Violent thunderstorms erupted

Rain brought a premature end to England’s chase of a challenging Australia target in a one-day cricket international on Tuesday.

As evening fell over this Midlands city, violent thunderstorms erupted as England prepared to chase 261 after an incident-packed Australia innings.

England faced only six overs, reaching 37 for one before rain returned for the third time to end the tri-series match. Floodlights for the evening match had to be lowered because of the danger from lightning.

Andrew Strauss smashed veteran bowler Glenn McGrath for four fours in one over when England batted, but McGrath had him caught by Jason Gillespie for 25 from what turned out to be the last ball of the match.

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Dominant years for Indian cricket under Greg Chappell guidence

Lauding new Indian coach Greg Chappell’s leadership abilities, former Australian speedster Dennis Lillee on Monday predicted dominant years for Indian cricket under his guidance.

“Greg has phenominal abilities in coaching and Indian cricket will have dominant years under him,” Lillee, who was described by Chappell as one of the tough players whom he had handled while captaining the Australian side.

Lillee, who is here on his routine annual visit to the MRF Pace Foundation to select the Indian boys for training, said: “Greg had shown great leadership abilities as captain of the Australian team. No doubt that his cricketing experience will help India to be a dominant force in world cricket.”

The legendary bowler, however, declined to respond when asked to give his comments on players like Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. “I cannot comment on them.”

As for the coming Ashes series between England and Australia, Lillee said “England look a well-knit team now and the series is going to be a close affair”.

But we have to wait when India will play match under his guidence.

ICC arbiter likely for Ganguly

The International Cricket Council today described as “incorrect” media reports in India that the game’s governing body was likely to reopen Sourav Ganguly’s case regarding the six-match suspension.

ICC President Ehsan Mani said the Ganguly issue did not come up for discussion during the Board meeting.

“Reports in India about the ICC reopening Ganguly’s case are not correct,” Mani said after the ICC’s Business Forum in London.

He said the Indian Cricket Board had written to the ICC on the Ganguly issue and the apex body had in turn replied to the Indian authorities.

“We are now awaiting a reply from them.” Ganguly was slapped with a six-match suspension for his team’s slow overrate during the one-day series against Pakistan.

BCCI had appealed against the suspension by it was turned down by ICC Appeals Commissioner Michael Belloff.

Mani also said that the change in rules regarding one-day matches are on experimental basis for a ten-month period.

“If we find that it is good we will continue with these new rules. If we find that it is damaging to the game we will not adhere to it.”

Shane’s it at again

The story that drove Shane Warne into hiding finally broke when a London newspaper published more allegations about the cricketer’s extramarital sex and explicit text-messaging.

Three days after Shane and Simone Warne announced their separation after 10 years of marriage, the Daily Mirror claimed Warne had an affair that lasted more than a month with a 31-year-old sales manager, Kerrie Colliemore, just before his family arrived in Britain.

The paper said Warne had assured Colliemore he had separated from his wife.

A “close friend” said Warne began bombarding Colliemore with text messages after they met at a nightclub in Southampton, where the leg spinner captains the English county team Hampshire.

The friend claimed to have found 48 text messages from Warne on Colliemore’s phone, one of which was so steamy it could not be printed.

“Shane wouldn’t leave her alone. The phone was on fire with his messages. Kerrie couldn’t believe how raunchy he was. He had the hots for her big time. She didn’t know anything about his past and thought he was separated,” the friend is quoted as saying.

“He couldn’t keep his hands off her. He wanted sex outside, inside, wherever he could,” including, according to the article, on the bonnet of his black BMW.

The affair apparently ended when Colliemore discovered Simone and the children were on their way from Melbourne.

The lurid account of Warne’s sex life is the latest in a string of off-field scandals to surround the drama-prone cricketer.

Less than two weeks ago the same paper published claims from a 25-year-old London student that Warne pestered her for sex after a night out with his friend, the England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

Five years ago, Warne was stripped of the Australian vice-captaincy after making a string of lewd calls to a Leicestershire nurse, and last year a South African woman, Helen Cohen Alon, was jailed for extortion after claiming he hassled her for sex.

Warne has not been seen since releasing a statement with Simone about the marriage break-up, and it remains unclear whether they have escaped to Spain.

Hampshire have given Warne a fortnight off, and he is due to join the Australian Test squad on July 11 before the Ashes series. Warne’s brother and manager, Jason, was not available for comment last night.

Despite the vivid accounts given by the friend of Colliemore, the paper quotes the woman herself as saying: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have absolutely nothing to say.”

