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	Suresh Shastri – In the firing line © AFP

The Mumbai Indians have launched an official complaint against Suresh Shastri, the third umpire, over two ‘contentious’ run-out decisions that went against them in their match against Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday. Mumbai lost the crucial encounter by one run in the last over, a result which has made their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals more difficult.The first run-out appeal, in the ninth over of Punjab’s innings, involved Luke Pomersbach. Shaun Pollock’s throw from deep extra cover appeared to hit the stumps directly with the batsman short of his ground. However, the replays were inconclusive as to whether the ball had indeed dislodged the bails or if Dwayne Smith, the bowler, made contact with the stumps. Pomersbach, then on 21, was given the benefit of the doubt and he went on to score 79.The second decision, involving Smith, occurred in the ninth over of Mumbai’s innings. Smith was struggling to make his ground after being refused a single by Sachin Tendulkar, and the bowler Piyush Chawla appeared to knock off the bails with his arm though with the ball in hand but again the replays weren’t entirely convincing.”Yes, I can confirm that the franchise owners have filed an official complaint,” Lalchand Rajput, the coach, said on the eve of the match against the Delhi Daredevils in Delhi.Tendulkar, the Mumbai captain, too felt aggrieved at the decisions. “The whole world has watched what it was all about,” he said. “Everyone has seen what happened and in whose favour the decisions eventually went. Had we got those two run-out decisions our way, we would have added two more runs to the tally and won the match.”Shastri, however, defended his decisions, saying he went by the law. “I don’t want to make any comments. I can only say I went by law 28.1 (The wicket is down).” The law states that a dismissal is made if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground by (i) the ball, (ii) the striker’s bat, whether he is holding it or has let go of it, (iii) the striker’s person or by any part of his clothing or equipment becoming detached from his person, (iv) a fielder, with his hand or arm, providing that the ball is held in the hand or hands so used, or in the hand of the arm so used.

	Sourav Ganguly is looking to sign off on a high © Getty Images

Sourav Ganguly has said he will retire after the upcoming Test series against Australia. His statement, a moment of unscripted drama at the end of a routine press conference in Bangalore, ends widespread speculation over his future.”Just one last thing lads, before I leave, I just want to say that this is going to be my last series,” Ganguly said after taking the last question of his press conference. “I’ve decided to quit. I told my team-mates before coming here. These four Test matches are going to be my last and hopefully we’ll go on a winning note.”With that, he got up and walked out, offering no explanation for what led to the decision. Shortly after that Kris Srikkanth, the head of India’s new selection panel, threw some light on it. “I think he’s probably taken the right decision,” Srikkanth said. “He had a good chat with me and my co-selector Narendra Hirwani. He wants a peaceful series without any troubles on his mind. As a player I can tell you that when you have an axe over your head it doesn’t feel right.”India’s selectors, headed by Srikkanth, picked Ganguly in a 15-man squad for the first two Tests against Australia despite his being overlooked for the Irani Cup match between the Rest of India and Delhi. Lacking top-quality match practice since the end of the Sri Lanka Tests, he was rushed to Chennai for an India ‘A’ match against New Zealand.”To be honest I didn’t expect to be picked for this series,” Ganguly said. “But once I was chosen, I started preparing. Even when I was left out of the Rest of India squad, which was a bit of a surprise for me, I was still training with the Bengal boys.”Ganguly also dismissed speculation over a “voluntary retirement scheme” for the senior members of India’s squad. “I don’t think it’s ever possible that anybody can offer you a VRS. You cannot do that to players like [Anil] Kumble, [Rahul] Dravid, [VVS] Laxman, me, Sachin [Tendulkar] or anyone.”What is important is what you get to know from the board [BCCI] and as far as I, and some of the senior players, are concerned, we have not received any intimation from the board on anything.”Ganguly, 36, has scored 6888 runs in 109 Tests, with 15 hundreds. He played 49 Tests as captain, the most by an Indian. The 21 matches won during his tenure is also an Indian record, and his win percentage of over 40 is the highest for players who have captained India in more than one Test. Starting with a hundred on debut, Ganguly’s Test average has never dipped below 40.In 311 ODIs, he scored 11,363 runs at 41.02. He captained India in 147 ODIs. His last ODI was against Pakistan in Gwalior on November 15, 2007. He is one of only three players to complete the treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar being the others. Along with Tendulkar, he formed a prolific partnership at the top of the order, with 6609 runs at an average of nearly 50 per stand in 136 innings.Since his recall in December 2006 and till the end of the home series against South Africa earlier this year, Ganguly scored 1571 runs at 50.67, including a maiden double-century. However, he managed only 96 runs in six innings during India’s 2-1 series defeat in Sri Lanka this summer.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)’s management has decided against renewing contracts of three current Test cricketers.All-rounders Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood and batsman Yousuf Youhana, all of whom were on PIA’s payroll since 1999, were not given fresh contracts after their previous ones expired last month.Instead, PIA has opted to sign on young batsman Bazid Khan, son of ex-Test captain Majid, slow left-armer Azam Hussain and left-hander opener Kamran Sajid.Razzaq, Azhar and Youhana who were drawing Group Six salaries plus other perks, had not played regularly for the national carrier in the national cricket championships for a variety of reasons.Tight international schedule was one major factor. But on the other hand, even when available, they seldom responded to the call and failed torepresent PIA in key matches.This has been a major complaint from other departments as well who often feel let down by their star players. After all, these organization were dishing out handsome package to the top cricketers on a monthly basis.Razzaq, for instance, had barely featured in 10-12 first-class and one-day matches during his three-year spell with PIA.Saeed Anwar, the Test reject, is another player who has not been a regular in the ADBP team despite being on its payroll for more than a decade.PIA, arguably the most star-studded side on domestic circuit, still has the likes of Wasim Akram (Group Eight), Moin Khan (Group Six) – both employed on permanent basis – Saqlain Mushtaq (Group Six – contractual), Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Fazle Akbar and Mohammad Zahid in their cricket squad.

