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Duncan Fletcher has told the BBC that he has no regrets about the revelations regarding Andrew Flintoff’s drinking in his autobiography which was published yesterday.Fletcher has come under considerable fire for his reveal-all book, especially in his criticism of Flintoff’s behaviour in Australia last winter. “I have concerns about the level of debate that’s been reached,” he told the BBC’s Inside Sport. “I wanted to be loyal to him [Flintoff] but loyalty should be two-way traffic.”The secret was not revealed by me, the secret was revealed by Flintoff following the [pedalo] incident in the West Indies. From my point of view, I was really upset at the time. At that time his actions could have led to me losing my job. That’s quite important; the pressures that I was under because of areas he was in control of.”I wanted to be loyal to him but loyalty should be two-way traffic. I felt let down by the pedalo affair, I just think that I linked it directly to what happened in Sydney. If the pedalo affair hadn’t taken place there’s a very good chance we would have carried on managing Andrew.”Fletcher insisted that he didn’t regret making Flintoff captain, and said he may well lead his country again. “I see no reason [why not],” he said. “If that foot lets him bowl as well as he can there’s no reason he shouldn’t captain down the line.”Fletcher was also asked about perceptions that he was too reluctant to include players such as Monty Panesar and Chris Read. “People have interpreted a personal thing,” he said. “All I am trying to do is be very specific. I’ve always felt a finger spinner should be able to bat and field and I would rather pick a batter-wicketkeeper than a keeper-batter and he must be the pulse of the side.”Fletcher said he remained hopeful of another international coaching job after seven years “of real enjoyment” while in charge of England.

Geoff Griffin, the former South African pace bowler, has died in Durban aged 67.Although he played two Tests and was the first South African to take a hat-trick in a Test, Griffin will best be remembered as the man who was no-balled out of international cricket at Lord’s in 1960.A tall, blond, quick bowler who topped the national averages during the 1959-60 domestic season with 35 wickets at 12.23, his action had been the subject of debate from the moment the South Africans landed. In his defence, he had suffered an accident as a schoolboy which meant he couldn’t straighten his arm, but he was playing at a time that there was considerable debate over suspect actions, mainly of Australian fast bowlers.No-balled in warm-up matches, he underwent remedial work at Alf Gover’s famous indoor school before returning to action, but a number of people were not satisfied.At Lord’s he took a hat-trick, the first by a South African, but that was completely overshadowed by him being repeatedly no-balled. His career was almost finished when, in an exhibition match played as the Test ended early, he was again called for throwing. Attempting to finish an over by bowling underarm, he was then rather cruelly called for not informing the umpire of a change of action. “We didn’t take the warning seriously,” he was to recall many years later. “It sounded so preposterous to use an exhibition match to do the dirty on me. He remained on the tour playing as a specialist batsman.”A good-natured and popular player, he was widely praised for the way he took this massive setback. Griffin was contacted by a lawyer who offered to take the matter to court, free of charge. “You’ll win hands down and end up a wealthy young man,” he said. But he declined. “I loved cricket too much to sully the great game further.”Many felt that the relatively unknown Griffin had been singled out by the authorities, who were desperate to send a message to the world that chuckers would not be tolerated. The fear was that a major row would erupt if Australia brought their batch of suspect bowlers in 1961, and so Griffin was used to show that umpires were prepared, if necessary, to act. If so, it worked. Australia omitted all their fast bowlers whose actions had caused such rancour in 1958-59.”I was the victim of a thoroughly distasteful ‘chucking’ conspiracy,” Griffin said earlier this year. “I was the fall guy. I attribute the blame to the SA cricket authorities and the MCC who should never have allowed things to develop as they did.”He returned home and moved from Natal to Rhodesia, but within two years – and still only 23 years old – his career was over after he was repeatedly no-balled against North-Eastern Transvaal at Salisbury.A superb allround sportsman, Griffin played hockey for Rhodesia as well as holding Natal titles for high jump, long jump, triple jump and pole vault. He also played Under-19 rugby for Natal.

Pakistan, brimming with confidence after their five-wicket win, take on Sri Lanka in the second one-dayer at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday aiming to seal the series and crown Shoaib Malik’s debut as captain in style. Sri Lanka, without three senior players, will approach the game aiming to square the series and give their outgoing coach Tom Moody something to smile about.The first match turned on Shahid Afridi’s blitzkrieg 73 off just 34 balls after seeming to head Sri Lanka’s way. Reflecting on the victory, Malik emphasised just how important it was in terms of their calamitous World Cup.”After the World Cup debacle this is the start we wanted,” Malik was quoted as saying in . “It is not easy to beat a tough opponent like Sri Lanka. Pakistan have never been short of talent but to channelise that energy is not an easy task.”Pakistan chose not to go in with fresh faces and instead placed their faith in recalled players like Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed. After a breezy opening stand, Sri Lanka were in with a sniff as the innings slumped for a period after three run-outs. Kamran Akmal, who helped himself to a run-a-ball 51, supported Afridi as the pair took Pakistan home with eight overs to spare.Malik, who made 11, defended his team’s strategy in the chase and wasn’t overly concerned in the middle stages.”We played according to the plans and kept the run rate in our minds,” he added. “My innings was not slow because on the one end Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal and Shahid Afridi were playing aggressively and we were playing according to the plans. We want to play sensible, attacking cricket.”Sri Lanka meanwhile will pin their hopes on the top order to convert their starts and make amends for their collective failure on Friday. Their spinners too struggled to negate Afridi’s onslaught, with legspinner Malinga Bandara nearly conceding seven runs an over.

