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Shane Watson should consider giving up bowling in a bid to resume his stalled Test career, according to his former coach John Buchanan. Watson missed Australia’s opening matches at the ICC World Twenty20 with a hamstring problem and again broke down with hamstring trouble in his first game.Sitting on the sidelines is not new to Watson. He missed the entire Ashes series with hamstring injuries, the start of the Word Cup with a calf strain and has also dealt with back and shoulder problems during his international career. Buchanan said he hoped Watson did not have to become a specialist batsman but it might be the only way to keep him on the field.”It’s an avenue he’s going to have to explore,” Buchanan told the . “You would hope it doesn’t come to that for him. Everyone is feeling for him. He’s a hard worker and does everything he can to get his body right. He’s an intense character and he’s only 26, so there are ten good years of cricket ahead of him.”Buchanan said Australia should consider using Watson as an opening batsman at Test level. Watson has expressed a strong interest in partnering Matthew Hayden at the top of the order but Phil Jaques and Chris Rogers are almost certainly ahead of him in the queue.”There’s no doubt he has the technical proficiency to open the batting at Test level,” Buchanan said. “He’s proved it in domestic cricket which, given the standard of our domestic competition, is a good barometer for Test cricket.”Opening the batting would necessarily reduce the amount of bowling, if any, he’d have to do in the Test side. From that point of view, it would be a plus and ease his workload. You couldn’t expect him to open the batting then bowl 20 overs in a day. But Shane is a talented bowler and I hope it’s a path he doesn’t have to take.”Buchanan said the regularity with which Watson would return from an injury only to break down again must erode his confidence. “He probably goes on the field hoping he’s going to get through it okay,” Buchanan said.”You don’t want to have those sort of thoughts at this level of sport. You have to have complete confidence in your fitness and your body. A big factor for him now will be how he deals with it all mentally.”

Canterbury’s Shell Trophy fixture with Central Districts moved gloomilytowards a conclusion at Village Green today.Play was delayed until 4.45pm by heavy overnight rain. The groundsmen had towork hard to get the pitch ready when the rain stopped at 2.00pm.Any hopes of a brighter Cantabrian dawn were dashed by suicidal batting asthe home team’s spirits fell as quickly as the afternoon clouds had risen.They eventually closed on 63/3.Martyn Sigley had previously breezily smashed Chris Martin all round theground to add 29 of the 30 CD runs scored in just 20 minutes after theresumption.Carl Anderson and Stephen Cunis removed the tailenders, but Canterbury werefaced with scoring 246 to make the Stags bat again.Harley James and Jarrod Englefield both went in dull fashion. James droveairily at Gareth West and was caught by Mark Douglas at slip for two.Englefield completed a miserable match by getting run out after being sentback by Robbie Frew.Garry MacDonald, Canterbury’s coach, had a darker and darker demeanour ashis side failed to weather the CD storm. If it wasn’t for three missedchances in the slips before the score had reached 30, Cantabrian tearsmight have flooded the carefully mopped ground.Golden-arm Oram then struck a lightning bolt through Canterbury’s thunderstorm. Stead flashed a cut, and Oram had struck, with Mathew Sinclair takingthe catch at gully.Little rays of sunshine from Michael Papps, fresh from three ducks in a row,batted Canterbury through to the close with Frew. The Darfield-borndraughtsman was also missed when he gloved a hook off Oram. A big lbw shoutfrom the same bowler was a close shave too for Frew, who ended 23 not out.As the light failed Canterbury paddled away across the damp outfield toclose at a dismal 63/3.MacDonald spoke exclusively to CricInfo today at a rainy Village Green inChristchurch, citing staleness as his reason to move on. “I’ve had fouryears now and it’s probably time to do something else. I think it’s good forthe players, after the amount of time I’ve been with them, to have someoneelse. It freshens them and I got to make sure I don’t get stale myself.”Canterbury have won just one competitive game in 10 during 2000/01. Theylie bottom of both the Shell Trophy and Shell Cup.The failure of Canterbury’s young players to “kick on” has been as much as adisappointment as Canterbury’s Black Caps refusal to play domestic cricket.This was highlighted by Mathew Sinclair and Jacob Oram’s appearances forCentral Districts, while Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan pronouncedthemselves unavailable for the ongoing bottom of the table Trophy clash.Canterbury’s second-string top order collapsed to eight for five in thislatest Trophy game, with MacDonald, a former Canterbury player, commenting”we keep losing clumps of wickets. We’ve been losing four at a time, instrong positions as well, which has been putting us on the back foot.””We’ve been off the pace in both competitions. In the Cup our bowling hasbeen very inconsistent. Our batting has been, well, usually we’ve got enoughruns for a Canterbury team to defend. Our fielding and catching has beenaverage. That’s got to go up and the bowling’s got to be tighter.”The positives this season have been few. Promising performances against theZimbabwe tourists now mean little, with the lack of success in domesticcricket the benchmark MacDonald is judged on.Canterbury won the Shell Cup twice in three seasons under MacDonald, buthave finished bottom in the Shell Trophy in each of the last two years,having won it in 1997/98.While MacDonald is hoping to do some specialist spin bowling coaching- “I’ma bit young to retire yet”- there is no word on a successor, whose big hopemust be to have a full complement of internationals at his disposal.Michael Sharpe, successful coach of Canterbury second XI, is a possibilityas a replacement, having served the same apprenticeship as MacDonald and hispredecessor, Dennis Aberhart.Ben Harris, Canterbury selector and brother of Chris, from the localcandidates, has had his name mentioned in connection with the soon to bevacant post too.The seconds won the National Provincial competition under Canterbury Countrymainstay and Canterbury selector, Sharpe. The Rangiora-born formerprovincial seamer was a member of the successful Canterbury team of thenineties. Whether he would take the role, with so much knowledge of itschallenges as well as its high points remains to be seen.

John Buchanan has revealed that he had written to Shane Warne in the aftermath of his drug suspension just before the 2003 World Cup, asking him to “take responsibility and wear the consequences of his actions”. Warne had been handed a one-year ban for taking a banned diuretic which he claimed had been given by his mother in “totally innocent” circumstances.The Herald Sun reported that in his soon-to-be-released book If Better Is Possible, Buchanan had expressed disappointment over Warne’s stance and wrote, “How could he be so vain, so stupid, so self-centred to forget about the team? Why did he think he was bullet-proof?”I sent him a long email, the essence of which was that through his dismissal from the team he had been given a second chance that not all of us are fortunate enough to get. If he wanted to take it, he had the opportunity to take responsibility and wear the consequences of his actions.”Their relationship was perhaps at its frostiest after Buchanan criticised Warne’s fitness levels during the 2001 tour of India. Warne, on his part, has been a vocal critic of Buchanan and has been scornful of several of his training techniques such as the pre-Ashes boot camp in 2006.Buchanan also said that though the relationship between the two has never had “best buddy status”, he had huge respect for Warne’s achievements.

Md Sobuj’s three-for crushed Nepal’s middle order, before an unbeaten 70 from Bangladesh opener Zawad Abrar sealed their seven-wicket thumping, with 151 balls to spare. It took Bangladesh to the top of Group B with a healthy net run rate of 1.56.After being put into bat, Nepal got off to a good start, thanks to a 40-run opening stand between Sahil Patel and Niraj Kumar Yadav. Opening bowler Saad Islam made the initial breakthrough, getting Patel for 18. Sobuj then took over with with three wickets in quick succession.First to fall was Niraj – caught behind – while Nischal Kshetri was bowled for a golden duck. Cibrin Shrestha was out caught and bowled as Nepal slipped from 60 for 2 to 61 for 5.Aashish Luhar’s handy 23 and Abhisekh Tiwari’s 30 carried Nepal forward, but a second flurry of wickets ensured the rebuilding effort did not last for long. After a 38-run seventh wicket stand between Tiwari and Luhar, Azizul Hakim and Shahriar Ahmed made short work of the tail – Nepal went from 119 for 6 to 130 all out.The only downside for Bangladesh was the 17 wides they conceded, which formed an extras tally of 23.Abrar was the rock of the chase with his 68-ball 70*, including seven fours and three sixes. The only moments of concern in the innings came in the fourth over, when opener Rifat Beg was bowled for 5, followed by captain Azizul Hakim being run out the very next ball for 1.Abrar and Kalam Siddiki added 92 for 115 balls for the third wicket. By the time Siddiki fell, Bangladesh were ten runs away from victory. Rizan Hossan finished the game with a six.