Australian Cricket Board (ACB) Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland today announced that the National Selection Panel (NSP) has chosen the Australian team for the second match of TOWER Super Challenge II, to be played under the roof at Colonial Stadium on Saturday 15 June.The team is:

NAME	STATE	AGE	CAPS
Ricky Ponting (captain)	TAS	27	139
Adam Gilchrist (vice-captain)	WA	30	134
Michael Bevan	NSW	31	176
Andrew Bichel	QLD	31	28
Brett Lee	NSW	25	38
Darren Lehmann	SA	32	76
Jimmy Maher	QLD	28	7
Damien Martyn	WA	30	95
Glenn McGrath	NSW	32	154
Shane Warne	VIC	32	179
Shane Watson	TAS	20	5
Jason Gillespie (12th man)	SA	27	36
Stephen Bernard	NSW	Team Manager
John Buchanan	QLD	Coach
Errol Alcott	NSW	Physiotherapist
Jock Campbell	NSW	Physical Performance Manager
Mike Walsh	VIC	Assistant Team Manager/Cricket Analyst

Opening batsman Matthew Hayden has returned to Queensland to be with his wife Kellie, who is expecting the couple’s first child.Pakistan has not confirmed its side and will announce it at the coin toss of tomorrow’s game.Tomorrow’s day/night match begins at 1315, with the innings break scheduled for 1645.

Hernia surgery for Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan before next month’s triangular one-day cricket series in Australia will rule him out of playing here.Team management favours immediate medical treatment to ensure Muralitharan is fit for next year’s World Cup to be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.The Sri Lankan cricket board today officially announced Muralitharan has a hernia and could miss the tour of Australia.”We know that he has hernia problem. The issue is how serious it is,” said Charnika Munasinghe, a spokeswoman for the sport’s national governing body. He will have more medical tests, and “when he will undergo surgery will depend on the findings,” she said.Muralitharan first reported hernia problems during the first Test in South Africa last week, but Munasinghe said the champion spinner wasn’t in much pain and would compete in the second Test against South Africa before going home.Any surgery would be pre-emptive, but would rule Muralitharan out of the limited overs series in South Africa and the subsequent three-nation tournament in Australia against England and the world no.1 Australians.

Shane Warne says he won’t go to Pakistan if Australia’s cricket tour later this year goes ahead.Warne put safety and family ahead of cricket following the suicide bombing outside the New Zealand team’s hotel in Karachi last week which killed 14 people.The New Zealanders immediately abandoned their tour and Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland said the situation would be carefully monitored.Whatever decision the ACB made, however, Australia’s greatest bowler said he would not be going.”If it was on in Pakistan I don’t think I would be going,” the leg spinner said today.”For obvious reasons. There’s a war going on there, there was a bombing with New Zealand.”If it was tomorrow and we were going, I wouldn’t be going, no way.”I don’t think anyone would hold it against people if they decided not to go to Pakistan.”It’s a big decision especially when you’ve got kids involved.”I’ve got three kids and there’s a lot more at stake when you’ve got family. It’s a pretty hostile place at the moment.”Warne is currently in very hospitable Monte Carlo with captain Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath representing the Australian team nominated forWorld Team of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards.All had reservations about the Pakistan tour which starts in August.They were all confident in leaving the matter to the ACB which Warne said had made the right decisions in the past in cancelling the recent tour of Zimbabwe and forfeiting a 1996 World Cup match in Sri Lanka.While Warne has made up his own mind, McGrath has already been told by his wife he won’t be going.”At the end of the day, we play cricket and we love what we do but to put your life on the line for a sport, is not what it’s all about,” McGrath said.Waugh said it was a weighty dilemma and he had faith in the ACB, but said no-one should be forced to go if they felt at risk.”It’s pretty hard to give in to terrorism,” he said.”You look at it from both sides. One side you go for the good of cricket and not giving into terrorism and on the other side is that it may be dangerous and you’re putting yourself at risk.”We want to go out there and play cricket but if you’re in danger, you’ve got to consider what the options are.”They’ve got to send players over there who want to go. If the players don’t want to go, there’s not much point in sending a team.”Alternative venues including Sharjah, Morocco and Bangladesh have been suggested for the three Test series.Pakistan has become a security flashpoint since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.The Karachi bombing, which was immediately linked to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, was the third attack involving foreigners in the country in six weeks.The wife and daughter of an American diplomat were killed in a grenade attack in Islamabad in March while an American journalist was kidnapped and murdered.Pakistan Cricket Board director Munawwar Rana said it would take a lot of effort to convince the ICC and other cricket boards to play in Pakistan.

