Sir Clyde Walcott, the legendary West Indian captain and batsman, has died in a Barbados hospital. He was 80.Standing 6’2″ with a broadness to match, Walcott was one of the three Ws – Everton Weekes and Sir Frank Worrell were the others – who did so much to make West Indies a real force in world cricket in the decade after the Second World War.Despite his size he was agile enough to stand in as wicketkeeper when the occasion demanded. He was a powerful batsman with a crouching stance, a savage driver and cutter, and merciless on anything pitched short which he invariably pulled with real savagery through midwicket. But he also possessed a solid defence when the need demanded. He was also a useful fast-medium change bowler too.He first played for Barbados while a 16-year-old schoolboy, and in 1946-47 he added 574 for the fourth wicket with his schoolmate, Frank Worrell, for Barbados against Trinidad. Walcott’s share was 314. It remains the record West Indian stand for any wicket and stamped both their marks on the game.He made his international debut against England in 1947-48 where only his wicketkeeping kept him in the side, but he really came of age in India in 1948-49 where he made 452 runs in the Tests. He continued that form on the historic 1950 tour of England, hitting seven hundreds in the summer including 168 not out at Lord’s.He struggled – as many did – against the Australian attack of Lindwall and Miller, but between 1953 and 1955 he had no equals. Against Australia he scored a then-record West Indian aggregate of 827 runs in a series, including a record five centuries, and 698 runs against England.In England in 1957 he started brightly but sustained an injury in the first Test on his way to 90 and never regained his best form. He was, however, back to his imperious best for his final full Test series when Pakistan visited the Caribbean the following year.But he retired from international cricket at the top when still a comparative young man. CLR James touched on the reasons in Beyond A Boundary, hinting that the politics of the region had left him exasperated and that he was upset by the board’s insistance that a white player lead the side. Walcott himself insisted he quit for financial reasons after the board forced him to play for no fee after he took a paid coaching job in British Guiana.In 44 Tests Walcott struck 15 hundreds, and made 3798 runs at an average of 56.68.He also played first-class cricket for British Guiana between 1954 and 1964 and is widely credited with helping to expand the game to the sugar estates in Berbice. He also made a mark in the Lancashire Leagues.Walcott went on to manage several West Indian teams, and became a commentator and coach in his native Barbados. He was president of the West Indian Board before, in 1993, he succeeded Sir Colin Cowdrey as chairman of ICC. He was himself knighted in 1994.He led the ICC for six years, doing much to set in place the procedures aimed at investigating and stamping out match-fixing. He was once asked why he continued to work so hard as an administrator and replied: “Cricket has done so much for me that I can’t do enough for cricket.”The revival of Caribbean cricket had always been close to Walcott’s heart. “In recent years the game has changed considerably and I must admit we in the West Indies have done little to change our approach to this glorious game,” he said in a statement recently to promote the World Vintage Cricket Carnival to be held in Barbados in October 2006.However, Walcott hoped that soon there would be a turnaround. “I do hope that by 2007 when the World Cup is with us, our cricket will have improved so dramatically that we will be alive in the cricketing sense, once again.”

The new, training-in-batches approach currently being used by the Indian team in Bangalore has come in for more praise from the players. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif became the latest fans of the system, in which the entire squad is split into batches of five, who undergo a rigorous three-day training. The first lot of players – Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan – finished their stint on Friday, and Kaif and Yuvraj expressed their satisfaction with the training technique.”I have played for my country for five years and I have never experienced something like this camp before,” gushed Kaif. “We start with yoga at seven and finish by about five or six with some swimming in the evening. We were at the ground the whole day, we interacted with the coach, captain and as players we got a chance to know each other better.”One of the innovations included playing with a golf ball, and both Kaif and Yuvraj were especially impressed with this technique. “The drills were challenging. Especially while practising with the golf ball, you have to focus hard. We challenged ourselves at practice by playing on different wickets — slow, fast, good and bad. We also used the new ball, old ball, used the machine with some spin on the ball. In the long-term this camp will benefit us,” Kaif said.Yuvraj too pointed out the benefits of playing with the golf ball. “Practising with a golf-ball which is smaller in size helps in our timing and when we go out there in the middle and practise with normal cricket balls, it helps us middle the ball very well. It was also a good experience playing against bowling machines placed higher as it helps us in getting adjusted.”Greg Chappell, the coach, was also satisfied with the progress made by the players. “We are very happy with the first camp. We have had a lot of time with each of the players and have worked on specific areas. We have also been able to work on specific simulation exercises for the sort of things we expect to be confronted with in the next few months. From my point of view and from the coaching staff point of view, we have achieved what we wanted to achieve. The feedback from the players has been positive and we hope that the next two camps will go just as well. We are grateful to the NCA’s facilities that have helped us cover a lot of things in a very short span of time.”Looking ahead to the tri-series in Malaysia – involving Australia and West Indies – Chappell admitted he wasn’t sure about the kind of pitches there. “We really don’t know what we are going to be confronted with in Malaysia but we expect the wickets to be on the slower side. We have to wait and see and we have to adjust once we go there.”The first batch of five players will return home while the next lot – consisting of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, RP Singh, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth – will begin their three-day stint on Saturday.

