Simon Jones takes the final step towards his Test return on Friday, 16 months after his horrific injury on the opening day of the last Ashes series, as England begin their final warm-up match against a Vice-Chancellor’s XI at the Frank Worrell ground in Kingston.It has been a long painful road to recovery for Jones, who ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament while attempting a sliding stop on the sandy surface of Gabba at Brisbane in November 2002. It took a month for the swelling to go down sufficiently for surgeons to operate, and then he had to endure a further six weeks in which he was unable to move his leg.”When I first got injured I did think about whether I would play again,” Jones admitted to journalists on the eve of his comeback. “I had a horrible couple of months wondering what was going to happen, and after the operation I couldn’t even pedal a bike for six weeks so that was disturbing. There was nothing to do but sit around at home watching television all day and watching the boys out in Australia, which was very hard for me.”Jones made his comeback for Glamorgan 2nd XI towards the end of last summer, before proving his fitness for the Caribbean on the England A trip to India. “It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “I’ve worked hard at the Academy with Rod Marsh and I’ve worked hard in India. I even hit 100% pace a couple of times out there and didn’t feel any ill-effects from the knee, apart from being stiff the next day.”Jones’s rehabilitation programme has resulted in a remodelled action, and an arrow-straight approach to the stumps off an 18-yard run-up. The knee may be holding up fine, but the mental scars have not entirely dissipated, and it will be a while yet before he’ll be sliding in the outfield. “In time I will probably slide again, but the pitches out here are pretty sandy as well so it’s not worth it,” he said. “You’ll probably see me just running after the ball here, but everyone is saying don’t do anything stupid.”England are likely to field another 12-man line-up for Friday’s game, after Jeff Dujon, the former West Indian wicketkeeper and coach of the Vice-Chancellor’s XI indicated he’d like to give Jermaine Lawson another opportunity to push for a Test place. Lawson has been out of cricket since last May, after being reported for a suspect bowling action. He will be joined in the Vice-Chancellor’s XI by Steve Tikolo and Kennedy Otieno, who helped Kenya to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup, and have since been playing in the Carib Beer Cup, West Indies’ domestic competition.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Paul Collingwood, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Simon Jones, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Matthew Hoggard, 12 James Anderson.

Tushar Imran, the middle-order batsman, will lead Bangladesh A in the first four-day “Test” against the touring Zimbabwe A side. Bangladesh’s 13 was whittled down from an original 25-man training squad.The first representative match starts tomorrow (March 17) at Rajshahi, and will be followed by another at Bogra (March 23-26). The two A teams will then play a five-match one-day series.Zimbabwe A won their first match of the tour, a three-day game against a Bangladesh Under-23 XI, at Fatullah yesterday.Bangladesh A (from):
1 Nafees Iqbal, 2 Rashedul Haque, 3 Ehsanul Haq, 4 Mazharul Haque, 5 Tushar Imran (capt), 6 Nasir Uddin Faruque, 7 Mohammed Selim (wk), 8 Jamal Uddin, 9 Alamgir Kabir, 10 Enamul Haq junior, 11 Shahdat Hossain, 12 Faisal Hossain, 13 Gazi Alamgir.

As expected, the Zimbabwe selectors have picked an inexperienced squad for the first one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Bulawayo next Tuesday (April 20). In a statement, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union said the team had been chosen only from those who had made themselves available, in a reference to the 13 white players who are at loggerheads with the ZCU about political interference in team selection.The press release detailing the squad added that the “rebel” players will be expected to report for team practice tomorrow morning, even though they have not been selected. If they fail to do so, “action will be taken against them in terms of their contract”, but if they do turn up, they will be considered for selection for future tours.Tatenda Taibu, 20, will lead the 14-man squad, with Dion Ebrahim as his vice-captain. Other familiar names include Stuart Matsikenyeri, Vusimuzi Sibanda and Douglas Hondo. Tinashe Panyangara, who took 6 for 31 in the shock victory over Australia in the recent Under-19 World Cup, was one of six uncapped players.Meanwhile, the ZCU has appointed Walter Chawaguta, the Matabeleland provincial coach, to the panel of national selectors. He replaced Mpumelelo Mbangwa, who declared himself unavailable. Chawaguta joined Stephen Mangongo, Maqsood Ebrahim and Richard Kaschula on the committee.Zimbabwe squad for first ODI
Tatenda Taibu (capt and wk), Dion Ebrahim, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Elton Chigumbura, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Alester Maregwede, Mluleki Nkala, Waddington Mwayenga, Brendon Taylor, Douglas Hondo, Prosper Utseya, Tawanda Mpariwa, Edward Rainsford, Tinashe Panyangara.

