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Rod Marsh former Australia team-mate and current England Academy coachIn many ways, I wish I’d been there on Sunday night, and been able to step in. As a young man Hookesy was always very outspoken – he was known as the bumptious brat of Dulwich while playing club cricket in England. But it seems that all he was doing was defending a player’s wife, who was being spoken to rudely by someone in the bar. He always stood up for his players, and you don’t deserve to die for that.He’ll forever be famous for those five fours in the Centenary Test, but they were all genuine cricket shots, and make no mistake, he could play. When he was on the attack, he was very dangerous indeed. Perhaps he wasn’t a great player of spin, but there have been a lot of blokes of lesser ability who’ve played a lot more Tests than Hookes. He made a lot of friends and had a very high profile in cricket. He will be sadly missed.Dean Jones former Australian batsmanI came up against Hookesy on many occasions for Victoria, the most famous time was when he cracked a 34-ball hundred for South Australia after a poor declaration. He could be devastating at times, and was very moody with the bat, although he’d have been disappointed with his eventual Test record.World Series Cricket might have set him back, but I think his footwork went after he’d been cleaned up by an Andy Roberts bouncer, and had his jaw broken in three places. But I’m just in shock – he’d only gone out to celebrate a win with his mates and their wives. You don’t expect that sort of thing to happen in Australia. Life can be bloody shocking at times.Tony Greig former England captain and opponent on Hookes’ Test debutI’m stunned. It’s absolutely horrific news, and the sort of thing you fear might happen to your kids after a night out. But when it happens to your friends, the shock is every bit as bad. He became an instant hero to 70,000 cricket fans at Melbourne on his debut, when he showed England – and me in particular – just what a fighting batsman he could be. I remember fielding at silly point when the youngster arrived, and I tried to niggle him a bit, as you do. But he was unfazed, and hit me for five fours in a row.I later got to know him through the work he did in cricket. He was a really nice guy who had a broad cross-section of interests.Bob Merriman Cricket Victoria President and Cricket AustraliachairmanDavid was one of those rare, gifted athletes and people whoinstantly captured attention, whether it was through his aggressivebatting, inspiring captaincy, aggressive coaching or his forthrightcommentary. It is well known that David was an outstanding sportsmanfrom the start and he demonstrated this at an early age for SouthAustralia, who he eventually captained to a Sheffield Shield title, forAustralia and also during the World Series Cricket era.Darren Berry Victorian Bushrangers captainDavid has been both a friend and mentor to us all and we are devastated at his passing. His impact on the group has been broad and under his leadership we havelearnt much, not only about cricket but equally about life.Wayne Clarke Western Australia coachDavid was a tremendous person and I am deeply saddened by his untimely death. Iplayed and coached against Hookesy and he was a tough-as-nails characterthat was still the first person into the rooms for a beer after thegame. He was respected by all who met him for the way he played thegame. He gave so much to the sport as a player and then as a coach, hewill be sorely missed.

