The much-awaited results from Shoaib Akhtar’s scan on his injured ankle have revealed that his old hairline fracture has still not healed properly. The result means he will be unable to resume bowling for four to six weeks and will almost certainly rule him out of the initial part of Pakistan’s tour to England.”It’s a bad week for me. First I lost a close friend and now got a bad news that my injury has not healed although I still feel no pain and can jog for hours,” Akhtar told AFP. “But a bad news for me is a good news for the English batsmen. I will do my best to recover in time to at least play two Tests.””I carried that ankle injury from the series against England but I continued to play. Even after the operations I was feeling well before I twisted the ankle earlier this month.”Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, told Cricinfo that the results of the scan they had sent to specialists in South Africa did not make for good news. “Unfortunately the scans have revealed that though he doesn’t have a new injury, the fracture that he sustained during the home series against England and India, has not yet fully healed. He cannot bowl at all for four to six weeks.”Woolmer agreed it was “highly unlikely” that Shoaib would be able to play any part in the first half of the England tour but wasn’t willing to comment on whether he would be taken as a member of the squad. “We have a selection meeting later tonight in which we’ll discuss the situation and come to a decision after that.”The fact that his old injury still hasn’t healed will not sit well with the PCB. After he sat out the ODIs against India and then missed the tour of Sri Lanka, reports suggested that Shoaib was training and recovering with his own trainer rather than PCB-appointed officials, which irked board and team officials. It means, as one source close to the team revealed: “no-one is quite sure what he has been doing to his ankle because given proper rehabilitation, it should’ve healed comfortably by now. But it hasn’t.”The first Test is due to begin at Lord’s on July 13, just over five weeks, from now, which means Pakistani fans will now witness, helplessly, the same anguished race against time English football fans are currently experiencing with Wayne Rooney’s metatarsal.Earlier, the PCB had said their own medical commission had advised Shoaib three weeks’ rest and that his selection for the tour of England rests on the recommendation of the commission.Pakistani selectors are scheduled to announce the touring squad in the next day or so. Wasim Bari, chief selector, has said that Shoaib is likely to accompany the squad whether or not he is injured.He told : “It is certainly the most difficult decision that the selection committee will have to take when it meets. I’ve already met Inzamam and Woolmer recently to take their inputs over the team’s selection but recent developments have made it necessary to meet them again.”Bari said the inclusion – or not – of Shoaib will be the main issue of discussion. “There is nothing in writing for us on Shoaib’s fitness issue so I can’t say what we might opt for in our meeting to select the team.,” Bari added. “There is no doubt that Shoaib is a key player for us but then he has to be fit to be able to live up to the expectations. He cannot be included in the team without achievement and proving full match fitness.”

Jacob Oram, the New Zealand allrounder, doesn’t want to think about a worst-case scenario as he recovers from his latest back injury. Despite a sequence of bowling-related injuries, Oram maintained that he was far from becoming a specialist batsman as he concentrated on his rehabilitation ahead of the summer season.Oram’s latest injury is another stress reaction identical to the one he suffered 18 months ago. “It’s a good time to get injured right now,” Oram told the . “I’d rather have it now so I can hit the season 100% fit. Bowling doesn’t help; the stresses of bowling a cricket ball makes it worse.”The latest injury is a bruised bone, which can lead to a stress fracture including degenerative joint and disc problems. This time around the injury was less stressful because it was not in the middle of summer, as the heel injury was which put him out of action for two months.”You try and talk yourself out of it but you know deep down you are moving into pain,” Oram said. “I didn’t realise it would be such a major [problem]. But as soon as I went to bowl again, it was very evident. It happened on the last day of the tour [of South Africa] which really did disappoint me because it was my first Test series for a long time and personally I felt very good with bat and ball.”However, Oram felt that his inactivity at home gave his body a chance to recover. With competitive cricket set to begin only in October, he said he had time to mull over his future.”I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it,” he said. “I could give batting a really good shot and maybe there is a future there. Out of the three injuries, this one seems the most positive because I seem to have good direction and know about my rehabilitation.”

Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, has been named among the 30 probables for the Champions Trophy to be held in India in October. Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman have also been included.”Every year we discuss various issues before picking a team. Here we just picked the best 30 that we have,” said Kiran More, the chairman of selectors. “He [Ganguly] is in the list of Grade A players. So when we select 30 probables, he definitely walks in.”Ganguly had a poor stint with Northamptonshire where he had a first-class average of 4.80 in six innings. However, More said that his selection was not just based on his county season but was a combination of the previous domestic season and past performances. Zaheer’s selection was based on a phenomenal performance for Worcestershire where he took 63 wickets in 11 first-class matches at 25.74 apiece.The list includes all 15 players who have been chosen for the tri-series in Sri Lanka later this month, and also has players who performed well in the Top End Series in Australia in July, which featured A teams from Australia, New Zealand and India. S Badrinath, the Tamil Nadu batsman, Tejinder Pal Singh, an allrounder from Railways, and Piyush Chawla, the young legspinner, have all been rewarded for their strong performances in Australia. Parthiv Patel, who kept wicket on that tour, is one of three wicketkeepers in the list – apart from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik. The final 15-member squad will be announced on September 7.More said that Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner, and Lakshmipathy Balaji, the fast bowler, were not selected because they needed more time to recover from their respective shoulder and back injuries.”Murali will be fine before the Champions Trophy but the problem is the September 7 deadline. It is not a small injury, we don’t want to rush him back,” said More. “Balaji would be fit by October. It will take time for him. He has to play seven to eight matches.”Meanwhile Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, also said that the details for the tri-series in Singapore and Malaysia in September – also featuring Australia and West Indies – would be revealed soon. “The tri-series in Singapore and Malaysia has been confirmed. In one or two days we will give the full schedule of the tour,” he said. “The first three games will be in Singapore and the next four in Malaysia.”Probables list
Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Mongia, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Venugopal Rao, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Piyush Chawla, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, TP Singh, Shib Paul, VRV Singh, Parthiv Patel (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk).

Scorecard

A captain’s innings from Charlotte Edwards and four wickets from Isa Guha helped England to a last-gasp victory with just four balls remaining against India at Arundel. England were making heavy going of chasing down 186, at a sticky 73 for 3, but Edwards rescued them with a 61-ball 47, and with Jenny Gunn (42 not out), propelled England to success.Beth Morgan chipped in with a handy unbeaten 14 from 18 balls to ensure the win in which England managed to reverse the momentum after Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma had them in trouble early on.India’s own innings had got off to decent enough start, with Karu Jain and Rumeli Dhar adding 41 for the first wicket. But Dhar fell shortly after Jain, both subsiding to the medium pace of Guha, before Laura Newton accounted for the dangerous Anjum Chopra (93 for 3).Hemlata Kala repaired the innings a touch, putting on 84 for the fourth wicket with the topscorer Mithali Raj, who made 73. Another quick double strike from Guha removed Kala and Raj and once more punctured the momentum at a crucial time (180 for 5).England are now on their way to securing the series after going 2-0 up in the third of five matches. They have a point to prove after being beaten 4-1 in India over the winter. They set about making that point at Lord’s, no less, on Monday with a convincing victory. Today’s match was more nailbiting but England’s nerves held out.

Jon Lewis has extended his contract with Gloucestershire and will have a benefit next year, too. Lewis, who captains the side, will be in his 12th year at Bristol.This is the latest heartening news for Lewis, who earlier this year made his Test debut at the age of the 30, and has been named in England’s Champions Trophy squad for the tournament this month.I have always felt really proud to be a Gloucestershire player,” Lewis said, “and am looking forward to leading the team to more success on the field.”I wish to thank everyone for their continued support and am already looking forward to next season.”

The bitter infighting inside Zimbabwe took yet another twist this week as the ten provincial chairmen disassociated themselves with claims by Themba Mliswa, the political extremist who held a media conference during which he said he was speaking on their behalf.Mliswa called on Peter Chingoka, the board chairman, to account for recent events and repeated accusations of financial impropriety against board members as well as making threats that he had friends in high places who were behind him.But the Zimbabwe Cricket website has said that last weekend the chairmen met and voted unanimously to disassociate themselves from Mliswa’s remarks. A statement issued by them said: “While we do not wish to go into detail with regards to Mliswa’s statements, and whilst we prefer to reserve our comments on his statements against certain individual members of the ZC interim board, our conscience is clear as we make this brief statement.”Mliswa was slung off the board in July, and the chairmen reiterated that he “does not represent any of the ten provinces”.While the removal of Mliswa from the scene – if that is what the upshot of this is – can be no bad thing, the chairmen’s stance is hardly surprising given that by and large they are in effect appointees of the ZC hierarchy.This is not the end of the unrest as Crispen Tsvarai, the senior executive who left the board a fortnight ago, has raised a number of issues which will need to be addressed.

