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Sreesanth, the Indian fast bowler, has been fined half his match fee for breaching clause 2.4 of the ICC Code of Conduct which relates to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play” during the fourth day of the second Test at Trent Bridge.Sreesanth was charged for shoulder-barging Michael Vaughan during the first session of play on the fourth day. He pleaded guilty at a hearing convened by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle at the end of the day.”Cricket is a non-contact sport and any deviation from that fact is completely unacceptable, a point I made to Sreesanth in handing down my verdict,” Madugalle said. “I have no problem with players being combative on the field but there is a line they cannot cross and Sreesanth crossed that line when he barged past Michael Vaughan, a collision he had every opportunity to avoid.”I am pleased that Sreesanth accepted he was in the wrong by pleading guilty and that he apologized for his actions and I hope he learns from his mistake here.”In December 2006, Sreesanth had been fined 30% of his match fee during India’s tour of South Africa for “showing a lack of respect” towards Hashim Amla after dismissing him at Johannesburg.

Shahrayar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has launched a scathing attack on the Australian umpire, Darrell Hair, accusing him of intransigence and insensitivity, and has requested to the International Cricket Council that he never officiates in a Test involving Pakistan again.Speaking to the media at the Marriott Hotel in North West London, Shahrayar described the incidents that led to the forfeiture of yesterday’s fourth Test at The Oval as “a grievous blow to the spirit of cricket,” adding that the team was “deeply indignant” at the manner in which the ball-tampering issue arose.”Darrell Hair has trained his guns on the team,” said Shahrayar. “It is a slur on the players and a slur to Pakistan itself. The team has had problems with him before, and have lost confidence in him as an umpire. They are deeply offended by his attitude. Ask the Sri Lankans, ask the Indians about the same man.”The ICC, however, has told Cricinfo that they will not be dictated to by their member nations when it comes to appointing umpires for specific series, citing the problems recently encountered in Italian football when certain referees are assigned to certain games.”We are not dictating to the ICC,” insisted Shahrayar. “When we have previously raised this issue, they have said that they have very few umpires, and that it is not always possible to suit every country. If every country were to say, “I don’t want A, B, C, I want X, Y, Z, that would be wrong.”But I think our case is somewhat different. It is not the fact that Darrell Hair is a bad umpire, Darrell Hair is a good umpire. Our team has a problem with his attitude on the field. That attitude has upset our team more than once. If the ICC is sensitive to countries and to boards, it will take due cogniscence. We have not raised this issue about any other umpire. Billy Doctrove, we welcome.”Shahrayar reiterated that Hair was the single bone of contention for the Pakistanis, adding that the spirit between the two teams had not been remotely affected by the issue, and that both sides had been ready and willing to take the field in yesterday’s final session, and get the game back underway.”Cricket is a bridge of peace,” he added. “In these days of tension outside the cricket ground, what a wonderful sight it is to see cricket between a Muslim country and Muslim people, and England, the majority Christians. Why destroy this bridge of peace? Why go on and on with intransigence, saying ‘No, no, no, we will not resume [the match] I find that very difficult.”Hair however was doing nothing more than following the letter of the law, and in that respect the Pakistanis have been hoisted by their own petard, after refusing to take the field after tea in protest. “I don’t regret the protest at all,” insisted Shahrayar. “It was entirely justified.”Even so, there seemed to be some confusion about the events of the afternoon, with Shahrayar claiming that the ball – 56 overs old – had been damaged by a spate of sixes from Kevin Pietersen that had bounced off the concrete. In fact, Pietersen only started hitting sixes after the ball had been changed.For all his positive noises, Shahrayar stopped short of offering a full assurance that the remainder of the tour would go ahead as planned. “I don’t want to answer hypothetical questions,” he stated. “Our decision is that we should play the five one-day matches, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”Everything rests on Inzamam-ul-Haq’s Code of Conduct hearing, which takes place on Friday. He faces a ban of up to eight one-day internationals after being charged with a Level 3 Code of Conduct offence for bringing the game into disrepute. However, as Inzamam told Cricinfo this morning, it is the lesser charge of ball-tampering, a Level 2 offence, on which this entire issue hinges.Consequently, the PCB have taken a somewhat contradictory stance on the Level 3 offence, insisting that they will challenge the forfeiture, but will not be seeking to alter the result of the match. “The England team were willing to play,” commented Abbas Zaidi, the PCB’s director of board operations. “That is a great tribute to the spirit between the teams.”

