Bond eyes return to international cricket

With New Zealand Cricket ready to welcome back players breaking away from the rebel Indian Cricket League, pacer Shane Bond says he may consider reviving his Test career.

Bond said he is working hard on his fitness to return to first-class cricket for Canterbury next season.

The pacer said it is up to the ICL to honour its contract with him as he wouldn't walk away first.

"I'm a firm believer in keeping the contracts (ICL) intact. If they can't fulfil their contract it's an opportunity to move, but if they can then I will stay with them," Bond was quoted as saying in the Dominion Post.

"There are a few issues (with the ICL) but I'm not going to go into them. Right now I'm contracted to them (ICL) and whether they want to release me or not is up to them.

"As far as the politics goes, it's out of my hands. Things can change pretty quick to be fair, so all I can do is keep myself in the best shape to make a decision one way or the other," Bond, who had vowed not to play for New Zealand again after being abandoned by NZC due to his joining the ICL, added.

Even if Bond decides to play for the Black Caps again, he knows it won't be easy to regain his berth in the squad, which will play in the Twenty20 World Championship in June before touring Sri Lanka in August.

"If I decided to play again (for New Zealand) I'd have to earn my spot, I wouldn't expect an open door policy to get me back in; you have to get there on merit."

Bond said he is working hard to be back in peak fitness for the domestic season.

"I've told the Canterbury coach I want to play four-day cricket next season. I'm going to try to get as fit as I can over the winter and try to play for as long as I can."

"I miss that cricket; even though it's the hardest cricket, it's the most rewarding, and that's why I'd like to play again next summer here.

"Physically things went well this summer but I wasn't at the height of my fitness. So that's why I'm having this winter off, to get back to the same level of fitness I used to have, because I still think I can bowl quick and keep going for another couple of years."

The issue of officially recognising the ICL will be discussed when the ICC meets in Dubai later this month.

Pakistan named ICL players in squad for World Twenty20

The PCB has included Abdul Razzaq, Naved-ul-Hasan and Imran Nazir, all three of whom participated in the ICL, in the list of 30 players for the World Twenty20 to be held in England in June. Though the list features their names, whether or not they will play in the tournament is still subject to ICC approval. The PCB had earlier accepted the decision of the Sind High Court in February to temporarily lift the ban on 17 ICL-contracted players and permitted them to participate in domestic cricket. Razzaq, Naved and Nazir have been absent from the international scene for more than a year after opting to join the unauthorised league.

Also included in the squad is Shoaib Akhtar, who had earlier been named in a 15-man squad for the ODI series against Australia in the UAE. Shoaib returns to international cricket after being ruled out of the scheduled tour of Bangladesh, which was suspended due to security concerns, as a result of a knee injury.

Apart from the known faces in the Pakistan team, the squad for the World Twenty20 also includes allrounder Wahab Riaz, who impressed in the recently concluded RBS Cup domestic tournament, and Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad, also in the squad for the series against Australia.

Pakistan Squad: Younis Khan (capt), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hassan, Ahmed Shehzad, Umer Amin, Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Kamran Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Aizaz Cheema, Muhammad Aamir, Wahab Riaz, Imran Ali, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Rehman, Yasir Shah, Kamran Akmal (wk), Sarfraz Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Imran Nazir

Strauss will miss World Twenty20

England skipper Andrew Strauss has been left out of a provisional 30-man squad for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.

National selector Geoff Miller said Strauss was "better suited" to Test and 50-overs cricket.

A captain for the tournament, which begins on 1 June and which England will host, will not be named until a new team director is in place.

The squad includes five players yet to be capped by England - Joe Denly, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid and Graham Napier.

Explaining Strauss's absence, Miller said the Middlesex opener was "not comfortable" with the Twenty20 format.

"We've got to pick players who are Twenty20 specialists, and Andrew isn't one of those," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"All decisions we make about a individual are discussed with that individual and this has been discussed many times throughout the winter, prior to the winter as well, and certainly at a later stage before this announcement so he fully understands where we're coming from."

Miller said the decision to delay naming a Twenty20 captain had been taken because the selectors felt it was "important to comprehensively review the recent tour of the Caribbean and seek input from all relevant parties including the incoming England team director who is yet to be appointed."

Strauss's predecessor Kevin Pietersen is sure to be one of the names in the frame, although he has already indicated he feels it is too soon for him to take on the job again after quitting as captain in January after a rift with then coach Peter Moores.

Pietersen has, however, accepted the job of skippering Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, which begins later this month.

"We appreciate it was a difficult time in the winter but as as I'm concerned, the door always remains open. When the director of cricket is appointed, which will be in the next two or three weeks or so, we will sit down and discuss that because the captain is obviously going to be a vital part of that side," Miller said.

He indicated that other possibilities to lead England in the World Twenty20 would be Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff, who have also captained the team in the past, and that Kent skipper Rob Key was also "in the mix".


Of the new faces in the squad, Denly and Morgan were part of the Kent and Middlesex teams which won the 2007 and 2008 domestic Twenty20 Cup competitions, and Morgan also has international experience with Ireland, while Napier's efforts for Essex have won him an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians.

