Chris Cairns has remained in Sydney with a minor back strain while his New Zealand team-mates drove to Bowral for tomorrow’s limited-overs match against an Australian Country XI at Bradman Oval.The Kiwis could be joined by dynamic opening batsman and part-time medium pacer Nathan Astle tomorrow night if, as expected, he proves his recovery from a broken hand in a domestic game for his club, Canterbury.NZ team manager Jeff Crowe says Cairns did not want to risk aggravating a small niggle by travelling to and from the Southern Highlands town.Allrounder Chris Harris will also be given a rest ahead of NZ’s busy tri-series program of three matches in four days from Saturday.The Kiwis take on Australia on Saturday and South Africa on Sunday in a double-header at Adelaide Oval, then back up two days later againstAustralia at the MCG.

RICKY PONTING has been named captain of the Australian one-day cricket team for the tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.ADAM GILCHRIST has been named vice-captain by the Australian Cricket Board.The appointments follow STEVE WAUGH’s shock axing as skipper earlier this week.

Wapda, Allied Bank Limited and Pak PWD were the only teams to secure maximum points as fickle weather disrupted the opening round matches of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship which finished on Tuesday.As many as nine matches were badly disrupted in various parts of Punjab and Peshawar on the fourth and final day.The Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to play the premier first-class competition at this time of the year, when the northern areas of the country are in the grip of rain, poor visibility caused by fog, is nothing short of poor planning.In recent seasons first-class tournaments usually started in early October and the bulk of matches were completed before the impending uncertain weather intervened.It is a forgone conclusion that there will be hardly outright results in the matches outside Karachi, the remaining rounds.The second round four-day ties begin Friday under the following schedule:Group-I: Faisalabad v National Bank at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad; Wapda v Lahore Blues at Gymkhana Ground, Okara; Sargodha v Servis Industries at Sports Stadium, Sargodha.Group-II: Karachi Whites v Pak PWD at National Stadium, Karachi; Bahawalpur v Allied Bank at Bahawalpur Stadium, Bahawalpur; Multan v Dadu at Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan.Group-III: Sheikhupura v Habib Bank at Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura; Sialkot v Pakistan Customs at Saga Ground, Sialkot; Lahore Whites v Gujranwala at LCCA Ground, Lahore.Group-IV: KRL v ZTBL at KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi; Rawalpindi v Karachi Blues at Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi; Peshawar v PIA at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar.

Mark Waugh will join twin brother Steve on the one-day international sidelines after he today became another high-profile casualty of Australia’s modest recent limited-overs form. Along with all-rounder Andrew Symonds, the veteran batsman has been squeezed out of the new-look national squad selected for upcoming series in South Africa and Zimbabwe.In an unmistakable shift toward youth ahead of their side’s World Cup defence in South Africa next year, Australia’s selectors have included two rookies and another player with only fleeting one-day international experience in the 15-man squad named for the twin tours.Tasmanian Shane Watson and Queenslander Nathan Hauritz are the new faces in the squad, while Queensland opener Jimmy Maher has won a recall after last appearing at international level four years ago. Test opening batsman Matthew Hayden, another Queenslander, has also been re-included in the limited-overs fold.Watson – fresh from an outstanding debut performance in Australian colours in a tour match against South Africa ‘A’ yesterday – is an explosive 20-year-old all-rounder. Like the Tasmanian, off spinner Hauritz was one of Australia’s most accomplished junior players in the lead-up to his domestic debut last season and is a player of immense potential. Maher, 28, has meanwhile been a prolific run scorer for several years in his role as a left handed opening batsman for the Bulls.Though the changes to the squad are not as far-reaching as had been anticipated, they mean that this is the first time in 16 years that an Australian one-day squad will not contain at least one of the Waugh brothers.Waugh and Symonds have both paid the price for disappointing recent returns, especially in the course of the country’s ill-fated campaign in the recent three-cornered series against New Zealand and South Africa.Despite enjoying a satisfying start to the current Test tour of South Africa with scores of 62, 53 and 110 in his only three innings to date, Waugh has fallen on the sword of recent limited-overs failures. A veteran of 244 one-day internationals, he arrived in the Republic on the back of a disappointing run of outs at home, having scored only 126 runs from a total of seven innings in his worst series in Australia for a decade.Symonds’ departure also occurs in the wake of an unflattering series at home and follows his stinging public attack last week on aspects of the rotation policy adopted by the side. Targeted to fill the role of an all-rounder, he took three wickets and scored only 14 runs before losing his place in the last match of the series to Darren Lehmann. The Queenslander has played 48 one-day international matches in total since the time of his debut in November 1998.The pair’s omissions follow the four-man Australian selection panel’s announcement of their decision to axe Steve Waugh as the side’s limited-overs captain on the eve of the Test squad’s departure to South Africa last month.Under the captaincy of the newly-appointed Ricky Ponting, Australia begins a series of seven one-day matches against South Africa in Johannesburg on 22 March before meeting Zimbabwe in three games the following month.The full squad is: Ricky Ponting (c), Adam Gilchrist (vc), Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Ian Harvey, Nathan Hauritz, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Shane Watson.

