Ricky Ponting says Australia will chase a target if life is breathed into the remainder of the second Test. Despite trailing by 239 runs entering the fourth day, Ponting indicated the team would not be afraid to attack on a batsman’s pitch, but he felt the main hope of setting up an outside chance of victory would rely on their progress in the opening session.Option one for Ponting is to create a lead and then pray for a quick kill, but early losses would increase the likelihood of a declaration, leaving Andrew Flintoff to set a target. “If there’s something there to chase we’ll have a go,” Ponting said. The pitch has shown few signs of variable bounce and even though Ponting believes Shane Warne can take advantage in the final innings, the prospects of either team falling in a heap are remote.”The first hour will be crucial and if we get a good partnership then from there we could get back in the game,” he said. Michael Clarke (30) and Adam Gilchrist (13) are the unbeaten batsmen after Ponting and Michael Hussey re-floated Australia when they fell to 3 for 65.Ponting steered Australia with 142, bringing up a national record of 33 centuries, but he benefited from a couple of tight calls, including a dropped catch from Ashley Giles (“I thought I hit it well enough to get over him” at deep square-leg) and a missed run-out from Paul Collingwood (“I would have been gone by a good couple of yards”). As Ponting continues to remind everyone, he is not a man who carries statistics in his kitbag. It might change when he stops playing, but until then he is “out there to play the situation”.Getting him to talk about his innings of 12 fours and 245 deliveries was also difficult. He had a piece of grass in his eye for a ball during the first session and for periods of the day he batted a yard out of his crease, a tactic he blamed partly on his caught-behind dismissal to Matthew Hoggard. “I probably shouldn’t have been that far out for the second new ball,” he said. “It went away a bit, but if I was in my crease I probably wouldn’t have edged it.”I wasn’t really satisfied with my innings. Getting through the second new ball was important and we had a really good partnership going and were clawing our way back.” Ponting’s stand with Hussey totalled 192 and his partner joined him in the dressing room seven overs later when playing-on to Hoggard. It was the second time in consecutive innings Hussey had slipped in close range of a century, adding 91 to his 86 in Brisbane.

Richie Benaud
“Shane Warne is without doubt the finest legspinner the world has ever seen. You would certainly have Warne right up there as one of the greatest Australians to ever step on the field.”Adam Gilchrist
“What he’s done for the game, the colour he’s added, the character that he’s brought to the game, he’s going to be tough to replace.”Steve Waugh
“It’s very hard to judge across eras but Warne would sit pretty comfortably as the second best player ever. He has been responsible for winning more Test matches than anyone else I have seen or played with.”Allan Border
“Bradman – it’s hard to make comparison with that guy’s record, but on the next level of cricketers, Warne is right there. He’s been a breath of fresh air, what he’s brought to the game is immeasurable.”John Buchanan
“Looking at the future, that will now be a huge void that will take maybe generations to fill.”Terry Jenner
“He just has that capacity, unlike any other wrist spinner we’ve seen, to put the ball in the danger area ball after ball after ball. His special talent has been to spin the ball and at the same time be accurate.”Jason Gillespie
“I think he’d be just about the best player that’s ever played cricket.”Anil Kumble
“If there is one thing he has that I would love to have, it is the ability to spin the ball the way he does. Warney has been very open about what he thinks and how he bowls. I am very happy to have played with him and competed with him. I have learnt a lot from him, not just by talking to him but by watching the way he bowls.” Click here
to read the full tribute from Kumble.Merv Hughes
“Whatever you say about Shane Warne it isn’t enough. His performances have not only shaped cricket in Australia but worldwide. Most people go through a purple patch and Shane Warne has had a purple patch for 15 or 16 years.”David Boon
“I think he’s had the greatest influence on the game of cricket outside of Sir Donald Bradman. I can only laud at the highest level what Shane has contributed to the game, not only worldwide but in Australia as well.”Mark Taylor
“Not only is he a great bowler but he’s also a great thinker. He got a lot of people out with wonderful deliveries but also out-thought a lot.”Ian Chappell
“I think it’s perfect timing for a champion player. If you make a mistake it’s best to get out a little early than a little late.”John Howard, Australia’s prime minister”I thank him for the massive contribution he’s made to Australian cricket. He’s made a huge contribution to both maintaining and further stimulating interest in cricket in this and many other countries and I wish him well.”James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive
“There are a generation of Australians who were privileged enough to see Bradman. We are the generation that will always say we were privileged to see Warne.”Geoff Lawson
“I thought he might still have another three, four years left in the game and in fact I’ve lost a lot of money because I backed him to take 1000 Test wickets and it’s not going to happen now.”Mike Gatting on ball
“I suppose I can say that ‘I was there’ at the moment he first indicated his potential to the wider world. There or thereabouts, anyway. Thanks to him, there are many more leg-spinners in the game. We may not see his like again.”Richard Hadlee
“A lot of batsmen in world cricket will be delighted to learn he’s leaving the game but I think the game will be poorer without him. He has been a matchwinner, flamboyant and just incredible to watch.”

