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Peter Chingoka, the embattled Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, has come out fighting in an interview with the Herald newspaper.Chingoka again trod the familiar line that all is well with the operations of ZC. When asked whether he was prepared to agree to a forensic audit, he replied that: “We have no problem with a forensic audit and are ready to provide for it, with board approval for this expenditure.” But he again insisted the accounts had been approved and unanimously adopted at the AGM.Asked about the meetings called by Ahmed Ebrahim, Chingoka said that there was “nothing in the ZC constitution that prevents people from getting together to discuss cricket and cricket issues. Should they feel strongly about what they would have discussed they then channel this into the normal ZC processes, which is to say the board, Annual General Meeting and the Special General Meeting.”And Chingoka took a swipe at Ebrahim himself. “He [Ebrahim] also echoed the concerns of the provincial chairmen and the players, which we found surprising considering that he is collectively bound by virtue of his being a ZC board member as, indeed, are some of the provincial chairmen.”As for the meetings on Monday and Wednesday, Chingoka said that he and Ozias Bvute were not invited on Monday, although Ebrahim claimed he had tried to do so. “I was only invited to the Wednesday meeting by Ebrahim less than two hours before the meeting when I phoned him to tell him that the crisis against which they intended to hold the meeting was no longer there because I had been released.”Chingoka also brushed aside the protests by the players, almost all of who have refused to represent Zimbabwe while he and Bvute remain in power.”We do not see this as the battle for the players. After successfully negotiating for them, the players have their contracts now. Some have signed them while others are still to. Because they got the conditions they asked for, we expect them to sign too.” Asked if he would step down, he replied: “No-one is bigger than the game. However, my stepping down can only be for the good of the game if my staying on is not good for the game.”And he appeared to take solace from the non-interventionalist approach of the ICC. “You have their position on record as announced by the president, Ehsan Mani.”While there is no doubting the credentials of the interviewer, the Herald coverage of the crisis has been remarkable in its one-sidedness, and the Q&A needs to be viewed with that in mind. Moves against the board have been virtually ignored, while those opposing the Chingoka regime have often been portrayed as politically or racially motivated.Critics of Chingoka would point to the questions that were not raised, in particular relating to the apparent gaping holes in the accounts, where much of ZC’s income has gone, and why the players have been so critical of himself and Bvute and the way they have run Zimbabwe Cricket.

Afghanistan will be one of 12 nations dreaming of a place in the 2011 World Cup when the World Cricket League Division Five begins in Jersey later this month.Germany, Mozambique, Nepal, Norway, USA, Vanuatu, Botswana, Japan, Jersey, Bahamas and Singapore are the 11 other teams who will take part in the event from May 23-31, with the possibility of a World Cup place at the end of the road.Realistically the chances of any of them making it to the subcontinent in 2011 are very slim. They would have to progress through all the WCL Divisions and compete against strong Associate nations such as Kenya, Ireland and Scotland, but it provides a chance for these smaller cricket nations to develop.”This gives every side a clear pathway for progression and the chance to compete at the very highest level,” the ICC global development manager Matthew Kennedy said. “So even though a team might be competing in the WCL Division Five tournament this month, there is the chance it could make it all the way to the next World Cup.”More realistically, though, it gives those teams a structure and a long-term goal to aim at so that even if they don’t get there this time, they could target 2015, 2019 or 2023.”On another level, WCL Division Five also gives these sides the opportunity to play against similarly ranked sides from around the world in conditions that perhaps they are not used to. It is very much part of the development process to give players the chance to perform outside their home environment.”This tournament also marks the return of USA to ICC events, more than a year after they were suspended from international cricket. The finalists will be promoted to the World Cricket League Division Four and join Hong Kong, Fiji, Tanzania and Italy in a six-team event that will take place in the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam from October 4 to 11.The opening day of Division Five on 23 May will see the USA take on Mozambique in Group A at the picturesque Farmer’s Field ground. In the same group Nepal play Germany at Les Quennevais and Norway face Vanuatu at FB Fields. In Group B Afghanistan begin their campaign underway with a match against Japan at Victoria College.Meanwhile, hosts Jersey play Singapore at Grainville and the Bahamas will line up against Botswana on the second pitch at Les Quennevais.Group A Germany, Mozambique, Nepal, Norway, USA, Vanuatu
Group B Afghanistan, Botswana, Japan, Jersey, Bahamas, Singapore