Graham Thorpe, the former England middle-order batsman, has announced that he plans to retire from all forms of the game at the end of the season.Thorpe, who recently decided to quit the international scene after being left out of the England squad for the current Ashes series, cited physical constraints as one of the reasons for this decision and said he didn’t have “much left in the tank”.”I have decided the time has come for me to retire,” Thorpe, 36, told the . “It is an emotional moment and there are many things I will miss, but I feel comfortable that this is the right decision.”Thorpe, who scored 6,744 runs during his 100-Test career, said he was available for Surrey until the end of the season and plans to take up a coaching position in Sydney next year but a long-standing back problem means he will play only in an emergency. “In purely physical terms, I don’t want to go through another season of taking painkillers and having injections for my back,” he said. “There is no point carrying on for the sake of it. I just haven’t got that much left in the tank.”

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Indian board, has said that there would be no confusion over player contracts during forthcoming ICC tournaments. The Press Trust of India reports that the players and the board have agreed that the terms followed during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa would be followed for the time being.The lead up to the last World Cup was dogged by the controversy of several leading Indian cricketers refusing to sign an ICC contract that would allow them to take part in the tournament as the new contract raised conflicts with pre-existing contracts the players held with individual sponsors. This centred mainly around the clause that stipulated that players could not endorse any product that was in competition with the official sponsors of the ICC tournament for a period of 30 days on either side of the tournaments. This was later amended to apply only for the duration of the tournament.Dalmiya, speaking on the eve of his departure to London to attend the annual ICC meeting, said that there was no confusion now, and that all parties involved knew exactly what the procedure was. During the last World Cup the ICC’s executive committee decided to enforce a contract with altered terms that meant that the anti-ambush marketing clauses in place would apply only for the duration of the tournament. Also, the imaging clause, which allowed the official sponsors to use images of players, has been restricted to a duration of three months after an ICC tournament.This latest statement from Dalmiya reassures sponsors and players that the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy in England will proceed smoothly and that there will not be a repeat of what happened last year.

Derbyshire have signed the Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif, 22, as their secondoverseas player for the current season. Kaif, who has a four-month contract,will replace Shahid Afridi at the end of May, and is expected to make hisdebut against Glamorgan at Swansea on June 4.Derbyshire’s original choice, the New Zealander Nathan Astle, ruled himselfout after undergoing surgery on a tendon tear in his left knee and for ahernia earlier this month.Kaif played for India in the recent World Cup, and is well-known to Englishfans, after his combination with Yuvraj Singh in a 121-run sixth-wicketpartnership as India successfully chased England’s 325 in last year’sNatWest Series final at Lord’s. Kaif scored an unbeaten 87 in the two-wicketvictory.”He is a top signing. A real quality batsman and wonderful fielder,” saidDerbyshire’s coach Adrian Pierson. “Kaif should provide great value andentertainment for Derbyshire. We are very lucky to have him.”

After a day of toil and sweat, Shane Warne finally landed his 400th Testwicket at the AMP Oval today while, after waiting ten years, Mark Ramprakashfinally made his first Test century on home soil.The long awaited hundred was only his second Test century in a careerspanning 46 Tests and it took five-and-a-quarter hours in the blisteringheat to complete on the ground the Surrey batsman made his new home earlierthis year. The innings brought England in sight of the follow-on target of442, closing the third day of the match on 409 for eight with Ramprakashunbeaten on 124.For much of his innings he played second fiddle to his partners with firstNasser Hussain, then Usman Afzaal stealing the limelight. But he workedhard in the background, accumulating his runs quietly and cleanly until hearrived in the 80s and with England losing their eighth wicket, he wassuddenly in danger of running out of partners.But Darren Gough stayed with him and finally, with the shadows lengthening,he drove Warne elegantly to the extra cover boundary to celebrate a momentthat will remain one of the most emotional of his career. It was his 15thboundary from 196 balls and it resulted in a standing ovation from the18 000 strong London crowd. His England colleagues applauded from thebalcony, Gough gave him a big bearhug and the Australian players, includingSteve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist, came to him to shake his hand.Warne also had to wait to reach his milestone. Five long hours after takinghis 399th wicket, he finally hit the jackpot with the support of his captainwho tossed him the new ball when it was just six overs old. It allowed Warneto enter the history books as the sixth bowler in Test history to take 400wickets.He celebrated in the new way – by holding the cricket ball above his headand turning a circle to acknowledge the applause, as batters do with theirhardware. And most of the crowd rose to their feet to showtheir appreciation, aware that for the second consecutive day in this lastnpower Test of the summer, they were witnessing something special.Alec Stewart, who was also Warne’s 150th and 250th Test victim, was caught behindtrying to steer the ball down to third man after he had made 29 and put on58 for the sixth wicket with Ramprakash.With the very next ball, Warne added another statistic to his record bookswhen he took five wickets in a Test innings for the 19th time, having AndrewCaddick leg before for a duck.His hat-trick opportunity arrived in the shape of James Ormond, playing in hisfirst Test match and arriving at the crease with England’s score 313 forseven, still 129 runs shy of the follow on, but Ormond shrugged offthe pressure and pushed Warne to mid on to get off the mark.Warne was in action from the Vauxhall End for most the day although he put in anexpensive four-over spell from the Pavilion End before returning north withhis new ball to devastating effect. He bowled a remarkable 34 overs andfinished with an equally remarkable 6-155.The two milestone moments topped off another spell-binding day. MarcusTrescothick was the first England batsman to depart, bowled by Warne’sfifth delivery of the day then Mark Butcher, who turned the match atHeadingley, also fell before lunch for 25, caught at silly point to giveWarne his 399th wicket.Hussain repeated his Headingley experience by playing with doggeddetermination to reach 52 then lost his wicket 19 balls after lunch, playingon to Mark Waugh, of all people, who was filling in at the Vauxhall endwhile Warne took a short break from his 400 campaign.Afzaal presented his credentials for the first time with a spiritedhalf-century, arguing his case persuasively for a place on England’s wintertour to India and New Zealand. By the time he went, England were 255 forfive, their only real hope lying with Ramprakash, who was lookingincreasingly at ease.

