Indian coach John Wright on Thursday confirmed Hemang Badani will openthe innings along with Shiv Sunder Das in the second Test againstZimbabwe starting at Harare tomorrow.”Badani will open the batting. He wants to…” Wright said, adding theTamil Nadu left-hander was given a choice to bat either as an openeror at number seven and he opted to open.”Looking at the wicket and other factors, I think it is a goodopportunity for him. It will not be held against him as he isbasically a middle order batsman. It is his first opportunity in thisposition,” he said.Badani, who will make his Test debut tomorrow, has never opened theinnings in his first class career but he possesses a sound techniqueand impressed when he was given the opportunity in a three-day matchagainst the CFX Academy where he scored an attractive 35 beforeretiring.Badani gets his first Test in place of his state mate SadagoppanRamesh who has not recovered from a back injury he sustained whilefielding in the first Test.Wright said Badani had it in him to make a transition from a middleorder batsman to an opener and expressed confidence that the stylishleft-hander would make the most of the opportunity offered to him.”In my opinion, he has the technique to open the batting. Some peoplecan make the transition and some can’t. There is this psychology ofthe whole position. But Hemang wants to do it and I think he would doa good job. He will put in his 100 per cent,” Wright said. “He is aquality player. It is a good opportunity for him.”A person must want to open the batting. If he is going out in themiddle at an unlikely position and is not comfortable, then it is notgoing to work. But we are in a position where we do not have an extraspecialist opener on this tour. If something has to happen, this isthe best option.”Wright said fast bowler Ashish Nehra had corrected his run up andwould feature in the second Test. “In the two nets we had here, therewas absolutely no problem with Nehra. He didn’t tread on to the dangerline. We are very confident that the problem will not arise again.”Nehra was stopped from bowling in Zimbabwe’s second innings in thefirst Test after he was repeatedly found to be damaging the pitch inhis follow-through. There were some doubts over his participation inthe second Test but the bowler corrected his run-up and the processwas smooth. “It didn’t require much work. It was marginal in the firstplace. He is aware of all sorts of things about his bowling. He isalso a very quick learner,” Wright said.The coach was diplomatic in his comment on Nehra being dropped for thetriangular series starting on June 23 with West Indies as the thirdteam. “Well, he is not in the squad. But he has been our best bowler.He has been a standout performer and I think everyone is aware of it.”Asked whether the announcement of the one-day squad ahead of thesecond Test would affect the performance of those who have beendropped, Wright said, “Players have to be professional enough to takethe disappointment in their stride and still keep performing.”Captain Sourav Ganguly said India would once again go in with threemedium-pacers and a spinner. “The three seamers have done pretty welland the wicket will help them. I don’t think the pitch will turn much.Two spinners will be a luxury. There is so much less grass on thewicket this time than the one we played here in 1998. It will be agood wicket to bat on,” he said.Ganguly said he was not perturbed about his own form. “If you look atit, I have failed in only two Test matches in Mumbai and Chennai. HereI got a rough decision. I just have to back myself.” He said the teamhad chalked out a strategy to contain Andy Flower who is having aprolific run against the Indians. “We must bowl in the right channelsto get him out. He is due for a failure now.”

