Nathan Bracken has “chased” the bowling coach Bruce Reid around the world in the past couple of years as he rediscovered the swing that earned him a Test recall. Reid, who played 27 Tests for Australia, can expect another call before Australia meet the West Indies in Brisbane on Thursday after Bracken was promoted to the squad ahead of Stuart Clark.Bracken singled out Reid after he worked with him before touring India for a one-day series in 2003 and the relationship has continued to bring benefits. “He helped me out and basically got me on track swinging the ball,” Bracken said in . “Unfortunately, the situation was he signed with India so it became hard to do work with him in Australia because he was their bowling coach … and then he did work with other countries so it’s sort of been trying to chase him around the world to catch up.”Before the first Test Bracken wants to send Reid video footage of his action to “see what he thinks and see if there’s anything he can pick up”. Bracken is expected to get the nod over Stuart MacGill at the Gabba and is looking forward to targeting the West Indies’ left-handers.”I enjoy bowling to them,” he told the paper. “Growing up, my father was a left-hander so I always had plenty of practice. I wouldn’t put him on the same field as Brian Lara, but he tried hard.”Bracken has played only three Tests, all against India in 2003-04, but was part of the Super Series one-day side after a strong performance for New South Wales last summer. His bowling in Brisbane was particularly noticeable and he helped win the Pura Cup final against Queensland with a spell of 6 for 27 in the first innings. “It’s been good to me the last few times I’ve been up there,” Bracken said. “I’d love to see the same sort of wicket we played on up there, but I don’t think that will happen. It won’t be quite as green.”

Harbhajan Singh, has been fined 25% of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the first ODI against South Africa.Harbhajan pleaded guilty to the offence to Jeff Crowe, the ICC Match Referee, in a hearing after play concluded at Hyderabad on November 16. He was found to have breached the ICC Code which relates to `Pointing or gesturing towards the pavilion in an aggressive manner by a bowler upon the dismissal of a batsman.’ The batsmen in question was Ashwell Prince, who made a fine 46 during South Africa’s run-chase.Crowe confirmed that the bowler had apologised immediately: “… Harbhajan apologised for his actions to the umpires immediately and later to the batsman, he has now indicated that this type of violation will not be repeated.”All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50% of a player’s match fee. The charge was brought by Umpires Daryl Harper, Hariharan Krishna, Ivaturi Sivaram and Aloke Bhattacharjee. Crowe reached his conclusion after a hearing attended by Harbhajan, M Baladitya – the media manager – and the umpires.

A Swaziland U-17 cricket team hosted their Mozambique counterparts on Saturday December 10 at the Malkerns Club grounds.Mozambique won the toss and sent the home side into bat on a very soggy pitch. Despite the conditions they batted well to score 118 runs all out in the 29th over.This was also due to some superb fielding from the Mozambique side who had obviously practiced hard for this encounter. ( The top scorer was extras with 19, followed by Vuyani with 16.)The opposition came out after lunch and a brief shower of rain needing 119 runs to win. They started with a good opening partnership but were soon under pressure with some tight bowling. Wickets started to tumble and one thought the game had begun to slip away. This however, was not the case as Giovanni single handedly turned the game back in favour of the visitors. His luck ran out though in the 28th over when he holed out to mid on.(He top scored with 30runs) Mozambique finished up with 100 runs, loosing by 18 runs to the Swazi team.Both teams played in the spirit of the game and did themselves and their countries proud. Jason Wade was named man of the match with his bowling performance of three wickets for seventeen runs.Swaziland will be travelling to Mozambique early in the new year.