ScorecardGraham Onions picked up three wickets before Durham were themselves bowled out•Getty Images

The first morning of this match recalled the innocence of childhood. The wave-ruffled sea in Scarborough’s North Bay was sapphire blue and folk taking their constitutionals on Blenheim Terrace were gently buffeted by the warm air. People in Peasholm Park wished each other a good morning and you sensed they meant it. On such days the Famous Five sailed boats into adventure yet always returned in time for supper and sleep. This is the 129th Scarborough Festival yet it can have known few mornings more glorious than the one which greeted Yorkshire’s match against Durham.And the unspoilt prelapsarian mood did indeed presage a Fall but only an almighty clatter of wickets at North Marine Road where 5300 spectators saw 20 professional cricketers dismissed on a pitch which, while testing, hardly justified the rapid turnover of batsmen seemingly bemused by a surface which offered pace, plenty of bounce and some lateral movement but little more.The conditions at North Marine Road were well used by two of the best bowling attacks in Division Once yet once again there was a useful distinction to be made between batsmen who were dismissed by their opponents and those who were complicit in their own departures. It may be useful to say at the outset that the umpires Jeremy Lloyds and Nick Cook said at the close that they had seen nothing in the wicket to cause them to take further action. The pitch inspectors will not be arriving at Scarborough this weekend. This is particularly fortunate given that there is not a bed to be had in the town.By the close of play Yorkshire may be the happier side, given that they had battled back in the manner of champions after being dismissed for 162 in 43 overs. Their trials had begun as early as the fourth over when left-arm seamer Jamie Harrison brought one back in the air to have Andrew Hodd leg before for 9. Next over Alex Lees’s loose defensive shot to a ball from Chris Rushworth caused him to play the ball on to his stumps and what became something of a procession had begun.It was the bounce as much as anything which caused the batsmen’s grief. Both Jack Leaning and Gary Ballance were caught in the slips fencing at lifting balls which they did not need to play while Gale himself edged a ball which the excellent Rushworth pushed across him. Throughout a morning session which Yorkshire ended on 94 for 7 one felt that a lot more discretion would have worked wonders. Yet no one showed that level of judgement, not even Glenn Maxwell who, having driven the ball well in making 36, simply fell for the bouncer bowled by Graham Onions and gave a catch to Michael Richardson.Indeed, we had to wait until the last-wicket partnership for two batsmen to exhibit a proper level of judgement and common sense. That came when Tim Bresnan was joined by Ryan Sidebottom when the score was 95 for 9 and the calm of the morning seemed very distant indeed. Bresnan drove and cut with power; Sidebottom simply treated balls on their varying merits and did not play a shot when he did not need to do so. By the time Bresnan was yorked by Harrison for 47 – he deserved a fifty – Yorkshire had a total which their own skilled seamers could defend. Just as importantly, some of the initiative had been wrested from Durham’s bowlers despite the excellent figures of both Rushworth and Onions.In the second half of this truly bizarre day – Durham’s first innings lasted just two balls longer than Yorkshire’s – Sidebottom and his colleagues revealed one reason why the County Championship will, in all probability, be returning to Headingley at some point in September: their ability to respond to adversity is second to none.Yet for a few overs it seemed that Mark Stoneman and Graham Clark had weathered the new-ball attack. Then suddenly, three wickets fell in seven balls and Durham’s innings was never to be on an even keel again. Clark carelessly drove Bresnan straight to Gary Ballance at point; five balls later Stoneman hooked Patterson straight to Bresnan at long leg; then Gordon Muchall was leg before to his first ball from the excellent Patterson.Any recovery enjoyed by Durham thereafter was brief. In the evening session Michael Richardson inside-edged a ball from Patterson to Hodd. Jack Burnham, an 18-year-old who was making his first-class debut, was then bowled by the ball of the day from Liam Plunkett. It moved away and trimmed the off stump. That left Durham on 65 for 5.Indeed, that the visitors eventually conceded a deficit of no more than six is explained by another innings filled with common sense and well-judged aggression. It was played by Ryan Pringle who hit five fours and a six off Adil Rashid in his 54-ball 40, his 77-minute innings being played while his colleagues were making little or nothing of Sidebottom, who took four wickets in a fine spell from the Trafalgar Square End. It remained hectic stuff to the very end as Sidebottom celebrated every wicket as if it was his first and thus explained why he takes so many. Pringle was ninth out, well caught by Rashid off Sidebottom at deep square-leg. There was time for Hodd and Lees to play five overs in Yorkshire’s second innings; curiously, it was the calmest cricket of the day.

