getty, the owner of Wisden and its associated companies, died earlier today in the London Clinic. He was 70, and had been ill for some time. He was admitted to hospital on Monday for treatment to a recurrent chest infection, but died on Thursday morning, according to Dr John Goldstone, his consultant.In a short statement issued on behalf of the Getty family and the London Clinic, Dr Goldstone said: “Sadly Sir Paul passed away at 10.40am today. His family would like to extend their thanks to all those who have expressed their sympathy, which is greatly appreciated.”Despite his American roots Sir Paul Getty had been happily settled in England for many years, during which time his passions – which included films, the theatre and books – expanded to include cricket. He established a beautiful ground of his own at Wormsley, his country estate in Buckinghamshire. In 1993 he acquired John Wisden, the company that produces Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack each year, and he also retained a controlling interest in Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine and the Wisden CricInfo website.All at Wisden are extremely saddened to hear the news, and have passed their condolences to the Getty family.

Darren Lehmann, who was named in the squad to face New Zealand at Brisbane ahead of Simon Katich, will find his preparation time severely limited by having to testify in the court case investigating the death of David Hookes, his close friend. Zdravko Micevic, a Melbourne nightclub bouncer, faces manslaughter charges over the attack that led to Hookes’s death, and Lehmann will give an eyewitness account of what happened in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda last January when he appears before the Magistrates Court next Monday.The rest of Lehmann’s team-mates will arrive in Brisbane on Sunday evening, and there is no guarantee that he will be able to make it there before the Australians have their first net session at the Gabba on Tuesday. Lehmann has admitted that the legal obligation makes for difficult preparation ahead of the two-Test series, more so since he is just coming off a hamstring injury suffered during the Nagpur Test against India last month.In his column for an Adelaide newspaper, Lehmann wrote, “It [the court case] isn’t a nice thing and will be a difficult preparation. It’s something I’m not looking forward to but it has to be done. It is a responsibility I have to fulfil.”Undoubtedly, Hookesy will be in my mind when I go out to bat in Brisbane.”John Buchanan, the Australian coach, said there were no fitness worries over Lehmann, and even suggested that Lehmann might benefit from the court appearance. “It obviously was an important moment in his life, considering his association with David,” he said, “and so it will probably be very good for him to have all that cleared behind him before the summer season starts.”

For 15 minutes, a quartet of the game’s most treasured commodities paraded their off-field repertoires in a discussion devoted to spin. Shane Warne currently leads the friendly jostle with Muttiah Muralitharan for the most Test wickets, and he assumed the role as unofficial master of ceremonies as the pair joined Daniel Vettori and Stuart MacGill for a pre-Super Test meeting.Never has a group of slow bowlers with so many Test wickets – 1553 in total, with MacGill the junior on 160 and Warne the senior on 623 – been together like this and, after next week, the chances of a reunion are as likely as both sides naming five-man pace-attacks on a pitch expected to turn. Watching the spinners’ banter was fascinating as they played their roles by displaying subtle psychological digs, wise-cracking and genuine love of their craft.In a press conference, Warne can show similar characteristics to an over of his bowling – brave, offended, attacking, mock-surprised, in control and, most of all, appealing. Vettori was steady, penetrative with a well-placed one-liner and aware of his place in the pecking order, while Muralitharan was quieter and focused, masking the damage of his potent wrist.A spot for the Test was what MacGill craved, and he grabbed some of the attention with self-deprecating and clever, up-front humour. The selectors, who oversaw his Test-free tour of England, will probably take notice when he turns up at “my house” on Friday.”I guess that means I’m fresh and that you can’t blame me for what happened [in the Ashes],” he said. “Now we’re back at my house I think the story will be very, very different. The SCG has always been very good to us.”To MacGill’s right, Warne predicted Muralitharan would reach 1000 Test wickets and the compliment was reversed. “He’s young, he’s fresh and will be around forever,” Warne said. “I don’t think there’s any rivalry there [for the record], I’m just happy to hang on to it and I have a little lead.”As Muralitharan tipped Warne to play for another “five or six years”, Warne interrupted with “I’ll be 42 then” and MacGill shouted “no” across the table. “Let me clear that up for you, no!” MacGill repeated to a laughing audience. If MacGill, 34, had been born in another country, he might have already retired with 300 Test wickets. Instead, he challenged Vettori to a competition to see who could be first to reach the half-way mark of the other two’s tallies.Vettori settled for being pleased that he was on the verge of a Test in Sydney, something neither he nor Muralitharan have done. “It’s pretty exciting, it’s been a long time since New Zealand have played a Test here. Usually, New Zealand get a couple of Tests in Hobart and one in Perth,” he said dryly. “So, it needs a marquee event to bowl with Murali and to have the two guys on the opposition is exciting.”The Test will be only Muralitharan’s third in Australia and his first for ten years. “It’s a big challenge for me as I’ve got three wickets here for 300 runs,” he said. “That’s 100 runs per wicket so hopefully my performance will be better than that.” Warne said Australia would happily give Muralitharan 3 for 200.As the showmanship neared its end, the predictable yet virtually unanswerable question of who was the best went to Vettori. “The guys to the left [Warne] and right [Muralitharan] of me have obviously proved themselves,” he said, as MacGill cheerfully chirped in with “I’m to the left of you”.”Both have done it all over the world,” Vettori continued. “I’d hate to put anything between them. We’ve got a spectacle here and we get to appreciate the two greatest spinners in the game, and myself and Stuart as well.” The quarter of an hour was over, but there will be six days – although Warne doubts the match will last that long – for more absorbing byplay.