The Indian government has passed a directive to ensure that private television channels share their sports telecasts with Prasar Bharati, the state-run broadcaster. Jaipal Reddy, the information and broadcasting minister, said that the order was valid with immediate effect. The directive covers matches involving India that are broadcast in India and abroad.In the case of cricketing events, it includes semi-finals and finals of international tournaments, regardless of India’s participation. It is understood that at least one major broadcaster is prepared to appeal against the directive and pursue the matter in court.Earlier, news of the move to ensure that live cricket was shared with Prasar Bharati had caused consternation among private channels, who collectively met at an industrial meeting and advised the government that the move was a regressive step. This ruling by the government will affect the value of the four-year television rights being sold by the Indian board, and could result in a significant loss of earnings for channels looking to move to a new, paid television platform.Of the revenue earned, 75% will go to the private broadcaster, and the remaining will be Prasar Bharati’s share. A senior representative of a channel also pointed out that since the order was with immediate effect, rights to overseas cricket that had already been paid for would have to be shared.While this decision ensures that Doordarshan will broadcast to millions of households without satellite television, it is seen as an impingement on corporate rights, as well as a political move. The idea was first proposed last year by the government, which declared that broadcasting cricket was in the national interest.Channels are awaiting further details of the directive before passing comment.

The abandonment of the Chennai match thanks to rain, after a strong South African win in the first one-dayer, and India’s emphatic response in the second, has only served to keep this series on an even keel longer, setting up the fourth ODI at Kolkata deliciously. Whoever wins here knowsthey are guaranteed not to lose the series, and that brings its own pressure on both teams not to lose.The talk in the series has been tough to read from both camps, as no clear trend has emerged, no team has seized the initiative, as was the case when India drove down Sri Lanka into submission. Graeme Smith has relentlessly talked his team up, and occasionally taken a dig at the Indians. Smith didn’t reveal much about the composition of his side for the match and said that South Africa “have 15 to choose from for the game”. Rahul Dravid has been understated as ever, and any statements from the Indian camp will come through bat, ball, or result in the Kolkata match.D is for destructiveMahendra Dhoni, the latest maurauder to hit world cricket, and probably the cleanest striker of a cricket ball – with reference to an ability to clear the ropes – after the two Andrews – Flintoff and Symonds, has a had a quiet series. Of course, that is merely a question of two matches, buthe is the sort of cricketer who can’t help but leave an impression. Smith’s suggestion that India were “hiding” Dhoni is misguided at best, and mischievous at worst. Either way, it’s only a matter of time before India chart out a bigger batting role in a game for Dhoni. That time might well come in Kolkata.The crowd factorThe Eden Gardens pitch is not up and down, and is usually just a good batting pitch on the slower side; there is no exaggerated swing to worry about; no sudden influx of dew. What is a huge factor, though, is the crowd. The most vociferous set of partisan fans normally pack India’s biggest stadium, and this time there will be an added edge. There was a serious chance that widespread protests could take place in the light of Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion from the ODI team, but his inclusion in the Test squad should go a long way in assuaging fans in the eastern city. Or so one hopes, for this is one crowd that could just as easily turn on the team and boo if they failed to do well.Pollock’s hungerShaun Pollock has not had the greatest time of it in the recent past, but he still remains the bowler most likely to bowl you an accurate spell, after Glenn McGrath. And in this series, on pitches that have not really helped him, he seems to be rediscovering a bit of pace and extra bounce that once made him such a potent force. He has never been part of a South African team that has won a series in India, and recently made that point. “Every player wants to achieve as much as possible in his career and that’s why I really would like a victory here,” he said. “We lost the previous series in India 3-2 after a couple of tight matches. Two matches remain in the series and hopefully I can make an impact. I would like to play a role in winning at least one, because then we can’t lose the series and we would have achieved something not donehere before.”Spin fundaWhile Dravid seems to have got a better handle on how to use the two extra Powerplays that captains are saddled with these days, you’d have to say the Supersub rule is posing a more tricky problem. In day-night matches, where gripping the ball can become extremely difficult for bowlers in the second innings, the toss has been a vital factor. And sometimes to cover for this, a spinner has lost out, with an extra batsman being retained. But with Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik on song, India have to find a way to get them both on the park.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Player Association (WIPA) have agreed to a proposal brokered by the ICC and Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) which could signal the end of the ongoing dispute between the two parties.A joint statement from the WICB and the WIPA said that they “welcomed the agreement reached by the ICC and the FICA on resolving the dispute between the WICB and the WIPA.”The dispute, which saw players such as Brian Lara and Chris Gayle pull out of a tour to Sri Lanka, has hampered the national team for more than a year. While this latest agreement appears to show that progress is being made, it is uncertain exactly what the nature of the agreement is.The statement continued: “The agreement has brought to an end the long-running contractual dispute and paves the way for the resumption of negotiations between both parties.”The negotiations will now centre on concluding the memorandum of understanding, contracts for retained players including player remuneration and match and tour contracts for players contracted outside of the retained players and the signing of the collective labour agreement.”The progress that has been made has seen compromises from both sides and this agreement now provides an excellent foundation on which to build strong relations between WICB and WIPA as we head towards the cricket World Cup in the Caribbean [in 2007].”