Laxman out of IPL
Deccan Chargers were dealt another jolt when VVS Laxman, their captain, ruled himself out of the rest of the Indian Premier League after failing to recover from a hairline fracture just below his right wrist.Blasts in Jaipur
Seven major blasts rocked Jaipur, the base of the Rajasthan Royals, and the death toll is on the rise. The team is away holidaying in Goa and the next match in Jaipur is in four days’ time, against the Bangalore Royal Challengers, who have now offered to host Saturday’s game.Kolkata start pruning operations
The Kolkata Knight Riders have released six of their players – Ranadeb Bose, Sourashish Lahiri, Cheteshwar Pujara, Yashpal Singh, Rohan Bannerjee and Nagaland’s Hokkaido – as they feel they will not be required for the rest of the season.”To be fair to these players, we are not experimenting with our team combination at this late stage in the tournament and these players won’t get a game,” Joy Bhattacharya told , a Mumbai-based tabloid. “So it does not make sense for us to hold them back. We have spoken to all the players about it. The players are still with the Knight Riders, but it’s just that they won’t be needed for the remainder of this season.”Prince goes back
Ashwell Prince, South Africa’s middle-order batsman, will re-join the Mumbai Indians after spending a few days with his new-born kid back in South Africa. Prince, a middle-order batsman, was was bought at US$175,000, but is yet to make his IPL debut.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, the Sussex and Pakistan swing bowler, has said that he was surprised at his omission from Pakistan’s 30-man squad for the Twenty20 World Championship. The squad will be trimmed to 15 by mid-August and includes Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar and Mohammad Sami in the fast bowling department.Naved-ul-Hasan, who is enjoying yet another successful season with Sussex, last played for Pakistan in the opening match of the 2007 World Cup against West Indies and was not only dropped for the subsequent matches but also omitted for the tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland. In between the tours, the team had one training and fitness camp and is currently involved in another, with neither squad involving Naved-ul-Hasan.”I have not been told anything by anyone,” Naved told Cricinfo. “After playing that World Cup match against West Indies, I was told that I will be rested for the following match and I’ve been unable to get back into the team ever since.”Naved-ul-Hasan, with 40 wickets for Sussex this season, was termed Pakistan’s main strike weapon in ODIs during the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. “I’m definitely disappointed at getting the snub from the selectors especially after getting the Man-of-the-Series award against West Indies [December 2006]. I didn’t perform too well on the South Africa tour and had one bad match in the World Cup. However, I don’t think that is reason enough for me to be left out altogether.”According to Naved, he had not been given reasons for his exclusion from the squad but was hoping to do well on the county circuit and head back to Pakistan for the domestic season in order to prove his worth to the selectors. “I’m fit and still eager to play for Pakistan. I hope I carry on performing well for Sussex and maybe then the selectors will notice me.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has been cleared of major injury after going for an X-ray but is still suffering from pain in the right side of his chest. Inzamam did not take the field for the first hour and did not come back out after lunch on the fourth day of the third Test against England at Headingley.While trying to sweep Monty Panesar, Inzamam stumbled and fell on to his stumps and was seen rubbing his chest as he walked off the field.However, Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, said that the injury was unrelated to his dismissal. “The X-ray is clear but he [Inzamam] has some internal problems and complained of pain in the right side of his chest,” Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, told . “He was not hit by a ball or hurt during his dismissal.”