Twenty-two years ago when the last great player exodus occurred Australia began five years of despair. Not until the 1989 Ashes could Australia prove they had left behind the suffering that followed the retirements of Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh, who left a 253-Test gap when they exited the SCG on January 6, 1984.Two months later in Guyana Greg Ritchie’s bulky frame slotted into the top order, Wayne Phillips was mistakenly turned into a makeshift wicketkeeper and Terry Alderman tried to fill Lillee’s space. By the fifth Test Queensland’s John Maguire had replaced Alderman and Australia were on the way to using 24 players in 46 matches until the 1989 tour, when stability and success was finally found. It took a further eight years and 77 games to introduce the same number of new personnel and by then Australia were world champions.The Test crown has retained the same shine ever since and Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were two of its most significant polishers. Justin Langer also had a large part in the success and the trio leaves from the same gate as the previous triumvirate. Australia now enter another period of uncertainty, but the prospects of the trough being as deep as last time are remote.Allan Border was a reluctant successor to Kim Hughes, who resigned in tears against West Indies in 1984, and he won only three of his first 25 Tests in charge. The low points were home-and-away series losses to New Zealand in 1985-86 and giving up the Ashes a season later to an England team dubbed the worst ever to tour. The recovery was slow, painful and, ultimately, massively rewarding.Ricky Ponting does not have instant replacements for the big three, but he is fortunate to have a string of contenders who are capable of plugging holes. Australia’s ranking as world No. 1 may be in jeopardy over the next couple of years but the superpower status will remain. The planning through the Academy should stop a repeat of the 1980s horror.

In the past two years the focus of the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane has altered from developing emerging players for the first-class arena to preparing contenders for international action. A core group of bowlers including Ben Hilfenhaus, the Tasmania swing bowler, and Brett Dorey, the tall Western Australia fast man, was compiled as the Australian selectors prepared for life without McGrath. Shaun Tait also spent time in the set-up and with Mitchell Johnson’s re-emergence and the rapid development of Stuart Clark a batch of next-generation bowlers is on call.The opening spot created by Langer’s decision can be filled confidently by either Phil Jaques, who stepped into the Test side twice in 2006, or Chris Rogers, who has learned under Langer at Western Australia. A return to the top of the order for Michael Hussey, another batsman raised in Perth, should not be ruled out as it is his preferred position.While the batting and fast-bowling back-up is solid, the spin ranks are Australia’s major worry. In 15 years of trying no Australian has been able to emulate Warne – only Stuart MacGill has got close – and Daniel Cullen, Cullen Bailey, Beau Casson and Nathan Hauritz have the toughest assignments of all.Cullen and MacGill are the frontrunners to step in for Warne but Australia’s expectations of what a slow man should achieve must quickly be lowered. The 1980s showed that attempting to fill the shoes of legends takes decades rather than days.

Sachin Tendulkar has said that the Test series win in England was one of his most cherished moments in international cricket. Speaking at the tenth Castrol Awards for Cricketing Excellence in Kochi, Tendulkar also praised the current crop of young players, saying it was great to see them enjoying their cricket and playing with a positive frame of mind.”Beating England in England recently was one of my most memorable moments,” he said of the 1-0 series win. Talking about the changes in the game in recent times, he said: “It’s definitely a lot quicker, a lot faster and there are more big shots.”At the awards night, Sourav Ganguly and Jhulan Goswami were among the players who were honoured. Ganguly was named the best captain in 75 years of Indian Test cricket . Goswami, who was named the ICC Women’s Player of the Year in September, was the first recipient of the Outstanding Indian Cricketer of the Year for women.India’s Test history was divided into six different eras and the best cricketers of each era were awarded. The list of awardees were: CK Nayudu (1932-47), Vinoo Mankad (1947-61), Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (1961-71), Sunil Gavaskar (1971-81), Kapil Dev (1981-97), Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid (1997-2006).Some members of the team which won the ICC World Twenty20 were also presented with mementos.

