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McGrath celebrates: A sight 542 victims are already familiar with and many more will be from October onwards when he returns © Getty Images

In the meticulous fashion that we have come to expect from such a metronomic great, Glenn McGrath has chalked out his comeback plan into the Australian side. McGrath has revealed that he intends to make his comeback in the Champions Trophy in India in October, play a few domestic matches and then immerse himself fully in the task of regaining the Ashes.McGrath, Test cricket’s most successful fast bowler with 542 wickets, has not played a game of cricket since his wife, Jane, was re-diagnosed with cancer on February 3. He missed Australia’s tours of South Africa and Bangladesh recently but with his wife’s health steadily improving, he is aiming to be fully fit to lead his side’s attack by the time the Ashes roll along in November.McGrath’s plans ostensibly ignore the advice his captain, Ricky Ponting, gave him recently, urging him to bypass the Champions Trophy altogether and instead arrange a county stint in England to enable him to have some long and repeated bowling spells and regain match fitness.But McGrath told that he is eager to play in India. “Personally, I feel that it would be perfect for me to [play in the Champions Trophy] and have a couple of games in the Pura Cup [domestic competition]. That’s my plan. But if they [selectors] would prefer me to look at county cricket, I would look at that.”Ponting’s advice was based on the belief that McGrath traditionally takes longer to settle into a rhythm and he was keen therefore to avoid having to ease McGrath into the Ashes, which are due to begin from November 23. Andrew Hilditch, chairman of selectors, also confirmed this week that McGrath was “gearing himself up” to be ready for the tournament. McGrath, who has begun pre-season training, added: “I’ve got no doubts at all that I will be definitely ready to go. Now we’ve got to see what the best preparation is.”Jane McGrath was diagnosed with cancer for a third time earlier this year and although she’s not yet out of the woods, McGrath said his wife seemed to be winning the fight. “She’s still going through treatment [but] it’s only once every three weeks at the moment, so it’s not too arduous and she’s coping really well. He said it was a “little too early” to say his wife had turned the corner but added: “there’s still ongoing stuff and over the next few months we’ll see hopefully a big change there.”

Brian Lara: ‘To pass him [Bradman] is really an honour’ © AFP

Brian Lara was delighted to score his 30th century – in the process surpassing Don Bradman’s 29 Test hundreds – in the second Test against Pakistan in Jamaica. Lara, who rescued his team again from a precarious position of 59 for 2, finished on 153 and was hoping that his team could win the match.”It was truly a great feeling going past such a great man,” Lara told the . “Everyone in the world, including myself, respects and reveres Bradman for the standard he had set, and to equal and then pass him is really an honour.” Lara reached the milestone in his 117th Test and was the third fastest to achieve the feat, behind Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, who both managed it in 99 matches.Lara, who has now scored four centuries in five Tests this year, thrived on the buzz at Sabina Park. “I love the Jamaican atmosphere and always relish the opportunity to play here, and to achieve this milestone here is also a special feeling,” he continued. “It’s just unfortunate that crowds at the venues across the Caribbean are not as large as in the past. But I’m looking forward to a big crowd tomorrow (today) and hope the team will be able to put on a show.”In 27 Tests that Lara has played since the last World Cup in South Africa, he has amassed 3246 runs at a phenomenal average of 70.57, which includes 12 hundreds and nine fifties – making him the highest run-scorer since the tournament. Jacques Kallis lies in second place, having scored 395 less from an equal number of matches.

