Muttiah Muralitharan does not have a new delivery, and has been bowling his doosra for over five years, according to Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka’s new chief executive and former captain and coach of the national team.Muralitharan was reported to the International Cricket Council by Chris Broad, the match referee during the recent Australia series. Broad said that Muralitharan’s action was possibly suspect when “when he bowls his ‘new’ delivery that turns away from the right-handed batsman.”But Mendis insisted that Muralitharan has been bowling the same delivery regularly for at least five years, but during the recent tour of Sri Lanka by England the media started to make references to a “new” or “special” delivery. Muralitharan was indeed working on a new ball, but that was a back-spinner, which he has still not yet been bowled in a match.”There is no such thing as a new delivery,” Mendis told reporters. “Murali has been bowling this ball in international cricket for over five years now. The only difference between then and now is that he has now perfected the delivery, making it more effective and accurate.”Nevertheless, the board, although surprised and disappointed by Broad’s decision, has already started stage one of the ICC’s new two-stage process for dealing with suspect bowling actions. A Bowling Review Committee will meet on Monday evening, and an ICC-approved human-movement specialist will be appointed shortly after consultation between Mendis and Dave Richardson, the ICC’s cricket operations manager.The specialist will analyse the doosra and work with the Bowling Review Group to prepare a report for the ICC within the stipulated six-week period. The board hopes to “do everything possible as early as possible”, but the report is unlikely to be ready for Sri Lanka’s first one-dayer in Zimbabwe on April 20.There is no suggestion, though, that Muralitharan will not play, or be discouraged from using his doosra in the interim period, unless there is scientific evidence that proves that there is a problem. Mendis remains very confident that Muralitharan will be cleared once and for all.Mendis met with Muralitharan on Monday morning at the board headquarters in Colombo. “Murali is obviously disappointed, but he is a born fighter,” he said. “Having spoken to him, I am sure he will fight his way through this – I was pleased to see him in this mood.”Murali himself confirmed: “I am very disappointed by what has happened as I thought this matter was behind me. I have been bowling this delivery for over five years now and I am naturally upset because I feel there is nothing wrong with it.” And, he told reporters on Monday, he is hopeful that the fourth set of rigorous scientific tests on his action in his career will finally put an end to the controversy. “I am very confident that these assessments will prove, once and for all, that my bowling action is perfectly legal.”Muralitharan’s bowling action was first assessed by the University ofWestern Australia in 1996, using six cameras shooting at a thousand framesper second. They concluded that his unique bent-armed action created theoptical illusion that he was throwing. Further voluntary research was carried out by the University of Hong Kong the same year, and in England in 1999.Sri Lanka’s Bowling Review Committee was chaired by Roshan Mahanama, who will now have to be replaced after being appointed as an ICC match referee. The other members include Lalith Kaluperuma, the current chairman of selectors; Champaka Ramanayake, the board’s fast-bowling coach; KT Francis, Sri Lanka’s first ICC-appointed umpire; and Roger Wijesuriya, a former Test left-arm spinner.

Lancashire 335 and 24 for 0 beat Sussex 195 and 163 (Cork 5-58) by 10 wickets
Scorecard

