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Vendors made full use of a meeting on the World Cup to vent anger about their treatment generally and to call for a better deal.After more than two hours of talks at St Mary’s Primary School in Bridgetown on Sunday, the estimated 60 vendors came away with assurances that the cup would offer more opportunities for selling inside the new-look Kensington Oval than the old cricketing arena, and that there would be fairness in the allocation of positions.Against a backdrop of repeated applause, vendors’ spokespersons Keith Corbin and Ireka Jalani raised concerns about the alleged disregard by the authorities of sellers’ views on matters, including the construction of markets, a reported lack of state marketing of those venues, and a crackdown on vending in city areas.Corbin wanted to know if the vending opportunities available at the ground would be set aside for “just a select few” or if vendors would get a chance to be involved. Chief operations officer with World Cup Barbados, Vancourt Rouse, said “a couple of dozen” opportunities for vending would be available inside Kensington, but distribution would be based on a tendering system. He urged vendors’ groups, including the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs, and the Kensington Vendors’ Association, to get together to ensure their members got a good deal.Manager of Legacy Barbados, David Reeves, told the meeting efforts were being made to ensure the tendering process was fair to vendors, to the point of making provision to help them fill out the relevant forms. He said vendors would have greater opportunities and fewer restrictions outside Kensington Oval, a venue where the ICC was involved in the rules. Planning for 60 days of activities surrounding the tournament offered “a tremendous amount of vending opportunities”, he said.The high level of security surrounding the events was also raised by Reeves, who said Barbados was talking to people who had gone to Germany for the football World Cup with a view to comparing developments there with the local plans. He said matches in Germany were played under the same security arrangement the Caribbean would have in place for next year, based on the much-talked-about “sunset legislation”.The meeting was called by Legacy Barbados to explain its mandate and get the views of vendors on a number of matters.

At least the rain stopped yesterday. But that was the only good newsavailable for England’s cricketers, who found themselves unable to make itonto a playing field for the third consecutive day. This time, however, theycouldn’t even make the 75-minute trip to the indoor facilities at the BKSPsports academy, because of the death of their coach driver’s father late onThursday night.With most of the Muslim population devoting themselves to Friday prayers, itproved impossible to find a replacement driver at such short notice. Butgiven the state of Dhaka’s roads, England would probably have been quiterelieved not to be subjected to the whims of a novice behind the wheel oftheir coach.On a muggy but drizzle-free day (to use the local vernacular, in which a torrential downpour counts as a light shower), England were at least able to set foot onto the hotel tennis courts for some fitness drills. They then travelled the short distance to the national hockey stadium, which is situated right next to the waterlogged Bangabandhu, where it is hoped that the first practice match – against the Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI – will get under way on Sunday.Given the condensed nature of the tour, the team that is selected for thatmatch is likely to be a fair reflection of the intended Test side. “In 10days’ time, fingers crossed, I’m going to be playing a Test match and I’mpretty excited by it,” said Chris Read, who is the front-runner for thewicketkeeping spot that Alec Stewart finally vacated in September. “ButI’ve not even seen a pitch yet.”England’s only other selection dilemma pits Rikki Clarke against PaulCollingwood for the pivotal No. 6 slot, a position that has been left openby Andrew Flintoff’s late withdrawal with a groin strain.

John Howard and Mahinda Rajapakse, the respective prime ministers of Australia and Sri Lanka, have been asked to exercise restraint when making statements about controversial issues in cricket. Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, feels that the controversy over Muttiah Muralitharan’s doosra was blown out of proportion by their remarks.Speaking to reporters in London, Mani said, “it’s not helpful when high-profile people make these sort of comments. I wish they’d talk to us first rather than making statements in the public arena.”Murali had threatened to boycott Sri Lanka’s forthcoming tour of Australia after the Howard, told a radio station that he believed Murali chucked. However, Howard immediately went on the defensive and asserted that his own comments were blown out of proportion.The Advertiser quoted Howards as saying, “I was simply reflecting on the scientific research in Perth in relation to one of his deliveries. Muralitharan is very welcome to come to Australia when Sri Lanka tours later this year.”Howard was referring to the recent tests conducted at the University of Western Australia, which found that the straightening of Murali’s his arm while bowling the doosra were more than the permissible limit for a spinner.Kevin Maher, who is the president of Cricket Far-North, the body responsible for Tests in Darwin and Cairns, said that he wished Howard hadn’t made the statements in public. “Is Johnny qualified to speak on this matter?” Maher asked, “He might be a cricket lover but I don’t know that it’s his place to call him [Murali] a chucker. It’s disappointing. The whole city of Cairns was looking forward to him coming. The clash between Muralitharan and Warne was a big thing for us.”