Jamie How couldn’t hide his disappointment at the close of play after falling eight runs short of a maiden Test century, but he took solace in the fact that his efforts had given New Zealand a fighting chance of a competitive total in the first Test against England at Hamilton.”It’s in the balance still,” said How, after New Zealand reached the close handily placed on 282 for 6. “We lost a couple more wickets than we’d have liked, but there were a few itchy moments out there. The England bowlers bowled well all day and it was a hard slog as shown by the run-rate. It would have been nice to cap it off, but tomorrow morning, in the first hour, it’s a big part of the game.”How burst into the limelight during New Zealand’s one-day series win, where he scored a remarkable century in the tied ODI at Napier, but his failure to emulate that effort today cleared grated. After going to the tea break on 90 not out, he survived just eight more deliveries as Monty Panesar turned one past his defences and into the hands of Paul Collingwood at slip.”You keep reminding yourself that if someone gave you 90 at the start of the day you’d be happy,” said How, “but it still hurts and I’ll be replaying that last over for quite a while. But hopefully not for too long.”Nevertheless, his innings was a distinct improvement on his previous efforts in Test cricket, in which he had managed a top score of 37 in six matches. “It’s been a bit frustrating,” he said. “I haven’t played well in Test cricket in my first few games and you see the stats come up and it’s a bit embarrassing to be honest. I’ll be working hard to put it right. I’m not a big stats person but it’s nice to get that highest score.”Despite his downbeat demeanour, How clearly felt that his international career had turned a corner following his success in the one-dayers. “It gave me confidence and form,” he said. “I like to give myself time, even in the one-dayers, so it was nice to dig in and let them come to you and bat for as long as you can today. I set myself up to bat late into that last session, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”New Zealand’s hopes of a big score now rest on the shoulders of Ross Taylor, who also produced his best score to date in Test cricket. Belying his one-day reputation as a big-hitter, he knuckled down for an unbeaten 54 from 121 balls, and How was impressed with his application.”It’s a work in progress, but I’ve not seen him that disciplined or that straight,” he said. “He stuck at it, and in such an unfamiliar way because he’s such an aggressive player. But he tempered that well.”

Mahela Jayawardene said Muttiah Muralitharan was enjoying the challenge of bowling against Australia but the team haven’t helped him get to the Shane Warne’s world record.”Murali has been trying a lot, but we haven’t helped him out. Credit should go to the way Australia batted,” Jayawardene said. “Without taking too many risks they put a lot of pressure on him. Murali is a freakish guy and he could pick up five-six wickets in the second innings. I think he’s enjoyed the challenge.” Muralitharan ended up taking just a solitary wicket for 140 runs in this Test and is still six short of the record.Jaywardene felt the key to fight Australia on equal terms would be to not lose too many wickets when the second Test resumes on day three tomorrow at Hobart. Sri Lanka ended the second day at 30 for 0 in reply to Australia’s 542 for 5 declared and face another long hard struggle to avoid losing the series 2-0.”It’s a pretty good score from Australia .It’s a flat wicket and we need to make sure that we bat through tomorrow,” Jayawardene said. “It was a bit dark and doing a bit and swinging and Australia would have thought of picking up a few quick wickets. I thought Marvan and Vandi (Vandort) did a pretty good job for us. It’s up to us to take the advantage.”Jayawardene was one bowler short when he lost Farveez Maharoof, who did not take the field on the second day, through injury. “Maharoof started complaining yesterday and it got strapped up and I thought he bowled pretty well,” he said. “He’s a guy who’ll hit the seam and keep it up. It was pretty difficult for us. He’s suffering from a crush fracture in his ankle. It looks like he’ll be out of the England series. Since he’s a fast bowler he needs to put in a lot of effort in his delivery stride. The guy has been working very hard at his game over the last six months. He has improved quite a lot.”Jayawardene said that Maharoof should be able to bat without putting in lot of effort. “We’ll see how it goes depending on the situation we are in.”

