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For the time being at least, West Indies’ brittle pride has been restored. Brian Lara’s world record brought an uplifting closure to a depressing Test series against England, and was followed by an impressive display from a youthful one-day team. But woe betide any player who thinks their winter’s work is done. Because the ultimate indignity could be lurking just around the corner.The Bangladeshis have arrived for their inaugural tour of the Caribbean, and if there’s one team that West Indies could do without facing at the moment, it’s the side with absolutely nothing to lose. The first of three one-day matches starts on Saturday; the second of two Tests finishes three weeks later. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it stopover, but if anything should go wrong, the world will be wide-eyed in its condemnation.On the face of it, a West Indian defeat is an absurd notion – Lara’s majesty alone could put the series out of reach, while Tino Best and Fidel Edwards are fully equipped to expose Bangladesh’s notorious shortcomings against high-quality pace bowling, just as Jermaine Lawson did the last time the teams met – his second-innings figures of 6 for 3 at Dhaka in December 2002 sealed a West Indian victory by an innings and 310 runs: the heaviest and most humiliating of Bangladesh’s 26 Test defeats in 28 matches.But, as England occasionally demonstrated on their pre-Christmas trip to Bangladesh, the fear of failure can be paralysing. “We are not far away from our first Test win,” said Habibul Bashar, Bangladesh’s captain, as the squad stopped over in Jamaica en route for St Vincent, and the facts back him up. They came within one wicket of victory over Pakistan in Multan last September; held the upper hand for much of the inaugural Test against England in October and, under the astute guidance of Dav Whatmore, are developing a head for heights to complement their undoubted enthusiasm for the game.Lara, for one, is taking nothing for granted. “I’m not going to write off Bangladesh,” he said recently. “The way we’re playing right now you can’t write off anybody at all.” His caution is utterly justified. According to the latest ICC Test rankings, West Indies are cut adrift from the rest of the established Test nations – a 14-point margin separates them from Sri Lanka in seventh place, who in turn are just 11 points behind England in third spot. With Zimbabwean cricket in ruins, this series has suddenly become the battle of the basement.Not that West Indies would acknowledge that fact. Their capitulation against England was characterised by complacency – from the anonymity of their middle-order batsmen (Lara included), to the partying in the stands that followed their first-Test hammering in Jamaica. Bangladesh, on the other hand, are approaching the series from an entirely opposite perspective. Their expectations are nil, and yet their confidence somehow remains sky-high.

That mysterious blend of pride and humility is all down to Whatmore. In the ten months since he took charge of Bangladesh cricket, he has been at pains to stress how little victory or defeat matters to him. But all of a sudden, with a one-day victory against a [pre-boycott] Zimbabwe to lift the spirits, he is daring to push the envelope just that little bit further. “On their day,” he told a press conference in the Caribbean, “Bangladesh are capable of upsetting any side in world cricket.”It was an uncharacteristically bullish statement, but he was doubtless aware that the reverse is equally true. On their day, West Indies are capable of losing to any side in world cricket, and what is more, they know it as well.It promises to be a nervy series for Caribbean supporters. West Indies have hardly paused for breath since arriving in Southern Africa in November, while Bangladesh are refreshed after a lengthy winter break and a low-key trip to Zimbabwe. What is more, their recent habit in Test cricket (the strongest of their suits) is to compete eagerly for three days before fading away on the fourth and fifth, so the probability of lengthy rain breaks can only help to channel their focus over the full distance.West Indies should still prevail, however, and by some distance. Man for man, they are simply too powerful, and the momentum they have gained in the past few weeks must surely count for something. But after their schizophrenic efforts against England, they do not dare take anything for granted any more.

