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Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, who missed the series-clinching win at Karachi, has said that he will pick and choose his matches from now on to protect his back.Inzamam, 35, stood down from the Test and also missed much of the previous match at Faisalabad with back trouble.”It is not a career threatening problem but it does become a nuisance if not taken proper care of,” Inzamam said. “In future, I will try to sit out on matches where possible.”I plan to sit out Test and one-day matches where nothing much is at stake. Then I can take a rest in order to preserve myself for the more important games. If we have won a series, I can rest in the final games and it gives us a chance to blood young players.”Doctors have already advised him not to take long flights.

The headlines when New Zealand landed for their tour of England were more about the players who hadn’t arrived than those who had. Five of their key players are in India taking part in the IPL, raising questions about how focused the tourists will be. However, two of them who spoke to Cricinfo, Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor, were firm in dismissing the notion of being distracted and added they are happy to be the underdogs.Oram recalled the scene back in New Zealand, just before the first IPL auction. “We had a big team meeting, everyone was there. We had a lengthy discussion about the whole situation,” he said. “Not only from a playing point of view but even off the ground. Whether someone would feel left out, about the emotions and about going to England a little late. Everything was in the open and in the end everyone was okay and decided we would support whoever gets selected.”Taylor added: “Jac [Oram], Dan [Daniel Vettori] and Brendon [McCullum] were picked up and since we had already discussed everything before we were all happy for them. Later, [Kyle] Mills and I got selected.”Both players stressed that being part of the IPL has been a beneficial experience and, in a way, better preparation than if they were in New Zealand. “I am playing on the grass while the players in New Zealand will have had to do with practising indoors,” said Taylor.”We should still be there in England for two first-class games and I have 17 days of build-up before the Test match [at Lord’s] and if that’s not enough then nothing will be,” Oram said. “We are not on a holiday here. We are playing competitive games. There is no distraction.”Moving onto the series itself, both readily admitted that England are the favourites. “We are always the underdogs, we tend to play our best cricket like that,” said Oram. “They beat us in New Zealand and this will be the first [Stephen] Fleming-less team in years. The bowling looks pretty okay though it’s obviously a blow that Shane Bond can’t play and James Franklin would have been handy with his left-arm swing bowling.”For Oram, the key to New Zealand doing well will be the performance of numbers one to four in the batting. “One of the issues in the recent times has been the top-order batting. If we can nail two or three guys who can score big runs we can go a long way,” he said. “With Fleming gone and recent retirements of Nathan Astle and Scott Styris we are pretty light on experience.”Jamie How has played nine Test games and Ross Taylor only five but they will be vital. It’s amazing how Taylor has become one of the senior batsmen. But I guess this needs to be looked at as opportunity. He had a great home series against England and he has to carry on his form here.”For his part, Taylor is looking forward to playing on the history-laden grounds around England. “You talk to any cricketer, he would love to play a Test match at Lord’s and to get their name on the honours board. The top-order batting has been our Achilles heel; in the last decade we have gone through lots of openers. Hopefully the arrangement of How and me will do the job. If we can see off the new ball, we will have given us a good chance of making a big total, which will the crucial.”

Taylor has been speaking to his Bangalore team-mates like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis on the experience of playing in England conditions. “The ball will swing traditionally early in the summer but its going to be same for both sides,” Taylor said. “It is something to be wary off but not get too caught up in it. Chanderpaul talked about the basics: playing close to the body and late. The others shared with me some good tips.”Taylor believes while the top order is the “unknown” the middle-order is strong. “We have got Oram, Brendon and Dan coming in. Hopefully the top order can score runs and support them.”Some experts have felt that the likes of Vettori and Oram should bat higher up the order, but Oram believes in maintaining the status quo. “It’s difficult. I know Dan has batted well in the lower order but we know that the guys batting higher up have a much harder job than the guys further down. It is our strength – the lower-middle order – and I am not sure we should rock the boat there but should look to improve our top order.”Oram is also happy with Vettori’s captaincy and compared him with the style of Fleming. “He captained for so many years and was obviously an outstanding captain. But Vettori is doing a great job. Being a bowler himself he probably understands the bowlers’ psyche better. Not that Flem wasn’t clued on.”The New Zealand media have been critical of coach John Bracewell but Oram believes he is still the right man for the job. “I have read and heard those criticisms but I really like playing under John. I think he has done great things. I know you can look at records and say he has not, but if you ask most of the players they enjoy playing under him.”On a personal level, all Oram is hoping for is that he remains fit for the entire tour and he has not set any targets. “I don’t set goals at all. There is already enough pressure in playing at this level, adding individual goals adds unnecessary pressure.”