One of Zimbabwe’s most promising black cricketers, Trevor Nyasha Madondo, died at Parirenyatwa Hospital in the capital on Monday morning at the age of 24.Madondo, who was single at the time of his death, was attacked by a severe bout of malaria at the end of last month. He was admitted to Mutare General Hospital last Monday and was later transferred to Parirenyatwa on Thursday (7 June). He was buried at Yeoville Cemetery in Mutare on Tuesday afternoon.Trevor, who represented Zimbabwe in the national team, the Board XI and Zimbabwe age-group teams, was born on 22nd November 1976 in Mount Darwin, about 180 kilometres north-east of Harare.Nicknamed Baby Chingokes due to a supposed resemblance to ZCU president Peter Chingoka, Trevor was the first black cricketer to be selected for Zimbabwe as a batsman. His three predecessors, Everton Matambanadzo, Henry Olonga and Mpumelelo Mbangwa, are all pace bowlers.As a right-handed batsman, Trevor played three Tests for Zimbabwe, scoring 90 runs. His Test debut was in the First Test against Pakistan at Queens Sports Club in March 1998. His last match was the drawn Boxing Day Test in Wellington, New Zealand, last December, when he made his highest score, an unbeaten 74.Trevor played 13 one-day internationals in which he scored 191 runs. His debut was against India at Queens Sports Club while his last match was against the West Indies in a Carlton and United triangular series in Perth in January.Trevor had not had time to perform at his best and in the few matches he played for Zimbabwe, he had looked talented but inexperienced. He tended to go for big shots rather than concentrate on working the ball around the field for singles. Unfortunately he was never in the national team for a long enough time to get the necessary experience.The only notable exception was the 1999/2000 season, when he was given four one-day internationals in a row, but his top score was only 29.His stint with the national team was interrupted by injuries, a slump in form and on some occasions his undisciplined lifestyle which landed him in trouble with the authorities.Trevor has no family background in the game. He was sent to boarding school at Lilfordia, about 20 kilometres west of Harare, for his primary education. The headmaster at the school was Iain Campbell, father of former national captain Alistair. He inspired and nurtured Trevor’s cricketing talent.Trevor won a place in the Colts cricket team in Grade 3 and by the time he was in Grade 5, Trevor was already playing in the school’s first team. He played as an opening bowler, right arm medium pace, and batted at number four. He also played for the school’s rugby and hockey teams.In Grade 6 he was selected for the Partridges, the national primary schools cricket team. In 1989 he won selection for the Mashonaland Country Districts primary schools select team which toured England.Trevor then went to Falcon College in Bulawayo for his secondary education. The institution has produced many of Zimbabwe’s Test players.After two dormant years, Trevor began to keep wicket and this led to his selection for the Fawns, the national Under-15 team, and he went on the tour of Namibia in 1992.He also represented Zimbabwe Schools in South Africa for two years. While still at school, Trevor was chosen to make his first-class debut, as a wicket-keeper, for Matabeleland against the touring county side Glamorgan. By then he was already playing club cricket for Old Miltonians, making thirties and forties with the bat.After leaving school in 1995, Trevor won a place at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, to study for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He played in the first team at Rhodes where he made a highest score of 77.His university commitments prevented him from playing more regularly for Matabeleland in the Logan Cup. But he was a regular selection for the Zimbabwe Board XI to play in the UCBSA Bowl competition, when available. His best score was 86 against Transvaal B in a three-day match. In 1999 he was part of the first intake of the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy.Trevor’s death came at a time when the Zimbabwe Cricket Union was making genuine efforts to encourage black players with the formation of the Integration Task Force. He would, no doubt, have featured prominently in the latest plans.ZCU president Peter Chingoka acknowledged that the country had lost a talented cricketer. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

BIRMINGHAM, England – Injury-hit England has called up three players,including opening batsman Mark Butcher, to bolster its squad for thefirst Ashes cricket Test against Australia.Butcher, off-spinner Robert Croft and uncapped Nottinghamshire batsmanUsman Afzaal were added to the existing squad on Tuesday.The first of the five-Test series starts at Edgbaston in Birmingham onThursday.Surrey left-hander Butcher played the last of his 27 Tests against SouthAfrica in January 2000.The 23-year-old Afzaal was born in Rawalpindi in Pakistan.England, already the underdogs for the series, announced on Monday thatclass batsman Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash, drafted in as cover,had been ruled out of the 14-man squad for the first Test.Frontline batsman Michael Vaughan is also expected to be ruled out witha knee problem later on Tuesday, while left-arm spinner Ashley Giles isstruggling with tonsillitis.Captain Nasser Hussain (broken thumb) and all-rounder Craig White (backstrain), meanwhile, are only just back from injury.White missed the drawn two-Test series against Pakistan while Hussainwas injured in the first match at Lord’s.

