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Shoaib Malik during the tests at the University of Western Australia© Getty Images

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan allrounder, has been advised against bowling until he undergoes remedial action on his offbreak and doosra deliveries. Professor Bruce Elliott, a biomechanics specialist, conducted tests on Malik, and in his report to the Pakistan board recommended the measures, stating that both his offbreak and doosra had elbow-extension levels above the ICC’s current and proposed levels of acceptability. Malik hasn’t bowled in the second Test against Australia which started on Sunday at Melbourne.Malik, 22, who has played eight Tests and 85 one-dayers, was reported for a suspect action by Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel during the Paktel Cup final against Sri Lanka at Lahore in October. It was second time in his career – the first was in 2002 – that he had been reported. Since then he has undergone extensive tests under the supervision of bowling and biomechanics experts at the University of Western Australia in Perth.According to , a Pakistan-based newspaper, Elliott’s report said: “It is recommended that Shoaib Malik undergoes a programme of remediation, prior to being subjected to a further series of tests to determine his eligibility to bowl.”Abbas Zaidi, the director of the Pakistan board, termed this as a “setback”, as the PCB hadn’t thought it was a major problem. Zaidi added that the PCB would quickly take steps to remove any problems in his action before sending him for further tests in Perth. “We have shown the University’s report to our group of bowling advisers, who have studied it, and the test pictures, thoroughly. They have also concluded Malik needs to undergo remedial work on his bowling action before he can bowl again.”The PCB now has two weeks before it sends a report on Malik’s action to the ICC. He can continue to play during this period, but if he is reported again, after undergoing remedial work on his action, he would face a suspension for up to a year.

Thirty of the country’s brightest young legspinners will next week train under the expert guidance of Terry Jenner, the former Australian legspinner, at King’s School, Taunton. Jenner played nine Tests for Australia between 1970 and 1975, and is the mentor of the most famous leggie of them all, Shane Warne.The training week forms part of the ECB’s programme, which aims to have a wrist-spinner in the England team by 2007, and for half of the 18 first-class counties to have one as well. This is the fifth year it has been in progress.The participants, aged between 12 and 21, will train and play against each other in matches during which legspin will be the only variety of bowling allowed. The programme runs from Monday August 11 to Friday August 15.Thanks to increased funding from the Brian Johnson Memorial Trust (BJMT), four of the most promising young players will be invited to go to Adelaide, Jenner’s home town, for two weeks in the autumn and have intensive legspin training.Graham Saville, ECB’s development of excellence manager, said, “Developing our wrist-spin bowlers is an on-going process. There’s no doubt that we have some highly talented young bowlers and they will benefit hugely from being taught by Terry, the world’s leading legspin coach.”For further information, contact ECB Corporate Affairs on And for further information about the BJMT, and membership of the Johnners Club, please contact Mark Williams, chief executive, BJMT at The Lord’s Taverners, 10 Buckingham Place, London SW1E 6HX. Tel: 020 7821 2828; Fax 2829; email [email protected]

Chris Cairns acknowledged before flying out to Australia to join the CLEAR Black Caps today that the prospect of taking on the world champions had hastened his recovery from knee surgery.Cairns did not fly to Australia with the team in order to complete his rehabilitation with matches in Christchurch for the New Zealand Academy team against Otago and the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy.”It is fair to say that if it wasn’t Australia my return may have taken a little longer.”But the challenge of taking on the best in the world is too great,” he said.”It’s always a battle over there. You cop so much, not only from their crowds but from the television. It is a real mental battle.”Cairns, whose last significant act in cricket was to score the match-winning century against India that saw New Zealand claim the ICC KnockOut in Nairobi a year ago this week, had surgery on his right knee after Christmas last year. It is the second time he has had knee surgery.The previous occasion in the mid-1990s was on his left knee and the advances in medical technology and rehabilitation techniques have been reflected in his recovery this time.”Last time it was almost a year to a year and a half before I was back to normal.”But this time it has been six to eight months. And that has to be a credit to the time and energy put in by Warren Frost [New Zealand’s fitness advisor]. I’ve been out to Lincoln three or four times a week and it has been great having someone to train with and to push me,” Cairns said.He was unable to quantify a figure on how close to peak fitness he was. But he felt ready for action, if a little underdone, something he hopes to put right before the first Test starts in Brisbane on November 8.Cairns’ ability as an all-rounder is a key asset for Stephen Fleming as New Zealand lines up against the toughest opposition in the game. He is the most experienced player in the side against the Australians since first playing them as an 18-year-old in Perth in 1989.It is a reflection of the injury problems he has endured in his career that his next Test appearance will be his 50th. He is already New Zealand’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests with 171 wickets while a productive summer with the bat could shoot him into the top 10 of New Zealand’s all-time Test run scorers.Cairns said the key aspect of playing the Australians was to have the mental side of your game in shape.”Persistence will be the big thing for us there. We have to try and stay with them. They won’t be beaten in three or four days, but if we are there on the fifth we could have a chance.”Telegraphing that intent to the Australians would result in pressure going on from the outset of Tests.”But we have to absorb that and frustrate them,” he said.While most attention has been on his bowling recovery, Cairns said he felt he was hitting the ball well.”Though I won’t get as many loose balls over there. The runs/ball ratio won’t be so good,” he said.Cairns did say that the warmer weather in Australia would be a boost for his bowling, and he had no qualms that New Zealand had not been given a Test match in the golden triangle, of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.The last time New Zealand played a Test on any of those grounds was in 1987.”It doesn’t worry me. Brisbane has the best wicket in Australia while at Perth it slides through nicely and Hobart is more like New Zealand conditions. Personally, I’m quite happy with where we are playing,” he said.