Sui Northern Gas and Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), who retained the Quaid-e-Azam trophy earlier this week, have dedicated their title to Ali Waqas, their middle-order batsman who collapsed last year due to kidney disease. Waqas missed the 2015-16 season to undergo a successful kidney transplant in Rawalpindi.Waqas, 26, was among the leading run-scorers with 1065 in the 2012-13 season and almost made his way into the national side when he was selected for a Pakistan A tour to Sri Lanka last year. But, ahead of the 2015 national T20 Cup, he suffered kidney failure in Rawalpindi due to hypertension. He underwent initial treatment in the USA but doctors suggested an immediate transplant, for which he had to move back to Pakistan for surgery and to find a donor.”It was tough as I was seeing my whole cricketing career going down,” Waqas told ESPNcricinfo. “But doctors suggested to me that I can easily come back into cricket after the transplant. I googled a lot to find out who are the sportsmen who have returned after such a transplant and I got ample examples to gain encouragement.”US basketball player Sean Elliott was the first professional sportsman to come back after a kidney transplant, in 2000. Former New Zealand rugby star Jonah Lomu, who died last year, continued to play at domestic level after a kidney transplant in 2004.”I can’t play cricket for at least the next eight to nine months but sometimes in cricket injuries take more than a year,” Waqas said. “I am determined to return by next season. It really hurts so much inside to know that I am not competing, as I was close enough to make into the national side. I don’t see myself without cricket and thinking about making a comeback all the time makes me strong. My only wish from life is to play for Pakistan and I’m going to make this possible in any case.”The transplant procedure is expensive in Pakistan and Waqas’s main strength was his team-mates at SNGPL, as almost the entire team including the national players helped him financially. His donor was a stranger and, as per the guidelines, they are not allowed to meet each other. “I had a little look on my donor luckily before I went to operation theatre,” Waqas said.SNGPL captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, was very optimistic about Waqas’ comeback and paid tribute to one of the most important members of the team. “He is one talented batsman with a full range of shots,” Misbah told ESPNcricinfo. “He was best against the fast bowlers and his square cut was a delight to watch. To me he is a complete modern player and a solid prospect for Pakistan. He was the top-scorer in domestic some two years ago and I had no doubt about his potential. Had he kept on playing he could have easily made into the side by another year and half.”Waqas was born in Sargodha, known as the “City of Eagles”, situated 170km from Lahore towards the northwest. He moved to Lahore to play cricket but is presently based in Islamabad for the clean atmosphere required after surgery.

With the promotion issues all but settled, there was a low-key feeling to the final round of matches in Division Two, especially as all the attention was centred on the Division One title race.The only hypothetical matter to be resolved came about in the afternoon when Nottinghamshire secured the one point they needed to cement their promotion. They may have been bowled out for 158 at Trent Bridge by title-winners Somerset, but that was enough. Charl Willoughby took 4 for 39 from 14 overs, and Peter Trego three, as they weaved their way through the line-up, with only Mark Wagh’s 41 standing out. Marcus Trescothick led Somerset’s first-innings reply, his unbeaten 76 taking them to a 36-run lead with six wickets still remaining and Ian Blackwell on 70 not out. This means that Notts, like Surrey last year, have immediately bounced back to the top division following relegation.Essex took charge against Middlesex at Chelmsford where Grant Flower’s hundred steered them to 345 for 7 amid the late-season chill. Flower was unbeaten on 145 at the close, but Middlesex should have had him when he had made 25 but Ed Smith spilt a fairly straightforward chance at first slip.Flower’s main support came from James Foster, the pair adding 181 for the fifth wicket before Flower sold his partner down the river by calling for a suicidal run to Andrew Strauss at point with Foster four short of a hundred for the second time in successive Championship matches.Mark Pettini eased down the order to No. 5 after chatting with Paul Grayson, the coach, but it did little good – he made 6. He was one of four victims for Robbie Williams, making his Championship debut.Hamish Marshall’s third hundred of the summer put Gloucestershire in charge against Glamorgan at Cardiff where the visitors closed on 262 for 4 after overnight rain had delayed the start until almost 1.45pm. The damp pitch encouraged David Hemp to stick Gloucestershire in, and had Glamorgan held their catches then it might have been a different story – Marshall was put down at gully and slip when on 16 and 25. With Kadeer Ali, Marshall added 192 for the third wicket after they were wobbling on 22 for 2, cutting lose to bring up his century off 105 balls. He was eventually dismissed for 121, and 11 runs later Ali followed.Derbyshire wrestled to 43 for 3 in the 41 overs possible against Northamptonshire in between the showers at Derby. Nineteen-year-old Paul Borrington made his maiden first-class fifty. Hassan Adnan bagged a duck.