Leicestershire have announced that six players – Darren Robinson, John Maunders, Arno Jacobs, Paul Harrison, Marc Rosenberg and David Stiff – are being released at the end of the season. The county were keen to stress that the players had been released with a view to making room for new ones to be brought in.”We are currently in negotiations with new players and I am confident that we will be in a position to announce new signings in the coming weeks,” said Tim Boon, Leicestershire’s coach. “We have set out our intentions through the club’s recruitment and selection policy for 2008 and beyond that we want to develop the best young talent around a core group of senior role-model professionals, and that will be reflected in the players that are brought to Grace Road.”I would like to thank those players who have not been offered new contracts for their commitment and service to the club and would also like to wish them well in the future.”

A proposed one-day series between Australia and India in Northern Ireland in June and July is in danger of being scrapped. The Indian board (BCCI) announced in February three matches would be played in Belfast, but Cricket Australia is still waiting for information about the games.”We have been discussing with the BCCI about New York, about Toronto and most recently the discussion has been Ireland,” Peter Young, a Cricket Australia spokesman, said in the Daily Telegraph. “We are waiting for them to give a written reply as to where we stand.”India, who exited the World Cup after the first stage, initially planned to use the series as preparation for their tour of England in July. Australia’s winter is light but 2008 is going to be extremely heavy with a world-record 20 Tests scheduled and around 30 one-day matches. Australia will host India and Sri Lanka in 2007-08 before touring West Indies and Pakistan. When they return they are due to face Bangladesh, India, New Zealand and South Africa.

Sourav Ganguly must love irony. Of all the grounds in the world to make a one-day comeback, of all the venues to seek redemption, he returns to Nagpur. His previous trip here, when India were humiliated in a series-deciding clash against Australia, is widely considered the starting point of his downfall. Today, with close to 500 spectators cheering him on at the nets, he was like Napoleon preparing for revenge at Waterloo.Ganguly hasn’t played a one-day international for India since September 2005. Ironically – yes, that word again – he’s managed seven Tests in that period, ironical because Ganguly in one-dayers is colossal compared to Ganguly in Tests. Few have blended bravado and skill so deftly in the first 15 overs and almost nobody has trotted down the track to 150kph thunderbolts and slotted them over long-off.His half-hour workout today, divided between the fast bowlers and the spinners, was the most exciting part of a rather mundane nets session. Apparently simulating the first 15 overs of an ODI, he swung his bat merrily. He spanked Zaheer Khan, who was the sharpest bowler on the day, RP Singh and Sreesanth – his short arm jab off RP Singh that soared into the stands was most eye-catching. The spinners were simply mangled. Harbhajan Singh was clattered for two huge sixes, Ramesh Powar received some back-foot peppering and the lesser known net bowlers didn’t stand a chance.Batting in the nets next to him was Robin Uthappa, who has butchered bowlers around the domestic circuit and is a likely opening partner for the first match. Sachin Tendulkar, recently promoted to the vice-captaincy and looking all pumped up with the responsibility, is likely to be moved down the batting order. He and Rahul Dravid, quite detached from the action today and looking tired while running between the wickets, will be expected to shore up the middle order. Yuvraj Singh, who isn’t in the squad for the first two games, batted and bowled for brief periods but didn’t look in any sort of discomfort.Just one glance at India’s cricketers practicing at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur, and you knew that this was a team back to square one, as they were before that sorry 4-0 defeat in South Africa. Three hours of run-of-the-mill loosening up, involving players trying to desperately overcome their lethargy, was as sober as you can get. Forget adventure sports, military-training sessions and fancy rolling camps – this was a good old-fashioned warm-up.