Kumar Sangakarra, the Man of the Match in Sri Lanka’s VB Series victory over South Africa yesterday, hopes to build on the win and dispel doubts about his team’s credibility.Speaking to BBC Sport, Sangakarra was relieved that Sri Lanka could get over South Africa. “It’s been a tough couple of months but it’s done us a world of good. It shows you need a lot of character to play this game,” he said. “You need to go through the tough times and keep yourselves together. Moments like these make it all worthwhile.”Sangakarra top-scored with 88 in a total of 282 for 6 as Sri Lanka bounced back from a woeful performance against Australia on Friday to record a 94-run win over South Africa. “The ball comes on at an even bounce here and there’s not much movement so what more can you ask for as a batsman?” Sangakarra said. “It was getting the basics right, doing our homework properly and getting prepared. Let the result take care of itself and just worry about what we can control.”Sri Lanka’s win over South Africa was only their third in 13 matches, but Sangakarra believed this run of bad form was no bad matter. “Ever since the 1996 World Cup [which Sri Lanka won] we have had a great record in one-dayers,” he said. “We owe a debt of gratitude to those players and it’s something we should be proud of. All the players should know their place in history and respect that.”Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, refused to use his side’s mounting injury toll as an excuse for a below-par showing. “The injury situation is definitely becoming a big irritation because it is very difficult to build any sort of momentum or continuity with players in and out of the side,” Smith said to .” But we have to deal with what we have got and today we just had bad basics from top to bottom. We let ourselves down in the opening overs with some ordinary bowling, and our fielding and batting wasn’t any better. But one bad performance doesn’t make a bad team and we can regroup and bounce back from this.”

ScorecardWestern Australia strode to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Tasmania in their Pura Cup encounter at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Despite beginning the day on a confident note, the Tigers suffered a late-order collapse which ensured the visitors had only 148 to chase.Resuming on 6 for 229, Tasmania had a lead of 100 and George Bailey and Brett Geeves added 69 for the seventh-wicket. Geeves was bowled by Ben Edmondson for 13 and two balls later Bailey was caught by Steve Magoffin off David Bandy for 76. Bandy struck again, dismissing Adam Griffith, and wrapped up the innings in his next over by clean bowling Ben Hilfenhaus for zero.Western Australia lost Justin Langer for 1 in their chase, but Chris Rogers and Shaun Marsh made light work of the target. Rogers was named the Man of the Match for his scores of 135 and 55 while Marsh finished with 63.

New South Wales have overlooked Graham Thorpe, the former England batsman, as they push for a Pura Cup final berth against Tasmania at Hobart from Thursday. Thorpe is an assistant coach with the Blues and there is a chance for him to extend his fine first-class record before retiring at the end of the season.Despite Phil Jaques’s call-up for the Australia one-day squad, the New South Wales selectors preferred to recall Greg Mail and Corey Richards instead of handing a debut to Thorpe for the second last regular game. Richards, who top scored with 35 in the one-wicket ING Cup final victory over South Australia on Sunday, replaces Craig Simmons while Mail comes in after a brace of half-centuries in last week’s 2nd XI game against Victoria.Tasmania’s plans for an unchanged side after their 120-run success in the last round against Victoria were upset by Michael Di Venuto pulling out with a back injury on Wednesday morning. He will be replaced by Tim Paine, who made his debut against South Australia in December.The Tigers are last on 14 points and are out of contention for the final. New South Wales are equal third on 20 with South Australia and Western Australia, four behind Victoria and eight away from Queensland.New South Wales Greg Mail, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Brad Haddin (capt, wk), Grant Lambert, Jason Krejza, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill.Tasmania David Dawson, Tim Paine, George Bailey, Michael Bevan, Travis Birt, Dan Marsh (capt), Sean Clingeleffer (wk), Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith, Ben Hilfenhaus.