The Emirates Cricket Board, governing body for the game in the United ArabEmirates, has lodged a protest with the ICC over the refusal of the CanadianEmbassy to issue visas to two of its squad members for the recent ICC Trophy.Abdul Wahab and Mairaj Khaliq were unable to take their places in the Emirates’squad for the World Cup qualifying tournament which concluded last week. UAE,shock winners of the tournament in 1994 before residential eligibility ruleswere tightened, finished fifth in the 2001 ICC Trophy, two places shy ofqualifying for the 2003 World Cup.In a letter to the ICC, Emirates Cricket Board representative Mazhar Khan saidthat West Africa, Nepal and Uganda had also faced disruption to their teamselections because of visa refusals by the Canadian Government. The WestAfrican team failed to arrive in Canada for the tournament at all when visaapplications were finally sorted out with the competition almost completed.Khan claimed that the ICC and the Canadian Cricket Association had given theirassurances that all visa problems would be resolved before the event. He wenton to call for all matches in the ICC Trophy involving the UAE, Uganda, WestAfrica and Nepal to somehow be replayed.”The pain and mental stress the players and the management went through to getthe visas sorted out for over four weeks should be taken up seriously by theICC,” Khan said.The ICC has yet to make a response to the Emirates Cricket Board’s protest.The Netherlands, Namibia and Canada qualified for the 2003 World Cup as the topthree placed teams in this year’s ICC Trophy competition, the running of whichwas described last week by World Cup organising committee managing director AliBacher as “the best ever”.

Teenager Andover off-spinner Matt Hooper has bowled Hampshire into the semi-finals of the ECB Under-17 County Championship.He took 5-59 as Hampshire completed an emphatic 150-run victory over Wales to set up a two-day semi-final tie against Middlesex at the Shenley Cricket Centre in Hertfordshire, starting on Thursday.Middlesex ran out 162-run winners after scoring 296 in their quarter-final against Kent, who were dismissed for 134.Hampshire put themselves in a virtually unassailable position against Wales by posting a massive 392-8 by the end of the first day.They progressed to 82-2 (Paul Cass 28) before Kevin Latouf (90) and Chris Wright (79) established near total supremacy with a third-wicket stand of 164.Wales sent down 50 wides – they conceded 79 extras in all – helping Michael Barnes (44) and Mark Mitchell (32 not out) take Hampshire on to 392-8 off 100 overs.Wales progressed to 151-3 (Richard Grant 46) before Hooper got to work – the off-spinner’s five-wicket spell sending the Welshmen tumbling to 242 all out.Andover team-mate James Manning bowled himself into the squad for Thursday’s semi-final with a telling new-ball spell which set Hampshire Under-16s up for a pleasing 75-run first innings victory over neighbours Sussex at East Grinstead.Manning (3-15) had Sussex rocking at 23-4, and subsequently 79-6, after Hampshire had posted a useful 239 all out.Kevin Latouf (54), who later took 2-14, Nick Priddle (38), Graham Noble (31) and Peter Hammond (26) top scored for Hampshire, who eventually pegged Sussex to 164-8.Hampshire made 71-4 in their second innings, with Noble (24) and Manning (21) making a mark.It was Hampshire’s first win in the Six Counties Under-16 Championship.

In his latest exclusive diary entry for CricInfo, Alec Stewart confirms his availability for the rest of the present series, and adds his voice to calls for Australia to take the original Ashes urn home.Any series that I take part in, or game that I play in – whether it’s for England, Surrey or whoever, I want to win, and look forward to winning. It’s the sixth time I’ve played in an Ashes series, and the sixth time I haven’t won the Ashes. Two things have really disappointed me this time. Firstly, we haven’t been able to pick our strongest side; that’s not an excuse, it’s a fact. More disappointingly, we haven’t played to the level that I know we’re capable of reaching, which brought us success in the five series leading up to the Ashes.As to the Trent Bridge game itself, the talk in the papers was about bad decisions, but they happen. Throughout the game’s history, umpires’ decisions, shots played by batsmen, balls delivered by bowlers, haven’t always been right.Once we lost Michael Atherton on Friday it was extraordinary how quickly the wickets went down. We’d had a good partnership going and then lost four wickets, which put a massive dent in our chances of posting a winning total of 250-plus. They had a bit of a scare at 80 for 3 with Steve Waugh getting injured, but Mark Waugh and Damien Martyn dashed our hopes of victory with a positive display of batting.As always when we lose the Ashes, which is currently every other year, the media and others look to re-build English cricket. “Everything’s wrong with it, no one can play, get rid of all this lot and start again.” If you sit down and look at what’s happened, and how we move forward, my name will crop up as the oldest cricketer in the England side. But I think it was Linford Christie who said that age is just a number – you should always be picking players on ability. At the same time, you should be looking to improve the side and have an eye on the future. I’m still very much available to play in the next two Test matches. I’ve had a chat with David Graveney this morning about that, and will be meeting him again soon to talk about the future. Thoughts of retirement are not in my mind at present.In the short term, it would be nice if the selectors were able to pick from the strongest available squad for Headingley. That’s obviously subject to Hussain, Thorpe, Vaughan and Hoggard all being available. We can then see how we compete against them. I don’t want people saying the series is dead. Both Australian and England players are on record as saying that any Test match they play is just as important, whether the series is dead or alive. As to the wider picture, we should bring in players here and there, but not go for a wholesale upheaval. We’ve all talked about the huge gulf between county and Test cricket. The jump from county cricket to a Test match against Australia is the biggest, so for any new player it’s going to be hard. We need to keep looking for the players with the potential to make the step up.Personally I believe that Australia should now take the original Ashes urn back home. They deserve it, and the Australian public should have the chance to see exactly what their team’s been winning, possibly on display in the ACB offices.