Yorkshire's Rashid was part of England's squad on the tour of the Caribbean, which ended on Friday, without making an appearance, while Woakes, from Warwickshire, is the youngest member of the squad at the age of 20.

The selectors have named three wicketkeepers in the squad with Essex's James Foster, who has not played international cricket for seven years, joining Matt Prior and Steven Davies.

There are also places for 40-year-old Middlesex skipper Shaun Udal and Notts all-rounder Samit Patel, who was recently left out of the squad for the Caribbean after "failing to reach acceptable standards of fitness for international cricket".

Miller said: "We have a wealth of talented players in the 30-man squad who have proved themselves adept at limited overs cricket so there are several options for the selectors to consider before reducing the squad to 15 players at the start of next month.

"We have an encouraging blend of experience and youth in this preliminary squad including a number of uncapped players who will be eager to make their international debut at home during what promises to be an fantastic tournament in June."

England have a poor record in Twenty20 cricket, winning only six of their 15 games so far.

At the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 two years ago, they made it through to the Super Eight stage by virtue of a win over Zimbabwe, but bowed out of the tournament after losing to hosts South Africa, New Zealand and India.

England squad: Kabir Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gareth Batty (Worcestershire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steve Davies (wk, Worcestershire), Joe Denly (Kent), James Foster (wk, Essex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), Steve Harmison (Durham), Rob Key (Kent), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Graham Napier (Essex), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matt Prior (wk, Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Shaun Udal (Middlesex), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

Zaheer's five gives India control

A magnificent display of fast bowling from Zaheer Khan, coupled with a spineless batting performance by the home team, put India well on course to a series-clinching victory after just two days of the Wellington Test. New Zealand needed a strong batting display to stay in the series, but the technique and temperament of their top order was exposed thoroughly yet again, as they folded meekly in 65 overs for 197. Though India lost Virender Sehwag early, that was the only negative in the day, which they finished 233 in front, with nine wickets in hand.

Both teams could lay claims to taking the honours on the opening day, but today belonged quite emphatically to the visitors. Zaheer was the architect, knocking the stuffing out of the New Zealand top order by taking the first four wickets. Ross Taylor was the only batsman who stood firm, scoring a classy and unblemished 42, but none of the other batsmen looked the part.

New Zealand needed just 13 deliveries to clean up India's last wicket, but that was as good as it got for them. Ishant Sharma struggled while bowling against the wind, but Zaheer was relentless from the first ball. He charged in, found the perfect length and some swing, mixed in the short deliveries smartly, and changed his line of attack to keep the batsmen guessing. Operating mostly from a short run-up, he seemed to bowl within himself and yet worked up brisk pace.

He started the New Zealand slide, switching to round the stumps to get rid of Martin Guptill, who was judging Zaheer's over-the-wicket offerings to a nicety. But when the angle changed, Guptill tried to stand tall to defend a short one angled into him, and could only get an inside-edge onto his stumps. Daniel Flynn, back in the team for Jamie How, offered no resistance, lasting only eight deliveries before nicking a perfect delivery that pitched in the corridor and seamed away.

Zaheer's first spell read 8-2-18-2, and after a brief break, which included the lunch interval, he was back to wreck more havoc. Tim McIntosh had somehow made his way to 32 without ever being convincing - stiff and upright, he was often late on his shots and played-and-missed on several occasions - before Zaheer ended his misery with the short one. McIntosh was in two minds and in the end limply hung his bat, edging to Yuvraj Singh, who finally took a catch in the slip cordon.

That brought together Taylor and Jesse Ryder, easily New Zealand's best batsmen, but Ryder looked unsettled from the start. He was troubled by Harbhajan's drift and turn, before attempting a stroke that will make him cringe when he sees the replay: Zaheer tempted him with a short and wide ball, so wide that Ryder had to stretch out to reach it, and all he managed was the toe end of the bat.

Through all the limp batting at one end, Taylor's approach suggested he was playing on another surface, against another attack. From ball one, he was precise with his footwork and assured in judgment, playing close to his body, with the full face of the bat, and scarcely looking in any discomfort. He started his innings with a superb straight-drive for four off Zaheer, and played several more strokes that stood out. When India had a stranglehold over proceedings in a period before lunch when seven overs fetched seven runs, Taylor broke the shackles with a classy cover-drive off the accurate Munaf Patel. After lunch, he played the shot of the innings: there was hardly anything wrong with Zaheer's delivery, which was on a good length just outside off, but Taylor was still good enough to effortlessly ease it through cover-point with a small shuffle, short back-lift and outstanding timing.

It was an innings that deserved to go much further, but was unfortunately cut short when umpire Daryl Harper upheld an appeal for a catch down the leg side. Replays suggested there was no contact between bat and ball, but Taylor didn't question the decision, walking off as soon as the finger went up.