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, the most recognisable book in sport, is to have a photograph on the cover for the first time in its 140-year history. The first man to appear on the famous yellow jacket is Michael Vaughan, England’s star batsman, who has just gone to the top of the world rankings.It is the first major change to the cover since 1938, when Wisden brought in the celebrated woodcut by Eric Ravilious showing two top-hatted Victorian gentlemen playing cricket. The woodcut now appears on the back of the jacket, and also on the spine, which is otherwise unchanged so as to maintain continuity on collectors’ shelves.The decision to change the cover was made by the editor of the 2003 edition, Tim de Lisle, the first one-off editor in Wisden’s history. The new design was done last October by the art director of Wisden’s monthly magazine, Nigel Davies, and was a closely guarded secret for six months, with the book trade being shown only a silhouette. The change was ratified by the Wisden management committee, and the chairman, Sir Paul Getty, approved the new cover in what turned out, alas, to be his final contribution to the Almanack before his death on April 17."The cover of Wisden is an icon," Tim de Lisle says, "and you don’t update an icon without taking a deep breath. But it had ceased to be a true reflection of the book. The content had become much more entertaining under the previous three editors [John Woodcock, Graeme Wright and Matthew Engel], and the cover was making Wisden look drier and dustier than it really is."The yellow background and chocolate lettering are unchanged, and the photograph is in black-and-white, to let yellow remain the signature colour and underline Wisden’s standing as a publishing classic. "Black-and-white has the feel of history," de Lisle says. "It’s in tune with what the top players do, writing their names indelibly in the game’s annals."The hope is that being on the cover of Wisden will become a major honour, like our Five Cricketers of the Year, but distinct from them – you can be a Cricketer of the Year only once, whereas the cover star should be the person to whom the year belonged, for whatever reason, and it should be possible to appear twice. Last year, for instance, it might have been Sir Donald Bradman, whose obituary was in the book."Vaughan was picked because he had made the year his own with seven Test centuries, scored in great style. The photograph, by the well-known cricket photographer Patrick Eagar, shows Vaughan celebrating a century. "It needed to be an image that was full of vitality and emotion," de Lisle says. "Wisden’s readers have a real passion for the game, and the cover should reflect that."A traditional-style jacket has also been produced, and can be ordered free of charge by collectors who prefer it, or who wish to have both covers to maintain the completeness of their collection.At 40 Tim de Lisle, who won an Editor of the Year award in 1999 with Wisden Cricket Monthly, is the youngest editor of the Almanack since the Second World War. His brief was to move the book forward and regular readers will find a few more surprises – along with reports and comment from the 2003 World Cup, which ended only a month ago – when the 140th edition reaches the shops next week.Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2003 is published by John Wisden on April 30, in hardback and soft cover. The recommended retail price is £35 – but click here for our special offer.

Richard Hindley hit his first senior competitive century as Havant stormed into the last 32 of the ECB Club Championship with a crushing 183-run victory over Farnham Royal in yesterday’s group final.They now face Western League champions Bath at the Somerset club’s delightful Northern Parade ground in two weeks time, on Sunday July 15.Bath, who reached the Lord’s final several years ago, won the south-west group after beating Bovey Tracey in Devon yesterday.Hindley, who cracked 11 fours in an undefeated 108, shared in successive century partnerships with Andrew Perry and Paul Gover has Havant piled up a massive 300-2 in 45 overs.His stand with Perry (93) yielded 109 runs and an unbroken third wicket stand with Paul Gover (49 not out) a further 127.Current leaders of the Thames Valley League, Farnham Royal knocked out Basingstoke & North Hants in the last round.But Havant varied spin and seam atach proved all too much as they collapsed from 78-3 to 117 all out.Hindley completed a fine individual performance by taking 3-14 with his off-breaks.Left-arm spinner Phil Loat cleaned up the tail with 3-14.In the Wadworth 6X Village Championship, Hampshire county champions Easton & Martyr Worthy have been drawn away to Blackheath, near Guildford.Easton bowled Hambledon out for 131 in the county final before a half-century by Shawn Green took the Winchester club into the national stages of the competition.

