Sussex have announced that Mark Davis has been appointed as club coach, succeeding Peter Moores who became director of the National Academy at the end of September.Davis, 34, who was born in South Africa and has played for Sussex since 2001, takes over with immediate effect. “I’m thrilled to be able to continue with Sussex in this new position and I’m really looking forward to the new challenges it will bring,” he said. “Coaching is something I’m very used to and I feel it is a natural progression in my career. I’m very excited to be a part of the club in this new coaching era and the 2006 season can’t come soon enough!””This is a fantastic opportunity for Mark and a great coup for the club,” Mark Robinson, Sussex’s cricket manager, added. “He has all the qualities to make an outstanding coach; strength, honesty, integrity and an ability to communicate at all levels. His experience both within the professional game as a player and most recently by running his own coaching academy in South Africa will make him a vital member of the coaching team.”

Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s coach, feels that Sri Lanka have put their dismal one-day tour of India behind them and are geared up for a better show in next month’s Test series. India, who thrashed a lacklustre Sri Lanka 6-1 in the one-day series earlier this month, will host them again for three Tests starting in Chennai on December 2.”Great teams are those which bounce back after a bad series,” Moody told reporters ahead of the team’s departure for India on Friday. “The Tests are an opportunity to show our class.” Moody felt the experience of the one-day tour will help Sri Lanka plan for the Test matches. “We learnt a lot during the one-dayers and the Tests will really show the true potential of the team. We had a good look at some of their players who were relatively new on the big stage and also at their strategies.”Sri Lanka, who went into the one-day series ranked second in the world in ODI rankings, never recovered after crashing to four successive defeats. “The confidence of the individuals suffered a lot after those defeats,” Moody said. “Our batting lacked consistency and put tremendous pressure on the bowlers.”The Sri Lankan selectors axed veteran Sanath Jayasuriya for the Tests, replacing him with Chamara Kapugedara, a promising 18-year-old who has played just one first-class game. Other uncapped players in the team are Sajeeva Weerakoon, the 27-year-old left-arm spinner, and Upul Tharanga, the 20-year-old opener. Avishka Gunawardene, the left-hand opener, has also been recalled along with Malinga Bandara, the legspinner, who played his lone Test against New Zealand in 1998.The good news for Sri Lanka is that Muttiah Muralitharan, the spin wizard, and Farveez Maharoof, the allrounder, are fit again after suffering injuries in India. Sri Lanka will play a three-day practice match at Bangalore from November 26. The second Test will be played at New Delhi from December 10 and the third at Kanpur from December 18.

Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, has said that the comments made by Wasim Akram that alleged a bias by the ICC against Asian countries are ill-informed and offensive.”As a Pakistani I am honoured by the privilege given to me to lead the ICC in carrying out its responsibility to act without fear or favour to any nation. It is a great disappointment to see this former great player, particularly as he is from my own homeland, make such ill-informed, offensive and inaccurate comments,” Mani said in a media release. “The reality is that what Wasim has alleged is offensive not just to me, but to everybody involved with the ICC – the directors, the umpires and referees, the staff and the many former great players from across the cricketing world, including many from Asia, who are involved with the ICC through its Cricket Committee. His comments are not supported by any facts, are ill-informed and make no constructive contribution to the debate on moving cricket forward.”Mani also emphasised on Asia’s integral involvement with the ICC. “With Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain, as chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee that includes four representatives from Asia; with David Richardson, the former South African vice-captain as General Manager – Cricket; and with, Ranjan Madugalle, the former Sir Lankan captain, and Roshan Mahanama, the former Sri Lankan player, among the Emirates elite panel of referees we have access to some outstanding cricketing people to deal with cricket issues. In this process, the views of the Asian region are well represented.”In reality the ICC today is a multi-cultural body that reflects and embraces the diversity of the cricket world. This is reflected at the board table, at all levels of the administration and in the critical operational areas of the Cricket Committee, umpiring and refereeing and anti-corruption. In light of the reality of the modern ICC, these comments are a poor reflection on Wasim’s ability to play a constructive role in debating cricketing issues and bring into question his ability to research, understand and make judgments on the way in which the ICC carries out its mandate from all members.”Akram had earlier made the following comments, reported on the Manorama Online website: “ICC has become a forum for white cricketers. [Ehsan] Mani may be a Pakistani but he has never played cricket and never been associated with Pakistan or India or Bangladesh. He has never watched a first-class game. My objection is that why players like Imran Khan and Kapil Dev do not get the top job in ICC? But people from Australia and England — all these one-Test wonders — get the job … I think if cricketers head ICC, their opinion will be respected more. We [the subcontinent] have the passion, money and the crowds. But nobody from India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka ever gets the top job in ICC.”

