Inzamam-ul-Haq
On whether this was his best innings
No. My contribution was very small. The real contributions came from the top order – from Afridi, Razzaq, Butt and Malik. It was a total team effort to chase 316.On what he was thinking on the last ball
I wasn’t thinking anything on the last ball. I was just praying to God to help me.On using Danish Kaneria so late
You have to use a bowler according to the match situation. Afridi was bowling well at the time so I didn’t use him.On Pakistan’s biggest chase
It was a difficult target, but our only chance was to keep wickets in hand for 25-30 overs. The top order did that and kept the required run-rate down which made it easier for us later on.On Ahmedabad
The public really supported us and looked after us. The team is very happy with the way things are here.On whether he thought Pakistan’s chances had gone at any stage
After Malik’s dismissal and then the two run-outs later, I thought our chances slipped a little. But the required run-rate, thanks to our top order, was always manageable.On the series from here
Every game is a new game. We have to work hard, continue working hard and plan well for the next few games.On the run-outs
In the one-day game it happens a lot. You have to take a chance, you have to push runs. It happens sometimes, Younis Khan is a good runner, and Akmal’s was a direct hit.On Sachin’s form
Sachin is a great player and he will make it difficult in the next few games. But if my boys play like this then we will be fine.On Sachin bowling the last over
He was the most experienced guy around. Sourav took a chance and it almost succeeded as well.Rahul Dravid

On the game-plan
The game-plan was to try and defend 315, that was the basic idea. Give credit to Pakistan, they chased brilliantly during the middle overs. The Malik-Razzaq and Malik-Inzamam partnerships were crucial, they ran lots of singles. We let them collect a lot of singles. We didn’t bowl as well during the middle overs, and the fielding wasn’t that great either.On Sourav Ganguly opening
The decision is for the team management and Sourav to take. But the decision has to be in the best interests of the team.On the commitment
We never gave up trying. We just didn’t bowl enough in the right areas. Three hundred and sixteen is a big total to defend, and although the game slipped during the middle overs we did well to fight back. But it was a little too late.On what’s gone wrong
In the last match we didn’t bat well. Here we didn’t defend well and the fielding wasn’t that great. We have to improve in all three areas, our allround game. We have to play well over 100 overs, we played well just in patches but we have to play well throughout.On missing Harbhajan
There’s no point talking about people who aren’t on the field. We have to do with the 11 players we have on the field.On Tendulkar bowling the last over
Experience. We thought he was a tough guy to face, especially out of the rough, in the last over. We had to take a gamble. Every decision is the captain’s. He is the final authority and he can take advice from anyone, including me. He has to take the praise or the criticism.On who had more at stake
You can’t say one team had more at stake than the other. We both want to win the series.On whether he would have made Sachin bowl the last over
Yes, I would have.On the crowd booing
You get used to the crowd reaction, whether it is praise or criticism. They are fulsome in their praise and vocal in their criticism, but it is part of the game and we have to deal with it.

MCC has announced that its next president will be Robin Marlar. He will take up the year-long position in October and will succeedTom Graveney.Marlar, 74, first played for Sussex in 1951, and captained them from 1955 to 1959. He played little after that, although he did appear occasionally until 1968. In 1955 he took 139 wickets with his offspin, including a career-best 9 for 46 against Lancashire. He took 970 first-class wickets at an average of 25, and grabbed ten wickets in a match on ten occasions. Later a trenchant cricket writer and a member of MCC’s influential cricket committee, Marlar is also a former chairman of Sussex.

Makhaya Ntini is to be given the South African board’s (UCB) approval to play for Warwickshire during the break in South Africa’s schedule. Ntini will replace Heath Streak when he returns home in August for series against New Zealand and India.”In principle the deal has been approved, and we’re sorting out the conditions we will release him on,” Gerald Majola, the UCB’s chief executive, told Reuters. “He’s a rhythm bowler, and the feeling is that he needs to be bowling before our season starts.”Majola added that final approval for Ntini’s release should be completed by the end of the week.Warwickshire spokesman Keith Cook told BBC Sport: “We first targeted Makhaya about 18 months ago.”

