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Darrell Hair expects to officiate in the Champions Trophy next month despite the unresolved issues from his decisions at the Oval Test. Hair told he was planning to stand in the tournament and an ICC source confirmed to the it was a “safe bet” Hair would be in India.”Yes, I am down to umpire in the Champions Trophy and I expect to fulfill that appointment,” Hair told from the Newmarket races in England. “I’m not sure what matches I’ll be doing but I’m looking forward to it.”‘Hair’s future has been under threat since he docked Pakistan five runs for ball tampering last month, a decision which resulted in the abandonment of The Oval Test when Inzamam-ul-Haq’s team refused to return to the field. Inzamam will face charges of ball tampering and bringing the game into disrepute in London during a two-day hearing starting on September 27.The ICC will unveil its officials for the Champions Trophy in the next 24 hours and an ICC source told the Herald Hair was “still regarded as one of our best umpires”. “It’s a safe bet that he’ll be there [for the Champions Trophy].”The Pakistan Cricket Board has so far not said anything on this latest development. When contacted, a senior PCB official told Cricinfo, “We can’t make any comments about this whole matter as it is considered sub judice. “Last week though, Reuters quoted a board source warning the ICC that Pakistan would consider taking strong action if Hair was to stand as umpire in any matches or tournaments involving them. The source said that the ICC had been informed in writing that if Hair was put on the umpires panel for the Champions Trophy, it would consider a number of options, including pulling out. “Pakistan is very clear on Hair’s future appointments. It does not want him appointed either in the Champions Trophy or any other series in which is Pakistan is playing,” the source said.For The Surfer blog go here.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, who scored a stylish 84 on his return to the Sri Lankan team, said he was under no pressure while crafting a 149-run partnership for the fifth wicket alongside Mahela Jayawardene.”I have been in good form these past three months both domestically and for the A-team and I was under no pressure when I was recalled to the team,” Dilshan said at the end of the second day’s play. “I played my natural game and was successful. I had been waiting for the past few weeks for an opportunity to get back into the side and when I did, I took full advantage of it.”Dilshan was run out while trying to help Jayawardene get his hundred before the tea break. “It would have been nice if I got a hundred. But that’s cricket.”Brimming with confidence when it came to his batting, he said: “I undertake any challenge that is thrown to me. Two and a half years ago when I received a similar recall to the team, also against England, I scored 60 and 100. If you score runs only you can remain in the team.”He also felt England’s negative attitude has given Sri Lanka a chance to win the third and final Test at Galle. “After one-and-a-half hour [of Sri Lanka] batting, England got into a negative mood and the fielders were down. Mahela and I took the advantage and while looking for singles, we hit the loose balls for four.”We were looking at something like 300-plus when play began today. To finish at 384 for 6 by the end of the day is a big bonus,” he said. “If we score around 450, we can close the door on an England victory. We hold the advantage and with Murali [Muralitharan] I think we can swing the game our way and win.”Dilshan admitted he received good advice from his captain while in the middle which helped him get to his score. “Mahela told me that I was scoring a bit too fast, had to control myself and to bat straight. I used the crease and stepped down a bit to cut down the swing and that made it easy for me to bat.”It’s not an easy wicket to bat. It’s a 50-50 wicket. The bowlers had the opportunity when they bowl in good areas as the ball is still moving a little bit and there is uneven bounce. With all that, all our batsmen put up a very good effort to get us to 384.”On the catches England dropped during the day, Dilshan said it could happen to any team. Dilshan was let off on seven and 54 and was given a reprieve on 64 when umpire Darryl Harper turned down an appeal for a catch with replays showing that Dilshan had gloved the ball to Matt Prior off Matthew Hoggard.