ADELAIDE, Jan 18 AAP – Australian batsman Darren Lehmann was today suspended for five one day international matches for breaching the International Cricket Council’s racial vilification code.Lehmann was found guilty of a breach during a three hour hearing in Adelaide today.Lehmann is the first international cricketer to be suspended for breaching the game’s racial code of conduct.Lehmann was to have been vice captain in the tomorrow’s one day match against England at Adelaide Oval, but national selectors are believed to have summoned New South Wales batsman Michael Clarke as his replacement.The South Australian and Yorkshire captain had already apologised for a racial slur after being dismissed against Sri Lanka in one day match in Brisbane on Wednesday.He offered a verbal and written apologies to the Sri Lankans which were immediately accepted.The Australian Cricket Board instructed Lehmann to also undergo counselling but did not impose a further penalty, prompting the ICC to charge the left-handed batsman under its racial vilification code.

Pakistan’s experienced left-handed opener Saeed Anwar is likely to miss the all-important World Cup Group ‘A’ clash against Australia on Tuesday.Saeed, hit on the elbow by a Shoaib Akhtar thunderbolt in the nets, has not recovered fully from the injury and the team management is unlikely to gamble with him.Pakistan contingent arrived from Cape Town on Sunday afternoon after attending the opening ceremony at Newlands and had a practice session at the Wanderers later in the afternoon.Apart from Saeed, all players seemed fit and eager to take on everybody’s favourites Australia, in a match that could be a forerunner to the final result of the World Cup.Saeed’s absence could be a big blow for Pakistan as he is no doubt a class act in his own, especially when considering the openers have not done too well in recent outings.Saeed’s likely replacement is Saleem Elahi. The right-hander is expected to open the innings with the flamboyant Shahid Afridi with utility all-rounder Abdul Razzaq once again filling the vital number three slot.On the contrary, the Australians who too turned up for practice appeared confident and have no injury problems. Spin magician Shane Warne is certain to play as he has recovered from injury and raring to go at the Pakistani batsmen in his last World Cup.Although both camps are confident of winning, the bookmakers here have installed Australia as firm favourites to beat Pakistan.

