Matthew Hayden admitted his return to the one-day team had yielded disappointing results and he was looking for a big score against England at Adelaide on Friday. But Shane Watson’s comeback for Queensland on Thursday could mean the race to partner Adam Gilchrist in the World Cup is back on in earnest.Watson, who was given the role of opening for the Champions Trophy in India, was named in Queensland’s limited-overs team for their match against Western Australia but will play as a specialist batsman. He initially hurt his hamstring in a domestic one-dayer shortly before the Ashes started – he was pencilled in for the No. 6 position instead of Michael Clarke – and when he returned for Queensland before Christmas he injured the muscle again while bowling.But with the World Cup rapidly approaching Watson is keen to be back among the runs after impressing at the Champions Trophy with two half-centuries from his five innings at the top of the order. “It has been a long time coming,” Watson said in of his return. He said he hoped to bowl a few overs but the Australia camp is keen for Watson to take it easy after his ill-fated comeback in December.”I will probably be slightly hesitant but that does not mean I won’t be playing at my best,” he said. “It will be in the back of my mind because I felt I was 100 per cent fit when I broke down last time. The more I am doing now, the more confident I am getting.”Hayden, who was recalled to the ODI team when Watson was unable to recover in time for the CB Series, has not grabbed his opportunity with both hands. He has made starts but failed to turn any into a decent total and his four scores so far have been 28, 27, 19 and 0.He said he was desperate to build a big opening stand with Gilchrist to prove the pair was the right one for Australia’s top order. “Gilly and I have had a few good starts but it was a disappointing weekend for us,” Hayden said of their partnerships of 26 against England on Friday and 6 against New Zealand on Sunday. “I think we got dragged down a little bit by the totals. Small totals are always tricky to chase.”

Aaron Nye’s impressive form in Queensland’s Ford Ranger Cup final victory has earned him a place in the Pura Cup squad for their match against New South Wales. Nye replaced Nathan Rimmington in the 12-man line-up to take on the Blues at the SCG starting on Thursday.Nye has not played first-class cricket since 2004-05 but made the selectors take notice with a vital ten-over spell in the limited-overs final against Victoria, in which he claimed the wickets of Cameron White, David Hussey and Adam Crosthwaite. Nye, an allrounder who bowls offspin and has a Pura Cup century to his name, gives the Bulls the option of a three-man spin attack for the Sydney clash.The Blues made four changes to their squad, promoting Peter Forrest, the rookie-contracted batsman, for what could be his first Pura Cup match. Forrest made 127 for the New South Wales Second XI last week, which was his second century in the Cricket Australia Cup this season.Forrest and Beau Casson were included at the expense of Greg Mail and Nathan Hauritz. Stuart Clark and Brad Haddin, who were unavailable due to their World Cup preparations, were replaced by Matthew Nicholson and Daniel Smith.Queensland sit second-last on the Pura Cup table but they are only six points shy of the Blues, who are first. Every team has two matches remaining, meaning only South Australia are out of the race for a place in the final.Queensland squad Jimmy Maher (capt), Ryan Broad, Greg Moller, Clinton Perren, Aaron Nye, Craig Philipson, James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Chris Simpson, Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Daniel Doran.New South Wales squad Ed Cowan, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich (capt), Dominic Thornely, Peter Forrest, Grant Lambert, Daniel Smith (wk), Beau Casson, Matthew Nicholson, Mark Cameron, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill.

In the shape of Ashish Bagai, Canada can at least point to having at least one player who isn’t the wrong side of 40. The 25-year-old New Delhi-born, batsman-wicketkeeper will be at the peak of his powers in the Caribbean and will be crucial if Canada are to have even the slightest hope of being one of the two teams from Group C to qualify for the second round. They could probably give Kenya a game but no-one is backing them to defeat England or New Zealand.Bagai is one of the survivors from the 2003 World Cup in South Africa where he played in the 60-run victory over Bangladesh in Durban. He made just seven with the bat that day but took three catches to dismiss three of the top four Bangladesh batsmen to help set his country on its way.He has now played 24 ODIs making 701 runs for an average of 35 and a top score of 137 not out which he hit in the recent World Cricket League in Kenya where he was named man of the tournament. He finished that six-nation competition with two centuries and a fifty and an average of 86.25That kind of performance has pushed him up the pecking order and he is now vice-captain to John Davison. “It was a great thrill for me to win the [player of the tournament] award,” said Bagai. “I am really psyched and it is great for my confidence ahead of the World Cup. I had no idea I had won the man of the tournament. David [Obuya of Kenya] and William [Porterfield of Ireland] did very well. I knew I was close but those guys had great tournaments too.”With attentions now turning towards the World Cup, Bagai said he could not be happier with his preparations. “It has been perfect. I was at the winter training camp in Pretoria [late last year). That was perfect for me – I really felt I improved. And then we had a hard-fought ODI series in Mombasa and then the World Cricket League. It has been ideal preparation.”Bagai also has courage. At the ICC Trophy in 2001, he played a major role in the last-over win against the UAE despite spending a night in hospital after being hit in the face with the ball.

The ICC intercontinental Cup final between Ireland and Canada will now not be held at Chelmsford after discussions between the ICC and Essex stalled.A fortnight ago the Irish Cricket Union announced that the County Ground would host the four-day match starting on May 21, but a spokesman for Essex today told Cricinfo: “When we were originally advised about the opportunity of staging the final we welcomed it. We have been in discussions with the ICC over the last couple of weeks but now understand they have decided to stage it elsewhere.”The ICC are now understood to be looking for an alternative venue.

