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Aaqib Javed, the former Pakistan fast-medium bowler, has been appointed chief coach of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced.A PCB spokesman said that Aaqib’s appointment as the head of coaching at Lahore’s NCA would be highly beneficial for the young players training at the academy. “Aaqib brings to this position vast experience as an international cricketer and as a professional coach,” said the spokesman.Aaqib, 34, played the last of his 22 Tests in 1998, having taken 54 wickets. He was an under-recognised part of a much-feared Pakistan pace attack of the 90s, overshadowed mostly by Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He did however forge a more successful one-day career, taking 182 wickets from 163 matches.He was part of Pakistan’s triumphant 1992 World Cup squad and once held the record for the best bowling figures in an ODI – 7 for 37, including a hat-trick – which he achieved against India in Sharjah in 1991.Aaqib has stayed attached with international cricket since his exit nine years ago and has attended several coaching courses and workshops in recent years. He completed a PCB Level-2 Coaching Course (2003) and has participated in Asian Cricket Council (ACC) High Performance Course (2004). He has also attended the Cricket Australia/ACC Cricket Skills course for fast bowling and batting, held in Bangkok (2004-05).Aaqib has successfully completed assignments as fast bowling coach at the Lahore Regional Academy at Sheikhupura (2001), head coach of Lahore Region at Muridke (2002) and fast bowling coach at NCA (2004-05).His stint as fast bowling coach was widely acknowledged as a successful one, having worked with and improved several young fast bowlers, including Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Mohammad Khalil, Mohammad Irshad and Samiullah Niazi.Aaqib has also coached several national age-group teams and under him Pakistan won the Under-15 Asian Championship in 2002 and the Under-19 World Cup in 2004. He also had a successful coaching stint with the Pakistan ‘A’ squad.

The Australians will no doubt celebrate their series win in typically exuberant fashion, and the man leading the way will be Andrew Symonds. His scores in the last four matches have been 87, 89, 75, and, on Sunday a 107 not out in Nagpur. Ricky Ponting was understandably overjoyed with Symonds’ contribution but spoke about the contribution of others in the team at the post-match press conference.”This series has been a good contest and today was really good one. We got the wickets when we needed them. The game can change very quickly in this part of the world,” said Ponting. “Today we kept partnerships going and Symonds played a really sensible innings. I think his innings was the defining moment. He has been confident and has been a changed player from what he was five-six years ago.””But we had a number of meaningful contributions, it wasn’t just Symonds,” said Ponting. “[Brad] Hogg picked up four wickets and Mitchell [Johnson] and Brett [Lee] bowled really well too.”Symonds, for his part, said that the fall of wickets at the other end motivated him to stay focused and play cautiously. “If you look at our innings, wickets fell at times when ideally we didn’t want them to fall, and this meant I had to knuckle down a bit and help build a big total. It was a special innings and I really feel proud about it.”Ponting also felt the total of 317 was a good one, given the conditions, but with a fast outfield and a good batting pitch India were always in with a chance. “In the break I told my spinners that they’d have to bowl really well and they did that,” said Ponting. “That made the difference as we pulled back the runs in the middle overs.”After India’s strong first-wicket partnership of 140, their best of the series so far, Irfan Pathan was sent out to bat at No. 3, and this surprised quite a few people, including Ponting. “Sending Pathan at No. 3 was a bit surprising. The way we look at it is that we always want our best batsmen at the top of the order.”Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for his part, said that it was extremely difficult for batsmen who were new at the crease to score quickly after set batsmen had been dismissed. “We lost couple of wickets at the wrong time. Sachin [Tendulkar] and Sourav [Ganguly] got out at a time when we would have liked them to go on and we never got any partnerships after it,” he said. “The asking rate was always high and it is difficult for a batsman who has just come in to score at that rate.”Dhoni also conceded that India had struggled to get their game all together in the course of the series. “I think we never performed well in all three aspects of the game – batting, bowling and fielding – in one game. The only time we did well was in Chandigarh, when we did well in all aspects, and the result was in our favour.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

