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How does one even begin to process what just happened at Sabina Park today?Ireland, a team of part-timers and county cricketers, knocking the fourth-ranked ODI team in the world out of the World Cup. Even saying it out loud doesn’t help – it’s almost too much to take in.For the fans in the ground today this will go down as a day to compare with famous Irish underdog victories in other codes such as Munster beating the All Blacks in 1978 (which every Munster fan ever born claims to have been present for – a tall tale that will be replicating itself among the cricket fraternity after today) or Ireland beating Italy at USA 94. But instead of Ray Houghton, Paul McGrath and Packie Bonner it was the lesser-known names of Niall O’Brien, Jeremy Bray, Boyd Rankin, Kyle McCallan and Trent Johnston that will rightly be lauded.The fans are a big part of this World Cup week and the “Blarney Army” has made its mark on the tournament for its exuberant support of the team – one of the memories of the day for me will be the singing of “Are you England in disguise?” following the dismissal of Mohammed Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Who would have thought Irish fans would have had the chance to have the temerity?There is something else to rejoice in for followers and journalists alike in this incredible story – the refreshing openness and honesty of the Irish set-up. Here is a self-aware group of players with just the right amount of self-belief to take advantage of situations like today and make something happen. Throughout they have remained close to their fans and nearly always have something interesting to say.What will this mean for Irish Cricket? Increased awareness among the public and more money – both private in the form of sponsorship and public in the form of the Irish Sports Council. These are the two things the game needs the most. We in Ireland are no different to any other country – the corporate dollar goes to the sports that make noise and provide success stories and today’s result will entitle cricket in Ireland to a piece of that pie – a small piece maybe, but enough to make a difference to a sport trying to make itself noticed among the behemoths of gaelic games, soccer and rugby.After the Zimbabwe tie on Thursday the Irish Times ran with a picture of Andrew White celebrating taking a wicket on its front page on Saturday – that was something that’s never happened before for Irish cricket, and it was a move guaranteed to get a lot of attention from the non-cricketing sporting public. Imagine what they’ll make of today’s incredible tale. What is more, it was a win that will almost certainly ensure they are a part of this Caribbean World Cup for another four weeks at least.Irish rugby had a horror day of last-minute drama and close calls that didn’t go their way – but perhaps their bad luck in northern Europe was balanced out by the luck the Irish cricket team made for itself at Sabina Park. Ireland are fast becoming the story of this World Cup and that’s something these players – these fitness instructors, postmen and teachers – deserve.

Bob Woolmer’s murder has set off a debate over whether the World Cup should be called off. Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, made the opening statement on Thursday, saying the tournament would continue and ‘would not be put off by a cowardly criminal act”.”This is not the first time that tragedy has visited a sporting event,” Speed said, “but what we must all do now is to show how resolute the game is by proving ourselves strong enough to move on from what has happened.”However, Allan Donald, the former South African fast bowler who played under Woolmer, asked for the World Cup to be called off. “I just don’t know how this World Cup can continue under the shadow of what’s happened,” Donald told . “World Cup 2007 will be forever remembered for this [Woolmer’s murder]. My personal opinion would have been to stop, but knowing Bob he would have wanted this to go ahead.”I think everyone will continue this World Cup but, at the back of their minds, know that a tragedy took place. I just hope the individuals or individuals are brought to justice because Bob was a great man and would never go to the lengths to put his life in danger.”Goolam Raja, the South African manager, said the team wanted to continue. “He [Donald] does not speak for the team,” Raja told Cricinfo. “I think obviously the players are sad over the tragic events and the cause of Bob’s death does affect the team, but they want to continue on.”Michael Vaughan echoed Speed’s sentiments and said that the World Cup had to continue in spite of the tragedy. “It’s a horrific time for world cricket. We all knew what a good bloke Bob was,” Vaughan told AFP. “Whatever goes on the field, this incident is a lot bigger because someone’s life has been taken away. But I think the World Cup has to go on, the game has to go on. I can understand his [Donald’s] emotion and his thoughts there but the best thing for this game is to show it in a great light.”Cricket Australia also strongly agreed that the World Cup should continue while sending their condolences to the Woolmer family. Andrew Symonds also expressed his desire to continue. “The team is obviously sending our heartfelt regrets to his family,” he said. “Bob, being a cricket man, I would think that he wouldn’t want it to stop. I think he would probably want the games to roll on and the competition to end.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is interested in snapping up Dav Whatmore as the next coach for their national team and is involved in discussions with him.Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, told reporters in Islamabad that the board had been in contact with Whatmore for the post but that nothing had been finalised as of now. “The PCB is in contact with Whatmore. Our negotiations are continuing and whenever something is finalised, it will promptly be made public.”Ashraf added that Whatmore had talked to Pakistan officials and expressed interest in the post. Whatmore, who is due to end his tenure with Bangladesh after the current series against India, also acknowledged recently that the PCB had been in touch, though he stressed that it was a very preliminary contact.Speaking to BBC, before the start of the India series, Whatmore said, “I have not been formally approached by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Somebody spoke to me on their behalf during the World Cup asking for my contact details but I have not heard from them since.”Pakistan have been looking for a new coach since the death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup in March. They recently posted an ad on their site asking for applications for the coaching position to be sent in and are keen to have the new man in place by July 1st.Pakistan were in contact with John Wright, the former India coach, last year though that situation has not developed any further at this point. Among local candidates, Aaqib Javed, the former Test fast bowler, is seen as a serious contender.

