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Reunert Bauser, the chief executive of Border Cricket Board (BCB), is being investigated for alleged misappropriation of funds after a raid on the board’s offices last Thursday.According to the South African Press Association, Bauser has been accused of using some of the proceeds from the 2003 World Cup for air tickets to the UK worth R20,000 (£1,800), and a further R400,000 (£36,000) that was earmarked for the Border Bears team.Bauser, who was in the UK at the time of the raid last week, vehemently denied the allegations and, according to his lawyer, earlier financial statements were found to have no irregularities when vetted by auditors. Bauser believes there may be a “vendetta” against him.But Vido Mgadla, the president of the BCB, denied any suggestions of a vendetta on Wednesday, and said, “This is bad for Border cricket and the sooner the matter is sorted out the better.” Asked what might happen if Bauser were to be found guilty, Mgadla joked: “I suppose the wicket will have to be prepared all over again but I hope not.”The BCB has launched its own investigation, which is expected to conclude on Friday.

New Zealand’s victorious tour of Bangladesh ended on a slightly sour note as both Craig McMillan and Scott Styris were brought to book by Alan Hurst, the ICC match referee, after the third and final one-day international in Dhaka.McMillan was fined 25% of his match fee after a show of dissent and swearing at the umpire on being given out leg before, while Styris – who was Man of the Series – was given a severe reprimand for giving Mohammad Ashraful a tasteless send-off after dismissing him.Interestingly, New Zealand were the recipients of the Spirit of Cricket award at a ceremony organised by the ICC just two months ago.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A sensational spell of savagery from Sanath Jayasuriya was followed by a metronomic spell of fast bowling from Dilhara Fernando as Sri Lanka moved to the brink of a big win in the first Test at Faisalabad. Jayasuriya tore the bowling apart on his way to his third double-hundred, a wonderful 243, and almost single-handedly boosted the lead to a daunting 418. Fernando then prised out Pakistan’s top four with subtle cutters and Sri Lanka’s fightback, after playing catch-up for one-and-a-half days, was all but complete.Of the 154 runs that Sri Lanka added this morning, Jayasuriya made 123. But unlike yesterday, when he was uncharacteristically subdued, he was back to his devastating best. He lost partners at regular intervals, as a middle-order collapse reduced them to 337 for 8, but his whirlwind 101-run partnership with Fernando – of which Fernando made just 1 – left the bowlers bruised and Pakistan’s morale dented.In 11.2 overs of the new ball, Jayasuriya saw red in a big way, clattering a further 79 runs, including four fours in one over off Shoaib Akhtar, the last of which was intentionally carved over the slips. Not content with that damage, Jayasuriya then accidentally stepped on Shoaib’s foot while both were ball-watching – a classic case of adding injury to insult.Jayasuriya farmed the strike without any problems, leaving Fernando with just one or two balls to face per over. He turned down several singles, but quickly made amends by belting the ball with beastly fury. He brought up his double-hundred with a stunning six off Shoaib, swivelling in a flash and pulling with amazing bat-speed, and then raced along even faster once the landmark was passed.Shoaib’s mind probably went back to that fateful no-ball which he bowled yesterday, as Jayasuriya edged one to Moin Khan when he had made just 9. But eventually, after adding 244 more to his total, Jayasuriya was the last man to fall, trapped lbw by Danish Kaneria for 253, the fourth-highest score by a Sri Lankan in Tests.

Faced with an uphill task, the Pakistan openers launched their reply with a flurry of boundaries, as Imran Farhat hooked at the slightest opportunity. The 50 came up in just nine overs and neither of the openers were in any trouble. But a nine-over spell after tea from Fernando left Pakistan reeling. He consistently delivered an arrow-straight line with the ball cutting and swinging just enough. Yasir Hameed misjudged one that nipped back sharply and rapped him on the pads. Despite Hameed showing his disappointment with a baffled look at the umpire, the ball appeared to be going on to hit the stumps (59 for 1).The next two wickets were to identical deliveries as Asim Kamal and Farhat were undone by balls that pitched on middle and straightened a shade. Kamal was comprehensively bowled after attempting an expansive straight-drive, while Farhat was stone-dead lbw when he failed to get bat onto ball (86 for 3). Fernando landed one more blow soon after as Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was extremely scratchy in his 30-ball innings, lost his off stump after completely misreading the line (91 for 4).Yousuf Youhana was nearly dismissed by Rangana Herath a few overs before the close but Steve Bucknor didn’t spot the ball popping off his bat onto boot straight to the short-leg fielder. Youhana was unbeaten on 23 when stumps were drawn, but Pakistan would need a minor miracle to save this one.

