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The Indian board has decided to help the Malaysian Cricket Association with installing floodlights at the Kinrara Oval, a ground which will stage the forthcoming tri-series between Australia, India and West Indies. The tournament is scheduled to be held between September 12 to 24.”We are assisting the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) for the tournament,” Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, told Cricinfo. “We have a lot of our people there [Indian expatriates] and the interest for the tournament is very high.”It has been reported that the cost for installing floodlights would be close to US$4million. Inderjit Singh Bindra, the former board president, had also confirmed the same while speaking to , a Kolkata-based daily. He’d also indicated that Australia and the West Indies will receive US$1million for every appearance versus India.In what is set to be a three-way collaboration, the tri-series was conceived by India, being hosted by Malaysia and managed by Australia, whose board is in charge of the event management and media accreditations. The pitches are to be prepared by Cricket Australia assigned curators.With temporary stands also planned, the Kinrara Oval is set to have a capacity of close to 8000. All seven games will be day-night affairs.

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.

Darren Gough, the former England fast bowler, has criticised England’s insistence that Steve Harmison must prove his fitness and form before securing a place on the plane to Sri Lanka.Harmison, who has been recovering from a back injury, wasn’t among the squad of 15 named yesterday for England’s three-Test tour of Sri Lanka. However, if he doesn’t have any adverse reaction to his brief stint at Lions in South Africa, he could yet join up with the team.This, however, does not sit well with Gough who feels Harmison is being treated unfairly.”Steve is such a vital bowler for England and he has proved time and time again how good he is,” Gough told the . “He brings something different to everyone else and he is a must for me in the England team.”He is a match winner and with (Matthew) Hoggard also coming back, England will go into Sri Lanka with a very good bowling line up, with everyone vying for a spot desperate to do well and win.”Harmison will travel to South Africa with England’s recently appointed bowling coach, Ottis Gibson – a man who Gough insists is key to “firing” up Harmison.”Ottis has already shown what influence he can have on the bowlers and I have no doubt he is the man to get Steve firing,” Gough said. “He has got all the qualifications, played at Test level and he knows what the international game is all about.”All I want is for Steve to come out firing on all cylinders. We want him running through brick walls for England and hopefully he will come out and prove to everyone how good he is because he is one of our best bowlers.”

Cricket Kenya, the new body created at the weekend by Ochillo Ayacko, the sports minister, came one step closer to assuming full control of Kenyan cricket after the country’s two largest provincial organisations, the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) and Coast Cricket Association (CCA), voted overwhelmingly to back it in preference to the existing Kenyan Cricket Association.At a meeting in Mombasa, the CCA’s ten member clubs voted 8-0 to support CK, with two abstentions, while in Nairobi, 19 of the NPCA’s affiliated clubs chose to do the same. Perhaps most tellingly, Ruaraka, always seen as a stronghold of the KCA, also backed the new organisation.It is believed that Ayacko will contact the ICC on Wednesday morning and, armed with the support of the government and now almost all of Kenya’s stakeholder clubs, request that CK and not the KCA be recognised as being the official representatives of Kenyan cricket. In the face of such overwhelming support, it is hard to see how the ICC can do anything but agree.If the last few days had been bad for the KCA executive, then today things got even worse as another senior executive – Ramesh Bhallah, the team manager and a selector – resigned, citing (according to the KCA) “pressure of work and personal commitments”. However, Cricinfo knows that he has been increasingly at odds with the executive and has sought to distance himself from the board in recent weeks.Bhalla’s departure leaves Sharad Ghai, the KCA’s chairman, increasingly isolated. Of his once rock-solid support within the board, only a handful remain loyal, and in the face of such massive opposition, his position appears untenable. If the ICC agrees to the minister’s request, the KCA and Ghai, with no money and few friends, could be rendered utterly irrelevant anyway.Earlier, the KCA’s selectors had been due to name the squad for the Intercontinental Cup tie against Namibia at Windhoek match this morning, but it soon became clear that some had deep reservations as to their authority to pick a side to represent the country against such a backdrop, and also with so many leading players either unavailable or on strike.Officially, the naming of the squad was delayed to allow the availability of certain individuals to be confirmed, but Cricinfo understands that it is unlikely that any announcement will be made until Ayacko has spoken to the ICC.Perhaps the most telling sign that change was on the way was that a number of the striking players, who have steadfastly refused to play while the KCA and Ghai were in charge, have resumed training. All have said that they will play for the new board for free.”We are happy to resume training under the government and we’ll be training here on a daily basis,” Kennedy Otieno, the former vice-captain, told the East African Standard. “At the moment we have no coach but we believe the minister is working on something. But with or without a coach, we shall continue training. We all know what to do.”Ravi Shah, probably the best batsman outside Test cricket, was absent from that group, nor did he appear with the depleted KCA-sanctioned squad preparing under coach Mudassar Nazar. “I have played cricket and will continue playing despite whoever selects me,” he said. “But at the moment I am not training because I have a knee injury.”Within days, Cricket Kenya is expected to name a full-strength squad to face Namibia for the Intercontinental Cup tie at Windhoek.Meanwhile, at the KCA offices at Nairobi Gymkhana, two other officials – Harilal Shah, the vice-chairman, and Jasmeer Singh, the communications manager, were held for four hours by more than a dozen coaching staff who claimed they had not been paid. The KCA is widely believed to be bankrupt, and Cricinfo has evidence that it cannot meet even its most vital commitments.Finally, on Wednesday morning a Mombasa court is due to start hearing a case brought jointly by the NPCA and CCA against the KCA over the board’s constitution.