Scorecard
Stuart Clark and Stuart MacGill made Darren Lehmann’s decision to bat look questionable in the Pura Cup match at Adelaide Oval, where South Australia crashed to 154 – and were lucky to even make that. MacGill finished with 3 for 6 as he ran through the Redbacks late in the innings, while Clark (2 for 33) set up the day of New South Wales dominance with two wickets in his first four overs.Phil Jaques and Greg Mail let the Redbacks off the hook with seven dropped catches between them but South Australia were unable to capitalise, managing to bat for only 65.3 overs. The opener Shane Deitz was dropped four times on his way to 62 before Doug Bollinger (2 for 30) finally had him caught behind off a thin edge.Lehmann also had a life before he was out for 32 just before tea to a magnificent return catch by MacGill. Clark, who is fighting for a place in Australia’s Ashes attack, had Matthew Elliott caught at gully for 0 from the fourth ball of the match, then claimed Cameron Borgas for 2. The Blues’ success came despite the fact that Moises Henriques, who took 5 for 17 against Queensland barely a week ago, was left out to make way for MacGill.In reply New South Wales showed there were runs in the pitch, reaching 2 for 96 at stumps. Phil Jaques and Ed Cowan (29 not out) led the way before Jaques was out for 44 off the last ball of the day.

Scorecard

A fine 138 from Ryan ten Doeschate led Netherlands to a solid 235 for 3 against Bermuda on the opening day of their ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Pretoria.Netherlands, who fielded a strong side, must beat Bermuda if they are to replace Canada at the top of Group B, the winner of which progresses to the final. Fortunately for them, they are facing a weakened Bermuda side whose confidence is on the wane following a poor tour of Kenya.However, Bermuda appeared – initially at least – to have put their indifferent form behind them. After Netherlands had won the toss they lost Bas Zuiderent in the second over, bowled by Saleem Mukuddem. But ten Doeschate joined Tom de Grooth to put on a huge second-wicket stand of 189, with ten Doeschate in particularly aggressive mood. It was he who reached his fifty first, from 95 balls including seven crashing fours and a six.Netherlands were looking settled before Mukuddem took his second wicket, removing de Grooth for 61 to end the day’s only significant partnership. And though ten Doeschate fell shortly before the close, he had registered a fine hundred – his fourth in first-class cricket, and a vital one for the Netherlands, who ended the day in a strong position.

SuperSport Series

Fef du Plessis’ 103 guided the Titans to a remarkable four-wicket win over the Warriors at Centurion. The Titans were set a target of 261 for victory, and du Plessis’ innings underpinned a remarkable turnaround after the Titans had trailed by 153 runs on first innings. Arno Jacobs (70) and Murray Goodwin (77) set the Warriors on their way to their first innings 348 with a stand of 123 for the fifth wicket. Lyall Meyer then scored a career-best 72* from number nine, coaxing Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Mario Olivier to stay with him.The Titans’ reply was a sorry affair, save for an extraordinary innings from Justin Kemp. None of the top six reached double figures, decimated by a spell of 5 for 45 by Tsotsobe. Kemp, however, seemingly oblivious to what had gone before him, struck an unbeaten 100 from 106 balls. He received valuable support along the way from Morne Morkel and Ethy Mbhalati, who scored 15 in a last-wicket stand of 69. If Kemp was the star with the bat, Alfonso Thomas was the hero in the Warriors second innings, claiming 5 for 50 as they were dismissed for 105.Morne Morkel also claimed 3 for 23, and they did not show the Warriors any mercy, bundling them out in just 31 overs. The Titans were left with 261 needed for victory, and lost Heino Kuhn with the score on 32. Gulam Bodi followed seven overs later but du Plessis ensured there would be no collapse in a partnership of 110 with Martin van Jaarsveld. du Plessis finally went with 23 still needed but he had given his team the platform for a memorable victory.Centuries from Justin Ontong and captain Neil McKenzie laid the foundations for an innings-victory for the Lions against the Cobras at Newlands.The Lions posted 508 in the first innings and then bowled the Cobras out for 215 and 128 to record a convincing win.McKenzie chose to bat after winning the toss, and proceeded to put on 265 for the third wicket with Ontong after Steven Cook and Alviro Petersen had departed early on. Ontong finished with 155 from 334 balls, while McKenzie scored 135 from 276, with Vaughn van Jaarsveld contributing 54. Monde Zondeki took 4 for 82 for the Cobras, who got off to the worst possible start in their reply when Derrin Bassage was run out by Ontong from the second ball of the innings. Several of the top-order could not convert starts into meaningful scores, and in the end they were grateful to the powerful Rory Kleinveldt, whose 46-ball 63 lifted them over the 200-mark.Kleinveldt shared a stand of 66 in 6.4 overs for the last-wicket with Charl Willoughby (32* from 18 balls) before he was finally removed by Claude Henderson, who finished with impressive figures of 6 for 87. With the Cobras still 293 behind the Lions were quick to enforce the follow-on, and quickly struck again when Andy Puttick was caught by Petersen off the bowling of Friedel de Wet in the third over. Bassage and Benjamin Hector looked to be repairing the damage in a stand of 50 for the second-wicket, but when Bassage fell to Claude Henderson it triggered a loss of seven wickets for 35 runs to leave the Cobras as good as buried at 91 for 8. Paul Adams hit a late 30, but the day belonged to the Lions. Tyron Henderson took 5 for 37, while Claude Henderson claimed a four second-innings scalps to finish with match figures of 10 for 127.A century from Boeta Dippenaar and career-best figures for Ryan McLaren helped the Eagles to an innings-and-119-run victory over the Dolphins at Bloemfontein.Dippenaar overcame the pain of his omission from the national squad, putting on 165 for the fourth wicket with Morne van Wyk (88), before he was out for 135. Captain Nicky Boje scored an unbeaten 80 and McLaren contributed 53 not out as the Eagles declared on 500 for 5. Doug Watson and Imraan Khan put on 66 for the first-wicket for the Dolphins, but Khan’s dismissal for 34 started the rot.Six wickets went down for 39 runs, and despite a rally from Ahmed Amla and Lance Klusener, they were all out for 170, with McLaren claiming 5 for 57. With the Dolphins still 330 behind the Eagles enforced the follow-on and McLaren soon had them in trouble again, dismissing Watson and Khan within the first nine overs. Amla again tried to lift his side, but after he was dismissed with the score on 60 it seemed any hope had gone. Jon Kent and Duncan Brown fought hard in a stand of 86 but they were only delaying the inevitable. Eventually the Dolphins’ resistance wore out and they were dismissed for 211, with McLaren’s 4 for 59 giving him match figures of 9 for 116.

