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Dilhara Fernando, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, has been ruled out of the remainder of the series against Pakistan after sustaining an arm injury.Sri Lanka manager Brendon Kuruppu said Fernando injured his right arm while fielding in the third one-dayer against Pakistan in Dambulla and will be out for at least two weeks.”Clinical tests and MRF scans confirmed a grade-two tear on his right teres major muscle in the posterior part of his right shoulder,” Kuruppu said. “Dilhara’s recovery will be monitored by the team management.”Fernando, who didn’t play in the fourth ODI, has been replaced by another fast bowler Dammika Prasad in the one-day squad.

Middlesex coach Toby Radford has left the club after finding that his role has changed under the new structure.He leaves in the middle of a poor season where Middlesex’s defence of the Twenty20 Cup finished with them bottom of their group and they are currently propping up Division Two of the County Championship without a victory in eight matches.Earlier this year Angus Fraser was appointed as managing director as part of major changes behind the scenes. “I asked to leave because this season’s role has been very different from what it was last year,” Radford said.”I very much enjoyed my five years’ coaching at the club, and will miss many of the staff and players with whom I have worked during that time. I wish Middlesex and the players every success for the rest of this season and for seasons to come.”Vinny Codrington, the chief executive, said: “We have had a significant restructuring of our cricket department in the last year, and Toby has decided that he would prefer to pursue his opportunities elsewhere.”

Victoria have named a mostly unchanged squad for 2009-10 as they aim to defend their Sheffield Shield title and add some limited-overs silverware to their cabinet. The only loss from last summer’s playing group was the wicketkeeper Adam Crosthwaite, who is heading to Sydney in the hope of breaking into the New South Wales side.The West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo is the major signing and while he holds a standard Cricket Victoria contract and could technically play in all forms of the game, he is expected only to take part in the Twenty20 tournament. The other additions to the senior squad are Jon Holland and Michael Hill, who have been promoted from the rookie list after debuting in 2008-09.The rookie list has five new faces, including a new backup gloveman for Matthew Wade. The Bushrangers have snared Ryan Carters, who was the ACT Under-19s wicketkeeper last season and helped New Zealand behind the stumps against the Prime Minister’s XI when Brendon McCullum was injured.The other new rookies are the left-arm fast bowler Jackson Coleman, the offspinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell, the fast bowler Will Sheridan and the 17-year-old emerging fast bowler Michael Topp. The only loss from last year’s initial rookies was Kumar Sarna, who in November headed to India, his country of birth, to pursue his cricket there.”We’ve got a really exciting mix of promising young players and experienced cricketers,” Victoria’s coach Greg Shipperd said. “I’m confident we can continue to build on the successful culture we’re creating here at the Bushrangers.”Victoria squad Aiden Blizzard, Dwayne Bravo, Aaron Finch, Shane Harwood, John Hastings, Michael Hill, Brad Hodge (Cricket Australia contract), Jon Holland, David Hussey (CA), Nick Jewell, Lloyd Mash, Andrew McDonald (CA), Bryce McGain, Clint McKay, Dirk Nannes, Darren Pattinson, James Pattinson, Rob Quiney, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle (CA), Matthew Wade, Cameron White (CA), Damien Wright.Rookies Ryan Carters, Jackson Coleman, Brett Forsyth, Steven Gilmour, Glenn Maxwell, Will Sheridan, Michael Topp.

ScorecardWest Indies eased to their second consecutive win in the World Twenty20 warm-ups, beating Ireland by five wickets in Wormsley. Lionel Baker’s early burst and Darren Sammy’s miserly spell restricted Ireland to a modest 119, which the middle order knocked off with two overs to spare.Ireland stumbled to 33 for 3 after opting to bat first, losing all wickets to Baker. John Mooney and Nigel Jones added 29 for the fourth wicket before both fell in quick succession to Sammy. The lower order failed to put together decent partnerships which meant they couldn’t even bat out their 20 overs. It was a combined effort from the West Indies bowlers, with everyone chipping in with a wicket. Sammy conceded just eight off his allotment of overs while Baker finished with 3 for 22.West Indies promoted Ramnaresh Sarwan to open but he failed to make an impact, falling for 6 to Boyd Rankin. The batsmen made starts but couldn’t carry on, and at one stage West Indies were at 60 for 4. Denesh Ramdin and David Bernard ensured no further alarms as they finished the match with more than two overs to spare.

