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Pedro Collins celebrates the wicket of Brian Lara © Nation Newspapers

Reyad Emrit starred with both bat and ball, stroking his way to his maiden regional and first-class century to put Trinidad & Tobago in firm control of the Carib Beer Challenge final against Barbados at Guaracara Park at Pointe-a-Pierre.The hosts needed a knight in shining armour to take them to safety after ending the first day precariously perched on 223 for 8. But against a tough Barbadian bowling attack – led by the West Indies trio of Pedro Collins, Ian Bradshaw and Corey Collymore – Emrit responded with a gritty 112 to take T&T to a competitive first -innings score of 340.That was not the end of his contribution for the day though, as he returned with early breakthroughs to finish with figures of 2 for 24 from seven overs to leave the visitors tottering on 130 for 5.The day began with a total of 250 looking a very good score for T&T. The Barbadians would have been hoping to mop up the tail and begin their chase, but that was much further away than they anticipated. And although they applied the early pressure – only 73 runs came in the first session – they could not separate the pair of Emrit and Dave Mohammed, his overnight partner, before the lunch break.Emrit, unbeaten overnight on 37 and Mohammed (11 not out), won the patience game early on, turning over the strike when possible, and dispatching the odd bad ball to the boundary. They would eventually post 122 for the ninth wicket, a new T&T record. Emrit brought up his fifty with a soft push for two, but his run-scoring slowed once he reached the half-century. Mohammed also used his opportunities to cut Ryan Austin, the offspinner, twice through point for four.Emrit’s one chance came when he was on 61. It was a lofted drive to midwicket, which was put down by Collymore off Ryan Hinds, the captain. To the Barbadians’ chagrin, he made good use of his let-off. After lunch, Emrit brought up T&T’s 300 with a push to long on for two, then drove Hinds through deep extra cover for four. By then, Barbados, the defending champions, looked dispirited in the field and appeared to be waiting for something to happen.Hinds opted to bring back Collymore, which seemed a good ploy, and he hit Mohammed on the pad four times in one over, at least one of which he was very lucky to survive a confident appeal. Mohammed carried on though, straight driving Collymore to the long-on boundary for his fifth four, and then pushing to mid-on for a single to bring up his 50. Emrit had a couple of cover-driven fours to take him to 89, and got a couple more to take him into the nervous nineties. He did not seem too nervous though, lifting Austin beyond the extra-cover boundary for six to move to 97.Mohammed departed on 50, trying to cut over point. On 99, and with last man Amit Jaggernauth at the other end, Emrit slashed at a wide ball by Collymore outside the off stump. The next ball was cut to first slip and raced past Floyd Reifer to the boundary. Emrit ran down the pitch and leaped into the air in celebration, with fans rushing onto the ground to congratulate him. Emrit took his total to 112 and the overall T&T score to 340 before he slashed at a wide ball and was caught in the slips by Kurt Edwards to bring T&T’s innings to a close.

Dave Mohammed contributed with both bat and ball as T&T took control © Trinidad & Tobago Express

Barbados started brightly, in their reply, Dale Richards and Wayne Blackman taking them to 27 off the first six overs. Ganga then decided to make his first bowling change, replacing Richard Kelly with Emrit, the first innings century-maker, at the northern end. This move immediately paid dividends for T&T, as, still charged from his crucial knock, Emrit soon removed both openers to leave the visitors on 43 for 2 at tea.First, he succeeded in trapping Richards lbw with his second ball to give the hosts their first wicket at 27. Blackman later played a forward defensive shot to the same bowler, and only managed to feather a thin edge behind to Denesh Ramdin, who accepted the catch.After the tea interval, Barbados started slowly, with skipper Hinds taking almost 20 minutes to add to his score. But once Reifer started to open up and find the boundary, Hinds also opened up, although Mohammed almost managed to have him run out. Mohammed’s third over, however, bore fruit – Reifer, on 18, skipped down the pitch to go after Mohammed and edged to first slip, only to see Bravo hold onto the ball at chest height to leave Barbados at 70 for 3.In came Dwayne Smith, and he began in brisk fashion, picking up a few singles before slapping Mohammed to cover for four. He departed just as suddenly as he arrived, charging down the pitch at the newly-introduced Jaggernauth, and being stumped by Ramdin on the second attempt.Kirk Edwards, the debutant, grew in confidence, as he drove Jaggernauth to the extra-cover boundary for four to bring up Barbados’ hundred. Eventually, Hinds gifted his wicket to Kelly in his second spell, as he drove at a ball wide of off-stump and offered the faintest of edges to Ramdin.Barbados would surely be ruing the chance they missed to take the ascendancy in the match in the first session. And unless one of their remaining batsmen can pull off an Emrit-esque performance to even things up, they may well lose this final.