Is summer here? I’m not going to harp on about the weather every time I write but this last week has seen a change in the climate – it’s now dry!The dry weather has enabled some cricket to be played and we started our one-day campaign off with a last ball win at Lord’s. It was a reduced over match and we did well defending our score of 146 in 31 overs.That’s not the only game we have played with this week’s schedule being pretty hectic and an indication of what lies ahead. We have had two double-headers with a day off in between. Mix a fair bit of travel with that and you being to understand why they call it a grind.After our first win we have had mixed results wining two and losing two. The results in some way reflect my batting which has also been a mixed bag.It’s taking time to adjust to the pace and movement of the early season wickets. It hasn’t helped that most practice has been indoors which is a markedly different surface to what we get outside.The other thing I have to get used to is batting on the slope at Lord’s. Ironically, the show piece ground of world cricket is not at all flat. In fact, it has a very obvious slope that does affect movement of the ball.I’ve nicked twice now with the ball moving away down the hill and it’s something I will need to be aware of as the season progresses.There are many features around Lord’s that make the place so special, the sloped playing surface, the Long Room, the art collection and, of course, a Lord’s lunch!As an international player you only get to experience a Lord’s lunch for one week during a tour that only occurs every four years.So with this in mind I’ve just had 12 years worth in the short time I’ve been here. The lunch room is actually closer to the visitors’ change room which means a small walk down the corridors to get your share. It does mean you get the chance to walk a little lunch off on your return.You have a menu to choose from and the food ranges from the rack of lamb through to scampi (seafood dish).It’s served by a number of the kitchen staff who seem to constantly be on duty. It’s what follows that does the damage and that is dessert of the highest quality. The house special being hot treacle pudding with custard and ice cream.During the wet start there wasn’t a problem although the physio placing the cycling machines in the changing room sent a strong message.Now that we are underway some serious discipline must be shown, that is unless it’s a fielding day! One thing is for sure, if we’re always tempted being the home side, imagine what the visitors do. All I can say is Bon Appetite!

For whatever reasons, two Guyanese brothers have been ignored by successive local selection panels at varying levels.Krishna Arjune, 21, and his younger sibling, Vishal 20, however, have used the disappointment as motivation to succeed.And they have responded admirably.The story, in chronological order, is one with a special difference for two brothers who will take the field at Kensington Oval today for the West Indies ‘B’ team in their final round Busta Series match against Barbados.Krishna, an opening batsman, is selected for Guyana in the 1998 Nortel Youth Championship in Trinidad.The rain ruins the three-day competition and he gets limited chances in the hastily-arranged one-day competition.The following season, when the tournament is played in Barbados, he is discarded by the Guyana selectors in spite of an innings of 160 in the trials.He is demoted to the Nortel Development XI a side comprising reserves from each of the six territories but emerges as that side’s leading run-scorer. Among his main scores was an even half-century against champions Barbados.In 2000, Vishal, too, is unable to force his way into the Guyana youth team, and, like Krishna the previous year, he has to settle for playing in the Development XI line-up.His peformances are nothing to shout about 159 runs (ave. 26.50) and 11 wickets (ave. 19.45) with his off-breaks.The West Indies youth selection panel saw some potential and picked him in the regional squad that toured England last summer when he performed impressively.At the start of this season’s Busta Series, neither brother is in Guyana’s 16-man squad.Krishna is nominated for the West Indies ‘B’ team and scores a debut first-class century in only his second match.He follows up with another half-century and five other scores in 30s or 40s on the way to 357 runs (ave. 35.70).Vishal joined him in the team for the sixth round match against Guyana on home soil last week, but didn’t make much of a contribution with the bat.The series of events in successive seasons emphasises that these brothers have made the most of their opportunities.By performing well in this tournament, I am hoping that next year, it will be easier for me to make the Guyana team, said Krishna, who remains modest about his achievements in the Busta Series.This is not enough runs for me. I am accustomed to making big scores.His string of 30s and 40s is attributed to a lack of concentration, but he has enjoyed the experience and the benefit of the guidance of captain Roland Holder.He is doing a very good job. He is the best captain I have come across so far, Krishna said.It was perhaps another coincidence but Vishal’s first-class debut was against the land of his birth in a match in which both brothers were dismissed for the identical score 12.When you play home, it is a lot of pressure, the younger Arjune said.This is my second game. If I get in the side, I will try to do my best.I have made up my mind to work hard and try and get a big score in this game.He knows things won’t be easy.It is a higher level. You have to lift your game, Vishal said.This is first-class cricket. You’ve got to perform to the best of your ability.When Vishal went to England with the West Indies youth team last year, it was the first time he had left Guyana.After early difficulties, he came into his own.It was the first time I ever travelled. At first, it was cold, the ball swung a lot and I didn’t do too well in the one-day matches, he said.But I then went into the nets and worked on it. I found it easier coming towards the end of the tour.In the second Test, he made 79 in a big partnership with Devon Smith, and in two of the minor matches he made 103 and 99 run out.The Arjune boys hail from Unity Village on the east coast of Demerara, an area that has produced West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.They speak glowingly about the influence he has had on them.If their level of determination is as much as his, we could be hearing of the Arjune brothers for some time.