Victoria 0 for 16 trail New South Wales 287 (Haddin 76, Lee 74*) by 271 runs
Scorecard

On the comeback trail: Brett Lee cuts loose © Getty Images

Brett Lee made a spectacular comeback from injury, but it was with the bat rather than the ball. His unbeaten 74 helped New South Wales to recover to 287 after they slumped to 5 for 67 on the opening day of their Pura Cup match against Victoria at the MCG. Victoria had scored 0 for 16 by the close.At one stage Cameron White, Victoria’s captain, had six men on the boundary to try to curb Lee’s hitting as he steered his side to respectability after it looked like being a nightmare start for Mark Waugh in his first-class captaincy debut. Waugh was left regretting his decision to bat first after NSW lost five wickets in the pre-lunch session.But NSW’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin dug in and put on 74 with Lee, who was playing his first first-class match since he tore an abdominal muscle in October and underwent ankle surgery in the lay-off.Lee took on the senior batting role once Haddin was out for 76 early in the final session. From 8 for 212, Lee and Stuart Clark (12) were able to graft a partnership of 25 before Lee and Liam Zammit (13) put on 50 for the last wicket. Those runs could prove invaluable, given that both sides are locked on eight points and outright points would give the winner an equal share of the lead in the Pura Cup table.Ian Harvey (3 for 57) and Andrew McDonald (3 for 63) gave Victoria a dream start and overcome the loss of strike bowler Mathew Inness, who withdrew because of glandular fever. Harvey took the new ball in Inness’s absence and had immediate success, removing openers Greg Mail (0) and Phil Jaques (4).McDonald also chimed in with the scalps of Michael Clarke (25) and Michael Bevan (17) – he also later bowled Waugh (44) – before some dogged NSW resistance set up what should be a good tussle over the next three days.