Yorkshire Phoenix now hover perilously around the relegation zone of the First Division Norwich Union League following a seven-wicket loss to The Surrey Lions under the Duckworth/Lewis method.The Lions produced some entertaining batting in this day-nighter at the AMP Oval after rain during the interval reduced the allocation of overs by 11. After losing the first wicket on 13, with Ian Ward edging behind for six in the sixth over, Mark Butcher and man-the-match Gareth Batty embarked on a free-hitting stand which saw them bring up the hundred partnership from 102 balls.During the course of it, Batty reached his first half-century for Surrey, taking just 38 balls in doing so and striking nine boundaries. In his adventurous stroke playing innings he was dropped on 60 a few yards inside the mid-wicket boundary, off Darren Lehmann and five runs later he was dropped again, at long on, off Richard Dawson with the total on 124 for one.Butcher meanwhile reached his 50 off 77 balls and promptly departed to the next ball, which he tried to work to leg and gave a return catch to Dawson. It had been precisely the quick-scoring stand that Surrey needed, the 121 was compiled at the rate of a-run-a-ball taking the total to 134 for two.Ally Brown did not last long, his 19 coming in as many minutes before being bowled by Darren Gough as he stepped outside his off stump in attempting to loft his shot over square leg.That was the last Surrey wicket to fall, on 167. Batty remained unbeaten with 83 from only 78 balls as he took his side to a total of 188 for three. Forty of his runs had come from boundaries.Earlier, having decided to make first use of a pitch on which there is usually an abundance of runs, the Yorkshire Phoenix innings progressed in fits and starts. They reached 40 after just nine overs and then lost three wickets in a space of 33 runs.Ed Giddins had both opening batsmen caught behind and then Ben Hollioake bowled Anthony McGrath for 15.A 48-run stand between Lehmann and David Byas seemed to steady the innings when off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq struck twice. He trapped Byas lbw for 22 and then took a return catch from top-scorer Lehmann with 47.Yorkshire lost two wickets on 160. Following Lehmann’s departure, Gary Fellows was run out for 23 from a direct hit at the bowler’s end by Ben Hollioake.Saqlain completed his nine overs taking three for 44 with the wicket of Dawson before a quick-fire eighth wicket stand of 38 from only 23 balls between Richard Blakey, 28, and Gough, 16, saw the Northerners to 214.They took 18 off the penultimate over which included a straight six, the only one of the innings, hit high into the third tier of the pavilion by Gough. It brought up the two hundred of the innings.