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.

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.

If Team USA were pegged back by the thrashing they received at the hands of New Zealand, then they better brace themselves for high impact now. Ricky Ponting’s Australians have spent hours at the nets without getting a game. If the weather stays good, the Australian team will be straining at the leash to get some action.”Everybody is so keen to play because we haven’t played much cricket of late. We had a rained-out tournament in Amsterdam, and then our practice match here was rained out as well,” Ponting explained at a pre-match press conference in Southampton. “Motivation is never a factor for this side. Everyone gears themselves up and gets ready for games. Whether it’s playing against a very good team or a weaker team everyone is keen to play, and I’m sure you’ll see a very good Australian team take the field tomorrow.”Statisticians, bring your almanacks. Scorers, bring an assistant. Records will tumble, and Ponting doesn’t quite agree with Matthew Hayden’s earlier statement that Australian cricketers didn’t care about personal landmarks and achievements. “Everyone wants to do something special, in every game that you play,” he said. “Watching the USA-New Zealand game the other day someone made a big hundred, and hopefully we can do the same. Ideally we’d like one of the batsmen to make a big hundred and have one of the bowlers get six or seven [wickets] for not very many.”The ideal scenario may not pan out but, barring constant rain for two days, Australia will get their Champions Trophy campaign off to a swashbuckling start. It’s important that they do, because this cup is one piece of silverware missing from their overstocked trophy cabinet. When asked if the fact that Australia had never won this tournament made the current campaign more important, Ponting said: “I guess it is. A lot of our guys have spoken about this. Looking back, this is a tournament we’ve not done well in. We made the semi-finals last time around in Sri Lanka, but were beaten by Sri Lanka. We’ve won many tournaments around the world but this is one that we haven’t, so there is an extra bit riding on this for Australia.”For the Americans, though, this tournament is a chance to rub shoulders with the very best in the game. How much they will learn is debatable, but Richard Staple, the captain, seemed to think they were better for the experience. “I learned a lot from the New Zealand game. Nathan Astle the opening batsman, he didn’t come out and blast from the first ball even though he’s one of the top players in the world. He took time to build his innings and batted right through. And the way they bowled as well. Jacob Oram started off scratchily but stuck to a good line throughout and ended with very economical figures. These are just two examples of the sort of things you can learn from playing against the best teams.”Staple also believed that repeated thumpings at the hands of much better teams wasn’t detrimental to the cause. “Soccer started out in a similar way in the United States. We used to get beaten by most teams but now we are No. 7 in the world because of the development of the game and the proper infrastructure that was put in place. Hopefully with the exposure and experience we gather from this tournament we can have similar development in cricket back in America.”That Staple kept a straight face when asked if his side was going into the match believing they could win was remarkable. “Well, yes, obviously,” he replied. “It’s a daunting task but we have to at least believe that we can play hard, and that it’s a game of cricket and anything can happen.” That’s the first bit of learning for Staple: some things are in the realm of possibility, others things merely probable, but the USA beating Australia is not one of them.