Lancashire began the final day of this match needing 399 to win, but more conceivably knowing that they had survived one hundred and forty overs to achieve a draw against Somerset recently. The pitch was good, the sun was out and the loss of nearly a day to rain had ensured that the wicket had not dried out as much as it might at this point in the game. Lancashire were also able to call on a batting line-up which with Fairbrother and Flintoff on form and Crawley having scored centuries in two of the last three matches, they also have the services of a Ganguly top Indian batsman who set last year’s world cup alight and the Australian Joe Scuderi and the rugged Warren Hegg who scored ninety five in this fixture last summer.Unfortunately that was the end of the good news for the visitors, they were up against a bowling attack that averages under seventy five overs to get a side out this summer and against which they had capitulated, chiefly to the pace of Alex Tudor, for just 120 yesterday. Tudor made the early breakthroughs disposing of makeshift opener Chapple early and then last week’s centurion Flintoff with the power of his pace alone (although he was ably assisted by the almost black hole like catching of Ben Hollioake on both occasions) while Bicknell remained unlucky, but almost impossible to score from at the other end. Cricket may not have a ladies day, but the last day at Kennington remains firmly enshrined as spinners day, and Saqlain came into the game early on. Lancashire in the usually spin resistant persons of Fairbrother and Ganguly resisted well initially after the loss of Crawley to yet another catch to Adam Hollioake at his customary loopy mid off position. They stayed together until shortly before lunch when Salisbury’s box of tricks supplied a ball to slice through Ganguly’s defences bowling one of the worlds best players of spin to leave Lancashire four down at the lunch interval.Lloyd departed to yet another Hollioake catch (Adam this time) to give Saqlain yet another victim before Scuderi emerged to begin a prolonged pause in the home teams progress. Each played well, as they had in the first innings, but each fell making the fatal mistake of believing that Salisbury is still the same fragile bowler he was when he first came to the Oval and tried to get at him. A few loose balls were dispatched to the boundary by each of them through the huge gaps in the attacking field, but Fairbrother swept hard to send up trivially simple looped catch – this time, novelly, to Ali Brown before Heggs momentary visit to the crease gave Sali his second victim of the over to put him ahead of Saqlain head count for the first time in the innings. Chris Schofield was winkled out by Saqi a few overs later to leave Scuderi with the support of just the two non-batsmen Keedy and Smethurst. The Australian managed a couple of clubbed fours as a swan song before he too surrendered to the inexorable march of the spinners and supplied a catch at the wicket to Batty. This left little to the contest apart from the question of who would take the final wicket, Smethurst who kept Lancs in the game initially with his excellent first innings bowling, cracked first and sent a high looping edge to the capable waiting hands of Martin Bicknell at mid off, Bickers raised his hands theatrically in triumph, Salisbury had netted another five bag to take Surrey’s total to 13 fivefers in the season to date.Lancashire will return to Old Trafford for three of their remaining four games in the hope that they will be ready to turn the tables on the champions who so comprehensively massacred them here, on a pitch their coach described as an excellent track, in the last game of the season. Whatever happened here they are still a good side (as they proved in the natwest trophy), but they will be eagerly looking forward to getting Martin back fit, and they and Yorkshire will do all they can to take the championship down to the wire.Surrey march on towards a second consecutive title with just the considerable hurdles of their two away matches against Lancs and Yorkshire seemingly in their way, in their seven consecutive wins they have beaten both roses counties by over two hundred and humbled fourth and fifth placed Somerset and Leicestershire by even greater margins. All five of their bowlers are now looking near unplayable on good pitches and their batsmen are at last delivering regular runs. If they are to be unseated their great rivals will almost certainly have to combine their efforts inflicting unfavourable results at both Scarborough over the August bank holiday and Old Trafford in the final game of the year, both have yet to travel to Leicestershire’s stronghold where it is notoriously difficult to worst the midlands on their own excellent pitches.

Ireland’s physiotherapist, Iain Knox, has quit, citing the team’s increased playing schedule as the reason behind his decision. Knox also acted as the squad’s strength and conditioning coach, among various other roles, and he said being part of last year’s breakthrough World Cup campaign was the highlight of his three years with the team.”I was blessed to have the World Cup experience,” Knox told . “We were all full time, 100% professional in the four months leading up to and during the World Cup.”It allowed me to experiment with different training techniques and the players did everything that was asked of them. The 15 players gave energy, enthusiasm and determination and to a man they deserved the success they achieved. It’s been a part of my life I’ll never forget.”Since then Knox has juggled private practice with his Ireland position and the difficulty of keeping up both roles has led to his departure to take up a job with his family’s car-parts business. Ireland, currently playing in the Friends Provident Trophy, have trips to Scotland, Netherlands, Kenya and Namibia scheduled this year.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed has said that he is unsure whether Zimbabwe will ever be able to resume playing Test cricket.Zimbabwe’s self-imposed suspension was continued after the ICC annual conference at Lord’s last week, but Speed said that he didn’t know “if Zimbabwe will ever be able to come back to Test cricket …but our duty is to help their cricketers to play cricket to the highest standard.”A confidential report by Speed and Faisal Hasnain, the ICC’s chief financial officer, was leaked last week, much to the ICC’s embarrassment and anger. In it, Speed made a series of stinging attacks on Zimbabwe Cricket’s finances, concluding: “It is clear that the accounts of ZC have been deliberately falsified to mask various illegal transactions from the auditors and the government of Zimbabwe. The accounts were incorrect and at no stage did ZC draw the attention of the users of these accounts to the unusual transactions. It may not be possible to rely on the authenticity of its balance sheet.”But by the time Speed faced the media on Friday, that rhetoric was watered-down, and the ICC settled for insisting on a new forensic audit by an international firm. Even more surprising was that the ICC has decided to pay Zimbabwe the full sum outstanding to it from the World Cup, despite the lingering question marks over the board’s finances.One former senior administrator greeted this news with dismay. “At a time the ICC has an anti-corruption unit making sure that players stay on the straight and narrow, it chucks cash at a board whose conduct its own boss has slammed,” he told Cricinfo. “What kind of message does that send out? Surely if you think something is amiss, you hold on until you prove it’s all OK before giving it millions of dollars?”Some leading Associates have also questioned why Zimbabwe received a total sum of around $11 million when it has not played Test cricket for almost two years and at a time they are playing more cricket than ever and receiving a fraction of that amount.Speed himself admitted that was not ideal. “The assumption has always been once a Full Member, always a Full Member. But I think there would come a time, if they can’t resume Test cricket, when that would be reviewed.”

