Marvan Atapattu, the former Sri Lanka captain, is unlikely to make the team for the tour of Australia after refusing to attend a meeting with the selectors.”I got an email from the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket inviting me for a discussion at 5pm [on October 3],” Atapattu told . “The email said the selectors were going to be there too and I replied saying that I did not want to waste my time with a selection committee headed by Ashantha de Mel.”Following Atapattu’s snub, de Mel, the chairman of selectors, told there would be no further attempts to speak to him and Sanath Jayasuriya would be chosen insteadPrior to the scheduled meeting, de Mel had indicated that Atapattu would be recalled. “We need his experience in Australia,” de Mel said. “He has the technique and temperament to stay at the crease. It will be very important for the two Tests against Australia. I will talk to him about his availability.”Atapattu did not play a single game in the World Cup in the West Indies, despite being in the squad, and was overlooked for the subsequent one-day series in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan. He then announced his unavailability for the home series against Bangladesh citing personal reasons and asked to be released from his central contract, sparking speculation that he might be linked to the Indian Cricket League (ICL).Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, had also supported Atapattu’s inclusion and called on the selectors to find out whether he would be willing to commit to a tough series.”We love to have him around,” Jayawardene said. “He is a top class performer. For a fact I know that he still wants to continue to play cricket for Sri Lanka. He wanted to be released from his contract purely because he wanted to see other avenues in his career. The best thing would be to have a dialogue with him and find out what he wants to do.”Sri Lanka play two Tests in Australia in November and return for the tri-nation CB Series in February, also featuring India.

Muttiah Muralitharan’s first Test tour with the Sri Lankan team to Australia in 12 years has so far been a tale of police escorts at the airport, security fears, plainsclothes people in the crowd … and plenty of hype.While it’s true Muralitharan had received a hostile reception on previous tours from crowds who continue to chant “no-ball” despite his regular clearances from the ICC, the escorts were there, in fact, to ward off the media, while the plainsclothes are part of Cricket Australia’s normal plans.So as Muralitharan stepped up to bowl his first ball of the trip, it was unsurprising that he found rumours of the so-called bearpit ready to bait him in Adelaide had been greatly exaggerated. In their place was a placid Sunday crowd who were quiet as church mice, save for the children playing cricket on the hill. It was hardly fire and brimstone.Of course, this practice match, against a Chairman’s XI, has not attracted the beer-swilling, barracking kind of fans – the cold and the lack of Australian stars has made it ideal for the quiet enthusiast – but nevertheless Muralitharan couldn’t have had a quieter, easier start to his tour as he adjusts back to playing cricket for the first time since August.In fact, the only problems came from the weather. “It was so, so windy,” he said. “Fast bowlers can’t bowl in the wind, and the wicket was so slow because of the rain.”The day also tested his bicep for the first time in two months since he injured it playing for Lancashire against Kent. He then missed the ICC World Twenty20 and the one-dayers against England. But he confirmed his recovery was “coming along well ” and that this warm-up (30 overs today – “no problems” – and more expected on Monday) could be ample preparation for the Tests: “it depends on the management.”Physically he looked in great shape, and he’s made of stern stuff mentally too. He ignored Arjuna Ranatunga’s advice not to tour here and has previously welcomed the rigorous public testing of his action, when Mark Nicholas and Michael Slater oversaw an experiment on television in which he bowled in a brace.It doesn’t bother him, though, and he will merely keep trying on the pitch. “I try my best and that’s all I can do. Mentally, I am very strong, stronger than most other people. I keep fighting – if I have to bowl 40 overs, I will bowl 40 overs. I have to keep trying because if you don’t keep trying you’re not going to achieve anything.”Far worse than any no-ball chants – “Now I’m used to it” – would be racism. “Whatever race you come from you are born with it, you can’t change anything. But no-balling, people can say whatever they want – they are opinions, that’s all. But they’re not using the filth. Before they use the no-ball if they use the filth word then it’s bad.” He says nobody has shouted anything racially-oriented at him in Australia, although things have been thrown at him, during the Super Test in Sydney last year – “Those kinds of things aren’t good.”He’s not going to expect an entirely trouble-free tour, though, anticipating “good times and bad times.” But so far, so good, while Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds have helped by appealing for cricket fans to appreciate his craft and leave aside the no-ball chants. “I would like to thank them for saying that. Symonds is a very good friend of mine and he would have also felt very bad with whatever happened in India.”Those things should have not happened. People have to come and just enjoy. In Sri Lanka you wouldn’t have had a problem like that, because people come and enjoy. Even if you lose they would congratulate the other team, so that’s the way it should be.”He is about to enjoy his cricket, with the team aiming for their first Test win on Australian soil. “This is the best chance because you won’t see in a few years’ time Sanath [Jayasuriya] playing, or Marvan [Atapattu] or me or so many others playing. At this time Australia are also in a winning frame of mind, so it’s not going to be easy. We have to do something special in the middle to beat them.”And winning is more important to him than the chance to overcome Shane Warne’s Test record of 708 wickets on Australian soil; he is nine short of the record. “If I can’t do it here I will do it against England. I’m going to be playing for another two years or three years so eventually it’s going to come, so the challenge is to win a Test here.”

