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West Indies women’s cricketer Tremayne Smartt has been suspended by the ICC from all cricket and cricket-related activities for five months after being found guilty of violating an anti-doping rule. An independent anti-doping tribunal comprising Tim Kerr QC (acting as chairman), Dr Anik Sax and Prof. Peter Sever took the decision at a hearing in London on Friday based on written and oral legal submissions as well as testimony from Smartt, who plead guilty.Smartt has played 15 ODIs and 12 Twenty20 internationals for West Indies.A random urine sample collected in September this year, which was tested at a laboratory accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), was found to contain a prohibited substance called Furosemide. The tribunal accepted that the substance wasn’t used to enhance performance or mask the use of another performance-enhancing drug, “but that she had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility implicit upon her as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.””Smartt, 26, provided a urine sample as part of the ICC’s random in-competition testing programme after the conclusion of a Twenty20 International between West Indies and Pakistan, held in Georgetown, Guyana on September 11,” an ICC release said. Her sample was found to contain Furosemide, classified as a ‘Specified Substance’ under WADA’s Prohibited List.Smartt, according to the release, had taken the substance to treat a swelling in her knee. She was found guilty of violating Article 2.1 of the ICC’s Anti-Doping code and stands suspended until March 25 next year. She has three weeks to appeal against the decision should she wish to.In a statement, Smartt conceded she did not effectively check the Prohibited List and would have to accept the consequences.

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Steven Finn’s hat-trick ensured an easy win after what had been a less than perfect display from England with the bat•Getty Images

A Steven Finn hat-trick helped England to a 56-run win in their tour opener against a Hyderabad XI at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. Finn dismissed Nos. 7, 10 and 11 in the 37th over to ensure a dominant end to what had been a scrappy first outing for England after they were bowled out for 219. They might not even have got as many as that had it not been for Ravi Bopara’s fluent 73, which helped steady the innings after early wickets had been lost.Hyderabad XI were by no means coasting before Finn’s dramatic eighth over ended the match, although Arjun Yadav’s 47 had at least kept them in with a shout. Finn had removed captain Dwaraka Ravi Teja – beaten for pace with the new ball – and returned to dismiss a slogging Amol Shinde, before bowling Kaneshuk Naidu and pinning Anwar Khan lbw to end the match.Yet, his efforts masked just how much pressure England had been under for much of the match, and the contributions of Bopara and Chris Woakes, who cracked an unbeaten 46 before picking up two wickets, should not be underestimated.On a slow pitch, England had lost Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen inside the first eight overs before Bopara entered to steady the innings, batting with a fluency not seen in his team-mates from the very beginning. Bopara got going with a straight six off Shinde’s offspin, and after Jonny Bairstow was dismissed continued to hold the innings together with a 42-run stand in Samit Patel’s company.He reached his fifty from 62 balls and continued the good work to put together the highest stand of the innings with Woakes – 45 for the seventh wicket. When Bopara eventually fell, caught behind driving at Anwar Ahmed in the second over of the powerplay, England were 169 for 7 and under pressure once more.Woakes did well to shepherd the tail and coax the score past 200, but the innings quickly subsided once his stand with Graeme Swann was broken and more than two overs were left unused as Jade Dernbach’s run out brought England’s effort to an end.It looked as though Hyderabad XI might make a fist of their chase when Akshath Reddy hooked the first ball of the second innings, from Finn, over deep backward square for six, but England soon began to make inroads.Hyderabad XI slipped to 12 for 2 before Yadav and Neeraj Bist got the innings back on track with a 55-run stand for the third wicket. Once they were parted, Woakes turned the tide England’s way by removing Mohammed Khader and Ibrahim Khaleel with consecutive deliveries to leave the score at 99 for 5.Shinde’s aggressive 25 suggested the beginnings of a fightback, but his dismissal at Finn’s hands brought the contest to a swift end.

