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THE Western Australian Cricket Association selectors today added batsman Marcus North to the Western Warriors team for the Pura Cup match against New South Wales in Newcastle from January 23-26.North, 23, joined the team in Newcastle along with fast bowler Matthew Nicholson who is making a comeback following recovery from a wrist injury and illness last month.North was added to the Warriors team following advice from Australian team management to the WACA that fast bowler Brad Williams will remain with the Australian team which begins the VB Series finals series on Thursday, January 23.The Warriors Pura Cup team to play NSW is:Justin Langer (captain), Mike Hussey (vice-captain), Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, Beau Casson, Michael Clark, Murray Goodwin, Shaun Marsh, Matthew Nicholson, Marcus North, Chris Rogers, Callum Thorp.

Every day, as the sun rises over Lake Ontario and sweeps across the adjoining collection of beaches and bays, it would be possible to imagine a million potentialities for this city. The vast urban sprawl that it has become in the wave of the amalgamation of six far smaller cities only three years ago, Toronto offers a mixture of activity that caters for almost every conceivable taste.Or so any self-respecting tourist brochure – or almost any observation of everyday life here for that matter – will tell you.North America’s fourth biggest city hardly shapes as an archetypal venue for international cricket. Amid the hustle of daily events, there are certainly few obvious clues that it is about to play host to cricket’s biggest gathering of national teams.At a local level, summer sporting passions here are fuelled in person, in print and on the airwaves by the fortunes of baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays. As for a tangible fervour for far-reaching international competition, it is the flags that exhort the city’s residents to “Expect the World” in the lead-up to the decision next month on its bid to host the 2008 Olympics which dominate.Happily, the lack of exposure for them within the area bounded by Toronto’s frequently jammed highways and leafy, tree-lined avenues doesn’t particularly bother most of the players or teams that have assembled for the 2001 ICC Trophy tournament. Moreover, they have learnt to live with an absence of international notoriety, hype and hysteria for most of their careers.It is, in fact, hard to imagine too many more amenable settings for the hopes, aspirations and dreams of twenty-three developing cricketing nations to collide.In the four years that have passed since the Trophy’s last incarnation – in Kuala Lumpur – cricket has been afflicted by arguably its deepest-ever scandal. The scourge of match fixing and corruption has scarred its soul, ravaged its reputation, and played havoc with its credibility. At various times, those responsible for charting the sport’s very future have seemed under siege.Yet there can be probably be few greater demonstrations of the game’s enduring appeal than in the way in which nations from backgrounds as diverse as Uganda and the United States or centres as distant as Fiji and France continue to come together for this event.Through the twenty-two years of its history, no other cricket tournament in the world has brought together so many nations nor so effectively melded drama, tension and exhilaration with the basic grass-roots ideal of participation. It remains a remarkable celebration of the game and its prospects.On the battlefront itself, a close and compelling contest for glory can be anticipated. Scotland, with the legacy of one World Cup campaign already behind it, will enter the fray as the favourite. Yet no mortgage on another Cup berth – a prize which lies in wait for each of the three best sides in this event – can be automatically assumed. Strong competition is expected to come from the likes of Ireland – the team which it narrowly nosed out in the race for third-placed honours four years ago – as well as from the Netherlands and host nation Canada.The development of complex seeding and points systems has seen to it that many of the lower-ranked sides will find the goal of a World Cup spot as elusive as ever before. Their visions of emulating nations like Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya (for each of whom success at this level has paved the way for eventual admission to fully-fledged Test and/or One-Day International status) will, accordingly, almost certainly have to be put on hold in the short term.For Italy, such ambitions have already been over-ridden by an International Cricket Council ruling that four of its leading players were ineligible to compete. The respective passages of Nepal, West Africa and the United Arab Emirates were far from smooth either; visa problems promoting a flurry of late diplomatic activity.Nonetheless, everything is now set in place for a spectacular and successful event. The rankings have been formulated. The schedule has been unveiled. Twenty-two days in the midst of an increasingly warm Toronto summer have been set aside. An infrastructure has been made to measure and ten grounds, replete with turf pitches which have been crafted in often unsympathetic conditions, have been beautifully prepared.As four years of earnest preparations approach their climax, it is over to the players.

