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Sachin Tendulkar has opted out of the Test series against Zimbabwe as he felt he wasn’t strong enough to return to the rigours of Test cricket. According to a report sent by John Gloster, the team physio, to the Indian board, Tendulkar, who is recovering from an elbow surgery, wasn’t yet ready to return to competitive cricket.The national selection panel have picked Dheeraj Jadhav, the opener from Maharashtra, as Tendulkar’s replacement for the two-Test series, beginning at Bulawayo on September 13.SK Nair, the BCCI secretary, confirmed this and added that though Tendulkar had returned to light net sessions, he didn’t feel confident enough to return to Test cricket. Nair also revealed that Gloster, the team physio, had sent a mail to the BCCI “where he further stated that the strength component of the rehabilitation plan was progressing positively acording to plan but it was not yet sufficient to progress to the next level of competetive play.”Tendulkar has been dogged by a painful tennis-elbow for nearly a year and it forced him to miss one-day tournaments in Holland and England as well as two Tests against Australia. After the home series against Pakistan last season, Tendulkar decided to get his elbow operated.Nair also added that the selectors had decided to pick Jadhav as the replacement after a telephonic discussion. Jadhav, who was the leading run-scorer in domestic cricket two seasons back, had been included in the Indian squad for the final Test against Australia at Mumbai last year but didn’t make it to the final XI.

Muttiah Muralitharan will return to Test cricket on Wednesday with the chance to become the highest wicket-taker in the world – for the second time this year. But Murali, who will not be bowling his doosra, insists he will be chasing wickets rather than records.Muralitharan’s decision to boycott Sri Lanka’s two-Test tour of Australia in July allowed Shane Warne to draw level with him on 527 wickets. But during the forthcoming series against South Africa, on what are expected to be two spin-friendly pitches, Muralitharan has the opportunity to open up the gap again, while Warne is playing county cricket with Hampshire.Muralitharan, however, claims to be completely disinterested now by the world record and the resultant media hype over his rivalry with Warne. Instead, he insists, his No. 1 priority now is taking wickets to help Sri Lanka win matches.”I am not thinking about the record any more,” Muralitharan told reporters after the Sri Lanka team practice this morning. “The main achievement was passing Courtney Walsh’s 519-wicket record, and now I want to concentrate on winning this match. As we [Murali and Warne] are both going to be playing for a long time, there is no interest at all in us passing each other every other match.”Galle, where the first Test is to be played, has been a happy hunting ground for Muralitharan over the years. When these sides last met here, in 2000, he ripped through South Africa’s batting in both innings to claim 13 for 171. In all, he has snapped up 80 wickets at 15.10 in only ten Tests at Galle.South Africa, like all teams that tour Sri Lanka, has been feverishly working on their laptops trying to unravel some of Murali’s mystery. “We have done our homework and watched a lot of video tapes,” Graeme Smith told reporters. “We have spoken to some guys who have done well against him over the years. Our record against him is pretty decent, but playing Murali here and facing him in South Africa are two completely different things.”Their job has been made considerably easier by Murali’s decision, after advice from the Sri Lanka board which was also endorsed by the ICC, to shelve the doosra at least until November. South Africa may seek confirmation from Clive Lloyd, the match referee, that they will not be confronted by the mystery ball. “We have been told that he won’t be bowling his doosra,” said Eric Simons, the coach. “We have a match-referee meeting tonight, and I suppose it might come up in that. As far as we are concerned, the doosra has been removed from his repertoire.”

The Southern Electric Premier League have launched their “get tough” crackdown on bad on-the-field behaviour by banning Hungerford bowler Jason Williams.The Berkshire-based paceman has been suspended for 2 matches, for abusing a match official at the New Milton-Hungerford Premier Division 3 game on May 24.An additional two week ban has been suspended until August 2004.Williams, who has also been reprimanded by his own club, was withdrawn from the Hungerford attack after conceding 47 runs in eight overs at Fernhill.The immediate action taken by the Club was endorsed by the discilinary committee and as a consequence the ban of 3 weeks plus I week suspended was reduced to a 2 weeks ban plus 2 weeks suspendedNew Milton went on to pile up 279-8 before heavy rain saved the day with Hungerford reeling at 59-6.The three-match ban slapped on Williams comes hard on the heels of a stern behaviour warning sent out to clubs by the Premier League at the start of the season.”Everyone has been told that we will not tolerate bad behaviour, particularly verbal abuse directed at umpires,” emphasised SPL chairman Alan Bundy.”Umpires are there to enjoy the game as much as the players and one of the reasons for the present shortage of officials is because of the excessive appealing and questioning of decisions that goes on.”Williams missed Hungerford’s win over South Wilts II last week and will sit out today’s game at Ventnor and that against Havant II next week before being eligible to play against Winchester KS.Hungerford, who lie second in Premier 3, subsequently suffered a second severe blow when skipper Owen Dawkins broke his wrist while bowling for Wales MC in last weekend’s Minor Counties Championship innings defeat against Wiltshire at Pontypridd.Dawkins, who was on the Lord’s Groundstaff several seasons ago, was unable to get out of the way of a blistering return drive, which broke his wrist.The gallant Hungerford captain, who has recruited Wales MC colleague Dai Lloyd to the Berkshire club, came out to bat with his wrist plastered but was unable to save the Welshmen from defeat.Russell Rowe, out of touch with the bat so far for South Wilts this season, hit 128 of Wiltshire’s massive 434-7.