This mouthwatering game between last year’s champions and this year’s favourites ended in a booming win for the new pretenders. In 2003, Lancashire did not manage a single three-day win; but for Wednesday afternoon’s deluge, they might have won here inside two. On this evidence, nothing but the weather can hold them back: after Stuart Law’s breathtaking innings yesterday, their seamers took centre stage today – and barely fluffed a line.Sussex began the day – another bathed in sumptuous spring sunshine – 89 behind, but with all ten second-innings wickets intact. The weather was so glorious that optimism among the home crowd took fanciful flight. Murmurs were heard about a last-day declaration. Those whispers, emanating from the members’ enclosure, were slightly louder than over the first two days, partly because of Sussex’s improved performance on Thursday, and partly because the members were getting to grips with the new ID-card scheme. For the first time, passport-sized photos are required to avoid the cards being shared around to gain free entry. Such is the price of Sussex’s success.Those wearers of rose-tinted spectacles were still hoping for a day echoing with the sound of rattling boundary boards when Sussex suffered their first setback. Ian Ward and Richard Montgomerie had taken the score to 64, and the deficit to 76, when Peter Martin surprised Ward with bounce and movement, and Warren Hegg took a straightforward catch.Still, Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin moved the score along to 90 for 1, and the optimists’ position looked just about tenable. The Lancashire seamers, though, were hitting their stride, hitting the deck and now hitting the stumps. Sajid Mahmood bowled three successive awayswingers then, ten minutes after midday, followed them up with one that came in. Montgomerie shouldered arms and saw his off stump disappear. It spoke volumes about Mahmood’s maturity: Martin Bicknell memorably did the same to South Africa’s Jacques Rudolph at The Oval last summer.Montgomerie, who carried his bat on Wednesday, had hung around for 115 balls for his 27, but his departure punctured the Sussex innings. Goodwin was trapped lbw by Dominic Cork, who cast off yesterday’s golden duck to spearhead the Lancashire attack. Chris Adams later said he thought “Cork had really added something to this Lancashire side.” Not that Adams had any chance to look closely at him today: he too got a first-baller, spooning a leading edge from Mahmood to backward point.With Robin Martin-Jenkins – another leg-before victim for Cork – lasting just three deliveries, Sussex, now 96 for 5, had lost four wickets for six runs in ten balls. Against other attacks, there might have been a way back, but Lancashire were magnificent: “For Gary Keedy [who took ten Sussex wickets last September] not to take part in the game was testament to how their seamers bowled,” conceded Adams. Cork ripped through the tail to grab his first Lancashire five-for. In just 88 minutes either side of lunch, the Sussex ship had sunk from 90 for 1 to 163 all out.That may have been fast, but it was nothing to what followed. In order to remedy their parlous over rate on the second day, Sussex zipped through the overs like demented greyhounds. In little more than 15 minutes, they bowled almost nine overs – the time Lancashire needed to make 24 and win by ten wickets – but at least Sussex avoided the hefty two-point penalty levied on Lancashire. “I’ll take a couple of points lost,” reflected Warren Hegg afterwards, “to win a match against a team that’s going to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.” Will they?Hugh Chevallier is deputy editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.

In the past decade-and-a-half, Ashes post mortems have reminded us about Mike Gatting being the last English captain to win a series against Australia. But Gatting was the last captain to do something else. In the Boxing Day Test of 1986, he won the toss and sent Australia in, and watched Gladstone Small and Ian Botham bundle Australia out for just 141. That set up a thumping Ashes-winning victory for England, by an innings and 14 runs; and it was the last time Australia lost a match at home when they were sent in to bat.If Marvan Atapattu had checked the stats for teams inserting Australia, post 1986, he would have come across the figure of 389. That’s the average Australian score when they have been asked to take first strike in a home Test since 1987. Seven times out of 19, they have scored more than 400 and neither the pitch nor the bowling has caused any problems.Atapattu’s predicament today was pretty similar to Nasser Hussain’s at the Gabba in 2002-03, but there have been many more captains whose decisions have backfired. Interestingly out of the 19 instances of Australia being put in, 12 have come in the first Test of the series – and Australia have won seven of them.Sri Lanka have won just six matches out of 21, after asking the opposition to bat (and three of those instances were against Zimbabwe).If we take a look at all teams from the beginning of 1987, Australia are streets ahead of the rest when it comes to their win-loss ratio, home and away, when put in. In 31 matches they have won 16 and lost just three (a ratio of 5.33). Sri Lanka stand in sixth spot, with 0.62, while India are way down in ninth spot with a win-loss ratio of just 0.10.So the moral of the story is: if you are a numbers man – or even if you aren’t – don’t ever send these Aussies in.

In a severe blow to Pakistan, Umar Gul, their promising swing bowler, has been ruled out of competitive cricket for a year. According to a PCB press release, Gul has been diagnosed with having three stress fractures on his spine, and the fractures alone will take six months to heal, after which rehabilitation will begin.The diagnosis was carried out by specialists in Cape Town, where Gul spent a week. The first signs of this injury surfaced in 2000, but it wasn’t correctly diagnosed then, and Gul, believing that it was just a niggle, played through the pain. The injury became worse during Pakistan’s recent home series against India, and Gul had to pull out of the third Test at Rawalpindi.Gul was the matchwinner in Pakistan’s lone victory in that series, in the second Test at Lahore, in which he took 5 for 31 in the first innings. While the fast bowlers who were being hyped for their sheer pace could not deliver, Gul set up a win with his accurate swing bowling, which heralded a bright future for him. Then, the injury returned. That it has been diagnosed at all, though, is a step in the right direction.