Vijaya Malalasekera, Chairman of the Interim Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, explains why the BCCSL changed international broadcasters, answering questions that have been asked recently by the media.Question: Who first moved to terminate the contract for international television rights between the BCCSL and WSG Nimbus?Answer: The then Executive Committee of the BCCSL, which was running affairs before the Minister of Sports dissolved it. That Committee went before the Commercial High Court of the Western Province in January of 2001 and said that the contract had ceased to exist due to WSG Nimbus failing to give required bank guarantees.Q: Who signed the contract with WSG Nimbus in the first place?A: It was that same Executive Committee of the BCCSL, on 3rd December 2000. They went to court within two months of signing the contract with WSG Nimbus.Q: What happened to that court action?A: WSG Nimbus agreed to a payment schedule and the case was settled. It was agreed that if a single payment was delayed, the contract would cease to exist.Q: What happened after the present Interim Committee was appointed?A: The Interim Committee tried its best to make the relationship work. But WSG Nimbus continued to delay payments. For six and a half months, we negotiated with them to no avail. We wrote more than 60 letters to them, requesting them to pay on time. Payments are scheduled to be made for each tour played in Sri Lanka. They delayed in making payments for tours by New Zealand, India and the West Indies, one after another.Q: Did the Interim Committee consult anyone else in this regard?A: We repeatedly briefed and consulted the Minister of Sports and subsequently the Attorney General. Attorney General S. Kamalasabayson gave a written opinion that due to the delay in payments, the contract with WSG Nimbus had ceased to exist, as per the court settlement between the previous Executive Committee and WSG Nimbus. Even prior to that, Sports Minister Lakshman Kiriella had urged us to end the contract due to the delay in payments. At the Minister’s request, we had discussions with Taj Television and TWI (Trans World International).Q: Was the delay in payments such a serious issue?A: Definitely. The BCCSL is completely dependent on television revenue in developing cricket in Sri Lanka. Delays in payments directly affect the BCCSL’s ability to fund everything related to cricket in this country, including coaching programmes, developing clubs and schools, organizing tournaments, and constructing and improving grounds. The only revenue to the BCCSL was from WSG Nimbus. All our eggs were in one basket.Q: Did the Interim Committee find anything unusual about the WSG Nimbus contract?A: It’s interesting that the same English newspaper that is criticizing us for ending the WSG Nimbus contract, earlier ran a series of articles saying that the WSG Nimbus deal was corrupt and disadvantageous to the BCCSL. The Interim Committee was appointed to run the BCCSL and has a policy that we will not dig into the past. But we did find that no company by the name of WSG Nimbus applied at the time of pre-qualification of bidders when the previous Executive Committee called for bids. In fact, WSG Nimbus has a share capital of only two dollars. It is also not a subsidiary of the World Sports Group (WSG), as is popularly assumed. This was the case when we did a search in Singapore on 31st October 2001. Also, the original calling for bids was for four areas, namely TV rights, radio rights, title rights and 40 advertising boards. But the contract signed with WSG Nimbus was for unlimited commercial rights. There is also a lot of controversy over the fact that WSG Nimbus was chosen over TWI, which had made what appears to be a better offer, according to the minutes of meetings that we have discovered at the BCCSL as kept by the auditors SJ Associates.Q: What did you do next?A: We informed WSG Nimbus that the contract was no longer valid. On the recommendation of the Ministry of Sports, we then called for fresh bids for TV rights, from all companies from which the previous Executive Committee had received bids, except WSG Nimbus of course. There were nine companies plus Taj Television, which hadn’t been involved earlier. At the same time we got an injunction from the Commercial High Court of the Western Province, restraining WSG Nimbus from interfering with the new bids. Even the previous Executive Committee took WSG Nimbus to court and not to arbitration, as critics say we should have.Q: Has WSG Nimbus sued the BCCSL?A: Yes. They have filed action in the Singapore High Court as well as filed the arbitration before the Singapore Arbitration Centre.Q: What were the rights offered to WSG Nimbus?A: WSG Nimbus had been given all rights to title sponsorships of tournaments and series, international radio and TV broadcasting rights, and all commercial rights of the BCCSL. They will even receive the money from the sponsor of the Sri Lanka team, and all 70 advertising boards at grounds. The list of things they were given was endless. The BCCSL had virtually nothing left to market, except a few areas that were nowhere near as lucrative as what was given to WSG Nimbus. The BCCSL even had to pay WSG Nimbus 4,000 dollars a day to allow matches played in Sri Lanka to be televised to viewers in Sri Lanka. This is a staggering fee of approximately Rs. 40 million for the whole period. WSG Nimbus could also claim from the BCCSL all costs that they incurred in production of the TV and radio broadcasts, up to 10 million dollars. WSG Nimbus would also receive the sponsorship monies that would be paid to the BCCSL by the clothing sponsor, product sponsors, merchandizing rights, and promotional rights. The BCCSL even had to bear the cost of producing, transporting and repairing the advertising boards. In summary, what was put in the offer calling the tenders was not only what was given to WSG Nimbus, but in fact all commercial rights of the BCCSL were given in complete violation of all accepted tender procedures.What the Interim Committee offered the new bidders was only title sponsorships, international radio and TV broadcasting rights, and 40 of the 75 advertising boards which was what was put out on tender. Nothing else. We didn’t have to pay for local TV stations to broadcast matches, and we don’t have to pay any part of the production costs.Offers were called for by BCCSL which were to be forwarded to PriceWaterhouse Coopers. The offers were opened in the presence of representatives from the bidding companies, Ministry of Sports, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and our legal advisors Julius & Creasy. Offers were evaluated by PriceWaterhouse Coopers, which is one of the world’s largest accounting and auditing firms. The offer from Taj Television was found to be the best.Q: Is it true that the BCCSL suffered a loss of 6.1 million dollars by scrapping the WSG Nimbus deal and signing up with Taj Television?A: Definitely not. The BCCSL will gain at least 1.9 million dollars from November 2001 to 2003 than we would have from WSG Nimbus. I have given a chart explaining how this is so.

	WSG Nimbus(US$ million)	Taj(US$ million
Guaranteed fee	27.10	13.90
Adjustments on concluded tours	(10.20)	0
Tours not offered to WSG Nimbus (2004)	0	(3.16)
Subtotal before adjustments to tour schedules	16.90	10.74
Adjustments for changes in tour schedules	(3.75)	0
Team sponsorship	0	3.30
Minimum additional costs to BCCSL (Access fee, productionand transport cost of advertising boards, etc)	(1.00)	0
Nett revenue to BCCSL (Nov. 2001-2003)	12.15	14.04