Southampton registered their first Premier League clean sheet after convincingly beating Newcastle at St Mary’s.

The Saints made it back-to-back wins for the first time this season to lift themselves out of the relegation zone and they now stand just three points behind the beleaguered Magpies in the table.

Alan Pardew, returning to his old club for the first time since being dismissed in August 2010, saw his side turn in another listless display on the South Coast as they suffered a third league defeat on the bounce.

The visitors were on the back foot from the outset and had Tim Krul to thank for keeping out a 25-yard free-kick from Gaston Ramirez before he thwarted Jason Puncheon with a fine block.

Nigel Adkins’ men continued to press and went even closer to breaking the deadlock only to see Rickie Lambert’s dead ball strike slam off the crossbar. It wasn’t until 10 minutes before half time that their pressure was finally rewarded with Newcastle the architects of their own downfall.

A poor clearance from Krul was seized upon by Nathaniel Clyne, whose long range effort was unconvincingly headed away by Mike Williamson into the path of Ramirez and his low cross was turned home by Adam Lallana.

Pardew rallied his side at the break and Vurnon Anita came closest to an equaliser but couldn’t find the telling finish to beat Paulo Gazzaniga when clean through on goal.

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That miss was duly punished by Ramirez on the hour mark as he stabbed the ball home from close range after Krul had spilled a low cross from Puncheon, who saw a fierce effort cannon back off the post soon after,

Jose Fonte was also denied by the woodwork, his header crashing against the bar, before Gazzaniga stooped low to keep out a powerful header from Davide Santon.

Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh’s captain, was embroiled in a row when he was accused of scuffling with two men during the team’s practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.Reports say that Ashraful, who is under pressure following some poor results, got into an altercation with two men after returning from a practice session – he had already been booed by some spectators – which ended up with security guards having to intervene. As a result, security was increased for all players.The news came shortly after it was announced that Mashrafe Mortaza, the vice captain, and two other members of the national squad were facing disciplinary action after going absent on Saturday to play in a match.”We have to get the reports from team management to know what actually happened regarding these players,” Sajjadul Alam Bobby, chairman of the BCB media committee, told reporters. “That’s why we have asked our team manager to submit a report within a short time. We will definitely take action if they are found guilty.”

Australia are desperate for Shane Watson to be fit © Getty Images

Shane Watson will know his immediate World Cup future when he tests his injured calf in a training session in the West Indies on Tuesday. Australia have been debating whether Watson could wait to return in a high-pressure semi-final, but the preferred option is for him to be ready for their last Super Eights game against New Zealand on Friday.After batting in the nets last week, Watson began running at the weekend and will need to prove he is on track during a bowling session in Grenada. Alex Kountouris, the team physiotherapist, said the goal was to have him ready for New Zealand.”There are always risks with someone coming back from a muscle injury,” he said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Playing him in a Super Eights game if we’re already through to the semi-final would represent a lower risk than playing him in a semi-final or final.”Australia are desperate to have Watson return as his all-round skills give the side greater balance. Ricky Ponting said the selectors would prefer Watson played before the semi-finals, but there was still the option to increase his practice load.”We can monitor him pretty closely in all the training that he does,” Ponting said in The Australian. “If he doesn’t for some reason come up for Friday, then we just have to make sure that if we think he is going to play in the semi, we have to push him as hard as we can in every training session leading into that game to know that he is 100% right.”

David Collier feels the scheduling gives an opportunity to try out fringe players © Getty Images

