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Mumbai probably knew, at some point in their amazing recovery, that they’d have to face Bengal again this season. This time, they’d have their most lethal weapon in the side: Zaheer Khan, who joined Mumbai before the season began but hadn’t had a game because of his own personal journey back to the high life.Zaheer has posed a threat to several batsmen this season but Mumbai knew that he had the number of the most dangerous batsman in the Bengal line-up. Sourav Ganguly doesn’t like facing him – or probably has not faced him long enough to make up his mind on that. Seventh ball in the Duleep Trophy final in November 2005, and Zaheer bowled an inswinging yorker; Ganguly played all over it and was bowled. In the second innings of the same match, a similar delivery found Ganguly’s pad on the way. After that final and before this, Ganguly, playing for Northamptonshire, had faced up against Zaheer, playing for Worcestershire in a second division County match in June 2006. Ganguly b Zaheer 2, read the scorecard.Ganguly certainly had the opportunity to make amends today, walking out at the Wankhede with Bengal reeling at 28 for 2. Zaheer, as expected, was charged up and he greeted Ganguly with a ball that pitched outside off in the corridor, moved in, took the inside edge, and hit the stumps. Simple as that, 4-0 Zaheer.He has obviously worked out that Ganguly is not comfortable with the one coming in from a length and has exposed it quite appreciably. And Graeme Smith will testify to the fact that Zaheer is not the man you expose your weakness to.What has been remarkable in Zaheer’s case – both with Smith and Ganguly – is the way he has capitalised on technical weaknesses to convert them into psychological ones. “It (knowing the batsman’s weakness) does help. There’s definitely a psychological advantage in that,” Zaheer said after the day’s play today. “But it’s also about the rhythm. Rhythm is all about being able to bowl where you want to bowl. That’s what is happening with me now.”Bowlers over the world know Smith looks to play on the on side early on, but no one beat him there as accurately and consistently as Zaheer did. After a while that entered Smith’s head, to the extent that he refused to take strike to Zaheer in the second innings of the Wanderers Test. Ganguly has been in good form of late and one would have expected him to be sure of his foot movement, of what he was going to do to the first ball he faced. Instead, the feet didn’t move and the bat came down without any intent – neither straight in defence nor forceful in attack.Earlier, Zaheer – making his debut for Mumbai – had made an immediate impact with only his fourth delivery. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala was drawn into edging one that had pitched on leg and had slanted away. Then in his fifth over, just one ball before getting Ganguly, Zaheer left Arindam Das no option but to play at a fast one that pitched short of length and always looked at his body.Zaheer bowled unchanged for 11 overs and, by the time he was done, Bengal were a shattered side. The Bengal batsmen, not having faced pace bowling of such ferocious quality through the season, were lambs to the slaughter; Zaheer was clearly too good for them. Rohan Gavaskar tried to fight the onslaught with one of his own, scoring 16 off 11 Zaheer deliveries, but he was drawn into a wide over-pitched delivery that swung away late. Before the end of that over, Laxmi Ratan Shukla had chased another sucker ball to complete Zaheer’s five-for on debut.The debut had been a long time coming, and obviously worth the wait. “When I came to Mumbai in 1996, I started playing all the club matches. My immediate goal was to play in the Ranji team and see how I’d find a place in the Indian team,” Zaheer said, “Obviously it didn’t work out that way.” He was in the squad for the semi-final against Madhya Pradesh in 1996-97, but did not get to play the match. He had moved to Baroda later and made his comeback this year only. “When I started playing cricket, playing for Mumbai was on my mind, and it’s a special feeling now.”With Zaheer taking Mumbai a huge step closer to reclaiming the grand old trophy, that feeling is probably mutual.***************************************************************************************Boyc bats for the PrinceIf Sourav Ganguly is expected to bat and Geoffrey Boycott is in town, it is hard to keep him from showing up. While making his way to the stand next to the press box at the Wankhede, Boycott asked the first soul that looked capable of speaking, “Has the Prince started batting?”Boycott was heard telling the members at the stand, “I am very happy. My prince is playing for India, and my princess is winning in England.” The princess, of course, is Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood star, who has recently won the Big Brother, the reality television show. Boycott had earlier, during commentary stints in India, made public in no unclear terms his fondness for Shetty.The considerate ‘prince’ did not give Boycott too much happiness at this old age and lasted only one delivery. Any chances of seeing him bat again today were erased when the last-wicket pair for Bengal saw them across the follow-on target.