Ashantha de Mel, Sri Lanka’s sacked selection chairman, has lashed out at two of his fellow selectors, KM Nelson and Shabbir Asgerally, claiming that they were serving “vested interests” and “promoting their own agendas”.de Mel was ousted as selection chairman on Friday in a surprise move by Jewwan Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka’s sports minister, after the panel had been reappointed only three weeks earlier. Kumaratunga trimmed the committee to just five selectors as Ranjith Madurasinghe, a former Sri Lankan spinner, was also sacked.”I feel that in selection matters there has been too much of influence and some selectors have vested interests and work towards their hidden agendas,” de Mel told newspaper. “There were instances when a selector was on the phone for a long while talking to senior players, before and after meetings. I was disgusted with what was going on.”De Mel claimed that he was thinking of resigning anyway: “I told [Marvan] Atapattu while in New Zealand that I didn’t want to continue with the same set of selectors. Selectors should have the respect of the players but that wasn’t the case.”Both Asgerally and Nelson have limited cricketing experience, and neither played for Sri Lanka. Nelson, closely affiliated with Jayantha Dharmadasa and Sanath Jayasuriya, has a controversial past as a selector, famously writing off Roshan Mahanama prior to a Test against India in 1997, claiming that he would pull down his trousers in public if Mahanama scored runs. Mahamana scored 225 but Nelson’s pants stayed up.”How will the players respect a selector when he threatens to put his trousers down or scolds players in raw filth? Have Sri Lanka’s standards gone so badly? Don’t we have another Test cricketer who could do the job of a selector?”Sri Lanka’s selection past is strewn with controversy and allegations of club bias. de Mel predicted more problems for the future: “Some of these selectors weren’t independent. They were very much representing the interests of clubs.”de Mel’s 13-month chairmanship included a major public spat with Atapattu after de Mel accused senior players of blocking the progress of younger players. He dropped Tillakaratne Dilshan in apparent frustration, forcing Atapattu to blood an inexperienced batsman during a tight two-Test series in Pakistan.

Mark Butcher: ‘you can’t just bury your head in the sand’ © Getty Images

Mark Butcher has called on the England & Wales Cricket Board to reach a swift decision on the question of whether to tour Zimbabwe, as he and the rest of the England squad prepare to fly out to the West Indies next month.A final decision is expected at a special meeting of the ECB’s management board next month, and all parties are hoping to avoid a repeat of the scenes in South Africa last year, when the players instigated a last-minute boycott of the match, in protest against President Robert Mugabe’s regime.”I’d like to think I keep myself aware of pretty much what is going on in the world," said Butcher, "and it’s plainly obvious to everyone that things are not right in Zimbabwe. But it’s one thing to say what I’d do – in a team game it’s not about what you want, it’s what everyone wants to do.”During last summer, when Zimbabwe were over here, I remember thinking that we were going there in 2004 and would things have changed by then?” he added. “The best difference this time is that the ECB and the government are trying to pre-empt any disasters like those that happened last time in the World Cup. With a bit of luck we can concentrate on playing a series in the West Indies and it will be taken care of back here.”The furore at the World Cup undoubtedly affected England’s performances. "You cannot poke your head in the sand and say these things do not make any difference to you because you are a sportsman – of course they do," said Butcher. "But with a bit of luck there will not be a decision for us to make anyway. Our employers, the ECB, and the Government at the moment are talking about what should happen – it’s in their hands and until it comes back to us that’s it.”