Aston Villa are interested in Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips ahead of the summer transfer window, two journalists have claimed. 

The lowdown

Leeds are in danger of being relegated back to the Championship, and that might well mean losing some of their star players.

The Whites are currently just two points above the bottom three, and they’ve played two games more than 18th-place Burnley.

Villa tried to sign Phillips three years ago following their promotion to the top-flight, with Leeds still in the Championship, but he opted to stay put.

Valued at £36million by Transfermarkt, the midfielder is under contract at Elland Road until the summer of 2024.

The latest

The Athletic’s Gregg Evans writes that ‘Villa are keen’ to sign the 26-year-old, but warns that it will be a ‘tough’ deal to do.

If Leeds are relegated, it’s more likely that he’ll head to ‘one of the elite clubs’.

Meanwhile, The Daily Mail’s Tom Collomosse also says that Phillips is likely to be on Villa’s list of summer targets.

The verdict

It’s clear that Steven Gerrard is determined to land a top central midfielder this summer, with a host of big-money targets named in recent times.

Villa attempted to bring in Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus in January, but he wound up joining Spurs for a fee of up to £21.5million.

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Yves Bissouma, apparently valued at around £50million by Brighton, is another who was on their radar last month.

Gerrard seems willing to commit a sizeable chunk of his budget to this area, perhaps in the belief that it holds the key to a European push next season.

In other news, Villa are due a fresh windfall.  

South Africa have named an unchanged squad for the second and final Test against New Zealand at Centurion starting on Friday. South Africa won the first Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg by a record margin of 358 runs.Batsmen Boeta Dippenaar and Neil McKenzie, who were considered for selection for the first Test, will now have to wait until the home series against West Indies next month to fight for a place in the squad. Both played for South Africa A in the tour match against the New Zealanders in Potchefstroom, with McKenzie scoring 182 while Dippenaar was unfortunate to miss out on his hundred. Dippenaar also captained the side to an 85-run win. Fast bowler Morne Morkel wasn’t considered for both Tests, owing to the injury he picked up in Pakistan.Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Ashwell Prince, Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (wk), Andre Nel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock

Gilchrist slammed four sixes at the WACA during the third Test against England in 2006-07 © Getty Images

