Shane Warne, Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath starred for the All Stars team on the opening day of the Hong Kong Sixes at the tiny and picturesque Kowloon Cricket Club to make them firm favourites for the title.The All Stars cruised past Australia, Bangladesh and last year’s winners, South Africa, to top the Sobers group and move into tomorrow’s quarter-finals. And although Lara played his part, crunching four fours and lifting two huge sixes into the stands, the unlikely batting highlight came from McGrath who smashed his first ball for six before attempting an audacious reverse sweep.”It has been over six months since I last picked up a bat, so maybe that was the secret,” McGrath said. “I think I have only hit the one six [in internationals], when I got my Test 61 [against New Zealand in 2004]. That was my first ‘Sixes six’ and my first in any format of the one-day game.”It has been a very a good day for us. We started off a bit rusty in that first game, but the way we batted and bowled in the last two games were exceptional.”[Against South Africa] we were going along well and we did not need too many more runs, so Warney and Brian and a few of the boys said to get in there and have a bit of fun. It came off for me perfectly.”This year’s event features eight leading cricketing nations, including defending champions South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and England, plus hosts Hong Kong and, for the first time, an All Stars team.

Two English county umpires, Jeff Evans and Trevor Jesty, have signed contracts to stand in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) which begins next week.Both officials have been told that their future contracts with the ECB, which run from April to September, won’t be affected although the ECB have said they’d prefer their umpires not to take part because of the lack of anti-corruption safeguards in place.”I saw this as an opportunity to visit India and to gain experience umpiring in a major competition,” Evans told . “I’ve had many sleepless nights about it, but I have consulted my solicitor, the Professional Cricketers’ Association solicitor and sought advice from anyone and everyone in the game.”Ray Julian, who retired from first-class umpiring six years ago, has also agreed to travel to the ICL but Ismail Dawood, the former Yorkshire and Glamorgan wicketkeeper, has turned down an offer as he wants to ensure he is included on ECB’s reserve list next season.”I would like to umpire in first-class cricket in England and I didn’t want to jeopardise my prospects,” said Dawood. “It was a tough decision because the ICL contract was extremely lucrative.”

Rudi Koertzen has flown to India to stand in the second India-Pakistan Test in Kolkata after Billy Bowden, who was due to officiate, was taken ill.The Cape Argus reported that Koertzen, who was scheduled to umpire the opening Sri Lanka-England Test in Kandy, had been switched by the ICC at short notice as he was the only elite official who could make the trip at such short notice. Aleem Dar, who was not eligible to stand in Kolkata, is en route to Sri Lanka where he will replace Koertzen.There had been suggestions in Australia that Koertzen was being punished for his well-publicised error in giving Kumar Sangakkara out in the Hobart Test, but an ICC spokesman made clear this was not the case. “If we replaced every umpire who made a mistake, there would be no umpires left,” he said. “It’s the same with players. Everyone makes mistakes. His replacement is more to do with the workload of umpires and some rescheduling.”

The Australian team held a round-table discussion on the spirit of cricket on Sunday night, the first such meeting after the ill-tempered Sydney Test against India.The reported that leadership consultant Ray McLean, a former officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, moderated the session. Tim Nielsen, the coach, and the manager Steve Bernard attended along with the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and operations manager Michael Brown.The focus was on the messages and criticism directed at the team after the Sydney Test, with all involved invited to trace their feelings on the match and the Spirit of Cricket pledge that was devised during Steve Waugh’s captaincy in 2003.”I think it will be a general chat about what we live by, what we stand for, the spirit of cricket that the Australian cricketers sat down and wrote down,” Michael Clarke said before the meeting. “I think it will be a general reminder of what we do to be the best team in the world and the things we can continue to improve on. It’s probably why Australia have been so successful, because we never say we can’t improve.”The session came a day before the meeting between opposing captains Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble, convened by Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC’s chief match referee, who has been appointed to mediate. Brad Hogg, the left-arm wrist spinner, is due to attend a hearing on Friday concerning offensive remarks made to Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Sachin Tendulkar has offered valuable technical tips to the younger members of the Indian team in the training sessions in Melbourne ahead of the ODI against Australia on February 10.Tendulkar advised Robin Uthappa and Suresh Raina on techniques to adapt to the conditions and the pitches in Australia, suggested tips to Rohit Sharma to improve his front-foot drives and counselled Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary on their stance.Gambhir was told not to have a completely side-on position at the crease, and instead open up his stance for a slightly two-eyed look at the bowler. This would allow him to offer the full face of the bat, and help him play through the on side more effectively.”The plan is simple, see the ball, hit the ball and play in the ‘V,” Gambhir had earlier revealed his theory of batting in Australia. “The conditions here give a batsman full value for his strokes, though you need a lot of courage and determination. It’s difficult to get on to the front foot when you are facing genuine quick bowlers like Brett Lee or Mitchell Johnson but there is very little chance when you are sitting on the back foot.” Tendulkar’s tips are designed to enable Gambhir score more freely in his preferred area down the ground.It is learnt that Tendulkar, while praising Rohit for his back-foot play, was keen that he leans more on to his strokes while driving through the off side to add more power and punch. After his session with Tendulkar, Rohit had his batting video taped by the team’s computer analyst Dhananjay.Rohit considers Tendulkar his favourite player and has sought his advice in the past too. In an earlier interview with Rediff, Rohit said, “It [Tendulkar’s advice] was very different from what you always hear from coaches. I mean what he said was practical, based on his own vast experience. He also told me when to take singles and twos and also when and how to accelerate, and so on and so forth. Believe me, it was very, very different from what we juniors hear from others almost every day.”Tendulkar worked with Uthappa and Manoj Tiwary too. Uthappa’s tendency to commit himself to the front foot came in for scrutiny, and Tendulkar suggested a slight sideways trigger movement instead of a big stride forward.Tendulkar noted that Tiwary places his feet too close to each other in his stance, which inhibits his movement either forward or back. Like he did with Gambhir, Tendulkar suggested that Tiwary open up in his stance which would help him drive towards mid-off and mid-on rather than committing himself to a cover drive.Tendulkar has also advised the youngsters to opt for lighter bats on the bouncier pitches of Australia as it would allow them to move more quickly into position.