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain who is on the seven-man panel that will decide India’s next coach, has clarified that he wasn’t against having a foreigner as the coach of the national team.Gavaskar had a while back pointed out in a newspaper column that Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, hadn’t received enough tactical help from the think-tank during the recent home series against India, a statement that seemed to hint at his disapproval of Whatmore.However, Gavaskar, 58, denied any such disapproval and said that his decision with regard to India’s next coach would be in keeping with the team’s interests. “If I was anti-foreigner, how did Greg Chappell become coach? It was a unanimous decision (in 2005),” he told , a Mumbai-based tabloid.He reiterated that he would attend Monday evening’s meeting to select the coach with an open mind, and maintained that the thoughts put forth in his columns didn’t translate into rejecting anyone as a coaching candidate.”I am open to all kinds of discussion and anyone who makes a valid point will win the day. Ultimately, we have to do what we believe – rightly or wrongly – is best for Indian cricket. Don’t I have a right to express myself in my columns? Isn’t that what I am expected to do as a columnist?”I made the observation that Bashar did not always get the tactical input he should have. How does that statement translate into disapproving of Whatmore as coach? If people want to read between the lines, then good luck to them. I have expressed my views strictly as a columnist.”He also explained what transpired at the coach-selection meeting in 2005. “We discussed the pros and cons of the candidates that were invited for the interview. Venkat spoke about Tom Moody, Ravi mentioned Greg Chappell and I spoke about Mohinder Amarnath and Desmond Haynes. If Venkat had talked about the pros and cons of Mohinder, I would have talked about the pros and cons of Moody.”There was no particular reason for us speaking about A or B. We spoke because we had to discuss all the candidates. We as former players expressed our views and then it was up to the Board. Hands went up and Chappell was chosen unanimously as coach. So where is the issue?”

Plans to redevelop the County Ground at Taunton have been approved by the local council.Somerset submitted an application to build a new 2250-seater stand as well as a five-storey apartment block of 65 homes for the over-55s, a café/restaurant, two shops and parking adjacent to the west stand.The second phase includes a new pavilion with seating for 3000 spectators, an indoor school, offices and flats at the St James Street end, and has already received the green light from the council.In all, the county aim end up with a permanent capacity of 10,000 with room for an additional 5000 temporary seats. That should be enough for Taunton to bid to stage international matches.”Whatever we build will be a big improvement,” Richard Gould, Somerset’s chief executive, told the Somerset County Gazette. “We’re looking at putting up a high-quality development. Building will start in September and we hope the stand will be ready for next season.”

Come September, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to undergo major changes, and at the heart of it all is the search for a new president. Jagmohan Dalmiya has served out his term, and is constitutionally ineligible to seek re-election. Predictably, the matter of succession is proving to be thorny one.While no clear picture has emerged yet, it would be fair to say that there are two major contenders for the top slot: Ranbir Singh Mahendra and Arun Jaitley. Both men have strong political affiliations. And while Dalmiya can longer be the king, he is all set to play the role of the kingmaker.Jaitley, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a cabinet minister in the previous government, enjoys a higher personal standing than his rival, but that might not be enough to win him the job if the matter went to vote. Jaitley is learnt to be averse to the idea of risking defeat in an election. At the very least, he would need Dalmiya’s unequivocal backing, which would be enough to see him through. But in the absence of a clear word from Dalmiya, Ranbir Singh, currently a vice-president of the board, and the son of Bansi Lal, the former chief minister of Haryana, seems to be a front-runner. He has no qualms about fighting an election.In the last BCCI election, Dalmiya had defeated AC Muthiah of Tamil Nadu, who, incidentally, had come to office with the backing of Dalmiya, then the president of the ICC. However, Muthiah was denied the customary one-year extension after his two-year term came to an end, as Dalmiya, back from the ICC, forced an election. Dalmiya, of course had no problems in securing an extension for himself.It is unlikely, however, that Dalmiya will walk into the sunset. A move is afoot already to install him as the patron-in-chief of the cricket board, a provision for which already exists in the constitution of the board. A proposal to this effect was mooted by the Assam Cricket Association at the BCCI working committee meeting last July, and it has been endorsed by several others. It is learnt that the new position would empower Dalmiya to represent BCCI at ICC meetings, and play a prominent role in dealing various rights.While his detractors see this as a move by Dalmiya to retain a vice-like grip on the board, his supporters point out that the position is well deserved, given his track record. Inarguably, the finances of the BCCI have soared under Dalmiya. When he entered the BCCI as secretary in 1992-93, the board balance sheet showed a deficit of Rs81.60lakh. (Rs1lakh is equal to approximately US$2100, and 100 lakhs make 1 crore.) By the end of the next financial year, the board had declared a working profit of Rs15.34lakh, and today it has a turnover of Rs100crore, which, Dalmiya has predicted, will reach Rs365crore on the back of a three-year television deal in the excess of Rs1000crore.The stakes have never been higher.