Scorecard
How they were out

Australian concerns over leaving Glenn McGrath at home for the Chappell-Hadlee Series were dispelled as the back-up brigade stormed through New Zealand for an embarrassing 147-run victory in the opening match. Brett Lee stepped up in the absence of McGrath, who is resting in Sydney, with an amazing performance and he received such impressive support from Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark that the home side imploded to 33 for 6 on the way to being dismissed for 105 in only 27.4 overs.Boosted by a tailwind, the speed of Lee was the main danger as he reached up to 156kph in a six-over opening spell that was also impressive for its accuracy and earned him the Man-of-the-Match award. Making the batsmen jump around with shorter balls, Lee then restricted their feet movement when he pitched up and was rewarded with the wickets of the Marshall brothers and Craig McMillan as he gave up only five runs.New Zealand were in severe trouble after losing two batsmen in the first four overs and the situation deteriorated further when Scott Styris and James Marshall departed by the time the score reached 20. The opener Lou Vincent and Hamish Marshall both played on to their stumps, Bracken striking first before Lee reduced them to 16 for 2 with Marshall’s inside edge. Operating at around 20kph slower than Lee, Bracken swung the ball and generally kept a tight line, although when he aimed a wider ball Styris drove straight to point where Michael Clarke took a sharp overhead catch.James Marshall was rushed in as the Supersub at No. 5 in a bid to limit the damage and he appeared not to sight Lee’s delivery that caught him lbw for nought. The Australians were buzzing and the mood became even more upbeat when Craig McMillan nicked Lee to Michael Hussey at second slip and then Clark, who was playing only his second match, removed Nathan Astle in his first over (33 for 6).The miracle working was left to the powerful allrounders Jacob Oram and Chris Cairns, but Oram became Clark’s second wicket and Brendon McCullum his third as he claimed 3 for 19. Cairns, who had not been picked for the one-day tour of South African, was left stranded on 37 as Daniel Vettori’s opening match as an ODI captain ended in disaster following a satisfying fightback in the first innings.

Australia looked set for a total of around 300 due to a dashing start with half-centuries to Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich, but they were cleverly restricted by Vettori and his band of medium pacers through the middle overs. Vettori usually saves his best bowling for Australia and he was again their main tormentor with 2 for 27 from ten.The tourists were in charge after racing at almost a run a ball for the first 20 overs, but they lost 3 for 27 in eight around the mid-innings mark and needed desperate contributions from Symonds (44 from 59 balls), Clarke (31) and Hussey (19 from 17 deliveries) to prop up a respectable total. Parading a new away uniform with a mostly green shirt and gold trousers, the Australians looked like lolly shop workers, but Ponting shed any prospect of donations with a 46-ball half-century, which included three sixes, and a 117-run stand with Katich. He arrived in an aggressive mood and his crisp strokeplay was complemented by Katich as he applied a more patient approach and also benefited from two missed run-outs and a couple of tough chances to Cairns.Like Katich, Cairns was returning to the international scene and he was greeted by chants of “let’s go Cairnsy, let’s go”. The early experience was not positive and he leaked 28 from four overs before picking up Clarke and Lee in his closing second spell. Both Cairns and his team deserved to be proud of their initial recovery, but there was nothing to smile about as they were over-run by Australia’s keen and mean fast bowlers.How they were outAustralia
Adam Gilchrist c Astle b Franklin 3 (4 for 1)
Simon Katich c Vettori b Styris 54 (121 for 2)
Ricky Ponting lbw Vettori 63 (136 for 3)
Brad Hodge b Styris 13 (148 for 4)
Andrew Symonds b Vettori 44 (207 for 5)
Michael Clarke c Franklin b Cairns 31 (230 for 6)
Brett Lee b Cairns 0 (231 for 7)
Brad Hogg c Vettori b Mills 4 (249 for 8)
New Zealand
Lou Vincent b Bracken 4 (5 for 1)
Hamish Marshall b Lee 5 (16 for 2)
Scott Styris c Clarke b Bracken 1 (19 for 3)
Craig McMillan c Hussey b Lee 0 (28 for 5)
Nathan Astle c Clarke b Clark 14 (33 for 6)
Jacob Oram b Clark 23 (74 for 7)
Brendon McCullum c White b Clark 2 (82 for 8)
Daniel Vettori c Ponting b Symonds 8 (105 for 9)
James Franklin c Gilchrist b Symonds 0 (105 all out)

