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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials have met with the interior secretary and other government officials to discuss next month’s home series against India, The News has learnt.According to available details, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and director board operations Abbas Zaidi met with interior secretary Kamal Shah and other interior ministry officials on Saturday in Islamabad to discuss some security issues related to the Indian tour.”The Pakistan Board has got some feelers from India that they still have some security concerns regarding playing a Test in Karachi and the Indian board will probably send a high-level security inspection team soon to finalise security arrangements for the tour,” a board source said.He said that even during the meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf, Shaharyar had discussed the Indians’ tour and had been told in clear words that India must play a Test in Karachi after the successful organisation of the one-day game against England. “The fact is that again there are some issues related to Karachi which is one of the reasons why the Indian board is delaying approving the proposed itinerary sent to them by Pakistan.”Under the proposed itinerary, which has already been amended twice, India are due to arrive in Lahore on January 5 and then play Tests at Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi with the one-dayers at Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan and then Karachi. Pakistan are keen to get the itinerary finalised and released by next week due to logistical and other reasons.Last year when India toured Pakistan for their historic ground breaking series, they refused to play a Test at Karachi and only played a one-dayer in the southern port city which was a major incident free success. England also shunned Karachi as a Test venue on their current tour but relented to a one-dayer. Touring teams have shunned Karachi which has been at the centre of militant and sectarian related violence which, however, has been controlled by the government in the last one year.The source said Shaharyar and Zaidi had met with Kamal Shah to get a clear directive and guideline on security issues surrounding the Indians’ tour specifically Karachi. The Indians say they have sent the proposed itinerary to their government for final clearance and want to discuss it one final time with their team management before approving it.

The idea of reverting the County Championship to a three-day format with 120-over days, as proposed by Jack Simmons, has received a lukewarm response from three chief executives contacted by Cricinfo. The consensus from them is that four-day cricket is working by providing a solid platform for young players to develop the skills needed for the international level and, if space is needed in the season, a one-day tournament needs to give away.Simmons, the former Lancashire chairman and current chairman of the ECB cricket committee, is proposing the change as a way of creating more run in the calendar for an expanded Twenty20 tournament. But the feeling from around the counties is that it would be a backward step for the game.”There are all sorts of things being discussed at the moment but from a personal point of view, and I’m not speaking for the club, three-day cricket brought a lot more contrived finishes and declaration bowling which I don’t think is what we want for the game,” said Tom Sears, the Derbyshire chief executive. “I don’t think it’s any coincidence that since we have gone to four-day cricket our young players – the likes of Alastair Cook and Monty Panesar – are equipping themselves at the top level far earlier.”Sears admits that it’s a tough job trying to create a fixture list that serves the best cricketing and commercial interests, but the major issue he sees is the prospect of 120-over days. “It’s a balancing act, from a commercial point of view about what is viable and also creating the best environment for our players to flourish,” he said. “And for 120 overs there would have to be a massive change in the over-rates for that to happen.”Gus Mackay, chief executive of defending county champions Sussex, says he hasn’t seen any documents relating to a move back to three-day cricket, but is of a similar view to Sears. “I haven’t seen any papers so can’t really comment, but what I would say is that four-day cricket is closest thing you will get to Tests,” he said. “It’s the breeding ground for the next generation of players. Two-divisional cricket is thriving, 120 overs would be a lot for a day, and I think if you want to create a window you need to look at some of the other competitions.”Instead of touching the Championship, the more favoured idea appears to be a change to the one-day structure of the domestic game. Currently there are three tournaments – the Friends Provident Trophy (50 overs), Pro40 and Twenty20 Cup – with the Pro40 not a favourite among players who don’t see its worth when 40-over matches aren’t played anywhere else.”I would do everything I could to preserve four-day cricket, I’m very happy with the current structure,” said Mark Newton, the Worcestershire chief executive. “It’s the other tournaments that need to be looked at, but in doing so we mustn’t alter the game too much. Twenty20 has been popular because it retains the basics of cricket.””It’s the first I have heard of it [the idea of three-day cricket], but my initial view would be that it would be a backward step,” he added. “I can see some merit in the idea in terms of creating more space, but the aim has always to be to replicate Test cricket. You hear the older former players saying it used to 20 overs an hour, but the game has changed and I’m not sure the players would want it either.”There was a note of support, however, from Essex chairman Nigel Hilliard even though he’d not heard anything about the proposal. “It’s news to us at Essex – I’ve not had it mentioned to me by anyone on any ECB board. Having said that, three-day cricket has always been something we’ve been in favour of at Essex.”There are all sorts of ideas being mooted at the moment but it won’t be until May 29th – the next ECB board meeting – that we will come together to discuss the future of the game in this country.”