Ben Brocklehurst, who captained Somerset in 1953 and 1954, has just celebrated his eightieth birthday.Born in Norfolk, Ben Brocklehurst was an elegant right-handed batsman who first appeared for Somerset in 1952 at the age of 30.His first appearence was against Yorkshire at Taunton in the opening match of the season when he was unfortunate enough to be dismissed without scoring. The bowler on that occasion was a youthful Brian Close who himself was to become another of the county’s captains twenty years later.In his first season with the club, Ben Brocklehurst appeared in just six matches, and scored 160 runs at an average of 16.00, with a highest score of 40.Ben Brocklehurst was appointed captain of the team for the following season, and played in all but one of the championship matches. In his 27 matches he scored 650 runs at an average of 14.44, with a highest score of 62.In 1954 he played in all 28 championship matches and enjoyed his best season with the club. In all matches he scored over 800 runs at an average of over 16 which included his career-best innings of 89 against Pakistan at Taunton, when he opened the innings with Les Angell.At the end of the 1954 Ben Brocklehurst left the county and later became managing director and proprietor of The Cricketer Magazine.Several years after he left Somerset, Ben Brocklehurst regularly played village cricket for his nearby village of Ashurst which is situated between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead on the Kent and Sussex borders.In one early season, hotly contested local derby encounter with Fordcombe in the early 1960s, the writer of this article bowled Ben Brocklehurst cheaply without knowing that he had once been the captain of Somerset.If you are reading this Ben, everyone at the club sends their best wishes and hope that you had a good day.I’m sure you have many happy memories of those long-ago days at the County Ground with the Cidermen.

Hampshire head Division Two of the CricInfo Championship after completing a nine-wicket win at Derby, in which Shaun Udal returned his best figures since 1992.The off-spinner took 7-74 in 38 overs and although half centuries from Michael Di Venuto and Richard Illingworth saved Derbyshire from an innings defeat,Hampshire were left to score just 49 to win in 35 overs.They got there at 4.30pm for the loss of Derek Kenway, who was well caught at first slip by Luke Sutton to give seamer Tom Lungley his first championship wicket.Lungley also showed resolve with the bat to help Illingworth add 48 for the ninth wicket, which banished the threat of an innings defeat.That was the only source of consolation for Derbyshire who performed poorly, particularly with the bat on a flat pitch.Hampshire thoroughly deserved maximum points and Udal bowled splendidly, intelligently varying his flight and pace to pose problems for the batsmen.He also obtained some bounce and only Di Venuto played him with anything approaching authority.The Australian left hander made 52 and was unlucky to fall to a brilliant diving catch by Robin Smith at short extra cover shortly after lunch.That sealed Derbyshire’s fate and although Illingworth supervised some resistance from the tail, it was too little too late.

Leeds United return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon when they take on Southampton at Elland Road.

Jesse Marsch’s side went into the international break off the back of a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over Wolves at Molineux, and since then they have been handed some further boosts on the injury front.

While the Whites did confirm that Patrick Bamford would be out for a minimum of six weeks due to injury, they can welcome the likes of Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips back into the fold after the duo remained as unused substitutes against Bruno Lage’s side a fortnight ago.

Marsch will have some big calls to make ahead of the match, and below is a look at how Leeds might line up when Southampton come to town.

In goal, Illan Meslier is likely to be fit for the game at Elland Road despite being forced off midway through the second half against Wolves following a collision with Raul Jimenez which led to the Mexico international’s sending off.

The back-line could see one important change, with club captain Cooper ready and available for Marsch to call upon and shore up a leaky Leeds defence which has already conceded 67 goals this season – the most of any side in the Premier League.

Cooper could come in for Pascal Struijk, with the £25k-a-week ace having struggled of late, perhaps no surprise given that he remains only 22 and is playing in a high-pressure environment like the one in which Leeds find themselves right now.

Another huge call for the Leeds manager to make is in midfield, where Phillips is no doubt pushing to make his first start of the calendar year. If Marsch does opt to go that way, then Mateusz Klich could be the man to drop out, with Adam Forshaw partnering the England international in the engine room and offering a bit more control on the ball.

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Further forward, Bamford’s injury is likely to mean the likes of Jack Harrison, Rodrigo and Dan James all keep their places from the game against Wolves, while Raphinha’s recovery from his virus means that he is likely to come straight back in too.