Nobody typified the rustiness more than Ramesh Powar, huffing his way through the fielding drills. Anil Kumble’s absence provides India a chance to try out two spinners on a pitch that will assist turn as the game progresses and India’s advantage is that the two offspinners have contrasting styles. “Harbhajan has a flatter trajectory. He looks for bounce from the wicket — not that he doesn’t get any turn. He gets big turn too and he has been our best ODI bowler in the last year,” Dravid said yesterday. “Powar, meanwhile, looks to beat batsmen with guile. Flight is his preferred mode of attack. I think he will be around for a long while and will be able to step into Anil Kumble’s shoes whenever the situation arises. Despite the fact that both of them are offspinners, they tend to bowl well in tandem. They complement each other well and if the opportunity does arise, we will bowl them together.”Kumble’s shoes aren’t easy to fill but Dravid’s tone pretty much conveys that the series won’t be about set patterns. Trying out a few new players – Joginder Sharma warmed up nicely with both bat and ball today, Dinesh Karthik smashed a few around before undertaking a fielding workout – may just be the idea. It’s not as bad an idea as it sounds because India’s one-day graph over the last one year had soared, dipped and finally reached starting point. Now that’s another big irony of our times.

More than three months after Bennett King stepped down as West Indies coach, the board has finally advertised for applications to fill the vacancy.David Moore, King’s deputy, took charge on the recent tour of England but on the field the team struggled and there were reports of disharmony off the field and of friction between the management and some players.The big question seems to be whether the WICB will risk appointing an overseas coach again after King, whose time was not helped by criticism in some quarters which appeared to be based on the fact he was hired from outside the region. His tenure was generally considered not to have been a success.The closing date for applications is August 31 and the quality of applicants may depend on how quickly Julian Hunte, the new board president, can mend the broken relationship between the WICB and the players which has overshadowed almost everything in recent months.Moore will remain in charge for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa next month.Click here for the application details

Zimbabwe Cricket has announced that the long-awaited forensic audit of its accounts will be undertaken by Ruzengwe and Partners, a Harare-based office which, according to the Zimbabwe Institute of Accountants, has only two partners.The audit, which critics of the board have been demanding since last autumn, was promised when the Sports & Recreation Committee appointed an interim board, headed by Peter Chingoka, to run the game in Zimbabwe pending elections later in the year. At its first meeting, the interim board announced that it had decided to appoint “a firm of auditors of international repute”.While there are no reasons to question the independence of Ruzengwe and Partners, and they are certainly a well-known local accountants, critics had hoped that a bigger firm with a better international presence would be brought in. There are also concerns that the terms of reference for the audit are defined by the interim committee.Opponents of the board reacted with dismay but not surprise. One leading administrator told Cricinfo that it was “a farce” and questioned “whether a firm of that size is capable of carrying out a massive and complex forensic audit”.”Ruzengwe and Partners is an independent, internationally recognised auditing firm accredited to the list of auditors of institutions recognised by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,” Chingoka said. “It is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Zimbabwe. Their report will be there for all to see.”

Simon Jones is in line for his first Championship match since mid-May, when he suffered yet another setback in his recovery from the knee surgery he underwent last season.Since then, Jones has played two one-day matches, but it will be the first chance to test out his knee at first-class level in three months, when Glamorgan host Leicestershire at Abergavenny on Wednesday.He sorely needs some cricket; he has taken only one first-class wicket since the 2005 Ashes, in his sole Championship match, against Essex, last year – and on the rare occasion when he has set foot on a cricket field, it has usually resulted in him limping off.His comeback for Glamorgan during the 2006 season, following his aborted return on England’s tour of India, lasted four matches before he broke down against Ireland in the C&G Trophy.This season, he has played one Championship match so far, against Gloucestershire, when he went wicketless in his 37 overs, with 112 runs coming off him. At that point England had hoped he would be in the frame for a return sometime this season. As it is, he now seems a long way off playing.Nevertheless, news of his return will lift Glamorgan, who have been without another pace bowler, David Harrison, since a back injury in April ruled him out for the season. Batsman Michael Powell is still recovering from the operation to remove a blood clot.They have also recalled Huw Waters, a seamer in the Jones mould, who was rested for the draw with Derbyshire. But all eyes will be on Jones, to see if his knee can hold up this time.