It was a Made-in-Guyana triumph, but given West Indian cricket’s recenttravails, it might as well have been made in heaven. A magnificentunbeaten 115 from Ramnaresh Sarwan, incidentally playing his 100th ODI, provided the momentum for the pursuit of 246, and a classy half-century from ahamstrung Shivnarine Chanderpaul proved as decisive as West Indies took a2-1 lead in the five-match series with an impressive four-wicket victoryat Basseterre.As in the two games at Sabina Park, the inaugural international at StKitts too went down to the final over, bowled by S Sreesanth with six runsstill needed. Dwayne Bravo’s run out gave India a glimmer of hope, butcrucially, Rahul Dravid misfielded the fourth ball, allowing Sarwan acouple where there might not even have been one. The next ball wassummarily dismissed to the cover fence, setting the seal on anothermatchwinning innings from Sarwan, whose 106-run partnership withChanderpaul made all the difference.India, though, have no one to blame but themselves, after a battingimplosion that saw a paltry 77 runs scored in the final 22 overs. WhenBrian Lara asked for the final Powerplay, they were cruising at 168 for 2,with Virender Sehwag in sight of three figures, and Mohammad Kaifproviding solid support. A total of 300 was plausible, but once Bravothudded a reverse-swinging yorker into Sehwag’s boot, the game started todrift out of India’s reach.Mahendra Singh Dhoni biffed and missed his way to 15 before hesitancebetween the wickets, and a smart bit of fielding from Gayle, sent himpacking. Thereafter, with the ebullience and skill of Yuvraj Singh – ruledout with back spasms – badly missed and with Kaif unable to break out ofaccumulation mode, it was an eminently forgettable procession. MarlonSamuels and Gayle put the ball on a spot, batsmen were unable to work itinto the gaps, and as the field closed in, they compounded their woes withsome suicidal dashes between the stumps.

It could all have been so different. Having lost Dravid in Ian Bradshaw’sopening over, India made all the early running thanks to Sehwagrediscovering his effervescence and Suresh Raina’s accomplished cameo.With the bowlers either offering too much width or pitching too full,Sehwag crashed strokes through the offside with impunity, while Raina’soff-drives were struck with a panache that recalled a certain SouravGanguly in his prime.Sehwag slashed one six over point of Bradshaw, and followed that with animmense shot over mid-on off Bravo, even as Kaif chipped and ran to turnover the strike. It seemed pretty effortless till the slow bowlers cameon, when the gentle tourniquet soon became a choke.Needing just under five an over, Sarwan walked in with the innings in somedisarray after two marginal lbw decisions had taken the sheen off a steadystart from Gayle and Samuels, opening for the first time. Samuels wasgiven out to Sreesanth’s bowling, and when Agarkar sent back RunakoMorton without scoring, 246 looked a long way away.But Sarwan started with a crashing off-drive off Agarkar and a crisp cutoff Sreesanth, and after good fortune directed an inner edge wide of thestumps and down to the fence, he laced a gorgeous cover-drive off astrangely off-colour Irfan Pathan. Desperate to stem the tide, Dravidturned to spin, but while Harbhajan Singh was accurate and economical,Ramesh Powar was targetted from the start. Sarwan twice thumped him overlong-on for six, and Gayle then revealed how powerful he could be with animmense stroke that struck the roof.With options dwindling, Dravid turned back to Agarkar, easily the pick ofIndia’s bowlers. When he got Gayle to edge one, and Harbhajan outfoxedLara, it was certainly game on, but Chanderpaul made light of a musclestrain to caress some lovely shots, including a sensational straight six offAgarkar, en route to a 58-ball 50.At the other end, Sarwan was just imperious. Having romped to 50 in just41 balls, he was much more circumspect as the game neared its denouement.Dravid’s decision to try Sehwag tilted the match, and also gave Sarwan hiscentury – his third in the one-day game and his first against India – with a precise late cut and two runs scampered to midwicket sparking considerable celebration in the stands. And though Chanderpaul departed soon after, the other Guyanese hero remained to the end. If lastSaturday was all about Bravo holding his nerve, this was very much theSarwan show. Whisper it softly, but the Calypso Kings might just be on theroad to recovery. As for India – red-hot favourites to take the series -they find themselves with no margin for error heading into the final twogames.