Late to the party
Junaid Siddique has spent most of the ICC World Twenty20 warming the Bangladesh bench, but was finally given an outing in their last match of the tournament. He showed no fear, coming down the track at Sohail Tanvir, who has been Pakistan’s bowling find, and then pulling a short ball high into the stands at midwicket. Mohammad Asif also came in for some rough treatment when he over-pitched, and Bangladesh may just have been wishing Siddique had played earlier.Time to consolidate
Pakistan’s spinners struck back with quick wickets and most teams would have taken at least a few moments to reassess the situation before deciding on their next move. However, Siddique was having none of it. Two balls after Bangladesh lost a third wicket in three overs he came down the pitch and launched Mohammad Hafeez handsomely over long-on for consecutive sixes. By the time he was caught on the boundary he had Bangladesh’s highest individual score of the tournament.Take a blow
Mashrafe Mortaza hasn’t been too fond of getting in line when he’s at the crease, walking away towards square leg and aiming some agricultural heaves over midwicket. It was more of the same here, but on one occasion when Mortaza backed away Umar Gul followed him with a well-directed bouncer. Mortaza took a blow flush on the helmet. He picked up a leg-bye and unsurprisingly didn’t last much longer.Asif goes slow
Asif didn’t hit anywhere near top gear, perhaps aware that Pakistan had done the hard work and qualified for the semi-finals. His opening spell was barely medium pace, and he struggled with his line. When he returned for a second stint, however, wickets had tumbled and the batsmen were trying to see out the innings. He bowled an ultra-slow slower-ball at Mortaza, who found himself in a complete tangle and lost his leg stump. But it wasn’t Asif’s most distinguished spell of the tournament.When everyone else laughs
It’s a sight that makes team-mates and spectators cringe then giggle; a batsman getting hit in a very delicate area. Imran Nazir went to pull the third ball of the innings from Mortaza but failed to make contact and was struck right on the spot. He went down in slow-motion – and struggled to get up again. Fellow players gathered around and the physio came out to see what he could do, however there aren’t many options for this type of injury. After a couple of minutes Nazir decided he couldn’t carry on and hobbled off, and still had to stop half-way to catch his breath. He then spent a few minutes doubled up on the boundary edge before returning at the fall of the fifth wicket and guiding his team home.Butt goes to sleep
Bangladesh fought until the end of their involvement in the Twenty20. They executed a bizarre run-out against Salman Butt, who swung the ball into the leg side and completed a single before turning and thinking of a second. His partner, Nazir, sent him back and the throw was coming safely to the wicketkeeper’s end. Mushfiqur Rahim collected and noticed Butt was slow returning to his ground. He threw the ball to Mortaza who calmly removed the bails and Butt was gone.

The West Indies Cricket Board “has killed or is killing” women’s cricket in the region, according to a former board employee who is calling on the ICC to intervene.Dr Michael Seepersaud, the former chief cricket development officer of the WICB under whose portfolio the women’s cricket fell and who is now the secretary of the West Indies Women’s Federation (WIWCF), believes that the WICB has fallen well short of the ICC mandate to integrate women’s cricket, saying: “It is doing very little.”Without much-needed funding and organisational support from the board, the once-strong women’s game will flounder, he believes – and it is already dying on its knees. “It’s a bleak situation,” he says.West Indies women haven’t played a game in two years and have no more matches scheduled until the next World Cup in 2009. If they fail to play any cricket in that time their place at the tournament is in serious jeopardy, as the ICC has minimum requirements for competing. They are supposed to host Pakistan and India later this year, but without funding the tours cannot take place. Unsurprisingly, the cricketers are in low spirits, as Dr Seepersaud says: “It’s affecting the morale of our players and administrators very badly.”West Indies do have some very good players coming through, and the side qualified automatically for the last tournament, while one of their best players, Nadine George, has recently received an MBE. Women’s cricket is the WICB’s responsibility, but the players are still required to pay their own travel costs to participate in regional tournaments, nevermind not being able to play international cricket.