It’s no secret that Troy Cooley transformed England’s fast bowlers, but could his fellow Australian Cathryn Fitzpatrick do the same – and more – for the women by becoming England coach? Cricinfo has learned that Fitzpatrick, who recently retired after 16 years as the world’s fastest female bowler, has approached the ECB to register her interest in the vacancy for the lead role.Former players don’t always make the best coaches, but Fitzpatrick has excellent credentials as a coach. She has been involved in the Centre of Excellence in Australia for several years and would be well-placed for the position which was vacated by Richard Bates in April after four years. And she later confirmed: “I’m fresh out of cricket so my knowledge of how the women’s game has evolved and needs to continue to evolve is quite fresh. I may just have a few secret weapons as well.”While Peter Moores slipped into Duncan Fletcher’s chair when it was still warm, more than a month after Bates stepped down from the role to move to Australia, the vacancy is still wide open and the closing date is still another three weeks away.But who else, alongside Fitzpatrick, could be in the running? Lisa Keightley, is another recently retired Australian who would make a good candidate. Keightley, the Australian batsman, was appointed the New South Wales coach in 2005, the first full-time female appointed by the NSW board, after working as their female high-performance coordinator.Clare Taylor, the former England fast bowler, could also be considered. Now based in Otago, she went into coaching after retiring from international cricket and coaches the New Zealand women’s team. Whether she’d like to return to England is another matter.Some may argue that someone who can provide experience of men’s cricket – both for its inherent toughness and for tips on how to play the longer game – would be a useful prospect. Bates’s input in helping to provide session-by-session insights of how to play Tests as they unfolded was vital, and, as a former first-class player, he was in a good position to do so.

Paul Shaw, a Yorkshire cricket development officer, may not have played first-class cricket, but he would bring good experience as a fellow Super 4s coach, and he has already worked with the ECB Academy developing emerging players. He’s currently undertaking his Level 4 badge and is very proactive in his approach to women’s cricket.The interview panel could do worse than to consider any application from Andy Hobday, a former coach at Hampshire, who is now involved in the women’s set-up as a Super 4s coach. Charlotte Dickenson and the former England player and World Cup winner Jan Brittin are the other Super 4s coaches and, as such, they could make excellent candidates, too.Ian Pont, who coaches Essex part-time, is no longer Netherlands’ fast bowling coach. Whether his self-styled maverick approach would suit an ECB position is another matter, but he has been heavily involved with Netherlands’ women.With the salary likely to be around a tenth of what Fletcher received, the possible candidates wouldn’t necessarily be lured by the lucre. However, as a CV point, an international role is a big tick. Moreover, England have been in the top four teams since international competition began, and they have a young side with some exciting players.The candidate needs to have ECB Level 3 (or international equivalent) and, as a nod to Fletcher, to be handy with a computer. The ECB are hoping to have a new coach in place by mid-July “at the very latest”, to settle in and prepare for New Zealand’s visit: their tour kicks off with back-to-back Twenty20s on August 12 and 13.Four people will sit on the interview panel. McConway; Barbara Daniels, the women’s academy coach; Gordon Lord, the ECB’s elite coach development manager, and David Parsons, who is the acting director of the ECB Academy.England’s selectors panel stays consistent, meanwhile. Michael Griggs, the chairman of selectors, has been re-elected for two years alongside his fellow senior panel members Patsy Lovell and Jan Godman. Lovell’s additional responsibilities will include heading up the regional selectors panel.