Sharad Pawar, the president of the Indian board (BCCI), has filed his nomination for the post of ICC president as the ‘common representative of the Asian bloc’ after the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) met in Singapore and agreed on his nomination.”All the Test playing nations in Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – have decided on the nomination of Mr. Pawar and it has been sent to the ICC,” Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the BCCI, told PTI. Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said that the BCCI also hoped to rope in the West Indies board to back Pawar.Earlier Syed Ashraful Huq, the ACC chief executive officer, said that the ACC wanted Pawar to be the ICC president. “The ACC cannot nominate”, Huq told . “So it is likely that India will nominate and we will support it.”Mahmud-ur-Rehman, the Bangladesh board chief executive, also confirmed his board’s support to Pawar. “We are for it and have informed the BCCI too,” said Rehman.The last date for filing of nominations is January 1. The ICC will vote in its new president in its annual meeting in London in July next year for a term of two years beginning 2008 . The nominations committee is headed by AC Muttiah, the former president of the BCCI.

Ricky Ponting doesn’t like playing Twenty20 matches and believes Australia should contest only one game of the popular format each season. Ponting will captain Australia against England on Tuesday in a warm-up for the tri-series and the SCG is expected to be sold-out.Ponting, who has 131 runs in four Twenty20 affairs, said his problem with the concept was treating a game between two countries as “just being fun”. “I don’t really like playing Twenty20 international cricket,” he said in the . “I know it is cracking entertainment for the fans. I can see it would be good fun, and how it might attract new spectators.”He said if the games were limited to one fixture a season and a four-yearly tournament it “might be all right”. “Maybe with the odd international game and by having state teams playing a short competition in the way Twenty20 cricket is played in England, I think it has value,” he said. “My problem is that I can’t play a game in which I’m wearing my national team’s colours, and my opponents are wearing theirs, and treat it as just being fun.”However, Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said the format should be played seriously ahead of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September. “The reality is there’s not going to be much difference from one-day cricket, and that Twenty20 is likely to grow and grow,” he told .Australia Twenty20 squad Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Cameron White, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Rebecca Rolls has called for more Twenty20 cricket for the women’s game. Rolls, the New Zealand keeper, believes that the short form of the game is a good promotional tool for the women, and can enhance the game. She says that the women’s game should follow the example of Australia, where women’s state teams have played before the men to raise public awareness in front of decent crowds.”We can improve our game by increasing accessibility for young girls by playing in lots of different locations in a country hosting a series, by getting in front of the general public through media and as has recently been done in Australia, perhaps playing Twenty20 curtain-raisers before a men’s game.”Rolls is aware, however, that any crowds coming along to any such Twenty20 match who are watching the women’s game for the first time must expect different styles of cricket to the men.”I think it’s important to recognise the differences between ours and the men’s game and emphasis the strengths women have such as shot placement, bowling variations and other intricacies, in the absence of brute force, speed and power the guys possess.”[We] can become even more attacking in our batting, field settings and tactics, and smarter with our bowling. Recent introductions of Twenty20 games have promoted this and I believe it’s a game we should play more of.”The White Ferns are already scheduled to play two Twenty20 matches when they head to England this summer, rather than the customary single match. This is, in part, to make up for the lack of Test cricket. New Zealand do not play Test matches, and there are rumours that this form of cricket may be scrapped for all countries.The Twenty20s won’t be followed by any men’s matches, but their profile will be raised on television, with Sky committed to covering both as well as the first one-dayer. All of these matches will be hosted by Taunton, the newly anointed home of women’s cricket.In the meantime, New Zealand will face England in the women’s quadrangular series, where they will also play Australia and India in Chennai. The tournament, which brings together the world’s top four countries, will be helpful preparation for the 2009 World Cup in Australia.New Zealand will attend a 10-day training camp in Christchurch before they depart. They will also play practice games against New Zealand A (7 and 9 February) and Australian Youth side (11 February) before departing for Chennai on 14 February. They open their campaign against Australia on 21 February.