Whilst the First XI were struggling against their Somerset opponents, Hampshire 2nd XI were recording their second successive ECB 2nd XI Championship victory against the same second side. In a run chase on the third and last day, the last five wickets fell for just 6 runs to give the visitors victory.The first day did not start until 4pm following heavy rain, but the Hampshire batsmen made up for lost time with Alex Morris, Lawrence Prittipaul and Iain Brunnschweiler all posting half centuries.When Somerset batted Piren Holloway played superbly, hitting 21 fours and 4 sixes in his run-a-ball 143, James Hibberd the young Calmore all-rounder took 2 wickets, as Somerset declared 52 runs behind.Again with rain threatening, Hampshire pushed their second innings score along. Dominic Clapp who made his first team debut for Hampshire in the match against Oxford UCCE scored 55, whilst Iain Brunnschweiler’s 49 allowed Hampshire to set Somerset a target of 5 an over (281 in a minimum of 49 overs).Somerset set about their task with vigour, Holloway and Keith Parsons both plastered the boundary boards, and skipper Wesley Durston kept up with the run rate, however with 51 still needed Parsons was run out on 88, Renato Almeida was well caught by Charlie van der Gucht off Chaka Hodge, Rowe was bowled by the impressive Mark Thorburn, who then had Reynold McLean (brother of Nixon) lbw next ball, to give Hampshire victory.Mark Thorburn dinished with 4 wickets, with van der Gucht and the Anguillan, West Indies ‘B’ player Chaka Hodge taking 2 a piece.