High Noon? For a Few Dollars More? Unforgiven? Hang ’em High?Hollywood’s western movie classics offer some interesting word play for the plight New Zealand find themselves in on the eve of their World Cup Super Six decider against India at Centurion tomorrow.Judging by the amount of comment swamping the newswires out of South Africa, it is not a case of whether India beat New Zealand but by how much?It is a High Noon for Stephen Fleming’s men, several of them cannot expect to play in another World Cup. All the effort of some pretty tempestuous years in the game, years that have marked significant changes in New Zealand cricket and its administration goes on the line.That is what it comes down to.New Zealand go into their game in a situation that for them is life or death.When they folded miserably in their batting against Australia, largely through their own fault in the supposedly solid top-order, and through an inability to contain the rampant fast man Brett Lee through the lower-order, New Zealand still had three hopes for making the semi-finals.The first, and most obvious, was to beat India in tomorrow’s game.The second was to hope that Zimbabwe might beat Sri Lanka on Saturday and the third disappeared yesterday when Kenya beat Zimbabwe.Hard as it might have been to believe, especially after the way they batted themselves out of a hole against New Zealand in their first Super Six match, Zimbabwe couldn’t put together anything resembling a reasonable effort against the Kenyans.What an indictment the Kenyans have been of the management of world cricket. The more the Kenyans have continued on their winning way, the greater the emphasis on the folly of Bangladesh’s promotion to Test status. And, dare it be said, the greater the folly for not taking New Zealand’s security concerns in Kenya more seriously.Realistically, New Zealand have only one option. They must beat India.Sri Lanka, if they are given the chance for a semi-finals berth as the result of New Zealand’s failure to beat India, will not falter. The prize is too great for them to even contemplate a loss to Zimbabwe.The India that New Zealand will face at Centurion is a different Indian team than that which lined up against it during the National Bank Series in New Zealand this summer.It is a side flush with confidence, untroubled by movement off the pitch or troublesome bounce. A side with their batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar in full cry and already having broken the record for most runs in a World Cup tournament.It is a side with left-arm medium-fast bowler Ashish Nehra having backed up some solid form in New Zealand with some potent displays, a great support to the most improved bowler on the tour in Zaheer Khan. And then there is the old master Javagal Srinath – the most persistent of India’s bowlers in the one-day series and a key factor in the Indian attack.Back that up with some batting form from Tendulkar’s supporting cast of Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh and there is a much more complete look to this Indian side.New Zealand know that India will probably use revenge for the series earlier this year as a motivation.But that could be a wasted notion. If they could take the home series, or a win tomorrow over India, there would only be one winner.Series come and series go, but there is much greater reward at the World Cup. New Zealand know that, just as they know they are at their last chance for a reasonable result in this campaign.However, as long as they contribute to their own demise with reckless stroke making of the order seen against Australia, when there was no pressure to accelerate the run rate at any stage of their innings, then they are going to minimise their chances.India don’t have a Lee to fire in inswinging yorkers. They do have bowlers who are entitled to some respect. But if two Test matches and seven One-Day Internationals didn’t alert them to what they can expect, nothing will.Centurion being the smaller ground that it is should be the scene for a high-scoring game, and if it is New Zealand who are on the chasing end of a formidable Indian target, some significant batting support for Fleming and Scott Styris is going to be a must.Greater discipline from Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns would be a start, more of the typical Lou Vincent working of the ball and speed between the wickets would be a help should he be named, while Craig McMillan, if he were to return to the side, or whoever is given the job of opening with Fleming, needs to hang around long enough to be a long-burning accelerant instead of the short-fused double happy variety that has been seen so far.The greatest test of all for the New Zealanders will be picking themselves up from the disappointment of knowing that they were within an ace of ending Australia’s winning run in their last match.New Zealand does not have a great record of scoring centuries at World Cups. Going into this tournament only five had been scored, two of them in the first tournament in 1975 by Glenn Turner.Already this time, Styris, Fleming and Astle have reached three figures and chances are it is going to require another player to do it tomorrow.India start as raging hot favourites, but given the results that have happened in this tournament, can anything be taken for granted?Will it be an epic result in the shape of The Magnificent ’11’ or farce in the form of Blazing Saddles?Tomorrow will tell.

Bangalore hosted the Plate A-Plate B Duleep Trophy match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and was fortunate to see some striking cricket that culminated by Plate B triumphing by an innings and seven runs shortly before lunch on the final day.Winning the toss, Plate A skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar opted to bat first, but his batsmen could not back him up in the choice. Opener R Jaiswal made 63 off 88, and Kanitkar himself made a steady 41, but they were the exceptions rather than the rule in a batting display that showed a distinct lack of application. Leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani did not help matters, taking five wickets for 71 runs and bundling out the lower order in quick time.The Plate B story read differently. One batsman – skipper J Arunkumar – put his hand up to play a long innings, and other batsmen consistently played around him. Arunkumar hit 178 off 300 balls, striking 29 fours and two sixes, and was out as the fourth wicket with the score on 343. Plate B went on to add almost 200 runs more; Vijay Bharadwaj made 91 off 136 and C Hemanth Kumar struck 88 off 134, both unlucky to miss out on their centuries. Chandrasekhar Atram, towards the end, produced 48 off 103 balls, and Plate B registered a massive 527.Even at the end of the third day, Plate A were in dire straits, fumbling at 143 for four, with Hirwani already having scalped three batsmen. He went on to dismiss four more, ending with stellar figures of seven for 129 off 38 overs. Yashpal Singh played a lone hand of 84, but it was hardly enough, and Plate A found themselves bowled out for 273.

