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Peter West, for many years the avuncular anchorman for the BBC’s televised cricket, died this morning at his home in Bath after a long illness. He was 83, and is survived by his wife Pauline, a daughter and two sons.He took his first steps in journalism in 1945, after his war was cut short by back trouble. He started in radio two years later, and graduated to the TV screen in 1951, by which time he was also editing the new Playfair Cricket Annual. It wasn’t just cricket: West covered everything from the Olympics to rugby and Wimbledon, via Come Dancing, which he hosted for 15 years.West was unflappable, whether trying to interview Ted Dexter in a thunderstorm (“Are you all right, Ted?” “Yes, but I think I’ve just been struck by lightning”) or quizzing the umpire Tommy Spencer on the top of the pavilion at The Oval, cunningly seated next to a huge speaker that kept broadcasting the teatime scores at inconvenient moments in the discussion.He was the front man for the BBC’s cricket coverage until the end of the 1986 season, when Tony Lewis took over. West then wrote an autobiography, and covered Mike Gatting’s 1986-87 “Grand Slam” tour of Australia for the Daily Telegraph.More recently he was able to reassure a newspaper which had referred to “the late Peter West” that rumours of his demise were exaggerated. Now, sadly, they are not.

The Sri Lankan board has banned Ruchira Perera, a left-arm fast bowler, for a suspect bowling action. He will not be allowed to bowl until further notice.Sri Lanka Cricket have received several umpires’ reports on Perera’s bowling action during the on-going first-class season, a source in the board said.Perera, 30, who has played eight Tests and 19 ODIs for Sri Lanka, turns out for Colombo Colts in the Premier League competition. He is the club’s leading wicket-taker this season – with 24 wickets from four matches at 15.58.Batsmen have been constantly hit by some of Perera’s deliveries which have been termed dangerous, it’s been reported. The SLC video-taped Perera’s bowling action during matches and its technical committee reviewed it and sent the tapes and their report to Marc Portus, the bio-mechanist at the Australian Institute of Sport. The technical committee comprised Bandula Warnapura, director cricket operations, and former umpires KT Francis, Peter Manuel, BC Cooray and Godfrey Pushparaja.Portus’ report indicated that Perera’s bowling arm exceeded the 15-degree limit allowed by the ICC, and he remedial action to rectify it. Till his action is cleared by the ICC, he will not be allowed to bowl.Perera’s action came under scrutiny on Sri Lanka’s tour to England in 2002. On advice from Darryl Foster, a bowling coach and biomechanics expert at the University of Western Australia, Perera modified his wrist position just before the point of delivery. The SLC were satisfied with the adjustment then.Perera returned to international cricket in late 2002, against South Africa, but he was only a shadow of the bowler he had been earlier. He didn’t play Tests again, although he played a part in ODIs till 2007.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has changed its selection policy, giving more powers to the selectors in picking the team for each match and effectively clipping the wings of coach and captain. Under the new system, which began with the current Test against West Indies at Multan, a touring selector will finalise the playing eleven after consulting the team management.”The new policy is in line with that adopted by other cricket-playing nations like Australia and England,” Saleem Altaf, the PCB’s director of cricket operations told Reuters. “A selector will now remain attached with the team on tours and home series.”A source with the PCB cited the example of the selection of an allrounder ahead of a specialist seamer for the Multan Test.”For the second test, coach Bob Woolmer wanted to play left arm pacer Samiullah Niazi,” the source said. “But the majority view prevailed, that allrounder Abdul Razzaq should be retained from the first test team.”The new PCB regime, under Dr Nasim Ashraf, has been taking steps to ensure more professionalism in overall governance and team selections. One of the major decisions last month was to appoint full-time paid selectors after the World Cup next year to replace the existing committee, which works on an honorary basis.