For England, it was a day of long, hard and fruitless toil; for India, a day of consolidation rather than conquest. By the end of it, however, there was no question where the momentum of the series was headed. Aside from a hard-earned victory over West Indies last June, and the obligatory dismissal of Zimbabwe in 2005, India have not won a Test series outside the subcontinent since their tour of England in 1986. Now, however, they are three good days away from the most improbable of series leads, and with just the Oval Test to come next week, England’s failure to close down the Lord’s Test grows more acute by the minute.As Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid used what now amounts to almost 20,000 runs-worth of Test knowhow to inch their side ever further into the ascendancy, it almost felt that the clock had been turned back by half a decade. On this very ground in 2002, the seeds of India’s last recovery on English soil were sown. Defeat in the Lord’s Test was followed by consolidation at Trent Bridge, and then by glory at Headingley, where Dravid, Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly each made hundreds in what remains, arguably, the finest collective batting performance by an Indian team overseas.Dravid won’t match that effort (at least, not now in this innings) but for Tendulkar and Ganguly, who knows? Both remained in situ at the close, their competitive juices whetted by the scent of probable victory. For Tendulkar in particular this was – for the English fans who have not tracked his recent travails – an uncharacteristically dour performance. It was far removed from the twinkle-toed majesty of his earlier appearances on English soil, not least his glorious 177 on this very ground in 1996, when he was at the absolute peak of his powers.”In my era, I think he’s the best player I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing against,” said Allan Donald, who was on the receiving end of two of Tendulkar’s greatest performances – his 111 at Johannesburg in 1992-93, and his wonderous 169 at Cape Town (in partnership with Mohammad Azharuddin) five years later. “He’s something special, very freakish, and I think that what he’s done for the game and his country has been absolutely phenomenal. He’s a credit to cricket and today he looked quite his old self out there.”That latter statement was something of a moot point. Tendulkar eventually looked his old self. He brought up his 11,000th Test run with a sumptuous cover-drive off Monty Panesar, and rifled Ryan Sidebottom in the same direction two balls later. Before that, however, he seemed listless at the crease – like the Mohammad Ali of the late-1970s, punch-drunk from years and years of fighting, and surviving through reputation and determination in equal measures.Panesar, who so gleefully scalped him for 16 at Lord’s, seemed almost apologetic when he served up a help-yourself leg-stump full-toss to get his hero off the mark first-ball, but after another single in the same over, Tendulkar managed just one more run from his next 28 deliveries, a torrid spell that included a clanging blow to the visor when James Anderson, the “bowling captain” as Donald later described him, dug one in short. In the first half-hour of his innings he changed his bat and gloves so many times that the 12th man eventually decided to wait by the edge of the pitch in case of a further change of mind.

But eventually the confidence was coaxed out of his performance, and England’s bowlers began to flag through their lack of rewards. “They showed a hell of a lot of courage and responsibility, and they were patient,” said Donald. “I think the stage is set for these three youngsters – with all the senior bowlers injured around them – to grab this opportunity and show what they are about.”Tendulkar’s efforts notwithstanding, it’s been that sort of a series, one in which the young bucks have shown up their more experienced peers. None did so more effectively than Dinesh Karthik, whose splendidly forthright 77 came to an end through a loss of concentration straight after tea. The importance of his innings will doubtless be forgotten if Tendulkar and Anil Kumble secure the win that is there for India’s taking, but even at this early stage of proceedings, Karthik was content to pass the praise directly to his idol.”I’m so happy to be part of this team and I’m honoured that a person like Sachin even knows my name,” said Karthik. “It’s such a fantastic feeling for me. For me he’s the greatest player I’ve ever seen, and I’m 100% sure he’s going to beat the record. There’s no doubt about that. It’s just a matter of time.”It should be just a matter of time before India take the lead in this series as well. After India’s depressing denouement at the World Cup, there may yet be a glorious finale in prospect for an extraordinary generation.

