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Pakistan legspinner Danish Kaneria has been found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct on day two of the SCC Test. He was reprimanded by match referee Alan Hurst for abusing Sri Lankan allrounder Angelo Mathews in a hearing that took place after the day’s play.Kaneria was found to have breached clause 1.4 of the Code which relates to “using language that is obscene, offensive or insulting”. The charge was brought by the on-field umpires Ian Gould and Simon Taufel, who were present at the hearing by along with Kaneria, third umpire Gamini Silva, Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed and captain Younis Khan.The incident took place in the 45th over of the Sri Lankan first innings when Kaneria was heard to abuse Mathews after dismissing the batsman. Kaneria, who took five wickets on his return to the Test side, pleaded guilty in the hearing.All Level 1 offences carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50% of a player’s match fee. In such cases, the match referee’s decision is final and a player does not have a right of appeal.

Jonathan Trott has been handed another opportunity to impress the England selectors ahead of the fifth Ashes Test a week on Thursday, after he was named in the England Lions XI to take on the Australians in the two-day warm-up match at Canterbury on Saturday.Trott, who was included in England’s fourth Test squad but missed out on the final XI, is joined by a number of fringe players looking to stake their claim ahead of the winter tours to South Africa and Bangladesh. Stephen Moore, the Worcestershire batsman who cracked 120 against the Australians in England Lions’ match at New Road, was also named.In addition, there are two young and aspiring fast bowlers – Chris Woakes, the Warwickshire seamer, and James Harris from Glamorgan. The side is captained by Jamie Dalrymple; Stephen Davies takes the gloves, and Steve Kirby and Liam Plunkett provide experience with the ball.”The Lions have been given an opportunity to take on Australia again this summer following Kent’s progress to the Twenty20 Finals day,” said Geoff Miller, the national selector.”The Lions provided strong opposition for Australia in the tour match earlier this summer and this fixture will provide selectors with an opportunity to look at a number of established players who have impressed in county cricket this year.”It is also a chance for the likes of Andrew Gale, James Harris and Chris Woakes to show the selectors how they will cope when they come up against a top-class international team such as Australia.”England Lions XI
Jamie Dalrymple (capt), Michael Carberry, Stephen Moore, Jonathan Trott, Andrew Gale, Stephen Davies, Liam Plunkett, Chris Woakes, James Harris, Steve Kirby, Gary Keedy.

ScorecardTwenty wickets fell on the first day of Netherlands and Afghanistan’s ICC Intercontinental Cup clash at Amstelveen, as the home side gained a 74-run lead. Afghanistan are only playing their second match in this tournament, and their inexperience in foreign climes cost them dear when they were rolled for 107 in 36.5 overs.Afghanistan produced what was thought to be an exceptional bowling display, with Hamid Hassan and Mohammed Nabi bagging four wickets a piece, to dismiss Netherlands for 181. But their efforts on the bowler-friendly wicket were soon over-shadowed by a calamitous batting performance, as Netherlands took no prisoners in their reply.Afghanistan began woefully, losing four wickets within the first nine overs with ten runs on the board. Noor Ali failed to reproduce the form he displayed against Zimbabwe XI last week, as he was trapped in front off Mudassar Bukhari without scoring. Ahmed Shah soon followed him back to the pavilion after being run out for one by Daan van Bunge who threw in from wide mid off. Edgar Schiferli continued the rout by bowling Mohammed Shahzad for nine, then Asghar Stanikzai was caught low down by Wesley Barresi off Schiferli for a sixth-ball duck.Netherlands were understandably chirpy in the field by this point, but a fifty partnership between Nowroz Mangal and Raees Ahmadzai brought some hope to the visitors. The storm wasn’t calm for long however, as Ahmadzai played one straight back to Seelar who snapped him up, caught and bowled, for 27, with the score at 60 for 5.Captain Mangal stuck in there resolutely as wickets fell around him; Peter Borren being the main culprit, dismissing Nabi for 13, who was caught by Bas Zuiderent, and the spectacular clean-up of Samuillah Shenwari, whose leg-stump was sent cartwheeling as he was bowled for 5. But Mangal’s resistance finally came unstuck as he played straight to Zuiderent at cover point off Borren for 41.It didn’t take much for Seelaar to wrap up the innings, taking the final two wickets with considerable ease. He dispatched Shapoor Zadran leg-before with considerable guile, as the flighted delivery hit the back pad sending Zadran packing for 4. The final wicket came as Hassan skied a huge drive off Seelaar down the throat of Mark Jonkman on the long-off boundary.Earlier, Borren was ruing the decision to bat first on what turned out to be a tricky wicket, as his side fell to 75 for 3 at lunch. If it wasn’t for an impressive knock from Tom de Grooth, who scored 54 before caught and bowled by Nabi, the state of play at the end of the first day could have been very different.