Guernsey secured their first ever title when they beat Jersey in the final of the European Under-15 Division 2 Championship in La Manga, Spain on Saturday.Jersey, who have already taken gold in both the U-19 and U-23 Division 2 Championships, could not overcome the 189-run target set by Guernsey, despite the side lacking Tim Ravenscroft, their star batsman who was in England scoring a century for Hampshire Under-17s.The two sides were the strongest throughout the competition, each winning all four group matches against the other eight teams. With the two islands being such close neighbours, the intense rivalry gave the encounter added spice, but one that did not detract from the excellent spirit in which a thoroughly competitive match was played at a truly impressive standard.Tim de la Haye, the Jersey captain, invited Guernsey to bat – a decision that paid instant dividends as Guernsey’s openers both fell, reducing them to 32 for 2. But then followed a championship-winning stand of 93 between Adam Hindle (48) and Thomas Kirk (29) who took Guernsey to 189 for 7 in their 35 overs.Jersey’s reply began poorly, with both their openers – Aidan McGuire and Bradley Rimeur – falling cheaply, and Joseph Mayes making only 11. The onus was on de la Haye, but he was left with a middle-order who had barely had any time in the middle over the past week – and had even less time to adapt to the match situation. Jersey fell short by 69 runs.Haye’s 46 was the highest score made against Guernsey in the whole tournament and included three massive sixes, two of which cleared the protective netting covering the ground’s straight boundaries. Guernsey’s bowlers did a great job, Matthew Renouf and Andrew Hutchinson bowled with immaculate lines and lengths. Thomas Kirk and Thomas Still both took three wickets.Meanwhile, Isle of Man beat Spain by seven wickets to take third place in the competition, reaching their target of 137 in 28.3 overs for the loss of three wickets. Belgium took fifth place, beating Italy by six wickets and in the seventh/eighth place play-off Germany beat Cyprus by 19 runs.In the match for ninth and 10th positions, Gibraltar beat France by 89 runs to take ninth place leaving France to claim the wooden spoon, but there was some consolation as the French took the MCC Spirit of Cricket Award.

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.

ScorecardAvinash Aware’s triple strike restricted Tripura to 141 for 5 to give the advantage to Goa by the end of the opening day’s play at Margoa. Rajesh Banik and Sujit Roy, the Tripura openers, had pushed the score along to 40 when Aware struck twice off successive deliveries. He first trapped Banik lbw and then removed the next man in Subal Chowdhury in a similar fashion. Chetan Sachdev was the lone Tripura batsman to offer some resistance.
ScorecardAn unbroken 82-run partnership between Dishant Yagnik and Ajay Jadeja, the captain, lifted Rajasthan to a commanding 240 for 4 against Kerala at the close of play at Jaipur. Earlier Rahul Kanwat stroked a fine 61 to lay the foundation for a big first- innings score. Sreekumar Nair, the Kerala captain, tried eight bowlers on a day where Rajasthan batsmen applied themselves admirably to grind out the attack.
ScorecardAnand Rajan, Madhya Pradesh’s opening bowler, struck thrice as Jharkhand slipped from a comfortable 149 for 1 to 258 for 6 by the end of the opening day at Indore. Half-centuries from Manish Vardhan and Ratan Kumar, the openers, had lifted Jharkhand to 110 when Rajan, the debutant who honed his fast-bowling skills at the MRF pace Foundation in Chennai, trapped Ratan Kumar in front. At close, Jharkhand’s hopes of a big first innings score rested on the shoulders of Ghosh (36 not out) who added an unbroken 47-run partnership with Rajiv Kumar.
ScorecardA 147-run opening partnership between Shiv Sunder Das and P Patel lifted Orissa, opting to bat first, to a comfortable 271 for 3 against Vidarbha at the end of opening day’s play in the third-round Ranji Plate match at Nagpur. Subit Biswal (41 not out) and Pravanjan Mullick put together an unbroken 57-run stand to ensure Orissa didn’t waste the Das-Patel laid platform.
ScorecardVikrant Taggar and Arshad Bhatt hit half centuries as Jammu & Kashmir, choosing to bat first, plodded along at a tedious rate to reach 172 for 2 against Assam at close of the opening day at Guwahati. Zakaria Zuffri, the Assam captain, deployed eight bowlers but couldn’t disturb the patience of the batsmen. Taggar in particular was extremely cautious, his unbeaten 73 coming off 297 balls as he steered J&K to a position of strength.Saurashtra v Himachal PradeshPlay to be rescheduled following political problems within the Himachal Pradesh camp.

Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium has been confirmed as the venue of the final of the IPL on June 1. Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, said the match had to be shifted out the Wankhede Stadium because the capacity of the DY Patil Stadium is much higher.”That stadium has more capacity and also there are many ICC representatives who will be attending the final and Wankhede doesn’t have so much space to accomodate,” Pawar told reporters in Mumbai. “Wankhede can accommodate only around 32,000 and DY Patil can house around 55,000. It’s (difference) huge.”Originally the DY Patil stadium, which is in Nerul (about 40km from south Mumbai’s business district), was scheduled to host Mumbai’s five league games between April 27 and May 16. But the MCA told the DY Patil authorities that since Mumbai’s next two games – against Chennai and Kolkata – take place on weekdays, it would be difficult for the fans to travel such a distance late in the evening after their office hours. Both games were shifted to the Wankhede Stadium, in South Mumbai’s business district. Wankhede, however will host the two semi-finals as scheduled.With the Wankhede Stadium set to host the final of the 2011 World Cup, Pawar said plans were on to demolish the stadium and rebuild it from scratch to meet ICC standards.”We had a meeting with the Mumbai Hockey Association and they have given us in writing that one portion of their space can be utilised by us. There’s no way we can conduct the World Cup final in present conditions. ICC will not accept it. We need to build better facilities for all, including for the media.”We will start work in August. The whole structure will be razed down first and a fresh one built. The refurbished stadium will be ready by December 2010 and the World Cup is in March-April 2011.”

Four days after he went for the small matter of 87 from seven oversagainst West Indies, Stuart Clark has an immediate chance at redemption asAustralia take on India for a place in the DLF Cup final. Under normalcircumstances, it’s doubtful whether he would have played, but withAustralia having pencilled in their teams for the four league games longago, he gets this opportunity against an Indian side that will no doubt dotheir best to target him.Clark is a cool customer, and his decision to keep the match ball afterthe pounding he received on Monday said much about his unflappable nature,but with Shane Watson, who has had an outstanding tournament, and NathanBracken missing from the line-up, there will be immense pressure on himwhen he comes on as first change for Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.McGrath gave indications of being back to his best in the two matches heplayed, and Lee was into his stride straight away against West Indies. Ifthe Indian top order bat as they did against the gentle medium pace ofDwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo, they may as well not bother turning up.But India have a bit of a history when it comes to these sudden-deathcontests. And in Sachin Tendulkar, they have a man apparently anxious toprove that rumours of his decline are highly premature. What they don’thave is a batting order in any sort of form. Much will depend once againon what sort of start Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar can give them.Virender Sehwag needs to improve on his tournament aggregate of 18 runs,and Yuvraj Singh could do with a run or two. As for Mahendra Singh Dhoni,seemingly in superb touch until the most atrocious of hoicks against WestIndies, this is an opportunity to get back to the form of last season,when he slammed most attacks he faced to all corners. For these men, andothers like Suresh Raina, this is the ultimate test. West Indies may awaitin the final if they get through, but victory against a near full-strengthAustralian side is as good as it gets.Dravid and Greg Chappell will no doubt have taken a close look at footagefrom the last game they played against Australia. Watson and MichaelClarke, who made the bulk of the runs then, sit out this one, but therelentlessly consistent and prolific Michael Hussey will pose an entirelydifferent challenge. Once again, spin could hold the key, with Australiahaving struggled to eke out 68 runs in 20 overs against Harbhajan Singhand Sehwag in the previous match.That’s not to say that India lack firepower in the pace department. MunafPatel has improved with every game, while Ajit Agarkar has alliedconsistency to his skiddy pace and swing. There’s also Sreesanth, whosegenuinely quick spell on Wednesday prompted many to wonder why he had beenleft out of the squad for the Champions Trophy.These two teams usually don’t do dull games, and with Tendulkar andMcGrath on collision course once again, this has every ingredient requiredto be another tasty encounter. The winners will go into the final inconfident mood, leaving the losers to put salve on their wounded prideahead of the Champions Trophy.India (likely): 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Rahul Dravid (capt), 3Virender Sehwag, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni(wk), 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Rudra Pratap Singh, 10 SSreesanth, 11 Munaf Patel.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt),4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Glenn McGrath.