4 – The number of times England have won scoring 270 or more batting second in an ODI174 – The second-wicket partnership between Gayle and Dwayne Bravo. It’s the second-highest for that wicket for West Indies against England – Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan had added 187 at Lord’s in 200451 – Chris Gayle’s batting average in ODIs against England. This was his second century against them in 13 games.19.06 – Gayle’s ODI bowling average against England. In 13 games he has taken 18 wickets73 – The number of runs West Indies scored in their last ten overs, despite having nine wickets in hand6 – The number of centuries Gayle has scored in ODIs that West Indies have lost. Only Sachin Tendulkar – with 11 such knocks – has made more hundreds in defeats, while Marcus Trescothick has six as well50 – The score made by both England openers. It’s the first time in the history of ODIs that both openers from a team have scored exactly 50148 – The number of runs Kevin Pietersen had scored in his eight previous ODI innings before this match

Scorecard

There was a distinct end-of-term feeling in the air at The Rose Bowl as Hampshire reached 424 for 4, on the first day of their match against the champions Nottinghamshire. A big hundred from John Crawley on his 34th birthday was the centrepiece of a solid Hampshire performance, but with the title already won, Nottinghamshire rested a few frontline players, and those that took to the field looked well below par – a total of 62 extras told its own story.A few weeks ago, this match appeared to offer a mouthwatering finale to the summer. It was potentially a championship decider; billed as the showdown between Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen, it also gave Pietersen the chance to get one over on the county he left last autumn on less than happy terms. But Nottinghamshire wrapped up the competition at Canterbury last weekend and, although Warne was in the Hampshire XI, Pietersen was not, instead placed in mothballs by the ECB.All that was at stake was Hampshire’s bid for second place, but a small and quiet crowd indicated that was not really much to get out of bed for. Nottinghamshire huffed and puffed but rarely got out of second gear, and while Crawley made an unbeaten 150, it was not one of his finest innings. He struggled for most of the first two sessions, and was put down by Darren Bicknell at gully off an oh-so-routine chance when on 28. He timed few shots, and although the drive which brought up his fifty was sublime, it highlighted his general difficulty. To his credit, he continued to battle and after tea finally began to open up and show the class act he remains.Nottinghamshire, who won the toss and stuck Hampshire in under a leaden sky, struck early when Andy Harris bowled Sean Ervine for 9. But their bowlers lacked consistency, failing to exploit the early moisture in the pitch and offering both James Adams and Simon Katich enough width for them to brutally and repeatedly milk the square cover boundary. There was one more success before lunch. Adams, who had more than compensated for the pedestrian Crawley, gifted his wicket to the persevering Graeme Swann the ball after reaching 50, driving to Jason Gallian at short extra-cover. Two balls later, Swann dropped a caught-and-bowled chance low to his right before Katich had scored. It was an expensive spill.

Katich wasted no time in capitalising, surviving an even easier fumble by substitute Mark Hussey at second slip, before being strangled for 53 down the leg side by 19-year-old Mark Footitt. Footitt, who struggled with his run-up and also persistent no-balling, showed enough fire to leave the impression he is a bowler worth watching, as his inclusion in this winter’s National Academy demonstrates.Paul Franks is another who was one talked of in such terms, but who has had a lean time of late. He took one wicket – Jono MacLean caught by Stephen Fleming at first slip for a breezy 67 – and produced some testing deliveries. But in between, he was plagued by no-balls and also picked up an official warning for running down the wicket – something that would have caused more concern to his own batsmen than the umpire, given that Hampshire have both Warne and Shaun Udal in their ranks. Franks’s body language showed that he was ill at ease, as did the expletive which echoed round the empty stands when no-balled for the umpteenth time.Crawley and Nic Pothas scored at will in the final hour, and Nottinghamshire will have to crank up their act for the remainder of the match if their memorable season is not to end with a thoroughly forgettable performance.