Distraction is a professional hazard for anybody playing a spectator sport. But Indian cricket grounds can stretch the nerves to the limit. Right from cheering the home team and its stars, to booing the opposition, to the Mexican waves, to the slogan-mongering, the air is always filled with excitement, noise and distraction. How does a player shut all this out and go about doing his job? Well, they call it being in the zone. Sachin Tendulkar manages to get into that state of mind more often than most. But on the second day of the Nagpur Test, playing his first innings after that much-talked-about tennis-elbow problem, he failed to maintain his concentration.On the verge of tea, as he was settling into his stance Tendulkar spotted a gentleman standing in the press box as Jason Gillespie was about to start his over. Apparently distracted for just a moment, Tendulkar missed the next ball and was trapped in front, and walked off with his head bowed after Aleem Dar raised the finger. Sources close to the team revealed later that Tendulkar complained bitterly about the journalist whose wander had cost him his wicket. Next morning, a request in bold was pasted up in the press box, reading: “Please remain seated. Movement in this enclosure causes inconvenience to players.”Tendulkar may have had a grouse, but the media too has its own complaints. The Indian team’s briefings at the end of the day’s play are a good case in point. As the players stretch themselves after a hard day’s work, the reporters wait, desperately hoping for a story. No interviews are granted during the game, and editors are forever demanding more than just the match report. Apart from commenting on the Indian team’s failings in this Test, the media has also been trying to unravel the mystery behind Sourav Ganguly’s injury, and whether he will be fit for the last Test. On the first day, Andrew Leipus, the team physiotherapist, held a briefing but failed to answer clearly questions about the cause, the symptoms, or the duration of recovery. He only mentioned that there would be a bone scan done the following day.Just after the close of play on the second day, the media rushed to the pavilion to get a fresh update. After a frustrating wait of about 20 minutes, they were informed that no further information was available. It was an utterly unprofessional attitude when the team would actually have been better served by quelling the speculations, which continued in the absence of any concrete information.And when information was finally given this morning, it only added to the confusion. They released a press statement which could only be decoded by medical professionals. The statement ended with: “He is now receiving medical treatment for this condition and his progress will be monitored carefully over the next few days.” Meat enough for hacks?

India’s disappointing run in both Tests and one-day internationals this season has increased speculation that a change of coach might be imminent, and John Wright, the current coach, did nothing to quash those rumours when speaking to reporters in Kolkata before India’s second Test against South Africa.”I hope to be going to Bangladesh,” was all that Wright offered when asked about his future. “These kind of rumours gain ground when your team is not performing to its potential. I have had my chats with Mr Dalmiya about my stay and other stuff. But the BCCI itself is in a limbo. So you have to wait.”There were hints, though, that a change might be in the offing. “After four years as coach, I feel that it is very important for a team to be moving forward. I want to see the team constantly improving. If at any point of time I feel that I am not achieving anything for the team, then someone else can come forward and take my place.”Looking ahead to the second Test against South Africa, Wright indicated that the Indians could opt to go in with more balanced attack for the match. “We may play two medium pacers and two spinners. But that decision will be taken on the morning of the Test after consultations with the selectors and the captain.” If India do opt for two spinners, Murali Kartik is likely to miss out, while Irfan Pathan will come in to replace him.

Scorecard

Sean Clingeleffer and Damien Wright breathed some life into a sombre Tasmania innings with a 98-run seventh-wicket partnership against Queensland at Bellerive Oval. At one stage the Tigers looked like they would struggle to pass 200 after fighting for every run.Michael Di Venuto collected a hard-earned half-century to walk his side out of trouble after falling to 2 for 29, but when he departed the innings appeared in danger of toppling. However, Clingeleffer, who scored 73 from 86 balls, and Wright (41) took Tasmania past the follow-on mark until both departed late in the day.Andy Bichel struck early with the wicket of Travis Birt and returned to dismiss both Clingeleffer and Wright while Joe Dawes finished with two. Adam Griffith collected his fifth wicket in the first session as Queensland added seven to their overnight total.

John Dyson will be back on March 1 to continue his role as the coach of the Sri Lankan team before their Test tour to New Zealand in April. Mohan de Silva, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), said that Dyson had agreed to return to Sri Lanka and complete his contract which ends on March 31 and prepare the team for the two Tests against New Zealand.Dyson angered a section of the SLC top brass when he back to Sydney straight after the cancellation of the New Zealand tour, following the tsunami disaster, without informing them. The SLC’s ExCo was divided on whether they should retain Dyson and give him a fresh contract or look for someone else to replace him.However the issue appears to have thinned out following Dyson’s talks with de Silva and Duleep Mendis in Australia recently. de Silva said that SLC have offered new terms in the contract which Dyson hopes to discuss with SLC officials when he is here. Depending on the outcome of the discussions Dyson’s contract could be extended to anything from one year to until the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.Dyson, the former Australian opener, had succeeded Dav Whatmore after signing a 19-month contract in September 1, 2003. Within that period of time Sri Lanka improved their rankings in both forms of the game, moving from seventh to fifth in Tests and leaped from seventh to second place in the one-dayers.Sri Lanka are due to play New Zealand in two Tests at Napier and Wellington, apart from a three-day warm-up game from March 26. The national cricket selectors named a pool of 24 players for training from which the final squad will be selected. These players will be involved in SLC’s provincial tournament which gets underway tomorrow and ends with the final at Dambulla on March 6.