In this year’s senior tournament, several territories, including Guyana, Grenada and others who have always participated, can’t afford to fly over to Barbados to take part. This situation, says Seepersaud, would never occur in the men’s game regardless of age.Funding used to come through an annual grant from the WICB of $100,000 per annum, which Seepersaud had secured when he was on the board. But when the WICB took over the women’s game, this sum was discontinued. It’s unlikely to be reinstated, either, as the board is $15million in debt.Under an ICC mandate, each board must look after the women’s game in its own country, but WICB has largely ignored the players since it took over in 2005. The board did provide some funding for the Under-19 inter-island competition which was held in Jamaica in 2006 – although the money didn’t cover airfares and accommodation. That, says Seepersaud, is encouraging but he believes it borders on tokenism where the process and funding are concerned. “The WICB must shed its old boys’ club image. We cannot continue to treat our women with this kind of disrespect.”He has also called on the ICC to put pressure on the WICB to designate some of the $11.5million generated by the World Cup to the women’s game to help keep it alive. “The ICC can’t sit idly by and allow the WICB to destroy women’s cricket in the region,” he says. “By taking over women’s cricket they have accepted responsibility for its development. They must step in to redress the situation.”The WICB Integration Steering Committee, which was established to manage the integration process jointly with the WIWCF, has met just twice since its formation in 2004. The WIWCF is entirely staffed by volunteers, who rack up hundreds of dollars in telephone bills between islands.The WIWCF has, says Seepersaud, the administrative capabilities to step in and save the proposed visit of Pakistan and India, but without any representation on the board, or access to the requisite funding, they are powerless to assist. “If they make X amount of funding available we will do it ourselves, but some full time employee of the WICB must be directed to provide the logistical and organisational support. The very least they could do is to reinstate the annual subvention.”

No money is currently available to the WIWCF even for executive meetings. Seepersaud says that he has requested less than $2000 for airfares with the executive looking after their own accommodation. Yet every time they have asked, the board has turned their request down. “We are not begging for anything. We just want an historical wrong to be righted, and for the women to take their rightful place.”Ironically, the ICC move was seen as a potential saviour of women’s cricket in the country. Before the merger, West Indies women had struggled to gain sponsorship to enable them to participate in the 2005 World Cup in South Africa. Governments and sponsors stepped in, and once there, they thrived.Seepersaud blames what he calls “the chauvinistic nature” of the WICB and the lack of leadership at the board and secretariat levels for the current malaise. In 2005, consultants from Ernst and Young recommended that women’s cricket be given a voice on the board, with one seat, but “that was kicked out in a very aggressive way.” He adds: “Yet a short time later the board expanded its membership by three – males, of course.”Perhaps the telling indication of the board’s attitude towards women’s cricket is that the WIWCF specifically, and women’s cricket generally, played no part in the recent World Cup in the Caribbean. The board invited the president to one match after lobbying from the WIWCF, but, again, Seepersaud believes that was tokenism. “I just don’t think that in the 21st century this kind of insult should be allowed.”

The Indian board (BCCI) has come to the defense of Chetan Desai, the manager of the Indian team on the tour of South Africa, and said that it would seek an explanation from Rahul Dravid for his outburst against Desai.Desai had come under a scathing attack from Dravid for his tour report which criticised the selection of an out-of-form Virender Sehwag and an unfit Munaf Patel for the series-deciding Test at Cape Town which India lost.”We would like to talk to Dravid and find out the exact situation in which he has been reported to have said these words,” said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary. “Chetan Desai was the manager on the tour and as per tradition he filed his report after the team’s return. And he has not said anything about his [Dravid’s] abilities as a player in the report. The report is with Mr Sharad Pawar [BCCI president] and after he reads it he will give us guidelines on what to do.”Dravid told reporters in Kolkata that Desai had no standing in the game.” Anyone is entitled to give his opinion; anyone is entitled to give a report. But me commenting on that, I will comment only when it is worthy of my comment.”It is important to put it in perspective and understand that I have been asked for my views on a report given by someone … When I last looked at the history of Indian cricket I did not necessarily see his [Desai’s] name featuring very prominently.”The report was said to be critical of Sehwag’s attitude to the game and also did not spare Dravid for being stubborn in selection matters, especially in the third Test. Shah also sought to play down the matter of how the report got leaked to the media and what the BCCI was going to do about this. “We are certainly interested in knowing how it happened,” Shah shot back when queried whether the BCCI was not worried how the leak took place