SAA Provincial Challenge

North West beat Easterns by 44 runs at Benoni in another match that saw a dramatic turnaround. North West had trailed by 73 on first innings after Jaco Booysen’s 103 helped Easterns to 243 in their first innings in reply to North West’s 170. However, a career-best 103 from Niel Bedenkamp, to add to his first-innings 57, lifted North West to 290 second time around. Patrick Letseleme then claimed 4 for 28 to clean up Easterns tail in a second innings that saw them dismissed for 173 and fall to a 44-run defeat.The match between Griqualand West and Free State petered out into a draw at Kimberley. Adrain McLaren scored 92 to give Griqualand West a 133 run first-innings advantage, helping them to 336 in reply to Free State’s 203. Any hopes for Griqualand that they might be able to force a result were ended by 127 from Jonathan Beukes and 99 from Divan van Wyk, younger brother of Morne, taking Free State to 413 all out in their second innings. The target of 280 from 43 overs was unlikely, and Griqualand closed on 144 for 3.

SAA Provincial Cup

Kobus Pienaar hit 58 from 44 balls to help Easterns to a 5-wicket victory over North West with 62 balls remaining at Benoni. Andre Seymour’s undefeated 69 anchored the innings to help chase down the target of 202 with ease. Jonker scored an unbeaten 94 in North West’s innings but received little support from his team-mates.An unbroken partnership of 109 between Divan van Wyk and Dean Elgar took Free State to a seven-wicket victory over Griqualand West with 23-balls remaining at Kimberley. Van Wyk scored an unbeaten 80, while Dale Bossenger can count himself unlucky to have finished on the losing side after he hit an undefeated 111 in Griqualand West’s 234.

Australia and India could meet in a one-day series in North America this year with New York and Toronto shaping as the likely venues. But player workloads and the suitability of grounds mean the planned venture is no certainty, according to Cricket Australia.Michael Brown, CA’s operations manager, said India had approached Australia with a proposal for the limited-overs series. “You never say never but details at this stage are sketchy,” Brown told .Another possible stumbling block in the negotiations could be wrangling over the percentage of revenues to be shared between the two boards, with Australia reportedly demanding an equal share and the Indians demurring. Australia’s tight schedule features a trip to Zimbabwe in June, between the World Cup in March and April and the Twenty20 world championship in September.”There is also the issue of player leave,” Brown said. “So there are a few things to consider. India wanted to hold a tournament similar to the one we had in Kuala Lumpur.”A bilateral contest between India and the world’s number one team is aimed at capitalising on India’s lucrative pay television market, with each of the planned seven games expected to generate up to $6 million. A triangular contest would mean lesser returns for each participant and the possibility of a relative lack of viewer interest if India fails to reach the finals, as happened in the DLF Cup in Malaysia in October. The BCCI reportedly sold the offshore television rights for each game in the series that featured India for $US5.8m but had to offload the Australia-West Indies matches for only $US1.2m.The reported that India held the upper hand in negotiations as other nations would jump at the opportunity should Australia pass up the chance. But it also suggested the Indian board was desperate to play Australia if they hoped to raise $42 million from the series.It’s believed an indoor NFL stadium in New York would host the games, meaning the matches would be played on a synthetic pitch. But Brown had his own doubts. “I’m not even sure whether they would have a suitable ground in New York,” he said.