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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.

Venue Event Event Day Capacity AttendanceBoland Park, Paarl12-Feb Holland vs India Pool A Match 9014 367419-Feb Canada vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 9014 329825-Feb Holland vs Pakistan Pool A Match 9009 5508Buffalo Park, East London16-Feb England vs Holland Pool A Match 13428 484027-Feb Canada vs South Africa Pool B Match 13428 9279De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley16-Feb Namibia vs Pakistan Pool A Match 6055 292826-Feb Bangladesh vs New Zealand Pool B Match 6055 371204-Mar Kenya vs West Indies Pool B Match 12110 4587Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein10-Feb New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 13894 376622-Feb Bangladesh vs South Africa Pool B Match 13894 767203-Mar Holland vs Namibia Pool A Match 13894 2939Harare Sports Club, Harare10-Feb Namibia vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 7357 389913-Feb England vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 0 019-Feb India vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 7326 5800Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban11-Feb Bangladesh vs Canada Pool B Match 19884 1048226-Feb England vs India Pool A Match 20010 1835303-Mar South Africa vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 19993 19744Nairobi Gymkhana Stadium21-Feb Kenya vs New Zealand Pool B Match 0 024-Feb Kenya vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 6036 6000Newlands, Cape Town08-Feb The Opening Ceremony 23591 2416909-Feb South Africa vs West Indies Pool B Match 23076 2418015-Feb Canada vs Kenya Pool B Match 22985 1259022-Feb England vs Pakistan Pool A Match 23097 2279628-Feb Sri Lanka vs West Indies Pool B Match 23020 19382North West Cricket Stadium, Potchefstroom12-Feb Kenya vs South Africa Pool B Match 10169 736420-Feb Australia vs Holland Pool A Match 10169 437627-Feb Australia vs Namibia Pool A Match 10169 5966Pietermaritzburg Oval14-Feb Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka Pool B Match 7093 290023-Feb India vs Namibia Pool A Match 7088 4805Queens Sports Club Ground Bulawayo24-Feb Australia vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 6469 500004-Mar Pakistan vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 6469 400028-Feb Holland vs Zimbabwe Pool A Match 6469 4860St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth13-Feb New Zealand vs West Indies Pool B Match 18106 965919-Feb England vs Namibia Pool A Match 18106 975602-Mar Australia vs England Pool A Match 18131 15987SuperSport Park, Centurion15-Feb Australia vs India Pool A Match 21156 1769423-Feb Canada vs West Indies Pool B Match 21156 1163001-Mar India vs Pakistan Pool A Match 21156 19679The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg11-Feb Australia vs Pakistan Pool A Match 30488 2708116-Feb New Zealand vs South Africa Pool B Match 30568 3130501-Mar Bangladesh vs Kenya Pool B Match 30623 17897Willowmoore Park, Benoni18-Feb Bangladesh vs West Indies Pool B Match 9812 432303-Mar Canada vs New Zealand Pool B Match 9812 5114Grand Total for matches in SOUTH AFRICA 569253 399435

The Indian cricket selectors would meet in Mumbai on August 2 to pickthe Test squad for the three Test matches against Sri Lanka fromAugust 14.The Indian Cricket Board executive secretary, Sharad Diwadkar, toldPTI in Mumbai on Thursday that four to five changes are likely fromthe squad which is playing in the on-going triangular series with NewZealand as the third team.The three Test matches would be played at Galle (from August 14 to18), Kandy (from August 22-26) and at the SSC in Colombo (from August29 to September 2).

Twenty-two year old South African batsman Dominic Telo has signed a two-year Kolpak contract with Derbyshire. Like many before him, the announcement was accompanied by comments that the players intended to use the time to qualify for England.”Dominic is one of the brightest young batsmen in the South African game and we are naturally delighted to have tempted him to Derbyshire,” John Morris, Derbyshire’s head of cricket, said. “It is important to note that Dominic has signed with the intention of qualifying so that he can eventually play as an English cricketer. At such a young age, time is certainly on his side.”Telo scored 648 runs in eight matches at an average of 58.90 for Western Province in 2007-08, including three hundreds. He also made an unbeaten 99 in a losing cause in the final of the provincial three-day challenge.