David Collier, the ECB chief, came out in defence of the scheduling of international matches, citing the larger gaps between matches as the reason why the England players are not as overworked, compared to their other counterparts.His comments came in the wake of widespread criticism of the scheduling of England’s winter tours to India and Pakistan, which forced a few players to withdraw due to injuries and left others jaded. This prompted the coach Duncan Fletcher to rest Andrew Flintoff, England’s stand-in captain, for a couple of ODIs, with the series already decided. England were without the services of five of their key players in the Ashes series, namely Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles and Fletcher expressed concern about more players succumbing to injuries and burn-outs.”There is a limit of 15 Tests and 30 one-day internationals around the world which was respected in the Future Tours programme,” he told the PA Sport news agency. “That is the guideline certainly England are sticking to and we are actually considerably less than that in terms of Test matches and one-day internationals.”We cannot do anything to lessen the impact of the tours but I think one of the things where England is different to every other nation is that we are playing more or less 12 months of the year. That means we do have bigger gaps between our games than other nations but there is not an extended period of break that some of the other teams have.”Flintoff led a depleted side in India, which exceeded expectations in the Tests, drawing the series 1-1 but were exposed in the ODIs, losing the seven-match series 5-1. Despite the result, Collier felt that some positives had come out of the tour, giving Duncan Fletcher, the coach, the chance to identify new players ahead of next year’s World Cup.He said, “Any side in the world would have struggled having lost five senior players but it has given Duncan an opportunity to look at the players who are on the fringes of selection for the World Cup and that will give us a much stronger squad going into the World Cup build-up.”Collier also had some encouraging news for England fans hoping to acquire sufficient tickets for this year’s Ashes series in Australia. He said that negotiations were on with Cricket Australia to provide for English fans, expected to turn out in large numbers following England’s thrilling victory in previous year’s edition of the Ashes.”We have had discussions with Cricket Australia about obtaining tickets. England fans are always tremendously resourceful and have managed to get contacts in Australia and certainly tour groups and the Barmy Army have got some tickets so some are being made available”, he said. “It is similar to this country last year when we had such a huge interest – a bigger interest than we have had in a series before.”

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Lancashire were left to thank Mark Chilton, their captain, for salvaging a draw against Northamptonshire after another wicket-filled day at Old Trafford. Although not as dramatic as the third day, when 18 wickets fell, there was a tense finish with Lancashire eight down at the end. Their target of 252 was never a realistic proposition after they slipped to 8 for 2 and as Jason Brown as running through the middle order defeat became a distinct possibility. However, Chilton remained firm and chose the perfect time to make his first century of the season. He was grateful, too, to Gary Keedy, who stayed with him for the final half an hour and survived 20 balls. Chilton was the first person to pass 50 in a match dominated by the bowlers, a pattern which had continued as Muttiah Muralitharan removed Northants’ lower order, ending with 4 for 68.
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John Francis scored a battling century as Somerset finally found their backbone to seal a draw on the final day at Oakham School. After following-on 233 runs behind they needed someone to show some grit and Francis put his hand up. He lost Graeme Smith early in the day, when he edged Charl Willoughby, his Western Province team mate, to Paul Nixon. Francis received sterling support from Michael Burns, who batted for over four hours while compiling 59 from 202 balls. Burns was finally trapped lbw by Stuart Broad and although Sanath Jayasuriya failed a repeat of the first innings collapse was never in cards. James Hildreth reined in his natural attacking instincts to partner Francis for final period of the day
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Ravinder Bopara’s first first-class century guided Essex to a draw, leaving Derbyshire to rue their decision to not declare until lunch. Michael di Venuto and Ben France had taken their opening stand to 147, and di Venuto was unbeaten on 110 when the innings was closed, but Derbyshire only left themselves with two sessions to bowl out Essex. Graeme Welch created an early opening, removing Will Jefferson and Grant Flower in two balls to reduce Essex to 14 for 2. But Bopara and Alistair Cook added 127 for the third wicket and, when Cook fell, Andy Flower scored a quick fire 41 from 30 balls. Bopara reached his century just before play was called off, after facing 145 balls. After piling up 462 in their first innings, then having Essex on the ropes in their first innings, Derbyshire will feel they missed a opportunity to force their first Championship win of the season.
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This match drifted to a draw, with Paul Collingwood gaining the most for the final day with an unbeaten 103. It was useful time in the middle for Collingwood, who will shortly be joining up with the England squad for the one-day matches. Collingwood’s century – from 155 balls – was the last action of the match and he added 137 with Jon Lewis, following the early loss of Nicky Peng to Kabir Ali. Collingwood’s century was the second of the match, after Ben Smith’s 123, which was ended during the morning session by Ashley Noffke. The stand between Smith and Chaminda Vaas was extended to 115 for the eighth wicket before Noffke and Collingwood wrapped things up.