Two of Kenya’s leading lights from the last World Cup, Collins Obuya and Kennedy Otieno, have already begun their build-up to the next tournament by working with a pair of Australian coaching legends in Adelaide.Legspinner Obuya, one of the stars of the 2003 tournament when Kenya reached the semi-finals, has just completed five weeks under the watchful eyes of Shane Warne’s mentor, Terry Jenner. Meanwhile Obuya’s brother, Otieno, currently playing club cricket in Victoria, has spent the past week working with former Australia `keeping great Rodney Marsh, who previously headed up Australia and England’s academies.Obuya’s work with Jenner was arranged by ICC High Performance Manager (HPM) Richard Done and was an attempt to help him rediscover form and confidence. That confidence was sky-high in 2003 when his 13 World Cup wickets made him the talk of the cricketing world and earned him a contract with English county Warwickshire. Since then, however, it has been shattered by knee and appendix problems and a resultant lack of rhythm, something Jenner could see straight away when he began work with Obuya.”When he arrived it was hard to believe he had ever bowled a legbreak because he had replaced it with pace and he was bowling much quicker than he had in 2003,” said Jenner. “I even nicknamed him Courtney because he was all arms and legs, just like Courtney Walsh used to be, and he was also bowling at a similar pace.”Obuya confirmed: “I was really struggling with my legspin and was having difficulty bowling it so we broke it down and started from the very beginning. We spent the first two weeks learning about leg-spin and the basics of the art. We dealt with how to cock the wrist, how to deliver the ball, which fingers to use and when, and use of the left arm, all of which I did not really know.”The acid question is, of course, whether the intensive one-to-one coaching has helped the player. Jenner is sure it has. “We can’t make him a world-beater in five weeks but what we have done is to show him what works and how it works,” he said. “There’s no doubt he has made good progress although we are on a hiding to nothing because people will remember the success he had two or three years ago and base what they see now on that. He is a good lad and I get the sense he is on the right track again.”

Otieno’s work with Marsh came about after he headed to Australia to play club cricket with Frankston, located outside Melbourne – like Obuya’s spell in Adelaide, something that was organised by Done.”I was keen to play in Australia as I was looking for a challenge – I wanted that,” said Otieno, Kenya’s regular opening batsman in addition to his skills behind the stumps. “Like everyone else I wanted to find out why it is that Australia is so successful and the chance to play some competitive cricket was the perfect opportunity for me to do just that. Richard [Done] and [Kenya Cricket Association Chairman] Samir Inamdar suggested I did some work with Rodney Marsh for a week and it was too good a chance to miss.”Marsh, currently working as a consultant for the South Australia Cricket Association ahead of starting a role in charge of the ICC’s Global Cricket Academy in 2006, takes up the story. “I was approached by Richard and agreed to do some work with Kennedy, running him through sets of drills as I would with any other `keeper,” he said. “I got the feeling from talking to him that he has never had anyone really sit down and talk to him about `keeping. He has just put the gloves on and got on with it.”What we did was go right back to basics, looking at footwork, glovework and keeping the head still. Once he understands that then he can coach himself. We have worked on him giving with the ball, moving his hands, his feet and his hips and he has done pretty well. He has got natural ability to keep wicket and to strike the ball and it is up to us to help make sure he gets the most out of himself.”And do the players feel they have benefited from their experiences?”I have learnt so much that will help towards my future,” said Obuya. “Now I know so many aspects of my game and I only wish I had met TJ two years ago as he could have helped ensure I did not have my recent problems. My goal now is to continue with the good habits I have learnt here and to train hard.”Otieno added: “It has definitely been a good experience, well worth a try and I have got much more out of it than I expected. Playing here in a competitive environment on different pitches than I am used and also being coached by Rodney Marsh has left me feeling I have made big progress and this has given my World Cup preparations a kick-start.”Done explained why the work done by Otieno and Obuya should prove massively beneficial to their development as cricketers. “Good quality coaches with a Test background like TJ and Rod are not readily available in Kenya or any of the ICC High Performance Program countries,” he said. “They can offer players like Collins and Kennedy additional insights and assist them in what is required to do well at the highest level and hopefully that is what has happened in this instance.”Part of the funding for Collins Obuya’s trip to Australia and the coaching he received came from sponsorship by Petroleum and Industrial Services Ltd (PIS), Kenya’s leading firm in the supply, installation and maintenance of petroleum equipment.