Q: What assistance has Taj Television given to Sri Lanka’s domestic cricket?A: They have already committed 750,000 dollars over a 3-year period to the benefit of former Sri Lankan cricketers. They will also explore the possibility of arranging `A’ team one-day tournaments in Sharjah and Morocco, to which the Sri Lanka `A’ side will be invited. They also wish to jointly stage a triangular in Sri Lanka, which Taj Television and the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series will underwrite.Q: What was the BCCSL’s experience with WSG Nimbus?A: WSG Nimbus repeatedly delayed payments, and delayed in submitting bank guarantees. They were unable to find suitable sponsors in many areas such as team sponsorship, clothing sponsorship, and hospitality packages. They have consistently acted in bad faith. They also didn’t furnish to us the sub-licensing agreements that they had negotiated.Q: Couldn’t the BCCSL have claimed interest on the delayed payments from WSG Nimbus?A: There is no provision for this in the contract signed by the previous Executive Committee. Any delay in payments means the end of the contract! Besides, how could we expect to be paid interest when the guaranteed fee was not coming on time?Q: Has Taj Television made its payments on time?A: To date, payments have been on time. The contract with Taj Television has a very favourable schedule of payments, compared to the contract with WSG Nimbus.Payment Schedules

Installment No	WSG Nimbus		Taj Television
	Fee due date	% of Tour Fee	Fee due date	% of Tour Fee
1st	45 days prior to Tournament	10%	30 days prior to Tournament + Bank Guarantee for 50%	50%
2nd	30 days prior to Tournament + Bank Guarantee for 50%	10%	7 days prior to Tournament	25%
3rd	3 days prior to Tournament	30%	Last day of Tournament	20%
4th	Encashment of bank guarantee 75 days after conclusion of tour	50%	2 weeks from last day of Tournament *	5%

* All payments from the West Indian and Zimbabwean tours have been received.Q: Do you honestly believe that Taj Television is a better deal than WSG Nimbus?A: We firmly believe that the cessation of the agreement with WSG Nimbus and entering into an agreement with Taj Television, is commercially advantageous and favourable financially and administratively.Q: Are you ready to face any inquiry into the matter?A: The members of the Interim Committee are men of honour and integrity who are performing a duty without any payment whatsoever, simply for the love of the game and Sri Lanka cricket. We would never intentionally do anything to harm the sport, especially Sri Lanka cricket. We have been completely transparent at all times, and have sent out a number of media releases during the last few months on this matter. We even held a 2-hour press conference last month where there were nearly 50 journalists and we answered every question. At that press conference we said that any journalist could have access to any document regarding WSG Nimbus and Taj Television. Yes, we are definitely ready to explain anything and everything that we have done, because we did it in the best interest of cricket in Sri Lanka.

Sensible fast bowling from Carl Bulfin and innocuous, but accurate, medium-pace from Matthew Walker and Paul Hitchcock carried Wellington to its victory over Otago in Auckland.No matter the batsmen, Bulfin managed to pin them all down with tight control and he had the same figures in both innings, two wickets for 11 runs from his two overs.Walker, a bowler of bulk, managed to get through the defences consistently while Hitchcock had a happy knack of picking up wickets at just the right time.Bowlers came back in the Otago first innings and Wellington’s second innings to halt what seemed to be runaway scoring trains. Andrew Hore’s 45 in Otago’s first innings was a continuation of the form he showed in Westport when he hit Otago to a victory over Canterbury to qualify for the semi-finals.But once he was dismissed, just after having scored the shot of the match, a straight-lofted six out of the ground, there was little else of substance in the Otago batting and the Wellington bowlers Bulfin, Walker and Hitchcock closed the game right down.Wellington started at a similar rate in its second innings, although it suffered dearly after Roger Twose was given not out by the third umpire Dave Quested to what looked to be a neat piece of catching at point by Neil Rushton. Twose was on four at the time and playing out a difficult over from Karl O’Dowda who conceded only one run in the over.Twose then blasted three Max shots over the long on-long off fence, one a four and two sixes, before Craig Pryor bowled him. When Chris Nevin departed two balls later, the momentum was lost and two other strong hitters, Richard Petrie and Grant Donaldson were forced to graft more than they would have wanted.But if Wellington’s bowlers were tight in the first innings, they were more impressive in the second and Otago was squeezed out of the game. Bulfin (1-11), Walker (2-10) and Hitchcock (2-14) off their two overs were outstanding.