Nightmare on Elm Street terrorised cinema-goers across the world in the eighties. But in real life Freddie Kruger, or rather the actor who played him Robert Englund, is surprisingly nice, always smiling for photographs and obliging with autographs.Cricket has its own villain, albeit a pantomime one. Yet his on-camera persona – snarling, sledging, slavering – is also a world away from his true identity: natural charm personified.Yet that’s because when you see him steaming in for South Africa and following through with some choice words, you’re not seeing Andre Nel. You’re seeing Gunther.”It’s my second personality,” smiles Nel, who’s highly relaxed following a nap in the Essex changing room during their match with Northamptonshire. “Gunther is a guy who lives in the mountains and doesn’t get enough oxygen to the brain and that makes him crazy.”It’s a nice German name,” he adds, and one bestowed by one of the technical team three years ago. After Shaun Pollock wrote it on his run-up against Bangladesh, he went on to take 6 for 43, it stuck. “It’s white-line syndrome. When I walk on the cricket field I get all worked up and quite aggressive.”In fact, it’s best not to wind him up. “The more people abuse me the more I get fired up. In one way I enjoy it when people abuse me. If you give it out you’re going to take it so I expect I’m getting abuse.”He means good-natured abuse, of course, not racism. The latest incident of which was at Surrey earlier this week when a spectator called out offensive things. “It’s uncalled for. I can take it because it can happen everywhere but there’s no reason to get abuse from someone who doesn’t even know what the word properly means.”But when the audience’s perception is filtered through a lens why not try to act a little less? “I think they see on TV I’m a big bully and a real idiot and they really don’t know me as a person. People are going to make their own mind up about you. I can’t really worry what people think about me.”Away from the pitch he is calm and polite. “I’m a plain and simple Afrikaans boy who grew up in a small town. I was brought up well. My dad brought me up to be competitive and do your best in any situation. That’s the way I do most of things. Live life to the fullest and no regrets.”He had a strict upbringing in Boksburg, a town in eastern Gauteng, but admits: “I was a naughty little boy at school. I was very naughty. [The worst thing was] when I was 13 or 14 throwing stones into a guy’s pool. My dad was not pleased. I got the biggest hiding ever. There’s probably a lot more I’ve done that I can’t remember.”He was discovered by Ray Jennings, his former provincial and national coach. “He’s like my second father.” That figures; both have had their crazy moments – Jennings knocked Graeme Smith out while practising slip catches, and made his players run a lap for every no-ball. “He fired me up and pressed the right buttons to be the best bowler. I’m really grateful to him.”

Nel had further growing up to do, though. There was a time when Gunther was off the pitch, too. He was caught smoking dope with some colleagues in 2001, drink-driving in 2003. It’s only in the last three or four years that he’s calmed down.A sobering serious back injury ironically helped and now the indiscretions seem a thing of the past. “Now I can control what I’m doing, using the aggression in better ways. The nice thing is the captain, Graeme, backs me to be that way because he wants me to use the aggression and bring energy to the side. It lifts the side up.”Rugby didn’t fire him up in the same way, even though he was playing both sports professionally when his real dad told him to make a decision. He chose cricket – although he only took up the game at 14 and only became a fast bowler when he bulked out at 17 – because it offered him the chance of playing for South Africa. “Playing for your country is any child’s dream.” Plus, he had grown too big to be fly half.He knows it’s a huge privilege to represent his nation, but he rarely watches the highlights, with the gurning, the gesticulations. “I didn’t even know I pulled those faces!” He gets embarrassed when he’s recognised, though he happily signs autographs. “They’re the people who support you. It doesn’t cost you anything to be nice and humble.”That’s probably why few know he’s a qualified accountant, although he couldn’t now see himself in an office. (Could you? “Hello, Gunther here.”) But that’s more because his boredom threshold is low.He’s a bundle of nervous energy – and this manifests in frequent dressing room pranks. “I enjoy playing cricket but find it unbelievably boring to watch. Most guys playing find it boring. My mind’s very active. I get up to no good most of the time. [He laughs really naughtily] You’ve got to be active and mess around. A bit of wrestling … and mess around a bit more.”You can’t deny he just loves the game – he stayed to chat about cricket long after the interview was over – even if he thinks there’s too much being played. “Money is always going to overpower the players anyway. You have to get on with it.”He also has a fear that his hero Allan Donald’s knowledge won’t be used by the South Africa board. “It would be stupid and sad not to,” he says, worrying that Donald will make his bowling coach role with England more permanent. “It would be a big loss to South Africa. I grew up looking and watching him and Polly [Pollock]. I don’t have the best action compared to them, but the same kind of thought pattern.”And of course he wants to keep playing as much as he can for South Africa , even at 33 in the next World Cup. And so do the opposition, as “I’m the first one in the other dressing room with a beer.”Ultimately, he knows where to draw the line. “When it’s finished, I’m probably the easiest person to get along with, the softest person off the field ever.”

