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Darrell Hair’s claim that the ICC’s decision to bar him from officiating in major international matches was racially-motivated will be heard by an employment tribunal in London starting on October 1. The hearing is expected to last around a fortnight.Hair has recently returned to Sydney after living for three years in England. He told the Australian media that it was “unsure but unlikely” he would umpire again, although James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO, hinted that Hair might be offered a contract to umpire first-class cricket there.”We had three good years living in England,” Hair said, “but I am sure we will enjoy living here as well.”Hair is believed to be writing his memoirs which are expected to be published at Christmas.

Tammy Beaumont, the Kent wicketkeeper-batsman, has been recalled to the England Women’s squad for the T20 series against South Africa but Mark Robinson, the new head coach, has kept faith with the players who lost the Ashes to Australia last yearBeaumont last played in the one-day series against India in August 2014 and her previous T20 came against Australia in Dhaka in the final of the 2014 World T20.She is only included in the 15-player squad for the T20 with Lancashire’s Kate Cross playing the one-day series.

England squad for SA tour

Charlotte Edwards (capt), Tammy Beaumont (T20 only), Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Cross (ODI only), Georgia Elwiss, Lydia Greenway, Rebecca Grundy, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt

Sarah Taylor is in line to win her 100th ODI cap during the series. She currently sits on 98 one-day appearances and will be the seventh England player to reach a hundred caps.The nine members of the squad who are currently playing the Women’s Big Bash will join the rest of the party in South Africa at the end of January for a 10-day training camp before the ODI series starts on February 7 in Benoni. The three ODIs will form part of the ICC’s Women’s Championship in which England currently sit fifth and South Africa fourth.It will be the first assignment for Robinson and he is looking forward to getting the team back into the middle.”Having started to work with some of them, having watched recent footage and through following the progress of those playing in the WBBL, there is no doubt that this is a hugely talented squad with enormous potential,” he said. “I am relishing the prospect of helping them unearth even more of that potential and to seeing them develop in their next chapter as professional cricketers.”The ICC Women’s Championship table is currently very tight so the next twelve months are vitally important for us. We need to hit the ground running in the three ODIs against South Africa, who we know will pose a strong challenge on home soil. I am excited to see what this England team can do.”

It’s about time that the other side of one of cricket’s most puzzling stories was placed on record. February 13 next year will mark 60 years since Andy Ganteaume joined the select group of players to score a century in his very first Test innings.That in itself is worthy of the highest commendation, whatever the circumstances in which those 112 runs were compiled in the second Test of the four-match series in 1948 against England at the Queen’s Park Oval.But as anyone who knows anything about the history of the game around here would be aware, Ganteaume claims a unique niche in the annals of the game, for that knock was to be his only Test innings, for reasons that are best explained by the man himself in his autobiography, My Story: The Other Side of the Coin, which was launched last Monday at the Oval Pavilion.Just for the record, it should be noted that Rodney Redmond scored 107 and 56 in his one and only Test for New Zealand against Pakistan at Auckland in 1973. However, the left-hander would surely have added to that notable debut but for problems he experienced wearing contact lenses on the subsequent tour of England that resulted in a loss of form. He was then out of the game for an entire season and never managed to score enough runs at domestic level to seriously address the selectors again.Ganteaume’s case, of course, is very, very different, as his omission and complete discarding until the 1957 tour of England (when he was 36 years old and well past his best) have much more to do with the politics of the day and the considerable influence of the white hierarchy in the colonial British West Indies.Heading into his 87th year, the former Maple and Trinidad and Tobago right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper is known for his cheery disposition at any local gathering, cricketing or otherwise. Yet no-one reading the book is left in any doubt as to his utter contempt for “the Establishment”, as he refers to them regularly in a manner that would not be out of place were it Luke Skywalker or Han Solo commenting on Darth Vader’s evil “Empire”.However, unlike those two heroes of the original Star Wars movie trilogy, Ganteaume was no dashing hero wielding the willow in a cavalier spirit. Indeed, his overall first-class record (averaging 34.81 in 50 first-class matches spanning 1941 to 1958) is nothing more than ordinary.And with the incomparable trio of Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell making their Test debuts in the same series, it is understandable if the erstwhile employee of the Wartime Control Board suffered by comparison.Yet none of that justifies the treatment meted out to him by the decision-makers of the day. Imagine the outrage now, especially in the player’s home territory, should a batsman be dispensed with after scoring a hundred on his Test debut. Yet, in keeping with the entrenched social order of the time, barely a dissenting word was uttered in his defence, certainly not often and vociferous enough or from an influential enough source as to make any difference.And this really is the most revealing aspect of Ganteaume’s musings, for it paints a picture of an orderly, disciplined society in which people of the wrong colour, class, status or attitude could be shoved to one side, especially if they were not blessed with such exceptional ability as to embarrass the overlords into recognising them.While he goes to some lengths to rubbish the theory that he was dropped for slow scoring (112 runs in four-and-a-half hours), the reality is that only those who chose to be conveniently deaf, dumb and blind would have even entertained such a notion.Yet the fact that he devotes so much time to give his perspective on the most critical period of his sporting life suggests that behind the ever-present smile is a deep sense of hurt at not only the blinding injustice but also what he maintains is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts by the likes of “Establishment” heavyweights Jeffrey Stollmeyer and Gerry Gomez.Ganteaume doesn’t put water in his mouth to systematically dismantle the aura that, for many, still surrounds the memories of his two compatriots. The irony is that the Mapleite, who played most of his cricket in the Queen’s Park Savannah, got his Test chance in the “Establishment” bastion (the Oval) courtesy of an injury to Stollmeyer, while it was Gomez, the captain for the match, whose note to the two debutants (Ganteaume and Worrell) to press on with the scoring is used as evidence to support the claim that the opener’s apparently slow progress in the first innings cost the West Indies victory on a rain-affected final day.By waiting almost 60 years before deciding to give his side of the story, Ganteaume can be accused of besmirching the characters of those who are no longer around to defend themselves. Yet he takes in front by refuting that contention in his introduction, adding that he has actually restrained himself from spilling everything.In any event, he states that he has “no fear of successful contradiction”. No doubt, a few, upon reading a book that is more a documentary of life in colonial times than a literary masterpiece, will attempt to succeed where he expects them to fail.So long after his only Test innings, old Andy is still ready to face the music.