Zimbabwe cricket’s dynamic chief executive (shortly to be managing director) Dave Ellman-Brown talks to John Ward about the coming season and reviews the past and present."We played a great deal of cricket during the last year, which I think has been good for team bonding and development. Winning the one-day series against New Zealand here was excellent, and showed a recovery from the first game to win the two in Bulawayo, which was outstanding.I was disappointed that we didn’t do better in the ICC knockout, when we lost our first game, against New Zealand, who won the tournament. I think our tour to India was outstanding. It’s not easy to play cricket in India – Australia got beaten there – and for us to do what we did in India, with Andy Flower playing as he did, I think was an outstanding performance. To have Andy Flower, who was number two at one time in the ratings, voted the International Cricketer of the Year was an enormous achievement – from little Zimbabwe. It just shows the international quality of a player like that.India was also special for Campbell and Grant Flower coming back into form – on and off, but certainly a vast improvement. There was disappointment at some players who did not make it due to injury, such as Henry Olonga, whose spate of injuries continues. Injury generally is a big worry to me. There is something wrong, and it worries me.Then we beat New Zealand again in the one-dayers, where we did extremely well. Heath Streak was the one who got the Auckland match in our favour with an outstanding innings that showed his maturity.Then came the Carlton and United in Australia, where we only won the one game. We played badly against West Indies, but really well against Australia, much better than the West Indies did, who played abominably against them. That game in Perth, chasing 302 against Australia, was unbelievable. Cricket was the winner that day; we wouldn’t have reached the final anyway had we won it, but it would have been nice to beat Australia again in a one-dayer. We came within an inch of beating them.The gloom-and-doom boys looked back and said, "We’ve lost Goodwin and we’ve lost Johnson; how are we going to perform?" It is amazing how we have performed and how people have came through. I think it’s significant that Carlisle has come through, and it has been very gratifying to see people like Watambwa and Blignaut coming through. Watambwa has performed well, despite his injuries, and if Blignaut can sort out his character and his self-discipline he is an exciting prospect.I think we have done well, but there are times when we do not perform as well as we should do. We have had certain off-field `activities’ that have deflected the minds and concentration of the players at the time, which has been unfortunate, but I hope we have got over those times. It has gone on too long, and hopefully we can come up with a satisfactory formula that is going to keep everybody happy. We look forward to an interesting year ahead.DEVELOPMENT
It’s been gratifying, although expected, that we did well against Bangladesh. The introduction of our young players against West Indies and India proved positive; I’m thinking of Masakadza and Taibu, who came through. I think another one we are going to see shortly is Matsikenyeri who has been performing well from time to time.What is particularly gratifying about that is that they are all products of our development programme. I think it is so exciting that we are actually reaping the rewards of a programme that many have criticized for not coming through fast enough. I think for us to produce two 18-year-olds in the national side is outstanding. There are people who say we should be producing double or treble the numbers, but I believe we have done very well and there is evidence that our programme is succeeding. We can’t be too wrong.There is depth, and we have to look there for our future. That is where our future cricketers will come from. I expect future cricketers to continue to come from the small white community in Zimbabwe, but it is a blending of both sectors. But where you have a black population of 12 to 13 million, this is the untapped pool of potential players, and we have to expand our development programme more and more to get these youngsters playing the game. That’s where our future cricketers will come from.There are probably seven serious cricket-playing schools in the country and we need to get more. But that pool of development players has to increase.DOMESTIC CRICKET
I don’t think our domestic programme was as good this year as it was the previous year. I think in the coming season we are going to see our Logan Cup played again when the national side is away. It is a good opportunity for more players to experience first-class cricket, although we don’t want to make it too weak.We have a scheme in place to try to assist the clubs, as many of them are struggling, although not too many of them have taken advantage of it. A few clubs in Mashonaland have put in their returns, but not all. The biggest problem they are having is to try and attract cricketers. We basically pay them for youngsters they recruit, because they are going to battle to maintain their clubs; costs are astronomical now. In the old days, players paying subscriptions was enough to run cricket, but it’s not like that any more; costs are too big.We have to be careful clubs don’t fold, because they are no longer viable. It is not just cricket; the whole concept of a sports club is becoming very marginal. It costs too much to run a club, and the revenue is not big enough. We have to make sure clubs do not simply disappear down the tube, because if we do the whole structure of cricket will be affected. We have cricket at the nursery stage at primary school level, followed by senior schools, and it has to carry on from there.If it doesn’t, there will be a gap that will affect us badly. We need more than just the Academy; club cricket is linked with the Academy. We have the national league for clubs and the Logan Cup, which we must continue to have as our first-class structure. That all builds towards players eventually representing the A side and the full national side.Something else that is happening next year is that our A side playing in the Bowl competition in South Africa will participate in the Standard Bank league.FUTURE TOURS
