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Reacting to the news that Muttiah Muralitharan was threatening to sue him, Bishan Singh Bedi was unperturbed. “I’m entitled to my opinion,” he said. “In my opinion, he doesn’t conform to the laws of the game and the ICC is squarely to blame for allowing him to get away with it,” said Bedi, in an interview with The Hindustan Times.An Associated Press report had quoted Murali’s manager, Kushil Gunasekera, as saying that a few of Bedi’s articles had been sent to his lawyers. When asked about it, Bedi said, “I have no lawyers. Let them send a letter, they will have to send a million letters to various people. They have to realise that I have nothing personal against Muralitharan.””I have never met him, never said hello, never shaken hands with him,” said Bedi. “How can I have something against him personally? I am talking about the spirit of the game being violated.”Bedi added that the fault lay with the International Cricket Council for allowing Murali to carry on with such an action. And he reiterated that Murali wasn’t the only one with a dubious action, and that the ICC was letting them off too easily.”The problem is not with the bowlers, it lies in the ICC’s inefficiency to control them,” he said. “What is the ICC up to anyway?”

Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chief, revealed that measures have been taken to curb the overdose of India-Pakistan cricket, saying that the two boards have reached an understanding to have the series only once every two years. “We are playing each other too much now. We don’t want the edge to go out,” he told .He was confident that the proposed Twenty20 charity match to raise funds for the earthquake victims would take place in the current tour. He said: “It is now just a question of working out the date once Mr. Sharad Pawar (BCCI president) arrives here next week.”Khan watched Pakistan A take on the Indians on the second day of the three-day practice match at the Bagh-e-Jinnah ground in Lahore. He said that although the two sides, India and Pakistan, were evenly matched, the Pakistan bowlers might just have the upper hand. He said, “Always remember that bowlers win matches. You got wonderful batsmen. But if we can find a chink in the armour, then that will be the decisive factor in my opinion.”He also expressed his satisfaction over his team’s performance in the recently concluded series against a strong England side. He said, “Our team spirit and discipline have optimised our potential. And the fact that we have a captain (Inzamam-ul-Haq) who is such a wonderful man, such a great cricketer, and such a great leader, you don’t have to be upfront all the time to be a great leader, has helped immensely. Inzamam and Bob Woolmer (the coach) have done a tremendous job.”Khan added the Pakistan public had shown a lot of maturity of late, taking victories and defeats in its stride, marking the transition from seeing cricket as a `pitched battle’ to just a game between two sides.

While Malcolm Speed was being given the cold shoulder by the board of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, he did meet with some of the rebel players during his 36 hours in Harare. The talks, described as amicable, remained private, but by the time he left what was clear was that the standoff between the board and the players was no closer to a resolution.The rebels remain unimpressed by last Friday’s statement from the ZCU giving them another 21 days to return to work, seeing it as little more than a face-saving exercise brought about by fears that the board had acted illegally by dismissing them in the first place.If anything, the players’ attitude has hardened. They still insist that Heath Streak should be reinstated as captain, the board is equally adamant that Tatenda Taibu, his successor, is there to stay. Asked whether they would be prepared to compromise, Grant Flower, the spokesman for the players said: “I’m not. Our captain [Streak] might be, but I think he’d be on his own.”Flower added that he feared that he, and most of the other rebels, had played their last matches for Zimbabwe. And he admitted to having grave concerns for the game’s future there. “With more experience the young guys in the team will become better players, but that will take a long while,” he said. “But I don’t know if there are enough good players in this country to keep the system going to be honest.”Although they are continuing to train, many of the rebels appear to have accepted that their careers in Zimbabwe are over and are looking for employment abroad. Sean Ervine left last week – ironically bumping into the Australian side in transit at Johannesburg airport – and is pondering playing for Western Australia. Streak has been linked with Tasmania, although he is unlikely to do anything until all hope of a deal with the board has disappeared. Others are considering offers to play club cricket.As for Taibu, he remains at the centre of the dispute but very much distanced from it. He has got on with the job of captaining the decimated Zimbabwe side, and has led by example and with great dignity. But while he is good enough to play international cricket, he is leading a team which clearly isn’t.”Obviously it has been tough, but I’m very lucky to have a bunch of young guys who are willing to represent their country,” he said. Asked whether he thought the Tests should go ahead, he said that was a decision for the ICC. But he added: “It’s disturbing … it would be disappointing for me because the Australians are the world champions and my boys need to play them to improve.”

New Zealand may have produced a flawless performance in the first Test at Hamilton, but on the second day at Wellington the cracks in their confidence began to show. With James Anderson leading the way with 5 for 73, they were dismissed for 198 and conceded a hefty first-innings lead of 144. But their wicketkeeper, Brendon McCullum, remains confident that – with three days of the match remaining – there is still plenty time for a turnaround.”It wasn’t how we had that part of the day planned out,” said McCullum. “But in saying that we have the opportunity to come back tomorrow and resurrect the mistakes we made today. To win this Test match we knew we’d have to bat well once and, whether it’s the first or second turn, it doesn’t matter. If we can bowl well tomorrow and set about chasing 350 on the final two days, then we have every opportunity.”To achieve that aim, however, New Zealand will need to better the efforts that England’s bowlers put in, and McCullum conceded that it would be a tough act to follow. “Our batting wasn’t as good as it should have been, but in saying that I thought they bowled very well,” he said. “I think the previous day we went past the bat a lot, but we were never in play. We probably bowled a touch short and they bowled that little bit fuller which brought the nicks into play.”The pick of the bowlers was Anderson, who endured some rough treatment in the recent one-day series, but found his form during a state game for Auckland last week. “I think Jimmy is a fine bowler,” said McCullum. “The game for Auckland helped, but he is a quality bowler and we knew the one-day series is different.”In one-dayers you try and be aggressive and try and dominate his style of bowling, but in the Test version, where he has a wicket that is conducive to where he likes to land a ball, he was always going to be tough to play. I thought he was brilliant. We didn’t play as we could, but in saying that I’ll take nothing away from the way he bowled.”He did, however, admit he was slightly surprised to be facing him at all, after Matthew Hoggard was dropped on the eve of the match following his one-wicket display at Hamilton. “I was surprised Hoggard didn’t play,” said McCullum. “He has been a fantastic bowler for England for a long, long time and he’s had probably just one below-par performance in a while. It was pleasing not to see him in the opposition, but when you can call Stuart Broad and Anderson then you’re not too bad.”Anderson’s only moment of discomfort came when McCullum and Daniel Vettori climbed into a counterattack midway through New Zealand’s innings. He was taken for 15 in one over that was reminiscent of the one-dayers, but McCullum paid England an extra complement when asked about his tactics during that period, and admitted he was trying to play in the manner of his opposite number, Tim Ambrose.