Adopting a tough stand, the Indian government on Thursday dismissed protests by the ICC against its decision, which makes it mandatory for private sports broadcasters to share feeds of matches involving the Indian team with Doordarshan, the state-owned broadcaster. “We are a sovereign nation. We are not dictated by what the ICC says,” PR Dasmunsi, India’s information and broadcasting minister, told reporters in New Delhi.Many foreign cricket boards, private sports broadcasters and management companies as well as the ICC have said that the Indian government’s decision, taken late last year, will devalue exclusivity and result in huge losses to the private broadcasters.”I wouldn’t like to speculate on how much money it would cost us, but I know it would be substantial,” Ehsan Mani, ICC president, said recently. In fact, he has written to the information and broadcasting ministry and even the Indian prime minister on the matter.To drive home his argument, Dasmunsi said that the Indian government also had to abide by rules when it dealt with matters abroad. “When we wanted to show our programmes in the UK, they wanted us to register a company there. So if they want us to follow their rules in their country, they have to do the same here,” he said.Some of the private sports broadcasters have decided not to accept the government’s decision lying down. Both ESPN-Star Sports and Ten Sports have sought legal recourse in the Delhi and Bombay high courts respectively to have the government decision rescinded.

Paras Mhambrey came charging up towards the room where the analyst was recording the ball-by-ball of the Bengal innings. The Bengal coach looked understandably disturbed as Manoj Tiwary, one of his well-set batsmen, had been given out at a crucial juncture of the Ranji Trophy final in dubious circumstances. Tiwary, too, with his pads still on, accompanied Mhambrey. Both of them saw the video a few times and shook their heads. Tiwary even uttered “Aise toh satyanash karega kisi ka career.” (In this fashion careers will get spoilt).The Bengal camp’s ire was directed against umpire AV Jayaprakash who had ruled Tiwary lbw, to a delivery from Praveen Kumar that was sliding down the leg. At that stage Tiwary was fighting hard along with Laxmi Ratan Shukla to help Bengal move towards UP’s 387. Earlier, Rohan Gavaskar, too, had been trapped in front of the stumps off another Kumar delivery that was angled in from wide off the crease from round the wicket and was easily sliding down the leg side. The umpire at fault had been once again Jayaprakash.But with 39 runs still to get to the vital first-innings lead, Deep Dasgupta, Bengal’s captain, did well to hide his emotions at the end of the day when he said, “It is an important game and a couple of decisions went against us. It could prove crucial in the end. I don’t want to talk more about the decisions.” Instead he tried to focus on the positives. Dasgupta drew parallels to Bengal’s current position with another first-innings thriller that they contested against Madhya Pradesh at the Eden Gardens last year in their last league match. Chasing MP’s 392, Bengal were tottering at 106 for 5 when Sourav Ganguly (121), Debang Gandhi (77) and Shukla (81) had saved them from the ignominy. There again Ranadeb Bose, who was unbeaten on Tuesday evening with his 38-ball three, had made three valuable runs from 61 balls. “Both [Shukla and Bose] of them have had lot of partnerships and they are the best judge of the situation”, said a confident Dasgupta looking forward to the penultimate day of the final.He also took the opportunity to put some pressure on the young Piyush Chawla, who had taken four Bengal wickets by acknowledging the youngster’s good work, while at the same time, adding “It is not that he has completely fooled us to get his wickets, so we are not bothered about him.”A red-faced Chawla, not because of the opposition captain’s remarks, but after toiling hard in the day where he bowled 21 overs across three spells for his three wickets, meanwhile only said, “It is just a matter of two good balls, so no one has the advantage or disadvantage.”