England coach Duncan Fletcher is not a happy man.He has been disappointed, and surprised, by the lack of fitness of those players in the England touring side who joined the team for the Test leg of the tour.With only the Canterbury game, starting tomorrow, in which to work on their fitness there is no recovery time for those players, and England risk being below par when they start the first Test in Christchurch on Wednesday next week.Fletcher said all the players had been given fitness programmes but not all the players adhered to them.It was ironic that he should air his frustration while the team trained at New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre complex at Lincoln University because the practice wickets at Jade Stadium were wet.The complex is regarded as the finest in the world and some of the innovations coming out of it, and the personnel stationed there, have been trend-setting.But there is nothing especially out of the rocket science manual in a fitness advisor being part of the administration at the Centre. He monitors the fitness of all the leading players in New Zealand and regularly checks that fitness regimes are being maintained.The players work on an Internet-based system that they plug into from their own computers and the fitness advisors can log into. Special attention is placed on contracted players.If there are any concerns, NZC fitness advisor Warren Frost gets on the cellphone immediately.And if they are not getting on with the job?”I get on their case straight away,” Frost said.Surprising as it may seem, there was no monitoring element involved in the England preparations for those players joining the tour out of the English winter.Fletcher said it was something that would have to be sorted out at the end of the tour.England’s players were professionals and supposed to present themselves fit and ready for play.”I know which guys weren’t fit,” Fletcher said.England would look to put the best team on the field to win the Test matches.For the match against Canterbury starting tomorrow, the side will not be named until the last possible moment.However, Marcus Trescothick will not play as he has been given the break he was looking for. Andrew Flintoff has a knee worry which isn’t serious and either he or batsman Graham Thorpe could be given a break as well.The game was very important, especially to the players who have joined the tour as the Test match specialists. Even some of the players who have been involved in the one-day series but who are also contenders for the Tests, need to get out of the one-day mode.Some of them were guilty of sparring at balls in the nets in one-day style rather than in usual Test-match mode.After the failure to bowl out Otago in either innings, it is likely to be a much tougher job to contain a more experienced Canterbury side.

Former Sri Lanka captain and opening batsman Marvan Atapattu has pulled out of the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh citing personal commitments. Atapattu, 36 was named in the Test squad of 15 picked on June 13 for the three matches against Bangladesh beginning on June 25.Kanagan Mathivanan, the Sri Lanka Cricket secretary, said that the board had received a letter from Atapattu that due to commitments he was unavailable for the Bangladesh series. Atapattu had however stated that he would be available for future series. Atapattu is currently in England playing club cricket for Lashings.Although picked in the World Cup squad, Atapattu was not selected for any of Sri Lanka’s 11 matches during the tournament held in the Caribbean. Atapattu was also left out of the one-day series that followed in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan.The selection committee, headed by Ashantha de Mel, recalled Atapattu for the Bangladesh Test series. Sanath Jayasuriya, who is now expected to play just one-day cricket, was rested for the series and allowed to sign-up with English county Lancashire as their overseas replacement with Muttiah Muralitharan returning home for the Bangladesh series.Mathivanan said a replacement for Atapattu would be named shortly.