Geoff Miller, England’s newly appointed National Selector, has disagreed with the views of Nasser Hussain who last week accused England of going soft since winning the Ashes in 2005. Miller, who replaced David Graveney as the chief selector yesterday, welcomed Hussain’s opinion but sees England’s slump as a “hiccup”.”Nasser is entitled to his own views and I know what he is saying, but I don’t think we have gone soft,” Miller told . “We have had a hiccup, I will accept that, and as soon as there is a hiccup there are going to be comments made about what the problems are.”I understand Nasser and know him very well from our days at Essex so I will approach him about it and find out exactly what he means by that. I talk to experienced players and to umpires and all kinds of people who have some relevant views. That is one of my strong points – communication.”Miller was Graveney’s apprentice for eight years, and reportedly had to be persuaded to take the new salaried position, since he already has a profitable career as an after-dinner speaker. And although England’s record under Graveney included an Ashes win, the 5-0 trouncing they received in Australia and the disappointing loss in Sri Lanka in December leave Miller with a tall task to rebuild England’s fortunes ahead of the next Ashes – in a little over a year.”There have been contributing factors. We have had injuries, we have to accept that, and there has been a change of personnel,” Miller said. “We are in a transitional period now in both kinds of cricket but the curve from 2000 has been pretty good.”It has been an upward curve. We have taken a couple of backward steps but I don’t see, with the experience and the quality we have in the side and the excitement of the youngsters we have got coming forward, why we can’t get back on an even keel again.””We have got to win matches and series to get some momentum back again. There is lots of excitement round the corner.”

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.

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.”

Hardly a week after the Indian Premier League (IPL) concludes on June 1, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh square off in a short tri-series in Bangladesh beginning June 8. Each team plays the other once, with the final on June 14. All matches will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. No practice matches have been scheduled for the visiting teams.The tri-series will serve as a warm-up for the Asia Cup in Pakistan which commences on June 24. The series is an add-on to India’s punishing schedule, which includes a three-Test and five ODI tour to Sri Lanka after the Asia Cup concludes on July 6.Bangladesh last hosted a tri-series featuring the same teams in early 1998. India edged out Pakistan in a thriller in the best-of-three finals at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.ScheduleJune 8 – Bangladesh v Pakistan (Mirpur)
June 10 – India v Pakistan (Mirpur)
June 12 – Bangladesh v India (Mirpur)
June 14 – Final (Mirpur)
June 15 – Reserve day

Zimbabwe Cricket faces another tricky player situation with some contracted players reportedly opting to play league cricket overseas instead of the Logan Cup.Fears for an impasse arose after the players were reported to have been denied permission by managing director Ozias Bvute and team manager Givemore Makoni to be excused from the competition. On being receiving the news, they then applied for leave, which also was turned down.Some players are said to have played in the last leg of the Standard Bank Pro20 in South Africa under protest as they were already supposed to be at clubs in the UK where the season started last week. Their unease was compounded by the board allowing Tatenda Taibu to miss the whole of the Logan Cup to play in the Indian Premier League, even missing the last matches in South Africa’s Standard Bank Pro20.”The guys do not want to do anything that jeopardises their contracts with ZC,” on of those affected said. “But ZC must realise that the guys will not gain anything from playing in the Logan Cup. Club cricket in England is far better than our first-class game. Surely other upcoming players should be happy to get the opportunity to play in the Logan Cup. Perhaps ZC fear for the standards … we do not have a large player base.”Last year Bvute banned players from going to Europe for the summer season, on that occasion holding back payments owed from the World Cup as an incentive for them to remain in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless. Brendan Taylor ignored the ban and moved north, although he was drafted straight back into the national side on his return.