Australia’s allrounder Andrew Symonds could well emerge as the key player in next month’s Twenty20 World Championship, but he fears the ever-increasing popularity of the game’s newest format could detract from the fun. Symonds has been a sensation in his 17 Twenty20 matches, cracking a century and four fifties at a strike-rate of more than 200 runs per 100 balls.”It’s a game of fun for me,” he told AAP. “But it looks like it’s heading down the serious route, unfortunately.”Australia have made plain their intentions for the inaugural tournament, which for them begins with a match against Zimbabwe at Cape Town on September 12. Unlike several teams, most notably India, they have selected a full-strength squad and intend adding to their hat-trick of titles in the 50-over format. That marks something of a break from their previous attitude to the Twenty20 game.Australia’s first match, against New Zealand at Auckland in February 2005, featured retro-1970s clothing and facial hair, and Dennis Lillee-tribute headbands. Australia won by 44 runs, but seriousness was far from the players’ thoughts.”Playing the [Twenty20] games in the past the captain doesn’t mind if you interact with the kids in the crowd and muck around a bit,” Symonds said, “but now I don’t know if that’s going to be the case. I think it may end up heading down that serious road.””I think probably in the end pride will take over and it will probably end up being a full blown battle, but we’ll have to wait and see.”Symonds also told the Sporting Life website that Australia could find it tough to win the tournament. “I’ve always said that the shorter the game the easier it is for the lesser sides to beat you,” Symonds said. “In 20 overs anything can happen.”However, Symonds maintained that his training schedule won’t change for the shorter format. “I practice my skills the same for all forms,” he said. “As long as I’ve got my basics all up to scratch and they’re all firing I tend to be able to change for the different formats. I try not to complicate things too much.”

The Indian board has sold the ground and title naming rights for 55 Tests and ODIs to be played in India over the next 31 months from September 1 to the World Sports Group (WSG) for Rs 1.73 billion (US $42,262,694).WSG, part of the Global Cricket Corporation, outbid two other Indian firms – Percept and Nimbus – to secure the rights till March 2010, BCCI vice-president and marketing committee chief Lalit Modi said. Nimbus, however, own the telecast rights for the international and domestic matches organised by the BCCI during this period.”The WSG consortium has won the rights from among four bidders including 21st Century Media which was disqualified as they had not submitted all the necessary documents,” Modi said. “There will be 55 matches covered by the bid. The winning bid is three times over the last contracted bid which was Rs 10 million per match.”Venu Nair, the chief executive of WSG, told the that the value of the deal would work out to $50 million over the three-year period between 2007 and 2010. “That is the kind of exposure we are expecting from this deal,” he said. “We have three-four advertisers on board, and the contracts are in the process of being signed.”There is a significant difference between the ground rights of the BCCI and the ICC. The former guarantees India’s presence in every single match and this in turn helps consistently deliver returns on investment.”The deadline for submitting the bid ended at noon today after which they were opened in front of the bidders and the members of the BCCI’s marketing committee. Modi also said that the bids for the other rights, including Twenty20 internationals to be played in India and domestic cricket, were still “being negotiated”.

Andrew Symonds was apparently the target of racist abuse during the fifth ODI against India in Vadodara on Thursday after being subjected to monkey chants while fielding on the boundary. According to a report in the , the incident occurred during the second half of India’s innings at the IPCL Sports Complex, but the police and the state cricket administration denied the allegation.Sources within the Australian squad confirmed to the paper the abuse took place, but have referred the matter to the local authorities, who may face an inquest from the International Cricket Council. “Like any cricketing centre in India, we would never tolerate this kind of behaviour,” Makarand Waingankar, the chief executive of the local Baroda Cricket Association,” said. “Racism should not exist in India at all.”We are a cosmopolitan country, with many religions and dialects living peacefully together. This is the cultural city of Gujarat, and it would be a shame if that was to be spoilt by a few people.” The fifth ODI was also marred during Australia’s surge to victory when a section of the crowd pelted the playing area with bottles.The local police had another explanation, though. “The crowd was chanting ‘Ganapatibappa Moriya’ [a chant to Lord Ganesha] after Indian wickets kept falling. They did not expect their team to lose and did not spare some of the Indian players either. But none uttered a single word against any Australian player,” Vadodara Police Commissioner PC Thakur told . The secretary of the Baroda Cricket Association repeated that line, saying, “The crowd chanted hoping for some divine intervention and none of them passed any racial remark against any Australian.”The ICC took measures to stamp out racism last year after the South Africa team complained of crowd abuse during their tour of Australia. Under the new code, spectators who are found guilty of racial abuse could face life bans and the venues are subject to fines and the loss of international status.