Zimbabwe and Pakistan have not played a Test match against each other in nine years, a time span in which both teams have changed considerably. They were expecting a few surprises. But the biggest mystery of the day wasn’t provided by either side, it came from the Bulawayo pitch.With a fair covering of green on it, Misbah-ul-Haq was probably justified in putting Zimbabwe in to bat, a decision that became questionable midway through the first session. “I was surprised that it [the pitch] didn’t do much,” Vusi Sibanda said after the day’s play. “It seamed a little bit to start off with, but after about five overs it flattened out.”The batsman escaped the proverbial Green Mamba and it was the bowlers who had to avoid being bitten by it. Pakistan’s opening pair of Sohail Khan and Aizaz Cheema failed to impress, with neither able to trouble the batsmen. “They tried to do quite a bit, which made it easier to score,” Sibanda said. “Cheema bowled quite well with the new ball and got it to swing a lot more, but Sohail was just bashing out that length, hitting the bat really hard and was a lot straighter.”Even though they did not create a breakthrough, Pakistan’s opening batsman and offspinner, Mohammad Hafeez said that it was a fine challenge for an inexperienced attack. “This is a learning process for our bowling attack,” he said, “because they are not mature enough at this level yet.”Hafeez acknowledged that the “day belonged to the Zimbabweans”, and even hinted that Pakistan may have taken their opposition, and their prowess as a Test nation, a little lightly. “Their application in Test cricket was impressive, especially as they were out of it for the last three or four years,” he said. “The way they came back against Bangladesh boosted their confidence.”Tino Mawoyo, whose unbeaten 82 anchored the Zimbabwe innings, was the batsmen that took the day away from Pakistan. “He showed good technique, he really showed what was required of Test cricket,” Hafeez said. “He was passionate and determined.”Mawoyo batted through the day, and took 161 balls to get to his fifty, after a characteristically slow start. Sibanda, his opening partner, said that approach is the one Mawoyo flourishes with. “That’s his game, he likes to take his time,” he said. “Once he gets going he will carry on and he will be looking to get a big one. He will probably struggle to sleep tonight though.”Mawoyo’s toughest task was dealing with offspinner Saeed Ajmal, whose doosra he was unable to pick. Sibanda was also victim to Ajmal’s wrong ‘un and felt that he let himself down by not capitalising on a good start. “I’ve just got to be a bit hungrier, because I think I gave my wicket away today,” he said.” I have to try and convert those 30s and 40s into bigger scores.”Still, Ajmal, he said, was one of the more difficult bowlers he has had to face. “There’s not much difference between his doosra and the normal offbreak, so you have to pick it through the air,” he said. Although Mawoyo struggled against Ajmal, he put up an exceptional fight, something that Sibanda thinks is starting to define the new era of Zimbabwean cricket.He said the team were looking forward to facing Sohail Tanvir, despite signs that the pitch will reverse swing, and were disappointed that he was left out of the starting XI. “I was looking forward to facing him [Tanvir] in the Test,” Sibanda said. “It would have been a challenge considering that the last time I played against him was a bit of a challenge. We were hoping he was going to play.”Without the threat of Tanvir, Zimbabwe’s middle order will probably feel more at ease trying to put on a significant first innings score, which will serve them well as the match wears on, because of the nature of the pitch. “It’s an unusual wicket, because it is also breaking up. It might have been a good toss to lose actually,” Sibanda said. “Anything around 370 plus would be decent and psychologically it will play on their [Pakistan’s] minds as well.”

Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket was a success on the field, but it will take at least “five to ten years” to have the same effect on the board’s bank balance. Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) will incur over US$2 million in losses as they re-enter into the game’s premier format this summer.ZC are hosting three tours in the space of five months, playing one Test against each of Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand and a bigger number ODIs and Twenty20 matches. “It costs us around $1.1 million to host a tour,” Ozias Bvute, managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket told ESPNcricinfo. “We only earn about $200,000 from TV rights, although it will be slightly less against New Zealand, and about $150,000 from sponsorship.” The deficit, of around $750,000 per tour, is made up through loans from local banks, who allow ZC to repay them over an extended period.Given the rate at which cricket is growing in the country, Bvute believes it will take up to a decade for the debt to be cleared and for ZC to start making profits. “It’s a really vicious cycle,” an insider said. “We have to get more sponsorship, but the only way we can do that is by playing and winning and we can’t play any more if we don’t have the money to have more series.”Cricket boards only earn money when they are hosting and Zimbabwe have calculate that only the hosting of India or England will result in a profit, because of the sums of the amount they can make in broadcasting rights, but even that is not an easy option for them. “England have a policy that they don’t tour Zimbabwe and India are not available to come very often, so that makes it hard,” the insider said.Instead, ZC has had to find ways to attract more sponsorship from local sources which they have done by presenting them with a bigger market to advertise to. “In order for cricket to be sustainable, we needed people to participate,” Bvute said. “So now that we have both black and white supporters watching cricket and attending matches we can work on creating a commodity that is financially viable.” There are signs of that already happening, with the domestic twenty-over competition almost breaking even, suffering only “minute losses of about US$80,000”.The introduction of the franchise system two seasons ago has been an essential part of ZC’s attempt at financial revival because it has allowed for 100 cricketers in the country to earn salaries. The ZC supplies the five franchises with grants to contract 20 players each, although often for small amounts. Another source revealed that a franchise rookie contract is worth $200-300 a month and that the senior players earn around $5000 a month, but national players can expect to earn more than that once central contracts come into effect.Wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu raised the issue of no national contracts and the ZC have said they will address the situation by awarding contracts for 12 core players at the start of the domestic season, when franchise contracts come up for renegotiation.The other major concern is the non-payment of match fees, another matter brought up by Taibu in his criticism of the administration. “There is a provision in the player contracts that says we can pay match fees up until 180 days after a tour,” Bvute said. Taibu indicated that match fees had not been paid in a period longer than the stipulated six months, with some players still waiting for their money from the series in Bangladesh that was played in December last year. The board is aware of the problem and Bvute said that they “hope to be able to pay all our players as soon as we can”.

Pakistan’s chief selector Mohsin Khan has said the squad for the tour of Zimbabwe is an opportunity to blood a few young players in the company of more experienced senior players.”Zimbabwe cannot be taken lightly and our squad was picked with full respect for the opponents,” Mohsin told . “There was never any real consideration for sending an entirely experimental squad made up of youngsters and players with little or no international experience. With international cricket not returning to Pakistan yet, we seem to have a reduced number of international fixtures and therefore we have less opportunity to experiment.”Pakistan have rested their two strike bowlers Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz, opting for a new-look pace attack that includes Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema and Junaid Khan. Mohsin said Gul and Riaz needed a rest and that Pakistan needed to build a reserve of fast bowlers in any case.”Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz have been playing constantly in all formats of cricket recently and Umar had a slight injury problem ahead of the tour of the Caribbean. Both Sohail Tanvir and Sohail Khan have proved to the selectors that they are capable of bowling in all formats of cricket; they have shown that their fitness problems are behind them and they have bowled long spells in domestic cricket without any problems. Both of these boys have shown a great deal of promise in all formats and we felt deserved a recall.”While some of Pakistan’s cricketers have had a couple of months off after the tour of Ireland, Gul and Riaz have both been playing for counties in England. Sohail Tanvir and Sohail Khan are both making comebacks to the Pakistan side. Tanvir was last in the squad for the tour of New Zealand early in the year, while Khan has been ignored since he played one Test and four ODIs back in 2008-09.Another player making a comeback to the squad is opener Imran Farhat, who has not played for Pakistan since the England tour last summer. Farhat’s return comes after Ahmed Shehzad failed to cement his place in the Pakistan limited-overs side. “We were looking for an outstanding, reliable young opening batsman for the Test arena, but we did not find one for the longer version of cricket,” Mohsin sad. “Imran did not have a good tour of England last year and he was subsequently dropped, but he’s bounced back well in domestic cricket and had a very good season last time around.”Adnan Akmal is back in the Pakistan squad after missing the tour of West Indies•Getty Images