Until the end of the Indian tour of Pakistan, we will be running a daily Paper Round of what newspapers in India and Pakistan, and from around the world, are saying about this series. This is what the media had to say today:The Board of Control for Cricket in India has reserved the right to abort the tour of Pakistan at any time, in the event of crowd trouble. This comes to light in a report appearing in Pakistan’s The News. The report quotes a senior PCB official as saying, “The Indian board had in the MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] put a clause that even if any crowd trouble takes place at any venue — be it Karachi or Lahore — they have the right to abort the tour for security reasons.”Rameez Raja confirmed that the MoU had been signed by the Pakistan Cricket Board. “Apparently, their players have the fear of the unknown while venturing on this tour and we can understand that. Their players have asked for certain security assurances from their board which in turn put the clause in the MOU which we signed and sent back today.”Raja assured readers that the PCB spared no effort in the quest to ensure the players’ security. “We are taking all possible security measures to ensure there are no incidents on this tour which is so important for all of us and relations between the two countries. The government is also taking keen interest in the security arrangements. We are very confident that the security and administrative measures we are putting in place for this tour, it will go off smoothly. But no one can predict the future.”* * *An agency report appearing in The Times of India says that Imran Khan will have a brainstorming session with the Pakistan team on February 29 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The theme of the session will be preparation needed to take on India. Imran was captain of the Pakistan team when the two sides last met for a full series in Pakistan, in 1989. He was also captain of the victorious team that toured India in 1987.* * *Javed Miandad, Pakistan’s coach has fired several warning shots in an interview with Kolkata’s Telegraph newspaper. He began on a conciliatory note, saying, “Frankly, agar waisa nahin hua [if it didn’t happen like that], then we shouldn’t be playing at all. Be it your Prime Minister or our President, everybody has linked cricket to the improvement of relations… Therefore, both teams have to set the perfect example… They certainly won’t be at war…”He has a word of caution for Rahul Dravid, who was so successful in India’s recent tour of Australia. “He’s good… But, when he takes guard for the first time, he is going to start on zero… In fact, each innings will be a fresh beginning… Whatever Dravid’s reputation, he has to prove himself in Pakistan.”He also refused to compare the current Indian or Pakistani teams with their counterparts from the past. “I doubt if comparisons serve much purpose. Bottomline is how a particular side plays, how it absorbs pressure. Greats have been known to flop. At the same time, unheralded players have done wonders… Yeh sab cricket ka kamaal hai.”* * *Playing Pakistan is not as much of a challenge as playing Australia. At least that’s what Reuters quotes Sourav Ganguly as saying. “Pakistan is a challenge, but I am sure it is not going to be as big as Australia. Australia are definitely a superior side. We are pretty confident after our tour of Australia,” he said. “To be honest, we are going to Pakistan in a much better frame of mind.”Ganguly also brushed aside the suggestion that security concerns will be a serious distraction for India’s cricketers. I don’t think the boys should have any problem in focusing on cricket. They know their performances will be watched all over the world.” He also thought India and Pakistan should play each other more often. “It will definitely help to reduce tension and hype over cricket,” he said. “I don’t think the crowds and tension in Pakistan are going to be that bad.”* * *Erapalli Prasanna remembers the 1978-79 tour of Pakistan well. It was his last in an Indian cap. Now in Kolkata, Prasanna told The Indian Express some very interesting things about that series.”We didn’t bowl as well as we could have, and that decided the series. It seemed surreal at times and our manager Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad was so bent upon creating goodwill that we forgot at times we were there to compete against arch rivals. He kept emphasising it was a goodwill tour, we needed to be pleasant and we were sucked into that atmosphere,” he says. “We couldn’t summon the ferocity which was needed to quell Pakistan’s advance in a historic series. Gaekwad did what he needed to do in his capacity and created a lot of goodwill in Pakistan but cricketwise it softened our edges.”Some of the Pakistan cricketers who played that series may not warm to Prasanna’s comments. Zaheer Abbas, who scored 583 runs at an average of almost 195, will take particular exception. “It was a Zaheer Abbas series — he made many runs on that tour. But I don’t have the slightest doubt we could have contained him effectively. He was a very good batsman but we made him appear a master batsman by not bowling as well as we were capable of. We allowed him to run away with big scores.”* * *Tickets for the India-Pakistan series are now being sold online. Click here to book yourself a ringside seat.