Just four days after the ICC provisionally cleared his bowling action, Harbhajan Singh is all set to make his debut in English county cricket when he turns up for Surrey in their four-day match against Warwickshire at Whitgift School today (June 1). Harbhajan’s doosra came in for intense scrutiny after he was reported by Chris Broad, the match referee, during India’s series against Pakistan recently. He was subsequently cleared following a report by Marc Portas, an independent biomechanist.Harbhajan had earlier lashed out at the ICC for the confusion about his bowling action, but he insisted that the chapter was closed, and that he would now concentrate on putting his best foot forward for Surrey. “I’m not upset with anyone. I’m just happy the waiting is over and I can get on with playing cricket,” Harbhajan told AFP. “I was always confident that there was nothing wrong with the doosra.”I gave the test and was cleared. I would like to thank the Indian board for backing me all the way and hopefully this will be sorted out now for the rest of my life. These things don’t bother me. The ICC were doing their job and my job is to bowl well for my country and whoever I play for.”Looking ahead to the match against Warwickshire, Harbhajan said: “This is my first game for a while but I’m confident things will go okay. I’ve always wanted to play county cricket. I’ve talked to Rahul Dravid, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble and they were totally changed after playing here – you learn a lot playing abroad and hopefully I will be a much better cricketer after my time here.”Playing for Surrey means Harbhajan’s home ground will be The Oval, a venue where he has done well in the past. In the only Test he played here, in 2002, Harbhajan took 5 for 115 in England’s first innings, but he was even more impressive in his only ODI at the venue, in September last year: even as the rest of the Indian bowlers were disappearing to all parts of the ground – India conceded 307 in 50 overs – Harbhajan bowled splendidly to return figures of 2 for 14 off 10 overs. “I love bowling at The Oval I’ve done well here in the past and I’m keeping my fingers crossed I will do that with Surrey.”Steve Rixon, Surrey’s coach, expressed the hope that Harbhajan would play a major role in the county’s quest for a Championship title. “There’re no qualms that we can win the Championship. Harbhajan will help us finish tight situations and tidy tails up. We’re playing well and heading in the right direction. Harbhajan will make a major contribution to our success in the future.”

Close New Zealand 536 for 5 (Richardson 145, Styris 119)
Scorecard

India had more success on the second day than on the first, but not necessarily more joy, as New Zealand ground their way to a mammoth 536 for 5. The Indian bowlers were ineffective, unable to stop either Mark Richardson from extending his gritty knock or Scott Styris from chalking up an entertaining century. New Zealand controlled proceedings all day but did not make enough of an attempt to score quickly and give themselves sufficient time to bowl India out twice.The best part of the day was dogged, turgid cricket. New Zealand applied themselves in a manner more expected while batting on a greentop under overcast skies at Headingley, or if the ball was spitting and fizzing on a rank turner. But on a wicket that was nice and easy to bat on, with true bounce and pace, against a tiring attack that could only be called an attack because of Anil Kumble, it seemed rather strange. But Stephen Fleming is no fool. The Indians will know that he must have had firm plans in his mind when he instructed his team to play the way it did.Of all the batsmen, Richardson’s plans were easily the best-laid. He puts a high price on his wicket, tries nothing foolish and is utterly predictable in the best sort of way. There was no unseemly haste to score quick runs, and today Richardson dug deep into a seemingly endless well of concentration and accumulated runs, unmindful of whatever little commotion there was at the other end.Interestingly, in the course of his 410-ball stay at the crease, Richardson brought up 2000 Test runs. The fact that he has done so as quickly as anyone in New Zealand cricket seems to have slipped by unnoticed. He’s taken 26 Tests and 44 innings to do so, the same as Andrew Jones, the former New Zealand one-down batsman. Then again, it is hardly surprising that Richardson’s achievement went by without causing a flutter; his batting has been much the same, understated, without flourish and utterly effective.When he finally fell, lofting Harbhajan Singh to Kumble at long-on (382 for 2), Richardson had made a career-best 145. The wicket, falling against the run of play, brought Fleming out to the middle.It was only after lunch that the first signs of acceleration became apparent. Soon after the break, Styris unveiled his full range of strokes, driving well and lofted magnificently over the infield on the leg side. He enjoyed his cricket every bit, often holding the pose after playing a big shot and grinning from ear to ear to his colleague.Fleming had proceeded to drive with authority; without taking too much time to settle in, he took on the bowlers. He scored briskly, unusually so, hitting three boundaries and a six, but it did not last long. The 35th ball he faced, a Sachin Tendulkar delivery that swung late, knocked the off stump right out of the ground (433 for 3).The move to send Styris (119, 230 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes) up the order proved to be a master stroke. Even Kumble, easily the best bowler on show, was thrashed back over his head for a huge six. He did eventually extract revenge though, trapping Styris in front of the stumps (447 for 4).From then on, all thoughts of acceleration were left squarely in the capable hands of Craig McMillan. He was aggressive from the moment he walked out to the middle, handlebar moustache and all. He irritated the spinners no end, sweeping, reverse-sweeping and dabbing the ball away into gaps. He even managed to get Rudi Koertzen’s goat, running up and down the wicket and receiving an official warning. At the other end, Nathan Astle was scratchy and used up 73 balls for 18 before chopping Harbhajan Singh into the wicketkeeper’s gloves (507 for 5).All said, New Zealand will still have to bat a bit on the third day before they can declare. From then on, the ball will be in India’s court, and Rahul Dravid’s men will then find themselves in the rare position of having to focus on avoiding the follow-on in a home Test. That, more than anything else, is an indication of how much in control New Zealand are.

