Injured fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul have been asked to appear before a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) medical commission soon after their arrival from South Africa later this week.A PCB official said that both Shoaib and Gul would be examined by the board’s doctors who would later decide on a rehabilitation plan for both.”Since the World Cup is less than two months away, we would not be wasting time and plan to put the two bowlers on a rehabilitation programme right away,” said Dr Ahsan Malik, PCB’s director of communications. “They are two of our main bowlers and we would try all measures to assure they are fit in time for the World Cup.”Shoaib withdrew midway through the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth with a hamstring injury after taking four vital wickets in the first innings. He is also said to be carrying a knee injury and his availability for the World Cup in the West Indies is not guaranteed.Gul, Pakistan’s most successful fast bowler in 2006, was ruled out of the series after suffering an ankle injury in the lead up to the first Test at Centurion.

Umar Gul, the Pakistan fast bowler, is hopeful of returning to bowling in a week’s time after making sufficient recovery from an ankle injury which ruled him out of the tour of South Africa. Gul and Shoaib Akhtar were sent home from the tour to appear before a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) medical commission.”There is no pain in my ankle at the moment but the physiotherapist at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has suggested that since my calf muscles are a bit weak, I need to do some exercises to develop them,” Gul told . “That should allow me to resume bowling in the next four or five days.”Gul was expected to play the second Test at Port Elizabeth after missing the first, but the team management decided against it, fearing that he might aggravate the injury before the World Cup. Gul added that his prime target was proving his fitness before the selectors announce the World Cup squad.”Playing the World Cup is one of my dreams,” he said. “In order to represent the country in the mega event with full force and fitness, I will be making all out efforts from hereon.”Gul has also signed a contract with English county Gloucestershire as their overseas player this season.

New Zealand Cricket has appealed against the one-match ban imposed on Andre Adams, the Auckland allrounder, for an incident during a domestic game last week. Adams was suspended after he grabbed the helmet of Bevan Griggs, the Central Districts batsman, and shook the grill, cutting Griggs’ lip.NZC appealed the ruling on the grounds that the penalty set a national precedent and should therefore be referred to the National Code of Conduct Commissioner, Nick Davidson. A final decision is expected within seven days.Adams last week said his actions were “a moment of madness” that warranted a suspension. “It was a moment of real frustration,” Adams told . “He [Griggs] was obviously shocked by it.”I apologised to him after the game. He was pretty good to me in the hearing as well. In the whole scheme of things it has been made out to be a whole assault on the batsman. I put my hand on his helmet and pushed it but it was nothing more than that.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Match package
Bulletin – West Indies through without impressing
Verdict – A scrappy win
Gallery

The Jamaican police investigating the murder of the late Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer have analysed his laptop and have found no evidence so far of match-fixing and betting. Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner of police told a news conference in Jamaica’s Pegasus Hotel all possible motives were being considered, as well as match-fixing.”We have Bob Woolmer’s computer,” Shields said. “We are looking at what is on the hard drive. We’re exploring the possibility of match-fixing, but that’s only one line of inquiry.”Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room a day after Pakistan’s shock defeat to Ireland and Shields said that the police will look into the betting odds for the match. Investigators are also relying on the footage from the hotel surveillance camera, for which Shields pointed that it would be a very time consuming process, having to study the footage frame-by-frame.With no solid clues emerging from any source yet, Shields added that his team were considering other methods of clinching evidence such as getting DNA samples from all persons who were in the hotel at the time of murder and investigators traveling to other islands to interview players and officials for useful bits of information. The Pakistan players and officials underwent DNA testing and questioning by the police before their departure and all have been cleared of any wrong doing.”At the end of it, it might be that we might identify a suspect or suspects,” Shields said. “The reality as I’ve said before is that there are many potential suspects in this investigation and even more potential witnesses, and we are nowhere the stage of being able to start naming names in terms of suspects.”Meanwhile, Perviz Mir, the Pakistan team media manager, and Tasnim Aslam, the foreign ministry spokesperson, hit out at all the malicious rumours of match fixing being the primary motive for murder, saying that it had deeply affected the players, already traumatized by the events.