Rahul Dravid is pleased with the players the Bangalore franchise had procured in the IPL auction, and believes his side has individuals who can handle pressure.Dravid, the icon for the Bangalore Royal Challengers, played down the talk of his side not buying any big names. “This is an erroneous perception,” he told Cricinfo. “The quality of Indian and international players in our team speak for themselves. They may not be glamorous in the areas people typically judge them by, but in terms of cricket they are fantastic and at the end of the day this is a cricket tournament and cricket is what is important.”We are fortunate to have such great players in the side. With them in the squad, we will get so much more experience and ability.”Unlike the others, the Bangalore franchise preferred innings builders, like Jacques Kallis, Wasim Jaffer and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, to aggressors. “We have players who have played under pressure,” Dravid said, “and therefore are confident that under similar circumstances in the Twenty20 matches, they will perform exceedingly well.”Although the franchise bought Anil Kumble, they failed in their bid to purchase Robin Uthappa, another Bangalore-based player in the Indian team. Uthappa, who was bought by the Mumbai franchise for a whopping US$800,000, would have not only provided a balance to Bangalore’s batting line-up but his purchase would have also helped fill up one slot among the four catchment area players.”As a Bangalore player, I obviously would have liked to have had Robin, who is from our catchment area, in the team,” Dravid said. “However, in an auction where there are rules and restrictions, it is not always possible to get every player one wants.”In fact, none of the teams were able to get all the players they would have liked to. However, having said that I would like to add that I am excited with the team we have got.”On the potentially match-winning bowling attack that his team has lined up – Dale Steyn, Nathan Bracken, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble, Dravid said, “The idea was to have a good balance, which is very important for the tournament.”Dravid said Australian allrounder Cameron White, whomBangalore bought for US$500,000 at the auction, was an “exciting” addition.”I think people are getting a bit confused by the price aspect. It’s just reflective of the current situation in cricket and what people want. White is a very exciting Twenty20 player and his domestic record [with two Twenty20 hundreds] in Australia is phenomenal. He was always on our wishlist.”Asked whether he viewed the 44-day Twenty20 tournament starting in April 18 as a platform to stage a comeback into the Indian one-day team, Dravid said: “I am not looking at this that way. To be honest, this is something new for all of us. There are so many things you want to experience as a player. Personally, I have seen and experienced a lot over the last 12 years [in international cricket]. Now, I am just so glad that at this point of my career, I will be a part of this new experience.”Dravid didn’t want to divulge much about the strategies that his side were planning to adopt during the tournament, set to start on April 18. “It is still too early for me to comment on this. At the moment I am focused on getting fit after my finger injury [sustained during the Test series in Australia] and preparing for the Test matches against South Africa.”