Bermuda’s national coach Gus Logie has a threadbare squad of just 12 players at his disposal as Bermuda prepares to begin the post World Cup era against Denmark.Practically everyone that travelled to Europe this week is guaranteed a game over the next few weeks with Bermuda’s thin resources stretched to the limit. Just four of the World Cup squad – skipper Irving Romaine, new vice-captain Stephen Outerbridge, big hitter Lionel Cann and spinner Dwayne Leverock – boarded the plane on Monday night with a host of new faces being asked to fill the enormous void left by the likes of Janeiro Tucker, Clay Smith, OJ Pitcher and Kevin Hurdle.The middle order – Bermuda’s strength over the past few years – has been completely decimated. As well as Tucker, Smith and Pitcher there will be no David Hemp, no Dean Minors and no Kwame Tucker. A squad of up and coming youngsters and international novices will take their place.Ironically most of the youngsters – the likes of Edness, Robinson and Arthur Pitcher – have played for Bermuda before. It is club veterans like Roderick Masters, Dwight Basden and James Celestine who will be making their international debuts on this tour.Coach Logie admitted the team was in a rebuilding stage and said the tour would be a test of how quickly the new boys could adapt to the enormous jump in class from domestic cricket.”Any time you go out to play you play to win, but we also have to be realistic and realize that this is a rebuilding stage. We are looking at development of our younger players and exposure for certain players to a higher level of cricket. It’s about understanding what it takes to play at that level.”The opening games against Denmark are not full one-day-internationals because the Danes did not qualify for the World Cup and ODI status. But Logie expects them, along with Holland and Ireland who Bermuda face later in the tour, to be among their biggest rivals for re-qualification at the ICC Trophy 2009 in Malaysia.”We played them a few years ago and narrowly beat them, but they have grown in stature and the game has taken off a bit in Denmark. Many of their players have exposure to the English county cricket set up. They, Holland and Ireland are going to be three of our arch rivals in 2009 and we need to learn as much from this tour as we possibly can.”There will be new roles for some of the players on this tour with Lionel Cann, traditionally used as a late-order finisher, likely to be asked to become the mainstay of the batting line-up along with Romaine. “We don’t have the same depth in the middle order anymore and the chances are Lionel will be asked to bat higher up and play a more integral role. Players like Lionel and the captain Irving Romaine will need to play a central role.”The return of seamer George O’Brien gives the bowling attack an injection of pace and aggression while Jacobi Robinson, Arthur Pitcher and Ryan Steede will play a supporting role. Dwayne Leverock will again be the centre-piece of Bermuda’s bowling attack with his economical left-arm spin.Logie said the new boys had shown commitment in practice. Now it was time to see what they could do on the big stage. “This is an opportunity to assess certain players and see how they gel as a team. We can practice as much as we want but you have to think that those things we did in training can be done in game situations.”Preparation for the tour has been far from ideal with Azeem Pticher, Kevin Hurdle and Maurice Lowe all pulling out for work and personal reasons and Greg Maybury being called-up to the Under-19 qualifiers. The search for available replacements saw Robinson and Basden called up. But further back-up was not available.”We have a lot of players playing the game but for whatever reason not everybody is in line for selection for the national team.”He added that the passion for the game shown at Cup Match was not so evident when it came to the national team. “Players can want to train, want to play with passion at the local level. If that can be transferred to the national team they can reap just as good rewards.”One fillip for Logie will be the arrival of three stars from Bermuda’s Under-19 team ahead of the game against Ireland. Seamers Stefan Kelly and Malachi Jones and spinner Rodney Trott will jet in from Canada after representing the U-19s in the World Cup qualifiers. “These are the guys we are looking at to carry the flag in the near future. We want to wish them all the best in Canada where we trust they will qualify for the World Cup.”Reproduced with permission of the Bermuda Sun

England 183 for 9 (Taylor 62) beat New Zealand A 86 (Guha 3-9) by 97 runs
ScorecardEngland’s women got the New Zealand-leg of their tour off to a winning start with a 97-run victory over New Zealand A in Lincoln.Acting captain Claire Taylor’s 62 was the basis of the side’s 183 for 9, with a third-wicket stand of 107 with Jenny Gunn (47) providing the bulk of the runs. But there were alarms as they slid from 122 for 2 to 131 for 7, and it took cameos from Caroline Atkins (23*) and Stephanie Davies (25) to give the score respectability.New Zealand A were never in the race as they were skittled for 86. Even that represented a recovery as at one stage they were 36 for 7. Isa Guha grabbed 3 for 9 while Gunn and Charlotte Russell picked up two wickets each.”I’m really happy with the professional performance from the team,” Taylor said. “There are still areas for improvement with both bat and ball … losing five wickets for nine runs in the middle order and bowling too many wides.”