Was Brian Lara pushed out, or is he leaving cricket entirely of his own volition? That is the question still being asked as Lara prepares to bid West Indies and world cricket goodbye at Kensington Oval in the final Super Eights match of this World Cup.For his part, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Ken Gordon says he wanted Lara to stay on for one more tour. “If you ask me personally, I would have liked to have seen him perhaps stay on for the English tour,” said Gordon. “But you have to take other people’s views into account and clearly his mind was running in a different direction.”However, it is understood that the West Indies selectors – Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts and Clyde Butts – who reportedly met with the WICB boss last week in Grenada, were of a different view and were not considering Lara for the Test and one-day tour of England next month. Asked about this, Gordon said: “I have had no formal proposal [from the selectors] but we have been in informal discussions.” He declined, however, to reveal the nature of those discussions. “I couldn’t possibly think of answering that,” he said. “I’m prepared to be open with you, but there are limits within which I cannot go.”Instead, Gordon who played an influential role in Lara’s return to the captaincy a year ago, painted a different picture. He said that prior to the afternoon of April 19, Lara’s decision to retire had not been expected.”If you had asked me that at the beginning of the match yesterday, I would have said yes, it had come as a surprise,” he said. “But by the time the seventh or eighth wicket had fallen, I got a message that he wanted to see me when the team came off and would I come to meet him.”I sensed that something was coming. And from that point onward there was no longer the surprise element. Because I knew something would be happening for him to ask me to see him at such short notice and with such urgency.”Told of Lara’s decision to retire, Gordon didn’t try to change Lara’s mind because he didn’t think it was appropriate to do that. “Clearly Brian has been thinking for some time of his future. He didn’t discuss it as though he was thinking about it. He presented me a fait accompli. So I think we must wish him well.”In an interview with the media on April 19, Lara said the decision had been arrived at after “extensive thought and consideration. I just think it’s the right time.” Prior to the World Cup Lara had spoken about extending his Test career to the age of 40.Asked yesterday if he had discussed retirement with Lara prior to his announcement, West Indies coach Bennett King was noncommittal. “Some things remain private. And discussions I have with Brian remain that way.”The departure of Lara, Test cricket’s leading run-scorer of all time and the holder of the world records for the highest individual Test (400 not out) and first-class scores (501 not out) leaves the West Indies team without their most prolific scorer and influential player for the tour of England. A new captain will have to rouse a group just coming off a dismal World Cup campaign.

“It is clearly a fundamental changing of the guard,” Gordon conceded. “Brian Lara has carried West Indies cricket perhaps for two decades and no one can take that away from him.”People may say lots of things about he’s done this and he’s done that. But let’s understand, there’s a price that goes with genius .All our real greats, many of them have tended to be awkward, or people for one reason or another have been critical of them because I suppose they are driven by different forces and they think differently.”We have to take the whole picture and accept the good with the bad. But overall, I think he’s so much more on the plus side. He’s been tremendous for West Indies cricket and I’d really like to see us honour that.”According to the Gordon though, Lara has other ideas. “I indicated to him that I hoped we would be able to find some way to convey our appreciation for him. His view was that he would like to go very quietly.”It is hardly likely, however, that the audience at Kensington today will give Lara a quiet send-off.

