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Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has dismissed as “baseless” reports in a leading British newspaper that there was a rift between him and Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain. And though he admitted he had considered resigning in the immediate aftermath of the Oval Test, he told Cricinfo that “was no longer the case.”Woolmer was reacting to a report in which alleged that not only was he on the verge of resignation, but also that “Woolmer’s relations with Zaheer and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq have descended into acrimony,” since the chaos that enveloped the Oval on Sunday.”I won’t deny that I considered resigning and I did very seriously,” Woolmer said. “I enjoy coaching cricket and I missed that over the last few days. I am very unhappy about the general situation as well, but as far as resigning is concerned, that is no longer the case.”Since the forfeit, all manner of rumours, speculation, allegations and contradictions have emerged from the Pakistan camp. Woolmer denied at least one – that there was a rift with Inzamam. “Inzi and I are absolutely fine. We have had misunderstandings in the past and we had a sort of misunderstanding on Sunday. Until I have a complete grasp of the Urdu language these things may occur but as things stand now, we are fine. We are getting on well and want to do whatever we can for Pakistan cricket.”It is yet to emerge what exactly occurred during and after the tea break on the fourth day of the Test. Reports suggest that a few options were discussed as to a course of action, including protesting on the field or going back to the hotel. Woolmer refused to comment though he stressed “it wasn’t a confused and angry place as is suggested. I was 100% behind Inzamam and the team though and supported whatever decision they took. Advice was offered but in the end we all supported Inzamam’s stand absolutely. I am the coach and my job is to offer support to him – whatever decision he would’ve taken I would have supported him.”Too many questions, however, remain unanswered. With growing suspicion and criticism in Pakistan that their board has bungled their way through this crisis, the questions will keep coming until exactly what happened that day becomes clear.

Division One

Points TableJames Anyon ripped through Sussex on the final day at Edgbaston, as Warwickshire gained vital ground in the race for the title. Sussex had fought back strongly on the third day, but in the end victory was comfortable for the home side, who won by 101 runs. They had added nine runs to their overnight score to leave Sussex chasing 228. Makhaya Ntini troubled them early, removing Richard Montgomerie and the dangerous Michael Yardy to set them wobbling at 32 for 2. Neil Carter took the next two to leave the top four in the shed with 68 runs on the board. Anyon continued the job, destroying the heart of the middle order with three quick wickets, and mopping up the final wicket to seal their fate.

Division Two

Points TableIt didn’t take long for Lancashire to seal victory against Worcestershire on the fourth day at Blackpool and do their promotion push no harm at all. It was always a question of when, not if, Lancashire would win, and they went in for a quick kill, needing just ten balls this morning as Glen Chapple removed Kabir Ali for 14. He was caught by James Anderson, with Worcestershire adding just one more run to their overnight total.

Ajay Jadeja, who pulled out of the American Pro League after the Board of Control for Cricket in India told players to distance themselves from the event, has returned to India.Jadeja cited the confusion over whether the ICC and the BCCI had sanctioned the American cricket league as his reason for returning home so soon. "Some reports said the ICC does not recognise the event," he explained. "Nobody was sure what to do so we came back."Jadeja, 33, also hinted that he has some lingering hopes for an international comeback, though he was realistic about his chances. "A comeback is always hard," he said. "It’s easy to get in when you are fresh. But a new season is around the corner and I will train myself for it. I have enjoyed cricket since childhood, I still enjoy the game and would continue to play. Who knows, I might get a chance.”Jadeja played 196 one-dayers and 15 Tests for India before his international career came to an end in December 2000, when he was handed a five-year ban following damaging findings in India’s Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into match-fixing. Jadeja contested the ban, and after three years of exclusion played for his club, Delhi, in the last Indian domestic season.

Glamorgan have several injury concerns as they prepare for a hecticten days of cricket with the Twenty20 competition starting on Mondayevening as Northamptonshire visit Sophia Gardens.Robert Croft and Dean Cosker both picked up groin strains during theWales-England match on Saturday, whilst Alex Wharf twisted an ankle inthe warm-up before the international match and was forced to withdrawfrom the Wales team.With Simon Jones and skipper Steve James also on the sidelines,Glamorgan were also dealt a blow earlier in the week when Andrew Daviesbroke a thumb in a 2nd XI match at Neath, whilst young batsmanJonathan Hughes also sustained a hand injury.However, there is good news about Darren Thomas, who has returned to fitnessfollowing a knee operation. Darren was injured in the opening Championshipmatch of the season, but he has come through a couple of 2nd XI matches,and with other players now on the injured list, Darren is poised to return tofirst team action in the Twenty20 games this week.