Sachin Tendulkar is set to undergo a fitness check on July 19 to determine whether he is fit to return to international cricket. Tendulkar’s shoulder worries have kept him out of action for close to four months but his recent performances indicate that he’s ready for a return.”The fitness test will be conducted a day before the team is chosen for the tri-series in Sri Lanka,” Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the Indian board, told the BBC. India are scheduled to play a tri-series in Colombo, starting on August 14, involving Sri Lanka and South Africa.Having recovered from a shoulder operation, Tendulkar has shown some good form in the charity games that he has recently taken part in. Not only did he manage four centuries in five games for Lashings, a celebrity club side, but also produced an unbeaten 50 against the Pakistanis in a charity game on July 10.India’s recent dip in one-dayers, suffering a 4-1 drubbing against West Indies, was partly owing to lack of experience in the batting order, with the youngsters struggling to come to grips with the conditions. Brian Lara felt that Tendulkar’s absence had seriously affected India and picked it out as a factor that made the crucial difference.Tendulkar, though, will need to be at the peak of his fitness for the next season, considering India’s hectic upcoming schedule. After returning from Sri Lanka they play hosts in the ICC Champions Trophy, in October and November, before embarking on a long tour to South Africa. A tri-series involving West Indies and Sri Lanka provides them a rehersal for the biggest event of them all – the World Cup in the Caribbean.