Our plans for the future are looking pretty good and we have a very busy season coming up now. We have South Africa here now and England are coming in October. We then go to Sharjah, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, which takes us to the beginning of March. Then we return to play Australia after they have had a long tour of South Africa.Then we have a break. I am negotiating a tour with New Zealand coming here in September 2002, basically to play one-dayers to prepare for the World Cup. Pakistan are here in October and November, and we have the World Cup in February.THE NEW COACH
I have discussed that programme with our new coach, Geoff Marsh, and he is happy with it. He will be here as our fulltime coach, on a two-year contract with an option of a third year. He will take charge of the team after the England tour, and I think he will be a big success for us. He had a successful career with Australia, and he was then their national coach for two years, doing very well, and was then a national selector. So his pedigree is great, and I’m looking forward to big things from him.Carl Rackemann has served us well, but has his business problems back in Australia to deal with. Our bowlers improved immensely under him, and I think he has done a wonderful job. I’m sorry he can’t carry on, but I think we are very lucky we have been able to negotiate with Geoff Marsh to come here.CFX ACADEMY
The development of our young players has been very gratifying. I think another noteworthy aspect has been the success of the Academy. It is now into its third year.[Director] Gwynne Jones is not renewing his contract and is leaving in September, so we are looking for a new administrator. Gwynne was the man who developed the Academy, but that stage is now finished and we need somebody to administer it. We have Dave Houghton as the coach, and he is doing a good job, so I see the Academy going from strength to strength.Maybe we can use our Academy for the good of Africa as a whole, where we can assist players from areas to the north of us and dovetail perhaps with Plascon from South Africa.GROUND DEVELOPMENT
The progress we have made with developing our two grounds in Harare and Bulawayo has been great, and they now nearly finished, ready for World Cup 2003. We are certainly getting very positive and complimentary remarks passed about our development. As soon as England leave we will build a new media centre in Harare and then I believe we will be virtually ready for the World Cup.Kwekwe will continue to develop as our third ground, while Mutare, our fourth ground, is not developing as fast. The administrators in Kwekwe are very energetic and ambitious; not so long ago there was no cricket in the Midlands but now there is a thriving community, thanks to the enthusiasm of no more than half a dozen people who are making cricket work.Another factor now is the development of suitable facilities in our high-density areas throughout Zimbabwe. We have the development at Winstonians and Mabvuku in Harare, and also in Bulawayo and Mutare. We have centres of excellence in Bulawayo, Kwekwe and Mutare; we are just about to put in a centre of excellence, thanks to Nissan, at Hippo Valley in the Lowveld; there is another earmarked for Masvingo; and we must also look to the north of Harare as there is still nothing in Chinhoyi or anywhere in that region. It’s exciting that this is all happening, and all thanks to Nissan who have always been part of it.We aim to provide centre hard wickets, concrete pitches, laid perhaps with Astroturf, and nets. Most of these places have a ground, but it is very difficult because of the structure of the schools, where they probably play football and other sports on the same field, to get a grassy outfield, but as long as they have a true pitch they can start playing. We provide the schools with kit, which is always a big problem, but that is something we are constantly looking at.Basically what we are trying to do is to put into place structures of grounds with hard pitches. We have a project, which we have approved, whereby we will be looking at an increasing number of pitches in these various areas, together with nets. That is all essential. We also need to employ more coaches; we have 50 at present.EMPLOYMENT
We actually employ about 120 people at present, which includes 18 professional cricketers, 21 player-coaches, 15 ground staff and 15 administrative staff. This is an increase from last year, when we employed 84.The player-coaches are Academy graduates, who are on contract to us for one year at the Academy, followed by two further years, during which we allocate them to a province where they act as development coaches and play for the province. We are particularly looking at Manicaland and the Midlands, where it boosts their playing numbers and their coaching staff.We now have the first intake at the Academy who are reaching the end of their three-year contracts. These player-coaches can now aim for a C-Grade contract if they want to stay in cricket; if not, they are free to do what they like. If they wish, they can become part of the administration – stay in the provinces and assist with the administration there.In each of the provinces we are now looking to employ a full-time administrator, for whom we will pay as part of our structure. It’s very important that they look after their own affairs; we cannot have part-timers always referring to this office. That man will look after coaching, development, training and such matters. That will happen quite shortly, as soon as I have a directive from the Board, and we have a couple of people earmarked already for those jobs, especially in Manicaland and the Midlands.RESTRUCTURING ZCU