Shaun Pollock was a relieved man after South Africa registered their first win of the VB series on Sunday, beating Australia by five wickets as Brisbane. Pollock, who won the Man-of-the-Match award, admitted their next game, against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, held an added significance.”We’ve played some good cricket, we’ve just not been able to capitalise on certain times in matches where we can kick on and put pressure on them,” he said. “But it’s nice to get a win under our belts. It’s a big game now for us on Tuesday against Sri Lanka. We’ll try to keep the momentum going for the rest of the series.”Mike Hussey played well with Brett Lee, who did a great job, but we realised the wicket was playing better,” Pollock said. “It didn’t seem to do as much later so we knew that if we kept them down to as little as possible we could chase them down.”After losing three early wickets to Pollock, the home side recovered through Hussey, who compiled another fifty, and Lee to post a total that Ricky Ponting felt wasn’t enough. “You can’t get 228 on that sort of wicket and expect to be competitive,” he said. “We are going to have a look at the way we were dismissed and some of the shots we played early on in our innings. We had a very good hit-out as far as skills were concerned a couple of days ago so we were 100% ready and ripe for this game.”

He may be just one good game away from trumping Pakistan on their hometurf but Rahul Dravid continues to stress on the strategies, plans andprocesses, rather than results. Returning to the ground where he led Indiato their first Test win in Pakistan, on that memorable March morning in2004, Dravid spoke about Pakistan’s ability to bounce back and hoped thathis side could continue to excel in all three departments of the game.”We need one more day of good cricket to win the series and we’reconfident we can do it here [Multan],” he said while speaking ahead of the fourthODI. “We’ve shown in the last two games that we can do well in all threedepartments of the game and we need to continue to implement ourstrategies. It’s heartening to see our plans working well. If it helps uswin, then very good.”In the last year, though Pakistan have shown a tremendous ability tofight back and Dravid will remember the home series last year when Indiafrittered away a 2-0 advantage. “Pakistan are a very good team,” hecontinued and brushed aside suggestions that they were weakened byinjuries to a couple of key players. “They are a fine side even withoutShahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar and we can’t sit back and relax. We arealso missing Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag, two players who havebeen critical parts of our success, but it all comes down to the team thatplays better cricket on the day.”India have got on a hot chasing streak ever since Dravid took over asone-day captain, successfully overhauling targets in their last nineattempts, but he said there was no preference to bat second. “It all comesdown to playing good cricket,” he continued, “and we’re confident ofbatting first or chasing. We have a good record chasing but we have plansand strategies for any eventuality.”Flexibility has been the key to India’s triumphs while chasing and Dravidadmitted that having a player like Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a big advantage.”There’s been no rigid stand with his batting position. At Peshawar hebatted at No.4 and did well; at Rawalpindi, we kept him back. The idea isto give batsmen a chance to bat in all positions and challenge themselvesin tough situations.”India have been hampered by Harbhajan’s injury, and didn’t pick aspecialist spinner in their playing XI at both Rawalpindi and Lahore, butDravid looked at it as an opportunity for the part-time spinners to provetheir worth. “[Sachin] Tendulkar has bowled well in the last two games,”he said, “and we’re trying to develop him, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singhand Suresh Raina as the fifth bowling option. The only way of developingthem is by giving them a chance in important situations. We’ve usuallypicked a bowler as a Supersub but we will have more options if theseplayers bowl well.”

Jamie How, Peter Fulton and Jeetan Patel have been included in New Zealand’s squad for the first Test against West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland on March 9.John Bracewell, New Zealand’s coach, announced the 13-man squad for the first of three Tests with the major talking point being the opening combination of How and Hamish Marshall. How and Fulton, the Canterbury batsman, have shown promise in the handful of one-day appearances they have been given, while Patel’s inclusion comes on the back of handy spells as Supersub in recent times.The remainder of the squad is the nucleus of the side which thumped West Indies 4-1 in the one-day series. The surprise omission was that of Lou Vincent, who scored a century in the fourth one-day match in Napier on Wednesday. Chris Martin, the fast bowler, makes a return to the side.Two players will be omitted on the morning of the match to play domestic cricket, New Zealand Cricket said.Squad: Nathan Astle, Stephen Fleming (captain), Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Daniel Vettori, Shane Bond, James Franklin.

