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Dinesh Mongia has denied reports that his suspension from the ICL was due to alleged contact with bookies. “It has got nothing to do with match-fixing,” Mongia told the .On Monday Mongia and Chris Cairns, of Chandigarh Lions, were suspended on disciplinary grounds after it was learnt that Cairns, who arrived at the tournament with an ankle injury, had not disclosed his fitness status to the ICL. Mongia was suspended because he knew about Cairns’ injury in advance but did not share the information with tournament officials.”The ICL officials interrogated me over Cairns’s ankle injury,” Mongia said. “They thought I was aware of it and did not inform them. I have given my explanation to them.”Cairns’ lawyer, Andrew Fitch-Holland, also denied his client had been involved in match-fixing and said he was suspended for failing to report an injured ankle. “I’ve seen no statement [on match-fixing] from the ICL to that effect,” Fitch-Holland told the . “And I would be very surprised if you could find anyone at the ICL who would say that.”

Brendon McCullum says it will be a major achievement for a changing New Zealand side if they can snare the world No. 2 ODI ranking during their tour of Bangladesh. New Zealand are currently fourth on the ICC table but if they beat Bangladesh 3-0, they will jump both England and South Africa to sit behind only Australia.”If we can do that, and we should, that would be quite incredible in my view for a team that has had so many changes recently,” McCullum told the . “If we can play the brand of cricket we have of late we must have a reasonable shot at it.”Part of the reason for New Zealand’s recent success has been the decision for McCullum to open instead of playing the role of closer at No. 7. That full-time role started at the beginning of the 2007-08 season and since then McCullum has averaged 53.83 in ODIs.”For the first time I entered the season with some real clarity about how I wanted to play,” he said. “I just wanted to play my natural style of game and do what I know works for me.”A lot of guys can be afraid to take risks but I relish taking the bowlers on. Some days it does not come off and you die by the sword but generally it’s been okay. It’s quite simple really, it’s more about having the conviction to see it through.”McCullum spent Wednesday at a training camp for New Zealand’s batsmen in Christchurch, while the bowlers convened in Auckland before the squad departs for Bangladesh next week. Bangladesh have this month been hit by the departures of 13 players to join the ICL but John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, did not expect that to weaken their side.”Their best players, five or six of them like [Mohammad] Ashraful, [Mashrafe] Mortaza, Tamim [Iqbal] are still there,” Bracewell said. “The players that have gone are more around the fringes of the team or players who were getting toward the end of their careers.”

The sporting landscape of Fiji and Samoa is dominated by the oval ball, but for the next two weeks the focus will be on a little red object as the MCC arrive for a six-match tour.The 14-man squad includes three county players – Glamorgan’s Mike Powell, Gloucestershire’s Tom Stayt and Worcestershire’s Josh Knappett – and the tour will also include coaching sessions in Suva.The MCC will donate US$2,500 to both the Fijian and Samoan cricket associations and the ICC will give US$1,250 to each country.Bob Baxter, a ten-time MCC tourist, will manage the trip. “This tour gives us a wonderful opportunity to represent the club both in the quality of our play but also in the way we conduct ourselves,” he said. “We’re looking forward to some good competitive cricket, played in the right spirit.”Stayt, a right-arm medium-pace bowler, is looking forward to some action after a 2008 season hit by injury. “It was frustrating to end the season fully fit and still raring to go,” he said. “This MCC tour gives me a great opportunity to keep my momentum going as I look to impress the coaching team at Gloucestershire ahead of next season.”The tour opens with the first of three 50-over matches against a Samoan XI at the Garden Oval, in Tuanaimato, then the tour moves to Fiji for three further games.