The Sri Lankan cricket board announced on Monday that coach Dav Whatmore’s contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of May.Whatmore, a Sri Lankan-born Australian who guided the team to their 1996World Cup victory, will remain as coach for the Sharjah Cup.”The reason is that Mr Whatmore has been with Sri Lanka cricket since 1995and the interim committee felt there should be a change after such a longassociation,” Tennekoon said.”He obviously has done a wonderful job in his tenure, being successful in handling the 1996 World Cup winning side. And in this tournament (2003 World Cup), he did well to take us (Sri Lanka) to the semi final.Whatmore was appointed for a second term as coach after Sri Lanka’sdisappointing performance in the 1999 World Cup in England.Speaking to Wisden CricInfo from Colombo, Whatmore said: “I havethoroughly enjoyed working with this Sri Lanka team during the past fouryears.”Whatmore has promised to make a public statement after the Sharjah Cup.The national team’s long-time physiotherapist, Alex Kontouri, will also be replaced next month, Tennekoon said.

West Indies 240 and 418 for 7 (Sarwan 105, Chanderpaul 104) beat Australia 240 and 417 by three wicketsOmari Banks and Vasbert Drakes propelled West Indies to a nerve-wracking three-wicket victory on the final morning in Antigua, as Australia’s quest for an unprecedented clean sweep in the Caribbean came unstuck in the most thrilling fashion possible. Banks, who finished unbeaten on 47 in only his second Test, showed maturity beyond his 20 years, as he and Drakes overcame the early loss of Shivnarine Chanderpaul to knock off the 46 runs that remained of the highest fourth-innings chase in Test history.After a fractious and utterly compelling final session on Monday, the atmosphere in the Antigua Recreation Ground was unrecognisable this morning. If the teams had been able to reach a conclusion last night, West Indies would surely have won at a canter, but with a chastened and reinvigorated Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie charging in with a newish ball, there were no foregone conclusions on offer.

All of the Caribbean feared the worst when Chanderpaul, whose stunning strokeplay had put the Aussies to flight, lasted just one more Brett Lee delivery. Coming round the wicket, Lee straightened one on off stump, and Chanderpaul nibbled a catch through to Adam Gilchrist. He was gone for a magnificent 104, but like Sarwan before him, he appeared to have left the job uncompleted.There are worse men to have coming in at No. 9 than Drakes, however. He and Banks drew the sting of Australia’s assault with a calmness that was in stark contrast to the chewed fingernails in the stands and dressing-rooms. Drakes was greeted by a ferocious bouncer from Lee, then miscued an exocet from Gillespie into no-man’s land behind the wicket, but in the eighth over of the day he flicked Lee for a much-needed boundary, and West Indies were up and running.In the same over, Banks opened his account for the day, before finally connecting with one of his flowing cover-drives, to beat a floundering Andy Bichel to the rope. With 27 still needed for victory, Steve Waugh recalled Stuart MacGill, who had been subjected to a drubbing on Monday evening. Immediately Banks flashed MacGill through the grasping hands of Matthew Hayden in the gully, and Justin Langer was unable to prevent another boundary.

Then MacGill lobbed one into the slot, and Drakes hoofed it mightily over cow-corner for six – it was a decisive moment. In one blow, the crowd emerged from behind their metaphorical sofas, as the total passed 400 and the target ducked below 20 runs. Gillespie though wasn’t finished, and nearly decapitated Drakes with another perfectly directed bouncer, but Drakes responded with a fortuitous inside-edge to the fine-leg boundary.The teams took drinks with 11 runs still required, but when umpire Shepherd turned down MacGill’s stone-dead lbw appeal against Drakes, Australia’s last chance had gone. Banks slapped at a MacGill full-toss and edged down to fine leg for four, and it was left to Drakes to seal the win, with a spanking cut through point. West Indies had achieved the impossible – preserving their proud home record and breaking India’s 27-year-old record, to complete an astonishing run-glut of a series, in which 17 centuries were scored in four Tests.