Fresh from their successful tour of Uganda, Kenya’s cricketers face a different kind of challenge this week when the set off for a three-day team-building exercise at the Malewa River Lodge.Set in the Great Rift Valley some two hours drive out of Nairobi, Malewa is a small eco-friendly lodge built entirely from local mud, timber and thatch. It nestles in the shade of huge Acacia trees on the banks of the Malewa river close to the Aberdare National Park.This will be no holiday, however, as they will be taking part in a specialised outdoor boot camp involving survival in the wild. Pupils at nearby Greensteds School regularly attend such camps as part of their preparations for challenges they are expected to encounter in life.”It’s meant to get the players mentally and physically fit,” Tom Tikolo, Cricket Kenya’s chief executive. explained. “They’re going to be together during the period and we are hoping to build a lot more responsibility in their teamwork.”Martin Bentley, the headmaster of Greensteds and a member of the Cricket Kenya board, explained that the programme for the Kenyan team will involve a number of difficult physical and mental challenges to enable each of them to learn to perform better individually and to understand and help each other by working as a team.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee is making meaningful changes to the Premier domestic competition to improve quality and to make it more professional and competitive.However, the 2006-07 season which was due to start on Wednesday (November 1) was delayed because of bad weather and all matches scheduled for that day were postponed. The tournament will now begin on November 4 subject to confirmation from the tournament committee when it meets on Tuesday. “We have looked at the practical side and, based on various factors, decided to postpone the matches fixed for November 1,” said Basil Perera, the tournament committee chairman. “There is no point continuing with the matches knowing very well that the bad weather we had in the past few days has made it virtually impossible for any team to prepare itself and for the grounds to be fit for play.”Fourteen clubs will participate in the Premier limited-overs tournament and the three-day Premier league, which is scheduled to start on November 10. The league tournament this season is vital to all the clubs because the bottom four clubs face relegation to Tier B of the competition for the next season as SLC wants to cut down the number of clubs to ten in Tier A from the 2007-08 season.To ensure there won’t be any changes to the structure of the competition, as has been the practice in the past when different office-bearers take over the cricket administration, SLC are hoping to gazette the new format where Tiers A and B of the Premier tournament will feature not more than ten teams each. “We hope to get the format gazetted within the next two or three months,” said K Mathivanan, the SLC secretary, at a press briefing held at SLC headquarters.”By next season [2006-07] we are hoping to make the Premier fully professional so that there will be cricketers who will be making a livelihood out of cricket alone,” he said. Mathivanan whose company East West Marketing has nearly fifty cricketers under their employment, explained that with the unstable economy in the country’s private sector, establishments were increasingly reluctant to employ cricketers who are rarely at their workplaces.”Times have changed when private sector companies employed cricketers for their cricketing ability alone. That is why we are trying to create a path for the cricketers to sustain them throughout the year,” said Mathivanan. “The majority of them will play league cricket in England from April to September and then return to Sri Lanka for the domestic season. This way they will be playing cricket throughout the year like professionals.”A total of 105 cricketers from Sri Lanka are expected to play in the English leagues next season. Further the SLC has undertaken the task of improving the status of three campus grounds, Colombo, Kelaniya and Katubedde to enable Premier clubs without a home ground to practise and play their matches at nominal cost.Badureliya SC, Chilaw Marians CC, Ragama CC and Saracens SC are the Premier clubs without a home ground. Mathivanan stated that the Kurunegala Welagedera Stadium and Badulla esplanade were already under the auspices of SLC after they had signed a 33-year lease with the respective municipal councils. He said steps are being taken to similarly bring De Soysa Stadium in Moratuwa also under the SLC so that it could be used exclusively for cricket.The Premier limited-over tournament groups:Group A: Bloomfield, BRC, CCC, Tamil Union, Sebastianites, Panadura SC, Ragama CC.Group B: NCC, SSC, Chilaw Marians CC, Colts, Moors SC, Badureliya SC, Saracens SC.