Zimbabwe Select are set to recall former national captain Terrence Duffin for the second match against India A which gets underway at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo on Monday (July 30).Duffin missed the first game, which India A won by nine wickets, because he was suffering from a cold but he is likely to replace Tinotenda Mawoyo who has failed to rekindle the same form that he produced during the Logan Cup. Duffin took part in a net session on Sunday.Duffin should open the batting with Hamilton Masakadza, with Vusi Sibanda and Tatenda Taibu, who hit a hundred on his comeback, in a strong middle order. Taibu’s successful return only adds to the likelihood that the short-term international career of wicketkeeper-batsman Brendan Taylor, named in the squad but still believed to be in Europe, is over.Zimbabwe’s bowling was less impressive and while the pace bowlers are likely to be retained, there is doubt if the selectors will play two spinners. If they opt not to, then legspinner Graeme Cremer will be the one to miss out as Prosper Utseya made useful runs.The Zimbabwe squad arrived in Bulawayo by road from Harare on Saturday evening and had a net session without Kevin Curran, the coach. He had decided to travel in his sponsored car, a move which did not go down well with some of the his technical team.India A flew into Bulawayo on Sunday morning and had a practice session at Queen’s in the afternoon.

The Ashes series has been a tale of two coaches with John Buchanan improving his record and Duncan Fletcher losing ground by the game. Both men may have been involved in their last Tests at the SCG, but Buchanan leaves with the greater reputation after being a key backroom member of Australia’s 5-0 victory and a 12th win in a row.Buchanan’s stock is currently so high that Mark Taylor, a Cricket Australia director, said he will be a main figure in the search for the country’s next coach. The World Cup in the West Indies is Buchanan’s final task in his current role, but Taylor, who is on a committee to choose the replacement, has added to his duties.”Quite a bit will depend on [Buchanan’s] thoughts,” Taylor said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Depending on who we go for, it might be possible for them to travel to the World Cup with John, if they are not already coaching an international team. If that is possible, that would be our preference.”We have had some informal chats already as a committee. I’m not at liberty to say much more than that, but certainly the one-day series will give us an opportunity to get together in the next couple of weeks to discuss matters further.”Tom Moody, the Sri Lanka coach, and Tim Nielsen, who is in charge of Australia’s Centre of Excellence, are the front-runners while Greg Chappell and Dav Whatmore have also been spoken of as contenders. Whoever gets the job faces a huge task to match Buchanan’s record of 70 wins from 91 matches.Ricky Ponting praised Buchanan after his side sealed the Ashes whitewash and waved goodbye to a huge chunk of the side. Apart from Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer, Australia have also lost Buchanan and Damien Martyn from the Test scene during the series. Martyn, who went into hiding in Adelaide, was a surprise guest in the Australian dressing room after play and Shane Watson, the injured allrounder, also joined in the celebrations.Buchanan made three points before the team walked out on the final morning in Sydney – Ponting could only remember two of them – and he will continue to make more until the World Cup. “He’s been very overlooked,” Ponting said. “We’ve been a talented side but talented guys don’t win you everything.”He’s been responsible for getting the best out of me, out of Langer, out of Hayden, out of Steve Waugh to a certain degree, maybe even a bit out of Warney. And McGrath. All our coaching staff right through the last 12-13 months have been terrific.”