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

A rousing innings from Brian Lara, followed hot on the heels by an inspired counter from Runako Morton, took West Indies to 256 for 4 at the end of the second day, again badly hit by rain, of the final Test at Napier. Though the day had dawned clear and the first session, which began half an hour early was completed uninterrupted, the rains came down in the middle of the day, and only a total of 78.1 overs has been possible in two days.In the first half hour of play, designed to make up some of the 60-plus overs lost on the first day, West Indies had both joy and disappointment. Lara, who looked in even better touch on the second day than on the first raced along to his half-century. At the same time Daren Ganga failed to capitalise.Shane Bond’s pace has hurried batsmen through the course of this Test but it was a cleverly disguised slower ball that accounted for Ganga. Almost yorker length the ball was too good for Ganga, who was bowled for 38.The fall of Ganga’s wicket did nothing to deter Lara who began to hit the ball sweetly. The off-side fence took a bit of a pounding, and even Stephen Fleming’s attempt to stack that side of the field did not help. Lara’s timing and placement as he drove in the arc from point to cover were so good that the fielders often had no chance.There was one bowler who escaped a beating, though, and that was Nathan Astle. Realising that the pitch was on the sluggish side Astle further cut down his pace and kept the ball up to the bat, bowling wicket to wicket and getting just a touch of movement in the air. Lara had to play him with care, and he did so till reaching 83, when he played on. Somehow Astle managed to squeeze through Lara’s defences, albeit through the inside edge and perhaps pad.Morton wasn’t as fluent as Lara to begin with but his methods were no less effective. He played straight, thumping the ball hard, and often he would beat the bowler or the close-in fielder with a shot that sent the ball straight into the pitch and then back past the fielder. He, and West Indies, could really have pressed forward if not for a tragicomic moment that left Shivnarine Chanderpaul stranded.Morton pushed to mid-on, where Daniel Vettori fielded, and set off for a single, but Chanderpaul, who was watching the ball, barely responded. By the time Vettori had fielded the ball both batsmen were at the bowler’s end and a throw to the keeper’s broke the partnership. Morton, bitterly disappointed, made to leave, but the umpires adjudicated that it was Chanderpaul who had to go.In some ways it appeared as though the run-out helped Morton focus. Perhaps he just did not want to return to the dressing-room early to face his captain. After the fall of Chanderpaul, Morton became more assured, driving and pulling with a minimum of footwork and maximum oomph. Once he picked up the length of the ball his bat came down hard and fielders in the circle could not move quickly enough to cut off the boundaries. In all he had 8 fours in a 133-ball, unbeaten 70 when the rains that have drenched Hawke’s Bay all week came down and put an end to the cricket. Dwayne Bravo quite a hitter in his own right, disciplined himself well, and put his head down, facing as many as 86 balls for 22, sharing in a partnership of 67 for the fifth wicket.The outlook is bleak for this Test match with more rain forecast for Monday and Tuesday. The game looks destined for a draw and it seems unlikely that even West Indies, playing as erratically as they are at the moment, can contrive to be bowled out twice quickly enough to force a result in this game.

Chris Gayle c Fulton b Martin 30 (37 for 1)
Daren Ganga b Bond 38 (111 for 2)
Brian Lara b Astle 83 (171 for 3)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul run out (Vettori/McCullum) 2 (189 for 4)

Chris Read has rejoined the Nottinghamshire squad for their their pre-season tour of South Africa after leaving the England A tour of West Indies when his family suffered a serious burglary.It was always Read’s intention to fly out with his team-mates for the seven warm-up games in Cape Town and Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket is delighted to have him back. “Chris was enjoying a terrific tour with England A and it was a double blow for him to be forced home in such a manner.”But he was keen to meet up with the rest of the squad and we’re glad to see him again. There’s been a real enthusiasm from the players in the last couple of weeks but now I think they’re all desperate to get some match practice under their belt.”The squad will be based at Bellville Cricket Club, where the allrounder Paul Franks has been playing since Christmas, and will play seven one-day matches, including a fixture with Somerset, who are also touring the area.Newell added that all players reported fit for the flight and said: “The conditions at Bellville are excellent and give us the ideal opportunity to get some outdoor practice in. All the matches will be competitive and good preparation before the season begins.”Nottinghamshire return on April 6 for two final warm-up games against Leicestershire before heading to Lord’s for the season curtain-raiser against MCC, which starts on April 14.

Javed Miandad, former Pakistan captain and batting legend, has added his voice to the brewing debate about player workloads, dismissing concerns of player burnout due to an increasingly busy international schedule.”All these complaints about too much cricket nowadays is rubbish. In our days we yearned for more matches,” Miandad told .He added, “Look at the other sports globally and how much football, tennis and golf is played on the international circuit. Cricket still lacks in global appeal because it is restricted to few countries.”The three-time former coach remains his country’s highest-capped Test player, with 124 appearances, and is also their top run-scorer (8832 runs). Additionally, he also played 233 ODIs. Miandad did stress however that the ICC and member boards ensured adequate rest periods between matches and during a tour. “That is important for players to recover but I don’t think excessive international cricket is being played these days. The players are also being paid well now.”Miandad, whose own international career spanned over 20 years, argued that international careers were shorter now and that players should be happy to play as much cricket as possible. “It’s a reality players have to get used to and just try to maintain optimum fitness levels to avoid fatigue and burnout.”Miandad’s comments come during a period in which debate over the issue has intensified. Sunil Gavaskar first criticised modern-day players for complaining about being overburdened, claiming he was willing to sweat it out 365 days a year for India. Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, then pleaded for administrators to give players a better break, after a schedule which saw Australia play 17 Tests, including the Ashes, in less than a year.He cited fatigue as a factor in their performance in the first Test against Bangladesh last week, which saw them nearly succumb to a shock defeat before pulling out a narrow three-wicket win. Shahid Afridi announced a temporary `retirement’ from Test cricket till the World Cup 2007, citing a hectic playing schedule and lack of time with his family as reasons. Marcus Trescothick, who returned home from England’s tour to India with what was reported eventually as a virus, also expressed his concerns about the packed schedule.Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, recently launched a stirring defence of his organisation, writing in an article published on Cricinfo “that the ICC was all too aware of the strain on players.” Speed argued that the development of a six-year Future Tours Programme (FTP) to replace the old five-year one was an acknowledgement of player concerns.