Bryce Cavanagh, an Australian hired in April 2005, has resigned as West Indies’ strength and conditioning coach following the Test series against Pakistan.Cavanagh’s two-year contract was close to expiring but his sudden, premature exit was still a surprise. He has not been replaced for the remainder of the tour, and caribbeancricket.com reported that assistant coach David Moore will fill in as strength and conditioning coach in the interim.Cavanagh was hired to control of fitness level tests and required standards for players at first-class and international level.

Shane Watson is out of the Ashes and could be in doubt for the World Cup in March, after sustaining a 5cm tear to his troublesome left hamstring, just three overs into his comeback match at Adelaide. Watson had managed only 18 balls for Queensland against South Australia yesterday when he pulled up sore after bowling a bouncer.He left the field a short time later and did not bowl again during the innings. Watson originally hurt his left hamstring while bowling in a one-day game for Queensland in November. He had been named in the side for the first Test against England but the injury has kept him from being considered for any of the first three Ashes Tests.Watson had hoped to be fully fit by Christmas but Andrew Symonds should now retain his place in the team for the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. The latest blow was particularly cruel given that Watson had made a dream start to his return claiming 2 for 13 from three overs before leaving the field.

A recent magazine survey suggested that 41% of Australian men would give up sex for a month if it meant their cricketers would regain the Ashes. This time next week, that period of abstinence could finally be at an end. Australia are 2-0 up with three to play, and need one more victory in tomorrow’s third Test at Perth to ensure the return of the Urn.Ricky Ponting, however, has taken an even more drastic vow than the readers of Zoo magazine. Mindful of all the hype and hysteria that consumed their campaign last time around, he has banned all talk of the Ashes from Australia’s dressing-room. Victory in the series will be a byproduct of victory in this match, he told reporters on the eve of the Test, and not the other way around.”That’s not what this week is about for our team,” said Ponting. “It’s about being ready for tomorrow morning, and playing better cricket than we did last week and at Brisbane. As soon as you start looking too far ahead in this game it can turn back and bite you, as we’ve seen in the past. The Ashes won’t be mentioned about the group at all.”We’re going out to win the game, and win the game as best we can,” he added. “But winning the Ashes will be a result of that, not something that’s going to motivate us to play well. We’re just going to have a relaxing afternoon and turn up tomorrow with a great attitude for the Test match.”Relaxation is the key for all the Australians, but particularly so for one man. Andrew Symonds, Ponting confirmed, will return at No. 6 for his 11th Test, with Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke bumping up the order to No.4 and 5 respectively. “I’m confident in him,” said Ponting. “I’ve watched him closely and he’s extremely excited to be around this group. He might have thought his Test career had passed him by a few months ago, but he feels better about his game than ever before.”Symonds averages 19 with the bat and 45 with the ball in his ten previous Tests, the last of which was against South Africa at Johannesburg in April, and admitted on Monday that he had been hampered by anxiety in the past. “What Symmo brings to the team is excitement and energy,” added Ponting. “We want him to have that around the group, but he needs to keep his emotions inside in check. Once he gets out there in the middle, he’ll no doubt be nervous, but he’ll have learned a bit from last time.”

Symonds was the pick of Queensland’s attack in their recent match against Western Australia at the WACA. He bowled medium-pacers in the first innings and offspin in the second, and Ponting predicted that his versatility would be a great asset to the Test team, especially when the Fremantle Doctor blows into town after lunch. “Apparently his medium-pacers nipped about and he was a handful,” said Ponting. “We’re going to need a few guys to bowl a number of overs up into the breeze, to give Shane and Glenn a bit of a rest, and Symmo gives us that.”Medium-pacers, spinners … it’s a far cry from the traditional pace-bowling paradise at the WACA, a fact that Ponting lamented, for all that Australia possess, in Warne, the best possible weapon for the new conditions. “It’s not good for the game if all our grounds lose character,” said Ponting. “This wicket is not as fast and bouncy as in the past, so I think it will turn and turn early. But whether it turns quickly, which is what Shane likes, we’ll have to wait and see. But in the form he’s in at the moment, you wouldn’t want to be facing him on a bit of glass.”Warne needs just six more wickets to become the first bowler to take 700 in Tests, a statistical skyscraper that puts into perspective Monty Panesar’s probable first appearance of the series. Andrew Flintoff was characteristically guarded when asked about the make-up of his team, but Ponting was already planning a hot reception for the new face.”He’ll be under pressure and no doubt he’ll be putting pressure on himself,” said Ponting. “If he plays he’ll be a bit nervous, and that’ll dictate the way he bowls. He might bowl quick and spear them in early on, so we will be very positive against him, try to put it right back on him and see how he copes. We’ve got a lot of left-handers, and they’ll enjoy the balls spinning into them.””Monty has started his international career very well,” added Flintoff. “He’s bowledwell, he’s got fine players out and he is someone who works really hard athis game and he’s improving all the time.” It was hardly a glowing endorsement of his credentials, but that is England’s guarded way at present.