1. Saqlain Mushtaq – hit to midwicket, Test No. 2 v Pak, Hobart, 1999
2. Paul Wiseman – extra cover, Test No. 7 v NZ, Auckland, 2000
3. Mahendra Nagamootoo – straight drive, Test No. 14 v WI, Sydney, 2001
4. Harbhajan Singh – mid-on, Test No. 15 v Ind, Mumbai, 2001
5. Harbhajan Singh – long-on, Test No. 15 v Ind, Mumbai, 2001
6. Rahul Sanghvi – midwicket, Test No. 15 v Ind, Mumbai, 2001
7. Rahul Sanghvi – long-on, Test No. 15 v Ind, Mumbai, 2001
8. Ashley Giles – mid-on, Test No. 18 v Eng, Edgbaston, 2001
9. Mark Butcher – midwicket, Test No. 18 v Eng, Edgbaston, 2001
10. Mark Butcher – long-on, Test No. 18 v Eng, Edgbaston, 2001
11. Mark Butcher – square leg, Test No. 18 v Eng, Edgbaston, 2001
12. Craig White – long-on, Test No. 18 v Eng, Edgbaston, 2001
13. Phil Tufnell – midwicket, Test No. 22 v Eng, The Oval, 2001
14. Nathan Astle – long-on, Test No. 23 v NZ, Brisbane, 2001
15. Daniel Vettori – long-on, Test No. 24 v NZ, Hobart, 2001
16. Daniel Vettori – long-off, Test No. 25 v NZ, Perth, 2001
17. Chris Cairns – straight drive, Test No. 25 v NZ, Perth, 2001
18. Andre Nel – square leg, Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
19. Nicky Boje – midwicket, Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
20. Nicky Boje – extra cover Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
21. Neil McKenzie – square leg, Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
22. Andre Nel – midwicket, Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
23. Neil McKenzie – square leg, Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
24. Nicky Boje – midwicket, Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
25. Nicky Boje – square leg, Test No. 29 v SA, Johannesburg, 2002
26. Paul Adams – straight drive, Test No. 30 v SA, Cape Town, 2002
27. Paul Adams – midwicket, Test No. 30 v SA, Cape Town, 2002
28. Danish Kaneria – midwicket, Test No. 33 v Pak, Sharjah, 2002
29. Ashley Giles – straight drive, Test No. 35 v Eng, Brisbane, 2002
30. Ashley Giles – straight drive, Test No. 35 v Eng, Brisbane, 2002

Gilchrist’s 204 at Johannesburg in 2001-02 improved his record by eight © Peter J Heeger

31. Richard Dawson – midwicket, Test No. 36 v Eng, Adelaide, 2002
32. Richard Dawson – mid-off, Test No. 36 v Eng, Adelaide, 2002
33. Mark Butcher – long-off, Test No. 37 v Eng, Perth 2002
34. Pedro Collins – midwicket, Test No. 40 v WI, Georgetown, 2003
35. Vasbert Drakes – long-on, Test No. 40 v WI, Georgetown, 2003
36. Marlon Samuels – midwicket, Test No. 41 v WI, Port of Spain, 2003
37. Mervyn Dillon – midwicket, Test No. 41 v WI, Port of Spain, 2003
38. Tino Best – midwicket, Test No. 42 v WI, Bridgetown, 2003
39. Tino Best – midwicket, Test No. 42 v WI, Bridgetown, 2003
40. Omari Banks – long-off, Test No. 42 v WI, Bridgetown, 2003
41. Andy Blignaut – square leg, Test No. 46 v Zim, Perth, 2003
42. Ray Price – mid-on, Test No. 46 v Zim, Perth, 2003
43. Ray Price – mid-on, Test No. 46 v Zim, Perth, 2003
44. Trevor Gripper – long-on, Test No. 46 v Zim, Perth, 2003
45. Ray Price – midwicket, Test No. 46 v Zim, Perth, 2003
46. Anil Kumble – long-on, Test No. 49 v Ind, Adelaide, 2003
47. Sachin Tendulkar – midwicket, Test No. 49 v Ind, Adelaide, 2003
48. Kaushal Lokuarachchi – long-on, Test No. 53 v SL, Kandy, 2004
49. Sanath Jayasuriya – mid-on, Test No. 53 v SL, Kandy, 2004
50. Muttiah Muralitharan – long-on, Test No. 53 v SL, Kandy, 2004
51. Rangana Herath – midwicket, Test No. 54 v SL, Colombo, 2004
52. Rangana Herath – midwicket, Test No. 54 v SL, Colombo, 2004
53. Lasith Malinga – midwicket, Test No. 56 v SL, Cairns, 2004
54. Upul Chandana – long-off, Test No. 56 v SL, Cairns, 2004
55. Anil Kumble – long-on, Test No. 57 v Ind, Bangalore, 2004
56. Anil Kumble – long-off, Test No. 57 v Ind, Bangalore, 2004
57. Harbhajan Singh – long-on, Test No. 57 v Ind, Bangalore, 2004
58. Anil Kumble – midwicket, Test No. 59 v Ind, Mumbai, 2004
59. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 61 v NZ, Brisbane, 2004
60. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 61 v NZ, Brisbane, 2004