On his recent performances
After being out with injury during the Australia tour I had a point to prove to show that I can be a good allrounder. So I have been working hard on my fitness and every aspect of my game with Tom (Moody), who has helped me a lot. I’m happy with the way I have been approaching my cricket and on the field, I have just been playing my natural game. I have been keeping things simple and things are going well at the moment.On how his game has developed
Tom has helped me with my technique and also mentally as well. We have recently changed some of my bowling methods, opening up my action slightly and making sure my front arm was pulling down straight. I feel there has been a big improvement since making those changes. I just have to make sure that I am always asking the batsman questions as to whether to play or not.On his batting
Batting-wise, I have just been trying to adapt to the situation. When I went in on Monday I was just thinking about getting through what was a tough period. They were bowling a good line and length. We knew it would ease-up after lunch and just wanted to survive the first session. Dilshan played brilliantly for his 69 and I gave him company. I’m just disappointed to not get a half-century.On the progress of the match
After Pakistan started the innings well, we just tried to focus on the basics and that worked for us as we took three quick wickets. Inzamam and Farhat batted well. This morning I was just concentrating on bowling in the right areas rather than looking for seam or swing. That paid off and from the other end, we also kept it tight. Murali took wickets and Malinga (Lasith) chipped in. Then Upul (Tharanga), Sanga (Sangakkara) and Mahela (Jayawardene) batted brilliantly – it was a good day for us.On the present match situation
We are in the box seat at the moment with a lead of 250-odd with eight wickets in hand. But you never know in cricket and we just want to get a score where we feel we are safe and can win the match. I think around 350 to 400 would be a good target on this pitch.On the condition of the pitch
The pitch has eased a lot compared to the first day and now it is playing very well. The spinners are getting some bite and jump. It’s a good track but when we go out in the second innings to bowl, we’ll be looking to be positive and trying to make sure we are hitting the good areas as much as possible.

Simon Jones is all set to return to competitive cricket for the first time since recovering from his knee injury, when his county side Glamorgan take on Northamptonshire in a pre-season friendly on Thursday.Jones, one of the recipients of the prestigious at the Wisden 2006 launch on Tuesday, said he was raring to go after pulling out of the winter tour of India midway.”We’ve got a friendly at Northampton, and I’m fit and hoping to go there,” Jones told Sportinglife.com. “I’ve done a lot of hard work over the winter and I’m really looking forward to the first match.”Jones, one of the star performers during last year’s Ashes series, has missed plenty of cricket due to his recurring injury problems. He pulled out of the Ashes decider at The Oval last September due to an ankle injury, which subsequently ruled him out of the Pakistan tour. His participation in the India tour was unfortunately cut short after playing the first warm-up game at Mumbai, when he twisted his knee during a net session at Nagpur before the first Test.

ScorecardNamibia are facing a crushing defeat at the hands of Ireland despite an incredible bowling performance from Ian van Zyl, who finished with the stunning figures of 8 for 34. However, Trent Johnston continued his outstanding match with a vital 71 as Ireland built a lead of 78 before blowing away the Namibia top order for the second in the match.van Zyl had brought Namibia back into contention with four more wickets before Ireland edged into the lead. He removed Eoin Morgan early and at 87 for 7 equal first innings were on the cards. But Johnston found able support from the No. 10 Paul Mooney and the pair added 58 priceless runs.Johnston was ninth out after a 121-ball innings as van Zyl wrapped up proceedings with two in two balls. van Zyl’s previous record of two wickets in two matches put this performance into context.Namibia, though, couldn’t respond to his heroics as their top order floundered against the Ireland seamers. Johnston grabbed another brace, to add to his first inning six-wicket haul, while Mooney carried on his productive day with two of his own.The match was hurtling towards a conclusion, but Kola Burger brought out the long handle for the second time in the game, smashing five sixes in his 21-ball cameo. His biffing carried Namibia into a slender lead, but if Ireland can avoid poor weather on the final day they should have few problems wrapping up the win.