ScorecardDheeraj Jadhav, tipped by many to be a potential India opener, sparkled on the second day’s play against Tamil Nadu at Nasik with a battling hundred, but the tourists held their own to grab nine wickets before stumps with Maharashtra just 32 runs ahead. Tamil Nadu did well to trigger a manic middle-order collapse following Jadhav’s dismissal, but Sairaj Bahutule stroked his way to a vital 77. Maharashtra’s day began well thanks to a fiery three-wicket burst from Munaf Patel, the opening bowler, as Tamil Nadu, 254 for 7 overnight, were bowled out for 275. Sreedharan Sharath, Tamil Nadu’s veteran, was the highest scorer with 75.Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner currently on domestic duty, did his chances for a national recall no harm with a five-wicket haul to dismiss Mumbai for 367 on the second day’s play at the Wankhede Stadium, but Railways faced an uphill task after losing the vital wicket of Sanjay Bangar, their captain, before stumps. Ramesh Powar, Mumbai’s allrounder, proved a thorn in Railways side with a 221-ball 74 after Amol Muzumdar fell in the morning session with his 20th first-class hundred. Greg Chappell, India’s coach, had stated yesterday that there was little point in keeping Kartik in the squad for the second Test against Sri Lanka when he was not in the final XI, and his decision to give the spinner a chance to ply his trade in the Ranji Trophy was spot-on.A solid 79-run opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Aakash Chopra made way for a critical period of collapse at the hands of Siddarth Trivedi and Hitesh Majmudar, Gujarat’s pace duo, as the hosts slipped to 186 for 5 on day two at the Feroze Shah Kotla. Trivedi, Gujarat’s opening bowler, continued from where he heroically left off on the first day with the wickets of Dhawan and Mayank Tehlan, whose previous stay at the wicket yielded a debut hundred, as Delhi proceeded to lose its way. In the morning session, Amit Bhandari, Delhi’s captain, added a sixth wicket to his tally to dismiss Gujarat for 143 and break a fine 60-run last wicket stand after Asraf Makda’s explosive innings spared them a major blemish. Despite the late hiccups, it was a marked improvement from Delhi’s batsmen after their first-innings 69, and set them up for what should be an engrossing third day’s play.
ScorecardFive strikes against Haryana before stumps at Hyderabad and a solid wag from the tail in the first two sessions of play made it Hyderabad’s day at Uppal. The star of the day was Narinderpal Singh, as he became the first medium-pacer from South Zone to claim 300 wickets in the Ranji Trophy when he trapped Bagheshwar Bist lbw in the third over. Earlier, Joginder Sharma’s third five-wicket haul of the season – he now sits atop the wickets tally with 24 – had earlier helped dismiss Hyderabad for 328, but given that they were 250 for 5 overnight, that total was significantly larger than the tourists would have liked. Haryana, still 222 runs behind Hyderabad, will need to put in a good day at the shop tomorrow, and much of that rests on the shoulders of Joginder and Mahesh Rawat, whose last innings was an unbeaten 90, in good time, against Baroda.An unbeaten 98-run stand between Bharat Chipli – who raced to a maiden first-class fifty – and Barrington Rowland led Karnataka’s reply after Rohan Gavaskar’s 96 took Bengal to 331 on the second day’s play at Mysore. Shib Paul, Bengal’s opening bowler, dismissed Robin Uthappa for just 5 in the fourth over of Karnataka’s reply, but Chipli and Rowland displayed terrific application towards their task by forging an aggressive partnership. In just his third innings for Karnataka, the 22-year old Chipli has already launched two sixes. Bengal’s first-innings total could have been substantially larger if not for the fine efforts of Udit Patel, the offspinner, who picked up four wickets to run through the tail.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh’s lower order stepped up to the plate to propel their side to 433 against Punjab on the second day of the Elite Group B match at Lucknow before Ashish Zaidi, the veteran fast bowler, capped a good day for the home side by dismissing both Punjab openers in a telling spell before stumps. Piyush Chawla, P Kumar and Avinash Yadav all produced career-best scores as 185 runs were added by the last four players. Hardevinder Sandhu, the opening bowler, was the most successful for Punjab with 3 for 101.
ScorecardMSK Prasad, Andhra’s wicketkeeper-batsman, finally struck form while patiently batting himself to a half-century at stumps on day two at Palam as the tourists finished on 112 for 2, 184 runs behind. Earlier, Jasvir Singh fell eight runs short of a hundred but Sarabjit Singh, Services’ wicketkeeping captain, pushed on to a gritty fifty as they added a further 83 to their overnight 203 for 4. This was the first score of note this season for Prasad, a former India wicketkeeper, and Andhra will look to him and Venugopal Rao, the captain, to further their fortunes as play resumes tomorrow.