AND in other news – Leeds could unleash Thorp Arch’s breakout star in “fiery” 18 y/o who’s “got an edge”

	Martin Crowe: “You won’t see us play a wham-bam kind of play, you will see an intelligent and well-organised kind of cricket” © Getty Images

The Bangalore team is perceived to be full of people who are more conducive to Test cricket than Twenty20. What’s your take?
There is a propensity for the perception that we are here to play five-day cricket! To me, they are very classy, stylish, intelligent cricketers. There are no egos, no controversies surrounding them. They are going to be very solid citizens and it’s the kind of players we want our group to be represented by.This is the Twenty20 royal team of the championship. We are going to behave like that, play like that and that describes the bunch we have.So has the way you play influenced the branding or has the branding influenced your planned style of play
It starts with the name: Royal Challengers. It’s a very regal term and I am sure it was by design the kind of people we chose for the team. Rahul had the vision, he wanted this sort of player and that’s why he asked me to come in with this kind of role.You won’t see us play wham-bam cricket, you will see an intelligent and well-organised kind of cricket.My role will be to help the youngsters think out of the square and fit in with the vision. It’s a branding exercise, it’s a marketing exercise and people have to come in to watch not a region but a city franchise. I will be the intermediary between sponsors, team and the fans.What exactly is your job description?
I am the chief cricket officer which means I am sort of overseeing the way the team is operating in terms of its thinking, how it can win the tournament and how can it connect with its fan. So it will involve marketing and branding as well. I will work closely with Rahul Dravid in putting strategies in place. It’s a group of varied people coming together for the first time and trying to play consistent cricket to win 14 games and qualify for the play-offs.You said your job will involve marketing. Can you elaborate?
This is a new exciting concept with a city franchise and not only we want to connect this group of players with the local fans but we want the Royal Challengers to be known all throughout India as a side that is intelligent, classy, stylish and calculated. That will be our brand core. I will be the intermediary between the franchise as a whole, the team and the message from the team to the fans as to how we want them to embrace us.What can a coach do in a Twenty20 format and over a 44-day period?
I am not big on coaches. That’s why I am not the cricket coach here. I am a big believer in the captain. This will be Rahul’s team. Venkatesh Prasad will look after the nets and physical [aspects], while I can help the batsmen, it’s going to be a strategic role for me. Prasad has proved himself as a team coach and I will let him handle that side of the things.

	“My role will be to help the youngsters think out of the square and fit in with the vision. It’s a branding exercise, it’s a marketing exercise and people have to come in to watch not a region but a city franchise. I will be the intermediary between sponsors, team and the fans”

I got a real passion for Twenty20 having done Cricket Max in New Zealand and I have some ideas of how this game can be played. You need to treat this as a scientific project. It’s not like a Test match, it’s not about durability and concentration over long periods. It’s about having lots of small goals and getting everyone strategically positioned. Our aim will be to get more wickets than the opposition. That would mean swinging the ball, great fielding.What is going to be your cricketing strategy?
To put simply, it would be to take more wickets than the opposition. Build partnerships, throw in some great fielding, our general attitude and win by our all round skills. In a nutshell, with a scientific approach. The first six overs, with the field up, is when you really get your runs, the next eight overs are the middle overs while the last six will be the death overs.What is the future of Twenty20 and will its success mean the death of 50-over cricket?
The game is here to stay; it is the future. What we are seeing a correction in 50-overs cricket. We had a over-saturation of that form, lots of meaningless cricket was being played. This Twenty20 would offset that.I see 50-overs cricket being played over four innings. Four Twenty20 innings and I see this happening in ten years time. One-day cricket would become a mini Test match. There fore Twenty20 becomes the precursor to that eventuality. As of now we have Twenty20 and Test cricket while the one-day game is going through an identity crisis.