Zimbabwe get an opportunity to play a competitive game ahead of their five-match one-day series against West Indies when they take on a South African franchise side in a four-day contest at Benoni on Thursday.Zimbabwe had originally been scheduled to stay in Bulawayo from Monday up to Friday but that was discarded when Zimbabwe Cricket secured the four-day match. The 13-man squad leave Zimbabwe early Wednesday morning for Johannesburg and return home on Monday, a day before the West Indies arrive in Zimbabwe.However, three key players will miss out on the tour through injury. Chris Mpofu is yet to be passed fit by the team physiotherapist after picking up a side strain; Sean Williams has not fully recovered from a migraine and Keith Dabengwa has a groin injury. In spite of Graeme Cremer’s ten wickets for Zimbabwe A recently, he has not been selected for the touring party.The first one-dayer gets underway at Harare on November 30.

The third day’s play of the final Test between India and Pakistan was bland comparedto the excitement on the first two. Therefore, when Sourav Ganguly addressed the media afterPakistan had moved to within 58 runs of avoiding the follow-on, most of thequestions centered around his maiden double-century a day earlier that had enabled him to better his Test-best after a gap of ten years.”I have been trying to get a double hundred,” Ganguly said. “I have been close a fewtimes in the past, but didn’t get it. It is good that I managed to do it in animportant game.”Ganguly began his innings with India in a state of bother at 44 for 2, a situation that quickly worsened to 61for 4. He then provided the steady hand during an overwhelming 300-run stand with Yuvraj Singh and ensured that India drove home the advantage by piling up 626. It was an invaluable contribution considering that India, leading 1-0 inthe series, were in trouble in the first session. Ganguly echoed that view by labelling it one of his more “important innings”.”We were 61 for 4 at one stage and from there we got to 600. So I think from thatpoint of view and in the final Test of the series it was an important innings.”Pakistan batted solidly on the third day, scoring 283 runs for the loss of only fourwickets but Ganguly felt that the morning session on the fourth day could determinewhether or not the Test has a result.”It [the pitch] does a bit early morning and this is the last batting pair. Soif we can get an early breakthrough tomorrow and the way this wicket is behaving, it willnot be easy for the lower-order batsmen. That is why the morning session will becrucial.”The double-century came during the last month of what has been a remarkable year forGanguly. He has scored 932 runs in 16 innings so far in 2007, making it his mostprolific year in Test cricket but he played down claims of it being the “best yearof his career.””I think in the year 2000 I got seven one-day hundreds, so that wasa good year too. My first year in international cricket was asuccessful one. This has been a good year and I hope I can have some more good timein the middle.”Ganguly’s life in the middle has been a fairytale since his comeback against South Africa last year and refused to get drawn into speaking about his forced exile during Greg Chappell’s tenure as India’s coach. According to Ganguly, his return to the team as a player, and not captain, had nothing to dowith his improved form with the bat termed this fairytale a phase he would like to continue for a while.”I don’t think it was a good time, those eight months [out of the team]. It is justthat I have played well [now] and it has kept on getting better. Even when I not wasgetting runs, the efforts have been the same. It is just that I am a bit moresuccessful now.”