Cricketers from Zimbabwe have provided much pleasure to cricketfollowers during their short and infrequent visits to this country. Asthey have illustrated during their first decade of playing Testcricket, they possess many of the qualities required for the longergame but at the same time have also displayed the effervescence thatis associated with limited overs cricket. At least a couple ofZimbabwe players have provided the kind of sparkling cricket thatwould rank their performances alongside the many outstanding featsnotched up by visiting players in India.The first such performance was Dave Houghton’s 141 against New Zealandin a Reliance World Cup encounter at Hyderabad in October 1987. It isa knock that is fondly remembered by those lucky enough to have seenit. Both teams were playing their opening encounter in the tournamentand few gave Zimbabwe any chance of even giving their experiencedopponents a scare. New Zealand led off with 242 for seven in 50 oversand seemed to have sewn the match up by dismissing seven Zimbabwebatsmen for 104 runs. Houghton was in good touch and had reached hishalf-century but he had little support. Now, at last he found an ablepartner in Ian Butchart and the two brought Zimbabwe back into thematch with an eighth wicket partnership of 117 ­ then the highesteighth wicket partnership in one-day internationals.Houghton dominated the stand with some dazzling shots and he gotZimbabwe to within 22 runs of their target in the 47th over. By thistime, he had raced to 141 from 138 balls with three sixes and 13fours. It took a great running catch by Martin Crowe almost on theboundary line to dismiss him. But when he was out at 221, Zimbabwestill had a chance of pulling off an upset victory. They wanted sixfrom the final over but Butchart was run out off the fourth ball andNew Zealand squeaked home by three runs.When Zimbabwe, within months after playing their inaugural Test, cameover to India for a short tour of one Test and three one-dayinternationals, they were given little chance to do well in the faceof a formidable batting line-up and an in-form spin trio bowling ontailor-made pitches. But one player stood out in the Test match.Andy Flower gave an early indication of why over the years he wouldtake his place among the world’s leading batsmen, a player difficultto dislodge and one with an insatiable appetite for runs. In the faceof an imposing Indian total of 536 for seven declared, the pugnaciousleft-hander led Zimbabwe’s defiance with a century of character. Withbrother Grant (96) he added 192 runs for the fourth wicket, dominatingthe stand in scoring 115. He batted 289 minutes and got his runs from236 balls. Despite his courageous knock in trying circumstances,Zimbabwe were forced to follow on.In the second innings, the Indian spin trio of Rajesh Chauhan, AnilKumble and Maninder Singh found it impossible to dismiss Andy Flower.In a more subdued innings, he batted 214 minutes and 191 balls for anunbeaten 62. Zimbabwe were all out for 201 to lose by an innings and13 runs. But displaying defence of a high calibre on a wearing wicket,Flower batted almost eight and a half hours in all to ensure thatZimbabwe, though beaten, were far from disgraced.But even this stout-hearted performance almost pales intoinsignificance when placed alongside Andy Flower’s own feats on the2000-2001 tour of this country. By this time, he was recognised as thecountry’s leading batsman who did not let the additional duties behindthe stumps affect his batting. And he proved this in spades with asuperb showing in the two Tests. His intense concentration, singleminded dedication towards the pursuit of runs and insatiable appetitefor big scores saw him set a record that stood alongside those ofother great batsmen who have visited India. In the first Test at NewDelhi, he came in when the score was 134 for three and this soonbecame 155 for five. By expertly farming the strike, Flower with thehelp of the tail saw the total reach 422. This great rearguard actionculminated in a last wicket partnership of 97 runs in about 2-1/2hours with Henry Olonga (11).Flower remained unbeaten on 183 for which he batted 466 balls andfaced 351 balls, hitting 24 fours and two sixes in the process. In thesecond innings, in a total of 225, he again top-scored with 70. In thesecond Test at Nagpur, Flower continued from where he left off at theKotla. In the first innings, his contribution was a modest 55. Butwhen Zimbabwe followed on 227 runs behind, Flower was defiancepersonified. After three wickets had fallen for 61, he and AlistairCampbell (102) added 209 runs for the fourth wicket. The final day wascompletely dominated by Flower and there was never any chance of himbeing dismissed. When the match ended in a draw with Zimbabwe 503 forsix, Flower was still unconquered on 232. This time he batted 544minutes, faced 444 balls and hit 30 fours and two sixes.His aggregate of 540 runs in two Tests gave him a mind-bogglingaverage of 270.00. In all, he had batted 1331 minutes and negotiated1021 deliveries in the two Tests. It certainly rates as one of thegreat endurance feats in Test history.