Victoria have recalled Peter Siddle to their one-day squad to take on Tasmania at the MCG on Friday. The Bushrangers are fresh from winning their third consecutive Twenty20 title and will use the same 12-man squad in the FR Cup game with the exception of Siddle, who replaces Clint McKay.Despite their success in the shortest form of the game, Victoria are second-last on the FR Cup table. However, they have played two fewer matches than any other side and can gain on the first-placed Tigers with a win in Melbourne.Tasmania have made one change to the squad that last turned out for the state in an FR Cup match, before Christmas, including Jason Krejza at the expense of Luke Butterworth. The Tigers appeared to carry their strong 50-over form into the KFC Twenty20 but a couple of stumbles late in the tournament denied them a spot in the final.Victoria squad Michael Klinger, Aiden Blizzard, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Rob Quiney, Andrew McDonald, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), John Hastings, Shane Harwood, Peter Siddle, Bryce McGain, Dirk Nannes.Tasmania squad Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, Dane Anderson, George Bailey, Daniel Marsh (capt), Tim Paine (wk), Jason Krejza, Mark Divin, Xavier Doherty, Brett Geeves, Brendan Drew, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Haroon Lorgat, 47, comes to the ICC with his most telling qualification being that he somehow managed to maintain some degree of selectorial integrity while operating within the confines and bizarreness of South African cricket’s politically-directed affirmative action policies. Lorgat headed South Africa’s selection panel from 2004 to 2007 when the team did not have the services of the maturing bunch of stars they do now, but their record was still impressive.Lorgat brought stability to selection after the often puzzling reign of Omar Henry, but it was a pity Lorgat and Graeme Smith could never quite hit it off. Their relationship was littered with arguments over whether players should be chosen when not 100% fit, and it all came to a messy head in Cape Town in November 2006 when TV cameras caught their argument at the toss in full and embarrassing technicolour.But Lorgat’s tenure showed that he could juggle both politics and cricketing necessities and that is surely a telling quality when it comes to heading up the ICC. Players called him a ‘liar’, administrators said he was ‘right’, and fans didn’t know what to make of him, which is about as good as you can hope for when your brief is, basically, ‘pick this team but tell them it’s for this reason, them that it’s for the other reason, and the others that it’s none of their business.’But his time as convenor of selectors represents only a small part of his involvement in cricket. Lorgat served on the 2003 World Cup organising committee and was also treasurer of Cricket South Africa, an obvious appointment given his background. He completed his accounting articles with Coopers & Lybrand, before going it alone for eight years. He joined Ernst & Young as a senior partner in 2002 and last year set up Kapela Investments with five other associates.The CSA chief executive, Gerald Majola, goes back a long way with Lorgat: “We made our debut together for Eastern Province. I was dropped straight away because I scored nought and one, but Haroon scored 49.”We played together from childhood, our first tournament together was the Under-19s in Cape Town in 1975. He was a stylish batsman and a good bowler too, more in the Polly mould in that he was containing and would always bowl a good line and length. He was a top-order batsman and medium-pace bowler, one of our best allrounders in fact.”Majola’s backing was similarly effusive for Lorgat’s position as the ICC’s chief executive. “I have no doubt he will make a success of the ICC job, he has very good business acumen and he was Cricket South Africa’s treasurer for a while. He will do a good job because he understands the game and is passionate about it.”Lorgat’s heritage, a South African of Indian descent, is another reason why the ICC seem in a rush to pick him as their new CEO. A thoughtful, level-headed man, Lorgat will be expected to bridge the divide between East and West in cricket’s corridors of power.Currently based in Cape Town, Lorgat was a left-hand batsman and a right-arm seamer who scored 2813 runs and took 191 wickets in 76 first-class matches. He is married with a son and a daughter.