Lord MacLaurin, the former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has called for a major review of the ICC in the wake of the murder of Bob Woolmer last Sunday.”When you have a terrible situation like we are now facing, one’s got to look at the whole of the operation: the directorship; the way it’s run; the calibre of people that are doing it,” he said. “We’ve got to have the very best people running world cricket, otherwise we will continue to have problems.”Although police do not, as yet, have any proof that corruption and match-fixing are the heartbeat of the whole investigation, the smoke signals are there. Rumours abound that Woolmer’s forthcoming book was to reveal the true extent of the game’s rotten core and have invited reactions from across cricket’s community, with Michael Vaughan, the England captain, conceding corruption is, in his “gut instinct,” still part of the game.”When you’ve got something like this happening, which has really besmirched this World Cup, we’ve got to look at absolutely everything in cricket and make sure no stone is left unturned to make sure we do the very, very best for cricket around the world,” MacLaurin said.It was during MacLaurin’s tenure as ECB chairman, in 2000, that the first thorough investigation into cricket’s match-fixing was undertaken. MacLaurin employed Sir Paul Condon, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who, although now retired, is on standby to assist. In his 2001 report Condon recommended a permanent Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) be installed which, since 2003, has been in West Indies preparing for the World Cup and identifying suspect gangs and syndicates.”The only way I can suggest you stop it – or try to stop it – is to make sure you have the finest people running world cricket that you can possibly have,” MacLaurin said. “But you will always have a problem, whether it be cricket or soccer or even in business.”

Is there a weakness in this Australian side? Who knows it? It’s been 27 matches and eight years since they were beaten in a World Cup. With every passing day in this competition their aura grows stronger, their stature more forbidding. On Monday a member of the coaching staff flung balls at close range to Ricky Ponting and the captain kept pouching them as nonchalantly as snapping his fingers. Brad Hogg was in a boxing drill. Matthew Hayden was swinging ball after ball out of the practice area. Even at training they have such a presence. It is said the law of averages must catch up with them. Yes, but whose averages?In any event they had five losses on the run before coming to the Caribbean so that takes care of averages for a couple of years. There’s been all this talk of peaking early but Ponting would have nothing of it. More left in the tank? “Absolutely. All that we’ve done in the tournament so far is play somewhere near our best, individually and as a team. Until individual performances start surprising me we’ve always got room for improvement. I haven’t been surprised with anything so far.” Well.Try another one. Fair to say they have not been challenged? “It depends how you regard being challenged. We’ve challenged ourselves through the tournament. We’ve made 377 against South Africa last time. That’s a challenge in itself. You have to do that. I think to win the last two games the way we have against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, we challenged ourselves a lot in those games. We’ll challenge ourselves again [against South Africa] and if we get stiffer opposition then it should be a great game.”If there’s one thing this South African team has shown it is that they have it in them to take on Australia at their own game. Everyone remembers the miracle at Wanderers, and St Kitts last month for a while threatened to go the same way. Then Shane Watson made a direct hit – from the backward square-leg boundary. The moral of the story seemed to be: whatever the situation, the Australians seemed to have a man for the moment.But South Africa will have to do more than match Australia for power-hitting: they will need precision, control, nous and energy required to penetrate them. If South Africa are able to make inroads with the ball, it will be a first in the tournament. Australia have not lost more than six wickets in an innings in the entire World Cup. Five out of nine times they’ve put up more than 300; whenever they haven’t they’ve been chasing with insulting ease.Only three times in nine games has their opening stand put on less than 50; on both those occasions the second-wicket partnership did. Hayden has demolished all comers. And as he says, even if, say, Watson was to get a blob on Wednesday he’d still average 142 for the tournament. “As a batting unit we’re very proud,” he said. “We’ve had some unbelievable achievements.”

Indeed, so dominant has been the Australian top order that it’s been easy to overlook their bowling. Yet, look at the tables. Before the first semi-final the leading wicket-taker was Glenn McGrath with 22. The contrasting figures of Brad Hogg and Shaun Tait have 19 each.It is difficult to say just which breed will stand to benefit from the surface at Beausejour. Hayden, who spent a fair amount of time knocking about the ground on Monday, thought the surface to be the best he’s seen all tournament. “It’s superb, very even.” It might be a difficult decision at the toss, Ponting suggested. “This morning it would have been a bowl-first wicket because there was a bit of moisture around but the covers had only been off for about half an hour before we got here,” he said. “The groundsman assures me they will be off at about 5am tomorrow so it should be a little bit drier.”The open architecture which allows breeze and the reasonable boundary size will probably make spin a factor, and while Australia have the left-arm mysteries of Hogg, South Africa have, well, Graeme Smith – assuming that they will, as they should, prefer their more accomplished fast bowlers to Robin Peterson.Australia remain unchanged, Ponting announced. But then not much has changed with them all World Cup.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Nathan Bracken, 10 Glenn McGrath, 11 Shaun Tait.