Ricky Ponting is prepared to experiment with his bowling line-up in the final World Cup warm-up match against England on Friday as he tries to discover his best combination. Australia were unable to dismiss Zimbabwe on a slow pitch in St Vincent, where they broke a five-match losing streak with a 106-run win, and the attack was the main problem during the batch of losses to England and New Zealand.”We’ve got to keep the bigger picture in mind,” Ponting told AFP. “If we are not completely convinced as to what our best 11 is, we might have to give the five, six or seven bowlers the seven or eight overs, rather than five bowlers 10 each. We’ll see how that game pans out.”Brad Hogg’s role is again a worry after he completed his sixth game without a wicket and picked up figures of 0 for 36 off eight overs. Hogg has said he is bowling as well as he ever has and Ponting has told him to relax.”In the last three or four overs against Zimbabwe he did that,” Ponting said. “He’s Australia’s best one-day spin bowler. There’ll be a lot of opportunities for slow bowlers in this tournament.”Brad Hodge, the part-time offspinner, chipped in with a wicket during his six overs while Michael Clarke, the left-arm slow bowler, is expected to play a significant part in the tournament. Australia’s balance has been severely disrupted by Andrew Symonds’ arm injury, although he has started to throw.”I thought Hodge did a good job for us,” Ponting said. “We’ve got Michael Clarke, who will be able to do a job for us at some stage. If we get Symonds back I hope he’s going to be a big part of that slow-bowling brigade. We feel that we’ve got basically all the bases covered on what we need in a World Cup.”Despite not knowing his preferred line-up, Ponting’s goals are high. “I want to win every game we play while we are here,” he said. “Hopefully we can go through winning every game. For us, it’s important to get a bit of a winning feeling back around the team. We’ve lost five games in a row and that’s something this group of players is not that used to.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq, who stepped down as captain after Pakistan’s humiliating exit from the World Cup, feels it’s a good move to have one captain for both the Test and one-day sides for practical reasons. Inzamam, 37, said he was not in favour of having separate leaders for both Pakistan sides as other countries had experimented with in the past.”I just feel that when you have one captain the players are also comfortable in both formats of the game as they know their captain’s style and thinking,” Inzamam said. “It is not easy adjusting for players to playing under different captains in different forms of the game.”Inzamam, who has also retired from ODIs but has made it clear he wants to continue playing Test matches, said he was not surprised by allegations leveled against him after Pakistan’s poor performance in the World Cup. On the charges that he was an autocratic captain and ran a one-man show, Inzamam said in Pakistan’s cricket history there were quite a few captains who were strong and did things their own way.”Imran Khan is a prime example,” he said. “He was a very strong captain compared to others. So if I tried to be strong what is wrong with that? But to say I didn’t consult the selectors or other players while taking decisions is wrong. I always believed in seeking other opinion before deciding on something important regarding the team.”Inzamam said he had also wanted to announce his retirement from Test cricket but some of his friends advised him against doing this. “I was terribly disappointed after what happened in the World Cup and I wanted to announce my total retirement,” he said. “But my friends said I can still contribute a lot to the team in Test cricket.”He said he was keen to play in Tests but everything depended on the selectors. “I am prepared for anything now,” Inzamam said. “But my conscience is clear that I spent all my energy and time in trying to bring success for the country. But one bad tournament and everyone has turned against and I am being accused of things I have never done.”Inzamam said some people had even started to involve him in the match-fixing scandal and were claiming the Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum report had fined him for his role in match fixing in 2000. “But this is not true, I and some other players were fined because the judge felt we were hiding some facts about the case,” he said. “I was never directly punished for any match-fixing.”Inzamam also said he was assured by the Pakistan board and selectors that fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif would be available for the World Cup after being cleared of their doping issues. “But their not being available was a big set back and we had to rethink all our plans for the World Cup,” he said.