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

India’s batting juggernaut set the table and a charged-up Zaheer Khan dug in as India wrapped up an innings-and-239-run victory inside three days in Dhaka to clinch the series against a lacklustre Bangladesh. Zaheer’s 5 for 34 bowled the hosts out for 188 and when the follow-on was enforced under dark skies, there were only feisty half-centuries from Mohammad Ashrafuland Mashrafe Mortaza to delay the inevitable. India’s fielding left much to be desired, but in all, this was grossly one-sided cricket in humid conditions on a lifeless track.Weighed down by a mountainous 552-run deficit at the start of play,Bangladesh collapsed meekly. As on the second day, Zaheer needed littletime to get stuck in. Second ball, he trapped Shakib Al Hasan leg beforewith one brought in from outside off stump. Zaheer’s fourth five-wickethaul, and first since Brisbane 2003, came when he cleaned up MohammadRafique – who raised 1000 runs in Tests during his 12 – with a fulldelivery.Anil Kumble’s three wickets polished Bangladesh off on a track with nodemons in it before Zaheer resumed service. Having handed Javed Omaranother first-ball duck, Zaheer came back first over after lunch to bounceout a woefully out of form Habibul Bashar. That dismissal also broughtout the brilliant Ashraful, who drove and pulled with disdain during an81-run fourth-wicket partnership with Rajin Saleh (42 from 46) thatencompassed just 55 balls.When India toured in late 2004, Ashraful played the Test innings of hislife in a lost cause at Chittagong. Here, he threatened to repeat that infar more brutal fashion with 67 from just 41 balls. Debutant Ishant Sharmapitched it up, Ashraful drove, head straight and feet in place for 14runs. RP Singh dropped short, and Ashraful pulled, all wrist and late onthe roll, for six. And when Zaheer strayed even fractionally, Ashrafulsent the ball to the off-side boundaries at will.With Ashraful on 57 from just 30 balls, Rahul Dravid turned to Kumble. Agentle shoulder-warmer was floated up and Ashraful drove to the coverboundary, but he then flicked one to midwicket to end a brief butbelligerent innings. Ramesh Powar dismissed Saleh, Shakib Al Hasan andKhaled Mashud in quick succession but there was resistance from MohammadSharif and Mortaza (70 from 68), who added 54 for the eighth wicket.Butterfingers set in as Dravid dropped one and Dinesh Karthik two off thespinners, but Kumble showed them how to do it with a smartcaught-and-bowled after Sharif misread a googly. Rafique fell leg beforeto Tendulkar and when Mortaza slogged Tendulkar up in the air shortlyafter blitzing a second Test fifty, it was all over.The Bangladesh side that turned up at the brand new Sher-e-Bangla stadiumlooked remarkably like the faltering team of old. They were unable to bowla side out, shoddy with their fielding, and shaky with the bat. India,conversely, dominated every session.The plan was to bat just once, and a torrent of runs took them to amammoth 610 for 3 declared before Zaheer found proof of life in a comatosesurface. Having made his Test debut in 2000 at the Bangabandhu NationalStadium downtown, Zaheer looked an accomplished bowler in this series.What India will take from this game is the noise that he, Karthik andWasim Jaffer made with a long summer in England looming on the horizon.The opposition will be a lot tougher, but at least India can depart withthat winning feeling.

South Division

A magnificent 44-ball hundred from Luke Wright took Sussex to their first Twenty20 win of the season, beating Kent by seven wickets at Canterbury. After losing Chris Nash for 1, Murray Goodwin (30) and Wright put on 82 for the second wicket, but it was Wright’s partnership of 85 with his captain, Chris Adams, which propelled Sussex’s chase of 182. Wright fell immediately after reaching his hundred, which contained 11 fours and six sixes, but Adams’ slick 38 saw his side home with 17 balls to spare.

Midlands-West-Wales Division

Warwickshire kept up their unbroken record in the Twenty20 Cup with a 12-run win over Northamptonshire at Edgbaston. It was the ever-youthful Darren Maddy who anchored their victory with another fine allround performance. His 51 from 37 balls took Warwickshire to 174 for 7 from their 20 overs – aided by a bristling 20 from Dougie Brown, playing his first game of the season – before Maddy took 2 for 30 in Northamptonshire’s unsuccessful chase. Johan van der Wath was left stranded and unbeaten on 48 as the visitors ran out of overs.Mark Wallace and Ben Wright guided Glamorgan to a five-run victory at Sophia Gardens over Somerset, the pair’s unbeaten partnership of 47 taking Glamorgan home with four balls to spare. The home side were in difficulty when they lost Damien Wright at 96 for 5, but Wallace took command in his 30-ball 35 to settle any nerves. Somerset’s dauntingly powerful lineup were cut apart by Andrew Davies’ 2 for 12, Ryan Watkins’ 2 for 26 and three wickets for Dean Cosker.