A PIL has been filed with the Madras High Court seeking to stop the Indian team from visiting Sri Lanka for the tri-series citing alleged human rights violation against Tamils by the Sri Lankan government.The petitioner, Joel Poul Antony, an advocate, said the international community would not respect India if it sent a team to play in Sri Lanka. The Madurai bench of the High Court issued notice to the ministries of Home, External Affairs and Youth and Sports Welfare as well as a private notice to the Indian board.A 25-year war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE finally came to an end in May this year after the rebels, fighting to create a separate nation for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils, were defeated.

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, is not willing to accept Younis Khan’s resignation as captain of Pakistan and hopes he can change Younis’s mind over the next few days. Younis handed in his resignation on Tuesday during the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports meeting to look into allegations that Pakistan’s losses to New Zealand and Australia were fixed. The charges had been made initially by an Indian newspaper, only for them to be retracted, before MNA Jamshed Dasti, the head of the committee, leveled similar charges and called the hearing.Butt said that Younis twice gave his resignation, once during the meeting itself and then, after it was turned down, after the meeting when he rushed into Butt’s car to hand him the letter again. Both times, however, Butt refused to accept it, instead asking Younis to meet him personally in the hope of getting him to change his mind.”I didn’t accept his resignation during the meeting and he then forced it on me in the car, and I didn’t accept it there either,” Butt told Cricinfo. “He was very disturbed and perturbed by the whole affair and it is easy to see why. These kind of allegations are serious and without evidence they are damaging.”Butt was insistent that Younis was still the best man for the job. “In the next couple of days I am hoping to meet him. I told him to come and meet me and we can discuss it. I want him to withdraw his decision, I want him to continue. We need him. I don’t mind criticism of us, the administration and board, but not the players. They’ve done well in recent times and I want that to continue.”Some of the speculation surrounding the reasons behind Younis’ decision centred on Shahid Afridi’s meeting with the chairman in Lahore a few days ago. It has been suggested that the meeting was part of moves to sideline Younis as ODI captain, replacing him with Afridi. Butt rubbished the theories, saying the meeting was held to discuss preparations for the World Twenty20, scheduled to be held in the Caribbean next April.”Afridi is my Twenty20 captain and there is a Twenty20 World Cup not so long from now in the West Indies,” Butt said. “It had nothing to do with anything else. He wanted to meet me to discuss preparations for that tournament and he is the captain, so there is nothing so extraordinary in that.”