Another six came in his 144 against Bangladesh in 2006 © Getty Images

61. Daniel Vettori – long-on, Test No. 61 v NZ, Brisbane, 2004
62. Craig McMillan – square leg, Test No. 61 v NZ, Brisbane, 2004
63. Danish Kaneria – long-on, Test No. 64 v Pak, Melbourne, 2004
64. Danish Kaneria – long-on, Test No. 65 v Pak, Sydney, 2005
65. Mohammad Asif – square leg, Test No. 65 v Pak, Sydney, 2005
66. Mohammad Asif – straight drive, Test No. 65 v Pak, Sydney, 2005
67. Shahid Afridi – straight drive, Test No. 65 v Pak, Sydney, 2005
68. Shahid Afridi – long-on, Test No. 65 v Pak, Sydney, 2005
69. Daniel Vettori – long-on, Test No. 66 v NZ, Christchurch, 2005
70. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 66 v NZ, Christchurch, 2005
71. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 66 v NZ, Christchurch, 2005
72. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 66 v NZ, Christchurch, 2005
73. Daniel Vettori – extra cover Test No. 66 v NZ, Christchurch, 2005
74. Nathan Astle – midwicket, Test No. 66 v NZ, Christchurch, 2005
75. Chris Martin – mid-on, Test No. 67 v NZ, Wellington, 2005
76. Chris Martin – long-on, Test No. 67 v NZ, Wellington, 2005
77. Daniel Vettori – long-off, Test No. 67 v NZ, Wellington, 2005
78. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 67 v NZ, Wellington, 2005
79. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 67 v NZ, Wellington, 2005
80. Paul Wiseman – long-on, Test No. 68 v NZ, Auckland, 2005
81. Matthew Hoggard – straight drive, Test No. 72 v Eng, Nottingham, 2005
82. Daniel Vettori – long-on, Test No. 74 v ICC, Sydney, 2005
83. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 74 v ICC, Sydney, 2005
84. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 74 v ICC, Sydney, 2005
85. Daniel Vettori – midwicket, Test No. 74 v ICC, Sydney, 2005
86. Shaun Pollock- extra cover, Test No. 80 v SA, Sydney, 2006
87. Shaun Pollock – midwicket, Test No. 80 v SA, Sydney, 2006
88. Mohammad Rafique – long-on, Test No. 84 v Bang, Fatullah, 2006
89. Enamul Haque – midwicket, Test No. 84 v Bang, Fatullah, 2006
90. Enamul Haque – long-off, Test No. 84 v Bang, Fatullah, 2006
91. Enamul Haque – long-off, Test No. 84 v Bang, Fatullah, 2006
92. Enamul Haque – midwicket, Test No. 84 v Bang, Fatullah, 2006
93. Enamul Haque – midwicket, Test No. 84 v Bang, Fatullah, 2006
94. Monty Panesar – long-on, Test No. 88 v Eng, Perth, 2006
95. Monty Panesar – long-on, Test No. 88 v Eng, Perth, 2006
96. Monty Panesar – long-on, Test No. 88 v Eng, Perth, 2006
97. Matthew Hoggard – long-on, Test No. 88 v Eng, Perth, 2006
98. Lasith Malinga – midwicket, Test No. 92 v SL, Hobart, 2007
99. Muttiah Muralitharan – midwicket, Test No. 92 v SL, Hobart, 2007
100. Muttiah Muralitharan – midwicket, Test No. 92 v SL, Hobart, 2007

Mohammad Asif thought good domestic performances and seven wickets against England might have earned him a recall © Getty Images