The West Indies coach John Dyson is about to face his toughest assignment against the world champions, but he is confident of a strong performance against his former team. Dyson, who played 30 Tests for Australia in the 1970s and 80s, knows the series will be a huge examination for his men and has picked 17 of them for a five-day camp starting on Monday.While the big names of Chris Gayle, who has a groin injury, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo are missing from the list, the large collection includes many of the players who faced Sri Lanka in March and April. “We know it will be tough against Australia, but we are ready for that challenge,” Dyson said. “We are looking forward to getting all the players in the right frame of mind.”What I like about the group we have here is the consistency of selection. Those selected will know what is required. We are happy with the group that we have and we are confident as we prepare for the series.”Daren Powell, Darren Sammy and Jerome Taylor have been chosen while Kieron Pollard, Runako Morton, Denesh Ramdin and Marlon Samuels were also part of the 2-0 one-day win over Sri Lanka. “This is an opportunity to continue the work we did against Sri Lanka,” Dyson said. “Our last Test was a win and our last one-day series was also a win.”We believe the bulk of the team against Australia will come from the squad that played against Sri Lanka.” The first Test starts in Jamaica on May 22 before the contest moves to Antigua and Barbados.West Indies training squad Sulieman Benn, Patrick Browne, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Amit Jaggernauth, Runako Morton, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, Brenton Parchment, William Perkins, Kieron Pollard, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor.

Muthumudalige Pushpakumara led a Sri Lankan recovery in the second Under-19s’Test at Northampton.Pushpakumara scored 125 not out in four hours, including a stand of 129 for the seventh wicket with Kausbal Lokuarachchi after the tourists had collapsed to 74 for six in their second innings.Sri Lanka, who trail 1-0 in the three-match series, finished the day on 268 for eight. They lead by 291 runs, so England’s batsmen have a mountain to climb on a pitch already generating a response for Sri Lanka’s four-man spin attack.England were all out for 263, their last four wickets falling for the addition of 41 runs at the start of the day. Ian Pattison of Durham was ninth out after battling his way to 39 in over three hours.Slow left-arm spinner Ranil Dhammika secured two more scalps to finish with five for 59 from 37 overs, while Pushpakumara accounted for Justin Bishop and Pattison with his off-breaks.When Sri Lanka batted the Surrey seamer Tim Murtagh used the new ball to good effect, taking the wickets of Ian Daniels, Thilina Kandamby and Jehana Mubarak for just seven runs in six overs.David Harrison trapped Malintha Gajanayake lbw, and opener Nimesh Perera was beautifully caught at extra cover by Ian Bell, leaving Sri Lanka just 74 runs ahead with five wickets gone.Then captain Kaushalya Weeraratne was clean bowled by Bishop. It was then thatLokuarachchi arrived to join Pushpakumara.Just after tea Lokuarachchi was missed at slip off Monty Panesar, who later bowled him to break the dangerous partnership.Panesar also dismissed Dhammika before the close, but Sri Lanka remain in the driving seat with Pushpakumara still at the crease.

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, has said that the Pakistan Cricket Board had made the right decision in appointing Geoff Lawson as coach.”It is a positive decision and will help the players,” Malik was quoted in the newspaper . “As for Lawson’s expertise, I feel he can do a good job with both bowlers and the batsmen because the batsmen do not need basic level coaching and just need to hone their skills.”Talat Ali, the Pakistan team manager, also commended the decision and said that Lawson’s experience could benefit the team.Meanwhile, Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan captain, denounced the appointment. “The move to hire foreigners when you have better people here gives a wrong message to the youngsters that our elders are nothing and foreigners will be preferred for key posts over experts such as Hanif Mohammad, Intikhab Alam and many others,” Miandad told .Miandad, who has in the past spoken against the need for foreign coaches, also felt that the board had erred in their choice of a foreigner as coach. “Also, I believe the decision has not been taken on merit since Dav Whatmore has better international experience and has a definite edge since he has the experience of coaching Asian teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.”Miandad said that many of Pakistan’s successes in the past had come under Pakistani coaches, while little had been achieved under foreign coaches.Lawson, however, said that he would like Miandad to be a member of his team. “I’d like to get Javed on board to be part of the coaching crew, to be part of the system and help out, because he was an outstanding player and a tough bloke as well,” he told the . “We could do with a few of those characteristics among the guys at the moment.”Intikhab Alam, a former captain and more importantly the manager-cum-coach of the 1992 World Cup-winning Pakistan side, aired similar views as Miandad. Speaking to , Alam said, “Whatmore had helped Sri Lanka to win World Cup in 1996 and he also showed fine progress with the Bangladesh team.” Talking about Lawson’s appointment to , Alam said, “I have nothing against him but he should be prepared for a lot of criticism and a hard time.”