There is reason for concern but not alarm, not till we experience the pitch anyway. There is uncertainty in the air on a number of fronts, and rightly so, but National Stadium in Guyana is far from the construction site that some reports have made it out to be. Weather permitting, and in Guyana all you ever need for rain is a bit of cricket, the Super Eights will commence on Wednesday.Indeed the outfield has responded superbly to the rain of the past three days, a point noted by the Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody. The much lovelier Bourda, the former Test ground, would have become a lake by now. Built higher than the surrounding land, engineers claim that drainage at the new stadium here can empty two inches of water in half an hour.That is one of the bright spots at the moment. Virtually nothing is known about the virgin pitch, on which only a club 20/20 match has been played in the last few months. Presumably it will behave better that the practice pitches, which recently earned the censure of Andy Roberts, the pitch consultant for the tournament, some months ago, and frustrated the South Africans with their unreliability when they netted this morning. It’s been a familiar case of too little too late.The Local Organising Committee has been terribly tardy with all its commitments, and finally handed over the facility to the ICC last week almost a month after deadline. Three days ago, Rushmans, the British agency handling the media facilities for the tournament, had advised journalists “the LOC has been unable to provide fully operational facilities for us and despite out best efforts, there may be continuing challenges during matches at the stadium.” It added that a number of additional personnel, including power experts, IT technicians, had to be flown in to get things ready.On match eve the media centre appeared to be in reasonable order, and Rushmans staff anticipated no further trouble. Project managers from the Indian building firm, Shapoorji Pallonji, too, are confident that all aspects of the stadium proper are in perfect order. The same cannot be said for the approach and the parking lot, work on which was not just late but never completed.

The Indian board’s (BCCI’s) bid to rope in Greg Chappell as a consultant may come to naught with his name doing the rounds for the new head coach’s role at the Australian Cricket Academy. According to media reports, Chappell is a clear favourite to succeed Tim Nielsen, who leaves the job to take over the Australian team from John Buchanan after the World Cup.Chappell, on his part, kept the cards close to his chest and said he would reveal his future plans within three weeks. “I am not making decisions yet but after a while I will look at the options,” he was quoted as saying in the .Chappell said over the next few days, he would be visiting friends and family in Canberra and Adelaide before deciding his future. “I just want some time away from it all. We are just going to spend some time catching up with family all around the country and then we will work out what happens.”Chappell’s 22-month association with the Indian team snapped after the side’s disastrous World Cup campaign. After the exit, Chappell decided not to seek an extension of his contract with the Indian team but the BCCI reportedly offered him a consultant’s job at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.Chappell, meanwhile, asserted that his troubled tenure with the Indian team has not turned him off coaching. “I don’t feel [cheesed of]), not at all,” he said. Chappell also admitted that he feared for his security after India’s flop show and Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer’s murder in the World Cup.He also criticised the Indian media for exaggerating his medical check-up in Mumbai. “It was just a minor thing that they obviously made into something bigger. The health is fine, there is no drama other than what the media made of it. I just had some tests done to make sure I was in good health to fly and come back to Australia.”