The latest allegations raise more questions about how Cricket Australia handles constant unsavoury revelations about the private life of its most famous cricketer. Its public affairs manager, Peter Young, could not comment specifically but said: “Clearly we would prefer Shane Warne to be creating publicity for the game of cricket through his on-field performances.”

Aussie crisis is over

Australia are blanking out the unwanted memory of their last trip to Edgbaston as they seek to continue their NatWest Series momentum against England.

The world champions have set about making up for their slow start to the triangular limited-overs tournament with two emphatic victories, over England in Durham and then by a landslide 10 wickets at Bangladesh at Old Trafford on Saturday.

But their next date against the hosts is a day-night fixture on Tuesday in Birmingham - where their 2004 ICC Champions Trophy ended on what captain Ricky Ponting describes as a “dirty day” for the Aussies last September.

England have made great capital out of that six-wicket semi-final success over the old enemy when the world’s second most important one-day competition came to this country last autumn.

Since then Australia appear to have ridden out a mini-crisis in their limited-overs form at the start of this Ashes summer - and Ponting is determined to accentuate the positive rather than dwelling on an isolated past setback.

“It was an awful day in every way - the way we played, and then me breaking my thumb and having to miss the tour to India,” he grudgingly recalled.

“But that is long gone. It was a dirty day for us, so we will not be talking about it at all.”

The Aussies’ most recent experiences have been highly encouraging for them, not to mention a little ominous for their opponents.

With key all-rounder Andrew Symonds back in harness - an important half-century against England on Thursday and a career-best five for 18 with his off-breaks against Bangladesh in Manchester - Ponting has good reason to be optimistic again.

“Instead of Edgbaston last year, we can talk about the other day in Durham and some of the good things we did there and try to take those into the next game,” he said.

“That is what our team meetings are about, trying to identify the smaller aspects of our game we know we can still improve on.”

The same recipe will doubtless be on the menu for the remainder of Australia’s NatWest campaign which picks up at Canterbury against Bangladesh on Thursday once Tuesday’s final qualifying match with the hosts is out of the way.

Ponting and Co have twice been on the receiving end over the past week or so of Bangladesh’s shot-a-ball middle-order batsman Mohammad Ashraful.

The 20-year-old’s maiden one-day international hundred brought unconsidered Bangladesh an astounding five-wicket victory at Cardiff eight days ago - and even in defeat on Saturday he contributed an audacious half-century.

In between, he fell just short of a quickfire hundred against England at Trent Bridge.

But while Ponting acknowledges Ashrafaul’s wristy gung-ho batting has put him in line for a man-of-the-series award, he does not anticipate lasting success with such a high-risk attitude.

“He is riding his luck a lot at the moment,” he said.

“He has lots of shots going through his mind - you can see that as the bowler is running in.”

Better shot selection is a must, though, if Ashraful is to make the most of his talent - according to Ponting.

The Tasmanian, himself an established world-class batsman with a special natural ability of his own, added: “He is playing pull shots to balls that are just short of a length.

“He has been getting away with it. But you can be the best player in the world and you won’t stay in international cricket for long playing that way. It just doesn’t work.

“He has got things going his way at the moment - but I don’t think it will last that long.”

The two fiercest rival’s will display thier best game in the arena . Spectator’s will really enjoy.

It won’t be a standard one-day game

The International Cricket Council has approved the recommendations regarding substitution and field restrictions in the one-day international cricket adding a “tactical dimention” to the format making it more exciting.

It will not be a standard one-day game henceforth following the introduction of new experimental rules from next month and teams and captains will have to chalk out new plans, Sachin Tendulkar said today.

“It will not be a standard one-day game with the introduction of the new rules,” the ace Indian batsman told reporters here. (more…)

ICC approves substitution and new field restrictions in ODIs

One-Day cricket will never be the same again.The International Cricket Council has approved the recommendations regarding substitution and field restrictions in the one-day international cricket adding a “tactical dimention” to the format making it more exciting.

The ICC chief executives’ committee (CEC) has approved the introduction of two innovations into all one-day internationals from July 30. The new regulations, which involve the fielding restrictions and the introduction of replacement players, will be trialled for 10 months after which they will be reviewed by the Cricket Committee - which made the initial recommendations - at its 2006 meeting.

From July 30 when the tri-series in Sri Lanka involving India kicks off, the rules of the abridged version will be radically altered because teams will have twelve players instead of the traditional eleven.

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