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Abdul Razzaq, the Pakistan allrounder, has been ruled out of the World Cup with a knee injury suffered just prior to the team’s scheduled departure for the West Indies. Razzaq sustained the injury during a practice session on Monday at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore and doctors have said that he might be out for up to three weeks.”I am simply devastated. One moment we are practicing and planning for the big tournament and next moment doctors tell me I am out of it,” Razzaq told agencies. “It is hugely disappointing for me to go out this way,” said Razzaq, who would have been playing in his third World Cup, had it not been for the last-minute injury. Razzaq, who has played 229 ODIs for Pakistan, recently missed the Test series in South Africa because of an elbow injury.”Razzaq suffered the injury during practice and we suspect it may be ligament damage or even a fracture. He is out for three weeks,” PJ Mir, the media manager of the Pakistan Cricket Board, told . “Azhar Mahmood will be his replacement.”Mahmood, who was already kept on standby given the injury worries in the fast bowling line-up. Pakistan were already in a state of confusion as Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, the fastbowling spearheads, were in doubt to be fit in time for the World Cup.Shoaib and Asif are currently in England for medical check-ups and were not present for the dope tests conducted by the board on the players in the World Cup squad. Shoaib had pulled out of Pakistan’s tour to South Africa after he picked up a hamstring injury during the second Test at Port Elizabeth. Asif, who played the entire tour, is carrying an elbow injury.The two had tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone in October when the board tested players before the Champions Trophy. They were both handed bans from international cricket but in an unexpected turn of events a drugs tribunal, appointed by the board, reversed the judgement in December on account of the fact that the players were able to prove “exceptional circumstances” for taking the drug.”It is a big blow. We were celebrating Umar Gul’s fitness boost when this sad news came,” Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, was quoted as saying by AFP. Gul had just been cleared to play after an ankle injury threatened his chances of making it to the Caribbean for one-day cricket’s premier tournament.”It is a major blow for us because Razzaq is one of our main players,” Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain said, in reaction to the news of Razzaq’s injury.

ScorecardYorkshire’s hopes of winning the Pro Arch Trophy were dented by Sussex who beat them by nine runs in the tournament’s penultimate match.Yorkshire need to beat UAE in the final match to finish level on points with Lancashire and Somerset, and they need a comprehensive win to overtake their Roses rivals.Sussex got off to a good start, reaching 110 for 1 before losing three wickets without addition. The middle order rallied to boost them to 209 for 8, seemingly a below-par score in the conditions.Yorkshire also started well before losing their way, 19-year-old Will Beer taking two quick wickets and thereafter the innings fell away.

Loose bowling on day one, and cautious batting on days two and three paved Sri Lanka’s path to defeat, said Angelo Mathews, after the Test in Dunedin. Sri Lanka had let New Zealand advance at 4.48 runs and over in the first innings, before batting at 2.50 themselves. Overall, Sri Lanka batted for 50.4 overs more than New Zealand, yet lost by 122 runs.All three frontline seamers had gone at more than four runs an over in the first innings, where only Rangana Herath maintained an economy rate of less than three. “I was really disappointed the way we bowled and batted in the first innings,” Mathews said. “On that wicket, if there was anything it, it in was in the first couple of sessions. After winning the toss on a green wicket, I expected a lot more from the bowlers.

Was trying to avoid leg-side trap – Mathews

Angelo Mathews’ dismissal was one of the more bizarre ones during Sri Lanka’s innings, as he had his middle stump uprooted attempting to pad away a full Neil Wagner delivery. The ball passed through his legs en route to the stumps. He explained that he was trying to avoid New Zealand’s leg-side trap.
“It was a trap set on the leg side, and I didn’t want to play anything on the leg side to be honest,” Mathews said. “In the first innings as well, I nicked it to the wicketkeeper on the leg side. They had a leg gully and a short leg as well. I wanted to just pad it away because I knew that even if it hits my pad it’s not going to be out because it’s pitching outside leg stump. Unfortunately it hit the inside part of my pad and rolled to the stumps.”