The first day of the hearing into allegations of racism by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union at the Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown Harare ended early after a ruling that three Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) officials could not be present during certain witnesses’ testimonies.The start of the hearing was delayed by more than two hours as Chris Venturas, speaking on behalf of the rebel players, asked Goolam Vahanvati, India’s solicitor-general, and Steven Majiedt, a South African High Court judge, to remove three men – Ozias Bvute, the board’s acting managing director, the chairman of selectors Max Ebrahim, and Tavengwa Mukuhlani, the Mashonaland Cricket Association chairman – while the players were testifying. Venturas argued that the presence of the trio would be too intimidating.There were angry exchanges when Norman Arendse, the ZCU’s lawyer, made a comment to the first witness while he was giving his testimony. At that time, the three ZCU officials were not present. Reuters reported that during an adjournment, and in full view of journalists, Venturas challenged another member of the ZCU’s legal team about Arendse’s comment.”I’m going to take a walk to cool off,” Venturas told reporters,adding that he could not comment on events. “Sorry, I have been gagged.”The panel decided that while they did not necessarily agree that the players were in danger, there was “no choice but to request the three persons not to be present in the room while the players’ evidence is being recorded”.A statement explained: “We do so making it clear that this request is made only with a view to ensuring that the investigation proceeds further and does not in any way amount to our acceptance of the correctness of the allegations made and of the apprehensions expressed.”A bystander reported that the presence of several “heavies” in the area around the hearing added to the general feeling of unease, while another eyewitness told Wisden Cricinfo that “a clearly angry Bvute and some associates” were seen leaving the hotel shortly after the adjournment.The hearing is due to resume early on Thursday, but there were suggestions that the ZCU was considering not accepting the ruling, which would throw the entire process into doubt.

Australia 126 for 7 v England
Scorecard

England ripped through Australia after a delayed start to the second Test at Worcester, reducing the visitors to 126 for 7 by the close.Heavy rain prevented any play until 3pm, and with moisture in the pitch and low clouds, England gambled by putting Australia in. The decision soon paid dividends. Belinda Clark looked fairly comfortable, but Lisa Keightley’s run out triggered a collapse which saw them slip from 27 for 0 to 49 for 4.Lisa Sthalekar led a mini recovery with a spirited 34, but her dismissal brought more wickets and England ended in a good position – although they will not be too complacent. In the first Test at Hove, they had Australia 115 for 7 only for the last three wickets to add 230 runs. Julie Hayes and Shelley Nitschke, who did much of the damage them, are still at the crease .