Graeme Smith is certainly not a captain to take a backward step and has come out firing ahead of the Champions Trophy by claiming South Africa are of the favourites to claim the title.His team have had a truncated build-up after abandoning a triangular tournament in Sri Lanka with just three matches against Zimbabwe and a couple of provincial games as preparation.However, after arriving in New Delhi ahead of the tournament Smith, who has just returned from an ankle injury, was in bullish mood. “We are ranked second in the world and there is no shying away from the fact that we are one of the top teams. We have generally done well in India and our team is confident of a good show.”But we cannot take other teams for granted. Australia are the top side no doubt, but in one-day cricket a lot depends on how a team plays on a particular day.”Smith, who scored 90 at Johannesburg in his team’s world-record chase of 438 for 9 for a series win against Australia earlier this year, claimed his team’s preparations had left the side in the good spirits despite the lack of tough matches.”We had a 10-day training camp and all our players know their roles well. The break that I had because of an injury seems to have done me good and I am fresh as ever.”The coach, Micky Arthur, welcomed Smith’s return to the side. “It is fantastic to have Smith back in the side. We have marked this tournament as a big one and intend to keep the momentum going in the days to follow.”Arthur said the team was a settled one and capable of entertaining fans. “We have tried out various combinations in the past few years and will only try to rotate the players on the odd occasion,” he added. “What we can promise is an exciting brand of cricket with our fielding very much an asset and capable of leading us to success.”

Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson has criticised the ICC for banning Marlon Samuels for two years and wants the relevant law to be amended. Samuels was found guilty of breaching the ICC’s Code of Conduct for “receiving money, or benefit or other reward that could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute.”The violation, which occurred during West Indies’ tour of India in early 2007, carries a minimum two-year ban which came into effect on May 9. Richardson was part of the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) disciplinary committee that recommended a suspended sentence on account of Samuels’ good behaviour.”We aren’t the ones who banned Marlon for two years,” Richardson told Caribbean Media Corporation. “We wouldn’t have done that and we will be issuing a statement to indicate that law needs to be revised because it is unfair.”The committee said they had also written to WICB president Julian Hunte “expressing concern about the propriety of prescribing mandatory minimum punishments” for the nature of Samuels’ offence.”I’m very disappointed I’m involved. I wish I wasn’t because it is unfair. This law seems to be made by somebody in an office somewhere who wants to be in control.”I can understand the problem we are having in the game with match-fixing and all of that. I can understand that they want to be severe. If somebody willingly and deliberately based on information, gives out [information] to a bookie or anything like that I can understand that ban.”But Marlon naively befriended this guy or this guy befriended him and I haven’t seen anything to prove that Marlon either deliberately gave out information or deliberately received funds from anyone.”Acting ICC president Dave Richardson had earlier justified the ban saying, “minimum penalties were agreed by the ICC Board, including all Full Members, and they reflect the seriousness of the issues at hand.”

A fortnight before he was due to take over as the chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board, Roland Toppin has announced that he is no longer available to assume the role.Toppin was appointed on November 22 to fill a position that had been vacant since the resignation of Roger Brathwaite in April.In a statement, Tony Deyal, corporate services manager of the WICB, said that Toppin “could no longer take up the appointment for personal reasons”. He added that Toppin stressed he had been looking forward to the appointment and had been well advanced in his preparations to start on February 1.”Considerations that were previously unforeseen have now forced him to withdraw,” Deyal said.The WICB has accepted his reasons for withdrawing and will review the matter at its next meeting in Barbados on February 12.