Complacency will be Pakistan’s biggest enemy when they take on minnowsBangladesh in the Asian Test Championship opener at the picturesqueMultan Cricket Stadium from Wednesday.The match itself will be the first-ever between the two countries. Itwill also be a unique incident when a Test centre will also be makingits first-class debut. This implies that the conditions to thedefending champions will be as alien as to the tourists who have lostall their previous three Tests since getting into the elite circlelast year.Irrespective of the unknown conditions, there is no reason to believethat Waqar Younis’ men will not come out comfortable winners becauseof the experience and prowess they have in their ranks and alsoconsidering that Bangladesh lack experience at this level.But while saying this, it should not be forgotten that Pakistan hadalso started as odds on favourites against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka andEngland in the last three years only to end up on the losing side.Their other home series defeat since 1998 was against Australia whiletheir last home series win dates back to 1997 when Wasim Akram’s menwhitewashed the troubled-hit West Indies.Hopefully, this season, which will also see New Zealand visit for athree-Test series, will begin on the right foot. And the key tosuccess in this season opener will be a combined team effort andthorough professional performance.The recent controversies triggered by the selectors when they playedmusical chairs with former captain Wasim Akram, or Waqar Younis’threat of quitting if not consulted over the composition of the team,or the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia’sbaseless and flimsy allegations against the print media need to bekept aside.The business has started and all concentration should be on how theplayers will perform rather than blow the trumpets as to whateverhappened this month which, by all counts, conveyed negative signalsdomestically and internationally and surely left a black spot onPakistan cricket.Pakistan are likely to award Test caps to left-handed opener TaufiqUmer and off-spinner Shoaib Malik which means Faisal Iqbal might carrythe towels. Traditionally, Pakistan announce their playing XI shortlybefore the toss. But considering the pitch, in all likelihood, thereigning champions will go in with five frontline batsmen, threepacers (including Abdur Razzaq), two spinners with Rashid Latif behindthe stumps.The wicket although has a green top, but the scorching hot and humidconditions here is expected to dry the moisture underneath the surfaceand juice from the wicket as early as late first session ofWednesday’s play. It will be then when the spinners will be moreeffective than the fast bowlers.Bangladesh have decided to retain the same team that earned a draw inthe three-dayer against the PCB XI at the UBL Sports Complex inKarachi last week. Al Shariar will serve as the 12th man.While Saeed Anwar will be hoping to score the required 49 runs tobecome the sixth Pakistani to complete 4,000 Test runs behind JavedMiandad, Salim Malik, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mudassar Nazar,Inzamam will be looking forward to delight his home ground with aninnings which has made him the backbone of the team.Inzamam, who watched Vivian Richards blast Pakistan in the 1980-81Test here from the Qasim Bagh Stadium general enclosure, slammed acentury against Sri Lanka 11 years later in a One-day Internationaland then returned to blitz a half century against Australia in1994-95.”I still remember Richards’ innings. I would be hoping to play aninnings of that class before my home crowd” Inzamam said.Although the Asian Test Championship final is set between Pakistan andSri Lanka even before the first ball in the tournament has been bowledafter India pulled out, Bangladesh will be looking forward, to atleast, collect some bonus points which are in the offing in the first100 overs of the innings.While the team winning the match by an innings will get 16 points andan outright victory will fetch 12 points, bonus points will be awardedin batting and bowling. Scoring 250-299 runs will earn one point,300-349 will fetch two points, between 350-399 three points and above400 runs four points.In bowling, a side taking four to five wickets will get one point, sixto seven will earn two points, eight to nine three points and fourpoints for all 10 wickets.It would be gross injustice to the stadium if a couple of lines ofappreciation are not dedicated to the venue which is absolutelybreathtaking and can be easily compared with the Gaddafi Stadium. The30,000-capacity stadium is fully equipped with modern and highlyquality facilities for the spectators. The facilities for media andplayers are also excellent. But lack of proper hotels is the onlyhurdle in Multan becoming a regular Test venue.Teams (likely):Pakistan: Saeed Anwar, Taufiq Umer, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Abdur Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Shoaib Malik, WasimAkram, Waqar Younis (captain), Danish Kaneria. 12th man: Faisal Iqbal.Reserves: Imran Nazir, Naved Latif, Irfan Fazil.Bangladesh: Naimur Rahman (captain), Akram Khan, Aminul Islam,Enamul Hoque, Habibul Bashar, Hasibul Hossain, Javed Omar, KhaledMashud, Manjural Islam, Mehrab Hossain, Mohammad Sharif. 12th man: AlShariar (12th man). Reserves: Ranjan Das, Mohammad Ashraful.Umpires: Darrell Hair (Australia) and Peter Manuel (Sri Lanka).Third Umpire: Riazuddin (Pakistan).Match Referee: John Reid (New Zealand).

The Melbourne Stars have named David Hussey their new captain and James Faulkner the vice-captain for the upcoming fifth season of the Big Bash League. The Stars had to pick a new captain after recently retired Michael Clarke, who was supposed to lead them, pulled out of the tournament, and Cameron White, who led them last season, switched to Melbourne Renegades.Hussey was upbeat about captaining the side with Faulkner as deputy and described his appointment as “interesting”.”It’s an interesting decision by the Melbourne Stars,” Hussey told . “James Faulkner’s going to be the vice-captain and he’s going to be a great person to bounce ideas off. I’ve also learnt from two great captains before me in Shane Warne and Cameron White. In terms of me being captain, it’s a tough one.”The Stars have made the semi-finals in all four seasons so far, but have not reached the final even once. Addressing that was Hussey’s main concern. “I’m really focused on helping the Melbourne Stars. I want to win some silverware,” he said. “It is frustrating. We’ve been semi-finalists every year since the inception of the competition.”Hussey, 38, was not sure of his appointment as a long-term plan and said Faulkner could be the future captain of the Stars in the coming years. Hussey had played only four matches last season with an unimpressive tally of 37 runs at an average of 12.33 and strike rate of 97.36.”I’m always for never standing in the way of a younger player coming through,” he said. “James Faulkner, hopefully we can work together and maybe he’s going to be a future captain of the Melbourne Stars, maybe next year or the year after.”The Stars will also have a new coach for this season – former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming who has coached IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. Fleming was banking on the familiarity he shares with Hussey and was eager to have their international star Kevin Pietersen in the camp. Their other international recruit is an England batsman as well – Luke Wright.”It’s nice to have a strong Victorian presence as captain,” Fleming said. “To be working with him is quite a key component because I know him so well.”There’s been a lot written about Kevin, and whether or not he should be playing international cricket. I’m pretty pleased he’s playing with the Stars,” Fleming had said after his appointment earlier this year.The Stars will start their tournament on December 18 against the Adelaide Strikers at the Adelaide Oval.