Alastair Cook, England’s victorious captain, said that his players could take pride in a complete team performance after a stunning second-innings bowling display, led once again by Stuart Broad, delivered a remarkable seven-wicket win at Johannesburg, and a first overseas series victory since the tour of India in 2012-13.Cook top-scored with 43 in the run-chase, as England hunted down a target of 74 in 22.3 overs to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead with only next week’s fourth Test at Centurion to come. Afterwards, he paid tribute to Broad’s skill and stamina, after an incredible afternoon spell of 5 for 1 in ten overs had sent South Africa tumbling to 83 all out.However, Cook admitted that Broad’s off-colour performance on the first day of the contest – when he, along with many of his team-mates had been feeling the effects of a stomach bug – may have been a factor in his determination second-time around.”At the beginning of the day, we were talking positively about how we were going to win the game, and Stuart was really on it,” Cook told Sky Sports. “I don’t know if he was disappointed at not feeling well on the first day, rushing off to the toilet, but I think he thought the other bowlers carried him even though he bowled 17 overs [in the innings].”He just thought ‘this is my time’ and jeez, he bowled well,” Cook added. “We knew that, on this pitch, if you could hammer it down on the top off stump at good pace with the brand new ball, and make them play, it would be really hard.”Broad, who has now claimed five wickets in a single Test spell on a remarkable seven separate occasions in his career, said that the Wanderers surface was the sort he would like to pick up and take with him everywhere he played, as he finished the match on 330 wickets, five ahead of Bob Willis in third place on England’s all-time bowling list.”The air’s a bit thinner here so a ten-over spell is probably a bit much,” he said. “But I got in a rhythm from the far end and it was a good day to bowl, the wicket offered a little off the seam and in the air, and for a 6 foot 6 bowler there was a bit of bounce there as well. I wish I got to take that wicket around with us most places, that’s for sure.”I was a little bit under the weather [on the first day],” he admitted. “I think most of our fans and players, everyone we know has been ill in the last few weeks. But fortunately the doctors got me over it pretty quickly, and the guys bowled well on that first day to cover my absence really.”As so often in the best of Broad’s spells, the secret to success was pitching the ball up, as he himself admitted he had failed to do during South Africa’s first-innings 313.”I fell into the trap of probably bowling a bit too short and getting carried away with the bounce,” he said. “So we had a chat with the coach and the bowling group before we went out in the second innings, we talked about bringing the batsman forward a lot more, using the bouncer of course, but from a fuller length.”We got lucky today,” he added. “We got some clouds, the lights were on, it was perfect conditions to bowl, but we got the ball in the good areas from both ends to create that pressure and we took our catches, especially Titchy Taylor’s great catches at short leg. We took our opportunities and it’s been a fantastic day for us.”Despite Broad’s heroics, Cook was keen to spread the credit throughout his squad, on a day which began with England 75 runs adrift of South Africa’s first-innings score, but finished with him becoming the first England captain in history to achieve series wins in both India and South Africa.”It has not sunk in at all,” said Cook. “I think tomorrow morning with a dusty head it will start to.”One of the dustiest heads of all is likely to belong to Ben Stokes, who followed up a vital counterattacking fifty in the first innings with a key afternoon spell in support of Broad’s onslaught, and Cook singled his up-and-coming allrounder out for special praise.”I can’t take any credit for man-managing Ben Stokes,” he joked. “He’s off the leash tonight, but he’s an absolute gem in the side. The ability to score 250 one day then bowl almost 90mph, swinging both ways, when it’s time to balance the attack, a lot of people would want that in your side. When he got injured in Abu Dhabi, to come back here and do what he’s done, it’s amazing.”At the start of today, day three, we knew it would be a moving day in one sense,” he added. “But the challenge was to get up close to them and try to put pressure on them in the third innings. Trev [Trevor Bayliss, the coach] gave us a rocket at lunch, saying if you want to win the series, go now and go hard.”I’m really proud of the lads but also pleased for them,” Cook said. “Pakistan [in the UAE before Christmas] didn’t quite go our way and I felt we deserved more out of it. But we’ve got our rewards for sticking together and playing good cricket. You can get carried away with stats and averages, but everyone can be proud of what they’ve done.”

Drawn – ScorecardThere was virtually no play on the first day owing to rain, Tasmania making 13 for two wickets. On the Saturday the pitch was in such a had condition that serious cricket was out of the question. Lumps of mud flew off the pitch whenever a ball was bowled, and a towel was eventually used to wipe the ball after every delivery.

The fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval was plunged into controversy on Sunday in an ugly row over ball-tampering. The tourists risked forfeiting the Test after making a tea-time protest over being docked five runs for allegedly altering the state of the ball.But just as it had seemed the match was about to restart, the Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said a fresh delay had been caused by the refusal of umpire Darrell Hair to continue standing in the match. Pakistan were docked five runs at the end of the fourth day’s 56th over which had been bowled by paceman Umar Gul.It was Gul’s 14th over with England 230 for 3 when the umpires inspected the match ball. Play was eventually called off for the day at 6.13pm local time (1713GMT) with England 298 for four in their second innings, a deficit of 33, with the future of the match still uncertain as the crisis meeting is yet to take place.As the meeting got underway at 7.30pm local time (8.30GMT), a band of journalists, including Cricinfo, were told in no uncertain terms that they must get out of the building it was taking place. The meeting will determine, among other things, whether the match goes ahead tomorrow. It is believed that Mike Procter, the two umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, Bob Woolmer and an England representative James Avery were present. It’s not known whether Duncan Fletcher is attending.The players, meanwhile, left the ground with a police escort. As at 7.30pm, there was a strong police presence at the Oval, though it is purely precautionary – there are two policemen inside the pavilion and a line of them outside. As one policeman explained to Cricinfo, there was no information given to the crowds all day long and the bars were still open, and that combination makes for an inflammatory situation in his experience. And indeed the crowds were getting restless. “If I had bought a ticket for the day,” he added, “I wouldn’t be impressed.”The controversy began at 2.30pm local (1330GMT) when veteran Australian official Hair, standing with West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove, signalled to the scorers that five penalty runs were to be added to England’s total, taking it up to 235.Then, after an early tea had been taken because of bad light, the umpires walked back out onto the field at 4.40pm local time (1540GMT) only for no Pakistan fieldsmen to follow behind them before walking back in. Some 15 minutes later the umpires returned followed by England batsmen Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell only for the Pakistan team to remain in their dressing room.The batsmen and umpires walked back in, with Pakistan – already a losing 2-0 down in the series – in danger of forfeiting the match. Both umpires removed the bails, returned to the pavilion and the covers came on.Pakistan then appeared on the field, to boos from the crowd, at 5.25pm (1625GMT) but there were neither stumps in the pitch nor umpires. After several minutes without either Hair or Doctrove, or the England batsmen, Pakistan walked back off.The fresh delay was caused by Hair’s refusal to continue.Cricket’s Law 21.3 states clearly states “that, in the opinion of the umpires, a team refuses to play, the umpires shall award the match to the other side.” This was the first time such a five-run penalty for ball-tampering had been imposed in Test cricket, an International Cricket Council [ICC] spokesman said.Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer told AFP: “The team is upset that they have been accused of tampering with the ball and therefore ‘cheating’. “It is a no-win situation as now Darrell Hair has refused to umpire.”The PCB chairman Shahrayar Khan, who had talks with England counterpart David Morgan, insisted the reason for the continuing impasse lay at the door of the umpires. “The boys are extremely upset at the slur of ball tampering. As a result they registered a protest with the match referee for the decision unilaterally taken by the umpires.”Once we did that, we were ready to go out and play but it seems the umpires are reluctant to go out. The whole team felt very aggrieved and Inzy (Pakistan’s captain Inzamam-ul-Haq) more angered than the rest. He felt we should make a protest but once that had been registered he was perfectly prepared to go on.”We felt very deeply insulted by what was in the umpire’s report and there seems to have been no evidence given. I felt the matter had been resolved but it now seems the umpires are reluctant.”We feel it is extraordinary that we are ready to come out and the umpires say they cannot continue. It is very sad. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. I want the tour to continue,” said Shahriyar ahead of the five-match one-day between England and Pakistan.The match referee Mike Procter said talks would continue. “Following issues raised by the onfield umpires, which need to be resolved, meetings will be held between the match referee and both teams after play to determine whether any further play will be scheduled in this match.”Umpires have refused to stand in Tests before although the majority of major flashpoint incidents came in the days before the introduction of ‘neutral’ officials. Back in 1973, English umpire Arthur Fagg stayed off the field during a Test match between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston after being upset by West Indian reaction to his decision to give England’s Geoff Boycott not out, although he did later take the field.And in Dunedin in 1980 the West Indies briefly refused to take the field during a Test in protest at New Zealand official Fred Goodall.At Faisalabad in 1987, Pakistan’s Shakoor Rana refused to stand until he’d received an apology from England captain Mike Gatting after the pair had had an on-field row. Gatting scribbled an apology and the match continued.Pakistan’s 1992 tour of England was blighted by allegations of ball-tampering with pace great Waqar Younis, now Pakistan’s bowling coach, coming under intense scrutiny.And in 2000 Waqar himself received a one-match ban for ball tampering following a one-day international against South Africa in Sri Lanka while Azhar Mahmood was fined for “abetting” the infringment in the same match.The Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, ruled out of the current series with because of an ankle injury, received a reprimand in November 2002 for the same offence after a Test match against Zimbabwe in Harare.And the following year, in May, Shoaib was given a two-match ban for ball tampering after a one-day international against New Zealand in Dambulla.

