Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, has denied media speculation that its Anti-Corruption Unit is investigating incidents during the recent Videocon Cup one-day series between Zimbabwe, India and New Zealand, labelling them “totally inaccurate and without foundation.”We do not normally comment on the operational activities of the ACU, but in light of the volume of utterly unfounded reports relating to the recent tri-series in Zimbabwe it is important to make it clear that there is no investigation being undertaken into this series,” Speed said. “It is disappointing to see such wild and unfounded accusations circulating in the media and we have taken the unusual step of commenting on this speculation as we do not wish the reputation of the sport, the teams or the players to be tarnished by utterly inaccurate media reports.”The ICC never usually comments on the ongoing operations of the ACU, but the widespread media coverage of the allegations forced it to speak out.Earlier, Daniel Vettori had rubbished allegations that there was anything untoward about New Zealand’s recent win in the series. An Indian newspaper had reported that the ICC had deployed two members of the anti-corruption unit to look into allegations of match-fixing in the tournament.”That’s the first I’ve heard of it, it’s news to me and I’d imagine it’s news to the team as well,” Vettori told the New Zealand Press Association. “It seems to always follow us around when we win something.”Vettori was the lynchpin of New Zealand’s victory in the final, taking 2 for 34 in a tidy 10-over spell mid-innings that put the brakes on India. A fine opening stand between Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming then sealed the issue for New Zealand.”But we’re pretty comfortable with how the game went, how we played it and how they played it — 280’s not a bad score in a final,” said Vettori. When asked whether he or any of his team-mates was approached by bookmakers or suspicious characters during the series he said, “Nothing at all, there’s nothing gone on to my knowledge.”New Zealand Cricket was quick to back its players. “All we have seen regarding speculation surrounding the series is reports from Indian newspapers,” Martin Snedden, the chief executive, said. “I have very strong trust in the integrity of our players and am more than confident there is no basis to any suggestions they were involved.”

One of the game of cricket’s best-known umpires, Shakoor Rana of Pakistan, has died at the age of 65. It’s believed he suffered a heart attack at his home last night.Shakoor Rana will inevitably be remembered for the confrontation which took place between him and the then England captain, Mike Gatting, during a tense session of play in the Faisalabad Test of 1987-88 between Pakistan and England. The incident, memorably caught on camera at the time, almost led to the tour coming to a premature end. Gatting today expressed sympathy, saying: “I feel sorry for his family.”A popular man, Shakoor was known to his friends as a jovial and hospitable character. He had happily been entertaining friends on the night of his death.He was buried this morning amidst the prayers of his well-wishers. Apart from his friends and family, his funeral was attended by scores of cricketers past and present, fellow umpires, PCB officials, CricInfo, members of the press and media, cricket fans and admirers.Shakoor Rana was born on April 4 1936 and belonged to a renowned sports family from Lahore; his brothers Shafqat Rana and Azmat Rana both represented Pakistan in Tests. A third brother, Sultan Rana, became a cricket administrator and is acting as a national selector for the junior teams.Shakoor was a right-hand bat and right-arm medium-fast bowler. He played in 11 first-class games, making his debut in 1957-58 and playing his final game in 1969-70. He represented Railways, Lahore and Punjab with a highest score of 48 and a batting average of 12.55 and best bowling figures of 4-88, at an average of 36.41.Shakoor’s two sons, Maqsood and Mansoor, are engaged in first-class cricket on the domestic circuit. Apart from cricketers, the family also produced a film star: Moammar Rana, a son of former Test cricketer Shafqat Rana.Shakoor Rana made his debut as a Test umpire against the West Indies at his home town of Lahore in 1974-75 and supervised the last Test against the visiting New Zealand team at Lahore in 1996-97. During his career as an umpire he supervised 18 Tests and 22 one-day internationals. He was a highly competent umpire; upright and bold in his decision making.In Shakoor Rana’s sudden death Pakistan has lost a highly-respected former umpire and a devoted lover of the game of cricket.

Predicting a close series against South Africa, Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, has said that his team will strive to bounce back with an improved performance in the second one-dayer, to be played at Bangalore on November 19.”Yes, we have got to come back strongly and play good cricket,” Dravid told reporters in Bangalore, his howetown. He also insisted that he was satisfied with the courageous performance of Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Ajit Agarkar, who helped to score a respectable 249 after the team was 35 for 5 at one stage. “[But] I think, we did well in the last game,” he said. “The boys showed a lot of character and courage to fight back. I am very satisfied. We can take heart from that. If we do a few things, we will end up with better results.”He also said the team was looking to improve its batting in the first 15 overs and cut down on the number of extras. However, about the 24 extras conceded in the match, Dravid dismissed the issue as “not a problem” because despite conceding a few extras, he believed the Indian bowlers bowled well.