Rangers have been dealt a big injury setback over Ibrox central midfielder John Lundstram…

What’s the latest?

Gio van Bronckhorst has revealed that the Englishman has picked up a knock ahead of the club’s Scottish Cup quarter-final clash today.

In his pre-match press conference, the head coach admitted that “we have a couple concerns with Lundstram’s ankle” and this could see him miss out on the squad.

Rangers take on Dundee FC away from home in the cup before travelling away to Serbia to take on Red Star Belgrade in the second leg of their Europa League clash.

Livid

Van Bronckhorst will surely be livid with the ex-Sheffield United man’s injury as his absence will come as a major blow to the side.

Lundstram has been excellent in recent months after a tricky start to life at the club and losing him for any period of time would be a big setback for the Gers as they would be missing out on his quality performances in the middle of the park.

Through July, August and September – Lundstram failed to average a SofaScore rating higher than 6.9 as he settled in after his move to the club on a free transfer from Sheffield United. From October to the end of February, the midfielder averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.0 or higher in four of the five months for the Gers.

This suggests that he has been able to step up to the plate after a difficult start to the campaign. He was unable to hit the ground running at Ibrox but has now found his feet and is showing that he has the quality to be a big player for the club moving forward.

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Lundstram has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.90 in the Premiership this term overall. In 22 appearances, he has completed an impressive 90% of his attempted passes whilst making 2.3 tackles and interceptions per game. He is reliable in possession and capable of winning the ball back on a regular basis, which is why van Bronckhorst will be livid with this injury.

Hopefully, it is not a long-term issue and, at worst, he will only miss this clash with Dundee FC in the Scottish Cup. Losing him for an extended run of matches would be disastrous for the Gers given his recent form the Dutch head coach will be crossing his fingers over the midfielder’s fitness.

AND in other news, GvB must now unleash Rangers’ “wonderful” £4.5m-rated “leader”, time is running out…

	Niranjan Shah: “Franchises will be given a preference to pick U-19 players from their own catchments” © Getty Images

Each of the franchises in the Indian Premier League will get the first option for picking Under-19 players from their own catchment areas, the Indian board has said. The decision comes in the wake of franchises voicing concerns over player-poaching, with local players being lured by other teams.”Under-19 domestic cricketers will not be allowed to join any team on their own and franchises will have to go through the BCCI,” Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, said. “Franchises will be given a preference to pick players from their own catchments and it’s only the spill-over players that will be available for the rest.”We will give each franchise a certain time-frame to pick their players. It’s only after that period that others can try for them.”Delhi and Jaipur had raised concerns that their local catchment players are being “poached” by the rival teams. The Jaipur team even sent a letter to the IPL council. The BCCI’s move was welcomed by some of the franchises.”One of the reasons for this exercise was to develop young talent across the country and that can only be done by giving franchises a choice of picking their local players,” TA Sekar, cricket operations chief of GMR Holdings, the owners of the Delhi Daredevils, told Cricinfo. “Imagine if a franchise develops three or four players through the junior ranks, only to see them play for another team because they are being offered more money. The purpose is defeated.”VB Chandrashekar, the selector for the Chennai Super Kings, and Fraser Castellino, the CEO of the Jaipur franchise, were also upbeat but wished the ruling covered U-22 players as well, instead of being limited to U-19.The process is likely to take place in the beginning of March, with the board not keen to “distract” India’s Under-19 cricketers currently taking part in the World Cup in Malaysia.One-year contractsTo counter the rising concern over young cricketers being paid so much money early in their careers, the board decided Under-19 cricketers would be eligible only for a one-year contract.The board had earlier instructed all junior domestic cricketers to not sign up on an individual basis after many franchises complained about player-agents getting involved, demanding higher sums even after the cricketers had agreed on a figure. The board was also concerned that a few agents had landed in Malaysia to tie up with India’s U-19 cricketers.