Malcolm Speed, the International Cricket Council’s chief executive, has written to the boards of India [BCCI] and Pakistan [PCB] asking for comments on reports of racism during matches this week. However, the Indian board said that it was yet to receive any letter from the ICC.”We have noted media reports of racist chanting during the India-Australia ODI in Vadodara on Thursday and also of racist abuse directed at South Africa players and team officials in Lahore,” said Speed. “In the light of those reports we have written to both the BCCI and the PCB [on Saturday] asking for their comments on the incidents.”Speed said that it was crucial to ensure “cricket remains free from the scourge of racism”. He said: “The ICC retains a zero tolerance to racism as illustrated in our Anti-Racism Code which was strengthened last year following consultation with our Members and the ICC Board. The Code outlines measures host members are expected to undertake and those measures were unanimously approved by the ICC’s Board. We need to understand whether those measures are working.”Speed said the matter of racism would be further discussed at the ICC’s board meeting in Dubai at the end of this month.Although Cricket Australia has decided to let the BCCI take action, if any, in regards to the incident that occured on the boundary towards the end of Australia’s win in Vadodara, Ricky Ponting has urged the ICC to enforce its strict anti-racism code.Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI chief administrative officer, said that the Indian board had not yet received the letter from the ICC. He also criticised Andrew Symonds for his comments in the newspapers where Symonds had said the Indian team had been treated like rock stars and princes after the ICC World Twenty20 win. “He [Symonds] need not comment on what we do,” Shetty told .

The full itinerary for the women’s quadrangular series in Chennai has been released at last. Concerns that there would not be enough rest days have been allayed with the original two-week squeeze extended to a more leisurely three.The top four teams in the women’s game – India, Australia, New Zealand and England – will take part in this competition which takes place every four years. The tournament takes place throughout late February and early March, culminating in a Final and third place play-off on March 5.Gill McConway, the ECB’s executive director of women’s cricket, said: “It’s a very exciting phase of the international touring schedule for women’s cricket. The quadrangular series was initiated in New Zealand four years ago and was such a huge success that all the teams signed up to continue with the competition every four years.”The first practice match is between England and Australia on February 18, and the tournament proper gets underway three days later, when England take on the hosts India.

Jacques Kallis, the South Africa vice-captain, may find himself ruled out of South Africa’s second three-day tour match after aggaravating a chronic elbow injury during a practice session at the WACA ground in Perth on Sunday.A scan on Kallis’s left elbow – first injured during South Africa’s recent tour of India – showed that there was a slight tear and some inflammation of a lateral tendon. The injury has already seen Kallis sit out a tour match against Western Australia, currently being played at the WACA. Shane Jabbar, the team physiotherapist, hoped Kallis would be fit for South Africa’s three-day tour match against a Western Australian XI, starting at the University of Western Australia on December 11.Kallis’s absence meant Mark Boucher, the wicketkeeper, took over as captain for the match against Western Australia with Graeme Smith also out with an injured finger.The first Test against Australia starts at Perth on December 16.