Flintoff was hardly any more effusive about his friend Steve Harmison, whose woeful lack of form has been a key reason for England’s struggles in the first two Tests. “Everyone is staking a claim and everyone wants to play in this Test,” he said, when asked if Harmison was certain to start. “The lads have all worked hard and today all the bowlers have run in and hit the nets hard.”As Alec Stewart pointed out over the weekend, Harmison is a matchwinner, and therefore he has to play in a must-win match. But until the team-sheet is unveiled tomorrow morning before the toss, England’s bowling attack will remain one of sport’s most guarded mysteries.The likeliest change is Panesar for Ashley Giles, although that would completely contradict Duncan Fletcher’s first law of team balance. Alternatively they could field two spinners, with James Anderson – the pick of the bowlers in the warm-up match – missing out.A third and less trumpeted alternative would be the introduction of Sajid Mahmood for Anderson – Fletcher’s team balance would be maintained, with an extra dose of incisiveness thrown in for good measure. “These selection issues crop up,” shrugged Flintoff. “For four days at Adelaide it wasn’t really an issue and then for one-and-a-half hours of almost crazy cricket everyone’s looking at the side.”For four days that side performed and performed well I thought,” he added. “It wasn’t really an issue apart from at 12 o’clock on the Tuesday at Adelaide. But this Perth Test is huge. We’ve got to believe we can get back into the series.” If for no other reason than to keep Australia’s population growth in check.Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Glenn McGrath.England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Andrew Flintoff (capt), 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Sajid Mahmood, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty Panesar.

Moin Khan, the former Pakistan captain and wicketkeeper, was freed on bail after a brief detention over a complaint that he beat up his wife at home.Moin, who lives in Karachi’s Clifton seaside area, was arrested early Tuesday morning after his wife, Tasneem Khan, lodged a complaint with a local police helpline. He was subsequently released in the evening after submitting a surety bond, local police officer Azad Khan said.”Moin was produced before a court and on a guarantee that he would not repeat the act he was released,” Khan said.The 35-year-old former wicketkeeper-batsman, who played 69 Tests and 219 one-day internationals for Pakistan, was quoted in , a Karachi-based Urdu daily, as saying that he committed the act “in extreme anger”.”It was a personal matter and I would like to solve it in consultation with my elders,” Moin reportedly added.

Scorecard

Stuart Clark sparked another Western Australia collapse to lead New South Wales to a crushing win within three days at Perth. Clark finished with his first ten-wicket match in first-class cricket as Western Australia struggled to 209 and lost by 188 runs.His fast-bowling colleagues Mark Cameron and Doug Bollinger finished with better second-innings figures but it was Clark’s removal of both the openers in his first spell that set the Blues on target for victory. Following on from his first-innings 8 for 58, Clark had Justin Langer caught and Chris Rogers lbw as the Warriors began poorly in their unlikely chase of 398.When Rogers went it began another of the freefalls that had plagued Western Australia throughout the match as they lost 5 for 30 and their most dangerous batsmen departed. Aaron Heal (53) and Brett Dorey (43) offered resistance but Cameron’s 4 for 37 in just his second first-class game finished the demolition.Dorey had already played his part, taking 5 for 47 as New South Wales made 279 in their second innings. Brad Haddin top-scored with 70 but the Warriors’ disastrous first innings meant the Blues were always the favourites.It was an embarrassing home result for Western Australia, who boast one of the strongest batting line-ups in the Pura Cup. Both teams remain in contention for a place in the final but the loss could be a crushing blow for the Warriors, whose last two games will be away from home.

How quickly fortunes are reversed. Two months ago, Yorkshire were a club in decline: no captain, no coach, and disharmony aplenty. Now, with Darren Gough returning to steer the ship, the old flock are heading back to Headingley and, today, Darren Lehmann has announced he is interested in coaching the club next season.”I would love to go and coach Yorkshire in 2008,” Lehmann, 37, told the . “I enjoyed many happy times as a player at Headingley, with the highlight being when we won the championship in 2001, and I am very keen to help develop the club’s next generation of players. It would be fantastic to work with Martyn Moxon.”In 88 matches for Yorkshire Lehmann scored 8871 runs at 68.76, including 26 hundreds. He left the club last year after six seasons.”I played 27 Tests and 117 one-day internationals for Australia and I’ve played first-class cricket since 1987, so I would bring more than twenty years of experience and knowledge of the game to Yorkshire,” he said. “I have always made it clear that I want to return to Yorkshire after finishing with South Australia.”I can’t think of anywhere else I would rather start my coaching career.”