Let the mind-games begin. As India and Pakistan prepare to do battle in their decisive Pool C encounter at Edgbaston, Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, has reopened a few old wounds by suggesting that India’s batsmen are susceptible to the short ball.Brett Lee made Indian lives a misery with his hostile line of attack during the 2003 World Cup, and Woolmer believes that in Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, he has the right weapons with which to repeat the dose and propel his side into the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy."Indian batsmen struggle against short-pitched bowling. They just can’t hook,” Woolmer declared to rediff.com. “There is no batsman in the world who is comfortable against fast, short-pitched bowling, particularly when it is directed at the head. It’s just not this generation of batsmen. You take any generation down the years, and they all had the same problem."There is one Indian batsman, in Woolmer’s opinion, who is up to the task. But, unfortunately for India, Sachin Tendulkar is not present at this tournament. He was forced to withdraw ahead of the NatWest Challenge with a bout of tennis elbow, and remains doubtful for the first Test against Australia at Bangalore next month.In Tendulkar’s absence, a lot could yet rest on the man cast from the master’s mould, Virender Sehwag. His form of late has been woeful, but the big-match atmosphere – and his previous successes against Pakistan – could be just what he needs to get back to his attacking best.”Viru really just needs one good innings," said John Wright, India’s coach. "Sometimes, when you haven’t been getting runs, I think you just need to spend time in the middle. Sehwag is a great player. At the moment he needs to back himself, play straight and [the runs] will eventually come.”There have been suggestions that Sehwag, who has mustered just 44 runs in six innings since the final of the Asia Cup, needs to tone down his aggressive instincts and play a holding role for a change, but Wright fervently disagrees. “I basically believe that Sehwag needs to play his natural game," he insisted. "He is a fearless batsman and you can’t ask him to curb his instincts."Wright spoke of the need for one of his top three of Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to come good, and pointed to Ganguly’s form as the biggest positive to have come out of the tournament so far. But Woolmer has other ideas. “I see cricket slightly differently," he said. "I see cricket as a team game. The top three in any team are important and their performance is vital, but I believe every player has a role to perform; to win, every player has to do the task assigned to him.”But, as has so often been the case this week, the weather could play a major part in the proceedings. It has been damp and overcast for the past two days, and Woolmer warned that the match could hinge on two or three critical moments. "At the end of the day, the team that grabs the opportunities is the one that will win. We need to forget the past; those matches were played on different surfaces.”

This season’s Carib Beer Series, which begins on January 7, will be contested between six teams who will play each other home and away. The series will include the Carib Beer League and the Carib Beer Challenge. Significantly, no international teams will participate in the competition.Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands will compete in the league. The top two league teams will then play in the five-day Carib Beer Challenge game after the league stage is over, with the winner taking US$5000. A cash prize of US$12,000 has been announced for the winner of the League Cup.The home-and-away format ensures that each team will play ten four-day games in ten rounds over a nine-week period, after which the finals – the Challenge – will be held from March 18 to 22. The League Series begins on January 7. But the early stages could be affected by the absence of top players, who will be playing the VB Series in Australia, which ends on February 8.