Former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer’s stomach samples contained significant amounts of a deadly pesticide, the chief forensic officer at the government forensic laboratory in Kingston told the inquest into Woolmer’s death on Thursday.Fitzmore Coates said the toxicology analysis showed that there was 3.4 milligrams of cypermethrin per millilitre in Woolmer’s stomach sample. He also testified that there were traces of cypermethrin in the blood and urine samples, and in a straw-coloured liquid taken from his room at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel.”The final calculation of cypermethrin in the stomach content which I analysed would be significant. It could cause vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and death,” Coates told AFP. His testimony backed the findings of Ere Sheshiah, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Woolmer. Sheshiah had said that the cause of death was “asphyxia, associated with cypermethrin poisoning”.Woolmer was found unconscious in his room at the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica on March 18, a day after Pakistan’s shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup. The police had initially backed Sheshiah’s finding that Woolmer was murdered and released a statement to that effect. However, a review by three other pathologists – Nathaniel Cary, Michael Pollanen and Lorna Martin – said Woolmer died of natural causes, possibly due to a heart attack.As the investigation continued, toxicology tests could not conclude whether Woolmer was injected with a poison or not. Marcia Dunbar, a Jamaican forensic analyst, testified at the inquest that evidence of cypermethrin was found in blood and urine samples. Of three samples of blood taken from Woolmer, Dunbar said one tested positive for cypermethrin while the others did not, and no suitable explanation was given for this. She also said that one of the containers she received from the police containing the samples had been contaminated.John Slaughter, a British forensic expert, later told the inquest that he found no pesticide in the sample which was tested in his lab on May 4. He said the presence of cypermethrin could have been due to contamination at the government forensic laboratory in Kingston.However, Judith Mowatt, the director at the government forensic science laboratory, testified that she had received an email from Joe Marchesi, a crime scene manager at the metropolitan police in London, which stated that Slaughter had said the samples sent to his office were insufficient to conduct a thorough investigation. Mowatt, however, said she hadn’t discussed the issue of inadequate samples with Slaughter.”He [Marchesi] said there were concerns about the amount of samples available for them to work with,” Mowatt told the . “He indicated that there was enough stomach content but in regard to urine, blood and straw-coloured liquid there was not enough for a tox-screen.”On November 5, the coroner Patrick Murphy had asked for further tests to be carried out on samples taken from Woolmer’s body. The directive came on a request from Mark Shields, the Jamaica deputy commissioner of police, following discrepancies in the toxicology reports by forensic scientists from the Caribbean and the UK. Shields said more samples would be retrieved from the UK and the local forensic laboratory.

Division One

Nottinghamshire became the first side to notch a win in 2008’s Championship with a comprehensive rout of Kent, who were beaten by 10 wickets at Canterbury. Nottinghamshire only needed 22 runs to complete the victory with Will Jefferson (5) and Matthew Wood (17) guiding them home.Hampshire’s match against the champions Sussex ended in a predictable draw, with rain preventing any play on the fourth day at The Rose Bowl.Persistent drizzle in London also called a halt to the game at The Oval, with Surrey drawing their match against Lancashire.

Division Two

Essex eased to their first win of the season, beating Northamptonshire by nine wickets on the final day at Chelmsford. After their poor day yesterday, when they slipped to 38 for 4, Northants’ batsmen fared much better with Lance Klusener cracking 92. But he became David Masters’ fourth victim, Essex dismissing Northants for 237 to leave the home side needing a mere 15 to win. Jason Gallian fell for 1 but Varun Chopra saw them home in the third over.Nadeem Malik took 5 for 51 to spark a mini Middlesex collapse in which they lost their last five wickets for 141 as Leicestershire romped to a six-wicket win at Grace Road. Owais Shah notched his fifty, adding to the fine 116 he made in the first innings, and Shaun Udal also cracked his maiden half-century for his new county, but Middlesex fell away to be dismissed for 258, leaving Leicestershire 166 to win. Chris Silverwood nipped out two early wickets to give Middlesex hope, but Matthew Boyce’s 66 and an unbeaten 69 from Jim Allenby urged Leicestershire to their target.Tony Frost, Ant Botha and drizzly conditions in Birmingham all conspired against Worcestershire, who were denied an opening victory against Warwickshire on the final day at Edgbaston. Resuming on 26 for 3, Warwickshire’s resilience began with the nightwatchman, Lee Daggett, frustrating for nearly an hour before he was bowled by Gareth Batty. Navdeep Poonia followed almost immediately, and when Luke Parker edged to gully, the hosts were 109 for 7. Enter Frost (46*) and Botha (18*) who ground Worcestershire down for an hour-and-a-half, and inclement weather prevented any further action after tea.No play was possible between Gloucestershire and Derbyshire at Bristol, the match dribbling to a damp draw.