Zaheer was the architect of the New Zealand collapse, but Harbhajan bowled superbly and deserved his success. Bowling at a slower pace than he normally does, he got the ball to drift, grip, and spin in an unchanged spell that began just before lunch and didn't end till the New Zealand innings was wrapped up. James Franklin, who continues to bat above Brendon McCullum for reasons unknown, was his second victim, sweeping tamely to square leg, while McCullum, who was left to play with the tail for much of his innings, edged a cut to Dhoni, who marked his return to the team with six catches, a record for an Indian wicketkeeper. That the loudest cheers from New Zealand supporters probably came when Chris Martin - who had scored two runs in his 11 previous Test innings - lofted Harbhajan straight down the ground for four summed up the kind of day they had. The Indians, who are eyeing their 100th Test win, won't be complaining.

McGrath defies odds to play in IPL

Glenn McGrath is in his 40th year. He is a man raising two children and, with a little help from his friends, running a major charity organisation founded by his wife, Jane, who passed away last year after a long battle with cancer.

Clearly, McGrath is a man with much on his plate and more on his mind. And yet, in the coming weeks, he will add to his many commitments by pushing his frame through five gruelling weeks of competition with the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. It is, by any estimate, a massive ask, and even more so when it is considered McGrath has not sent down a delivery in international cricket since the 2007 World Cup final.

With his day-to-day activities largely focussed on a non-profit organisation, the opportunity to earn for his family - his auction price was $US350,000 - serves as a major motivation for McGrath as he enters his second IPL season. But this is no charity case. Last year, while contending with much heartache at home, the Australian paceman earned his pay cheque by emerging as the most economical (6.61) and durable (14 games) of Delhi's bowlers. McGrath believes more is to come this time around.

"I struggled a bit last year, but that was more about Jane and how the situation was back home," McGrath told Cricinfo. "That won't be a concern this time. Mum may bring the kids over for the middle period, depending on the schedule. My whole focus will be a lot different when I'm there, which I think will all be positive. Last time I think I did reasonably well considering I hadn't played for 12 months. I have no doubts it will be similar this time, but my mindset will be different.

"There is a lot of incentive going over there with the money they're offering. Cricket is not something that I have a great desire to get back and play at the moment. I'm very happy being retired and with everything that I achieved in my life. In saying that, as soon as I got on the field in India (in 2008), I couldn't help being competitive. My natural instincts came out and I was away. That won't be an issue.

"Last year I did a heap of fitness work leading into it, and when I bowled in the nets for half a session I felt like I hadn't ever been away from the game. When I played that Twenty20 match earlier on in the year for New South Wales, and I hadn't done any work leading into it, it felt like I had never bowled before in my life. So basically if I'm fit my bowling will come back really quickly, and if I'm not fit I'm useless."

McGrath will arrive in Delhi the coming days for the Daredevils' week-long training camp before departing with the squad for South Africa on April 7. It is, he says, a time of great excitement, as cricket taps ever deeper into the rich resource that is Twenty20 cricket.

But there is cause for concern, too. While McGrath and his metronomic action are unburdened by international commitments these days, the same cannot be said of the IPL's other major drawcards. Already, Sri Lanka have withdrawn from the spring tour of England due to their players' collective desire to compete in the IPL, while cricketers from the West Indies - called in as eleventh-hour replacements - are upset at being denied the opportunity to play the full five weeks in South Africa.

"To me, the best thing the ICC could do is make a window for it," McGrath said. "You'll stop people having to make a decision. Some guys have to make a decision between playing for their country or go over there and play for six-to-eight weeks and pocket $2 million. As much as you'd like to think they'd have their priorities right, that's a lot of money. You can set yourself up and have that security for your family.



"On the way out to the SCG one day, I got stopped at the traffic lights and someone handed $100 through the window from the car next door. They said, 'We love what you doing with the foundation, and we want to support you.' "



"[A window] would be a huge thing for cricket, and hopefully safeguard it against anything detrimental happening to the game. You're not going to stop it. When I started playing, and the way I still feel now, Test match cricket is the ultimate. But now, with Twenty20 and the potential for what you can earn, soon people will be saying Twenty20 is the ultimate. I'd hate to see it affect Test cricket too much. Hopefully, if there's that window there, you can get back and play Test cricket and focus on that."

McGrath will presumably attract much attention in India as he plies his trade for the Delhi Daredevils, but in his native Australia, it is his charitable work that has attracted most publicity of late. In January, Cricket Australia declared day three of the Sydney Test "Jane McGrath Day", and SCG patrons responded by dressing in pink attire - the colour of the McGrath Foundation - and donating generously. Indeed, McGrath's work for the foundation was recognised with his nomination for the prestigious Australian of the Year Award - more than a year after his retirement from cricket.

"I'm just Jane McGrath's husband these days," he quips. "The support for the foundation has been amazing. To be honest I don't know if it could've gone any smoother if I had a genie and three wishes.

"On the way out to the SCG one day, I got stopped at the traffic lights and someone handed $100 through the window from the car next door. They said, 'We love what you doing with the foundation, and we want to support you.' I was a bit tired and probably a little bit grumpy, and that really picked me up. I thought, 'That's what it's all about.' It's amazing how one little gesture can change your whole day. I still have to pinch myself with just how it went.

"My involvement is increasing. I still have sponsors that I work for. I have to spend time with the kids. I still have to put bread and milk on the table. It would be great to do stuff for the foundation 24-7, but someone has got to pay the bills."