Keith Parsons hit a Championship-best 139 as Somerset posted a massive 650 against relegation candidates Northants at Taunton.That gave the home side a first innings lead of 187 and effectively ended Northants’ hopes of forcing the victory needed to put pressure on Lancashire in the battle for First Division survival.It was Somerset’s highest ever score at the County Ground and their biggest against Northants, who have only once conceded more in a Championship game.By the close the visitors had reached 89-1 in their second innings and were still 98 behind.Matthew Wood (122) and Mark Lathwell (92) fell in a morning session that saw Somerset score 212 runs and clinch runners-up spot in the Championship in the process.After the interval Parsons and Ian Blackwell continued the assault, with Blackwell hammering 77 off 83 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes, before being caught behind trying to hook Mike Strong.Parsons had faced 196 balls and hit 20 fours and two sixes when he was bowled by Paul Taylor, aiming to work the ball through mid-wicket. It was his fifth first-class century, but only his second in the Championship.Even then there was no let-up for the Northants bowlers, four of whom saw their figures reach the century mark. Taylor (4-100), Tony Penberthy (2-104), Monty Panesar (2-120) and John Blain (0-121) all suffered.There was even a stand of 47 for the last wicket before Mike Strong had Steffan Jones caught behind for 29.Then Alec Swann suffered the indignity of a pair as he was caught at second slip with Northants still to record a second innings run. Mike Hussey and Jeff Cook saw them through to the close, with Cook reaching a half-century off 63 balls, including eight fours.

Steady rain all day threatened to cause an abandonment without the Australians even leaving their team hotel. They spent much of the day watching the Women’s Ashes Test at a sunnier Canterbury, before the coach Darren Lehmann and his opposite number David Ripley brokered a late start.The plan was for a toss at 4.30pm and then 30 overs from 5pm, but the rain returned just as the Australian team bus turned into Wantage Road. So it was that a three-day fixture was trimmed back to two, coincidentally the same length of the match between these two sides in 2013. Steven Smith must wait one more day to toss a coin as Australia’s full-time captain.

West Indies coach Phil Simmons has admitted he is “totally frustrated” by seeing West Indian cricketers light up the Big Bash League while his Test squad battles to be competitive. Simmons said it was up to the WICB to find a way to keep the region’s best players and he cited the example of New Zealand, a team with similar resources but which has managed to retain its stars for Test cricket.Jason Holder’s young outfit collapsed to a three-day loss to Australia in the first Test in Hobart and they face the challenge of lifting themselves for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Andre Russell has been bowling with impressive pace for the Sydney Thunder, and Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle have turned out for the Melbourne Renegades, continuing their tour of domestic T20 tournaments.”I’m totally frustrated,” Simmons said. “It’s enjoyable to see Andre Russell bowling at 140 clicks, and Bravo hitting three or four sixes, and Chris back in it. It is frustrating that we don’t have them here playing the Test series.”But it’s something that’s been going on for a while and it’s up to the administration to work out how we get to the stage of, let’s say, New Zealand, because they have similar things and they’re getting all their players to play. It’s up to our administration and our bosses to find out how is the best way that we can get these guys on the pitch.”It is not as simple as to say that all three men would be in the Test team if available, for Gayle has a back injury that will affect his chances of ever adding to his tally of 103 Tests, and Bravo was not picked for a Test for more than four years before he officially retired from the format in January. This month, Bravo said he remained committed to West Indies cricket but was unhappy with the way players were treated in the Caribbean.”It’s gets frustrating … not only for myself but all the other cricketers: Gayle, Sammy, Pollard, Russell,” Bravo told the last week. “We’re all committed to West Indies cricket, but sometimes with the way we’ve been treated over the years, sometimes we second guess and ask ourselves why should we actually fight with West Indies’ cricket [administrators] when the rest of the world are opening their hands for us?”Gayle and Bravo are both in their 30s but Russell, at 27, is a man who could still offer West Indies many good years, but he has played only one Test five years ago and believes his knee would not stand up to Test cricket. But chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd said in January that Russell was one of the best allrounders in the world and could be in the Test side if he was willing to play.”It’s such a waste that we have a guy who could be a great cricketer who is now not thinking of playing both formats,” Lloyd said in the 2015 New Year’s Lecture in Cape Town. “We have contracts, probably not as exorbitant as others, but they are getting good money. It doesn’t seem playing for our country is paramount where these players are concerned.”Lloyd has arrived in Melbourne ahead of the Boxing Day Test, and will help mentor Holder, who at 24 faces the enormous challenge of leading a side of limited talent while also finding his own way in the game, having played only 11 Tests himself. In the absence of some of the region’s more senior players in the squad, Holder has had to rely heavily on the off-field staff of past legends to help him develop as a captain.”Off the field he’s getting help from the coaching staff,” Simmons said. “I’m sure he’s getting help from someone like Clive Lloyd. I’m sure he’s speaking to him, one of the greatest captains we’ve had. He’s getting a lot of advice from Clive too. Having ‘Lloydy’ around is always a good thing. Guys go and speak to him one on one. It’s a good thing to have him here.”