ZCU is currently going through a restructuring process and many hours of work have been put in by different people; there has been a certain amount of anguish as a result of certain groups of people but I hope that is now finished and we can get on with administering and playing the game without other side issues coming into the equation.In August 2000 we had a think tank and decided that the structure of cricket is not right here. From that we formed certain committees to look at this, and we took the matter to PriceWaterhouse-Coopers to give us a business plan. They looked at other models – Australia, South Africa and New Zealand – used those, put it all together, and came up with a structure for us.We then had a task force, which has sat for a long time and come up with some recommendations, basically to make sure there is a better representation of racial groupings in the administration of cricket and the playing of the game. Their recommendations and guidelines have been issued and we will work on them to ensure that we come up with a structure, both administrative and playing, that falls in line with those goals. That process has already started.Another process is the restructuring of the Board itself. We had a special general meeting the other day that approved the changes to the constitution which would allow a new board. Previously we had a board that comprised the chairmen of the provinces and the chairmen of certain working committees; instead, we will now have a board of 12 members elected from nominations from the provincial associations and from the integration committee. They are each empowered to nominate 14 people and they have put their nominations in. We have a council of five wise men who will look at those and announce the board at our annual general meeting next Wednesday.That new board will go forward as a board of directors. The post of chief executive will disappear and become a post of managing director; the Board will be a policy-making board that will pass down its policies to the managing director, instructing him to implement those policies. He will in turn be empowered to appoint certain people on a full-time basis to form committees that will carry out the policies of the board and run cricket. We will no longer have board members as chairmen of committees; there is now a distinct difference between those who set policy and those who implement it.It will be interesting to see how the new board settles in. It will include outsiders, people who have not been involved before. But the provinces, who are the stakeholders, do have a say in at least 50% of that board.FINANCE
We have spent an awful lot of money this year, including Z$50 million on capital development alone, and there is still another Z$50 million to be spent on the new media centre at Harare Sports Club. We have the money and we are financially secure even after making a loss last year.This year we certainly won’t make a loss, with India and South Africa being here, and we still have England and then Australia to come. So we have a very good year ahead of us. When we have four icon countries coming to us in one year, that is pretty good.Most of the money comes from the sale of television rights, and we also have sponsors for the Test matches and one-dayers who produce funds for us. We also have sponsors who provide us with facilities and goods rather than cash, such as Bata, who look after our clothing needs, and ZimSun, our Test-match sponsor, who provide us with accommodation. We have other major companies in other areas, whose names I can’t mention yet because the deals have not been finalized.The days of raising money from cake sales and running casinos have long gone! But that’s how it started, and in 1982 that is exactly how we raised our money.PLAYER RELATIONSHIPS
I think our relationships with the players at the moment are fine. We are negotiating their contracts at the moment. We have a structure that is done through the remuneration committee, and it has been agreed that both the administration and the players will abide by the decisions of that committee.We do not get involved in the cut and thrust of negotiation with the players; it is done through their representative and our representative with an independent chairman. They come up with a plan and we accept what they say."

South Africa’s cricket authorities have appealed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India to go ahead with the third Test match which is due to start at SuperSport Park on Friday.The appeal comes after the ICC’s refusal to replace Mike Denness as match referee for the third Test and in response to the Indian threat to boycott the match if Denness is not withdrawn. At the same time, however, United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola has urged the ICC to implement an appeal process for all disciplinary hearings."The disciplinary procedures with regard to cricket matches are one of thefew instances in world sport in which there is no recourse to appeal foraffected players or officials," said Majola.The UCB has found itself caught in the middle of the crisis that erupted in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday after Denness imposed a variety of penalties on six Indian players.A statement issued on Wednesday night points out that while the UCB is sympathetic to the Indian position, it is bound by ICC regulations. Majola also claimed that South African cricket would suffer substantial financial losses if the third Test was cancelled.”These losses would severely hamper our efforts to bring cricket to thewhole nation. In the interests of the South African and Indian public whostand to lose the most if the third Test match is not played, we appeal tothe BCCI and the Indian team to take the field on Friday and to play thiscrucial Test,” said Majola.