Uganda topped the Africa Cricket Association/East Africa Under-13s final table with six points after losing their final match to Tanzania by 25 runs. They won three games and lost one. Tanzania and Kenya each had three points, winning one and losing two, with one game rained off.Kenya, the hosts at Nakuru, came bottom on run rate, arch rivals Uganda having beaten them by three wickets and eight wickets in the two games between the two sides.The tournament was not without problems. Rwanda, flagged as one of the successes of the African development programme, failed to turn up.

Shaun Tait has become the latest Australian to be withdrawn from the IPL after Cricket Australia were unwilling to gamble on his health ahead of the World Twenty20. His manager said the decision was “very disappointing” for Tait, who was expected to be part of the Rajasthan Royals campaign, which begins on Saturday.Tait hasn’t played since Australia’s one-day international against New Zealand in Perth on February 1 as he faced a long recovery from a tear to his left hamstring but he believed he had returned to near full fitness. He was named in Australia’s 30-man preliminary squad for the World Twenty20, which begins in England in June, but now faces further time on the sidelines in the lead-up.”The IPL was the only chance to prove his fitness before the squad for the Twenty20 World Cup was picked,” Tait’s manager Andrew McRitchie told the . “How he proves that now, I don’t know.”The excitement of playing alongside Warney and defending champions Rajasthan was definitely something that has been at the forefront of his mind. The Royals have been exceptionally understanding and they know that Taity is a long-term prospect for them. Whilst a [Cricket Australia] contracted player he will play by their rules, and Taity understands that.”It will be a costly few weeks for Tait, who will miss out on the US$375,000 that Rajasthan bid for him this year. But Cricket Australia has taken a cautious approach to the devastating fast bowler they believe can spearhead them to victory in the World Twenty20.”Shaun Tait won’t be playing IPL,” Cricket Australia’s spokesman Peter Young said. “He’s still working through the rehab program and it has been determined that he won’t be playing IPL. He has a hamstring injury and there’s associated issues behind the hamstring injury.”Tait has had hamstring trouble before and has also had significant shoulder and elbow problems over the years. His withdrawal could mean extra work for his fellow Australian and World Twenty20 aspirant Shane Harwood, who has been signed by the Rajasthan Royals this season.Tait joins a long list of Australians who will be sitting out of this year’s IPL, including Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, who withdrew because they felt they needed a rest after their long summer. Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke declined to nominate for the auction.

Sir Vivian Richards fears that the unresolved dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and the Players’ Association could work in England’s favour as they seek an improbable victory in the ODI series that culminates in St Lucia on Friday.Despite being outplayed in the first three matches of the series, England stand to claim a 3-2 series victory if they can win the decider at Beausejour. They took a fortuitous lead in Guyana following John Dyson’s misinterpretation of the Duckworth-Lewis rain-charts in the first game, before romping to an eight-wicket win in Bridgetown on Sunday, thanks to Andrew Strauss’s brilliant 79 not out.That most recent match, however, was played out against an increasingly disgruntled backdrop, with West Indies’ players seeking an immediate resolution to the grievances about their contracts. Dwayne Bravo, who has returned to international action after an eight-month injury lay-off, claimed that he had not been paid any money during his time on the sidelines, while the forthcoming tour of England – which was arranged outside the Future Tours Programme – clashes with the lucrative Indian Premier League.”The thing that worries me is that I am not sure what frame of mind the West Indies players will be in,” Richards wrote in his column for the Johnny Walker Know Your Boundaries campaign. “I do not think that England are a better side than us right now – no way – but I think if minds are not settled by certain little issues, it can rub off on what happens on the field of play.”West Indies’ captain, Chris Gayle, warned last week that his team was considering strike action for the final match of the series to hammer home their point, and that threat has yet to be fully averted. Richards, however, believes that Gayle’s comments had been made in the expectation of a dead-rubber contest. With the series at stake, their motives might well now be different.”The plan for last Sunday’s match would have been to win and shut down the series, and not have to worry too much about this final match,” Richards wrote. “We will all have to wait and see how things unfold, but I would expect that England’s victory on Sunday does create a more interesting scenario for St. Lucia.”I really do hope that the stuff which has been going on off the field does not conspire to ruin all the gains which the side has made,” he added. “I think the way the players have played have been positive, but I think it is going to be tough for them whichever way the pendulum swings. Let’s hope that the leaders in the team can get them all pumped again.”Richards also believed it was wrong that the players were being expected to take such a central role in the dispute. “I would have loved for the issues between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players’ Association to have been settled a long time ago,” he wrote. “I continue be worried about the individuals that are leading the players at this point, and if they are giving them the right advice because the West Indies public does not need this – they do not want the dirty linen that is being washed in their faces.”The public deserves more than this, and let’s hope that common sense prevails and that we have some reasonable thinking. When you look and see the crowds that have been attending the matches – both the Tests and the ODIs – it means there are still a lot of people who love West Indies cricket, and see the slight improvement the team has made at this stage. I do not think the public need this in their face.”