Shane Bond has signed up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), according to one of the league’s senior officials. New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive Justin Vaughan will meet with Bond on Tuesday as NZC make a last-ditch attempt to rescue Bond’s international career.Ashish Kaul, the executive vice-president of the Essel Group, the company behind the ICL, confirmed the rumours that the league had secured New Zealand’s strike bowler. “Shane Bond has signed up,” Kaul told . “It’s a three-year contract that he has with the Indian Cricket League.”The reported Bond’s ICL deal was worth US$800,000 a season, regardless of whether he is fit to play. That would equate to more than NZ$3 million over the length of the contract – an extremely attractive proposition for the injury-prone Bond, who turns 33 this year. While NZC would prefer Bond to sign with the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has the backing of India’s board, their offer is reportedly a much lower US$250,000 a season, provided Bond is fit to play.An abdominal strain has kept Bond out of the current Test series against Bangladesh but Bond said he would make his comeback through club cricket next weekend. He would not confirm the reports he had signed with the ICL. “There’s a few agreements in place that mean I can’t really talk at the moment,” Bond told the paper. “I’d rather work through those before saying too much.”The deal would likely mean the end of Bond’s Test and ODI career, as NZC has already told its selectors to consider other players ahead of any who join the ICL. NZC has also made an agreement with the other Test nations that any players who take part in the non-officially-sanctioned ICL should not be selected for international duties.Heath Mills, the New Zealand Cricket Players Association manager, said the rights of the players needed to be kept in mind. “We just need to make sure we don’t do anything that breaches the rights of the individual contractor in any way, shape or form, and effectively bring on a situation that results in NZC being in dispute with its players,” Mills told the .”It’s not necessary. We need to continue working hard to find a solution that is good for both parties. It’s not staring us in the face right now, I’m the first to admit. But we’re not going to give up on finding a solution that’s good for both NZC and for the players.”

Stephen Fleming has warned New Zealand not to take Bangladesh for granted in the upcoming ODI and Test series. Fleming, the former New Zealand captain, was leading the New Zealand Cricket XI that lost to the Bangladeshis in a charity Twenty20 game in Hamilton.”If we’re tentative, they’ll put up a fight,” he told the after the game. Fleming, who retired from ODIs after the World Cup but is still part of New Zealand’s Test team, highlighted the Bangladesh batsmen as the key threat. “They’ve got good strokemakers,” he said. “There’s not a lot of fear in some of their players and on their day they can come off – we’ve seen that in some of the upsets they’ve caused at World Cups.”Fleming also contrasted the approach of the Bangladesh batsmen with that of New Zealand. “Their batting is probably almost the opposite of where our batting unit is,” Fleming admitted. “They seem full of confidence, and they don’t really have a lot of fear. The consequence of them playing a bad shot and getting out doesn’t seem to be there.”New Zealand’s batsmen haven’t had a great run of late; Dale Steyn decimated the line-up with 20 wickets in the two Tests in South Africa, and barring one ODI in Port Elizabeth, their batsmen have generally failed to cope. “It feels very tentative with the batting unit – there’s been a lot of focus on it, the performances haven’t been great and with that comes a certain amount of tension.”Coming into the side, you could feel that, the ways the guys played. We have to get away from that and try and stamp some authority with the willow in hand.” The match on Sunday was Fleming’s first competitive game after the Tests in South Africa, during which he had dislocated his thumb. Fleming, who made 17, but was not his fluent self, said, “I felt like a fish out of water. It was all a bit foreign. I was pretty nervous after six weeks without playing so things are pretty green at the moment.”Bangladesh, who haven’t won an ODI or Test against New Zealand, play the first of the three-match ODI series on Boxing Day in Auckland. The two-Test series, in which Fleming is to play, begins in Dunedin on January 4.