After a decade of “modest success and devastating failure”- to use his own, much-quoted phrase of seven years ago – Brian Lara believes the Test series against New Zealand that starts on March 9 could be the long-awaited turning point for West Indies cricket.”I can sense that there is a hunger in the team,” Test cricket’s leading run-scorer told a wide-ranging media conference yesterday. “I can sense that the guys are embarrassed after their performance in the one-day series [won 4-1 by New Zealand]. I sense that this three-Test series could be the turning point and I sense, even in myself, a desire to win,” he added.Similar sentiments were expressed by Bennett King, West Indies’ coach, a day earlier. “We’re looking forward to Test match cricket,” King said. “We believe we can make an impact. The belief within the group that they can perform against the Black Caps has been very firm.”Irked by the New Zealand media’s denigration of the West Indies’ showing in the preceding National Bank Series of ODIs, Lara charged on his arrival last Friday that it showed a lack of respect for a team with a greater cricketing legacy than New Zealand. He regarded it as significant that the team pulled off its only victory the following day, an encouraging augury for the Tests.The match holds special meaning as it is, to the day, the 50th anniversary of New Zealand’s inaugural Test victory, over the West Indies at the same Eden Park in 1956. When informed that the surviving members of New Zealand’s team on that occasion would be special guests and asked whether he would prefer not to “rain on their parade”, Lara quipped: “I’d love to.”Lara’s optimism, like King’s, is based on hypothesis rather than on the team’s record of eight defeats against one victory in the last 11 Tests and their eighth position in the ICC Test rankings, against New Zealand’s fifth. But, like King, he is encouraged by the attitude of the young players. “We’ve got quite a few young guys in their early 20s – Fidel Edwards, [Denesh] Ramdin, [Jerome] Taylor – who are eager to get out there and represent West Indies,” he said. “They’re full of talent,” he noted. “It’s just a matter of getting together as a team, winning situations at different times in the match and seizing the opportunity when it presents itself and going with it.”Lara has been proclaimed here as West Indies’ main hope of competing in the Tests but, he noted, that doesn’t produce a winning formula. While he said he felt “ready”, in spite of the month-long break from the game after the end of the Carib Beer Cup, he was conscious of the contrast between his personal success and the team’s overall failure.”You go on Cricinfo and you see there’s somebody who has the most double-centuries in defeats and that’s myself,” he said. “It’s all about a team situation, getting everybody to perform, the bowlers geared up to take 20 wickets, the batsmen to get 400-500 runs in the first innings, 600-700 over the match.”Stressing that his motivation was always team success over individual records, Lara said it was no different this time. “When I go on tour, I’m not going to score 300-400 runs or two Test centuries,” he explained. “I’m going to try to win as a team and to drink champagne with the team. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a regular occurrence but all along it’s been my motivation to turn the corner and start winning again,” he added. “To leave Napier [after the last Test] as the winners of this series would be the greatest thing.”It would also be a boost for beleaguered captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul who replaced Lara last March after Lara’s withdrawal from the team for the first Test against South Africa over the sponsorship dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board. “Chanderpaul has had a rough period so far as captain and we want to rally round him and bring a smile to his face,” Lara said. “We’re looking forward to that.”But, as Lara observed, it is easier said than done against opponents who “want to show that they can dominate the series and who are talking that way.” New Zealand’s selectors have been roundly criticised here for the choice of an inexperienced top three in the order and the omission of Lou Vincent, one of their two century-makers in the ODIs. One opener, Jamie How, and the No.3 Peter Fulton are yet to play a Test. Hamish Marshall, who will open with How, has had nine in which he has scored two hundreds and averaged 48.58, but he has never gone in first. King’s response was that the West Indies bowling is equally inexperienced in Test cricket. Although he is a seasoned one-day cricketer, with 35 matches to his name, Ian Bradshaw, the left-arm swing bowler, is yet to play a Test. Edwards, the 24-year-old spearhead of the attack, has 20, and the other fast bowlers, Daren Powell 15 and Jerome Taylor three.Lara called the enforced absence of Dwayne Bravo’s wicket-taking medium-pace bowling, because of a strained left side sustained during the Twenty20 International here February 16, “a big negative to our strength”, even if the all-rounder is chosen only as No.6 batsman. He was unconcerned with the make-up of the New Zealand team. “We’ve got to focus on the 11 guys who play on Thursday and see what we can do,” he said. “If they feel they’ve got the right team, that’s the one we’ve got to match up to and the one we’ve got to defeat.”The first significant rainfall of the tour forced West Indies to practice indoors yesterday and kept the covers on the special prefabricated, drop-in pitch all day. When inspected on Monday, it carried a substantial covering of grass and King said the head groundsman informed him it would be fast and bouncy. Given the sluggish pitch of variable bounce in Saturday’s ODI, that appears unlikely.