Scotland are waiting for ICC developments over Zimbabwe’s possible inclusion in the Intercontinental Cup before deciding what stance to take over a potential visit to the country.The ICC Cricket Committee recently recommended that Zimbabwe play more four-day matches to enhance their chances of a return to the Test scene and earmarked the Associate competition as a route they could take.However, that would throw up the issue of more teams needing to tour the country because, if Zimbabwe were handed the same rights as the Associate countries, they would be permitted to play every second match on home soil.Roddy Smith, the Scotland chief executive, told : “It would not be an issue for me, it would be an issue for our board, in consultation with the Scottish Executive and the Foreign Office. It’s all hypothetical at this stage but if it became a reality, we would have to look at it and make a decision based on all the relevant factors at the time.”However, he added that it was unlikely Zimbabwe would join because the Associates are already stretched with the amount of cricket they play. “If the ICC wanted us to play another match that would involved foreign travel, we would have to find the time and money to do it,” he said. “Also, we wouldn’t make any money out of playing Zimbabwe. So it wouldn’t be a commercially attractive proposition for us.”Zimbabwe have been suspended from Tests since September 2005 although they have continued to play ODIs. However, their performances during the World Cup – where they tied with Ireland and lost to Pakistan and West Indies – highlighted ongoing concerns about their ability.Last month Australia’s proposed tour of Zimbabwe was called off after intervention from the government.

Midlands-West-Wales Division

A brilliant 54 from Usman Afzaal, which included 32 from one over off Andy Caddick, led Northamptonshire to a 24-run win over Somerset at Taunton, abetted by Duckworth Lewis. Somerset had raced to 200 from their 20 overs courtesy of Marcus Trescothick’s brutal 76 from 35 balls (with five fours and seven sixes). James Hildreth (22 from 17) and Peter Trego (20 from 12) further bolstered a competitive total. But Afzaal, weary of the looming clouds, blasted the attack – Caddick in particular, who was cracked for four sixes and two fours off a single over. Northants sped to 92 for 1 off seven overs before the rain fell, awarding the game to the visitors who were well ahead on run-rate.A fine spell of 3 for 18 from Heath Streak prevented Glamorgan chasing down 173 to beat Warwickshire as the home side pulled off a three-run win at Edgbaston. Streak removed three of Glamorgan’s top six, reducing them to 117 for 5, but Mark Wallace gave the visitors some hope with a blistering 35 from 19 balls. However, when he fell to Streak, Glamorgan’s lower-order were left with too much to do. Warwickshire’s 173 was guided by another fine knock from Jonathan Trott, whose prolific form continued with a top score of 44 from 40 balls.

South Division

Surrey continued their promising start to the Twenty20 season with a thumping six-wicket win over Hampshire at The Oval. In a reduced game of 10 overs each, Hampshire were restricted to a disappointing 72 for 8, with Nayan Doshi ending with the superb figures of 3 for 6. Only Michael Carberry (20 from 17) and Michael Lumb (19 from 9) at the top of the order troubled Surrey, as Hampshire collapsed to the spin of Doshi and Chris Schofield (2 for 16). Alistair Brown cracked 31 from 20 balls to guide Surrey home.Sussex’s match against Middlesex at Hove was called off due to rain.

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.”