Sometimes in life we start doing something which we had never thought of, or prepared for, but we end up enjoying each and every moment of this new chapter in life. Shivkumar Yadav had no aspirations or training to be a curator as he was growing up but now, in his mid-thirties, he finds himself in charge of the Green Park pitch at Kanpur. And he only came to his present profession through life’s surprising twists and turns.As we sit cross-legged on the freshly laid Green Park wicket in the Wednesday-evening twilight, he reminisces about the 1991 festival match between Kapil Dev’s XI and Chetan Sharma’s XI in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, where it all started for Yadav, who was then 20 years old. “I was part of the ground-maintenance squad, and was assisting the groundsman there, and though I didn’t have much knowledge about pitch-making I developed an interest then.”An aspiring cricketer during his schooldays in Bareilly, where he was the school captain, Yadav went for state trials but was not selected. He was so dismayed that he decided he didn’t want to play the game any more, and called time on his playing career. After finishing his diploma in electrical engineering at Bareilly Polytechnic, he ended up working for the state department and eventually was posted into the Uttar Pradesh Sports Department at Allahabad. In 2002 he moved to Kanpur, at a time when the BCCI-appointed pitch panel was relaying fast tracks in six centres across India.Unfortunately, the scheduled first Test between New Zealand and India in 2003 couldn’t take place because the outfield was found unsuitable for play. “According to me it was completely OK, and it was disheartening for the match to be shifted to Ahmedabad,” says Yadav, who started the entire ground-renovation work, which included the outfield as well as the pitch, on March 16 this year.The first priority was to dig out the entire field and remove the wild crogron grass that has been growing locally for more than 25 years and had wild roots as deep as one-and-a-half-feet. The ground was dug to about two feet and then Bermuda grass was planted throughout. “Around that time, Anand Shukla, who is the senior guardian of the Green Park wicket, and who is also part of the BCCI pitch committee, advised me to maintain the pitch, too, by giving me useful tips. He gave me enough reading material and explained various other things that would come handy when making the wicket.”So is this new baby his own brainchild, or has it been doctored by the BCCI mandarins? “It’s completely mine,” says Yadav, adding further, “abhi toh yeh naya Green Park hain [now it is a new Green Park].” As this is the first proper pitch he has made for an international match, it would be natural for him to be nervous. But, when asked if he’s scared, he replies, unhesitatingly, “Far from that – I am proud of it.” And his hard work paid off last month, as the Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy probables played a game on the new surface – and there wasn’t a spot to be found on the shiny new surface. Neither did it crack up.As I look, and poke, and bounce the ball on the virgin bed of the pitch, one thing stands out – actually it’s the first thing anyone will notice – some prominent cracks scattered across the 22 yards. “That’s because of the nature of the black cotton soil,” Yadav explains. “Nothing else.”The grass has been hard-bound to the surface, and you can barely see any green patches across the pitch. The surface is hard and dry, and the bounce is good. And though Yadav says the surface will last all five days, he knows the spinners will come into play from early on the third day. And that’s why he says “India should play three spinners.” Why? “We know our fast bowlers won’t pose much of a problem as was evident in Jaipur in the tour game.”Another reason is that the pitch committee gave instructions to stop watering from November 14, which means the dew is the only form of moisture the fast bowlers could make use of.Straying somewhat from the current conversation, I ask if he finds himself a misfit in this trade as he never had thought about becoming a groundsman. “I don’t think so, because I am enjoying what I am doing. Though I never studied for it, I am putting my efforts in it and getting the right support.” Yadav feels that the BCCI should take on the job of educating the curators in this age of technology, where groundsmanship is a highly skilled profession.As people are winding up for the day, Yadav says he will be satisfied if “at the end of the match people won’t call it a tailor-cut wicket, the one that was on display in the final game of the Australia series.”Tailor-cut, tailor-made: name it what you like – Shivkumar Yadav is a happy man enjoying his new-found passion in life.Nagraj Gollapudi is on the staff of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Australia began the day behind the eight-ball, trailing by 138 runs with their last recognised pair at the crease. By the end of a riveting day of Test cricket at Melbourne, they had taken charge with another awesome performance with both bat and ball to underline why they are so far ahead of the rest of the pack. Damien Martyn led the way with a sublime 142, with generous support from Jason Gillespie (50 not out). Then, the bowlers struck, reducing Pakistan to 5 for 85, an overall lead of just 47.If Yousuf Youhana’s knock on the first day was sublime, then Martyn’s hundred was a masterclass of equal, if not higher, quality, by a batsman who has made it a habit this year to bail his team out of trouble – four of his six centuries during this period have been in back-to-the-wall situations. Unbeaten on 67 overnight, Martyn hardly put a foot wrong till he was finally trapped in front by Danish Kaneria, a decision which replays showed was a bit harsh. Martyn lost Adam Gilchrist early in the day after a brief flourish, and Shane Warne fell soon after in a morning session reduced to 45 minutes due to rain. At 7 for 254, Australia were in serious strife, but Martyn found an able ally in Gillespie, and the two slowly went about neutralising Pakistan’s advantage.Pace and spin came alike to Martyn, as he uncorked some gorgeous strokes all around the park. Danish Kaneria bowled from round the wicket and tried to exploit the rough created by the bowlers’ footmarks, but Martyn countered it with superb footwork, rocking back to cut, and traipsing down the pitch to drive through wide mid-on. Against pace, he was equally assured: Mohammad Sami charged in with the second new ball, only to be caressed through the covers and then carved past mid-off with a stroke which bordered on the arrogant. And when Sami pitched it short, Martyn was ready with the cut – a shot over which he showed absolute mastery, playing various versions of it to guide the ball in the arc from square third man to cover. Shoaib Akhtar tested him with the short stuff and more verbal barrage, but Martyn had an answer to both – he weaved out of the short ones, and simply turned his back to Akhtar’s verbal attack.Martyn was scintillating, but Gillespie played a vital hand as well, adding 93 priceless runs with Martyn for the eighth wicket. He was solid in defence against Kaneria, and wasn’t afraid to take a few knocks on the body when Akhtar peppered him with short balls from round the wicket. His secure defence allowed Martyn to play his normal game without bothering to farm the strike. After Martyn was dismissed, Gillespie took over the aggressor’s role with aplomb, smashing Sami for a magnificent straight six and then dismissing Akhtar over midwicket twice in an over with strokes which brought the crowd to their feet.