It was a day of hat-tricks in Isle of Man, as two bowlers picked three in three, while Italy and the hosts completed their third consecutive wins to stay on top of their respective group.Italy’s batsmen struggled to get going in Tromode and sputtered to 146 for 9 in their 40 overs. Tail-enders Atikur Rehman and Mohammad Adnan struck crucial 20s to lift their side from a troublesome 50 for 6 as Gibraltar’s bowlers shared the wickets around. Gibraltar were then blown away by Adnan and Abdur Bhuiyan, with the latter removing Jeremy Perez, Simon Dumas and Dylan Casciaro off successive balls. Gibraltar were eventually shot out for 52 in the 29th over.Rowan Bird’s patient 50 off 80 balls held Isle of Man’s innings together in St John’s as they made 165 for 6 in 40 overs. Spain’s reply was scuppered by an all-round bowling effort from the hosts, led by Sebastian Aycock’s 3 for 20.Midhun Sandhya produced the best individual performance of the tournament so far when he took four wickets, including a hat-trick, and followed it up with an undefeated 68 as Switzerland trounced Austria by six wickets in Castletown. Sandhya’s effort was supported well by George Gaillet as Austria folded for 113. Switzerland’s reply was rocked early as the openers could manage just one run between them, but Sandhya came to their rescue again.France blew away Greece en route the quickest finish of the tournament in a match that lasted under 30 overs in Crosby. Zain Zahir picked 5 for 11 as Greece were bowled out for 49 in the 18th over. France lost a couple of wickets but had no problems in sealing the match in the 12th over of the chase.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday shifted the training and fitness camp for the national squad from Quetta to Lahore because of recent floods in Balochistan, a PCB official said.Zakir Khan, PCB’s director of cricket operations, said that the camp – the second of the three camps organised to improve the players’ fitness levels – had to be relocated keeping in view the current situation in Balochistan where floods have left scores of people dead and thousands homeless. The camp was scheduled from July 10 to July 23.Instead, the 22 players called up for the camp would now head to Lahore. The camp’s duration and dates have remained unchanged. The first camp took place in Abbottabad where the players were supervised by army trainers.The third and final camp is scheduled to take place in the coastal city of Karachi from July 25.

Sri Lanka have strengthened their pace attack for the ODI series against England by calling up Dilhara Fernando and Ruchira Perera into a 14-man squad. The five-match series begins at Lord’s on June 17. The two replace Nuwan Zoysa and Nuwan Kulasekera in the squad.Perera, who did well during the series against Australia and South Africa earlier in the year, returns after being sidelined with a hamstring injury. He was reported for an illegal action during the 2002 tour to England. Fernando is back after being given time to work on a no-balling problem that has plagued him, most recently in the Test series against Pakistan in April. He will add some pace to the attack, given his status as arguably the fastest bowler in the country.He also has a good one-day record against England, having taken 15 wickets in six games at a cost of only 19 runs each.Russel Arnold, now considered a one-day specialist, has also been drafted into the squad. Thilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak and Michael Vandort all return home after the Test series which ended 1-1.England have delayed announcing their squad until later this week because of Andrew Flintoff’s injured ankle.Squad: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Russel Arnold, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Ruchira Perera, Malinga Bandara.

Tillakaratne Dilshan has been dropped from the Sri Lankan Test squad for the series against Pakistan, starting at Faisalabad on October 20. Dilshan is one of the five players who have been replaced from the one-day team, which is currently taking part in the tri-nation PakTel series.The others who will return after the tri-series final are Avishka Gunawardena, Saman Jayantha, Nuwan Zoysa and Kaushal Lokuarachchi. Dilshan was having a tough time with the bat in Sri Lanka’s recent series against Australia and South Africa. After his 104 against Australia at Galle in March this year, Dilshan has crossed 40 just once in 14 innings.As exclusively reported in the on Wednesday, the five players who were chosen as replacements were: Thilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak and Ian Daniel, Lasith Malinga, and Romesh Kaluwitharana, the wicketkeeper.Sri Lanka will take on Pakistan in a day-night encounter on Thursday before the same two teams clash for the title on October 16 at Lahore.