At the precise moment Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, was saying sorry for the bizarre ending of the World Cup final the ICC hoarding behind him came unstuck from the wall, and almost hit his head. Sitting alongside Speed as he admitted that the events in Barbados the day before amounted to the biggest farce in the game’s history was the ICC’s general manager, David Richardson.”David and I are here on behalf of ICC, to say to the wider stakeholders of the game that we too are very sorry this incident occurred at the end of what, on any view, had been an outstanding day of cricket,” he said. “We very sincerely apologise for the error that was made.”It was an unnecessary error, a fundamental error. It was made under difficult circumstances at the end of the match, and it’s not a good image for the game. We would have far preferred if news highlights had been some of the great cricket played and some of the great decisions made by the umpires. It was unfortunate, a very sad way to finish the World Cup.”It was, however, left to Richardson, who is in charge of the game’s elite officials, to try to find an explanation for the monumental breakdown in communications that led five senior officials to impose a phantom regulation on a dead contest. Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t.”They are at a loss to try to explain,” Richardson said. “I can only say it’s similar to the situation where you are sitting at home and the answer to a quiz question on TV looks very simple, but you just lose your train of thought when you are in that heated, pressure situation. It only takes one guy to sow a seed of doubt in the other people’s minds.”What worries me, as the guy ultimately responsible for how match officials perform, is that we get ourselves into a pressure situation and we are not able to cope with it. That’s what it’s about, whether you are playing or officiating. Malcolm has said we are not going to over-react, but we are certainly going to take it very seriously and look at how it could have happened.”There will be no sackings or resignations as a result of this fiasco, and Speed said he had not had any reason to reassess his own position as chief executive. But the tone of an otherwise humble press conference changed markedly when the name of Darrell Hair was thrown into the ring.After the ball-tampering row erupted at The Oval last September, Hair was hung out to dry by his employers. He was removed from the elite panel and further humiliated through the release of personal correspondence between himself and Doug Cowie, the ICC’s umpires and referees manager. Though other issues followed, his primary crime had been to stick dogmatically to the [correct] letter of the law. If only Rudi Koertzen and his fellow officials had been as diligent in their reading of the rules.”The Darrell Hair issue is and was quite complicated and will be ultimately resolved in an employment tribunal in London later this year,” Speed said, with a crocodilian stiffening of his sinews. “Darrell Hair is still employed by ICC, his contract is being honoured. To put the two together, I think it’s drawing a long bow and unfair to these five officials who were involved in the incident yesterday.”Inevitably, Speed felt obliged to accentuate the positives of the tournament. “We’ve had cricket on the back pages and, unfortunately, on the front pages for seven weeks,” he said, still believing in the old adage that any publicity is good publicity. “Lots of people who had not been exposed to cricket have seen cricket and been aware this World Cup has been in full swing.”The cricket grounds we now have in the West Indies are outstanding, as good as any in the world. They have been built by the governments of the respective countries and they’ve looked at it as a long-term investment. In places like Guyana and Grenada they are very proud of what they’ve done and they should be proud of what they’ve done because they’re small countries with small populations that wanted to be involved in a world event.”What comes next, however, for these islands? The world event has been and gone, and in most cases the stadia were not remotely full. Admittedly several thousand temporary seats will be removed from most venues, but the burden of constant maintenance and the scrap for future marquee events could stretch the island’s fragile allegiances to breaking point.Speed did not see it like that. “West Indies cricket now has a terrific problem,” he said. “It now has this collection of five-star cricket grounds so when Australia comes here next year they’re going to have an almighty argument about where Australia play their Test matches and one-day internationals.” An almighty argument. Only the ICC could see that sort of a legacy as a positive.

“Some have played a lot of cricket and feel the effect of too much cricket, while others have just started” © Getty Images

Graeme Smith said it was the players’ “biggest worry”; Tim May, the Federation of International Cricketers Association, warned of the possibility of a player strike; while Sunil Gavasker was “shocked” at players complaining over their schedules. The topic of player burn-out has elicited extreme reactions but Sachin Tendulkar, expectedly, chose the middle path.”It differs from player to player,” he said while speaking at an Airtel-promotional event in Mumbai. “Some have played a lot of cricket and feel the effect of too much cricket, while others have just started. It is important that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) strike a balance between too much cricket and too less. It is also important from the spectators point of view – they shouldn’t be deprived of cricket; at the same they shouldn’t get too less.”When probed further on the issue, especially Gavaskar’s view on the topic, Tendulkar chose the diplomatic route. “Everyone is entitled to his opinion. As far as I am concerned, I have been happy with my schedule. It is important to physically and mentally recharge yourself after every series. One must make sure there is a break after matches and series.”Tendulkar was also asked of Ricky Ponting’s fantastic run recently, fast catching up on his record 35 Test hundreds. “I played against Ponting in a few exhibition games in 1991-92 and knew he will be the guy to watch out for. Sunil Gavaskar’s record of 34 Test hundreds stood for 22 years and such benchmarks help the next generation – whether it is Ponting, Lara or myself. That is the best thing about records.”