Inzamam-ul-Haq became the first batsman to score a test Triple Century in 21st century when he scored a massive knock of 329 against New Zealand in the May 1-5, 2002 Lahore Test. It was the sixteenth triple century in test cricket. All the previous 15 had been scored in the last century. The highest individual innings recorded in the 19th century was 211 by Australia’s W.L.Murboch at the Oval in 1884. For Pakistan, it was the second triple century after Hanif Mohammad’s 337 at Barbados against the West Indies in 1957-58.Incidentally, this was the second triple century on Pakistan soil after the 334 not out by Aussie Mark Taylor at Peshawar, 4 years ago. Yet it set a new highest individual innings record for Pakistan at Lahore. Erasing the previous record of Javed Miandad’s 280 not out against India at Hyderabad (P) in 1982-83. Brian Lara (375) holds the highest individual innings record in Test Cricket.Inzamam-ul-Haq’s innings of 329 is the 10th highest individual innings in this elite list. Sir Don Bradman is so far the only batsman to achieve the unique feat twice.So far, 5 Englishmen, 4 Australians, 3 West Indians, 2 Pakistani’s and one Sri Lankan have reached the landmark. No South African, Indian, New Zealander, Zimbabwean and Bangladeshi batsmen has yet scored a triple test century.

Highest Individual Innings375 B.C. Lara WI V Eng at St. John’s 1993-94365* G.S. Sobers WI V Pak at Kingston 1957-58364 L. Hutton Eng V Aus at The Oval 1938340 S.T. Jayasuriya SL V Ind at Colombo (RPS) 1997-98337 Hanif Mohammad Pak V WI at Bridgetown 1957-58336* W.R. Hammond Eng V NZ at Auckland 1932-33334* M.A. Taylor Aus V Pak at Peshawar 1998-99334 D.G. Bradman Aus V Eng at Leeds 1930333 G.A Gooch Eng V Ind at Lords 1990329 Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak V NZ at Lahore 2001-02325 A. Sandham Eng V WI at Kingston 1929-30311 R. B. Simpson Aus V Eng at Manchester 1964310* J. H. Edrich Eng V NZ at Leeds 1965307 R.M Cowper Aus V Eng at Melbourne 1965-66304 D.G Bradman Aus V Eng at Leeds 1934302 D.G Rowe WI V Eng at Bridgetown 1973-74

Sri Lanka Twenty20 cricketer Chinthaka Jayasinghe has retired from first-class cricket in Sri Lanka, citing frustration with continued non-selection for the national team as a major reason. Jayasinghe, 34, played in five T20 matches from December 2009 to May 2010, making a high score of 38 from three innings in the lower-middle order. He played as a fast-bowling allrounder for his domestic sides, and has 104 wickets at 24.48, but did not bowl in internationals.Jayasinghe said he has a contract to play domestic cricket in Australia during the southern summer, and another six-month contract to play in England next year. He was not among the 60 players offered an SLC contract in 2012 and he said this was central to his decision to move on.”I have played 14 years of first-class cricket in Sri Lanka and it’s saddening to see the SLC selectors favouring certain players who are proven failures,” Jayasinghe said. “The way things are going, I feel like Sri Lanka cricket is not moving forward, especially after the seniors in the national team retire.”Jayasinghe played for the Uva Next franchise in the Sri Lanka Premier League, and last played first class-cricket for Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic club, having previously represented Burgher Recreation Club and Nondescripts Cricket Club.