Division One

Graeme Hick has become the 16th player to reach 40,000 first-class runs, passing the landmark during his 49 against Warwickshire. Hick adds another accolade to his career – and he is the first man to pass the milestone since Graham Gooch 13 years ago. “For someone who has achieved as much as he has in the game, to still have the drive, work ethic and hunger is great,” said his captain Vikram Solanki. “It takes a particular type of character and personality to be able to do it. As a player, he is the ultimate professional. He is still in fine shape. He has always looked after himself, he is still fit, still works hard, probably harder than anyone else now. He is an amazing guy.” Maybe the moment got to him, but Hick fell as soon as he had reached the landmark when he was caught behind off Dale Steyn. Nevertheless, Worcestershire moved to a 56-run lead when they were all out on the stroke of stumps at Edgbaston- thanks largely to Stephen Moore’s 112 – as the game heads towards a draw.Despite the best efforts of Mark Davies – who took 4 for 48 – Durham are now looking at a victory target of more than 250 on the final day after Hampshire recovered from 124 for 6 to make 309 for 9 by stumps. Durham were only able to add 24 to their overnight score at the Rose Bowl thanks to Shane Warne polishing off the tail to finish the innings with6 for 83, leaving Hampshire 56 behind at the turnaround. And this difference was looking crucial with the early collapse, but Dimitri Mascarenhas and Warne added 45 for the 8th wicket before Chris Tremlett gave further reminder of his allround skills by frustrating Durham’s bid for the top with a vital 62 not out from 81 balls, including three sixes to help Hampshire’s resurgence. But Hampshire suffered the minor indignity of having five runs deducted from their total because of their batsmen running on the pitch.Despite an impressive knock of 77 from Joe Denly, Kent were forced tofollow-on at Old Trafford after Lancashire bowled them out for272. Kent failed to put together any meaningful partnerships aside from an opening stand of 83, and Muttiah Muralitharan grabbed four middle-order wickets as they slumped from 160 for 4 to 210 for 8. England outcast Geraint Jones continued his recent return to form with the bat by making 70, adding 34 with Ryan McLaren, the second highest partnership of the innings. Denly and Key survived the two overs before the close and will have to bat out tomorrow to prevent Lancashire from earning their second win of the season.The clash between Yorkshire and Sussex at Headingley is fast turning into Ajmal Shahzal’s match. After scoring valuable runs yesterday he picked up four wickets today to help dismiss Sussex for 141 in what continues to be a very low, and slow-scoring game. With a deficit of two on first innings, Yorkshire were looking comfortable second time round at 112 for 1 before Jason Lewry made Craig White his second victim of the innings and Anthony McGrath was needlessly run-out for 59 to leave Yorkshire 129 for 3 at the close. With seven wickets in hand, they are likely to try to make the game safe rather than allow Sussex the opportunity to leapfrog them to the top of the table.

Division Two

While one old timer was making records with the bat at Worcestershire, another was making the ball sing down at Bristol. Andrew Caddick took his second five-wicket haul of the match to bowl Somerset to a crushing victory against Gloucestershire – defeating them by an innings and 151 runs. Caddick ended with match figures of 12 for 71. It’s the 17th time in first-class matches he’s taken ten wickets in a match. Charl Willoughby took the other five wickets – and he ended with seven. The win came within three days, but could have been shorter had rain not affected the early days. To add insult, Gloucestershire were deducted one point for a slow over rate.In a desperate attempt to force a result and drag themselves away from thebottom two of Division Two, Leicestershire declared their first innings at 131 for 4, still 120 behind Northants in what was looking like a rain-ruined contest at at Northampton. The home side closed on 99 for 4 with Lance Klusener dangerously poised having hit 22 from 18 deliveries in the evening. Earlier, Northants were indebted to David Sales 92, and late-order runs from David Lucas and the Australian Steven Crook, who boosted them to 251. Another David, Masters this time, claimed the seventh five-wicket haul of his career.Essex made Middlesex follow on at Lord’s, rolling them for 177 in their first innings. Martin Saggers, on loan from Kent, was the destroyer-in-chief with an impressive 5 for 39. He struck again as Middlesex resumed 199 runs adrift, removing Nick Compton lbw before Billy Godleman and Owais Shah helped the home side recover with a stand of 125. Godleman was trapped in front by Danish Kaneria, but Shah and Ed Joyce pulled Middlesex up to 198 for 2 by the close. Shah has been the epitome of patience so far forhis unbeaten 80, and will need to keep that up on Monday if Middlesex are to prevent the top three in the table putting distance between them.After more than two days of waiting to get underway, Nottinghamshire wastedno time putting Derbyshire to the sword at Nottingham, bowling them out for 108. Charlie Shreck made the Derbyshire scorecard look rather pitiful as he returned figures of 7 for 35 to add to his burgeoning reputation, and then Mark Wagh compounded the misery with a run-a-ball 88. Former captain Jason Gallian also made a handy 62 and withHussey, Read and Ealham still to come, expect some rapid scoring tomorrow asNotts look to declare and keep pressure on leaders Somerset.

