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Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), will discuss Andrew Symonds’ complaint about the racial taunts by the crowd in Vadodara with James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive. “I will be quizzing James as to what happened and the positions Cricket Australia and the ICC are taking,” May told the .Symonds said he was disappointed by the local authorities’ denial that any monkey chants had been directed at him, but according to Peter Young, CA’s public affairs and anti-racism officer, Symonds decided to move on from the issue. “Andrew’s observations to James were that it was best to just ignore these things and move on,” Young said.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, was confident it would eventually turn out that the whole issue was a misunderstanding. “Nobody has pinpointed anything,” Shah said. “He [Symonds] shouldn’t be disappointed. The truth is the truth. What can you do?”There have been rumours that relations between CA and the BCCI had soured following the incident. But Young discounted them. “I am not aware that we have spoken to the Indian board at this stage,” he said. “The Indian board and Cricket Australia and the other eight nations all voted for and supported this policy when it came to the ICC table.”Young also said it was difficult to control crowd racism and added that CA itself had a problem when South African players complained of being abused by spectators in Afrikaans during their tour of Australia two years ago. “It can undeniably be difficult with spectator comment,” Young told . “Most of the time you don’t get to hear it. When South Africa were here two summers ago no one from CA or any of the state associations ever heard the comments and it made it very hard to locate the alleged offenders and then take action.”All we could do was go through the policy and reinforce all those things that we were able to reinforce the training of venue staff, ensure the communication to spectators was clear and the like.” Last year the ICC adopted the amended anti-racism code which includes penalties like imposing life bans on spectators found guilty of racial abuse and revoking the international status of the venue where the incident took place.

Glenn McGrath believes he still has plenty to offer despite Australia’s selectors looking to the future by choosing Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait alongside him in the first-Test squad. Speculation over McGrath’s form after eight months out of cricket to care for his ill wife led some detractors to suggest his time was up.”We have a lot of good young bowlers coming through in Australian cricket and the time will come when I won’t be around or have to make way for someone like Mitchell Johnson,” McGrath said. “Obviously, I’m getting closer to the end of my career than the start, but I still feel I have a lot to offer the team. I still feel that I can contribute. Each game I’ve played, I’ve put a little piece of the puzzle back together. It’s feeling pretty good and I shouldn’t be too far off 100%.”McGrath said his own fitness could help Australia regain the Ashes. “England are not as strong as they were last year,” he said. “But Australia are a lot stronger. And I’m fit, unlike last time. Put it this way, in the three Tests I played in last time, we drew two and won one. I can still remember standing there on the final day and watching them celebrate. So that’s deeply ingrained in my memory and I’ll be drawing a bit of inspiration from that.”Although he was left eating humble pie last year after predicting Australia would take the Ashes series 5-0, McGrath was not backing away from a similar claim this year. “I reckon it will be 5-0 this time, as well,” he said. “To say anything else would be negative. If we’re going to win 2-1, or 3-2, which games are we going to lose?”

Alex Loudon, the 25-year-old Warwickshire allrounder, believes England’s tour to Pakistan will be a steep incline in his learning curve as an international cricketer. Loudon was selected from the domestic crop to represent his country at the highest level on the back of some commendable performances, and is keen to impress on the tour.Despite scoring five Championship fifties and claiming 34 victims with his effective offspin, the call-up came as a surprise for Loudon himself. “The day the squad was announced was all pretty extraordinary really,” he told . “I was extremely surprised. I am immensely lucky to have been given this opportunity, and I am just looking to contribute and help as much as I can both on and off the field.”It was widely regarded that the English selectors would opt for Gareth Batty, the off spinner who had toured with the side to Sri Lanka and South Africa, as an understudy to Ashley Giles, the premier spinner in the side. Public belief was that Loudon, who averages 32.56 and 38.22 in first-class cricket with the bat and ball respectively, would instead be a part of England A’s tour to the West Indies in February.Loudon has played less than 40 first-class matches, but has obviously impressed the selectors and Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, who will be trying to mould players like Loudon into long-term mainstays of the one-day squad. He recently took 6 for 66 against Gloucester as Warwickshire signed off the domestic season with a win, and admits that working on mastering a doosra – the ball that leaves the right handed batsman – was key to his claims of being an effective allrounder.Much has been said about Loudon’s special delivery, but he is quick to clarify that he has a way to go. “It (the doosra) is something I have been working on but it’s far from perfected, as is my bowling,” he said. “It’s a little variation and that’s how I view it at the moment, just something that can keep a batsman on his toes every so often.”Critics of the English spin department have seen 36-year old Shaun Udal’s selection for Pakistan as highlighting the lack of depth beneath Giles. Batty, who has been on the cusp of selection to the final XI, however, has played down this spin debate. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a Shane Warne – he’s a one off, as is Muttiah Muralitharan,” he told .He is currently working at the National Academy and hopes to make a strong comeback. “My year wasn’t as good as the three previous years. I’m obviously disappointed but Shaun [Udal] had a fantastic year.” On his being overlooked, Batty was undeterred. “They’ve not discarded me – they’ve given me an opportunity to work on things that will make me better at the top level.”Batty broke into the England one-day side on the back of a consistent spell at the Academy in 2002-03, and believes that his stints with England have been more than as an understudy to Giles. “Last time I was on the Academy I improved in leaps and bounds,” he said. “I was involved with the full side for the period in-between, getting a go and then sitting on the sidelines for a bit and I think I improved then.”