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has delayed announcing the national squad for the tour to Bangladesh, amid reports of a row over quotas between board president Norman Arendse and the five-man selection committee.The squad was to be finalised on Tuesday and Arendse attributed the delay to the fitness of Neil McKenzie and Andre Nel, who have injuries to the calf muscle and neck respectively and are to be assessed on Monday. “If two of the players [Neil McKenzie and Andre Nel] selected for Bangladesh are not fit and will undergo fitness tests on Monday, why don’t we wait until Monday before we announce the squad,” Arendse was quoted by .Arendse denied reports that he wanted Herschelle Gibbs and Monde Zondeki, both of whom are coloured, to be included in the squad. “At no stage did I say I’m insisting on Gibbs and Zondeki,” Arendse said. “I did not mention their names.”The reported a heated discussion between Arendse and the selectors after the squad chosen by them contained four coloured players against the seven required by CSA policy, after which Arendse refused to approve the squad.While not directly touching on that issue, Arendse said: “My role is not to rubber-stamp the squad. My role is to ensure that the CSA transformation policy is complied with. That may seem controversial to some people but it remains the policy of CSA.”However, South Africa coach Mickey Arthur, who is on the selection panel, said he wanted his strongest team on the field in Bangladesh given that it is followed by a three-Test tour of India. “As a coach and a selector I share Norman’s determination to push the transformation agenda,” Arthur told Reuters. “At the same time, I want to be able to look every player in the eye and tell him: ‘I believe you’re the best player for this position’.”

An England Under-19 XI won the opening match of their pre-World Cup visit to Sri Lanka, beating a Sri Lankan Under-19 XI by 12 runs in a rain-affected game.England won the toss and rattled up 318 for 6 in their 50 overs, Middlesex’s Billy Godleman top scoring with 123. Sri Lanka were never up with the required rate, mainly thanks to Tom Westley who took 3 for 27, and were 12 runs short of the Duckworth-Lewis par when rain brought a premature finish.England will meet Sri Lanka and Pakistan in a triangular series before all three sides head off to Malaysia for the U-19 World Cup.

Michael Clarke says Australia are approaching the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship with enormous confidence and are eager to annex another trophy after their recent World Cup triumph. “I’m really looking forward to the opportunity of playing in the inaugural Twenty20 championship and I’m certain we can bring home the trophy,” Clarke told journalists in Johannesburg during an ICC conference call from Sydney.”In a game of such a short amount of overs, one player can win the match, whether it be in batting, bowling or fielding. We have a lot of talent, a lot of guys who can win a game on their own.”Clarke named the hosts South Africa and England as Australia’s main rivals for cricket’s newest prize, but it is, as usual, going to take something special to snatch another trophy from Ricky Ponting’s grasp. In the last year Australia have widened their lead in the Test Championship rankings, won the Champions Trophy and the World Cup, and they will arrive in South Africa with almost the same squad that triumphed in the Caribbean. Brett Lee comes in for the retired Glenn McGrath and Clarke believes the passing of one great generation will provide the gap for new stars to reveal their talents.”That’s a part of the game, people come and go and they will be missed,” Clarke said. “But other players in Australia will see it as an opportunity and some new blood has now moved into the national team. That is good, it keeps the team fresh and I’m looking forward to seeing how we go without Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn.”Clarke is one of those players who can be a match-winner in all three departments and after making merry in the World Cup, he is looking forward to providing more entertainment in South Africa. He said Twenty20 cricket was the most instinctive form of the game.”It would be wrong to plan too much ahead of a match,” he said. “You’ve got to go with the flow, go with your instincts. As a batsman, you’ve probably got to go for it a bit earlier than you’d like. Twenty20 cricket is fantastic. I love it, especially how fast it is.”