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 Zimbabwe Cricket Union is apolitical, and believes in the inviolable separation of sport and politics. We are an organization of diverse political, ethnic, cultural, racial and religious backgrounds.”
Peter Chingoka speaking to Cricinfo in February 2004“They have gone back on their word that they would not serve under Chingoka. They have left Taibu in the lurch. It is disturbing that they are now prepared to play under the same regime supported by new board members with dubious cricket qualifications and who we can only assume are government appointees. Cricket is in anarchy and I doubt whether it is recoverable but I still hope the ICC will take the government’s interference seriously and investigate the make up of this committee.”
David Ellman-Brown Former ZC chairman and life president“To actively promote, develop and administer the game of cricket for the benefit of all Zimbabweans without discrimination of any kind.”
Zimbabwe Cricket’s mission statement“They have betrayed what they went on strike for, and Taibu. He won’t change his mind but we know some of them never had any principles and are only in it for the money. Most of them are not so poor.”
Elvis Sembezeya Elected as chairman of Mashonaland last year but Peter Chingoka blocked his appointment“They have abandoned Taibu and that is off sides. They have nullified the reason for going on strike in the first place. I am surprised they have not asked to see this committee before they ended their strike to get a commitment in writing pertaining to their contracts and how the game would be revived.”
Heath Streak Former Zimbabwe captain“It seems bizarre that although he [Chingoka] was head of an administration that they see fit to remove, they now make him the head of a new one. If this is the bunch that’s going to help them deliver cricket for the next six months, I don’t know what they are going to be delivering at the end of it. It won’t be cricket, it’ll be a corpse.”
Clive Field spokesman for Zimbabwe’s players“No-one should regard the appointment of this committee as a solution to the issues facing Zimbabwe cricket and there remain a number of outstanding matters that must be urgently resolved in an open and transparent manner to support Zimbabwe’s participation in international cricket. These include addressing allegations of financial mismanagement; ensuring disputes between players and the board are effectively addressed; and providing certainty for other ICC members that the strongest possible Zimbabwe cricket team will be able to fulfil future international commitments, especially the forthcoming tour of the West Indies due to commence in April.”
ICC statement “I suppose this ought not to have been a surprising move as this was announced at the Zanu PF National People’s Conference held recently. All the same it is still quite shocking. What all cricket loving enthusiasts feared is now official I suppose, Zimbabwe cricket is now a government agency. So much for those who have advocated that sport and politics don’t mix or that Zimbabwe cricket is apolitical: I believe that words to that effect came out of the mouth of Chingoka a while back.”
Henry Olonga Former Zimbabwe international“There should be no racism in sport. They should not mix sports and politics.”
Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe’s president speaking in 2004

Castle Park is, by far and away, the most attractive of thegrounds used by Essex County Cricket Club. Lying to the north ofthe High Street, and below the level of the town and castleitself, the park is bordered by the remains of the Romanperimeter wall and the old Colchester by-pass. During ColchesterCricket Week, the park is transformed by the sudden arrival oftiered seating, the ubiquitous blue and white marquees and, ofcourse, the mobile scoreboard. The pavilion is quite an elegantbuilding, backed by trees through which the tower of theVictorian town hall peeps, spire-like, in the distance. Throughthe park runs the willow-lined River Colne, beautiful enough, butresponsible for most of the ground’s considerable drainageproblems.Colchester Cricket Week is held in August. In the past, thefestival has been bedevilled by bad weather, so much so that in1966, it was transferred, in the middle of a match, toColchester’s secondary venue, the Garrison Cricket Ground. Thisarrangement lasted until 1975, at which point the club,presumably worried more by falling attendance than a certain G.Boycott’s knack of scoring double centuries on the Garrisonwicket or the unattractive nature of the Garrison ground itself,decided that a return to Castle Park was overdue. Despite thesnow which disrupted a match against Kent in early June, the moveproved to be a wise one. Essex have an impressive record atCastle Park, having won, or at least drawn, most of the matchesthat have been played there.Castle Park has seen more than its fair share of centurions ofboth varieties. It has been the scene of several notablecricketing achievements. When Essex entertained Kent atColchester in 1938, A.E. Fagg became the only batsman ever, tohit a double century in each innings, scoring 244 in his firstand 202 in his second. Even Graham Gooch, with his famous triplecentury against India at Lord’s in 1990, cannot boast acomparable achievement.Ken McEwan, always a prolific scorer, hit five hundreds in fourconsecutive visits to Castle Park between 1981 and 1984. Hesurpassed himself in 1983, scoring 181 against Gloucestershireand then, in the same week, 189 against Worcestershire, on bothoccasions securing a comfortable victory for his adoptive county.Javed Miandad also has good cause the remember Castle Park. In1981, after Glamorgan had secured a first innings lead, a centuryeach from Gooch and Hardie allowed Essex to declare their secondinnings at 411 for 9. Undeterred at being set 325 runs in almostexactly the same number of minutes, Javed Miandad raced away to200 not out and it was only when he ran out of partners, some 14runs short of the required total, that Essex and a nervous crowdof supporters could breathe freely again.

