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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.

Inzamam-ul-Haq insisted on his return to Pakistan that he would not seek legal action against Darrell Hair after being cleared of ball tampering charges by the ICC. “Our religion Islam teaches us to forgive and forget, so I forgive Hair and will not take any action against him,” Inzamam told AFP on his return.Inzamam said he had nothing in his heart against Hair. “It will take time to forget what happened at The Oval but my heart is clear as always, and since we have been cleared of the more serious charge of ball tampering I think we should bury the matter,” he said.Imran Khan and other ex-players had urged Inzamam to seek an apology and take the Australian to court for defamation but Inzamam justified the decision not to appeal against the ban. “The penalty imposed is the minimum in level III so it would neither be reduced nor would it be lifted if I had appealed. So I see no reason to take the matter any further.”Earlier, Inzamam stood by his decision to protest at The Oval last month, when his team was judged to have forfeited the fourth Test, even though his punishment means he will miss the Champions Trophy.Inzamam was cleared of ball-tampering at an ICC hearing on Thursday, but found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute over his side’s refusal to continue play against England. He will therefore be unable to lead his country into next month’s Champions Trophy, with Younis Khan taking control of the team in his absence.”I knew I was going to be in trouble when I made the protest,” Inzamam told Bigstarcricket.com. “It was not a decision I took easily, because nobody wants to prevent the spectators from watching the cricket – both at the ground and on television.”Even so – and despite the fact Pakistan became the first team in Test history to forfeit a Test match – Inzamam does not believe he did the wrong thing. “Although I regret the public were deprived of watching cricket, I don’t regret making the decision to stay off the field – because there are certain things more important than winning and losing or the rule book.””I felt the respect and integrity of my country had been brought into question, so the support the country has given me in this issue has been comforting. It told me that we were right to do what we did.”Inzamam believes his decision – which meant England won the series 3-0 – helped to focus attention on what he saw as an unfair ruling. “If we had just carried on with the game, the world would not have sat up and taken notice of how we had been accused of something we were not guilty of.””We felt we had to stand up and protest. Ultimately, I understand the ICC’s decision to ban me. I did what I felt was right – and so did they.”During the press conferences held after the hearing at The Oval Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, stressed how he felt ‘a slur’ against Pakistan as a country had been lifted following ICC’s ruling. However, he confirmed that Pakistan are not happy with the current law on how penalty runs are awarded in a case of ball tampering.Meanwhile, Inzamam said he was heartened by the support he received from well-wishers: “I had a call on my mobile literally every minute after the hearing and I appreciate everyone’s good wishes.”

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former Indian captain, has been granted bail by a Jhajjar Court in Haryana, after he surrendered on Saturday in connection with a poaching case. According to a PTI report, Pataudi was given bail by Sudhir Jiwan, the chief magistrate, on condition that he provided a personal bond of Rs 50,000.Pataudi, who was remanded in police custody for two days, was uncontactable for a fortnight after being named a suspect, with seven others, in a hunting incident where a black buck and two rabbits were killed. He surrendered after the high court rejected his request for anticipatory bail.Jiwan revealed to the Calcutta Telegraph that his wife had received a suspicious call. “A man threatened her saying that `it would be bad for her husband if Pataudi got bail’,” he said. “When she asked who it was, the man said it was `none of her business’.”Before escorting Pataudi to court, the Haryana police had to take him to a civil hospital when he complained of uneasiness and chest pains. After being examined by doctors, Pataudi was released and taken on to court.Meanwhile, Naresh Kadyan, a leading animal-rights activist, said he would approach the court seeking cancellation of the bail, telling reporters that he ” would like to first seek legal advice why Pataudi’s bail in the high court was rejected and the lower court granted it.”If found guilty, Pataudi faces up to seven years in jail and a fine of Rs 25,000.

Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, has severely criticised Pakistan’s performance in the recent one-day series against a “weak” England side. Pakistan squandered a 2-0 lead before the fourth ODI at Trent Bridge – the first ODI was abandoned due to rain – as the home side fought back creditably in the last two matches to square the series.Imran was disappointed that Pakistan had failed to seize the initiative against an England one-day side low on morale, especially after an embarassing 0-5 defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka earlier in the summer.”This was the poorest performance by any Pakistan team and considering England was the weakest one-day outfit,” Imran told AFP. “I am disappointed at the one-day series result. I am amazed at the result, this same England team was thrashed 5-0 by Sri Lanka in one-dayers three months ago.”England had earlier won the Test series 3-0 – which included a forfeited Test at The Oval due to ball-tampering allegations. Imran had blamed injury problems for Pakistan’s loss in the Tests, and also criticised Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, for not helping captain Inzamam-ul-Haq with a proper strategy.”It all boils down to strategy and where Inzamam-ul-Haq lacks, Woolmer fails to compensate,” he said. “Woolmer muddled things and it’s amazing that he has failed to find a suitable opening pair in two years. Pakistan is still the most dangerous team after Australia but they are losing one-day matches despite having world-class talent.”Pakistan had completed their longest overseas tour since 1992, with four Tests and five one-dayers, and Imran stated that fatigue could hardly be an excuse.”I am as surprised as anyone in the public how Pakistan lost. I don’t agree that players were tired due to a long tour, some of them were fresh and did not play in Tests.”Imran also disagreed with former captain Rashid Latif’s comments that Inzamam should retire from Tests and concentrate on ODIs in order to extend his career. “He still is the best man to lead as he is the best batsman around. Inzamam needs to formulate things and needs to have better planning while playing international cricket and results will be better.”