Like Loudon, Batty has admitted that working on the doosra was one of his goals this winter. “It’s still a bit raw but I’ve got a perfect opportunity here to nail it, maybe have a day where I just bowl it for three hours. I’ve spoken to Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh about how they’ve developed different things.”While Loudon’s selection did come as a surprise, so was the exclusion of Owais Shah from the touring squad. The Middlesex batsman and the highest run scorer in English first-class cricket in 2005, seems destined to remain on the fringes of the national side. John Emburey, Shah’s coach at Middlesex, referred to the batsman’s exclusion as “criminal”. “He’s going to have to bat like Don Bradman to play any better.”Shah, who amassed 1728 runs at 66.46 last season despite a cartilage problem, remains confident of his chances, and cites England’s reluctance to alter its Test squad as only to be expected. “Yes, I’m a bit disappointed – why wouldn’t I be? But I’m not distraught or anything; it came down to the fact that you wouldn’t change a winning team.”Shah now heads to the National Academy for surgery and rehabilitation, and is confident that his seven Championship centuries were not entirely overlooked by the selectors. “For them (the selectors) to put me in the Academy means I’m still in their thoughts. There are other batsmen like Ed Joyce and Rob Key who have had good years so it’s unlucky for all three of us.”There remains one aspect that all three cricketers have insisted is the key to selection – consistency with the basics. “First and foremost I’m an off-spinner, and that will not change,” Batty has stated with confidence. For Shah, the focus remains batting. “You can always improve your batting. I’ll probably look at how I got out this year and try and iron those out.”And for Loudon, the plan is to remain consistent on tour. “A player improves most in a game situation, so I am going to be doing my best to get onto the field.”

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced plans to play two one-day internationals against Zimbabwe at the newly-built Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra next January.Although the ICC has yet to sanction the venue as fit to host international matches, the BCB has no doubts that it will do so. “We are hopeful to get ICC recognition in the first week of December,” Rafiqul Islam Babu, secretary of the BCB’s grounds committee, told The Daily Star.Clive Lloyd recently inspected four venues – Fatullah Cricket Stadium, Bogra Stadium, Chittagong Divisional Stadium and Khulna Stadium – on behalf of the ICC and the board are confident that approval for all of them will be given in the next fortnight.Zimbabwe arrive in Bangladesh on December 30 and will play two Tests and five one-day internationals.