Worcestershire’s abandoned County Championship fixture against Kent at New Road has been rescheduled for the end of July, and their floodlit Pro40 fixture against Hampshire on Friday will now be played at the County Ground in Derby, after the ECB exercised discretion in their enquiry into last week’s washout.Following the devastating floods that left Worcestershire’s ground under water for several days, the ECB recognised that “exceptional efforts” had been made by the club to get the match underway, including the recruitment of an army of volunteers to clean away the detritus. Kent had offered to host the game at Beckenham well in advance of the start of the match, but Worcestershire declined, and provided assurances that the ground would be fit for first-class cricket by July 8.The ECB concluded that Worcestershire’s decision to go ahead with the match had been made in “good faith” but was “highly optimistic”. “The board recognised the exceptional circumstances and the severe financial issues caused to Worcestershire CCC by the flooding, [but] the opinion of the match officials present at the ground was that there was serious doubt that the playing area would be fit in time for the NatWest Pro40 match scheduled for July 13.””The object was to try and get cricket played on Friday,” Mark Newton, Worcestershire’s chief executive, told Cricinfo. “The day/night game is one of the most important matches of the year for the club. Other than the financial considerations we have a contract to keep with Sky Sports. The bottom line is that we are a business and we have to ensure our financial future.””Despite all the best efforts of my colleagues and the members who volunteered to help last week, we cannot 100% guarantee that the outfield will be playable. This match is scheduled as the competition opener so it must be played and we feel, in consultation with the ECB, that this is the best way.”On July 3 it was decided that the ECB would allocate £75,000 to assist in the restoration of New Road, but Worcestershire face further losses if they cannot get the ground back to working order soon. The ECB have advised the county to prepare contingency plans for their next home Championship match against Lancashire which is scheduled to get underway on July 20.Worcestershire’s rematch with Kent will begin on July 30, but will involve a mid-match trip to Chelmsford on August 2, when Worcestershire are scheduled to take on Essex in a televised Pro40 match.

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.”

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Twenty20 cricket is that in such a shortened format, no team can be taken for granted. The Australians were at the receiving end of one of the biggest upsets in this decade, going down to Zimbabwe in Cape Town, and it’s the element of surprise people will look forward to when they take guard against Bangladesh in the first part of the double-header at Newlands.The manner in which Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Ashraful detonated West Indies in Johannesburg and nearly took the South Africans to the cleaners has proved that they are no pushovers against the best. The defeat against South Africa will force them to rethink their batting strategy. Australia overcame their rustiness with a crushing eight-wicket win against England and that could well be a sneak preview for what is yet to come.Bat play : High-adrenalin willow-bashing gets the crowds pouring in, and in that department, Bangladesh have not disappointed. Ashraful and Aftab knocked West Indies out of the tournament with fearless hitting, and the crowds gasped at the way Aftab threw his bat at everything in Cape Town. One would have to wonder what would have been had the batsmen tempered their aggression after the initial blitz. Nazimuddin’s twin failures at the top could leave an opening for fellow newcomers like Junaid Siddique.The results of Ricky Ponting’s talk of not respecting the game enough after the Zimbabwe debacle reflected in the way Australia chased down England’s modest target of 136 with over five overs to spare. The openers, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist have fired and the middle order will be waiting to have a go.Wrecking ball: Mashrafe Mortaza has been a disappointment so far, adding to the burden on Syed Rasel to check the flow of runs. Ashraful will continue to rely heavily on his spinners, and Abdur Razzak’s ability to fire the ball in at a flat trajectory will be a useful weapon to curb hitters like Hayden from stepping down the track.Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Bracken shared the spoils with three wickets each against England and also kept the runs down. Brad Hogg, after a successful World Cup is due to get a game and with the business end of the tournament set to begin, they’d be better off bringing on the specialists, instead of relying on part-timers like Brad Hodge.Keep your eye on: Andrew Symonds. There may be little to differentiate him with the rest in a team of big hitters but his presence bound to have a demoralising effect on the bowlers, given his ability to stand at the crease and hoick balls out of the ground. Following his 31 against Zimbabwe, a big score is lurking around the corner somewhere.Shop Talk: “We beat them [Australia] in a 50-over game in Cardiff, so in Twenty20 cricket we still have a very good chance”, said a confident Ashraful after the loss to South Africa. Ashraful has the license to fire off pre-match salvos like that after masterminding that victory two years ago. Bangladesh have only gained in confidence as a team since then so the pressure will be on Australia.Pitching it right: With rain in the air, the pitch at Newlands should give the bowlers the kind of purchase they’re looking for. The South Africa- Bangladesh was played on a dry surface with plenty of cracks, assisting both the seamers and spinners so one can expect similar conditions.TeamsAustralia (probable) Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Andrew Symonds, Brad Hodge, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Stuart Clark, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Mitchell JohnsonBangladesh (probable) Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Alok Kapali, Farhad Reza, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzak

Paul ‘Sachin’ Harris
He’s tormented Pakistan enough with the ball, but it was now Paul Harris’ turn to do so with the bat. He arrived early this morning and took a crunching blow to the head to begin with. But the more he hung around, the better he got. Having survived a barrage of bouncers and frustrating Danish Kaneria with the sweep, he pulled out the day’s glory off Mohammad Asif: a drive on the up, straight enough past the stumps, elbow high, Sachin Tendulkar’s trademark stroke. It was, for Pakistan, the most dispiriting moment of the day.Are we in Johannesburg? – III
Perhaps learning from Pakistan’s mistakes earlier, Dale Steyn kept it full in his first over and Kamran Akmal duly played-and-missed on several occasions. However, reverting to the shorter length, Steyn was edged over the slips for a four, straight-driven for another, pulled past mid-on for a third, driven to cover for three and finally driven to the backward point boundary to end a 19-run over.Guard of honour
As Inzamam-ul-Haq strode out of ODIs in Jamaica, he was given a guard of honour by his team-mates. A repeat of that, with the South African team lining up near the pitch and welcoming the local hero as he ambled in at the fall of Akmal’s wicket, for what could very well be his last outing. As suggested by our very own Cricinfo journalist, it might well have been a tactic employed for a flow of emotions which, in turn, could lead to an early dismissal.Nel kneels to pray
Pakistan’s openers were tearing into South Africa’s attack, Andre Nel was tearing into Pakistan and something had to give. In the 14th over of the innings, Butt left a ball from Nel that angled in and missed the stumps by a few inches. Nel’s follow-through is one of cricket’s great sights; this time he curved round, off the pitch and knelt down cursing his luck. Anywhere else, that would’ve been that. In Pakistan, during Ramadan, and on a ground where Mohammad Yousuf first knelt down in a prayer of thanks (for his double century), the gesture was significant, as the crowd’s roars of approval proved.Rattled yet again
Younis Khan, with an aggressive century in his previous Test outing a few days ago, was welcomed by a loud Lahore crowd, hoping for a repeat of aggression right from the start. Clipping his second delivery to midwicket for three, Younis was on his way. Well, until a quick delivery, prompting a rash drive, sneaked in between bat and pad to peg back Younis’ off stump. A reckless shot to be dismissed cheaply again, this was the third time Younis had his stumps rattled in three consecutive innings.Marathon man
Pakistan are in the midst of a fitness makeover and Kamran Akmal appears to be one of the beneficiaries. He told David Dwyer, the new fitness trainer, that he felt the freshest he has ever been after keeping for 90 overs under the Karachi sun. He kept here for 125 overs before calmly trotting out to open Pakistan’s innings. A flurry of boundaries and a second half-century, off only 56 balls, suggests he wasn’t kidding about how fresh he feels. If only he could hold on to the catches.

Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain, believes politics could rule out the possibility of having a managing director for the West Indies team.”Politics-wise, that might be a little difficult,” Lloyd told Stabroek News when asked whether West Indies might follow England’s lead of appointing Hugh Morris as the managing director.However, he did not completely rule out that possibility. “Probably they [West Indies board] might come to that if they could find somebody that could carry those duties,” Lloyd said.Lloyd believed the route to Test success lies in developing a better domestic cricket structure. “If our inter-island cricket is strong, our Test cricket will be strong. We have the academies coming on stream, we have the colleges fielding a team to play in our domestic cricket and the Under-19s are now playing in the one-day competition.”At the moment we have a very vibrant cricket committee, there are Deryck Murray, Andy Roberts, Ian Bishop, Courtney Walsh, Desmond Haynes. They are very experienced individuals of high repute. We are doing our best to do the right thing. It is important getting the players to understand their purpose,” he said pointing out that the committee can only make recommendations to the Board as the Board has the final say.”Lloyd also supported the presence of the non-cricketers in the board of directors that currently comprises 18 administrators. “I would not say they [administrators] don’t have any interest in the game. It can’t be all cricketers; business people have a place on the board as well to play. What we need to do is get the right blend and I think at the moment we have the right blend. The common goal is to bring West Indies further up the ladder.”Speaking about his decision to quit the Standford Legends board, which organised the successful Standford Twenty20 competition last year, he said it was done to avoid any possible conflict of interest with his position as a WICB board member.”I am quite happy with what I am trying to do and the most important thing is to get West Indies cricket back on track. I will do that as long as I have breath in my body.”