India
Rahul Dravid lbw b Bradshaw 0 (1 for 1)
Suresh Raina b Bradshaw 26 (62 for 2)
Virender Sehwag lbw Bravo 96 (174 for 3)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni run out (Gayle) 15 (211 for 4)
Mohammad Kaif run out (Chanderpaul) 63 (216 for 5)
Irfan Pathan c and b Samuels 1 (219 for 6)
Ramesh Powar b Sarwan 1 (224 for 7)
Venugopal Rao run out (Edwards) 12 (233 for 8)
Ajit Agarkar c Lara b Bravo 8 (243 for 9)
West Indies
Marlon Samuels lbw Sreesanth 11 (30 for 1)
Runako Morton lbw Agarkar 0 (31 for 2)
Chris Gayle c Dhoni b Agarkar 40 (116 for 3)
Brian Lara c Dravid b Harbhajan 5 (131 for 4)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul lbw Pathan 58 (237 for 5)
Dwayne Bravo run out (Pathan) 1 (241 for 6)

The Irish Cricket Union have announced a squad of 12 for their opening game against Scotland in the InterContinental Cup. Ireland, the holders, begin the defence of their trophy with a home tie at Stormont in Belfast from August 9-12.Boyd Rankin is again absent from the squad, but the Irish are boosted by the availability of their star batsman Eoin Morgan, and wicketkeeper Niall O’ Brien. There is also a place in the 12 for leg spinner Greg Thompson, who has been in action for Ireland A against the MCC in Malahide this week.Irish coach Phil Simmons said of his squad: “Unfortunately Boyd hasn’t fully recovered. He bowled last week, but experienced a little bit of pain. Greg Thompson has impressed me greatly with his legspin. He turns the ball a lot away from the bat, and he’s a wicket-taker, which is exactly what we need.”Tom Hayes, the chief executive of Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking said: “I’d like to wish the Irish team every success as they begin their quest to win the trophy for a third successive time. It’s been a marvellous year for Irish cricket, and as official team sponsor, Bank of Ireland is proud to be part of it.”Squad Trent Johnston (Railway Union, capt), Andre Botha (North County), Alex Cusack (Clontarf), Thinus Fourie (Merrion), Dave Langford-Smith (Phoenix), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Kyle McCallan (Waringstown), Kevin O’ Brien (Railway Union), Niall O’ Brien (Northants), Greg Thompson (Lisburn), William Porterfield (Rush), Andrew White (Instonians)

Brian Lara, captain of the West Indies team, admitted that it was a huge disappointment to come so close to defending the Champions Trophy and then stumble at the final hurdle. “It’s very disappointing to lose the final. We were quietly confident going into this match,” he said. “But I think we have a bit of a stage-fright when it comes to the big occasions.””We got off to a great start but unfortunately, we lost wickets in groups. We didn’t bat the way we wanted to, and there was another collapse, we have to accept it. We have been in two finals in the last two months, and in both matches, we didn’t even get to 150. We have to have a look at that and come up with a remedy. We didn’t give ourselves a chance today. We didn’t bat smart. I thought after the start, if we could have got to even 225, it would have been a fighting total. But we lost it with the bat.”At the same time, Lara refused to believe that it was pressure of playing against tougher opposition in crunch games that led to the collapses his side has suffered. “The collapses have nothing to do with pressure. It is a part of the game we have to eradicate, it has no bearing on who the opposition are,” he said. “Saying that, Australia played the better cricket today. They had their backs to the wall after the first eight-ten overs. They never say die, and they got right back into it. Australia have played so many finals recently that they know how to bounce back. They are very professional, and know how to win and get out of tough situations.”At the end of the day, though, there were many positives Lara could take out of the tournament, and with how West Indies finished up. “But not many people expected us to reach the final here, and we are glad we got this far,” he said. “We are an improving team, and now we need to build on this momentum.”Chris Gayle, player of the tournament for his 474 runs, accompanied Lara to the post-match press conference, and spoke of his dream run in the tournament. “This is a dream tournament for me,” he said. “I am glad I contributed a lot to the team, I have always wanted to contribute to the team’s cause. But I will not do anything different from here on. I want to keep my feet on the ground, be myself and don’t get over-excited. I will need to start from scratch the next time I go out to bat.”