North Conference

Two unbeaten centuries dominated the first Roses clash of the season at Old Trafford, but it was Brad Hodge’s 141 which won the day for Lancashire. Anthony McGrath’s 135 led Yorkshire to a competitive total, but the bowlers were powerless against Hodge, who struck 17 fours and three sixes. Mal Loye contributed 55 and added 131 for the second wicket, then Andrew Flintoff, released by England to test his ankle, contributed 26 to a stand of 83. The victory keeps Lancashire’s slim hopes of a semi-final place alive.Graeme Swann’s 3 for 31 prevented Scotland chasing down 294 to beat Nottinghamshire at Edinburgh. Charlie Shreck picked up two early wickets to leave Scotland struggling on 16 for 2, only Majid Haq (42) and Simon Smith (41*) showed any resistance as Nottinghamshire wrapped up a comfortable 77-run win. Jason Gallian was their top-scorer with 97 and there was a blistering 58 from Chris Read, which included 32 off one over from Ian Moran.Dale Benkenstein’s superb 97 took Durham to a nail-biting four-wicket win over Northamptonshire, off the last ball at Northampton. Chasing 252 Durham were in a hole at 25 for 3, but Phil Mustard (108) and his captain, Benkenstein, put on 163 for the fourth wicket. However, Mustard became Johan van der Wath’s fourth victim; Garry Park was run-out for a duck and Gareth Breese was bowled for 12. But Ottis Gibson hung around in a tense final over as Durham edged over the line.Dale Steyn’s five-wickets completed an impressive all-round display from Warwickshire as they wrapped up a 59-run victory against Leicestershire at Edgbaston. He removed Tom New and HD Ackerman without a run on the board and at 35 for 5 the match was over. Half-centuries from Tim Ambrose (58) and Darren Maddy (50) laid the foundation for Warwickshire to push on to 265.Graeme Hick and Ben Smith added 131, leading Worcestershire to a seven-wicket win over Derbyshire at New Road. From being 70 for 3, the home side cruised to their target with 11 overs to spare. Phil Weston’s 78 had anchored Derbyshire’s innings but from 95 for 1 they struggled to force the pace against some accurate bowling especially from Ray Price and Gareth Batty who went for 70 in their combined 20 overs.

South Conference

A brilliant opening stand of 193 between Varun Chopra (102) and Mark Pettini led Essex to an emphatic destruction of Middlesex at Chelmsford. However, the result was overshadowed when Chaminda Vaas collided with the boundary boards and was sent to hospital for tests. He was released later in the evening but will be monitored closely. Chasing a sizeable 278 the pair blazed the bowlers – Pettini particularly aggressive, bringing up his ton in 99 balls – with more then four overs remaining. Middlesex’s innings was built around a slick, even 100 from Eoin Morgan and David Nash’s fifty, but they hadn’t reckoned on the aggression of Essex’s openers.Gloucestershire eased past Somerset by 58 runs with a fine allround display at Bristol. Kadeer Ali and Grant Hodnett put on 107 for Gloucestershire in their 259 before their bowlers removed Somerset’s big three – Justin Langer, Marcus Trescothick and Cameron White – with just 31 on the board. Ian Blackwell’s 71 delayed the inevitable.Shane Warne led Hampshire to an easy six-wicket win over Sussex at The Rose Bowl, with 3 for 33 – including the wicket of Murray Goodwin. Sussex were dismissed for 201, Richard Montgomerie ninth man out for 89, and Hampshire’s chase was led by Michael Lumb (66) and Sean Ervine (57*) who took them home with 11 balls to spare.Kent made short of Glamorgan at Canterbury as Ryan McLaren and Simon Cook took four wickets each to shoot the visitors out for 85. Andrew Hall struck two early blows but it was the consistent line and length of McLaren and Hall that caused most problems. McLaren, the South African allrounder signed on a Kolpak deal, claimed the key wickets of Michael Powell with a touch a low bounce and Jimmy Maher taken at slip. Hall and Geraint Jones made short work of the target, taking just 11.4 overs as they both scored at more than a run-a-ball. Glamorgan have not won a 50-over domestic match against first-class opposition since 2001.