In defeating Middlesex so comprehensively in their Norwich Union League match, Sussex showed their all-round ability which has served them so well in both forms of cricket this season.Despite being in the middle of the Second Division table with 30 points, Sussex have put themselves in a position to challenge for promotion with this victory. They are already comfortably on top of the second division in the four-day game and their performance at Old Deer Park today highlighted their strength.To reach their modest target, they needed just 28.1 overs today as Richard Montgomerie guided them with a steady innings of 34 not out. Along with Murray Goodwin, 20 not out, he put on 43 in their unbroken stand for the third wicket.None of the six bowlers used by Middlesex could find penetration although Tim Bloomfield, coming on first change, claimed both Sussex wickets that fell in a space of four overs. The first went on 46 and then on 67.It showed in the end that there just were not enough runs on the board for Middlesex to bowl at.Earlier Middlesex, second from bottom in the second division, showed clearly why they are struggling in the Norwich Union League this season. They lasted only 37 overs, managing 109 with the help of 32 extras.Having been asked to bat on a slow pitch and in overcast conditions, none oftheir batsmen appeared to settle in. With tidy, accurate bowling Sussex keptthe pressure on as wickets fell at regular intervals.They were two down for 27 after the first wicket had gone in the first over.A revival seemed on the way as Owais Shah and Ed Joyce put on 35, the higheststand of the innings. But with the total 62 Joyce spliced his shot to becaught at cover and ten runs later Middlesex lost their fourth wicket.Fine off spin bowling by Mark Davis gave him four for 24 as he cut throughthe middle order. He had Shah, the top scorer with 23, held at long on andthen took two wickets in his sixth over, both with the total of 92.Stephen Fleming was caught driving to mid-on and Chad Keegan was bowledaround his legs after he had lifted the off spinner over wide mid-wicket forthe only six of the innings. Davis finally wrapped up the innings, bowlingTim Bloomfield with one that kept low.

Kolkata not sweating over Hodge
The Kolkata Knight Riders are not looking for any replacement yet for Brad Hodge, who is leaving to join the Australian squad for the West Indies tour. Hodge was asked by Cricket Australia to join the squad as a shadow replacement for Michael Clarke, who left the team camp in Brisbane to attend to an ailing family member.Joy Bhattacharya, Kolkata’s team director, said they were monitoring the development and hope Hodge can still re-join the squad if Clarke returns soon. “We already have other international players like Salman Butt so we are not yet looking at any replacement for Hodge,” Bhattacharya said. Hodge, one of the prolific run-getters in Twenty20 cricket, played three games for Kolkata.Prasad calls for ‘patience and trust’
With two wins from eight matches, the Bangalore Royals Challengers are struggling at the bottom of the points table. Recently, Charu Sharma, the team’s chief executive, was sacked, and Venkatesh Prasad, the coach, has called upon the team owners to have patience and trust in the side. Prasad termed Sharma’s dismissal as “unfortunate” and feared it could send the wrong signal.Nanavati ends probe into Harbhajan-Sreesanth row
Sudhir Nanavati, the BCCI-appointed commissioner, has said he is satisfied by Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth’s statements regarding their on-field altercation and is scheduled to submit his report to the board on Monday.”The investigation is over and now I don’t need to talk to any player or official in this case,” Nanavati said after meeting both the players on Friday. “I’m satisfied with the answers of both Sreesanth and Harbhajan. I’ve all the evidence that I need to prepare the report.Slow going
The IPL has fined the Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Kolkata Knight Riders US$1000 and $500 respectively for a slow over rate in their match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The action was taken by the match referee, Farokh Engineer, under accordance of the ICC Playing Conditions and Rules.

Scorecard

Nepal put up a strong allround performance to beat Thailand by 55 runs on the second day of the ACC women’s tournament at Johor Bahru, Malaysia. They dismissed Thailand for 40 after scoring 95 for 8 in their stipulated 30 overs.Nepal’s innings was held together by Madhu Thapa (a footballer of some repute in Nepal) who came in at No. 3 and made 36 off 75 deliveries. She was strong on the drive and the pull, and solid in defence.Wanwipa Changsamboo, with her flighted offbreaks, was the pick of the bowlers with 2-18. She found some turn on a sluggish pitch and had the ability to dip the ball down from quite a height, which had many of the Nepali batsmen confused. Sarsati B.K .was the only one who dared venture down the wicket, but she was smartly stumped by Yupa Paoklang at the moment first attempt.Thailand were quite competitive in the field but what did cost them was the number of wides they bowled – 30 in total, and that was with relatively lenient umpiring. Yet they ended by taking four wickets in the last two overs, and went in to lunch having restricted Nepal to 95.Thailand didn’t quite have the rub of the green when they batted but Nepal’s bowling was far better than their batting. Thailand’s batsmen were given no room to swing their arms and the bowlers were backed up by some high-standard fielding.Nary Thapa (an international bronze-medalist in badminton), the captain, led the way with some excellent left-arm seam bowling. Coming on at first change, Thapa took three wickets in the 11th over to reduce Thailand to 20 for 6 and the game was pretty much over. Changsamboo hobbled by cramp, played a gutsy innings to keep her side in the game, but it was never going to be enough.Two wickets by Neera Rajoupadhyan off her first and last deliveries sealed the win for Nepal.Seven of Nepal’s players were from Nepalganj, the district that was awarded the ICC’s Global Development Award for their women’s cricket program last year. Thailand’s cricketers were an athletic group of former softball and basketball players, six of whom were intentionally coached to be left-handed batters (as if they were ‘switch-hitters’ in softball).