Mohsin also explained the return of Adnan Akmal for Mohammad Salman in the wicketkeeper’s slot, saying Adnan had actually been the first choice for the West Indies tour as well. He also said Sarfraz Ahmed, who has been named among the reserve players, is very much on the selectors’ radars.”Adnan was selected, he was our first choice but after some confusion Salman went to the West Indies. That is history now and after a positive meeting with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, that matter was resolved amicably and the confusion cleared up. We also have another bright wicketkeeping prospect in Sarfraz Ahmed who we have named among the standby players.”While Pakistan have gone in with a new-look bowling attack for the tour, the batting line-up has more familiar faces such as like Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan. But Mohsin said the time had come for some of the younger players to prepare to fill the positions Misbah and Younis will vacate when they retire.”We are trying to create a group of responsible batsmen to back up the experienced batsmen and the likes of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq are definitely in that mould. Umar Akmal is another young exciting batsman who I feel has a bright future. The onus now on the selectors is to ensure that we have enough middle-order backup so that when the two senior batsmen do eventually call it a day, then there are able replacements.”The squad for the Zimbabwe tour includes three uncapped players: Cheema, Rameez Raja and Yasir Shah. Raja’s call-up comes on the back of consistent domestic performance in all formats. He was the leading run-getter in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One last season, and was top of the run charts again during the recent Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cup. Mohsin said what also influenced his selection was Raja’s reputation as a lively fielder.”We felt that the tour of Zimbabwe was the ideal time to give Rameez a chance in international cricket. Rameez is a cricketer who also fields well and this is something that my colleagues in the selection committee and I have really focused upon.”Pakistan’s tour of Zimbabwe begins with a two-day practice game starting August 28, and will feature one Test, three ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals.

Brendon McCullum and Aaron Redmond will share the Otago captaincy this summer, after the long-term skipper Craig Cumming stepped down at the end of last season. McCullum will lead the team in its Twenty20 campaign, while Redmond will take charge in the one-day and four-day competitions.Otago are confident McCullum will be available for the full HRV Cup campaign, despite him signing with the Brisbane Heat in Australia’s Big Bash League. The BBL will start in mid-December and while the HRV Cup dates are yet to be fixed, it is expected to kick off in late December.”I don’t think it will be an issue,” the Otago coach Vaughn Johnson told the Otago Daily Times. “Brendon has worked out his timetable along with Otago Cricket and his first priority will be towards Otago cricket. I’m sure that is what will happen.”Johnson said in the longer format, Redmond was the natural successor to Cumming, who will play on after relinquishing the captaincy. However, he said splitting the leadership was the logical move with McCullum available for the T20 tournament.”I just think it was a no-brainer if you have someone of his quality,” Johnson said. “He leads by example.”