Sri Lanka’s cricket authorities are hopeful the tsunami-hit Galle International Stadium will be ready to host a Test match against South Africa in August.”We have received a clearance from the government to rebuild the stadium,” said K. Mathivanan, a member of Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee. “We plan to finish construction by August and that will allow us to play one Test there when South Africa come.”South Africa, scheduled to tour Sri Lanka in August for two Tests, were the last team to play a Test at Galle before the tsunami struck in December 26 2004. The stadium’s main pavilion, including the dressing-rooms, and the indoor nets were severely affected.Shane Warne, the Australian leg-spinner, Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain and Ian Botham, former England all-rounder, visited the stadium after the disaster and pledged their support to rebuild it.Galle is a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka, with six victories in their 11 Tests at the venue.

India A 196 (Karthik 75, Sharma 56) beat UAE 70 (RP Singh 5-30, VR Singh 5-38) by 126 runs
ScorecardIndia A romped to a 126-run victory over UAE in the EurAsia Series in Abu Dhabi.After a stuttering batting performance to post a modest 196, the Indians hit back to blow away UAE in only 15.1 overs. Rudra Pratap Singh returned figures of 5 for 30 while Vikram Singh bagged 5 for 38.Only three UAE batsmen reached double figures, and 18 extras, including five no balls and 11 wides, were the highest contributors to the UAE card.However, the Man of the Match was wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, who top scored with 75. He had good support from Rohit Sharma, who made a composed 56. The pair added 123 runs for the fourth wicket to lift the team from a sorry 20 for 3. “Rohit batted really well,” Kaarthick said. “He rotated the strike and came up with some boundaries that eased the pressure a bit.”The lower order, however, failed to consolidate the good work by Karthick and Sharma. The last seven Indian wickets fell for 56 runs as they collapsed from 143 for 3.The Indians first struggle to cope with the gentle medium swing of Ali Asad to lose their top order cheaply. Asad did the early damage, picking up 3 for 30 in an unchanged opening spell. Zahid Shah was the other useful bowler, claiming 2 for 34, while Khurram Khan picked two lower wickets.

Glenn McGrath has warned those writing him off ahead of this years Ashes and aims to reclaim a spot among the top three ranks in the Australian team.McGrath opted out of Australia’s tours to South Africa and Bangladesh so that he could stay with his wife Jane, who is battling cancer. “Whenever people have written me off, I have always proved them wrong,” McGrath told . “People can say what they want but all it means is I’ll be proving them wrong again.”I can’t see why some people are singling me out. I’ve been working on a number of things I believe will make me an even better bowler come the start of the Ashes. I don’t say things just for the effect. I say things because I believe them. I’m the best person to judge how I’m going and I’m back in training and have never felt better.”I’m really in the same position as every other player because the Ashes will be our first series after a long break. If anything, I’m ahead of some of the other guys because they are now resting. I’ve been back working hard for a couple of months and feel very fresh. Binger [Brett Lee] and Huss [Michael Hussey] have had great years, so I expect to slide down the rankings. One of my goals is to make it back into the top three.”McGrath felt that the Champions Trophy would be good preparation for the Ashes. “We have the ICC Champions Trophy and I can’t think of a better way to get back into the game than through one-day cricket. In some respects, it will be harder for the batsmen going into the Ashes with just some one-day cricket under their belts.”