Dav Whatmore, the Bangladesh coach, has expressed his frustration at the lack of Test cricket for his side over the next year. His views, published in his column on TigerCricket.com, back up those of his captain, Habibul Bashar, who also said recently that the lack of cricket – and Test cricket in particular – is a real concern for Bangladesh.Whatmore wrote, “We have just finished the series against Australia and it is common knowledge that Bangladesh hasn’t got any more Test matches for at least 12 months which is a bit of a pity really because we are making strides in the longer game. But that’s the way it is.”According to the recently-finalised Future Tours Program (FTP), Bangladesh are not scheduled to play any Tests now till India’s visit in May 2007. And during the six-year cycle they are scheduled to play only 41 Tests, the least among members apart from Zimbabwe (39), whose Test status is in limbo in any case. And though India is scheduled to tour Bangladesh three times in that period, they are the only team to not invite Bangladesh for a home series. In fact, they have not done so ever despite championing their cause to gain Test status in 2000.Bashar told the earlier in the week, “A lot of star players are complaining against too much cricket right at the moment but we are not in a position to join the party. Rather the long break in Test cricket is a real concern for us. I think it is always good for an improving side like Bangladesh to play as much Test cricket as possible.”It is really a frustrating situation for us because we have just gone around to showing our gradual improvement in this level. We were just grasping over the finer points of Test cricket which will definitely be hampered when we resume the campaign after a year.”Despite the lack of Tests, Whatmore rubbished claims that Bangladesh didn’t deserve Test status. “It annoys me when I read from journalists and other sections of local and international media and public that Bangladesh doesn’t deserve to be in Test cricket. That’s absolute rubbish because the potential that lies in this country is enormous and given a sufficient amount of time we’ll be able to be very consistent against any team. With a little slice of luck in a given era, Bangladesh could be the leading team in the Asian region. That’s how deep I think the potential lies in Bangladesh.”This belief, he wrote, was based on the fact that in the three years since he has been in charge (since 2003) the team has “performed gradually better and better,” and that Bangladesh’s U-19 team contained some exciting talent within its ranks. “We are blessed at the moment with a fairly good group of U-19s who have just completed the World Cup. I feel there will be one or two there that will impress the selectors sufficiently over the next few months during Academy matches and A team matches to earn their promotion into the top flight. And those players that do earn the promotion will certainly be able to strengthen the team because they will be multi-skilled players. So in many ways this is an exciting period for Bangladesh cricket and particularly in the one-day form with which we will be only involved with in the next 12 months leading up to the World Cup.”

Points tablesLancashire virtually assured themselves of a quarter-final berth with another fine all round display against Durham, Mal Loye’s 55-ball 100 forming the cornerstone of their 37-run win. Loye and Brad Hodge added 160 for the second wicket to put Lancashire on course for their second total over 200 in two matches. It was Loye’s first Twenty20 ton, and the second by a Lancashire batsmen in successive matches following Stuart Law’s century against Yorkshire. Despite Nathan Astle’s brisk 55 from 37 balls Durham couldn’t maintain a required rate of over 10 runs an over. Dominic Cork was again economical, taking 2 for 25 from his four overs.Nottinghamshire gained their second win of the season, with a well-paced six-wicket win against Yorkshire, who are now struggling to secure a quarter-final spot. However, Notts’ win has probably come too late for them although they will take heart from a 101-run opening stand between Will Smith and Graeme Swann. Their partnership put Notts within reach of the target of 181 and Chris Read guided them home with two balls to spare. Yorkshire’s total was built around Phil Jaques’ 55 from 33 balls and a late surge from Richard Pyrah, who made 31 from 17.