In spite of a grasp of human nature and the early evidence, Tony Howard, the West Indies manager, does not anticipate internal strife within the team once the current dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) is settled.”Several years ago when a similar event occurred in the Kerry Packer series I didn’t hear of any lingering things and I don’t think it should be so now,” the team manager said, referring to the decision by captain Clive Lloyd and the leading players to participate in Packer’s World Series Cricket (WSC) while a depleted West Indies Test team toured India and Sri Lanka in 1978-79.Howard described the rejection of the WICB tour contracts by ten of the 13 players initially chosen for the current tour of Sri Lanka as “an individual decision”. “Some chose to [sign], some not,” he said in an interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) here. “As far as I’m concerned that’s the end of that. Once they become available again, it’s a matter for people to decide if they want to play or if they don’t want to play.”Early signs are that it might not be “the end of that”.Dinanath Ramnarine, the WIPA’s president and chief executive, has openly questioned the position of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the captain, who has consistently decided to sign the match-tour contract since the row erupted last November prior to the tour of Australia for the VB Series.”It’s rather unfortunate to have the players making a principled stand and the captain of that side going in a different direction,” he said. “It tells a story.”It is not difficult to interpret what Ramnarine believes that story to be. While none of the players has made any comment on the issue, the divide between those who chose to join the Test team here as replacements from the A team, simultaneously on tour of Sri Lanka, and those who turned down Howard’s offer to do so quickly materialised.Daren Ganga and 12 of the other members of the A team originally issued a signed statement stating they would not make themselves available “in [a] show of solidarity for our senior members until all matters are resolved between the WICB and the WIPA”.Six then reneged and did agree to join the senior team for the two Tests and the triangular series of one-day internationals with Sri Lanka and India. It immediately divided players who were team-mates only a day earlier, some of them from the same territory, and caused obvious resentment. The two squads were moved into separate hotels, the seniors checking into the Taj Sumudra while the A players were transferred to the Trans Asia.There was an opportunity for the A players to attend the third day of the first Test and for the Test men to watch Sunday’s A match but it wasn’t taken by either. Howard dismissed suggestions that he had come to Sri Lanka early to put pressure on the A team players to join his squad.”I don’t see that at all,” he said. “My job was simply to address the team as a group, which I did. I offered each of them the same availability to sign if they so desired. Some of them did, some of them didn’t.”It is the fissure between those who did and those who didn’t that has the potential of undermining team spirit when they again come together in the name of West Indies – or even of their individual territories.

India Under-19 reduced their Pakistani counterparts, who required 446 for victory, to 63 for 5 in their second innings on the third day of the first four-day match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.India declared their second innings at 303 for 6 after resuming on 42 without loss, setting Pakistan, already 142 runs in arrears on the first innings, a daunting victory target. Opener Cheteshwar Pujara hit 85 in the second innings while spinner Imad Wasim took three wickets for Pakistan.In the Pakistan second innings, the Indian fast bowler Vijakumar Yo Mahesh claimed three wickets and Piyush Chawla got two victims with his legbreaks.