S Badrinath, the Tamil Nadu batsman, has been appointed captain of the South Zone side for the Deodhar Trophy, and Robin Uthappa, the Karnataka opener, has been made his deputy.The pair are the only members of a youthful 15-man squad who have international experience. South are missing six big names from the side that represented them in the Duleep Trophy; the batting will have to do without Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, M Vijay and Dinesh Karthik who are all part of the Test side for the New Zealand series. There is no L Balaji or Sreesanth to bolster the bowling either.The squad will be coached by former India left-arm spinner Raghuram Bhat. Former India and Karnataka batsman Sudhakar Rao will manage the side.South Zone are in Group B along with North Zone and a Zimbabwe President’s XI. The league matches start on March 13 with the teams that top the two groups facing off in the final on March 18.Squad: S Badrinath (capt), Robin Uthappa (vice-capt), Srikkanth Anirudha, DB Ravi Teja, Arjun Yadav, Manoj Sai, R Ashwin, KP Appanna, Shoaib Ahmed, S Aravind, Yo Mahesh, Robin D’Souza, P Prasanth, Arun Karthik, Anoop Pai

Simon Katich insists his spat with Michael Clarke is over, and his impending opening partnership with Phillip Hughes ready to withstand the Proteas’ pace attack ahead of his departure for South Africa next week. Katich has spent much of his international career out of the spotlight but controversy and circumstance have placed the veteran opener under intense scrutiny entering the three-Test series against South Africa.The highly-publicised altercation with Clarke after the Sydney Test has attracted most headlines to date, although that could be confined to the dark recesses of memory if Katich manages to forge a successful union with Hughes and help defend Australia’s No. 1 ranking. Despite the tumult surrounding him at present, Katich spoke with remarkable calm and poise this week when discussing the incident with Clarke.”I was actually surprised it took so long to come out,” he said. “Not long after it happened I remember speaking to [Cricket Australia media manager Philip] Pope and asking how we should deal with it. There has been a bit made of it, but really, it’s all in the past as far as I’m concerned. It happens in teams from time to time.”The controversy behind him, Katich is now preparing to take on the unfamiliar role of senior batsman for the tour of South Africa. The retirement of Matthew Hayden after the Sydney Test has bestowed upon Katich the mantle of veteran opener and the task of guiding Hughes, his 20-year-old state team-mate, through his debut series.The elevation in seniority does not appear to rattle Katich. The left-hander has averaged 56.45 in the 12 Tests since his recall and, at the age of 33, finally feels at home in Australia’s Test line-up.”Australia will always miss Matthew Hayden, and we will be taking a young team away, but I don’t necessarily see my role changing all that much, because there is always responsibility when you open the innings,” he said. “Your role at the top of the order is to go out and score runs, and that doesn’t change regardless of who you are batting with at the other end.”When I first came back into the team, it was important for me to live by the old cliche of one series at a time. There were no guarantees for me, and I had lost my place a few times before. Now that I have been able to string a few Test together, I feel like I can build something from Test to Test. By the end of the summer, I was really relaxed and comfortable in my ability to do the job at the top of the order.”

And on the prospect of opening with Hughes?”There is no better feeling than being picked when you’re in form, and this selection is good timing for him,” he said. “There are certainly comparisons there with us. Neither of us are textbook players, but we find our own ways to score runs. Phil is a guy who knows his game well, but it is his temperament that is the biggest reason for him getting so far. He has a great hunger, and that’s something you can’t teach. So he might not be classical, but what is technically correct?”The road ahead appears a treacherous one for the Australians. Four members of the touring party to South Africa are uncapped, and four others have a combined ten Tests’ experience. All will be faced with a Proteas side at the peak of its powers, and confident of wresting the No. 1 ranking from the Australians on their home soil. Assignments do not come more daunting.Katich, though, believes a corner was turned towards the end of the three-Test series in Australia with the 103-run victory over South Africa in Sydney. The match may have been a dead rubber, but Katich is confident the result will help restore team confidence after a torrid 2008 campaign.”After we went down 2-0 and the series was over, we were keen to draw a line in the sand,” he said. “The New Year was the catalyst for that. The series was done and dusted, and in the meetings we had, we were keen to put it behind us. I think that was one of the big reasons why we were able to turn around and win in Sydney.”