* CBI to send team to London to probe telecast rights caseWelcoming the support from the International Cricket Council (ICC),the CBI on Sunday said it would soon send a team to London to gatherinformation from the world body on the cricket telecast rights caseand other matters arising out of the match-fixing scandal.”We would be soon sending a team to London and the support from ICC isimportant for us as some of their officials have also been named intwo of the cases,” CBI spokesman SM Khan told reporters in New Delhion Sunday. He said the agency was always in touch with the anticorruption branch of ICC and looked forward to any support from themwhich was very crucial to the investigation into the telecast rightscase.The CBI on November 8 registered five cases against some Doordarshanofficials for allegedly cheating the Prasar Bharti of crores of rupeesin the award of telecast rights for cricket matches. The five casesrelate to alleged bunglings in telecast rights for 1997 IndependenceCup, ICC KnockOut tournament in 1998 played in Dhaka and the World Cupin 1999. The CBI alleged that some officials of Doordarshan hadentered into a criminal conspiracy with the Bangalore-based WorldTeland Delhi-based Stracon India and dishonestly enhanced the bid for thetelecast of the tournament. Referring to the alleged nexus betweenbetting syndicates and underworld, the spokesman said “we are stilllooking into whether there is any link between match-fixing syndicateand organised crime syndicate in the country and abroad.”* Gayatri Arts files appeal against BCCI’s decisionA Mumbai-based company has filed an appeal against a High Court orderrefusing to stay the decision of the Board to award a three-yearcontract for clothing sponsorship of Indian team in internationalmatches to International Management Group and Transworld Internationalcombine (IMG-TWI).The appeal was filed by proprietor of Gayatri Arts Sham Dhumatkar onSaturday in the Mumbai High Court and is likely to be heard within aweek. Gayatri Arts had challenged BCCI’s decision to award a contractto IMG-TWI by way of a petition in the High Court. The company claimedthat it had made the highest bid of Rs 90 crore through a legal tenderadvertised by BCCI in a newspaper. Yet, the contract was awarded tothe IMG-TWI combine.Justice DK Deshmukh, hearing the petition, had, in an ad-interimorder, refused to stay BCCI’s decision. Gayatri Arts filed an appealcontending that the Judge had failed to take cognizance of the bidmade by it which was higher than the one put up by IMG-TWI. Hence theaward of contract to IMG-TWI was bad in law, improper and unjustified.* Nehra disappointed at ban for encroaching on wicketIndia’s left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra, in the centre of a controversyafter being disqualified for running onto the pitch on the third dayof the first Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Saturday, wasdisappointed at the turn of events but vowed to come back strongerfrom the experience. “I bowled the way I had in the first innings. Iam disappointed,” said the paceman from Delhi.Nehra was first given two official warnings by Zimbabwean umpireRussell Tiffin and several unofficial warnings by Australian umpireDaryl Harper. When he changed ends, he was first warned and thenstopped from bowling by umpire Harper who gave him his cap and sweaterafter he had bowled just four balls and told him he could no longerbowl in the innings.Zimbabwe were then 273 for seven and Nehra was in his 27th over. Teammanager Chetan Chauhan said he was very disappointed at the turn ofevents. “He was our main bowler and bowled very well in this game. Butwe respect the umpire’s decision and though he was not able to bowlagain in this match, we will try to rectify the mistake in the nextthree-four days.” Nehra bowled 11 overs in the first innings andpicked up three wickets for 23 runs and took two more conceding 77runs in the second before he was stopped while bowling his 27th over.Dave Houghton, former Zimbabwean captain said if the idea was tocreate a rough for Harbhajan Singh, the bowling action of Nehra wasunsuited for it. “I can understand a team playing two left-arm pacemento create rough for the spinners. But Nehra was coming too close tothe wicket. His footmarks on the wicket were not going to help anoffspinner.”

Allrounder Stuart Binny has been added to India’s Test squad for the Sri Lanka series. He will join the team ahead of the second game, which begins on August 20 in Colombo at the P Sara Oval.The BCCI confirmed that there was no fresh injury concern for any other members of the squad, that Binny was just an “addition” to the 15-man unit. Binny, seen as someone who can bat at No. 6 and be a fifth bowling option, will provide the team management with an additional all-round choice. He has played three Tests, all on India’s tour to England in mid 2014. While he did not pick up a wicket in any of those games, he scored a handy 78 in his debut Test, in Nottingham, to help India draw.India do have a couple of already existing injury worries going into the second Test, around their openers. M Vijay, who had missed the first Test with a hamstring niggle, was on the mend the board said, though a decision on whether he will return to the XI would be taken closer to the game: “Improving every day and the team physio is working with him. The final call will be taken one day before the Test.” There was no further update on Shikhar Dhawan, who had batted through the Galle Test with an injury to his right hand.India lost the first Test of the Sri Lanka series, in Galle, after being ahead for a large part of the match. There are two more matches to go, both in Colombo, one at the P Sara Oval and the other at the Sinhalese Sports Club. With the P Sara Oval, considered Sri Lanka’s most seamer-friendly wicket, it is possible that Binny could slot in. Leading up to the game, the indication is that a pacer will in all likelihood replace the third spinner, especially as Harbhajan Singh was largely ineffectual on a turning pitch in Galle.Despite the Sri Lankan elections taking place on Monday, India will train at the P Sara Oval in the late afternoon.