“You have to be aggressive when you’re in a situation like that,” he said. “Playing on a wicket like that, when the bowler can land the ball in the right place for long enough, he’ll eventually have your number. I thought that if I could come out and be aggressive and hopefully knock them off their length a little bit, then the good balls would be a lot fewer and further between. Obviously it was short and sweet.” He made 25 from 21 balls before edging Broad to first slip.At the halfway mark of the match, the single biggest difference between the sides is the 164-run partnership between Ambrose and Paul Collingwood. Though Ambrose added only five runs to his overnight 97, he did enough to bring up his maiden Test century, and McCullum said it was richly deserved.We were pretty happy at 136 for 5, so to have that counterattack and the way they did it was outstanding,” he said. “It really changed the momentum of the game. When we kept beating the bat a lot I thought there was an opportunity to deny him, but he deserved to score a hundred for the way he played. The intent he came out with, and the courage to play that way when things aren’t that rosy on the scoreboard is a fantastic effort. I’m sure he’ll cherish it for a long time.”All in all, New Zealand are up against it in this Test, but McCullum said it was not for want of effort on their part. “We’re playing a very good Test team,” he said. “The opposition are allowed to play well. It would have been crazy to turn up here and expect to turn out a below-par effort, and still carry out a victory. There is certainly no complacency in our camp.”We talked long and hard about the need to dominate form the word go and, to England’s credit, they have done that to us. But the game has still got a long distance to travel and it’s about us maintaining the belief that we can get a result out of the game. If we didn’t genuinely believe we were capable of winning this game, we may as well not turn up tomorrow.”

England A 341 for 8 and 116 for 1 (Solanki 62*, Joyce 50) lead Antigua and Barbuda 157 (Richards 71, Batty 7-23) by 300 runs
ScorecardGareth Batty took 7 for 23 to put England A in a seemingly impregnable position at the end of the second day of the three-day match against Antigua and Barbuda at St John’s. By the close England A had reached 116 for 1, a lead of 300.England A declared on their overnight 341 for 8, and Austin Richards and Amwaa Prince, both local police officers, gave the home side an excellent start with a first-wicket stand of 101. But the introduction of Batty triggered a remarkable collapse in which all ten wickets fell for 56 in the afternoon session.England A then reshuffled their batting order to give those who had missed out first time a chance to find some form. The move paid off as Ed Joyce and Vikram Solanki posted 108 for the first wicket, Joyce falling for 50 shortly before the close.

ScorecardAt Cape Town, Western Province Boland did not take full advantage after winning the toss and batting first – Lance Klusener helped the Dolphins to bowl them out for 233 with a return of 4 for 80. A maiden hundred from Derrin Bassage was all that stood between a mediocre performance and complete disaster, while a 72-run partnership for the fourth wicket, between Bassage and Ashwell Prince (30) was the only one of any substance. Klusener’s figures were dented somewhat by Paul Adams, who came in down the order and threw the bat for 38. In reply the Dolphins showed that the pitch held no terrors as Imraan Khan and Doug Watson raced away to bring up their 50-run partnership inside ten overs. Just before stumps they shut up shop. Watson moved on to 48 and Khan to 49 to leave their side in the strong position of 99 without loss by the close.Warriors 163 for 3 (Bruyns 55, Bradfield 51) v Eagles
ScorecardRain and lightning at Buffalo Park in East London stopped play after the Eagles had won the toss and put the Warriors in. Mark Bruyns and Carl Bradfield gave the Warriors a near-perfect start with a century opening stand that was eventually broken when Bruyns was caught by Jacob Malao off Deon Kruis for 55. Bradfield followed soon afterwards for 51. With the weather failing quickly and lightning striking close to the ground, the umpires took the players off with the Warriors 163 for 3 after 58.2 overs.Lions 346 for 8 (Ontong 98, Ackerman 129, Nel 4-86) v Titans
ScorecardAfter winning the toss and batting at Benoni, the Lions recovered well from 41 for 2 following two early strikes from Andre Nel. Justin Ontong then put on 61 with Neil McKenzie (38), and 133 with HD Ackerman, to help his side recover to 235 for 4 before Paul Harris trapped Ontong in front two runs short of his hundred. Ackerman, coming off a big century at Paarl last weekend, continued his good form and reached his hundred today from 145 balls. With four overs remaining in the day, the tall Ethy Mbhalati bowled Ackerman, who had looked solid throughout, for 129. He had hit 19 fours and a six. When stumps were drawn the Lions had reached 346 for 8.Keith Lane works for Cricinfo in South Africa.