“We bowled a lot of loose stuff. To a batting line up like New Zealand, you can’t really bowl loose stuff because they are going to capitalise. We lost our way in the first couple of sessions and we let them off the hook. We had to bowl really well to get them on the back foot. We had to take a few wickets early, which we didn’t.”While each of New Zealand’s batsmen who crossed 25 batted at a strike rate of at least 66, Sri Lanka’s half-centurions struck at less than 45. New Zealand hit 64 boundaries in the 96.1 overs they faced. Sri Lanka struck half that amount from 117.1 overs.”We were also way to cautious in our first-innings batting,” Mathews said. “We couldn’t really do much batting in the second innings, but in the first innings we respected them a lot more than expected, which was very disappointing from the batters. As I always say – and not to take away from the New Zealand – but the bowlers they are also human, and we have to capitalise.”Sri Lanka batted through until the second new ball in both innings, but scored fewer than 300 on either occasion. Three half centuries were hit from them in all – two of those coming from Dinesh Chandimal.”We definitely could have done better as a batting unit,” Mathews said. “We need to score runs to give our bowlers a chance. Scoring 290-300 is not enough on these tracks. Once the seam movement goes off in the first couple of sessions it gets really good for batting. The batters have to score big to keep us in the game.”Mathews and Chandimal had been together overnight, with Sri Lanka resuming at three wickets down on the final morning. Both batsmen were dismissed offering no shot, after a 56-run stand.”Last evening, I thought me and Dinesh had to dig in deep to save or win the game,” Mathews said. “Either way we had to stay on the wicket till lunch. Unfortunately we lost both our wickets within two or three overs of each other. That really had a big impact on the game.”Mathews said the tailenders’ defiance was among the positives Sri Lanka will take out of the match, and also lauded the bowling of Dushmantha Chameera. Playing his first overseas Test, Chameera was comfortably the quickest bowler across both teams in Dunedin, but having had an economy rate of 5.6 in the first innings and 4.35 in the second, he was also the most expensive.”He’s very raw but he runs in on any deck and he bowls fast,” Mathews said. “That’s all he knows, and what we expect from him. That’s what I told him to do as well. Not think about line and length too much – just try and bowl fast. He’s a tremendous weapon in the bowling line-up because he can upset the rhythm of a batsman. We are trying to use him in a wise way. He’s very young still, he’ll definitely learn more as time goes by.”

Virender Sehwag has made light of the hype over the bouncy pitch at the WACA in Perth, saying he would be intent to play his shots if given a chance in the third Test, starting on January 16.Sehwag, who cracked a 73-ball hundred in the Indians’ warm-up game against ACT Invitational XI in Canberra, was confident of earning a spot and was happy he had rediscovered his rhythm in this innings.”I have played a couple of one-day games in Perth and done well,” he said when asked of the challenge of playing on arguably the bounciest pitch in the world. “The ball comes on to the bat nicely and allows one to go for shots. It’s a wicket that plays true. I always bat with a positive mindset and things won’t be different here. And I never look at the pitch before batting, so the approach will be the same.”Sehwag, whose last Test was in Cape Town a little more than a year back, made no bones about the fact that he preferred Tests to one-dayers. “It gives me more time to play my natural game,” he said. “In one-dayers, one has to think about runs, overs and different fields. Tests give me the chance to play an attacking game.”Sehwag has had a torrid time off late and his selection for the tour was a big surprise, considering he had made just 66 runs in three Ranji Trophy games. “I spent a lot of time with my coach in Delhi, AN Sharma,” he said. “We worked on my mindset. I’ve also been doing some yoga. I needed to get over a negative mindset which was making me play too many shots. I’m happy I batted with a positive mindset today.”He was patchy in the first innings, struggling to 24, before a brilliant catch did him in. “I was trying to spend time at the wicket in the first innings but today the wicket was very slow. So I played like I did in the past. If there was a ball to be hit, I hit it. If I get my chance, I just want to grab the opportunity and come back to Test cricket.”

Dennis Lillee, the former Australian fast bowler, has signed with the Delhi Daredevils as a consultant.”It feels great to be a part of GMR Sports [the company that owns the franchise] and Delhi Daredevils. I’ve known many of the young players in the Delhi Daredevils squad and am naturally delighted to be part of this team,” Lillee told PTI. “While players like Glenn McGrath are legends by their own right, I am looking forward to work with upcoming talents such as Pradeep Sangwan and Yo Mahesh.”However, Cricinfo has learned that Lillee will continue to be involved with the MRF pace academy, where he is the main consultant and works on a tri-annual basis. With the Daredevils, his expertise will mainly be used after the end of the tournament’s first edition, to sustain and improve upon the their preparations.TA Sekar, Lillee’s colleague at the MRF academy, and a member of the Daredevils’ team-management, said Lillee’s experience in tutoring bowlers would come in handy. “I’ve known Dennis for more than two decades now. His advice has helped groom hundreds of young fast bowlers in India and abroad. We are indeed fortunate to have him among us,” he said.Virender Sehwag, the Daredevils’ captain, speaking about Lillee’s appointment, said: “His presence in the Delhi Daredevils dressing room will no doubt bolster our resolve to win,”Lillee will work in collaboration with fellow Australian Greg Shipperd, who took over as coach, having previously worked with Victoria in the 2007-08 domestic season in Australia.