Australia 9 for 301 (Haddin 109, Clarke 64, Hussey 51) beat New Zealand 269 (Elliott 115) by 32 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Australia’s influx of youth has dominated discussion of late, but it was the team’s mainstays who completed a successful series-salvaging mission at the SCG. Brad Haddin’s maiden one-day international century was complemented by half-centuries to Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey, propelling Australia to an intimidating 9 for 301 that proved just beyond the grasp of the hard-finishing New Zealand.The hosts appeared set for a comfortable victory at the fall of Tim Southee’s wicket in the 37th over, but a brilliant partnership of 69 from 49 deliveries between Grant Elliott, who struck 115 from 124 balls, and the injured Brendon McCullum (36 from 27) raised hopes of a stunning upset. McCullum, playing with the assistance of a pain-killing injection after hurting his shoulder in the field, punished Nathan Bracken from the uncustomary position of No. 9, while Elliott adopted a more measured approach in compiling his maiden limited-overs hundred.Elliott, however, holed out to Michael Hussey off the bowling of James Hopes in the 45th over to effectively end New Zealand’s surge. McCullum followed in bizarre circumstances – his bat flying to midwicket, the ball to wide mid-off – and Jeetan Patel fell with 15 balls remaining to seal a 32-run victory for Australia that ended an inglorious five-game losing streak.McCullum’s brave decision to bat could cost the team in the days to come. He had been struck a serious enough blow standing up to a rearing Kyle Mills delivery for the team management to call in Gareth Hopkins as cover for Tuesday’s match in Adelaide. McCullum, the vice-captain, will undergo scans to the damaged right shoulder on Monday, with his availability to be determined the following morning.McCullum’s opposite number, Haddin, experienced vastly contrasting fortunes at the SCG. Haddin may have been overlooked in the Indian Premier League draft last week, but proved immensely valuable to Australia’s embattled limited-overs unit with a brilliant innings of 109 from 114 deliveries defined by clean, straight hitting and authoritative footwork.Haddin became the first Australian batsman to post a one-day international century since June last year, and his timing could not have been more opportune. Faced with a second consecutive home series defeat, Haddin – in just his fifth appearance as a limited-overs opener for Australia – combined with Michael Clarke (64 off 69) for a 135-run opening stand that set a solid foundation for a large total.Haddin, 31, batted watchfully in the opening exchanges and accelerated over the course of the afternoon. He blasted Daniel Vettori for a straight six upon reaching 90 and, after a few nervous moments stationed on 99, completed his hundred with a single off the bowling of Tim Southee. Haddin was eventually run-out from the second ball of the batting Powerplay, but not before he had confirmed his status as a pariah to New Zealand. Widely criticised for his controversial role in Neil Broom’s dismissal in Perth last week, Haddin added to the tourists’ frustration with the bat.Australia might well have posted a more imposing total if not for another middle-order tremor, but a brisk sixth-wicket partnership of 62 between Michael Hussey (51 off 32 balls) and Callum Ferguson (28 off 23) still allowed the hosts to pass the 300-run barrier in an ODI for the first time since the tour of the West Indies. With the SCG wicket showing signs of holding, the run-a-ball target always appeared a difficult ask.New Zealand’s run-chase began poorly when Martin Guptill (6) and Ross Taylor (4) were dismissed by Bracken and Ben Hilfenhaus respectively inside the first six overs. Taylor was most unfortunate to have been adjudged lbw by the umpire Steve Bucknor to a delivery he appeared to edge, somewhat negating the earlier incorrect leg-before decision awarded against Ferguson.Wickets fell at a steady clip until the union of Elliott and McCullum. Their entertaining stand enthralled the SCG crowd, but fell short of their ultimate objective of leading New Zealand to a series-sealing victory.For the Australians, the victory provided the comforting feeling that normal programming had resumed – even if that programme was tape-delayed by into Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.