Mohammad Asif, whose seven wickets yesterday ensured that England’s batsmen would continue to struggle at the start of their Pakistan tour, has expressed surprise at not being called into Pakistan’s squad to take on the visitors in the first Test at Multan.After the day’s play, Asif was quoted in local papers saying, “Given my performances for the Pakistan A team and in the practice matches plus domestic cricket I was confident the selectors would consider me for a recall. But when my name was not included, I was surprised, not disheartened.”The selectors have their tactics and requirements when they pick the Pakistan squad so I don’t blame them but I just hope now I will get a chance to play again for the senior team.”Asif played one Test for Pakistan against Australia last year in Sydney and although he didn’t pick up a wicket, he reportedly impressed the management with his attitude and his doughty, committed batting in both innings. He has been kept in mind by the selectors, however, and Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has said that Asif is among the most improved players he has worked with in Pakistan.Hasan Raza has at least been picked in the 16-man squad and is now pushing for a place in the starting XI. It is widely acknowledged that Raza, captain of Pakistan A in this match, is on the verge of a Test spot and after his resilient innings of 34 yesterday, coupled with Asim Kamal’s appalling run of form, he will have done his chances no harm.He told reporters that he was disappointed with the lack of application of his batsmen yesterday. “The pitch eased out a bit but the ball was seaming around but still, we should have applied ourselves and got more runs. After bowling them out for 126 it was a golden chance to win the match but now the game is wide open and we will have to bowl very well again in the second innings. I was disappointed not to get my half-century but I tried my best and they bowled well.”Raza last played for Pakistan against Zimbabwe in November 2002 and since his debut in 1996-97 – reportedly as a 14-year-old – he has played only five Tests. In his third Test, against Australia in the disastrous 2002-03 series played in Colombo and Sharjah, Raza scored two half-centuries as Pakistan’s inexperienced batting repeatedly collapsed.That performance won him praise from Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain, who was apparently surprised that Raza was not in the Pakistan squad that toured Down Under in December last year.Murmurings over an attitude problem and a weakness against short-pitched bowling have given his career a stop-start feel but with the management now impressed by his maturity, as a person and as a batsman, the chances of a recall are brighter than ever before.

Donate to the US Red Cross appealThe extent to which Sri Lanka’s cricketers suffered from the tsunami disaster was spelt out clearly by four of the players whose families and relatives were directly affected by it.The cricketers related their tales of woe at Sri Lanka Cricket’s headquarters on Sunday, with Sanath Jayasuriya holding centre stage along with three of his team mates Nuwan Zoysa, Upul Chandana and Dilhara Fernando.Jayasuriya related how his mother Breeda, 64, had gone to the Sunday market in Matara and was caught when the wave that hit the town. She was swept towards a river before she managed to get a hold onto a branch of a tree and cry out for help.She was one of the few who were lucky to survive, although she was left with a grim reminder of her ordeal with a large area of skin pealed off from her hip downwards by the polluted salt water. Jayasuriya said his parents’ house, which was near the seafront, was badly damaged but he was thankful that the rest of his family had survived. He said his mother was being treated at the Nawaloka hospital.Chandana also had a sad story to tell. Mulin Umagiliya, the youth who saved his 69-year-old mother from drowning, was killed soon afterwards when the roof onto which he had climbed collapsed. He had clambered on top to call for help on his mobile phone. Chandana said that his mother had suffered injuries but was out of danger.Zoysa said he lost his aunt and four other relations in Galle, while Fernando suffered losses from his wife’s side when three relatives travelling by train to Galle were killed.Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka’s current captain, also had some anxious moments when his father was held up at Kataragama when the disaster occurred. Atapatttu senior was later able to get in touch with his family and returned to Colombo safely.Brendon Kuruppu, the Sri Lankan team manager, said the team first came to know about the calamity in Sri Lanka soon after the first one-day international at Auckland at around 6pm local time.”Initially we did not feel the gravity of it,” Kuruppu said. “But as the days passed by and the death toll began to rise the players became extremely worried and concerned. The team’s mental preparations was not towards cricket but what was happening back home. The players wanted to return home and be with their loved ones not clearly knowing what fate had befallen them.”

This time he is ready to hang on to the England gauntlets, writes Peter English in the July issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly

Chris Read: rated by Rodney Marsh as one of the best young players he has seen

Chris Read’s hands look small and delicate. When he sits he rests them on the table, one protecting the other. He knows safe hands are mandatory and is aware of the dangers of waiting for a chance, whether it is a caught-behind or a call from David Graveney. “It’s possible you won’t get an [England] opportunity for three or four years, so when you get one you’ve got to take it,” he says.Read has a beaming smile and since the start of the season there has been a lot to be happy about. Alec Stewart challenged the selectors to choose a young keeper for England’s ODIs and Read was suddenly in a two-man tussle with James Foster. Then the ECB Academy director Rod Marsh, who rates Read as one of the best young players he has seen, was named as the fourth England selector. “It goes without saying that it was good news,” Read says. “But it’s up to me to prove I’m good enough to be given a chance and to prove I can play at that level.”At the end of May Read’s smile briefly disappeared when he broke a thumb playing for Nottinghamshire in a National League game against Sussex at Horsham. International wicketkeeping dreams begin and end with shattered bones. Ian Healy has Ian Botham to thank for launching his record-breaking 119-Test career. Botham broke the finger of the Queensland incumbent Peter Anderson in 1987-88 and four first-class games later Healy was playing for Australia.Standing up to the medium-pacer Gareth Clough, Read was struck on his right thumb and suffered a hairline fracture, potentially a three-week injury. The selectors stuck to their guns and picked him in the one-day squad, with Foster on standby.Read knows about big breaks. He was picked on an England A tour before playing a first-class game and when he moved from Gloucestershire, where he was stuck behind Jack Russell, to Nottinghamshire, Wayne Noon was injured early in the season. Read stepped up, was picked for a second England A tour and in 1999 made his Test debut at 20.It is difficult to talk to Read without looking back. He sits in the Horsham pavilion looking out at a portable practice net six days before suffering the injury. No one stops for autographs and only his county coach Mick Newell interrupts to leave a map to the hotel and a key to lock up the dressing room. He is not Alec Stewart.Read has been forgotten for a long time but is honest about the past and realistic about the future. “Looking at my record, three Tests and five innings, to score 38 runs is not really good enough,” he says.The three Tests were against New Zealand but his eight dismissals on debut at Edgbaston were swiftly overshadowed by the footage of his embarrassing misjudgement of a Chris Cairns slower ball that bowled him at Lord’s.He still went to South Africa as cover for Stewart and was pleased with his returns in nine ODIs. “But I probably had my worst season after that. Since then I’ve been making improvements and my game has been on the up.”A winter at the Academy under Marsh put more polish on his glovework and after a National League century in the opening match against Northamptonshire he was under most microscopes as ODI replacements were canvassed following World Cup retirements. “Second time round it’s a lot easier because I’m three or four years wiser,” he says of the pressure. “The first time it was a bit of a shock and I wasn’t quite prepared. Now I have experience and know what to expect.”Marsh and Read clicked in Adelaide. Read was impressed by Marsh’s positive attitude and his work ethic. The feeling was mutual. “Rod said in his last season he didn’t miss a chance and that’s my aspiration,” he says. “I remember missing two chances last season. There was a catch against Gloucestershire, diving low to my right and I couldn’t get my hand underneath it, and I missed a stumping off MacGill that spun a mile.”Read’s spin is that he does not want to be pigeon-holed as a limited-overs player and his wicketkeeping voice, slightly squeaky but very clear, would suit the longer game if only to annoy the batsmen with his constant chatter. He believes England’s transition towards the 2007 World Cup is natural and it will be up to the new players to “get on with it and make the best of it”. “Knight, Caddick, Stewart, Hussain, they are big names,” he says, as if suddenly realising that they are all missing. “It gives guys opportunities. There are young guys all over the country who are desperate for a chance to perform.” He now has a second one.Click here to subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly

The July 2003 edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly is on sale at all good newsagents in the UK and Ireland, priced £3.40.

We live in the visual age. So it comes as no surprise that the Doordarshan programming schedule for the month has put off VVS Laxman’s comeback to first-class cricket by a day.A fully-fit Laxman, the captain of the Rest of India side for the Irani Trophy clash against Ranji champions Baroda, will take the field on October 13 instead of October 12.BCCI executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar said in Mumbai that the match was postponed by a day to ensure that Doordarshan had no problems in showing the match live to the millions of cricket lovers in every nook and cranny of India.Heavy showers in Pune have also seen the match being relocated to Nagpur.The Irani Trophy is the domestic season opener. VK Ramaswamy of Hyderabad and Vijay Chopra of Delhi are the two umpires for the four-day match that will end on October 17. Bhagwandas Suthar of Madhya Pradesh will be the match-referee.Laxman has only recently recovered from a knee injury that he sustained during India’s tour of Sri Lanka. The Irani trophy match will be important for him as it will help him prepare for the upcoming Test series against South Africa.Rest Of India (from):VVS Laxman (Captain), Akash Chopra, Rahul Sanghvi, Vinayak Mane, Dinesh Mongia, Sarandeep Singh, Yere Gowda, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Debasish Mohanty, Ajay Ratra, Salab Srivastava, Tinnu Yohannan, Surindra SinghBaroda (from):Connor Williams (Captain), Satyajit Parab, Nayan Mongia (w.k.), Tushar Arothe,Himanshu Jadhav, Rakesh Solanki, Rakesh Patel, Irfan Pathan Jr., Irfan Pathan Sr., Umang Patel, Milap Mewada, Hrishikesh Parab, Harkid Parmar. Vinit Wadkar(Coach)