The politics of India’s forthcoming tour of Pakistan might have largely been sorted, but now the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is facing another problem – arranging the itinerary.A report in the Pakistan-based News claims that PCB officials are seriously worried about the logistics involved in the trip. The main centres – Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi – there are not too many issues. Accommodation is plentiful, the facilities inside the grounds are good, and security is tight and well drilled.But an unnamed PCB official is quoted as saying that other proposed venues – such as Multan and Faisalabad – pose altogether more serious concerns. “The available accommodation is not enough in these cities to cater to the requirements of the series,” the source told the newspaper. “You can imagine the logistical problems we are facing in scheduling the matches.”Faisalabad has the problem of few five or four star hotels and the biggest problem is there is limited space for the media in the stadium itself,” he added. “The board is also keeping in mind that Faisalabad this season has already hosted one Test and three one-dayers against Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand.”The detailed itinerary has yet to be announced but an official of the Indian board was quoted yesterday as saying that the first Test would be in Karachi, with subsequent Tests in Lahore and Faisalabad.”The first two one-day internationals would be held in Lahore,” he added, “followed by matches at Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Karachi.”

Sanath Jayasuriya’s Sri Lanka have enjoyed unprecedented success in Testcricket during recent months, and will start the Asian Test Championship(ATC) final against Pakistan brimming with confidence, but they are alsowell aware that Waqar Younis’s talented team represents a real threat to aremarkable run of eight straight wins.Despite the unfortunate last-minute withdrawal of India, which prevented thetournament from capturing the interest of spectators and sponsors, the crownof Asian Test champions is at stake and the finale, no matter how drab theopening one-sided bouts against Bangladesh, promises to be a worthy battle.It’s a crown that Sri Lanka would dearly like to wear. Ambitions have beenbroadened over the past year and Jayasuriya’s men are aiming their sights onbecoming established as one of the top three Test sides in the world. WithSouth Africa being flounced by Australia, the number two position nowappears tantalisingly vacant.Although both have played each other regularly in the one-day game, withalternate success, it has been over 18 months since the two sides last metin a Test match, in Sri Lanka where Moin Khan’s Pakistan romped to anemphatic two-nil series win, and times have changed for both sides.Pakistan’s comprehensive defeat had marked the start of a disappointing runfor Sri Lanka, with a drawn home series against South Africa soon after,followed by a drumming in South Africa and a humbling defeat at home againstNasser Hussain’s England.But, just when Sri Lanka’s Test form was becoming a subject of concerneddebate, Jayasuriya and coach Dav Whatmore engineered a remarkable turnaroundin the team’s fortunes. Spurred on by the ever-prolific MuttiahMuralitharan, with the batsmen enjoying a purple patch, Sri Lanka defeatedIndia, Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe.Pakistan, meanwhile, have seen a change at the helm, with the talismanicWaqar Younis steeping into the shoes of Moin Khan, a move that revitalisedboth his previously flagging career and the fortunes of the side.Waqar has welded the mercurial talents of his side together into a strong,closely knit unit, leaving an apparent sense of harmony within the side. Noteam relishes a skirmish against Pakistan when all parts are pulling in thesame direction and the Sri Lankans will be wary.The contest is shaping up into a tussle between Pakistan’s battery offirebrand fast bowlers and Sri Lanka’s silky batsmen. With Lahore promisingassistance for the speed merchants it will be a mouth-watering spectacle.Whatmore certainly expects a trial by pace: “The final conditions areobviously difficult to predict, but judging by their squad, which includes anumber of fast bowlers, we are expecting pace and bounce in the pitch and apace based attack.”It will prove a welcome challenge for Sri Lanka as they embark upon a toughyear overseas, during which opponents will be zeroing in on a perceivedfragility against high caliber pace bowling on lively pitches.However, Sri Lanka’s top order is looking in increasingly good shape. MahelaJaywardene has emerged as one of top five batsmen the world, the stylishKumar Sangakkara has quickly settled into the pivotal number three positionand Jayasuriya is back to his belligerent best.The middle order has been bolstered by the recall of Hashan Tillakaratne inAugust, who has scored three Test hundreds and two fifties since, and theintroduction of Thilan Samaraweera, a workmanlike all-rounder whoseperformances have been a revelation since making his debut against India -he currently averages a staggering 103 after eight games.During their last eight Test matches they have rattled up first inningsscores of 610-6, 555-5, 590-9, 228, 627-9, 586-6, 505 and 418, which helpsexplain why four matches were won by an innings and two by ten wickets – theremaining two matches were hardly close run affairs.Whatmore naturally hopes for more of the same: “We just have to carry onwith how we have been performing with the bat and we will be looking toconcentrate on following the same processes that have produced our recentsuccess.”The surprise omission of Wasim Akram from the squad certainly helps. Themajority of Sri Lanka’s batsmen identify Akram as the pivotal and mostpotent member of the Pakistani bowling attack. His supreme control of swingplus the sheer weight of his personality make him a formidable adversary andSri Lanka would prefer that he didn’t play no matter what his present formor fitness.”We were a bit surprised to not see his name in the squad,” admittedWhatmore. “Every side in the world recognises that he is truly world-classperformer and he has played particularly well against us in the past.”Pakistan would be equally delighted if Muralitharan were not playing. Theoff-spinner, who reached 400 Test wickets in record time, has brushed offthe barbed comments made by Bishen Bedi last month about his action and willbe looking forward to locking horns again with Pakistan’s aggressivebatsmen, against who he has enjoyed considerable success in the past,claiming 60 wickets in 11 games at 24.92.But should the pitch offer the life expected, then Sri Lanka’s seamers willhave to share their burden of the workload. The absence of rookie quickDilhara Fernando will be missed, but Chaminda Vaas still leads a disciplinedseam bowling attack with Nuwan Zoysa and Buddika Fernando likely to play.”Our seamers lack the raw pace of the Pakistanis, so we will beconcentrating hard on accuracy, making sure that we get the ball in theright area as much as possible, building up pressure on the batsmen,” saysWhatmore. “If the bowlers are going to get more response from the wicket,then we can exploit that too.”Nevertheless, despite their recent good form and the absence of both Akramand Saeed Anwar, Sri Lanka probably start as the underdogs, partly becausePakistan have the home advantage but, more importantly, due to the timing ofthe final. They are in the midst of preparations for the tour of England andare returning to the competitive fold prematurely.”We are coming straight out of training whereas Pakistan are fresh out of aseries with West Indies,” said Whatmore. “We go into the final a bit shortof competitive action with the players having only played a couple ofdomestic matches and that is going to make it difficult for us.”And he plays down the importance of stretching the sides victorious run tonine matches: “Our focus is never result orientated, instead we look at theprocesses necessary for achieving success. If we do those well, then we willbe happy.” But he remains upbeat: “The boys are very fit now, raring to go,and are looking forward to the challenge of taking on our neighbours intheir own backyard.”