Andrew Strauss says England must fight “fire with fire” during the Ashes and not be overawed by the reputations of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.Strauss, who is Andrew Flintoff’s vice-captain for the tour, has called on his team-mates to repeat their efforts of the 2005 series when an aggressive approach was a key part of regaining the Ashes. Although Warne took 40 wickets, the England batsmen were not afraid to attack him and Strauss wants more of the same.”It’s easy to get lured into thinking that every ball from [Shane] Warne or [Glenn] McGrath is going to be an unplayable delivery, and that’s a trap we must try to avoid,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “One of the plus points of our performances against Australia last year was we did play the ball rather than the bowler, which is going to be important again this winter.”If our batsmen learned one salutary lesson last year, it was that the only way to play the Aussies is to take them on. When you try to hang around or you are content just to occupy the crease and survive, you are liable to come unstuck because they just swarm all over you. But if you answer fire with fire – and pick the right balls to go after – it is possible to live with them as Michael Vaughan showed on the last Ashes tour.”England are due for their first serious net session on Tuesday ahead of the tour opener against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Friday. The first Test begins in Brisbane on November 23.

World Cup spinner Nathan Hauritz will be a sidelight to the Shane Warne show next week when the Queensland Academy of Sport travel to Junction Oval to play the Victorian 2nd XI.Hauritz was included today in the QAS team to play in Melbourne from Monday after making a request to the Queensland selection panel for an additional bowling stint under match conditions.Queensland Chairman of Selectors Ray Phillips said Hauritz would play the first three days of the Cricket Australia Cup match, which marks Warne’s return from his 12 month drug suspension."Nathan didn’t get a lot of bowling during the Pura Cup game against NSW due to the weather and asked us whether he could get some more bowling under his belt prior to our game against WA," he said."He’ll come back after three days so he can take part in the Bulls’ final training session before they play their ING Cup game against the Warriors on the Friday," he said.Hauritz will be joined in the QAS team by Bulls batsman Lee Carseldine, who is hoping he has overcome the back problems that have plagued his season so far.The QAS team also includes allrounder Chris Simpson and pace bowler Damien Mackenzie who have shared twelfth man duties for the past month for Queensland, and fellow Bulls squad members Scott Brant, Chris Hartley, Steve Farrell and Shane Jurgensen.While Hauritz and Simpson will enjoy the chance to bowl their off-spin, 20-year-old Redlands leg-spinner Ryan Leloux will have a first-hand view of how Warne fares in his return to cricket.Queensland Academy of Sport v Victorian 2nd XI, Junction Oval, Feb 9-12:Aaron Nye (c), Ryan Broad, Chris Simpson, Lee Carseldine, Steve Farrell, Chris Hartley, Ryan Leloux, Scott Brant, Damien MacKenzie, Grant Sullivan, Shane Jurgensen. Coach: Richard Done