Seven of the Sri Lanka side to tour England last month have been included in a 14-man squad to represent a Sri Lanka Cricket President’s XI for the three-day warm-up match against the touring South Africans on Saturday.With the first Test beginning a week on Thursday, the focus of Saturday’s warm-up is the competition for Sri Lanka’s middle-order. Tilan Samaraweera, who had a poor Test series in England, failing to reach double figures in any of his four innings, is being given another chance to regain his place. The SSC, where the Test is being held, is a favourite of Samaraweera’s and his home ground: he averages 77.9 in 10 Tests and three of his five Test hundreds were compile there, including a career-best 142.Samaraweera will fight for a spot in the Test line-up with the 19-year-old right-hander Chamara Kapugedera, who replaced him in the final Test against England, at Trent Bridge, where he struck his maiden Test fifty in Sri Lanka’s victory to level the series.Michael Vandort and Jehan Mubarak, both left-handers, are also under pressure to perform. While Mubarak failed to get amongst the runs and was subsequently dropped against England, Vandort went onto score a hundred in the Edgbaston Test and retained his place for the rest of the series.With Sanath Jayasuriya knocking on the door once again, following a brilliant run in the one-dayers against England and Holland, the pressure on Vandort in particular is immense. Fast bowlers Nuwan Zoysa and Ruchira Perera, and the wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene are the other members of the squad who toured England.South Africa, whose depleted squad numbers just 12 in the absence of Shaun Pollock and Thandi Tshabalala, will name their eleven on the morning of the match. Both players will join the squad next week ahead of the Test matches although time will be tight for Pollock, whose wife is expected to give birth around the same time.Sri Lanka Cricket President’s XI (from)
Avishka Gunawardene (capt), Tilan Samaraweera (vice-capt), Michael Vandort, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Kapugedera, Upul Chandana, Rangana Herath, Akalanka Ganegama, Nuwan Zoysa, Ruchira Perera, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chamara Silva, Jeewan Mendis, Kaushal Lokuarachchi.South Africans (from)
Ashwell Prince (capt), Jacques Rudolph, Hashim Amla, Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher (wk), AB de Villiers, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn.

The bitter row between the West Indies board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) took another twist at the weekend when the board said that it had offered a sum of around $90,000 as a tour guarantee for the Sri Lanka series, a claim vigorously denied by WIPA.The guarantee was at the heart of the dispute which led to all but three of the named squad refusing to tour. WIPA opened negotiations by asking for a sum of $200,000, a figure which was subsequently reduced to $150,000 and then to $125,000.Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA’s president, insisted that the board never wavered from offering $50,000, but on Friday, Roger Brathwaite, the WICB’s chief executive, told reporters that he had suggested “a proposal in the region of US$80,000-90,000 might be a figure that the board would give some consideration to ,but this was rejected out of hand.””The board in no correspondence to WIPA indicated that it was willing to move from the $50,000 offer,” Ramnarine countered. “In an e-mail received at 7.39pm on June 29, the board stated that it was going to select another team because the players didn’t sign and told us that our proposal was too high. They never said they were willing to look at US$80,000 to US$90,000. There seems to be a lot of (unheard of) things being told at this time but the truth will always prevail.”There was, however, some progress with the news that the WICB had sent a signed copy of the Collective Labour Agreement to the WIPA. Ramnarine confirmed that WIPA would be signing the document.

A senior official of the ICC’s Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) has admitted that while bookmaking is still a major concern for the game, the situation has improved markedly in the last few years.”Bookmaking is still very much part of the sport,” Nuruddin Khawaja, the ACU’s regional security manager, told The News in Pakistan. “But I think we have succeeded to a big extent in keeping the players clear of corrupt elements seeking to soil the sport to make easy money.”Things today are far better than the crisis world cricket was facing from this menace a few years back.”Khawaja said that although international cricket was still big business for professional bookmakers, the security protocols implemented by the ACU meant that most players and match officials now stayed well clear of bookmakers.He also denied rumours that a match in India’s recent one-day series against Pakistan had been fixed, explaining that the ACU had not found anything of substance in the allegations made by Rashid Latif regarding the result of the fourth one-dayer at Lahore.But Khawaja admitted that the Indian bookmaker Ratan Mehta had figured in a lot of the investigations, and that he had ties with some players. He added: “The ACU is aware of his activities and is keeping a close watch on him.”