Gary Kirsten has been appointed coach of the South Africa team for a term of two years. He will be joined by Allan Donald as bowling coach, and Russell Domingo, who coached the Warriors, as an assistant.”I’m delighted by the appointment and consider it a major honour,” Kirsten said at a press conference in Johannesburg. “It’s nice to be back … it’s nice to be among my people and to be working within that space.”Kirsten will begin his term as coach on August 1 and his first assignment will be a home series against Australia. He took over from Corrie van Zyl, who was an interim coach for 14 months after Mickey Arthur resigned following the home series against England in 2009-10.This is Kirsten’s second stint as coach of an international team. He finished a two-year term with India in April, after helping them win the 2011 World Cup and become the No. 1 Test team. At the end of his tenure, Kirsten indicated he would take time off to be with his young family.”There was a lot to consider from my side, from a personal perspective and from my time with Indian cricket,” he said. “A cooling off period was necessary.” Kirsten will have four months off from the end of his time with India to his starting date with South Africa.Kirsten described his new role as that of “team director/head coach” who would be at the helm of the “coaching team” which may also employ the services of a fielding coach on a contractual basis. CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said that after the board decided to appoint Kirsten, he was allowed to compile his own team of coaches, which included Donald and Domingo.Donald, who recently lost the Australia bowling job to Craig McDermott, turned down an offer from New Zealand Cricket in order to take up the role with South Africa. He was approached on Friday, when “some of my bags were packed” for New Zealand but did an about turn immediately “When I got the call from Gary it took me all but half a second to say yes,” Donald said. “It was almost like the very first call from Doctor Bacher in 1991, saying you are going to India and representing your country.” Donald will travel with the South Africa A team to Zimbabwe at the end of June for a tri-series which also involves Australia A.Donald’s appointment means Vincent Barnes’ contract will be terminated at the end of June. Barnes has been involved as South Africa’s bowling and assistant coach since 2003 and was hopeful of continuing his involvement. “He was offered the job of coaching Bangladesh and has turned it down,” Majola said. “We have offered him a role at the High Perfomance Centre and are waiting for him to respond.”The assistant role will be filled by Domingo, who was coach of the A side when they played Bangladesh A in April this year. He has been coach of the Warriors franchise for the last four seasons and won both the MTN40 and Standard Bank Pro20 titles in the 2009-10 season. “It is a positive for me having worked with a lot of players at South Africa A level,” Doningo said. “I suppose I can give Allan and Gary a little bit of insight into the players.”Kirsten did not discuss whether he would travel extensively, as it was initially thought he would not accompany the team on lesser tours. He indicated, however, that Domingo was being groomed for bigger things when he said, “There might well come a time when I feel that we can be quite flexible within our coaching staff.”

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Derbyshire edged to the top of Group A in the Clydesdale Bank 40 following athrilling tie with Netherlands in Deventer. Steffan Jones hit the final ball of Derbyshire’s chase for two to share the points as both sides finished a low-scoring contest on 163 for 9. That was enough to move the Falcons to the top of the group, although Middlesex may leapfrog them within hours as they began their chase against Worcestershire at Lord’s.Derbyshire’s hopes of taking anything from their trip across the North Sea looked to have disappeared when top-scorer Garry Park became Shane Mott’s fourth victim to leave the visitors nine down and needing 15 from nine balls. Last pair Jones and Tim Groenewald then defied the odds to set-up a last-ball finish, but Mudassar Bukhari’s final delivery cost just two to leave scores level.Greg Smith had earlier taken 3 for 39 for Derbyshire to frustrate Netherlands, who only managed their below-par score thanks to 41 from tailender Bukhari. Derbyshire started a routine-looking chase badly when Chesney Hughes was bowled for a duck by Mott in the opening over.Mott also accounted for Wes Durston (24) and Greg Smith (12) and when Australia opener Usman Khawaja was caught behind off Peter Borren Derbyshire were 62 for 4. Wayne Madsen and Park then seemed to be building a match-winning partnership before the former was caught by Borren off the bowling of the busy Bukhari.Pieter Seelaar then bowled Derbyshire captain Luke Sutton for only two runs and Jonathan Clare was trapped lbw by Michael Swart five overs later. Azeem Rafiq joined Park at the crease and hit 18 quickfire before becoming Swart’s second victim at the end of the 36th over.Derbyshire’s hopes look doomed when Park (38) was caught by Seelar off Mott’s but last-pair Jones and Groenewald did enough to at least take a point.Earlier, Netherlands’ top-order struggled with Clare claiming two wickets in the 14th over, including Swart for a duck, as the hosts fell to 45 for 3. Wilfred Diepeveen (13) and captain Borren (16) also fell cheaply to bring Tom de Grooth and Bukhari to the crease.The pair added 49 for the seventh wicket with De Grooth chipping in with a laboured 25 from 54 balls before he was run out. Bukhari, whose innings included eight fours, followed when he was caught by Groenewald off Jones. Tom Heggelman fell with the very next ball as Mott and Seelaar scrambled to a score of 163 for 9.