Prosper Utseya has been named as Zimbabwe captain until August 2008, ending rumours that Tatenda Taibu was about to be reinstated following his return from self-imposed exile. The Zimbabwe Standard reported that Utseya was re-appointed unanimously.Utseya, who was appointed in July 2006, has struggled with his own form since taking charge, leading to the reports that Taibu would be reinstated.Other announcements were the removal of Kevin Curran as national coach and his replacement with former Zimbabwe player Robin Brown. Curran will now take charge of the National Academy. Former Under-19 coach Walter Chawaguta was named as Brown’s assistant while Andy Pycroft was retained as Zimbabwe A coach.Chawaguta replaced the controversial Stephen Mangongo who was twice sacked as A team coach and was also at one time head of the Academy.

Bruce Reid, the former Australian left-arm seamer, has sounded a warning about the dearth of quality fast bowlers in Australian cricket at present, and believes that the current international incumbents will have to hang in there for a little while yet before the next generation is ready to step into their shoes.”They are not jumping out of the trees as such,” Reid, Hampshire’s bowling coach, told Cricinfo at the county’s press day at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. “One or two guys in the first-class system are getting there, but otherwise there’s a bit of a lull at the mo.”We haven’t got three or four who are ready to take over,” added Reid, “so Australia is really relying on those current guys to hang around for a couple more years to see us through this little patch.”Such a pessimistic outlook is good news for England ahead of the forthcoming Ashes rematch. During the recent Australian summer, the selectors made half-hearted attempts to blood one or two youngsters, such as Brett Dorey and Mitchell Johnson, but aside from the admirable 30-year-old, Stuart Clark, there have been no significant personnel changes since the Ashes.Consequently, Australia – to universal surprise – turned back to the old faithfuls, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz, for the current trip to Bangladesh. “Gillespie and Kasper seem to be bowling okay again which is good news,” said Reid, “but if you look back to the last Ashes, Australia struggled to bowl sides out.”Part of Australia’s problem in the Ashes stemmed from the absence of a specialist bowling coach, an issue since rectified by the recruitment of England’s mentor, Troy Cooley. “It’s a catch-22 when you’ve had such a good bowling attack for so many years,” said Reid, “you think you don’t need one. Then when a couple of those guys get a bit old and some new faces come in, or a couple struggle as Jason did in the Ashes, then who do you turn to?”There’s always been an abundance of batting coaches but the poor old fast bowlers have been left to their own devices a little bit. If they can have someone to come and talk to, then so much the better. It’s a way of getting the best out of that player.”Of all the young players vying for the Ashes, Reid’s own tip for the top is the strapping 24-year-old left-armer, Johnson, who stands 6’4″ tall, and bears more than a passing resemblance to Reid himself, who took 113 wickets in a 27-Test career that was plagued by injury.”He’s tall and quick and moves the ball around, and he’s got the potential to play a big role in the Ashes,” said Reid. “I did well as a left-armer against England, as did Brendon Julian. It’s something people haven’t often seen before, and it could provide the variation Australia need.”

