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Andrew Flintoff has been rested from Lancashire’s C&G Trophy quarter-final against Yorkshire, as he is suffering from an ankle injury. He is expected, however, to be fit for England’s one-day international campaign despite New Zealand and West Indies, which begins on June 24.”Flintoff experienced pain in the posterior of his left ankle during the third Test," said a Lancashire spokesman. "He underwent a X-ray on Monday which was clear.” The injury did not hamper Flintoff, however. He took four wickets and made a half-century in the first innings, as England completed a 3-0 whitewash, their first since 1978.

The international players’ association has called for the ICC to consider more than playing form when assessing the Zimbabwe crisis at its meeting next month. Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA), said today that the ICC must investigate claims that Zimbabwe was ignoring cricket’s “core values”.”It is the strong position of FICA and its member player-associations that the present Zimbabwean crisis is more than just a perceived dilution in the value of international cricket,” said May in a statement. “The real issue, and the issue that the ICC executive board should give ultimate priority to, concerns the values of cricket.”He said that such values, including equality and integrity, were stated in the ICC’s 2001-2005 Strategic Plan and endorsed by its ten Test-playing nations. “These are the matters that the ICC June meeting must discuss, investigate and determine,” said May, the former Test offspinner who also heads the Australian Cricketers’ Association. “The current dispute between the ZCU and 15 of its players has been highlighted with allegations of immoral and unethical behaviour and allegations of discrimination on [the basis of] colour and region. The ICC executive board must be compelled to thoroughly investigate these claims.”Australia is currently in the middle of three one-day matches against Zimbabwe after the Test series was scrapped due to the player dispute, which seriously weakened the Zimbabwean side. May said that the behaviour of players generally had been heavily scrutinised over the past few years, and this should extend to administrators.”These values must equally apply to the governors of the game. FICA believes that should the ICC executive board fail to investigate these allegations, then apathy will permeate the player ranks, but more importantly, 15 brave and talented men who had the guts to stand up for their principles may be lost to the game of international cricket.”FICA had earlier been critical of the Australian board’s decision to go ahead with the one-day series, arguing that the move had sealed the fate of the 15 rebel players, who were immediately sacked by the ZCU.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indian captain, was suitably delighted with his and the team’s performance so far in the first Test against Pakistan in Barbados. Chanderpaul notched up an unbeaten 153 – his first Test hundred against Pakistan – as West Indies made 371 in their second innings, giving them an overall lead of 572. At close of play on the third day, Pakistan were struggling at 113 for 4, needing a further 460 to win.”It’s always good to get a Test hundred, no matter who you are playing against,” Chanderpaul was quoted as saying by . “It’s my first against Pakistan, I’m happy. We needed someone to stay out there and give us a good innings and most of the batters went already so I had to put my head down and stick it out.”Earlier in the match, Brian Lara scored first century against Pakistan, and in the process became only the sixth batsman to score hundreds against all Test-playing nations. Chanderpaul hasn’t yet reached the three-figure mark against New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka – he hasn’t yet played a Test against the Lankans – but for the moment, Chanderpaul’s focus was firmly on wrapping up the victory.”Coming out with a win is going to be a big booster for us. Hopefully, we can do that probably tomorrow (Sunday) or the next day and help the team confidence.”Meanwhile, Fidel Edwards was quite chuffed after his five-wicket haul in the first innings, and attributed it to his improved fitness. “I have been working pretty hard over the last couple of days, mainly on my fitness, trying to prepare for this game and it paid off,” Edwards told the daily after the second day’s play. “The last couple of Test games I played, I was struggling to get some wickets and I really wanted to get some wickets in this game and prove my worth.”Edwards was forced to leave the field in Pakistan’s second innings due to a hamstring problem, but by then he had already done enough damage, taking 5 for 38 in the first innings, and then dismissing Salman Butt for a duck in his first over of the second. It was a welcome return to form for Edwards – his last four matches had fetched him three wickets for 442 runs. His career was also set back when he sustained a back injury during West Indies’ tour of England last year. When he returned, against South Africa at the same venue last month, Edwards conceded 112 runs and went wicketless. This time, he insisted, the wicket made a difference too: “The pitch had a little more bounce than the last time we played here. It is still a good track for batting and bowling and hopefully we can get the job done.”One aspect that didn’t impress him as much, though, was the lack of support from the crowd – only about 3000 people turned up for each of the first three days. “It’s very disappointing. Even in the South Africa series [it was the same]. The support is decreasing a lot and the more support, the better it is for us in the long run as a team trying to get back up there.”