Vikram Solanki, the England opener, says he is looking forward to facing Shoaib Akhtar when the five-match one-day leg of England’s tour to Pakistan gets underway on Saturday.Solanki, one-day crickets’s first Supersub , and Shoaib were team-mates at Worcestershire this past season, and Solanki had the opportunity to witness the fast bowler up close: “Shoaib is a very interesting character – quite a unique type of guy,” Solanki told BBC Sport. “Changing from 90 miles an hour to slower deliveries was quite impressive. He has exceptional talent.”Shoaib’s short appearance for Worcestershire was marred by controversy after John Elliott, the club chairman, criticised his attitude, stating: “It’s all about team spirit and getting the dressing-room right and when you’ve got a bloke like Shoaib in there, it can cause mayhem.” Solanki referred to Elliot’s comments as “unfortunate”, adding that “Shoaib has obviously worked very hard on his fitness and bowled exceptionally well in the Tests.”Shoaib was a revelation in the three-Test series against England, bagging 17 wickets, many of which came at crucial moments. His batting was also a marked improvement over past displays, a fact praised by the media and the Pakistan team management.Solanki, who wasn’t part of England’s squad for the Test series in Pakistan, believed he had a good chance of adding to his 41 one-day appearances. “I am just pleased to be here – it’s fantastic to be part of the squad,” he said. “Obviously, I’d like to play a full part and make best use of the opportunity.” His last appearance in English colours was an unbeaten 53 from the No. 8 spot against Australia at The Oval during the 2005 summer.

The Kolkata Knight Riders have signed Ajantha Mendis, the Sri Lankan slow bowler, till the end of the current season. Mendis, who shot into prominence in the ODI series against West Indies with his unusual action and crafty variations, flew into Kolkata yesterday.The agency which manages Mendis’ affairs was certain that their client will be able to deliver the goods. “Kolkata is a place where the pitches are generally slow and receptive to spin and a bowler like Mendis would be able to make the maximum use of the conditions,” the spokesman told the , a Colombo-based daily.Mendis, 23, made a sensational debut when he took 3 for 39 against West Indies in Port-of-Spain on April 10. He flummoxed Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy as the Windies batsmen struggled to pick his assortment of deliveries. Mendis, however, failed to take a wicket in his second match, and did not get an opportunity to bowl in the third.Meanwhile, Mendis’ compatriot, allrounder Kaushal Weeraratne, has been invited to join Kolkata in training for a week. Weeraratne has scored 97 runs in 13 ODI innings at 16.16, and taken six wickets. He is also the record holder for the fastest fifty in List A cricket, which he completed off only 12 balls while playing for Ragama against Karunegala in Sri Lankan domestic cricket in 2005-06.

The BCCI has submitted a written request to the Maharashtra government to create a sports integrity Intelligence Gathering Unit (IGU) that will see the board and the Maharashtra Police come together to tackle corruption in Indian cricket.The IGU, which will operate out of Mumbai, will be the first instance of the BCCI tying up with the security agency of a state to counter corruption, and might empower the ICC to adopt similar measures with Shashank Manohar having recently taken over as its chairman.According to the , Manohar submitted a request to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis following their meeting last week to discuss the issue, which elicited a positive response from Fadnavis. The BCCI was open to part-funding the creation and administration of the IGU, which is expected to be operational within two months. The IGU will work in coordination with the BCCI, and share information it collects on cases pertaining to corruption with security agencies of other states to facilitate preventive steps.Manohar has been a staunch advocate of a system to eradicate spot and match-fixing, and had mentioned it as one of his “commitments” when he took over as BCCI president in October. He has also often bemoaned the lack of investigative powers at the disposal of the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).”The ICC and BCCI are educating the players at every level [about corruption],” Manohar told recently. “There is one difficulty in that the ACSU does not have the investigative powers which are with the police authorities. That’s the reason we have to take the help of the investigative agency to curb this menace.”I have approached the state (Maharashtra) government, not the central government. The Mumbai Police has all the powers. What we want basically is intelligence input from the government. If the investigating agency shares information with the board, that would solve most of our problems.”