Bangladesh will rework their top order for the final ODI against Australia as they aim to avoid another sub-par performance. Junaid Siddique has been rewarded for a promising effort at No. 3 in the second match and will open alongside Tamim Iqbal for Saturday’s game.Mehrab Hossain jnr has had a miserable series as opener, scoring 0 and 1 and looking uncomfortable against the swinging ball. He was promoted after scoring a century in the final warm-up match but the captain Mohammad Ashraful said Bangladesh could not afford any more top-order collapses.”In the second game Australian new-ball bowlers bowled well,” Ashraful said. “Our two openers get out very early. The problem is we need an opening start, like ten overs or 12 overs they can stay there. Junaid played good cricket last game, I think he will open tomorrow with Tamim.”Junaid missed the first match and was included at No. 3 for the second game, although he ended up facing the second ball of the day when Nathan Bracken struck immediately. His calm 21 from 44 deliveries helped Bangladesh steady on Wednesday, although they still lost by eight wickets.Ashraful said their two big losses in Darwin were particularly disappointing given the positive cricket the team had played recently. He conceded Bangladesh had not had the results they would have liked in the past few months but he felt they showed some promising signs at the Asia Cup and in June’s tri-series in Bangladesh.”After the World Cup our performance graph is going down, it’s true, because I’m a new captain and new coach also, and the team is also a very new, young side,” Ashraful. “Last two series our team did well.”Following their two thrashings at the hands of Australia, Bangladesh are simply aiming for a competitive showing in Saturday’s finale. “We are practicing really hard but the results are not coming,” Ashraful said. “Although we are a young and very talented side, we need a little bit of experience.”

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

A disciplined bowling performance by England limited their target to a gettable 197 on the penultimate day at The Oval. The one man to stand in their way was AB de Villiers who fell three short of a fine hundred, but with the weather forecast set fair, England are favourites to wrap up a consolatory win and start the Kevin Pietersen era on a successful note.What other note could possibly be more appropriate for someone of Pietersen’s relentlessly positive demeanour? Some pundits have called him a “lucky” captain only four days into his tenure, but there is brain behind the bravado too. Should England win, it will partially heal a wounded summer that has seen them lurch from the relative high of beating a poor New Zealand side, to losing their best-ever captain in Michael Vaughan. 197 should be a formality, but nothing is ever plain-sailing for a talented but inconsistent batting line-up.If they need inspiration they should look no further than de Villiers, a batsman who not long ago couldn’t separate one-day extravagance with Test-match thinking. Remodelled, he is nearing the complete package. His 97 today, and a vital eighth-wicket stand of 95 with the obdurate Paul Harris, has at least gave South Africa a slim chance of making it 3-0.It was Steve Harmison and England who stole the early honours, however. With both of South Africa’s big guns at the crease, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, South Africa could very easily have batted England out of the contest. But Harmison is a bowler reinvigorated from his stint with Durham, and a nasty straight bouncer accounted for Amla in the third over of the day to set England’s wheels in motion. Ambrose’s wheels nearly went in the opposite direction, but for a desperate and successful dive to his right and the ball juggled into his gloves safely. His relief of finally contributing an outstanding effort to the team was palpable, but it seems increasingly unlikely – bar a matchwinning innings tomorrow – that one snaffle will save his Test career.With Amla gone, all the pressure was on Kallis’s immensely broad shoulders. For someone so desperately out of form, Kallis craved a slice of luck – and he got a fat tranche on 9 when he drove Harmison low to Pietersen’s left at mid-off. Yet the very next ball, England ended his on 104 runs when he fended a sharp and rising delivery from Harmison low to Paul Collingwood at third slip. South Africa were effectively 16 for 4.James Anderson gave Harmison excellent support, as did all England’s bowlers. There was balance in the attack – so much balance, in fact, that Andrew Flintoff was left resting in the slip cordon until half-an-hour before lunch. His relentless pace did for Prince, whose lack of feet movement barely resembled the unquenchable centurion earlier in the series, and Flintoff soon troubled de Villiers with a vicious bouncer that grazed his visor. A second bumper cannoned off his back, as England scented a victory in four days.Fifty quiet minutes calmed South Africa’s fluttering nerves after lunch. They needed a grafting session if they were to challenge England with a testing total: but captain Kev struck with an inspired change of bowling. Switching Anderson to the other end, he had Mark Boucher fending to gully.However, de Villiers’ denied them. His once petulant attitude in the face of aggressive tactics is now long gone, and he settled himself down for a satisfying (if bruising) innings. A sublime cover drive got his feet moving, and he was content to work balls into the gap and rotate the strike. England rather took their foot off the gas in the afternoon, allowing de Villiers to move anonymously closer to his ton with nudges down to fine-leg and two emphatic fours off Panesar.Morne Morkel came and went to Panesar, again, but England were again frustrated by Harris. Using his height to good effect, and not afraid of the occasional blow, he offered ideal support: unflappably helping his senior partner, and infuriating England with regular flashes past slip. Not many batsmen can say they have faced more balls in a series than the brilliant limpet of Kallis but, remarkably, Harris managed just that.Another flash off Stuart Broad, who bowled with encouraging rhythm and pace all day, found Flintoff’s Hulk hands at slip – and from there South Africa folded. Panesar maintained his leg-stump line to de Villiers, who for once showed panic at the rabbits he had supporting him, and lost his leg-stump attempting a wild slog over midwicket. The last three fell in four overs, and England’s openers survived eight balls in pursuit of 197 before the Kennington rain curtailed the day.Only a remarkable bowling performance from South Africa – or a stupendous collapse from England – can prevent this match going to script. The Pietersen regime may not always be this successful, but it promises never to be dull.