Pakistan’s giant© Getty Images

The way he is, he shouldn’t be a batsman. He shouldn’t even be a sportsman. Where other batsmen stride to the crease, Inzamam-ul-Haq lopes and mopes to it, shoulders hunched. He drags his bat along with him like a scolded schoolboy would his satchel. Not for him the bravado entrance of a Mathew Hayden or a Virender Sehwag, chest out, brandishing the bat as weapon. Increasingly when he is dismissed, he loiters despondent for an eternity, not as protest but because of an acute awareness of its implications. Hayden and Sehwag can afford bluster; if they go, they have Ponting, Gilchrist, Sachin or Dravid. But if Inzamam falls, as John Wright’s fist-pumping celebration atKolkata in the second innings suggested, half the battle with Pakistan is often won.As with all his best innings, Inzamam’s 100th Test has crept up on us almost unnoticed. Only three Pakistanis – Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram and Salim Malik – have played in over 100 tests and it somehow seems right, bearing in mind the larger-than-life personality each possessed, that they achieved the landmark. With Inzamam, it sounds mildly implausible; 100 tests? Really? He will probably end up eclipsing Miandad as the greatest batsman Pakistan ever produced. How, given his inert demeanor, has he managed it?He stretches the traditional confrontation between ball and bat. Not till the very last moment, at which point the ball invariably looks like winning the battle, does he react. By that time, motionless almost apart from an incongruous shuffle here or there, the length is clear in his mind and it remains only for him to bring down his bat, with strength or otherwise, but always, always, with quick hands. Energy conservation is maximised and only as much as necessary is ever spent. You see it in his running and his fielding, especially in the short cover position he lately loves.

Recognise that slim boy-wonder?© Getty Images

It’s not so much a technique as an attitude and with it he has become the most important Pakistan batsman of his time, possibly ever. Two innings in the 1992 World Cup made him, and won it for Pakistan. His undefeated 58 decided the Karachi thriller against Australia in 1994-5, but it has been only since 2000, by which time both Miandad and Malik were gone, that his value has become clear. For much of the time since, Pakistan’s batting has disintegrated, while his, in inverse proportion, has flourished. The most wretched and vivid example of this dependence came at Multan in 2003, where but for his 138 not out, Pakistan’s batsmen would’ve contrived to lose to Bangladesh. In 41 tests since 2000 he has averaged nearly 57, with 12 centuries. How important is he to Pakistan? More than statistics will ever tell you, for they don’t tell you of the thin support and heavy load he has had to bear. Still, they are revealing. Of his 20 test centuries, 15 have contributed to Pakistan wins and he averages over 75 in all their wins since 2000.So what, you say? In a golden age for batting, does he really bear comparison with the greats? Lara, Sachin, Hayden, Ponting, Dravid after all have better figures, players who, when that ludicrous question of having someone bat for your life is asked, would rightly get picked before him. And he won’t be remembered in the same way a Lara or a Sachin will be. Where they have saved their very best for the best – Australia and South Africa of the nineties – Inzamam has average, even poor records against them. No, even though he may not lack their batsmanship, he lacks the drive, the ruthlessness, the sustained pursuit of excellence, the sheer force of will and personality which has marked their greatness.But of course he does; it is a result of the very attitude which pulls us to him in the first place. Despite his apparent insouciance and the pressures on him, his lumbering starts, his unsportsmanlike appearance, he has managed to achieve all that he has; 100 tests, over 7000 runs and an average threatening 50 and that is worth appreciating. Occasions such as his 123 at Karachi last year against the Indians, or his 86 at Mohali last week, when he outshone even the most stellar batting line-up of our time are worth cherishing. These are occasions when everything clicks, when his very casualness suddenly becomes hisredeeming feature and not a glaring hindrance. These are occasions where his genius emerges, where he fleetingly and slyly hints, rather than emphatically asserts, to being the best batsman in the game today.Osman Samiuddin is a cricket writer based in Karachi. He is following the Pakistan team on their tour of India.