Close Zimbabwe 254 for 7 (Wishart 93*, Streak 45*, Wilson 2-36, Angel 2-63)
ScorecardZimbabwe, driven by a commanding and unbeaten innings of 93 from Craig Wishart, were 254 for 7 at stumps after a testing first day of their three-day match against Western Australia at Perth.Wishart has not played Test cricket since the Sri Lankan series in January 2001, but he will be among the first picked for next week’s first Test against Australia, also at the WACA. It was a long, hard struggle for Wishart, who came to the wicket when the Zimbabweans were 65 for 3, having recovered from 20 for 2 after eight overs with openers Dion Ebrahim and Trevor Gripper back in the pavilion.Zimbabwe had been asked to bat first after Mike Hussey won the toss. It proved a torrid introduction to the famous WACA pitch, with its extra pace and bounce. The wicket, greener than usual, caused some disconcerting moments for the batsmen. and Paul Wilson (2 for 36), Jo Angel (2 for 63), Darren Wates (2 for 76) and Peter Worthington (0 for 29) all had their moments. Wates and Worthington were the pick of the attack early in the day, while Mark Hussey was able to skid the ball through later on to concede only 10 runs from 11 overs. He also took the wicket of Sean Ervine.Despite the best efforts of the Western Australia attack, Wishart stood firm in what was a chanceless innings. The loss of Mark Vermeulen, who had looked the best of the other top-order batsmen in compiling 38 in 92 minutes, made it even more crucial that Wishart graft his way through the remainder of the day.Craig Evans helped Wishart get the side through to lunch at 89 for four, but three balls after the break, he was back in the pavilion. His dismissal was the result of a sharply rising ball that caught the bat handle and flew behind the wicket for Ryan Campbell, the wicketkeeper, to take an easy catch.Tatenda Taibu joined Wishart, and the pair added 60 runs before the Western Australians got their next breakthrough. Ervine stuck around to add 25 runs with Wishart before falling, and Wishart was then joined by Heath Streak, his captain. They took play through until the scheduled close, posting another 80 runs along the way. By the end of the day, Wishart had spent 279 minutes at the crease.Streak proved marvellous support, ending on 45 not out in just under two hours of batting. Western Australia, who only let two chances drop on the day – a first-ball chance off Stuart Carlisle that was dropped at second slip by Marcus North, and a chance off Streak – managed to get through 95 overs of bowling. Wishart has scored 10 first-class centuries, and he will no doubt be looking forward to the seven runs that will give him his 11th hundred.

The Executive Committee of the United Cricket Board of South Africa met inJohannesburg today to discuss issues surrounding the current tour by thenational cricket team in Australia. Contrary to interpretations in themedia, the meeting was not in any way a “disciplinary hearing”, nor wasUCBSA President Percy Sonn called in to face the Executive Committee.The meeting was addressed by the Minister of Sport and Recreation, NgcondeBalfour, who expressed his support for the UCBSA, the national team and forthe process of transformation in South African cricket.The UCBSA acknowledges that it has not always made its policies clear to thepublic and regrets if this interfered in any way with the national team’spreparation or performance during their tour to Australia. All policies andprocedures are currently being outlined in full for the use of everyone inSouth African cricket. In September 2001, the UCBSA began the process ofapplying for an ISO 9002 certification, which involves full annual audits ofall policies and procedures by the SABS.Further issues which were discussed at the meeting and which the ExecutiveCommittee would like to clarify to the media and the public are:* The UCBSA would like to reiterate its position that formercaptain Hansie Cronje has been banned for life by the General Council of theUCBSA. This decision has been upheld by the High Court of South Africa andendorsed by the International Cricket Council. There is no intention toreverse this decision and the UCBSA now considers the matter closed.* The process of selecting the national team includes theendorsement of the team by the President and no team selection is completeuntil it has been endorsed by the President. The Executive Committeeexpressed its concern that the team that was initially under considerationfor the Third Test in Sydney as well as the discussions leading to the finalselection were leaked. The Executive Committee will call for reports on thematter from the Convenor of the national selection committee and the matterwill be discussed by the General Council of the UCBSA at its meeting on 19January. The policy regarding selection of the national team – and accordingto which the President acted – is that where there is an opportunity to doso, young black players who are on the fringes of the team must be given thechance to play for their country.* The UCBSA would like to express its support for andconfidence in the coaching team of Graham Ford and Corrie van Zyl, as wellas in captain Shaun Pollock. All three have contracts with the UCBSA untilafter the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa and the UCB is satisfiedthat they are performing according to those contracts.* The UCBSA understands that some former players may feelneglected by the system of cricket administration in South Africa. The UCBwould like to reassure former players who feel they have South Africancricket at heart that the UCB values their expertise and experience andinvites them to make a contribution to South African cricket in a positivemanner. If there are issues – particularly around transformation – thatthese former players do not fully understand, the UCB would be happy toengage them in discussions.* At the same time, the UCB urges all South Africans to getbehind their national cricket team and to give them their full supportduring the rest of their tour to Australia and in particular the home seriesin South Africa against Australia.Executive CommitteeUnited Cricket Board of South AfricaMedia Inquiries:Bronwyn WilkinsonCommunications Director+27-83-212-8255