ScorecardEngland’s miserable time on the subcontinent continued with their fourth successive defeat in the triangular tournament, this time to Sri Lanka. They now need unlikely victories with bonus points in their remaining two matches – and for Bangladesh to win tomorrow – to make the final. Chance would be a fine thing … but the chances are it will be Sri Lanka and the hosts Bangladesh who contest the final on December 14th.Before then England must play both teams once again and, realistically, only pride at stake. But any pride they can salvage at all will act as at least some fillip to them after Sri Lanka beat them by a whopping 60 runs to make it nine defeats out of nine matches this tour. Just like their senior counterparts, they are finding life on the subcontinent somewhat testing.Hans Fernando’s unbeaten century helped to take Sri Lanka to 281 for 6 from their 50 overs. His 119 not out came from 106 balls and included 15 fours. It took him two hours. The opener Dimuth Karunaratne piled on the misery with 56 from 80 balls. Rory Hamilton-Brown was England’s most successful bowler, with two wickets for 59 runs from his ten overs.England’s reply got off to a creditable start, with Varun Chopra making his highest total this tournament, 77. Ben Wright added 47 before he was caught and bowled by Sacithra Serasinghe, who bagged 4 for 53. Rajeeva Weerasinghe also chipped in with an impressive 3 for 22 from 8.1 overs as England crumbled in the face of a mountainous target.

Kyle Mills, the New Zealand fast bowler, says that there shall be no premeditated sledging against Australia in the forthcoming Chappell-Hadlee Trophy which starts on December 3.Mills, who was among the wickets during New Zealand’s recent one-day series loss to South Africa, also featured prominently in some visible exchanges with Graeme Smith. He has, however, dismissed any chance of such banter with Australia, a side whose reputation for mentally testing its opponent is well known.”It’s nothing really, it’s just verbal banter,” he told stuff.co.nz. “It’s what happens out there at the time. Emotions get into it and it goes from there. But you’ve got to control what you control best. Most guys have played enough first-class and international cricket and what goes on the field stays on the field.”Mills even went to the extent of saying that Australia’s newbees – Michael Lewis and Stuart Clark, both fast bowlers, and Cameron White, the spin bowling allrounder, will be spared the psychological gibes. “You don’t pinpoint a player at the start of the series or the start of the game, it’s what happens out there,” Mills said. “That’s the beauty of cricket, I guess.”Probed to comment on his claims of becoming an allrounder, Mills said that it was still an aspiration – he hopes to bat at No.7 some day – but that he had neglected his batting in recent times. “There’re a few allrounders I have to get past first. It’s something I’d like to work towards but I just want to keep my bowling as it was in South Africa.”The first of three one-day matches will be played at Eden Park on Saturday.

Brendon Julian, the former Test bowler, believes Australia’s hopes of regaining the Ashes would be boosted if Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist walked away from the one-day game. Managing the workloads of the mid-30s players has become a key issue for the selection panel as they plan for next summer’s five-Test England series and McGrath was allowed to miss the Chappell-Hadlee Series in December while Gilchrist is currently on a week off.Julian, who is now a television commentator, expected Gilchrist, his former team-mate, to benefit from the time at home as he deals with a worrying batting streak and he felt his case would need further monitoring. “I would hate to see McGrath and Gilchrist not be ready for the Ashes series coming up,” Julian said in The Age. “I tend to think if it means them stepping out of the one-day arena to further lengthen their Test career, maybe that’s something that needs to be done.”Gilchrist, 34, was initially approved for a break for the three-match Chappell-Hadlee Series but his holiday request was over-ruled by the Cricket Australia board and he has scored less than 500 runs in his 15 international matches this summer. His need for a rest may also have been shown in his heated argument with Aleem Dar in Sunday’s five-wicket loss to South Africa that resulted in him being charged with dissent.Julian said the effects of last winter’s Ashes loss on the players could have been underestimated and he believed Gilchrist would have bounced back for the South Africa Test series if he had not gone to New Zealand. “I think it is weariness,” he said. “I think he definitely needs that rest and around that New Zealand tour he probably should have been rested. It’s well overdue, he’s the type of player that will respond really well to that. It’s such a heavy workload, batting and wicketkeeping at the same time.”Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, is mindful of the need to rest players performing in both the Test and one-day sides. More senior squad members are expected to be given short periods at home as the VB Series continues over the next four weeks.