Wasim Akram is set to hold another coaching camp for Pakistan’s fast bowlers at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore later this month.Akram overlooked a similar camp last year in Lahore, where he fast-tracked a number of promising young fast bowlers into national selection. Sohail Tanvir was the most prominent find from last year, though Akram also rated highly Mohammad Aamer, the left-armer who has been impressive for Pakistan U-19s recently.The camp is expected to get underway from May 26 and a PCB official told that Akram will train several young pacers who are either a part of the Pakistan team or are knocking at the doors of international cricket.Mudassar Nazar, a former Pakistan opener and head of the NCA, is currently finalising the details of the camp that is expected to last around six days. All leading pacers of the country, except for the ones currently competing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will take part in the camp, just a few days before the Pakistan team leaves for Bangladesh for a tri-nation ODI series also involving India in June.Akram’s media commitments since he retired in 2003 have taken priority over his coaching work, though as a travelling, freelance bowling guru, he has had considerable success, especially with young Indian fast bowlers such as Irfan Pathan. Last year’s two-week camp was the first time Akram had officially worked in a coaching capacity and though he enjoyed the experience, he wasn’t sure whether it would be a full-time commitment.

Adrian Le Roux has resigned as South Africa’s fitness trainer. He has been with the Proteas for just over four years and before that he was involved with Free State cricket and the Indian national cricket team.He will be returning to Bloemfontein where he will take up a position with a medical company, SA Biomedical. But he will act as a consultant for Cricket South Africa (CSA) from time to time, including in the appointment of the new Proteas fitness trainer and in CSA’s high performance programme.He said: “A number of factors lead to my resignation. I’ve been touring with professional teams extensively over the last six years. This obviously affects your family life and it is now time to move closer to home and take on some new challenges.”The last six to 12 months have made me take the final decision having contemplated this step in my life over this period of time.”A big thanks must also go to the players I have worked with during my tenure, they always kept things interesting. It has also been a pleasure and a privilege working at the highest level of the sport. To the coaches and members of the support staff, I’d like to thank you too. It has been a great experience.”Gerald Majola, the board’s chief executive, said: “Adrian’s resignation is a big loss to the Proteas set-up as he is one of the best fitness trainers in world cricket. We are most grateful for his input over the past four years, and respect his decision to move into a new field close to his home base.”

Scorecard

Rikki Clarke had the Midas touch today and he will be sorely hoping his performance will mean a golden ticket into England’s one-day squad tomorrow. With four wickets and four sharp catches he could not have done more to help Surrey squeeze Leicestershire out for 251.Clarke’s tail was up throughout. Even in the last session he was still bouncing in like a golden labrador until, having worried Leicestershire throughout, he finished them off in his 16th over. On a picnic-perfect day, he fittingly grabbed the champagne moment, too, leaping to pluck from thin air John Maunders’ crashing thump to gully off Mohammad Akram (63 for 2).Maunders and Darren Robinson had been progressing quietly until Clarke thundered in to shatter Robinson’s stumps, and Maunders then fell on the same score. Bounding in with verve and aggression, Clarke also put paid to Dinesh Mongia, snapping up his checked drive after the batsman had been threatening to spoil Surrey’s picnic with Ackerman, adding 54 for the fourth wicket (147 for 4).But Mongia’s fall heralded a collapse: Leicestershire lost five wickets for 24 runs.Ian Salisbury spearheaded this charge from the Vauxhall End, taking three wickets, including the dangerman Ackerman for a clean-hit 58 and Paul Nixon four balls later. Both were trapped sweeping. Ackerman had threatened to cloud matters with a fast and furious fifty, and Claude Henderson was going great guns later until he was stranded on 46 not out, but this was Surrey’s day in the sun.Henderson did share a ninth-wicket stand of 60 with Stuart Broad which added some fizz. There was a bang, wallop moment, too, when Broad succumbed, swishing, to the inevitable Clarke. Showing the same spirit as his father, Chris, Broad bashed his bat down onto the ground in frustration and trudged off. He returned later with fire in his belly, bowling sharply but no wickets to show. Mohammad Asif grabbed the only Surrey wicket to go, a plumb Scott Newman.Newman is another man with England hopes, but it’s an older man, Clarke, who will be keeping a close eye out when the team is announced tomorrow.