Andrew Strauss, the Middlesex captain and opener, has been called up to the England Test squad in the Caribbean as cover for Mark Butcher, who injured his ankle in the first match of the tour, and Graham Thorpe, who has suffered a recurrence of his niggling back injury.It was a belated birthday present for Strauss, who turned 27 on Tuesday. He had been due to arrive with the England one-day team in April – he made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka at Dambulla last November – but he will now join up with the Test squad on Sunday.”I’ve been in training and getting myself ready for the domestic season with Middlesex and also for the one-day series,” he told the BBC. “I’ve never been to the Caribbean before and I’m very much looking forward to getting out there and teaming up with the rest of the squad.”

If the building process is continuous, there is no need to re-build. Whenever I used to read about preparing the Pakistan team for the World Cup, I would write that the World Cup should not be seen as a cut-off point and there would be cricket after the World Cup.That we should not put all our eggs in one basket. There is certainly no need to panic and start throwing all the furniture out. At the same time, there is a need to find out why such a talented team underperformed, why there was such a rash of ‘lean patches’.We won’t get very far if we look for scapegoats. Cricket is a team game and it is the team that stands together or falls apart, together. Cricket does not accept the division of a team into senior and junior players.Nor does an arbitrary age-factor come into it. Look at Aravinda de Silva or Andy Flower or Javagal Srinath, for proof that he who is old in years may be young in hours, it is the spirit that must be willing.Last year, Pakistan went to Australia to play in an indoor tournament. Pakistan beat Australia and we kept dining out on that success and it became a term of reference even when it had become abundantly clear that it was that one swallow that did not herald the summer.We were called a ‘mercurial’ and an ‘unpredictable’ team and we accepted this, as if, it was a badge of honour. Cricket at the highest level demands consistency. An egg has to be good, it cannot be partly good.Consistency requires discipline and discipline cannot be imposed. A player does not have to be told or reminded that he has to stay focused. If it has to be drummed into him, then that player is in the wrong profession.Every team has a coach. Richard Pybus laments that there were players in the team who refused to learn. Learn what? Learning how to bowl line and length? Shot selection?A child is toilet-trained. Once trained, he doesn’t have to be trained over and over again. I happen to believe that at the highest level, there is no need for a coach. An Under-15 team may need a coach.At an international level, a player should be able to work out on his own what he is doing wrong. He doesn’t need a tutor. Self-improvement comes with self-discipline. Sachin Tendulkar needed a coach when he was a schoolboy.Imran Khan and Javed Miandad took Wasim Akram under their wing, but once launched, he was on his own. There seems to be no need for Pybus making statements. He does not come into the equation.Television coverage has been so good that we don’t want to be told what went wrong. We already know. Those who met me or telephoned me during our matches did not get a pep-talk but a brutal assessment that the team’s management was not allowing for local conditions, that it had brought a script with it and was not prepared to change it, that the body-language suggested that the players were not enjoying their cricket and, therefore, the team was either over-awed or not awed enough. It seemed a distracted team.Of course, there should be changes but only if we are rebuilding and if we accept that the process is a painful one. Unfortunately, such is the poor quality of domestic cricket, it is an unreliable nursery.Pakistan needs to concentrate on Under-19 and ‘A’ team tours, send the young players out to play under different conditions so that a bank of players is created and there should be an ‘understudy’ system, for every player in the national team, there should be one waiting in the wings. This should be an in-built mechanism.The decision whether a player should retire is something that a player needs to decide himself. He needs to heed his inner voice. But a player’s reputation should not warrant automatic selection. We too need to change the method of appointing a captain.Every player should be good enough to be in the playing eleven. A captain should be good enough to make it on his abilities, no bonus should be awarded if he is a good captain. A captain should earn his keep as a player.The word ‘accountability’ has lost its credibility. But we should be able to carry out a study of what went wrong and pinpoint the mistakes. The team was accompanied by a large number of officials. What was their contribution?We must get the World Cup out of our system but not before ensuring that the same mistakes are not made all over again. Perhaps, we need to change the mindset and introduce a performance-related system. Earn your keep!

Somerset Coach Kevin Shine said he was “looking forward to another good day on Monday”.He said: “The bowlers have stuck well to their task out there today, but it’s been hard work. We didn’t bat as well as we ought to have in the first innings apart from Sohail, Woody and Noddy. Let’s hope we can learn from our mistakes and put together a decent effort in the second innings.”The coach spoke highly of Matthew Wood and Jamie Grove and said: “Woody played really well in the first innings. It was a great catch to get him out. Jamie Grove has worked hard out there on a flat track. He’s got a great heart.”