The South African board’s earnings from the television rights for the three ODIs against India in Ireland is expected to be higher than the combined income it will receive from the home series against New Zealand and West Indies later this year.CSA had faced criticism for sending the national team to play India in Ireland, as many felt it denied the side a rest ahead of a busy international schedule.Gerald Majola, the chief executive officer of Cricket South Africa (CSA), also confirmed that monetary gain was the main reason why South Africa wanted to host the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship.Speaking at an information session about CSA’s strategic plans for the next four years at Newlands, Majola said: “Our major income source is international television money. Last season, when India toured here, we had a fantastic year. This year, however, things will not be as good.”It is my duty as CEO to find a way to increase our income during the lean years. That is why we fought so hard to be appointed as the hosts for the first Twenty20 World Cup tournament.”According to Majola, CSA had earned 140 million rand (approximately $20 million) from the sales of television rights during the past financial year and indicated that it would receive only 18 million rand (approximately $2.5 million) in the coming financial year.Majola revealed that South Africa and India were negotiating about an annual ODI competition, which could be named the Mandela-Gandhi series. He conceded that it would be difficult to slot in the series in an already packed calendar. “The Indians are already outside the International Cricket Council’s guidelines for the international calendar. We’ll just have to see”.Majola admitted that most countries would like to play against India often because of the money generated by matches involving the nation with the world’s richest cricket board.

ScorecardDwayne Smith and Tino Best picked up three wickets a piece as West Indies A trounced Durham by eight wickets on the final day at Chester-le-Street.Best was in the wickets early when Gordon Muchall edged him behind to Patrick Browne for 5 and James Lowe succumbed in the same fashion to leave Durham in the sticky position of 35 for 4. Garry Park, the 23-year-old middle-order batsman then put on 31 for the fifth wicket with Dale Benkenstein, before Smith collected the first of his three wickets when Benkenstein was caught by Wavell Hinds for 26.Enterprising though Park (34) and Graeme Bridge (43) were, their challenge proved too great as Smith wrapped up Durham for just 148. This left West Indies the simple task of knocking off 95 for victory which, though they lost Smith and Sewnarine Chattergoon, they achieved with comfort and overs to spare.

Australia insist a slow Edgbaston wicket will put them on the fast track to victory in the second Ashes Test which starts on Thursday. Opener Matthew Hayden said Ricky Ponting’s team, already 1-0 up in the five-Test series after the 239-run win at Lord’s, are expecting a slow wicket in Birmingham which will nullify England’s pace threat from Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff.The torrential rain which followed the tornado which struck the Midlands city last week has left Edgbaston groundsman Steve Rouse hoping for hot weather to dry out the Test wicket.The Australians experienced similar batting conditions in the tour game at Worcester on Sunday after the virtual washout of the first day Saturday. But they still managed to reach 406 for nine thanks to half-centuries from Hayden, Justin Langer, Brad Haddin and Jason Gillespie.”Flintoff and Harmison hit the deck hard and can bowl genuinely quick balls but I can only go on what the one-day wicket at Edgbaston was like and it was really slow,” said Hayden.”I think we can plan on it being a reasonably slow wicket for the Test which plays into our hands. This game at Worcester will certainly help in terms of our preparations.”Hayden scored his 79 off only 97 balls but he stressed the importance of being patient in English conditions even though the natural instinct of the Australian side is to look to score quickly. “The conditions made it pretty hard work so we were just trying to bat time. The tempo of our innings in the Test match was pretty rapid so it was just good to spend time in the middle really,” he said. “We will have a look at the wicket when we get to Birmingham but you have to adjust. You can only bat on the wicket you have been given but we are confident.”

Kenya’s ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Uganda, which was to be held in Uganda, will now be played in Nairobi instead, according to a report in , a Kenyan newspaper. With the match less than a month away, an unsuitable pitch brought about the change in venue.Matthew Kennedy, ICC’s global development manager, said, “After due consideration by an ICC inspection and investigation team regarding the status of the newly-laid turf ground in Kampala, Uganda, the ICC decided it was appropriate to move the match to an alternative venue.” He added that the decision was agreed to by the boards of both countries.This African league fixture of the Intercontinental Cup will take place from July 23-25 at the Nairobi Gymkhana. The winners of the league will play toppers from other continents in the semi-finals in Sharjah.