Pakistan were hampered in the field by the absence of Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik – Razzaq was hospitalised after complaining of dizziness while Malik split a webbing in his hand. Kaneria and Akhtar toiled manfully, and each ended with a five-for, but by the time Glenn McGrath was trapped in front after helping Gillespie to his second Test fifty of the season, Australia had struck plenty of psychological blows, which they followed with more blows when Pakistan came out to bat.Salman Butt, so impressive in the first innings, last a mere four balls this time around, closing the face of his bat too soon when attempting to flick McGrath. Imran Farhat, his opening partner, was trapped on the pull stroke, playing a hopeless irresponsible hoick off Gillespie (2 for 13). Yasir Hameed flourished briefly, cutting and driving outside off, but one always sensed that he was being set up. He duly fell soon, cutting a delivery which bounced unexpectedly and was too close to his body, and Pakistan had lost three top-order wickets while still in the arrears.Younis Khan and Yousuf Youhana, the stars of the first innings, raised visions of a fightback, before Youhana was defeated by Warne’s guile and by some poor luck. Having troubled him with sharp turn and excellent variations of line, length and pace, Warne fired in a straighter one which defeated Youhana’s bat, thudded into his pad, and went to Ricky Ponting at silly point. The Australians were convinced, and so was Rudi Koertzen (4 for 60). And when Younis miscued a hook off Michael Kasprowicz, Pakistan were five down and only 30 in front. Malik and Sami ensured there were no further setbacks, but with a lead of only 47, and with Razzaq not fully fit, Pakistan were staring down the barrel.

ScorecardJason Bennett produced another superb spell of pace bowling as Barbados kept themselves in the hunt despite conceding a first-innings lead of 41 to Jamaica.Bennett, who finished the day with figures of 5 for 34, combined with Corey Collymore to reduce Jamaica to a dismal 26 for 7 in their second innings, before Darren Powell (47) and Nikita Miller launched a spirited recovery, adding 69 before stumps. Barbados’s first innings had been a limp affair, with Martin Nurse’s stoild 42 being the only contribution of note. Powell had shone with the ball as well, taking 4 for 47, but the Bennett-induced wobble later in the day left the match intriguingly poised heading into day three.ScorecardGuyana seized control of this match on another day affected by inclement weather, with only 59.4 overs of play possible. Having stretched their first innings to 176 from the overnight total of 103 for 6, Guyana had reduced Windward Islands to 58 for 4 before the weather intervened as Gros Islet. Vishal Nagamootoo made an unbeaten 32 as Guyana struggled against the pace of Kenroy Peters and the offspin of Shane Shillingford. But when Windwards began their reply, Trevor Garraway struck twice in a hurry to leave slim hopes of a first-innings lead resting in the hands of Junior Murray (36 not out), the 37-year-old veteran who played the last of his 33 Tests almost three years ago.No play

Pakistan will host their first Asia Cup one-day tournament in March 2006, according to Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.The decision was made at a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council in Dubai. Shaharyar told the Reuters news agency that Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India have all confirmed that they will participate, while qualifiers will also feature.Pakistan has not hosted any of the previous editions of the tournament, which was first held in 1984. The last Asia Cup, the eighth of its kind, was held in Sri Lanka last year and six teams, including Hong Kong and UAE, took part. Sri Lanka dominated the tournament and overcame India in the final in Colombo.