Australia had another addition to their already long list of injuries when their wicketkeeper Tim Paine was ruled out of the series with a finger injury. Australia expect to have a replacement for Paine, who will fly home, before the next ODI in Delhi on Saturday but they have not named his substitute. There are no other specialist wicketkeepers in the original squad.”Paine has got a badly broken finger,” Ricky Ponting said. “He will be going home pretty much straight away. We haven’t been able to name a replacement because of the time difference in Australia at the moment. [The travelling selector] David Boon’s been in touch with Andrew Hilditch and we’ll be able to name somebody tomorrow morning. As to when Tim is flying out I am not sure.”It’s Thursday morning back home, and we should be able to get someone out by Thursday afternoon. If they do, they’ll arrive in India the same day I expect.”Paine picked up the problem to a ring finger when trying to collect a bouncer from Peter Siddle in the eighth over of the 99-run defeat to India in the second ODI. The physio tended to him at the end of that over, after which he managed to keep wickets through the innings. He then opened the innings, cobbling together a 14-ball 8 before being bowled by Praveen Kumar.Australia were already without the services of their premier limited-overs fast bowler Brett Lee and allrounder James Hopes for Wednesday’s game in Nagpur. This was in addition to the loss of their highest ranked one-day bowler Nathan Bracken, middle-order batsman Michael Clarke and first-choice wicketkeeper Brad Haddin before the series to injuries.Haddin has recovered from finger surgery that sidelined him since the Ashes loss in August, and will test his fitness for New South Wales against Western Australia in a one-day match on Sunday. “There will be a number of names thrown around,” Ponting said. “I don’t think there’s an absolute standout replacement, to tell you the truth. The selectors will have to have a bit of a chat tomorrow morning.”

One of the toughest things for Simon Katich since his Test return last year is his struggle to find a regular partner. Not being a specialist opener makes the job difficult enough without the face at the other end changing. And having put a lot of time into developing four intense relationships, there is no guarantee the groundwork he has done with Shane Watson will keep them together for a summer of run loving.”When you’re opening, you sort of form a team within a team,” Katich said as he prepared for Thursday’s first Test against West Indies. “I guess that’s been one of the hardest things for me since I came back into the Test team 18 months ago, the changes in openers through injury or retirement or other reasons.”I started out with Phil Jaques, then it was Haydos, Phil Hughes and now Watto. It was obviously a tough call on Hughsey after Lord’s but I’ve enjoyed batting with Watto as well. I have no idea what the selectors and Ricky have planned for him in the long-term, but he obviously did well in the Ashes. He’s a very talented cricketer.”Watson’s best spot is in the middle order but because he has been chosen as an opener everyone in the Australian set-up has to say how well-suited he is at the top of the order. Neither Katich nor Watson do the job for New South Wales, where Hughes and Jaques go in first, but that hasn’t stopped them talking about developing a strong liaison against West Indies.”Having a left-right combination can sometimes help depending on the bowlers that you face,” Katich said after training at the Gabba. “In England we enjoyed opening together and had reasonable starts. We would obviously like to build on that.”Katich always lets his partner take the strike, a trait begun by Adam Gilchrist’s preference to face in one-day games, so it will be Watson who has to absorb the opening efforts of either Jerome Taylor or Kemar Roach this week. The pitch is currently very green, but there are still two days to go before the match and the weather is expected to continue being warm and humid.Openers know the opening session of the Gabba will be the toughest of the summer and Watson and Katich plan a rendezvous before the game to discuss how they will counter the conditions and the West Indies attack. It’s been three months since their previous batting date, but even if both of them continue to be successful it’s unlikely the partnership will last in the long term.

James Anderson, who took a career-best 5 for 23 at Port Elizabeth to give England a 2-1 lead in the one-day series, was on the verge of being withdrawn from the five-match contest against South Africa after concerns grew over his troublesome knee.Anderson had been battling the injury since the start of the tour and it reached a stage where the team management were considering resting their key strike bowler to preserve him for the Test series. However, coach Andy Flower said they took a gamble to play him at Centurion Park and since then the knee has responded well.”We were worried at one stage; we thought of pulling him from the one-day series completely,” Flower said. “We took a little bit of a gamble to play him in the first match at Centurion. Some of the [medical] advice was not to play him. But we thought we’d better play him to see how his knee reacts to a 10-over spell and 50 overs in the field.”He was very surprised by how well he came through it, and so were the medical people – and now it’s getting better every day.”Anderson’s main problem now is actually a damaged toe which he hurt when stubbing his foot on a chair before the fourth ODI. He needed a local anaesthetic to get through the match but, even though it could be broken, he is not in doubt for the final match at Durban.”He’ll be fine,” Flower said. “The doctor’s had a look at it and he’s not even going to x-ray it – because he says, ‘Look, if it’s got a crack in it there’s nothing much we can do anyway’.”Flower is also confident that his latest recruit to England’s backroom staff, Graham Gooch, will slot in well with the touring party when he joins up for a short period around the first Test to act as a batting coach. It is a role Flower used to undertake before taking over the head coach’s position and he has a close relationship with Gooch following their time together at Essex.”I’ve got the utmost respect for him. He will bring a lot of experience, a lot of expertise, competitive spirit and patriotism,” he said. “He’ll be a great guy to have around. But he’s quite a busy guy with other commitments, and I don’t think we could get him full time.”