Cricketers from seven ICC Associate countries have arrived in Chennai to be part of the MRF-Asian Cricket Council (ACC) High Performance programme at the MRF Pace Foundation from June 25 to July 4.The purpose of the programme, which coincides with Dennis Lillee’s annual visit as a coach to the pace academy, is to improve the fitness of players from UAE, Oman, Malaysia, Singapore, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Hong Kong.”Teams from the Asian countries need to work on fitness,” said Roger Binny, the former Indian allrounder and currently a development officer with the ACC. “We are working on them so that they can effectively compete to make it to the World Cup in a few years.” The focus at the camp, Binny said, would be on batting, bowling, and fitness.Meanwhile, the ACC has decided to give a total of $1.5 million to all non-Test playing Asian countries so that they can carry on with their specific development programmes. The funds were not allocated last year, as planned, because of the postponement of the 2006 Asia Cup due to the packed international schedule of the participating teams.Each Associate member will be given a base amount of $42,000, with Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, UAE receiving an extra $30,000. According to the ACC website, subsequent amounts will be awarded on the basis of ACC tournament performance and the meeting of governance criteria.

Andrew Flintoff could make a long-awaited comeback playing for the England Lions on their tour of India, according to the chairman of selectors, David Graveney.”They are very happy with his rehab,” Graveney said after announcing England’s two squads to tour New Zealand next month. “There is a possibility, if his rehab goes to plan, of him going on the Lions tour at the end of January.”Flintoff, 30, underwent keyhole ankle surgery in October and has since been recovering in America. He hasn’t played a Test match since the fifth Test of the 2006-07 Ashes in Sydney, and although he wasn’t considered for England’s tour of New Zealand, Graveney said he could feature for the Lions when they play in India’s Duleep Trophy.”He’s very keen to get back playing cricket so there is a possibility ofhim joining up as a batsman only as part of his rehab,” Graveney said. “Everyone has their fingers crossed to get him back bowling and at this stage it is going according to plan.”The Lions depart for India on January 24.

Sussex have confirmed Ryan Harris has terminated his contract with the club with immediate effect. The county was forced to withdraw Harris from their Championship opener against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl on Wednesday after he signed a three-year deal with Queensland.Harris, who grew up in and appeared for South Australia, was originally picked up as a Kolpak player and joined on the basis he held a British passport and met current ECB regulations. However, the conditions also stipulate players cannot perform in another country as a local.”This has been a very difficult decision for Ryan but the only decision he could make after it was announced on Wednesday that he had signed a three-year contract with Queensland to play as a local player and not as an overseas player,” Gus Mackay, Sussex’s chief executive, said.”This is extremely disappointing for the club given that Ryan is an exciting cricketer who we were looking forward to being part of our title defence.” Harris played in the season’s traditional curtain raiser – Sussex, the County Champions, against MCC – and bowled swiftly at Lord’s last week, picking up 4 for 36.

Otago’s success in taking the first innings points proved invaluable. With the abandonment of play, it secured the four points from the game and took an 8-4 points lead in the Southern Zone competition, which has two games to be played, in Ashburton on Friday, and Westport on Sunday.Otago did well to pass a solid Canterbury total, especially when without Chris Gaffaney, the star of the game the day before in Gore. Andrew Hore’s good form in club cricket was reflected in the early part of the innings while Lee Germon showed he was well on the way to making a significant impact for the side in the latter part of this series and in future commitments for the side.Craig Cumming’s form was welcome after some disappointment in Gore and the sight of Karl O’Dowda guiding the side to victory with a controlled innings was a hint of the role he might have in the Shell Cup later in the summer.Canterbury enjoyed a profitable assault when Warren Wisneski was at the crease and there’s no doubt when he gets cracking from the outset the impetus is well and truly applied to the innings. With some hard-hitting players further down the order like Darren Reekers, Cleighten Cornelius and Stephen Cunis there is a hint that a huge score is not far away for Canterbury, but it needs to produce the goods soon.It’s not really fair being a bowler in these games, but for the bowler’s who get their length right the rewards are to be had and Otago’s Kerry Walmsley, who conceded only one run in the ninth over of the Canterbury innings, and Canterbury’s left-arm spinner Danny Bulman, who was sitting on a hat-trick, showed rewards could be had.The pressure goes on Otago in the last two games, as it will be without Walmsley, who is off to South Africa.