Steve Waugh reckons that Australia have become so dominant in internationalcricket that administrators might want to think about changing the rules to make rival countries more competitive.”Our job is to do the best we can for Australia. The West Indies teams of the 1980s almost made administrators change the rules so other nations couldcompete,” said Waugh, as quoted in the . “That’s been one of our goals – for us to make rules change so others can compete.”Speaking at a state Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Waugh revealed that he took his own brutal outlook on international cricket from that very West Indian team.”A lot of our players were almost scared of West Indies,” he said. “I remember at one point thinking this game is too hard. It took me 13 Tests just to bepart of a winning side.”I remember sitting in the dressing room at Eden Park in New Zealand,” continued Waugh. “We had just lost, and I looked around at everyone with their heads bowed. And I was thinking, ‘This is too tough. Do I really want to do this?’ That was an important moment”Waugh talked about his first first-class match for New South Wales, and rooming with Imran Khan. “I became very good at answering the phone,” Waugh joked. “I was pretty shy in those days. [Imran] had a big reputation for a lot of things. I was that intimidated by him I just kept quiet and answered the phone.”Waugh also hinted at a muted support of Australia’s sledging tactics, and although he said that he was against “saying something directly against someone,” he was happy to “put doubt in the batsman’s mind. I’m all for that.””For example, if Shane Warne’s bowling into the rough outside the batsman’s legs and he’s trying to sweep, the guy at short leg might say ‘Can you believe this guy’s trying to sweep Warney out of the rough?’ and the player on the other side at bat-pad might say ‘Obviously these guys don’t have a TV in their rooms – they’ve got no idea what’s going on’,” said Waugh. “If we can get the batsman in some doubt, that’s fair enough.”

Trevor Chappell, Bangladesh’s former coach, believes they are capable of becoming one of the world’s leading cricket nations, but in the meantime they must overcome several problems.Chappell coached the team for a year until late 2002, and rated their prospects highly despite their lowly start to international cricket. “From the point of view of talent and numbers playing the game, they could be the next Pakistan,” he said. “Kids are playing [cricket] in any vacant land they can find. They have natural flair.””But the struggle for land is significant. Half the country is under water most of the time, then when its monsoon time that probably goes to 80 percent. There is not a lot of spare ground for building cricket grounds.”The weather, unfortunately, is not Bangladesh’s only stumbling block. “Their administrators talk a good game," added Chappell, "but nothing much happens. Every wicket is low and slow. It is hard to learn good cricket on those sorts of wickets. And their domestic competition is not non-existent, but close to it."Chappell reported that when the team arrived at Allan Border Field in Brisbane, they practiced for four hours because they had never seen facilities like that before in their lives. “You have these sorts of thing in Australia where volunteers and teachers bring lunches and umpire and score," said Chappell. "In Bangladesh most people are more worried about where their next feed is coming from than anything else.”

wrote that “Srinath’s vocabulary didn’t include the Fs and Bs when he beat the batsmen or was struck for a boundary. That is the copyright of the modern day fast bowler … yes, he didn’t have the guile of a Richard Hadlee, the persistence of a Glenn McGrath or the incisiveness of an Allan Donald. But underneath the India crest on his shirt, Babu’s [Srinath’s nickname] heart often helped him achieve performances that scripted famous Indian wins. Can a cricket-mad nation ask for more?”Srinath’s former bowling partner and good friend, Venkatesh Prasad, wrote in The Indian Express that “Srinath took his big leap, making the Indian team in 1991, but he would always come back to Bangalore and talk to me and the other youngsters about his experiences. The most painful period was the time when he had to return from the West Indies in 1997 with a shoulder injury. He left such a huge void. I felt I’d lost my left arm. More than just a fellow bowler, he was like an elder brother who repeatedly fought with the team management and argued for my inclusion. Off the field he’s got a great sense of humour. Very dry, so you won’t understand it at first.”The Asian Age carried the views of Rajan Bala, the veteran journalist, who wrote, “It is with deep regret, as a lover of the game and an admirer of the man and the bowler, that one has to accept the retirement of Javagal Srinath. As one who has been privileged to watch and comment upon his best bowling displays at home, in England in 1996 and in South Africa in 1996-97, I can say that he made me feel proud to be an Indian.”The Hindu called Srinath “one of those few pacemen who relished bowling at southpaws, seaming the ball across the blade.” The newspaper also carried the reactions of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting. Ganguly said that Srinath had been a wonderful team-man and bowler while Ponting called him one of India’s finest pacemen.Rediff.com carried the reactions of the members of the Indian team. Sachin Tendulkar said, “he always gave his best for India, no matter what the match situation. He was a great man in the dressing room. His humour was great and he always made his team-mates feel alive, even after a tough day.” Anil Kumble said, “I will always remember the sight of Javagal Srinath running up fast from his bowling mark and scaring batsmen. He changed Indian cricket in his own way.”