Two leading British politicians have written to the ICC requesting that Zimbabwe be kicked out of international cricket because of the country’s rapidly deteriorating human rights situation.Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, and Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, wrote to the ICC after a film from Amnesty International highlighted the plight of those affected by President Mugabe’s slum clearance programme Operation Murambatsvina – which translates as “drive out rubbish” – has left an estimated 700,000 people homeless.”What we are trying to do now is ratchet up the pressure on the ICC, who have the power to act to change their rules,” said a source at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. ‘”The situation according to the foreign office is getting significantly worse. Tessa feels it’s right that government isn’t seen to be sitting back and letting this happen.”Kate Hoey, the former sports minister who has actively campaigned against England playing cricket against Zimbabwe, said that Straw had become more hardline in recent weeks. “‘Cricket gives us an opportunity. A ban sends a message out that Zimbabwe is not a normal country in any sense.”The letter, which was leaked to The Observer, is said to ask the ICC to waive fines against countries who decide to boycott matches against Zimbabwe. “We would now like to ask if the ICC could reflect on the current situation and take a view on whether or not they see international cricket fixtures against and/or in Zimbabwe to be appropriate while such widespread human rights abuses are taking place.”

Last November, England played four ODIs in Zimbabwe, despite polls showing most people thought they were wrong to go. The overriding reason for the England board’s decision was fear that it would be severely fined by the ICC if it stayed away. Asked at the time whether moral issues should feature and whether matches against Zimbabwe should go ahead, David Morgan, the ECB’s chairman, said they should not, adding that “otherwise world cricket would grind to a halt”.The British government was criticised for not stopping the tour, but ministers pointed out that they could not ban a side from travelling.The latest approach to the ICC follows similar requests from the New Zealand and Australian governments. While the ICC has steadfastly maintained a stance that Zimbabwe’s politics are not a factor in any decision on the country’s international status, it is coming under increasing pressure to take some action. Yesterday’s newspaper revelations that President Mbeke of South Africa has tired of trying to find a diplomatic solution to Zimbabwe’s problems could further add to that pressure.Add into the equation that Zimbabwe’s recent performances on the field have been woefully poor, and it seems inconceivable that the issue will not be high on the agenda when the ICC executive meets in Dubai next week.

Twin bomb blasts in Lahore on Thursday posed no threat to Australia A’s on-going tour, according to a senior Pakistan cricket official. “We have met Australia officials and assured them of a safe tour,” the board’s general manager, Zakir Khan, told .The two explosions killed six people and injured more than 30 others. Australia A, who earlier lost the two-match series 1-0, were due to play the first of three one-day matches in Lahore on Friday and the remaining two on September 25 and 27.”We have shifted Friday’s match from Bagh-e-Jinnah to Gaddafi Stadium because of rain and it has nothing to do with security,” said Khan. Australia A’s manager Bernard Robertson agreed the tour would continue. “Cricket will go on and we have a match on Friday,” Robertson told . “I don’t have any further comment to make.”Pakistan host England for three Tests and five ODIs from October 26 and the ECB has already refused to play a Test in the port city of Karachi. The ECB has said it would monitor security in Pakistan before the tour begins.

Younis Khan, the Pakistan vice-captain, and Shahid Afridi, the allrounder, have been elevated to the top category, according to new central contracts announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Meanwhile, Danish Kaneria, the legspinner, and Kamran Akmal, the wicketkeeper have been promoted from grade three to grade two. However, the board has not made any monetary increase in the new contracts.The central contracts in Pakistan cricket are divided into three pay categories. The grade one players get a monthly retainer of Rs 200,000, the grade two players Rs 125,000 and those in grade three Rs 75,000. The monthly retainers are beside the match and tour fees paid to the players.Meanwhile, , the Karachi-based daily, reported that the board violated its own performance criteria laid down in the contracts system when it promoted Akmal to grade two although he has still not accumulated the necessary 150 points required for that to happen. Akmal has at present 104 points to his credit.Central contracted players:Category `A’: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi.Category `B’: Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Malik, Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal.Category `C’: Asim Kamal, Salman Butt, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Shabbir Ahmed, Yasir Hameed, Arshad Khan, Imran Farhat, Bazid Khan.Pakistan `A’ and Juniors: Misbah-ul-Haq, Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Asif, Yasir Arafat, Najaf Shah, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Arshad, Imran Tahir, Zulqarnain Haider, Ashar Zaidi, Taufiq Umar, Mohammad Khalil