ScorecardIt was never designed to be a contest, and so it proved, as Pakistan’s new-improved unit overwhelmed the rookies of Zimbabwe by 144 runs in an echoingly underpopulated Multan stadium. But for the first 40 overs of the match, Pakistan’s prospects were not quite as cushy as they seemed, and it required a blizzard of sixes towards the end of their innings for the prospect of an upset to be completely banished.After a woeful start to their innings and a cautious rebuilding process, Pakistan had slipped to 146 for 6 when Shahid Afridi came out to join a cautious Adbul Razzaq, whose 95-run partnership with Inzamam-ul-Haq had rescued the team from a sketchy 38 for 4. Without so much as a by-your-leave, Afridi set about the bowling with typical fury, smacking four sixes and five fours in a 26-ball 58, and Razzaq took up the cudgels as well, racing to his second one-day century – 107 not out from 114 balls – of which the second fifty came from just 21 balls.At 292 for 7, that was effectively that, although Vusi Sibanda did his best to hold up Pakistan’s victory surge with a spirited half-century, as Zimbabwe trickled to 148 all out in 38.3 overs. He received little meaningful support, however, apart from an adhesive 29 from Dion Ebrahim that, if anything, erred a little too far on the side of caution given the massive asking-rate. Nevertheless, it was a useful learning experience for the Zimbabwe team, especially their bowlers, who could not have been expected to prosper on a typically batsman-friendly subcontinental wicket.But instead, they came storming out of the blocks. The last time Tinashe Panyangara had been called upon to bowl the first over of a one-day international – against England at Edgbaston in the Champions Trophy – he had sent down seven wides in a fretful performance. Today, however, he was right on the money immediately, as Yasir Hameed edged his first ball straight into Tatenda Taibu’s gloves behind the stumps (0 for 1).Matters got worse before they improved for Pakistan. Douglas Hondo struck with his fourth delivery, as Shoaib Malik attempted to whip across the line and was adjudged lbw by an inducker for 1, and even Yousuf Youhana couldn’t turn the tide. Youhana had amassed 405 runs in five matches (average: 405) on Pakistan’s previous trip to Zimbabwe, but this time he feathered a good-length ball through to Taibu off Hondo, as Pakistan slumped to 6 for 3.Panyangara then struck for a second time to remove the debutant opener, Bazid Khan – son of Majid – for 12 (38 for 4), and all eyes were on the captain, Multan’s favourite son, Inzamam. He had attracted immense criticism for his decision to bat first in the Champions Trophy, but this time he was utterly blameless for his team-mates’ shortcomings, even though he might have been a part of the collapse, had Taibu held onto a thin leg-side tickle when Inzamam had made 7.But surely and maturely, Inzamam set about rebuilding the innings, in partnership with the cool and collected Razzaq, who picked the gaps and stole the singles off Zimbabwe’s second-string pairing of Elton Chigumbura and Prosper Utseya. Razzaq had one moment of good fortune, when a checked drive burst through Stuart Matsikenyeri’s fingers and clattered him on the nose, but in the very next over, Utseya removed Inzamam for 73, courtesy of an unfortunate lbw decision.When Moin Khan was stumped off Brendan Taylor’s speculative spinners for 7, Pakistan looked set for a second wobble, but Afridi had other ideas. He and Razzaq launched into their brutal onslaught, and before long, Zimbabwe’s spirited start to the match was just a distant memory.Sibanda did his best to forge a reply, batting with great common-sense for his 57 from 69 balls, which included a six over long-on to bring up his fifty. But the rest of Zimbabwe’s top-order found survival rather harder to cling to. Matsikenyeri was pinned lbw by Naved-ul-Hasan for 0, before Brendan Taylor had his off stump plucked out of the ground by a fizzer from Shoaib Akhtar, that would have cleaned up many more experienced players (8 for 2).It was left to the spinners Afridi and Malik to wrap up the match. Afridi’s spell was particularly buoyant – he bowled Taibu for 3 with his very first delivery, and caused havoc among the tailenders as he whistled topspinners and legbreaks past cagey defensive shots. He even sent down a venomous 76mph bouncer, before wrapping up the innings by bowling Hondo for 1.

Ashish Nehra has been ruled out of the rest of the one-day international series between India and Pakistan after injuring the webbing of his left hand. He will be replaced by Amit Bhandari.Nehra sustained the injury during his last over in the second one-dayer in Rawalpindi, where he took 3 for 44 in the 10 overs he bowled. He had bowled the crucial last over in the first one-dayer at Karachi, and was the pick of the Indian bowlers in the second one.Amrit Mathur, the media manager of the Indian team, told reporters that Nehra’s injury was expected to take around two weeks to heal. Sourav Ganguly, meanwhile, said that Nehra would still be considered for the Test series if he recovered in time.SK Nair, the secretary of the BCCI, told reporters, "The selectors had already decided that Bhandari would accompany the team if Nehra was found unfit even before the Indian team embarked on the 40-day tour. He was the first-choice replacement." Bhandari is expected to join the Indian squad before the third one-dayer at Peshwar.

The aftermath of England’s decision not to go Harare to play against Zimbabwe in the World Cup continues to make the headlines. There is now a suggestion that Zimbabwe might retaliate by pulling out of their forthcoming tour to England.The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has a board meeting on March 29th when the question of the tour to England will be discussed. There are fears that the ZCU will come under government pressure not to fulfil the scheduled fixtures.However, chairman Peter Chingoka has indicated that his organisation are likely to go ahead with the tour, but the final decision will not rest with the cricket body. All international tours by sporting organisations in Zimbabwe have to be sanctioned by the government-appointed Sports Commission."The British have asked us to reconfirm our tour and we are havingdiscussions. An official position will be made after our board meeting. We will then seek a blessing from the Sports Commission," Chingoka said.One factor working for the tour to go ahead is that the ZCU are desperately short of money and rely on income from foreign tours to balance the books.In addition, it would be interesting to see if the ICC would award the series to England if Zimbabwe refused to fulfil their fixtures in the ICC Test championship. The points were awarded to Zimbabwe when England missed the Harare World Cup match, while Kenya’s path to the semi-finals was made easier by the fact that they were awarded the points when New Zealand refused to go to Nairobi to play their group match.