Despite assurances from the Pakistan board that all is well, there are increasing signs that a number of players are considering boycotting September’s ICC Champions Trophy amid fears over their safety.”We’ve been hearing though the media that there may be concerns among some of the players about the Champions Trophy,” Zakir Khan, the PCB’s director of cricket operations, said yesterday. “But we are not taking any of it seriously unless there is an official confirmation from the boards of those countries.”However, it emerges that England’s players are in close contact with their Australian counterparts, and the ICC appears to be facing the real possibility that the tournament, which is far from popular with players and public, could be hit by a wave of boycotts.”The Aussies have already come out and expressed their concerns,” one senior England player was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph. “I’m not a big fan of going to Pakistan. I just hope it won’t be us players who get left to make the decision in the end.”Australia’s cricketers have also been expressing concerns. Earlier this year, Australia postponed a scheduled tour of Pakistan on safety grounds and the general view in the dressing room seems to be that the situation remains unaltered. “We don’t know if we’re going, and if we do go, we don’t know if individuals are going to pull out,” Ricky Ponting said. “But what we know right now is, yes, there is some apprehension amongst some of the players and that was stated last summer. I don’t think that would have changed until now.”New Zealand are also among those watching with interest. Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, will fly to London next week to discuss his players’ concerns over touring Pakistan for a short ODI series just before the Champions Trophy.”If the Australians have got concerns, I’m sure a lot of other teams will as well,” Daniel Vettori, their captain, admitted. “I was there when the bomb went off outside our hotel. Then I went back a year later and the security they put forward was immense, and almost overwhelming. I did feel safe throughout that time.”A security expert will travel to Pakistan next week and his report is expected to be submitted to the ECB and Cricket Australia soon after. Other boards may well look at the results with more than a passing interest.The official line from the ICC, underlined by bullish comments from its president, Ray Mali, is that all is well and there are no problems, but privately concerns are growing, not least because Sri Lanka is the back-up venue should Pakistan be deemed unsafe. Many players would only be marginally happier switching there given the country’s issues.

Kings XI Punjab

Most valuable player
Shaun Marsh has lit up the Indian Premier League with calculated assaults on his way to becoming the tournament’s highest scorer. He took only 10 matches to score 593 runs at 74.12, a feat which earned him the orange cap, and ensured that Kings XI Punjab finished second on the league table. He launched into the Rajasthan Royals in the final league match, taking only 58 balls to become the tournament’s sixth centurion.Top performers
Kumar Sangakkara, despite featuring in only nine matches due to injury, has blitzed four quick-fire fifties to provide the impetus at the start. He fell six runs short of a century in Punjab’s first game against Mumbai.Sreesanth has shied away from his aggressive avatar after the much-publicised incident involving Harbhajan Singh, and decided to take a more studious approach to bowling. The results have been dramatic: in his first three matches, he took three wickets at 34.66 but after the episode, he has claimed 16 wickets at 20.68 to become the team’s strike force. Overall, he is the second-highest wicket-taker.Piyush Chawla has not been afraid to toss the ball up and he has been rewarded with 17 wickets, making him the second most successful slow bowler.Captaincy
Yuvraj Singh’s leadership has not been severely tested but he has shown an openness to discuss tactics with his international peers, particularly Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain. He has also shown the way on the field – he helped Punjab to a last-ball win at the Wankhede Stadium, taking a cue from the Jonty Rhodes fielding manual by diving full length to affect a stunning run out.Strengths and weaknesses
Punjab have made the best use of the first six overs, scoring at 8.79 an over. They have also been excellent in the field and their performance reached its peak against Mumbai, when they pulled off four run outs including three in the last over.Yuvraj’s inexperience with captaincy could hamper them in the knock-out phase. Their bowling has also been exposed at the death: they have the worst record when it comes to runs conceded in the last five overs among the semi-finalists.Stats and trivia</b