North West Frontier Province-Baluchistan defeated Sind by nine wickets on the third day in their Pentangular Cup third round match here at the National Stadium, Karachi.Shakeel-ur-Rehman tore through the Sind batting line-up by grabbing six wickets for only 57 runs as the Sind team capsized for a paltry 149.Needing 53 to win the match, KRL achieved the target in just 9.1 overs with the loss of Test opener Yasir Hameed for 14. Shoaib Khan remained not out on 21 while Adnan Raees scored 8.Earlier, Sind resumed on their overnight score of 41 and lost their third wicket with the addition of only two runs. A fourth wicket stand of 52 between Shahid Qambrani and captain Faisal Iqbal threatened a decent lead but Sind never really covered as soon as Faisal was dismissed for 17. Qambrani did top-score with 69 and shared a 25-run eighth wicket partnership with Mohammad Sami (10), but the other batsmen failed to provide any support.Along with Shakeel’s heroics, Faisal Irfan accounted for three Sind batsmen while Nasir Jalil picked up the remaining wicket.Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) ended day three of their Pentangular Cup match against Punjab on 382 for the loss of eight wickets, still 151 runs behind Punjab’s total, at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex.Resuming on their overnight 104 for no loss, Azhar Ali and Saeed bin Nasir added another 66 runs before allowing Punjab their first breakthrough. Azhar Ali scored a well-deserved century before being dismissed by international Rana Naved while Nasir managed 88 and was picked up by Imran Khalid.None of the other batsman bar Bilal Asad could capitalise on the good start as wickets fell at regular intervals. Asad, on the other hand, held one end together and scored 82 before becoming the second of Khalid’s four victims. Mohammad Wasim, captain and former Test player, could only manage six as Shehzad Butt and Akhtar Ayub managed an unbroken partnership of 20 to see out the day without further damageImran Khalid remained the pick of the Punjab bowlers and took four wickets for 81. Rana Naved claimed a brace while Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez got one wicket each.

Graeme Smith, after missing the final Test against Australia, could miss the opening Test of South Africa’s series against New Zealand © Getty Images

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, hasn’t yet fully recovered from the finger injury which kept him out of the final Test against Australia last week and might miss the first Test against New Zealand next week.Haroon Lorgat, the national convenor of selectors, announced a 16-man squad on Saturday for the three-Test series which gets underway on April 15 at Centurion.”We have retained the same squad of players following the tough Castle Test Series against the world’s number one team,” Lorgat said.”We believe that the experience will stand them in good stead, and they deserve another opportunity against New Zealand. We will, however, monitor performances carefully as we seek to build a successful Test team”.Smith is due to see a specialist in Johannesburg on Tuesday; his chances of playing are rated “50-50”.South Africa squad to face New Zealand
Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph, Mark Boucher (wk), Shaun Pollock, Nicky Boje, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Boeta Dippenaar, Andrew Hall, Garnett Kruger, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn

Griqualand West 53 for 3 trail Border 240 (Makalima 73, Kreusch 68, Swanepoel 4-19) by 187 runsBorder made a good start to the UCB Provincial Cup final at the De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberley, by first scoring 240 and then reducing Griqualand West to 53 for 3 at the close of play on the first day.Having won the toss, Border made steady progress with Justin Kreusch, who made 68 and was involved in two half-century partnerships, one with Gareth von Hoesslin (21) and the second with Michael Matika (40). Dumisa Makalima and Murray Ranger put on 74, with Ranger only contributing 15.At 222 for 5, Border was set for a high total but a collapse of five wickets for 18 runs left them all out for 240, with Makalima top-scoring with 73. Adriaan Swanepoel was responsible for the collapse as he took 4 for 19 in 18 overs.The Griqualand West innings started disastrously as they lost their top three batsmen for 49 runs. At the close they had moved to 53 for 3, with Jason Brooker on 12 and the nightwatchman Elton Tsamaisi at the crease.