Indian Law Minister Arun Jaitley has said the ‘misconduct’ by cricketers found guilty by the CBI of match-fixing did not come under any of the existing penal provisions and it was for the Sports Ministry to suggest changes in the law to prosecute such offenders.”Those found guilty of match-fixing did show misconduct. But the ingredients of misconduct strictly did not fit into any of the penal provisions of criminal code of conduct wherein they could be prosecuted,” Jaitley told reporters in London on Wednesday.The Sports Ministry had referred the case to him to find out whether any penal action could be taken based on the CBI report, Jaitley, who is also President of Delhi and District Cricket Association, said. “As of today, with the kind of evidence they have, all accusations showed misconduct by concerned cricketers and therefore, the Cricket Board was empowered to take action which they did,” Jaitley said.The minister said there was no proposal before the Law Ministry to incorporate penal provisions for such misconduct and added, “It is for the Department of Sports to consider.””If such acts are repeatedly still taking place in spite of the exposures, then you have to come out with tougher provisions of law”, Jaitley said.Jaitley said among all the inquiries held into match-fixing in different countries, it was the Delhi police inquiry and the CBI probe which brought out all the evidence. “They have brought in hard evidence. They have not gone by surmises. The CBI has done a good job”, he said.Jaitley said the “legislative premises has always been that the evil sought to be curbed and the law you bring in must have some relationship of proportionality between the two.””If you legislate and bring in penal action, the level of proof required is much higher. Then the proof has to be beyond reasonable doubt and for the Indian Cricket Board to proceed to take disciplinary action, the level of proof as in a civil litigation is a preponderance of probabilities. For a court to convict him the proof required will be beyond reasonable doubt”, he said.