Jesse Ryder is in line for his New Zealand debut after he was called up for their Twenty20 and one-day series against England. Paul Hitchcock, the medium pacer who last played for New Zealand in their ODI tour of Pakistan in 2003-04, has been recalled, while the uncapped Tim Southee was named in the Twenty20 squad.Ryder, a hard-hitting batsman and handy seamer, has been on the fringes of the national squad for some time but was frustrated by not being selected sooner. He didn’t turn up for Ireland last UK summer, was considering playing for England, and refused to attend the training camp for New Zealand’s initial 30-man World Cup group. He made himself unavailable for last year’s New Zealand A tour of Australia, but he has finally won an opportunity.”Jesse has the potential to provide an explosive start alongside Brendon McCullum at the top of the innings in both forms of the game,” Richard Hadlee, the selection manager, said. “Tim will join the squad for the Twenty20 leg only. He is an impressive young bowler and the Twenty20 internationals present an ideal opportunity for him to step into the senior fold. He will then rejoin the New Zealand Under-19 World Cup squad for the World Cup.””Off the field I have had a few problems in the past but this year has been great,” Ryder told the New Zealand Herald. “You have to grow up sooner or later if you want to make the big time. It’s taken me a little longer than I had hoped.”Southee, 19, a right-arm fast bowler, made his debut for Northern Districts late last season. In his most recent first-class match, in December, he collected 6 for 68 in a losing side. He will be joined in the Twenty20 attack by Hitchcock, 33, who played 13 ODIs from 2002 to 2003.”Paul Hitchcock is an experienced bowler whose style is well suited to New Zealand conditions and venues,” Hadlee said. “He also gives greater depth to the batting order and a versatile range of bowling skills. Michael Mason replaces Tim Southee for the ODI series, with Jeetan Patel bringing the squad to 13.”New Zealand play two Twenty20 matches against England, the first on February 5, and then five ODIs. The squad announced today will be reviewed after the third one-dayer.Twenty20 squad Brendon McCullum (wk), Jesse Ryder, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Paul Hitchcock, Chris Martin.ODI squad Brendon McCullum (wk), Jesse Ryder, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Michael Mason, Jeetan Patel, Paul Hitchcock, Chris Martin.

North Zone
Unbeaten centuries from Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan gave Delhi a massive ten-wicket win over Punjab at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Ravi Inder, Uday Kaul and Ankur Kakkar scored half-centuries to take Punjab to a competitive 274. But Chopra and Dhawan scored at more than six an over to chase the total with 39 balls to spare. Punjab used six bowlers and none of them conceded less than five an over, with Manpreet Gony and Kakkar going for more than seven each.Vishal Bhatia took 4 for 32 with his left-arm spin as Himachal bowled out Haryana for 193 and chased the target with six overs to spare at the Harbax Singh Stadium in Delhi.Jammu & Kashmir collapsed to a 96-run defeat against Services in Delhi’s Palam A Ground. After Jasvir Singh (73) and Soomik Chatarjee (71*) steered Services to 281 for 6 in 50 overs, Rakesh Kumar removed the openers in the first over. Ian Dev Singh and Huwaid Ronga led a brief recovery of 59 runs but after Ronga was run out for 21, J&K kept losing wickets at regular intervals. A Kush, playing in only his second List A match, took 3 for 37.East Zone
Bengal needed only 29 overs to wrap up a nine-wicket win against Assam at the North-East Frontier Railway Stadium in Guwahati. S Sharath scored an unbeaten 80 from 148 balls but with absolutely no support from the rest of the batsmen – the next highest score being 14 – he could only push Assam’s total to 147. Arindam Das and Anustup Majumdar added 89 runs in 19 overs but after Majumdar’s dismissal, Das and Wriddhiman Saha knocked off the remaining 59 required from 60 balls to gain a bonus point for Bengal.Sourav Dubey’s 106-ball 93 wasn’t enough for Tripura to get their second win in a row as Orissa chased Tripura’s 260 with four wickets spare at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. Pinninti Jayachandra and Preetamjit Das took three wickets each as no other Tripura batsman scored more than 39. Three half-centuries from top-order batsmen – Bikas Pati, Payas Ranjan Sinha and Halhadar Das – gave Orissa their second win of the tournament.West Zone
After chasing 358 against Baroda at the same venue just a day before, Mumbai fell 46 runs short of Gujarat’s 307 at the Deccan Gymkhana Ground in Pune. Mumbai bowlers Ajit Agarkar, Rohan Raje and Murtuza Hussain went for more than six and a half an over as four Gujarat batsmen helped themselves to half-centuries. Medium-pace bowler Abhishek Nayar was taken for 19 runs in his two overs. Mumbai were in trouble when they lost four wickets for 94 runs. Anup Revendkar and Aditya Tare got fifties but having lost those early wickets Mumbai couldn’t pick themselves up for a fightback.Kedar Jadhav ensured Maharashtra successfully chased Saurashtra’s 327 by hammering a 97-ball 124 at the PYC Gymkhana Ground in Pune. Cheteshwar Pujara added 68 with Sagar Jogiyani and 107 with Shitanshu Kotak to take Saurashtra to a big total in their opening game of the tournament. Maharashtra scored at 6.8 runs an over and lost only five wickets in getting to the target.

Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the first Test against South Africa but the two Singhs – Yuvraj and Harbhajan – have been retained after the selectors named an expected 14-member squad in Bangalore.Murali Kartik was brought in as the third spinner, but an ankle sprain, sustained during the Deodhar Trophy game in Bangalore, has ruled him out for three weeks. Piyush Chawla, who was named as a back-up, thus finds himself in the squad.”It is a serious injury and will take a minimum of three weeks to heal,” Bangalore-based surgeon Chetan Rai, who examined Kartik soon after the incident, told .There are also question marks over Harbhajan Singh, the offspinner. He didn’t undergo the fitness test he was scheduled to undergo today and will have to do so on March 21.Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who suffered a sprain to a finger, will also have to clear a test on the same day, failing which Dinesh Karthik will take over the wicketkeeping duties.Ishant had suffered an inflammation to his big toe during India’s recent tour to Australia, apart from a finger injury, and was advised complete rest for three weeks. His selection for the second Test, starting in Ahmedabad on April 3, is subject to another fitness test.Yuvraj, who had a problem with his knee, underwent a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. He had a poor run in the Tests in Australia, scoring just 17 in two matches, but retained his spot. Wasim Jaffer, another player who was dropped during the Australia series, also held on to his place.Sreesanth comes back into the side after recovering from a shoulder problem. RP Singh, who suffered a hamstring strain in Adelaide, also made the cut and showed his fine form with a five-wicket haul against North Zone in the Deodhar Trophy match in Bangalore. Zaheer Khan, who had said he needs more time to recover, wasn’t picked and Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, felt “he may miss the series”.Virender Sehwag, who made a match-saving hundred in the Adelaide Test, was retained and celebrated with a rollicking 81 in the Deodhar Trophy in Bangalore. The middle order has a familiar look to it.Anil Kumble will spearhead the spin department but it remains to be seen who his partner will be in the first Test in Chennai, which starts on March 26. The meeting, chaired by Dilip Vengsarkar, lasted an hour and a half. Kumble and Gary Kirsten, the newly-appointed coach, were present as well.Squad for the first two Tests Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble (capt), Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, RP Singh.Back-up: Dinesh Karthik

To underline the confusion inside Zimbabwe Cricket, the Logan Cup, the country’s first-class competition which was scheduled to start on Wednesday, has been postponed.The ZC operations office, which had already postponed the country’s Twenty20 and one-day competitions, released Logan Cup fixtures last Wednesday, only to be forced into an embarrassing about turn after consultations at the weekend with Robin Brown, the national coach.As a result, the inter-provincial Twenty20 event will now be staged first as Zimbabwe prepare to take part in the South African Standard Bank Twenty20 tournament. The domestic competition will take place in Harare next week. Brown argued that there were no specialised Twenty20 players and such a tournament would allow the selectors to assess the talent available.It does again raise issues about the lack of communication within the board, and why the cricket operations department scheduled the Logan Cup at short notice without consulting with anyone on the coaching or selection side.The inter-provincial Twenty20 tournament was initially due to be held at the beginning of February, only to be cancelled at the last minute.The Logan Cup will now run from April 17 to May 20 and will be followed by the Faithwear Cup from May 27 to June 2. The postponement of these tournaments will impact on those players who had been hoping to play club cricket in Europe.