Cricket Australia has called for lifetime bans on supporters found guilty of racial abuse following reports that India’s top lawyer has been called in to investigate ongoing complaints by South African players.James Sutherland, the Australia board’s chief executive, said that spectators who racially abused players should either face heavy fines or be banned from attending matches. He added that tougher penalties were needed to “allow cricket administrators globally to ban for life or heavily fine the small handful of miscreants who offend with weak-minded racist taunts from the relative anonymity of packed stadiums.”The weak-minded minority who are tempted to think ‘me too’ when they see or hear media reports of racist taunts might think again if they realised they faced bans or huge fines of the type that now apply to spectators who trespass on Australian cricket arenas.”We intend to talk to Australian federal and state governments who supported us by introducing heavy fines for on-field trespassers to see if a similar approach might be possible for racist spectators.”Sutherland’s comments came after the ICC announced it had asked Goolam Vahanvati, India’s solicitor general, to investigate incidents of racial abuse that have taken place in Australia during the current season.

Stuart Clark hopes he can be the man to fix Australia’s end-of-innings bowling problems. The Australians have struggled to close out opposition batsmen in the final overs since the Chappell-Hadlee Series and the continued absence of Glenn McGrath means Ricky Ponting is still searching for a reliable replacement.”I’d like to be the death bowler, I am getting better at that,” Clark told AAP ahead of Friday’s Twenty20 International at Johannesburg. “If they want to give me the new ball, I’m happy to do that, or bowl first change. If they want me to bowl at the death, I’m happy to do that as well.”Clark made his debut during the Super Series last October and has played 11 ODIs and taken 19 wickets. He has become a regular fringe member of the side since he was picked as a squad replacement for McGrath in England and he will enter the five-match one-day series as part of the first-choice bowling line-up including Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken. “You only get limited opportunities and you have to make the most of them while you’re out there,” Clark said.The Australians have talked about dealing with the hostile crowds predicted for the series, but Clark said the reaction was not a concern. “It doesn’t matter where you go,” he said. “When we went to New Zealand, the crowd was parochial towards New Zealanders. When South Africa come to Australia, the Australian crowd climbs on board for us.”It’s part of being an international cricketer. It’s the same in domestic cricket. Queensland don’t like NSW and Western Australia don’t like anyone.”

The ICC have approved four venues for the Champions Trophy which will be held in India later this year.Previously they had insisted on the host country using just three venues but accepted the Indian board’s compensation offer of US$200,000 to add a fourth venue. The BCCI had requested the extra venue because of the size of India and the demand of its members to host matches.Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, the Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad, the Punjab Cricket Association ground in Mohali and the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur will host for the limited-overs tournament which lasts for a month.West Indies are the current holders, having beaten England in the final at The Oval in 2004.

Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan captain, has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to find out the genuine reasons for which Shahid Afridi, the allrounder, decided to stop playing Test matches until the next World Cup.”I was surprised to read today, that the PCB Chairman told the reporters that the board would have to review the terms of the central contract it has given to Afridi, if he does not change his decision,” Miandad told . “Instead of talking about money and contracts, I think the board should try to find out why he has taken this strange decision.”Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, told reporters on Sunday that the board would speak to Afridi and would try to persuade him to change his mind. He added if this didn’t happen, then it would have to obviously review the terms and conditions of his contract.Afridi has taken a temporary retirement from Test cricket saying that he wanted to concentrate on one-day matches and prepare for the World Cup. He citied excess of cricket these days and his failure to adjust to both forms of the game as the reason for his retirement.But Miandad said that the board needed to find out what led Afridi to make such a drastic move. “If excess cricket is the reason with which I don’t agree, then you could have other players also following the same line in the near future,” he said. Miandad, 48, who played 124 Tests and 233 one-dayers, said that instead of worrying about the sort of contract which was given to Afridi, the board should get to the bottom of the reasons for his decision.”By saying that the board would have to review the terms of his contract if he didn’t change his decision, the PCB has basically given the impression that it is trying to put the allrounder under pressure to change his mind,” he explained. “I have played for over 20 years for Pakistan and I think the board needs to handle the Afridi issue more efficiently and sensibly. He is a good player and a rare commodity. You don’t get players who can bat, bowl and field brilliantly and have the potential of being true matchwinners in both forms of the game.”Miandad, who was also the team coach on three occasions, said that he also didn’t agree with the boards’ decision to try and hireJonty Rhodes, the former South African player, as a fielding consultant. “I don’t know where this idea came from,” he said. “And I don’t think Jonty would be able to make much of a difference to our fielding standards by just coming over here for a few weeks. It would be a waste of good money.”I am willing to tell the board, the reasons for our inconsistent fielding standards. But at the end of the day, when it comes to fielding, each individual player must have enough keenness and interest by himself in order to try, improve and gain experience in the fielding department. You can’t force a player to dive, he does it himself.”