If there was one question in recent years that has been asked more than any other in New Zealand One-Day International cricket it would have to be, “How does Craig Spearman keep his place in the Black Caps?”The answer has been confined to the New Zealand cricket selection panel.Glenn Turner first picked Spearman to international duty in 1995/96 as one of his choices to implement the blazing top order assaults Turner wanted.Going into yesterday’s ODI with Zimbabwe in Harare, Spearman with an average of 17.41 after 44 matches had seen off Turner and Ross Dykes as selection conveners and had won over the new man Sir Richard Hadlee.This despite the fact that his best score was 78 scored against the United Arab Emirates in the 1996 World Cup. He twice scored 68, in the 1996 World Cup against the Netherlands and against India at Rajkot last summer.He was overdue, well overdue.However, New Zealand cricket is still overdue for some fire at the top of the order.It is amazing that since the days when Turner and Bruce Edgar were paired in the mid-1980s and John Wright and Edgar shared the duties before that, New Zealand has not enjoyed a consistently successful opening pair.There were some heady days at the 1992 World Cup when Mark Greatbatch and Rod Latham were paired but they were fleeting.What makes the opening question all the more frustrating is that another of Turner’s selections, Nathan Astle has blossomed as a one-day opener. He’s scored eight ODI centuries and has had five scores in the 90s.He is New Zealand’s most successful one-day batsman even if he has yet to claim the overall run scoring aggregate from Martin Crowe.Ironically, Spearman produced his highest score yesterday with 86 against Zimbabwe when he was originally named as a lower middle-order player. He only moved to No 3 when skipper Stephen Fleming was laid low with a stomach complaint.It is one of the indictments of New Zealand’s one-day play that only 14 centuries have been scored by openers, eight of them by Astle and three by Turner. Wright, Edgar and Crowe have scored the others.While Spearman lifted the monkey from his back, the problem at the top of the order still exists for New Zealand. Wicketkeeper Chris Nevin has a great opportunity to make his mark as a partner for Astle.With such a concentration of limited overs cricket at the start of the season, it would be helpful to New Zealand’s future, and its build-up to the next World Cup, if Nevin could solidify the opening berth and if Spearman could reap a harvest of consistency in the middle-order.Few batsmen hit the ball harder with so little effort than Spearman. He is capable of taking good attacks apart.If New Zealand could rely on a top order assault from Astle, Nevin and Spearman, what fireworks there could be.Zimbabwe was just a start for Spearman. He has had generous selectorial support. It is dividend time for New Zealand.A final thought on the Zimbabwe match.Zimbabwe was always going to struggle after the loss of Neil Johnson and Murray Goodwin.But New Zealand went into the game without Chris Cairns, Dion Nash and Geoff Allott who were all injured and Fleming couldn’t bat due to illness.Daryl Tuffey and Glen Sulzberger made their ODI debuts. They have both been part of New Zealand’s coherent development policy. It is but one step but some depth is finally starting to emerge.

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, expressed understandable frustration on return from a short tour to Scotland which saw his side play no matches and put in no outdoor practice either.Pakistan were scheduled to play two ODIs, against Scotland and India in Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively, but both were washed out without a ball being bowled as the UK experienced one of its wettest recent summers.”In Pakistan, a match against India is above everything else and the players were also looking forward to it although it was for a charitable cause. If we had performed well, itwould have been good for our morale and boosted the confidence of the people in us,” Malik told reporters on the team’s return.”It was very frustrating but there was nothing we could do. I was very keen for the match against India because Shoaib Akhtar was making a comeback after a while and was fired up for the game,” Malik said.Abdul Razzaq also expressed disappointment at missing out on the match against India. “The rain ruined everything. We were all looking forward to playing India. But now we must just look ahead and start preparing for other things.”These things happen and one can’t do anything about it. But playing India at such neutral venues is not a bad idea,” Razzaq said.Pakistan will now resume training at camps in Quetta and Karachi before playing in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September. “We have around two months without any international cricket and it is an ideal time for us to train hard and work on our fitness and also get acclimatised with our new coachwhoever he is,” Malik said.”After the Twenty20 World Championship, we face three very tough series against South Africa, India and Australia and we must start preparing for them seriously. For me as a captain it is a big challenge leading the side in such big series,” he said.