Clare Taylor has called time on her international career after 17 eventful years. Taylor, 40, bows out on a high following the England team’s Ashes success.”All good things come to an end,” said Taylor. “For me it was a case of having a couple of injuries that were hard to shake off,” she added.Popularly called “Romper”, she is a medium-pace bowler who played 16 Tests and 105 ODIs since 1988. In a career of many highlights – she was made a Member of the British Empire in 2000 for services to cricket, and became the first woman to take 100 ODI wickets – her outstanding moment was winning the World Cup in 1993.She is a talented footballer too, having represented Liverpool Ladies and playing in the football World Cup.Her county side is Yorkshire. She has revealed that she will continue playing cricket, as well as coach, when she goes to New Zealand this November to pitch in for the Otago Sparks.She believes her decision to retire now has come at exactly the right time.”Looking around at the current squad, there are many promising youngsters coming through,” she added, “with the likes of Katherine Brunt, Isa Guha and Arran Brindle. I therefore feel that now is a good time to go, leaving the game on a high, having just won the Ashes for the first time in 42 years.”

Rod Marsh has ruled himself out of contention for the Australian selector’s job which is soon to be vacated by Trevor Hohns. Marsh, the former England selector, said he would be too busy with his two jobs – heading the ICC’s new Global Cricket Academy in Dubai and reviewing the operations of cricket in South Australia – to even contemplate the role.Steve Rixon, the former Test wicketkeeper and New Zealand and Surrey coach, has emerged as a frontrunner to join the four-man panel alongside David Boon, Andrew Hilditch and Merv Hughes and has confirmed his interest in the role. Hohns vacates the chairman’s role after seven years because of increasing business commitments, meaning a likely elevation for one of the current trio.”It does appeal to me,” Rixon told the . “I’m still fresh, still involved in the game and still keen and passionate to make a difference. I have given this a lot of thought. In 2007 there will obviously be a lot of coaching jobs coming up, but the only one that would interest me would be the Aussie job. But selecting is something I would really like to get my teeth into.”Media speculation has also linked Ray Bright, the former slow left-armer, and Dean Jones to the job, while Steve Waugh ruled himself out of contention owing to business commitments. Waugh, though, believes that Jones could be a suitable candidate, although Jones has extensive media obligations.

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Andy Moles, who resigned last month as Kenya’s national coach after 18 difficult months to take up a similar position with Scotland, has warned his former employers that their house is in danger of falling down.It is less than two years since Kenya stunned everyone by reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup, but hopes that they might build on that success have foundered amid bitter political in-fighting and players’ strikes.Moles, the former Warwickshire batsman, says he had to endure death threats and unfounded claims of racism, and even had to dip into his own pocket to buy petrol for the roller to ensure that net sessions went ahead as planned. His departure came after the Kenyan Cricket Association was suspended by the sports minister, Ochilo Ayacko, for alleged mismanagement.”Over the last six months I was in Kenya there appeared to be a new crisis every week,” Moles told The Wisden Cricketer magazine. “It’s like taking the bottom cards from a pyramid of cards – it’s not long before the whole thing collapses. Kenyan cricket is getting to that stage and, unless people stop playing politics with the sport, then there is no way they will ever be in a position to play Test matches.”Moles blames internecine strife between the KCA, the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association and the Coast Cricket Association for the decline. The dispute led to facilities at Nairobi’s best grounds, the Gymkhana and Aga Khan, being withdrawn for Kenya’s training sessions, forcing the country’s 20 fulltime professionals to use more basic facilities elsewhere.Moles also had to contend with strikes from senior players before major competitions which culminated in 14 of them, led by the former captain Steve Tikolo, withdrawing from the squad for last autumn’s ICC Intercontinental Cup finals in the Gulf.”I could sympathise with the players but I didn’t think that going on strike on the day before they were due to represent their country was the right way to handle things,” says Moles. “I know that some of the players didn’t like my approach to coaching, but all I asked for was hard work and discipline, the things that helped to make Warwickshire successful in the mid-1990s.”Some of the senior players would not conform, their timekeeping was poor and they were reluctant to train. It appeared that as they got to the World Cup semis they thought there was no longer a need to work on their cricket.”This article was first published in the March issue of The Wisden Cricketer.