James Franklin, the Wellington and New Zealand fast bowler, says he isn’t going to try and stake his claims as the next allrounder following the retirement of Chris Cairns.”It’s sad to see the big guy leave and they are huge shoes to fill but I’m not going to go about my cricket any differently,” Franklin, 25, told stuff.co.nz. “With a class player like him leaving there is a bit of an onus on others to stand up and Jake (Jacob Oram) naturally comes to mind.”While not as explosive in his batting as Cairns or Oram, Franklin is seen by many as an allrounder with a technically sound batting approach, capable of batting higher up the order. His clinical hitting in New Zealand’s domestic scene is well known, and in a recent one-day international against Sri Lanka he smashed 18 off the final over. He even has a Test half-century to his name, indicating that he can perform well with the bat. But Franklin maintains that it is premature to suggest that he is a candidate for the job, citing that Cairns’ absence would probably open up opportunities for Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori to throw the bat around.During his retirement speech, Cairns himself said that Franklin was one to look out for, calling him `an enormous talent starting to shine’ with `a great future ahead of him. Repaying the tribute, Franklin said he took great encouragement from Cairns’ positive words.”It’s always nice to get that praise from a guy who you rate highly and to have that sort of endorsement was nice,” he said. “I haven’t had a huge amount to do with him but we have toured a few times and he’s been bloody brilliant. Tactically, if you ask him any question, he’s always happy to help you out. He’s a big loss for us, he holds a lot of manna.”

Michael Clark, the 27-year-old West Australian fast bowler, has announced his retirement from first-class cricket. He has been plagued by a series of back injuries and was not offered a full-time contract for the current season, so was forced to combine his cricket with a job in a car dealership .”It’s been a tough call to make,” he said. “But I have to consider what’s best for my family and it’s just become too much to try and hold down my job and put in the amount of time and effort that’s required to train with the Warriors. That said I’ve lived every young kid’s dream of playing footy and cricket at a high level and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”Clark made his debut for WA in 2001-02 but was limited to 17 appearances, the last in November, in which he took 49 wickets at 28.71.

The Indian board (BCCI) has decided not to allot any of the matches of the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), saying CAB put ‘unreasonable conditions’ for hosting matches in the tournament.”The CAB has lost the chance of hosting Champions Trophy because of putting unreasonable conditions,” said Lalit Modi, the BCCI’s vice-president after a meeting of the board with ICC representatives in Mumbai.Modi explained that the BCCI wanted to distribute the matches equitably among all the regional centres, but the CAB’s demand for specific matches was a hindrance. “It wanted specific and later-stage matches, presumably the semi-final and final, which was uncalled for,” he countered, adding that the CAB did not want to host matches before October 23.He added that the CAB also wanted to know which specific matches they were being allocated so that they could take a decision whether they were going to host those.A further stumbling block was that the Bengal board did not want the Champions Trophy matches to be included in the grounds rotation policy, but the BCCI refused.Modi argued that several southern centres – such as Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore – were also interested in staging games, but the weather at that time was against them.He ended by passing the ball back to the ICC, telling reporters that while the BCCI had agreed in principle to host the tournament, the ICC had to decide on venues in addition to the three already agreed. “They [the ICC] want world-class facilities for holding the matches,” he said, “so, it’s up to them to decide on alternative venues.”

Terry Jenner will visit Nairobi next month to hold a four-day coaching clinic.Jenner, the former Australian legspinner whose coaching has been instrumental in the success of Shane Warne, assisted Collins Obuya in the winter, and this latest initiative will help some of Kenya’s up-and-coming stars.The camp, which will be held between May 16 and 19, has been organised by Cricket Kenya in association with Richard Done, the ICC’;s high performance manager.

Mohammad Asif, the Pakistan fast bowler, has said that his stint with Leicestershire will be ideal preparation for the side’s tour to England this July.Asif is expected to be a serious threat to England during in the four Test series, coming off a successful tour against Sri Lanka in which he took 17 wickets, with a career best of 6 for 44 at Kandy.Asif, 23, came to prominence after taking 10 wickets for Pakistan A against England last winter. “It was almost the same England team that had won the Ashes and when I started I was under pressure bowling to some big names,” Asif told BBC Radio. “But the ball started swinging both ways and after that I was OK.”Though he didn’t play in the Tests against England, he came for the last one-day match of the tournament and picked up two wickets for 14. He was then picked for the second and third Tests against India at home, and had a memorable game at Karachi, taking seven wickets in Pakistan’s 341-run victory.Asif insisted that England will prove to be difficult to beat this summer, despite the fact that Pakistan have not lost a series in England since 1982. “You only have to look at the last Ashes, and they were playing well even before that in England.”

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)

Scorecard
Saqibul Hasan’s fine allround performance helped Bangladesh A end their one-day series against Zimbabwe A in convincing 58-run win, despite a defiant century from Pete Rinke. The Bangladeshis produced a flamboyant effort with the bat, racking up 331, with Saqibul carting a 55-ball 32 towards the death. Rinke held Zimbabwe’s reply together, but needed more support to get his team close.Nazmus Sadat and Nafees Iqbal handed Bangladesh a flyer with 88 in the first 10 overs. Tushar Imran, the captain, compiled a measured 66 off 64 balls before the middle order upped the tempo again. Mehrab Hossain and Saqibul raced along a more than a run-a-ball, Saqibul striking six fours in his rapid half-century.At 169 for 3 in the 29th over, Zimbabwe were matching Bangladesh stroke for stroke but then they began to lose wickets at regular intervals. The crucial blow came in the 32nd over when Rinke was caught by Alok Kapali, leaving the lower order with too much to do. Saqibul followed up his half-century with a four-wicket spell and Bangladesh can leave highly satisfied with their work over the five-match series.