John Buchanan, who has retired from his coaching role, said it was Australia’s destiny to be at the cutting edge of cricket after they had won a third straight World Cup title. Australia’s victory over Sri Lanka by 53 runs meant his players gave Buchanan, 54, a winning send-off in his last game after eight years in charge.Although supervising a gifted side, Buchanan has been credited with extending the team’s horizons. Buchanan, who is set to concentrate on what had been a motivational speaking sideline, had challenged the rest of the world to match Australia’s standards after they beat India in the 2003 World Cup final.But while now reluctant to pass on tips to other nations, Buchanan was clear where the sporting future of Australia lay. “It’s our role always to lead change, to lead new ideas to be right at the cutting edge of cricket or of sport,” he said. “Then it’s up to other countries to try to chase us. In a sense we’re not interested in what other countries have to do, it’s what we still have to do.”India and West Indies are two of the sides looking for a new coach after World Cup failures, but Buchanan said he had no interest in taking charge of another country. “I suppose you can never say never but right at the moment no,” he said. “I feel very loyal to the team that I coach and the players that I’ve worked with. So right at the moment I’m looking to venture into new territory altogether. This sort of role will be a thing of the past for me.”Buchanan said the key to Australia’s enduring success – they are the world’s best Test side and have now gone 29 games unbeaten at the World Cup – began with the players. “Each individual has strived for perfection all the time,” he said. “From a coach’s point of view, that is the perfect team. The perfect team is the one that keeps wanting to be better day in and day out. I’ve been basically a passenger for the last three years or so. I get there [to practice], put the gear out and bring it back in again.”But Ricky Ponting said: “We shouldn’t let the coach get away with that. He’s challenged us all the whole time he’s been in charge of this team. He’s always been overlooked. It’s not an easy thing to do to take over a team that’s already playing good cricket and make it better.”But he’s been able to do that with me and with all of us. Some of that is to do with the players, but a lot of it is also to do with how you’re coached as well.”

Following in the footsteps of Bangladesh’s recent announcement to establish a women’s side, the UAE have announced their plans for a national team. The project starts this Saturday at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.But they will have to get their skates on – UAE’s first engagement is in six weeks, with the Asian Cricket Council’s tournament which runs from July 11 to 17. Bangladesh will also play, alongside Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore and Thailand.Two former India players, Smitha Harikrishna and Pramila Korikar, will help to establish the set-up. The pair have each played 22 one-dayers, while Korikar also has five Tests to her name.

The Court of Arbitration for Sports has been forced to dismiss an appeal by the World Anti Doping Agency over the reprieves for the Pakistan fast bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, saying it had no jurisdiction to overturn the decision.The CAS panel said in a statement that the conclusion had been reached “with some considerable regret”. Shoaib and Asif tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in internal tests conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) last year, and were banned for two years and one year respectively in November 2006.However, a month later, both were controversially reinstated by a Pakistani appellate committee, prompting WADA to appeal to CAS in Lausanne. Dick Pound, the chairman of WADA, had told the BBC last December that the ICC – the game’s governing body – was “a signatory to the anti-doping code” and that Pakistan, as a full member of the ICC, was bound by its rules.However CAS, which set up a special panel to examine the issue, found that the PCB does not provide a right of appeal to the international sports court. Furthermore, it added, the ICC’s code did not contain any rules that obliged the Pakistan board to allow appeals to CAS.Shoaib and Asif were both removed from their country’s squad for the World Cup in March and April, although the PCB insisted they had missed the event because of injuries. That explanation, however, was countered by Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, who said at the beginning of the tournament in March that the duo had escaped a drugs test by not being selected for the World Cup.The PCB had announced beforehand that 11 of its 15-man squad and seven reserves had passed domestic, pre-World Cup dope tests, but Shoaib and Asif were left out of the testing.

Vaibhav Daga, the physiotherapist of the India A team, might join the Indian team in England, according to reports in Indian newspapers. Daga’s appointment will be a stop-gap arrangement following the injury to John Gloster, the team’s full-time physiotherapist.Gloster broke his right hand during a training session on June 24. “Gloster broke his hand during fielding practice and might be away for two months,” informed Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the Indian board.Shetty hinted that the BCCI was also considering approaching a professional based in England.

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.

Marvan Atapattu, the former Sri Lanka captain, has been released from his central contract with Sri Lanka cricket (SLC), as per his earlier request.”We decided at this evening’s committee meeting to release Marvan Atapattu from his contract from October 1,” Kangadaran Mathivanan, board secretary told .Though not official, the decision is likely to mean the end of the road for Atapattu as an international cricketer. Atapattu made his debut in 1990 and was one of the more elegant opening batsmen in contemporary cricket, scoring 5,330 runs in 88 Tests and 8,529 runs in ODIs.Earlier, Atapattu had asked to be released from his contract, without citing any specific reason. “We received a letter on Friday addressed to Duleep Mendis requesting release from his contract,” Mathivanan told Cricinfo.Atapattu’s current contract was supposed to run until March 2008 and he was one of only six players with ‘A’ graded contracts. He is currently playing for the Lashings XI in England.The development caps an uncertain period for Atapattu, during which he was overlooked by the Sri Lankan selectors for the World Cup in the West Indies and the subsequent tour to Abu Dhabi for the one-day series with Pakistan.Atapattu then announced his unavailability for the home series against Bangladesh citing personal reasons. The speculation is that Atapattu’s decision has come about because his name has been linked with the Indian Cricket League (ICL).