Khaled Mashud, the veteran wicketkeeper, has been included in the Bangladesh team for the two-Test series against India. Allrounders Saqibul Hasan and Mehrab Hossan jnr find a place in the Test side for the first time while batsman Tushar Imran earns a recall two years after his last appearance. Mohammad Ashraful, has been named vice-captain, which follows his appointment as the same for the ODI team.Aftab Ahmed was a surprise omission, having taken part in Bangladesh’s previous Test campaign, when they took on Australia early last year. Enamul Haque jnr takes the place of Abdur Razzak, who has been a regular at the one-day level. The series will have added significance to Mashud, who will be looking to re-establish himself in the Bangladesh side after losing his place in the ODI team to the young Mushfiqur Rahim and as a result missing the World Cup as well.The first Test begins at Chittagong on May 18 and will be followed by the second at Mirpur starting on May 25.Bangladesh Test squadHabibul Bashar (capt), Mohammad Ashraful, Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Saqibul Hasan, Rajin Saleh, Tushar Imran, Khaled Mashud (wk), Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque jnr, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mehrab Hossain jnr

The Sri Lankan legspinner, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, is expected to be out of action for two months after undergoing an operation on his dislocated right index finger.Lokuarchchi sustained the injury while attempting a return catch off Ravi Bopara during England’s first innings of their match against a Sri Lanka Board President’s XI in Colombo.Initially it was feared he had sustained a break, but his coach, Chandika Hathurusinghe, confirmed that the blow had dislocated a knuckle without severing the surrounding tendons. Nevertheless, he is expected to spend three weeks in plaster, and it will be a further month before he is fit to bowl again.Though Lokuarachchi was not in contention for the forthcoming Test series against England, he was very much in the selectors’ thoughts for the CB Series in Australia in January and February. He played in the final two matches of England’s recent ODI series in September and October, and has taken 31 wickets at 23.38 in 31 matches to date.

Chris Read has been given hope of another international opportunity after Geoff Miller, the national selector, said he was discussed during the six-hour selection meeting last week.Read last played for England on the 2006-07 Ashes tour when he replaced Geraint Jones for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, but he never found favour during the Duncan Fletcher era. However, he is now captain of Nottinghamshire and has started the season in fine style with 283 runs at 70.75 in three matches.”The Notts public might have to watch this space. We will keep our options open.” Miller told BBC Radio Nottingham. “Yes, he was discussed, and he will continue to be discussed.”Chris knows we’re around the grounds all the time, and will keep in touch with how we’re feeling. From his point of view, it’s a matter of consistently putting in the performances.”England have been through a batch of keepers over the past 12 months, starting with Matt Prior this time last year before he was dropped in favour of Tim Ambrose and Phil Mustard has been given a one-day run. Meanwhile, James Foster was selected for the England Lions tour of India although Prior kept for the Lions against New Zealand last week.With a new selection panel in place there is a feeling that there is a second chance for some players to impress and earn international honours. Read’s Nottinghamshire team-mate Ryan Sidebottom, named England Player of the Year on Monday, benefited from such a move last summer. Although David Graveney was still the chairman of selectors at the time, Peter Moores had a significant say in his recall.”With this new regime it’s an open door,” said Sidebottom. “If you are performing then you could get selected at any minute. Injuries come along and the more competition for places there is the stronger England will be.”

David Hussey enjoyed a cleansweep of Victoria’s state awards on Tuesday, just hours after he was chosen in Australia’s ODI squad to tour the West Indies in June. It will be Hussey’s first trip with the national team and it comes after a prolific season that resulted in him being named as Victoria’s best player in the Pura Cup, FR Cup and KFC Twenty20.Hussey was the state’s leading run scorer in all three competitions and was an integral part in them reaching every final in 2007-08. He took home the Bill Lawry Medal as the Pura Cup Player of the Year after recording his best tally in a season, 1008 runs at 56, which was second only to Simon Katich across the country.He added the Dean Jones Medal to his stack of prizes thanks to an FR Cup campaign that brought 484 runs at 44, including the second-fastest century in Australian domestic one-day history. The Twenty20 honour was a formality after he scored 237 runs at 47.40 and was named as the tournament’s Player of the Year at last month’s Australian Cricketers’ Association awards.The Ryder Medal, awarded to the best player in Melbourne’s premier grade cricket competition, went to Steven Spoljaric, a Hawthorn-Monash University allrounder who has been the runner-up twice in the past three years. He beat the sometime Victoria one-day player Grant Lindsay by one vote, while Sarah Edwards was named the top women’s cricketer having scored 214 runs at 30.57 in the WNCL.