Police in Pakistan said that they have arrested a number of bookmakers they believe to be behind the death threats made to Zulqarnain Haider, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper.According to local reports, police arrested up to eight men in Sialkot. “We have arrested eight bookies and some of them have revealed they were behind threats to Haider,” police official Nasir Qureshi told . “We have confiscated their data which has a number of international contacts and the investigation is still on. We have found a number of satellite telephones and diaries which have international contacts and we hope to get further details in the next 24 hours,” he added.Four of the arrested were produced before a local judge, according to the , who has placed them in three-day remand with the officers.Haider returned to Pakistan earlier this week from London, where he had fled last November after claiming to have been threatened by bookies in Dubai during Pakistan’s ODI series with South Africa. Haider left the team on the morning of the final ODI, without informing the team or board officials, and landed in London, where he immediately claimed asylum.But he revoked his asylum application and returned to Islamabad on Monday after being given security assurances by the Pakistan government. Days before his return, Haider said he had received more calls from people who threatened him should he return. At least one call was recorded and broadcast on local TV channels.Haider announced his retirement from the game in London and said on his return that he was still undecided over his playing future. He will first have to resume contact with the PCB and answer the questions a fact-finding committee set up by the board to look into his case had asked of him. A board official told ESPNcricinfo that numerous efforts had been made to get in touch with the player while he was in London, but that he hadn’t responded to them. In the last communication, Haider is understood to have told the PCB that he doesn’t want to speak to them about the matter, but when he arrived in Islamabad he said he would contact Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman.

The Netherlands and Ireland Women’s teams have departed on a two-week tour to Sri Lanka as part of their preparations in the build-up to the Women’s World Cup Qualifier later this year. A five-day coaching programme from April 18 to 22 will be followed by an eight-day quadrangular series also involving Sri Lanka and Pakistan from April 23 to 29. All four teams will be based in Colombo during the tour.The training programme, in partnership with the ICC European Development Programme, replaces what was previously run as the ICC European Women’s Academy. It is to be managed by Philip Hudson, ICC Regional Performance Officer, and will involve a three-strong coaching team, including former England A players Simon Francis and Kelly Evenson, from ICC Europe supporting the Ireland and Netherlands Women’s teams and their national coaches.It will consist of centre wicket and net practices focused primarily on batting against spin; local cricketers will be acting as bowlers to aid both sets of players in acclimatising to sub-continent pitches and conditions. Developing the standard of fielding is also a key objective of the programme. Selected players will undertake a media training session to learn key skills in dealing with the media to prepare them for future regional and global cricket tournaments.”For Women’s cricket in Europe this is the biggest event that has ever taken place,” said ICC Regional Development Manager, Richard Holdsworth. “It will be a fantastic opportunity for all the players and management to compete against full member nations and sample Asian conditions in preparation for the end of the year.”The development of women’s cricket in Europe is improving each year, with healthy participation figures, this series is just evidence of what can be achieved with a lot of hard work.”Ireland National Women’s Coach Stephen Moreton was pleased that the team would be travelling to Sri Lanka to improve Ireland’s chances at the Women’s World Cup Qualifier. “It’s a massive benefit to our preparations, as we will be facing similar conditions in November, when it really counts,” said Moreton.Netherlands Captain Helmein Rambaldo suggested that successfully acclimatising to sub-continental conditions will be her team’s main aim for the trip. “By having the tour to Sri Lanka, we are firstly getting the opportunity to get used to conditions in Asia and by playing the teams ranked above us, it will be a good challenge to see where we are at the moment and what we still need to work on till the tournament in Bangladesh.”Ireland and Netherlands will both play three ODIs and three Twenty20s each in the series.Ireland Squad: Ciara Metcalfe, Clare Shillington, Amy Kenealy, Eimear Richardson, Rebecca Rolfe, Laura Delany, Shauna Kavanagh, Louise McCarthy, Kimberley Garth, Mary Waldron, Emma Flanagan, Laura Cullen, Aisling GillNetherlands squad: Helmien Rambaldo, Violet Wattenberg, Marloes Braat, Laura Brewer, Christine Erkelens, Evelien Gerrits, Carlos de Groot, Denise Hannema, Jolette Hartenhof, Esther de Lange, Esther Lanser, Mol Alarda, Marijn Nijman, Miranda Meier