ScorecardBangladesh U-19 overcame a top-order wobble on the final day to draw their only Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi.Having eked out a narrow first-innings lead of 15, Bangladesh found themselves struggling at 80 for 5, Mohammad Rameez continuing his impressive form and picking up two wickets. At that point, Bangladesh were effectively 95 for 5, with much of the day still remaining.But Marshall Ayub and Rony Talukder organised the fightback, steering the lower order into adding another 190 runs and essentially saving the game. Ayub’s 59 came in a little over two and a half hours, while Talukder added to his hundred in the first innings with another fifty.Rameez, who took four wickets in the first innings, added another three as Bangladesh were finally dismissed, setting Pakistan an improbable 289 from 23 overs. Ahmed Shehzad used the time for further batting practice, adding to his first-innings century, an unbeaten 46 as the sides agreed to call off the match with seven overs remaining. Still enough time, however, for opener and vice-captain Shan Masood to bag a pair.

ScorecardIrfan Karim struck a 26-ball 46•ICC/Donald MacLeod

Matthew Cross (45*) and Richie Berrington (34*) led Scotland to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Kenya in their World T20 Qualifier Group B game at Edinburgh after their bowlers had limited the opposition to 141 for 5.Kenya, who opted to bat first had a brisk start, reaching 30 in just under three overs, before they lost their first wicket. Alasdair Evans dismissed Narendra Kalyan, after the batsman had contributed 1 run to a stand of 30. Irfan Karim, who had scored most of the runs at the start struck up a useful 30-run partnership for the second wicket with Nehemiah Odhiembo.The pair scored at a brisk rate of over 13 runs but Kenya were robbed of their momentum in three overs – between the sixth and eighth of their innings. Odhiambo fell to Rob Taylor in the sixth over but it was Michael Leask’s twin strikes in the eighth over that inflicted heavy damage. Leask got rid of Karim and Collins Obuya in the space of three deliveries, and the 52-run, fourth-wicket partnership between captain Rakep Patel and Morris Ouma couldn’t make up for the lost momentum. Kenya eventually reached 141 for 5 off 20 overs, with Karim’s 26-ball 46 the highest score.Chasing 142, Scotland didn’t start well, losing Kyle Coetzer in the first over. However, Cross steadied the innings and was involved in a string of partnerships that kept Scotland on track. He added 36 for the second wicket with Calum MacLeod and 55 for the third wicket with George Munsey before an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 51 with Berrington guided Scotland home with 31 balls to spare.

Kent’s captain, Robert Key, has had his prospects of an England recall enhanced after being named by the England & Wales Cricket Board in a 26-man Performance Squad for the 2008 international summer.Key played the last of his 15 Tests against South Africa at Centurion in January 2005, but has been pressing his claims for a recall ever since being named as Kent’s captain in 2006. He began this season with a hard-fought 79 against Nottinghamshire at Canterbury, and would make a sound replacement should England’s middle-order continue to underperform in the coming Test series against New Zealand and South Africa.The bulk of the Performance Squad is made up of familiar names, although three uncapped players have made the cut. Hampshire’s opening batsman, Michael Carberry; Yorkshire’s legspinning allrounder Adil Rashid and the Kent offspinner James Tredwell are also included.England’s national selector, Geoff Miller, said that there was scope for four more players to be added to the squad in the course of the summer. “The England Performance Squad is designed to allow Peter Moores to closely monitor the development of international players,” he said, “and better prepare them for the demands of the international game.”The selectors can name up to 30 players in the EPS, but we have decided to keep four places vacant at present in order to give ourselves greater flexibility and we will reserve the right to add further players to the squad if their performances in domestic cricket merit it.Twelve of the 26 players in the squad are currently on 12-month ECB contracts, including Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, who were dropped from the Test side during last month’s tour of New Zealand, but the selectors decided against awarding any six-month contracts – not even to Stuart Broad and Tim Ambrose, the two young players who impressed the most in the Test series.”We were delighted with the progress made by several of our younger players during the winter. both with the full England side and the England Lions,” said Miller. “The awarding of contracts is based on our assessment of a player’s performance in international cricket over a period of time and we can, of course, opt to award contracts on a pro-rata basis during the middle of the domestic international season if appropriate.”England Performance Squad 2008 Tim Ambrose (Warwickshire), James Anderson (Lancashire) *, Ian Bell (Warwickshire) *, Ravi Bopara (Essex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham)*, Alastair Cook (Essex)*, Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire) *, Stephen Harmison (Durham)*, Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire)*, Robert Key (Kent), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Philip Mustard (Durham), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire)*, Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)*, Matthew Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire),Owais Shah (Middlesex), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)*, Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire)*, Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), James Tredwell (Kent), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Michael Vaughan (Yorkshire)*, Luke Wright (Sussex)* denotes centrally contracted player