A maiden hundred from Austin Richards and an unbeaten 73 from Runako Morton put Leewards Islands in a healthy position on a rain-hit opening day against Windwards Islands at St Maarten. Electing to bat, Leewards closed on 213 for 1 thanks to the 212-run second-wicket stand between Richards and Morton.Rain delayed the start for just over an over, and when play began Leewards lost Codville Rogers leg before to Deighton Butler’s left-arm pace in the third ball of the innings. Richards and Morton denied the Windwards any further breakthrough and took their side to 62 for 1 at lunch and quickened the scoring rate after the interval.The rain returned to hold up play for 35 minutes in the second session, but it had little effect on the batsmen. Dropped by captain Rawl Lewis on 54, Richards moved to 96 with 15 boundaries before rain forced everyone off the field shortly before tea. The players resumed action later, and Richards soon pulled Kenroy Peters for four to reach three figures. Morton has so far faced 161 balls and hit six fours and a six.Despite a second first-class hundred from opener Brenton Parchment, Jamaica struggled on the first day of their final-round Carib Beer match against Trinidad & Tobago at St Elizabeth.Asked to bat first, Jamaica stumbled to 254 in the face of a disciplined bowling attack led by offspinner Amit Jaggernauth, left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed and fast bowler Ravi Rampaul.Parchment, 24, was the mainstay of the innings with a 195-ball 111, laced with ten fours and a pair of sixes, before he was ninth man out. With Lorenzo Ingram (29) he added 64 before Jaggernauth removed the other opener in the over before lunch, and a further 75 for the third wicket with Wavell Hinds, his captain, whose contribution was 38 from 58 balls.Hinds became Jaggernauth’s third victim when he chipped to mid-on at 142 for 2, and from here on T&T swung matters their way. Tamar Lambert (2), David Bernard (11) and Carlton Baugh (1) all fell cheaply as Mohammed and Rampaul joined the party. Jaggernauth claimed 4 for 99 to sustain his excellent form, Mohammed picked up 3 for 51 and Rampaul 3 for 62.Jamaica struck back just before stumps, however, when Jermaine Lawson bowled Lendl Simmons for 8 to leave T&T at 10 for 1.Three late wickets from Ryan Hinds, the left-arm spinner and captain of Barbados, caused a Guyana collapse on day one of their match at Bourda. Well placed at 276 for 5, Hinds’s strikes reduced Guyana to 285, with the last five wickets falling for just nine runs.Guyana were boosted by a 98-run third-wicket partnership between Sewnarine Chattergoon (68) and Assad Fudadin (49), and a 106-run stand for the fifth wicket between wicketkeeper Derwin Christian (54) and Azeemul Haniff (46), in his first season for Guyana since 2003. Ramnaresh Sarwan, the captain, was forced to retire on 18 when he was struck on the right thumb by Fidel Edwards.Hinds finished with 3 for 67, Edwards claimed three for 60 and Tino Best 2 for 55.

Zimbabwe have dropped out of the ICC Test Championship as a result of them only playing eight Tests in the last three years. Test match rankings have historically been based on a minimum of 10 Tests played by each country over the three to four-year period.At the top of the table, Australia have stretched their lead and are now 26 rating points clear of second-placed England. Sri Lanka are another eight points further back having moved up two places to third position, and South Africa are also up two places from sixth spot to fourth. Pakistan are the big loser after the update having dropped three places from third to sixth.The annual update is carried out to ensure the LG ICC Test Championship table continues to reflect recent form with older results being discarded. As such, the new table only includes results from series completed after August 1, 2004.The update is always scheduled to take place on August 1 each year, but as no series are set to finish ahead of that date, it can be carried out now. By updating the table now it means that England and India will know what progress they can make before their series starts on Thursday.