Frustration with the rain, admiration for Chris Cairns’ approach, a welcome return from Brett Lee and the slight possibility of some remarkable Australian cricket still producing a result were offered in newspaper assessment of the fourth day of the first Test.The Sydney Morning Herald: “Things were just getting interesting at the Gabba yesterday when the dominant player of the first Test blew in for another spell and ruined everything.”Some time today, the weather should be declared the winner.”Australia start the final day an improbable 15 wickets short of victory. The first five of them must fall before New Zealand score the further 101 runs required to avoid the follow-on and effectively kill the contest, a weighty task in itself given the positive manner in which Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle were batting when a storm arrived after 50.2 overs had been bowled on day four.”Before any of the above can happen, it must first stop raining. Miracles aside, Australia are about to draw a Test match for the first time in 26 months.”Yesterday was at least more rewarding than the previous two. The highlights were a wonderful opening spell from Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee bowling better than he had all series in England, and more cricket being played than on Friday and Saturday combined, when 132.2 overs were lost to the weather.”SMH on Cairns: “In the past this lofty all-rounder has been inhibited by his responsibilities. Ever since he first put on pads the expectations have been high because he was a natural. For years they weighed him down. By way of self-preservation he adopted a happy-go-lucky outlook, an approach that hid inner fears. He had the frame of a big man and the abilities of a top class player but not the state of mind needed to let them loose. Complications in his background did not help. Always he seemed to be searching for stability.”Inevitably the Australians sensed vulnerability and called his bluff. It took Cairns a long time to come to terms with his talent. He needed to settle before he could release his gift. Whenever the screws were turned he retreated or else put on a show of bluster. Not until these teams met in New Zealand a couple of years ago did Cairns start turning the tables. Suddenly the Australians were confronted by a forthright cricketer bent upon wickets and boundaries.”The Daily Telegraph: “Australia will press the pedal to the floor in an attempt to nail the Kiwis beneath the follow-on, 100 away.”The wicket is still yielding seam and bounce and will be fresh this morning after the ground was lashed last night by rain as hard as many locals had seen.”At 7pm last night the covered wicket block was surrounded by 20m puddles fuelled by rain so heavy it looked as if the world was ending.”Australia’s run of 12 successive Test wins on home soil and 23 matches without a draw is likely to end today.”The Australian: “With more than 10 hours of play lost over the past three days in Brisbane, it will take something spectacular, even by Australia’s high standards, to claim a victory and continue a sequence of 23 successive results – 20 wins and three losses.”New Zealand will resume its first innings on 5-186, needing exactly 100 runs to avoid the follow-on to ensure no chance of Australian success.”But with 105 overs available on an extended day and the weather forecast finally declared fine, the world’s best Test team believes it is capable of claiming the necessary 15 wickets.”Certainly pace bowler Brett Lee, who made an encouraging if not triumphant return to Test cricket in Australia yesterday, is seriously entertaining the prospect.”A naturally exciting player, Lee was bowling when the most exhilarating moment of a frustrating day look place – but it was all down to Ricky Ponting’s fielding.”In his first ball of the match, Lee delivered short and wide – a scenario seen too often on a personally poor Ashes tour – and Mathew Sinclair, on three, threw his bat wildly at the ball in the hope of some cheap runs when previously there had been none.”Ponting, charging in panther-like at point, dived instinctively to his left and took the ball with both hands as he twisted in the air.”There may be another five Tests to play this summer, but Classic Catches has surely already been decided.”The New Zealand Herald: “Entering the fray after [Craig] McMillan had been caught at the wicket off the excited Brett Lee; [Chris] Cairns looked comfortable against the express pace and was quickly into his stride, picking up 10 runs off six Lee deliveries.”He then turned his attention to [Shane] Warne, striking him for two of the sweetest off-drives as he and Astle carried the attack to the Australians, together adding 39 runs in 7.1 overs.”While the lost time and the mixed overall performance in Brisbane will frustrate New Zealand, the return of Cairns in such form will be of no small delight, as he rates as one of the most influential players in the world and arguably the best all-rounder.”As far as the tourists are concerned, he is effectively worth two players, which is why their line-up struggled so badly for balance when he was out of action.”