Doug Bollinger proved during the Adelaide Test that he is a passionate character on the field and he has enjoyed stepping in to Australia’s new-look fast-bowling group in the absence of Ben Hilfenhaus. Australia view Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle as the future of the Test attack, and despite being the oldest of the four, Bollinger is the least experienced in Tests.That hasn’t stopped Bollinger, 28, from voicing his opinion out in the middle. Bollinger said the natural connection between the new fast bowlers helped counter the lack of experience in a line-up that the West Indies coach David Williams said during the Adelaide Test could “be taken apart”.”Sometimes you try and do that on the field, whether it’s a good time or a bad time, you like to put your comments in just because you’re think you’re a bit older and all that,” Bollinger said in the . “We all get along, all four of us, and [with] Troy Cooley the bowling coach have spoken a lot.”If anything happens we make sure we speak up. It doesn’t matter if you’ve played two games, 100 games, 50 Tests, as long as everyone’s putting their input in and doing something for the team. We all got along, myself, Hilfy, Sids and Mitch. I think that’s just as good as playing 120 games. As long as we’re all connecting.”Before the Adelaide Test, which was his second for Australia, Bollinger described himself as “loud and obnoxious” and his fiery nature was on display when he kicked the turf in anger at an lbw appeal that didn’t go his way. It was an action that earned him a reprimand from the match referee, but Bollinger has vowed not to lose his aggressive streak and hopes he and the similarly fiery Siddle can become a fearsome duo.”Sids is a great fighter,” Bollinger said. “He does get fired up, I like it, actually. You’re playing for your country, you’re not there to make friends, you’re there to win and do your best. A bit of fire doesn’t hurt anyone. I like it how he gets passionate, that’s all I try and do there and if you get a bit angry there, well, that’s good. I like to see it.”[Kicking the ground] was just one of those things that happened. Obviously there’s lines that you can’t cross in international cricket, and I think I was a little bit frustrated. I just wanted to do well and it all mixed together into a bit of a brain explosion, but that’s what happens and I will make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Yuvraj Singh, the Indian batsman, will not take further part in the ongoing second Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur after it was revealed that he suffered a ligament tear in his left wrist, coach Gary Kirsten confirmed.”He has a torn cartilage on this wrist,” Kirsten said. “Yuvraj will be struggling to make it for the first Test against South Africa. He will be out for a while. But he will stay till this game ends.”Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid, who was hospitalised after getting hit on the face by Shahadat Hossain’s bouncer on the second day, suffered a fracture on the cheek bone but had been discharged.”He has got quite a nasty injury to his face,” Kirsten said. “He is currently staying in Bangladesh. Later, he will consult a specialist to find out what needs to be done and how long he would be out. For Rahul, we don’t have the long-term prognosis.”Also, Sachin Tendulkar injured his shoulder today while attempting a difficult catch off Tamim Iqbal. However, Kirsten said there was no need to worry. “He is okay. He will be fine.”Four Indian players – three middle-order batsmen and a fast bowler – have sustained injuries during this tour. VVS Laxman injured his left hand while attempting a catch at first slip in Chittagong; Sreesanth strained his hamstring while bowling in the second innings of the first Test; Dravid fractured his jaw after being hit by a bouncer from Shahadat, and now Yuvraj Singh has injured his left wrist.The selectors are scheduled to pick the Indian team for the upcoming home series against South Africa’s on January 28.