“Human relations, man management skills, these are very, very essential in today’s world in any field of work … having that compassion, having that closeness towards your employees. And the same goes for West Indies cricket.”Daren Ganga’s experiences on the recent West Indies tour of England have convinced him even more that the different parties in Caribbean cricket have to get their act together. Fast. “Everything is very dysfunctional, disjointed with the Board, the players, the management team, the selectors,” Ganga said. “Everyone needs to co-exist in harmony.”Appointed vice-captain for the Test series, Ganga found himself having to carry the full burden of leadership from the second Test of the four-match rubber following the shoulder injury which ended Ramnaresh Sarwan’s tour. He presided over a 3-0 loss.Ganga admitted to having “a lot of new challenges, some of which I wasn’t able to deal with properly”. Asked about those challenges, however, he declined to elaborate, saying only, “It’s off-the-field issues.”Ganga, though, was more forthcoming with what needed to change for the team to improve. “There is no consistency,” he said about a set-up in which there was a new trainer, and manager Michael Findlay joined a team in which David Moore, formerly Bennett King’s assistant, was on his first official tour in charge.”New trainer, new manager … if you keep having that happen over and over again, there will be no consistency in anything that you are doing. There is no building of any sort of respect, any sort of trust, any sort of foundation to move forward.”By his own admission, Ganga’s performance in his new role was not helped by the controversy back home between the executive of the WICB and the selection panel over the captain for the limited-overs section of the tour, in which Chris Gayle was eventually given the nod over Ganga.”It definitely contributed to the way I performed,” he said. “The stats would show (the difference) from the first Test match to the very next time I batted as captain. It was a distraction for me personally and by extension [to] Chris Gayle and the rest of the team. It was unfortunate. I can’t really comment on what exactly transpired. But it did not really help our cause in salvaging some pride in that Test series.”Asked, however, whether the relationship with his opening partner had been affected by the brouhaha, Ganga replied: “Not at all. Myself and Chris spoke frequently during that entire dilemma. We both shared similar views with regards to what was taking place and what the repercussions were going to be.”Omitted from the Twenty20 and ODI squad which went on to draw and win those respective series under Gayle, Ganga left England with a Test series average of 15.00 and his international career once again under a cloud.”I’m not totally worried about it,” he said about the technical problems which resulted in several leg-before dismissals. “It’s something that has plagued me throughout my career. England saw a deficiency and exploited it.”His struggles at the crease have also convinced Ganga, still keen for the challenge of leadership, to make a change. “What I’ve realised, it’s very difficult to open the batting and lead international sides. The mental energy that is expounded when you lead teams, especially in the longer version of the game, is difficult. If I am to lead West Indies some time in the future, I would want to see myself batting lower down the order.”Ganga is also pressing for a change in the approach by the West Indian authorities to spin bowlers. He wants to see them regularly in the Test team. “Talk of no quality spinner holds no credibility when these are the guys who are coming out with the most wickets in our regional competition year in, year out,” he said.”We again failed to realise the great need for a spinner in our bowling attack. If you look at the entire Test series in context, on two occasions we made in excess of 600 in total and we were still unable to win a Test match, hence the need for a spinner, for variety; hence the need for taking that risk in an attempt to bowl teams out twice to win a Test match.”