Michael Vaughan believes that Marcus Trescothick’s decision not to take part in September’s Twenty20 World Championship – or the tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand which follow – could yet help save his international career.Many players and pundits, including Graham Thorpe, who himself went through a similar period of international exile, believe that Trescothick’s decision could spell the end of his 76-Test career, but Vaughan, speaking on the eve of England’s second Test against India at Trent Bridge, held the opposite view.”It can’t have been easy for him to say he’s not going to tour with England because I know he’s desperate to get out there and play,” said Vaughan. “But I think by making this decision it could give him a chance of playing again. The last thing I wanted was for him to come out and play too soon because I thought that could be the end of him.”Trescothick has not featured in England’s plans since he withdrew from England’s tour of Australia last November, citing a recurrence of the stress-related illness that had forced him home from the Test series in India eight months earlier. “Unless you’ve actually been through a stress-related illness I don’t think any of us can understand what he’s going through,” said Vaughan. “We can all have an opinion but I have every respect for the decision he’s made and a lot of respect for the way he’s coped with it over the last few months, because it can’t have been easy.”It’s a completely individual thing that he’s had to do,” added Vaughan. “It must be very difficult after what he’s gone through because I know the one thing that Tres loves doing more than anything is playing cricket for England. He’s not ready at the minute and he’s got to have a bit more time and hopefully that time will get him in the right frame of mind and get his body right to make sure he will play again.”Rahul Dravid, India’s captain, sympathised with Trescothick’s situation, and admitted that the sheer weight of matches being played these days can take its toll on all players. “One needs to devise strategies to cope,” he said. “Some years can be tough, some put a lot of pressure on you, especially for countries like India – we don’t have a set summer as such.”From a captaincy point of view you have to manage your situation and your players,” said Dravid. “In July we can be in West Indies some year, England some other year. We’re usually not in India in November – our winter when we should be playing. With a lot of cricket being played these days, it’s a question of how people are going to cope.”Even if Trescothick does get back to the right frame of mind for international cricket, the success with which his replacement, Alastair Cook, has bedded into the Test side, means he may no longer be an automatic choice. “It’s not nice when a senior player can’t play but what it does do is create opportunities,” said Vaughan. “Cook is playing very well and we’ve got guys waitingin the wings who are playing well in the county games who, given theiropportunity I’m sure would do very well as well.”We’re trying to build up as big a pool of players as we can to be available and good enough to play Testand one-day cricket for England,” said Vaughan. “We think we’re getting pretty close tothat.”

Michael Vaughan continued to struggle for runs in his return to cricket today, amid speculation he could line up with his England team-mates in a tour match against Western Australia on Saturday. Vaughan was out for nine for the ECB National Academy in their game against the Western Australia Second XI at Perth.But there were some better signs for Vaughan, who batted for almost 40 minutes in his second innings since returning from a knee injury and later fielded for 50 overs. He faced 21 balls and struck one boundary through the leg side before spooning a catch to mid on. A week ago, he made a seven-ball duck for the academy in his first game back.David Parsons, one of the Academy coaching staff, said: “I don’t think his batting is an issue. He’s looked really sharp in the nets and I think he is feeling pretty good. He’d have liked to spend a little bit longer at the crease today, but I think he is feeling in pretty good shape at the moment.”Speculation has been rife all tour that Vaughan was being lined up for a comeback in the latter stages of the Ashes campaign, and Duncan Fletcher didn’t entirely rule out the possibility that he, or one of his academy colleagues, could come into the reckoning at Perth. “I’d say it’s unlikely,” he told reporters in Adelaide this morning. “We picked the side to come on this tour and we’ve got to stand by those players, but we want to see how Vaughan comes out of today’s match.” reported that Vaughan was likely to line up for England in their two-day tour match against Western Australia at the WACA this weekend. Vaughan had been expected to play for Bayswater-Morley in Perth grade cricket on the weekend but the club’s coach David Baird told the paper otherwise. “I was told he would not be playing for us because he would probably be playing for England,” Baird told the newspaper.Vaughan has been ruled out of Friday’s festival match at Lilac Hill as a precaution, because it was feared that four days of cricket in five would be too much of a strain on his knee at this stage of his recuperation.

Moin Khan will captain a strong Pakistan squad in the Hong Kong Sixes at Kowloon Cricket Club on October 22 and 23. Naved Latif, Riaz Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and Yasir Arafat – all with international experience – are also in the seven man party.The remaining two places are taken by Tahir Khan and Kamran Hussain. Pakistan will line up in Pool B for the preliminary round of the matches, alongside India, South Africa and West Indies. They have previously won the tournament on four occasions and are most successful team along with England.Squad Moin Khan (capt), Yasir Arafat, Naved Latif, Riaz Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Tahir Khan, Kamran Hussain.