Durham have released Marcus North and Shaun Tait, their Australian overseas players, from their contracts.North had been signed as a replacement for Herschelle Gibbs, who had been in talks, but then confirmed that he would not be joining Durham’s 2004 squad, and Tait was brought in as a replacement for Shoaib Akhtar. Durham have already confirmed that Mike Hussey and Ashley Noffke, who are also both Australian, will be filling the overseas quota for the forthcoming season.Durham have also dispensed with the services of Ian Pattison and Pallav Kumar due to extreme competition for places within the squad, and Andy Blignaut, the Zimbabwean allrounder who signed a short-term contract towards the end of the season, has not been offered an extension. Vince Wells will also not be returning to the Riverside, after announcing his retirement earlier this year.”Each of these players has made a valuable contribution to the set up here at Durham,” said David Harker, the chief executive. “The commitment of these players to the club is greatly valued, and we would like to wish them the best of luck for the future.”

Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of Sri Lanka’s cricket board, has hit back at the authorities who have ordered his arrest. He has questioned the motive of the timing by the attorney-general and the solicitor-general of Sri Lanka, and has denied any involvement with Dhammika Amarasinghe, the underworld leader who he is alleged to have helped to obtain a fake passport.In a press release issued by the board, Sumathipala said, about his arrest: “There is no order from any court, but only a letter issued by the attorney-general, which is an executive action. Regrettably this is on the very eve of the commencement of the England and Sri Lanka Test series, regardless of the damage to the country, that too, by the attorney-general and solicitor-general acting in random, giving rise to the question of the real motive.”He went on to say, “I regret to state that I am aware that the attorney-general and the solicitor-general have acted in a manner of not applying the law equally to all. I am able to cite several serious instances and I will at the appropriate time and forum.””I categorically deny any involvement with the said underworld character who had supposed to have travelled to the UK,” he continued, “as published in certain newspapers to tarnish my image.”Sumathipala then also alleged that he was the real victim in this case. “My lawyers have already made representations to the attorney-general and to the inspector-general of police of the leakage of the manner and the content of the investigative process to the Sunday Leader newspaper, which has carried on a scandalous campaign and conspiracy to kill me or have me killed.”

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – England are not fully prepared for a six-match one-day series against India, which starts on Saturday, due to lack of adequate practice, coach Duncan Fletcher has said.Fletcher had complained earlier in the week about poor facilities in this eastern Indian city, where the first match of the series will be played.”We are pretty under prepared for the one-day series. The reasons for that are obvious,” Fletcher told reporters after England played a practice match with a local team.”We got some practice today. But the opposition was not too difficult, though they did try their best,” he said.England bowled out the Cricket Association of Bengal XI, led by Rohan Gavaskar, son of Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar, for 150 in 42.3 overs and then achieved the target in the 26th over.England are expected to name their team for Saturday’s game after a nets session at the Eden Gardens stadium on Friday.Fletcher declined to comment on the likely composition of the side, which could include a three-pronged pace attack of Andrew Caddick, Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard.But Durham medium-pacer, Paul Collingwood, 25, could have made a case for himself grabbing three wickets for 18 runs in Thursday’s game despite a stomach problem.”Collingwood bowled well. He had a good game even though he’s not feeling too good,” Fletcher said.Left-handed opener Marcus Trescothick kept wickets on Thursday and Fletcher did not rule out the possibility of him getting the nod ahead of James Foster.”Trescothick had kept wickets at the under-18 level. If needed, he will play as wicket-keeper,” Fletcher said.”That could give us more options.”Trescothick scored 240 runs at an average of 48.00 in last month’s three-Test series last month, which India won 1-0. He has scored 883 runs in 26 one-day internationals for England.The series ends in early February in Bombay, from where the England team will travel to New Zealand for a test and one-day series.