Simon Katich says he has no hard feelings towards the Australia selectors after spending nearly two and a half years out of the Test side. Katich finally earned his recall in a 15-man squad to tour the West Indies following a record-breaking domestic summer during which he made 1506 Pura Cup runs at 94.12.It might take an injury to one of the established top six for Katich to play his first Test since late 2005, however he is just pleased to be back in the mix. “The last time I was dropped I knew I deserved to be,” Katich told the . “I wasn’t playing well enough. I had a poor Ashes series and I was bitterly disappointed.”I do know my game a lot better now. I have experienced a lot in that time. Having been in and out of the team has taught me a lot of lessons. This time around I probably appreciate it a lot more. I know that the older you get, the more you realise that you just never know when the end is near.”Despite his outstanding year Katich was still surprised to receive the call, given the quality of players in the Test frame in recent years. It is fair to say he was not half as shocked as his New South Wales team-mate Beau Casson. The left-arm wrist-spinner moved from Perth to Sydney last season and struggled with a shoulder injury, collecting seven wickets at 72 before improving in 2007-08 and being chosen as the back-up for Stuart MacGill in the Caribbean.”I’m a little bit hazy,” Casson said while sitting beside Katich and Michael Clarke, Australia’s vice-captain, at an SCG press conference after the announcement. “I feel on cloud nine. I’m not sure if it’s actually real. Just sitting next to those guys was a huge thrill. I idolise those guys.”Casson said he had taken a little while to settle in at New South Wales but was now confident with where his cricket was heading. “In the first year in a team, you are a little bit timid, not showing your full personality and lacking self-belief,” Casson said.”But it’s been great with Simon [Katich], he has given me a chance and given me the confidence to be Beau Casson. My girlfriend has made it incredibly easy for me. It’s been a fantastic ride. I was down in the dumps last year with the shoulder and Sally kept me up through all the down times.”The same elation was not so evident when Ashley Noffke reacted to his inclusion in the Test squad. Although he was pleased to take another step towards a baggy green that eluded him during the 2001 Ashes tour and his 2003 trip to the Caribbean, Noffke had other things on his mind when the team was announced and he spoke to the media outside a hospital on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.”My three-year-old daughter Breanna was going in to get her tonsils out this morning so the focus was on that really and how she was going to react,” Noffke told . “I didn’t even know when it was being selected. It was a pretty traumatic thing for her to go through. Even though it is minor in the scheme of things I didn’t really enjoy today very much.”After collecting a sensational double of 51 wickets at 19.03 and 741 runs at 46.31 in the Pura Cup, Noffke is likely to be Australia’s first-choice reserve fast man in the West Indies. That means Ben Hilfenhaus, who was also picked, is unlikely to see any Test action. But after a summer that brought a disappointing 28 wickets at 43.82, the Cricket Australia-contracted swing bowler was simply pleased to be considered.”It shocked me at first, and probably still is,” Hilfenhaus said in the . “I thought I would spend the winter playing some golf and working out in the gym. It’s obviously a real buzz. It tells me the selectors have real faith in me.”

Billy Doctrove, the “other” umpire at the centre of Pakistan’s forfeited Test match at The Oval, has been omitted from next week’s ICC Champions Trophy in India, along with his elite panel colleague, Darrell Hair.Hair’s absence was confirmed last week, officially for security reasons, but an ICC spokesman insisted that there was “nothing sinister” about the omission of Doctrove, even though they are the only two umpires from the ten-man panel to have been overlooked. “There were only going to be eight umpires,” the spokesman told BBC Sport. “It doesn’t mean Billy Doctrove is a bad umpire.”While Hair is one of the game’s longest serving officials, Doctrove, from Dominica, is relatively new, having stood in just nine matches since May 2000, seven of which have come in the last 18 months.Mike Procter, whose role as match referee at The Oval came under scrutiny, has been named as one of three such officials, along with Ranjan Madugalle, who was in charge of the subsequent disciplinary hearing.Umpires are selected for major tournaments based on a five-point assessment of each international match they stand in. Areas assessed include percentage of correct decisions, ability to cope with pressure, player management, communication and application of regulations.