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.

A gallant unbeaten 91 by Ahmed Quadri helped Hyderabad to salvage threepoints from their South Zone Cooch Behar Trophy match against TamilNadu at the Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad on Monday.In arrears by 168 runs on the first innings, Hyderabad were in dangerof losing when they were five down for 77, despite a second wicketpartnership of 69 runs between Shashang Nag (37) and Abhinav Kumar(28). It was at this critical juncture that Qadri entered. First withAT Rayudu (13) he added 39 runs for the sixth wicket. This wasfollowed by a seventh wicket stand of 41 runs with Varun (11). Finallyafter eight wickets had gone for 167 runs, Qadri and Nadeemuddin (9)shared an unbroken ninth wicket association of 43 runs off just 6.2overs to steer Hyderabad to safety. P Satish, who had caused themiddle order collapse, was the most successful bowler with four for73. Qadri faced 114 balls and hit 14 fours in his match saving knockas Hyderabad ended at 210 for eight.Earlier, Tamil Nadu resuming at 313 for six, declared at 384 foreight. Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan (36) and G Vignesh (59) added 88 runsfor the seventh wicket off 24.4 overs. Vignesh faced 84 balls and hitten fours and a six. Tamil Nadu got five points from the match. TamilNadu finished their engagements with 18 points and Hyderabad with 25points.

“I’d love to come here and see green and pick from any four pitches out there … We’d like to turn up one day and see something totally in our favour.” The totally bemused look on Brian Lara’s face when he saw the pitch at Warner Park told a story. He can complain, he can plead, he can spell out the exact nature of the surface he wants but, apparently, nobody seems to be listening. Added to that, he can’t seem to get the team he wants. It can’t be easy being Brian Lara at this point.Andy Atkinson, the roly-poly English groundsman called in specifically to prepare this pitch, showed early signs of veering towards Lara. Until yesterday, there was a generous smattering of green on the track and Atkinson had said that he would only trim it. As it transpired, he appears to have gone ahead with the crew cut. Only a sprinkling remained on match-eve and the bounce, on a hard track, may be the fast bowlers’ main ally.It’s a curious state of affairs, and Lara may be thinking about how to confront such home disadvantage. And as if that were not enough, he has further problems, one relating to the composition of his side.Here is what the West Indies captain had to say in detail:OverviewFirst of all India has been accused by their press for not taking 20 wickets and I think we have the same problem. We seem to be putting ourselves under pressure when India get off to big totals. In the third innings of the Antigua match, they got 500-plus and of course in St Lucia they did, and of course they’d put any batting team under pressure after that. But we were able to hold out. You can expect the guys to perform better in this game. Our backs are against the wall and I wouldn’t say we got away. I thought we showed a lot of character and if the tables can turn in our favour, things can get beneficial for us.On team selectionI’ve been sort of censored, told to curb my comments. It’s a situation when me and the selectors aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet and that’s unfortunate. I suppose we’ve got to play with what we’ve got and it’s a situation where an out-and-out fast bowler was not selected for the Test. Unfortunately a genuine spinner was also left out. We have to make do with what we have and try as much as possible to get a game out there.On using a specialist spinnerIf you got a spinner that’s doing very well in our regional tournament, they should be encouraged because it adds variety to the attack. Dave Mohammed got close to 50 wickets, we’ve seen Omari Banks do well with both bat and ball. These guys should be included because any good combination would include a spinner. I’m not going to pay too much mind to the fact that they’re not top-class spinners. Many spinners start their careers very low key and have moved on to become very good spinners. So I’m still very optimistic about the situation.On the players’ association threatening industrial actionI’ve not been given the job of spokesperson in that matter. That’s strictly between the West Indies Players Association and West Indies Cricket Board. I think they’re more fit to give an exact opinion about it. As far as I am concerned, there’s a Test match charted for 22nd of June, that’s tomorrow, and that is what we’re preparing ourselves for.On the pitchIt is a bit harder, still much grass. I think it’s a very good batting pitch, probably even better than St Lucia with the ball coming on to the bat. I don’t see much sideways movement on the pitch, but again both teams have got to play on it and we hope to be the better team at the end of the game. Seems to be a tougher pitch than St Lucia, and not as much grass as Antigua. Not any great trouble for the batters and I think the bowlers will have to work as much as the last two matches. [Greg] Chappell said that India thought they they could put a lot of runs on the board and put us under pressure. Something that maybe we can look at – bat first, get a big total; bat second, get a big lead. It’s a good pitch. A great stadium – came here something like 17 years ago. Very special, great improvement.On Harbhajan SinghHe’s definitely a top-class spinner, his record shows that. If he’d played in Antigua, on the last day, or even St Lucia he would definitely have been a handful compared to [Virender] Sehwag. It’s fortunate for us that it didn’t happen. Again, whichever XI they put out in the middle, I think our guys are capable of firstly overhauling them and then playing better cricket than them. We expected Harbhajan to be playing in the first Test so it will not be a surprise if he comes in tomorrow. We won’t be panicking, we’ve played against him in the past. If he’s included we might see a more potent Indian attack, but again it’s left upto them.