Scorecard

With England’s batting stocks in a healthy state, those players trying to force their way in through county cricket will have to wait patiently for their turn. The A team named to face Sri Lanka next week gives a fair indication of the pecking order and, on the first day at Lord’s, Ed Joyce offered reminder of why he is in that list, if not quite at the top.He is not in the immediate frame for a call-up after the winter successes of Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook and Owais Shah, but he enjoyed a reasonably impressive A tour of West Indies – with three half-centuries in the one-day series – and all he can do now is churn out a mountain of runs for Middlesex. This was a decent start and he was easily the most assured batsman on show after beginning confidently with punchy shots through the legside. He motored along a decent rate, in conditions that had tempted Robert Key, Kent’s captain, to bowl first but were initially wasted by the bowlers.Joyce is not quite in the flamboyant mould of most of England’s current order, but he knows his game and last season produced the goods as he racked up 1668 runs at 61 in the County Championship. He began this season with a minor blip, failing twice for MCC against Nottinghamshire, but the first serious bat of a summer can often be a hit and miss affair.Here, though, he was back to his compact best and didn’t offer a chance, progressing to a composed century off 148 balls, the 15th first-class ton of his career. He doesn’t make great use of the straight boundaries, preferring to work the ball square, but is content to wait for the right ball to hit. It can be easy to label a left-hander who doesn’t bludgeon the ball like Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden or Marcus Trescothick as a nudger and nurdler. While there is certainly this aspect to Joyce’s game he also possess the power to thread the infield – or go over it – as his late six into the Grandstand showed.What Joyce must now do is show that he is better than what is currently in the England side. Geoff Miller, the England selector, watched part of the day from the press box and hinted that it will take a lot of runs for the management to try new batsmen given the choices that are currently on offer.But as showed by the likes of Cook and Shah, who will line-up alongside Joyce for England A next week, a chance can come along out of the blue and then it is about grasping the moment. Middlesex were certainly grateful he took his chance today after they frittered away their tea position of 220 for 4. Kent’s bowling improved through the day, following a wasteful start with the new ball. Ed Smith, against his former team-mates, was squared-up and edged to second slip, while Shah didn’t settle during his brief stay in the middle. He was fortunate to escape a bottom-edged pull before edging to second slip straight after lunch.Joyce’s fluency was in sharp contrast to the obduracy of Ben Hutton, who took 148 balls over his 47 before top-edging a pull to long leg and wasting his hard graft. The attack continued to chip away and Justin Kemp was rewarded for a preserving display when he removed Nick Compton and Ben Scott, while Robbie Joseph deserved his Championship-best four-wicket haul. Martin van Jaarsveld had a good day at second slip, holding three catches of which the third, to remove Craig Wright, was a sharp effort in front of first slip.Middlesex’s late demise only went to highlight the importance of Joyce’s effort. He was a class apart today and more innings like this will make his case very hard to ignore – regardless of the other batsmen in the frame.

Eight Ranji players belonging to Bihar Players Association (BPA) protested in front of the Indian board’s office demanding that Bihar be allowed to take part in the domestic cricket season.The cricketers sat on a hunger strike at the BCCI headquarters where its working committee meeting was on, but were taken away by the police.”We have met BCCI chief Sharad Pawar twice. He assured us that the matter will be resolved in a month’s time but nothing has happened,” said Mrityunjai Tiwari, BPA president. Sunil Kumar, Dheeraj Kumar, Raju Vals and Nikhil Ranjan were among others who took part in the protest.The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) became defunct in 2000, when the previous BCCI regime under Jagmohan Dalmiya granted affiliation to Jharkand, a new state carved out of Bihar.The present regime under Sharad Pawar took the decision of restoring the affiliation to the BCA. But the implementation of the decision was subject to approval by the Jharkhand High Court where the JCSA has filed a suit on the matter. “The matter is in the court but what is our fault,” Tiwary said. “All we want is to play cricket.”

West Indies aim to negate Australia’s intimidating legspin threats before launching a fierce bowling assault on their rivals in the three-Test series starting in Brisbane on November 3. The fast men are not as furious as their predecessors of the past 30 years, but the coach Bennett King is confident they will exploit the bouncy pitches even if they aren’t as tall as the men who knocked over Australia during the Ashes.”We have a very different set of bowlers to England, given they are all around 6ft4in [193cm] and our blokes are all around 5ft9in [175cm],” King said in . “But we have three or four blokes who bowl around that 90-95mph [145-155kph] mark and hopefully even quicker, so we have a bit of firepower there which can hopefully unsettle the Aussies.”Back home they are forced to bowl to their knees on really flat tracks which are batsmen and even spin-friendly.” The squad arrived in Brisbane on Thursday and Corey Collymore is expected to lead the attack with back-up from Tino Best, Jermaine Lawson and Fidel Edwards.While the bowling appears settled, the batsmen’s weaknesses to legspin will mean a host of local slow men will be called to assist their preparation for a potential confrontation with Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill. The pair performed well in tandem during the Super Test and will be considered for Brisbane even though the surface usually suits the fast bowlers.”With what happened in the recent Test match you’d have to expect that [both Warne and MacGill playing] could happen again,” Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the captain, told the paper. “We know it will be tough but that is what makes you a Test cricketer. You have to deal with whatever may be in front of you.” West Indies play Queensland in a four-day match starting on Thursday.