Few surprises emerged in a 16-man squad announced by Pakistan’s selectors for the tour to England which begins later this month. Shahid Nazir has been recalled, in place of the injured Shoaib Akhtar, but the selectors and Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, were both satisfied that the squad was the strongest one available.Wasim Bari, the chief selector, told Cricinfo that despite Shoaib’s absence, Pakistan will arrive with a strong pace attack. “I think this is the best squad we could get, especially after the news of Shoaib’s fracture. We will miss him of course – any side would – but in Shahid Nazir we have a bowler who is suited to English conditions and is a good option for the captain.”As a consolation, Shoaib’s absence is not unusual for Pakistan; they drew in India and the West Indies last year and won in Sri Lanka recently without him. The emergence of Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and the return of Umar Gul has helped ease the burden and with Mohammad Sami recalled as well (Bari said the bowler has been working “extremely hard” since he was dropped after the India series), Pakistan’s seam attack still has an enviable depth.”We’ve played and done well in a few series without Shoaib,” said Woolmer. “Obviously his presence and express pace are good to have, but I am happy with the squad we have. Shahid Nazir can be very good in these conditions.”Shoaib’s participation at some point during the tour has, of course, not been ruled out yet least of all by Bari or the bowler. “I am very hopeful that he will play at some stage of the series. He will have another scan in six weeks and we will see after that,” said Bari. And Shoaib told AFP he was planning to be fit in time to play at least the last two Tests of the series.His absence apart, little about the squad warranted debate; in Woolmer’s words, “this is a squad that has done very well and we don’t want to be chopping and changing all the time.” As is now the norm, there is a scarcity of specialist openers in whom confidence can be invested. Salman Butt and Imran Farhat are selected, though Shoaib Malik is likely to open with one of them in the Tests. “I don’t understand why people have issues with him as an opener,” said Woolmer, referring to a number of half-century opening stands and a maiden Test hundred in Colombo recently since Malik added opening to a burgeoning list of roles.”He is a good, good cricketer. All opening batsmen are under pressure, but he’s gutsy and the sort of bloke you want in your team. And he’s done pretty well as opener.”Below them – always nice to say – is a middle order that picks itself. Asim Kamal’s continued absence (though he remains a reserve member) might grate with some, but his poor domestic form and the robust international display of Faisal Iqbal recently, lessens the impact of his absence.And because it is England, mischievous mutterings about little Mushie, currently busy tormenting English batsmen on the county circuit, still float around. Bari and Woolmer played their part, neither ruling out, nor ruling in, a Mushtaq cameo at some point in the summer.Woolmer hinted that he might not be needed: “Danish [Kaneria] is our No. 1 spinner but we also have back-up in Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik. The pitches at that time of year in England will also have uneven bounce so we’re looking more at our seam attack to do the work.”But Bari said, open-endedly: “We can’t pre-plan these things and it all depends on what happens as the tour progresses, but he is in good form certainly.” That form has seen him help Sussex to the top of the County table and help himself to 47 wickets from seven matches.With England still suffering from a calamitous injury list, you could almost be tempted into believing Pakistan stand a more-than-decent chance of preserving an unbeaten record on England tours since 1982. Almost, but not quite, says Woolmer. “I don’t look into the future. I respect the team, any team, that we play against. We still have to play very good cricket and win those crucial sessions to win matches. Above all we must take every game seriously.”Pakistan squad Inzamam-ul Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal, Muhammad Sami, Rana Naved, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir.