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“Not again. Not now…my hope is that common sense will prevail all around.” That was the comment yesterday by Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, in responding to reports of the latest dispute to surface between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and West Indies Players Association (WIPA).The sensitive issues involved include the WICB’s surprising exclusion of all-rounder Dwayne Bravo from a retainer contract as offered to seven others, and a planned meeting by the board with skipper Brian Lara to discuss recent controversial comments at the conclusion of the fourth Test in the series against India, including being handicapped as captain by the selectors.Mitchell confirmed to the Sunday Express that he had received a telephone call from WIPA’s president and chief exective officer Dinanath Ramnarine about implications for the future involvement of Lara and Bravo in the West Indies team.”But I am awaiting a promised letter from WIPA,” he explained, in order to also obtain the views of the board before considering what relevant approaches should be pursued with his CARICOM colleagues. “What is at stake is the future of West Indies cricket, at a time when we are collectively spending millions and millions of dollars in preparation for next year’s Cricket World Cup. This is not a time for us to be faced with another crisis in relations between the board and the association and I hope common sense prevails on all sides,” added Mitchell.In a statement issued on July 15, when the board disclosed the exclusion of Bravo from retainer contracts offered to seven other players, the board signalled that it may have to resort to “appropriate action”, even as Lara has himself hinted of reviewing his availability for captaincy of the West Indies team.The board said it had considered “at length recent statements and actions” of Lara during and after the conclusion of the final Test match against India at Sabina Park, Jamaica, and a committee, headed by WICB president Ken Gordon, was established to investigate “all matters” pertaining to his statements. The committee, which hopes to meet with Lara by this week, “will take such actions as considered appropriate” after hearing from him.Along with Gordon, three other committee members named are former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, ex-CEO of the board Gregory Shillingford and Sir Alister McIntyre, former vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies.In a circulated e-mail note, Shillingford has already warned that it appears from “various responses, through e-mails from the ICC and FICA and communication from WIPA and others, we are heading down the same disastrous path that we travelled down previously…”Responding last Wednesday to the WICB’s expressed concern over statements by Lara, as well as the exclusion of Bravo from a retainer contract that could be in conflict with an agreement with official sponsors Digicel, the Players Association accused the board of disregarding rulings by both FICA and the ICC pertaining to “respective commercial and promotional rights”.Claiming lack of “information promised to us by the board” by last week, WIPA have warned of their readiness to “take such steps as necessary to protect the rights and interests of their members”.

Tom Moody: ‘I understand that they have not had a lot of this stuff before and I would like to get Sandy involved’ © Getty Images

The Sri Lankan board have decided to enlist the services of Sandy Gordon, the leading sports psychologist, to assist the players with the mental aspect of the game, according to Tom Moody, the new coach. The appointment of Gordon, a Perth-based South African who has worked with players from Australia and India, is Moody’s first major decision since taking up his position as national coach.Gordon will fly to Colombo this week to conduct one-to-one and group sessions with the players during the first two days of a four-day training camp that will start on Friday. He will then continue in a consultancy capacity, holding quarterly workshops with the players and maintaining contact via e-mail and the telephone. Sri Lanka’s players have not previously been provided proper sports psychology support.”I think this is an area that is required now,” Moody told Cricinfo. “Players are given support in every other area and they should be given support on their mental skills, one of the most important areas. I understand that they have not had a lot of this stuff before and I would like to get Sandy involved quarterly and the players will have access to him on an ongoing basis via phone and email.”Sri Lanka are also set to make changes to the medical back-up team due to concerns over injury problems during the last year. CJ Clarke, the current physiotherapist, will concentrate on physical training and a new physiotherapist, probably with considerable cricket experience, will be hired. Moody hopes a new physiotherapist will be able to start in time for the training camp.Moody is also due to meet with the Sri Lanka board this week to discusscandidates for a full-time assistant coach, another new post that will be filled by a local candidate. Rumesh Ratnayake, the best fast bowling coach in the island, is tipped for the job.

Kevin Pietersen has settled his differences with Nottinghamshire and will play for them at least until the end of the 2004 season. Pietersen, 23, who was one of the few players to make an impression on England A’s recent tour of India, had been planning to sue the club for unfair dismissal – after assuming he had been sacked following a row last season. But has now kissed and made up.”We are delighted Kevin will play,” said Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket. “He is a player with great potential and it is our aim to provide Kevin the best possible opportunity to play for England as well as helping Nottinghamshire win competitions.””I raised a number of issues with the club last season," said Pietersen, "and since I returned from the England A tour it has become clear to me the club has made a significant number of improvements during the winter. I will be sitting down with Mick Newell and Jason Gallian [the captain] in the very near future to discuss some key issues so that we can move forward in what I hope will be a great summer for cricket.”

The chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Tim Lamb, has begun the process of rebuilding England’s relationship with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, after deciding not to appeal against the World Cup technical committee’s decision to award their World Cup match to Zimbabwe.”I accept this has been a very protracted and difficult issue and it has taken the gloss off not only England’s participation in this tournament but there’s no doubt it has detracted from the integrity of the event,” Lamb conceded.”It’s easy to be wise after the event, but I believe that throughout this whole process right from December 28 which was when the issue really started, as far as myself and the ECB are concerned, when the government said what it did about their view of us going to Zimbabwe, I don’t think there is anything we could have done differently.”It’s time to put this behind us, we’ve given it our best shot, we’ve done everything possible to try to persuade the ICC of the merits of our case and Ithink, in the wider interests of cricket and the need to start building bridgeswith our counterparts in other boards, it’s best if we put this issue behindus.”Referring to England’s relationship with the ZCU, Lamb stressed: “On a personal level everything has remained extremely cordial and friendly.”I personally phoned the chairman and chief executive of the ZCU on the day we announced our decision not to play, to express my sympathy to them and the regret in which we had come to our decision.”We knew it was going to be a massive event for them and I know how disappointed the ZCU would have been but I just hope that they would understandwhy we took the decision we did and we can move forward as friends in thefuture.”I haven’t received any specific assurance but I very much hopeful there won’t be any repercussions as far as the South African tour to the UK is concerned and certainly as far as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union sending their team to Englnad this summer as well.”I hope as part of the process of putting this behind us that both the toursthat Zimbabwe and South Africa are undertaking to the UK this summer and thetours that England are undertaking to Zimbabwe and South Africa in the winter of2004/5 will take place without any hitches.”Lamb believes that the death threat posed in the letter to the players from the so-called “Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe” was a serious one.”I can assure you it totally contradicted much of what we had heard before, it added to our disquiet and our concern about the whole nature of the advice that we had got up to that point and we’re still getting from various security, intelligence and police sources.”The ECB took the decision with the support of the players that in the circumstances and in the light of not having totally satisfactory assurances ofwhether the letter posed a serious threat that we had no alternative but toapproach the ICC and get them to try and locate the fixture.”The players and the ECB had a major concern about the wholly inconsistent contradictory and inadequate assessments of the threat posed by the letter sentby the Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe on the part of the police and of thesecurity and intelligence professionals in charge of security arrangements.”The new evidence put before the technical committee, including that of thepolice and security personnel, established that the England players were, in thecircumstances, entitled to take the overt threats against them and theirfamilies seriously.”

In a thrilling match of constant fluctuation, Zimbabwe finally wonthrough over India by four wickets in the second Test at Harare onMonday. Their heroes on the final day were Heath Streak and AndyBlignaut with the ball and then, when the Zimbabwe challenge wasfaltering, Stuart Carlisle stood firm and saw his team home to theirsixth victory in 52 Tests, and their fourth at the Harare Sports Club.Against expectations, Zimbabwe levelled the two-match series withIndia, who are left still waiting their first overseas series winsince 1986.It turned out that the loss of Rahul Dravid in the final over of thethird day, reducing India to 197 for four, was the turning point ofthe innings – and the match – as in the first half-hour of the morningZimbabwe ripped open the Indian middle order, seizing four wickets for10 runs.Saurav Ganguly’s poor run on form continued. He had still not scoredwhen Andy Blignaut made a ball straighten on him and trapped him lbw,playing back instead of forward. The next blow was the loss of ShivSunder Das (70), who unwisely shouldered arms to Heath Streak and wasalso dismissed lbw, television upholding both decisions as good.India, 202 for six, now relied on debutant Hemang Badani and theirlower order.With no further addition, Ajit Agarkar drove loosely at a ball fromStreak swinging away, to be caught at the wicket, and next ballHarbhajan Singh slashed at a similar delivery and only just edged itover the slips for four. Harbhajan continued to live dangerously andtwo balls later he skied a catch just clear of cover, and down at theother end a leading edge off Blignaut was caught at short cover by thediving Dion Ebrahim in an effort that drew comparisons with JontyRhodes. India were sensationally reeling at 207 for eight.Badani and Javagal Srinath dug in for 35 minutes until Streak returnedfor his second spell after drinks, and immediately had Srinath (3)caught at the wicket. Ashish Nehra (0) hung on manfully for a further24 minutes before losing his off stump to Blignaut, but during thattime Badani (16 not out) was able to add only one scoring shot, a pullfor six over square leg. Blignaut finished with five wickets for 74and Streak four for 46.India were all out for 234, leaving Zimbabwe 157 to win. Zimbabwe hadscored 162 for three to beat Pakistan at Peshawar in 1998/99, but thiswas their only previous instance of successfully chasing a targetagainst a senior Test team. It was going to be a stern test ofconfidence and temperament for the Zimbabwean players, most of whomwere either untested or found wanting in such situations. The memoryof their failure to reach 99 to beat West Indies just over a year agowould have been fresh in their memories, although under more adverseconditions.Ganguly began with an attacking field. But Guy Whittall (8) and DionEbrahim (6) responded positively, leaving Zimbabwe 17 without loss atlunch.India broke through soon after lunch with the wicket or Whittall (10),caught off bat and pad off Srinath. This inspired the bowler togreater efforts as he worked up a real pace, but Harbhajan took thenext wicket, Ebrahim (20), also caught off bat and pad. At 45 for two,the Zimbabwe innings was at the crossroads.Alistair Campbell and Stuart Carlisle put together a brief partnershipbefore the former, once again failing to put together a score inkeeping with his ability, fell lbw to Nehra for 13. Grant Flower camein ahead of Andy, who was nursing a thumb injury, but there were nowsigns that Zimbabwe were beginning to clam up under the pressure.Harbhajan bowled his 11 overs before tea for just eight runs.At the interval Zimbabwe were 86 for three, 71 short of victory. GrantFlower (3) fell in the second over afterwards, caught at second slipoff Agarkar to put Zimbabwe’s backs to the wall at 89 for four.Carlisle gradually began to open up and play his strokes positively,and the tension began to relax as he ran to his fifty. The tensionrose again as Streak (8) drove loosely at Agarkar to be caught at thewicket, making the score 119 for five.Blignaut (16) played a few aggressive strokes, but tried it once toooften against Nehra and was bowled, middle stump, at 144 for six. Incame the injured Andy Flower, and to him fell the honour of scoringthe winning runs, a sweetly-timed cover drive for four. Carlislefinished unbeaten with 62 while Flower was eight not out.At the prize distribution ceremony, a jubilant Streak dedicated thevictory to Trevor Madondo. Shiv Sunder Das was adjudged man of theseries and Andy Blignaut was given the man of the match award.

Aston Villa have shown over the years that they are not shy when it comes to dipping into the transfer market to buy new players.

In more recent times, the Villans have also shown that they are capable of spending substantial amounts of money to bring new additions to their squad.

However, looking into the past, there has been one prime example of the club missing out on a very special player they could have signed if they’d been more extravagant with their spending.

According to a report from Birmingham Live, when Villa and Martin O’Neill were in the market for attacking reinforcements back in the 2008 January transfer window, the Midlands club had an offer of €15m (£12.6m) turned down from River Plate for striker Radamel Falcao.

During his time with the Argentine club, the striker scored 45 goals in 107 appearances before joining Porto in 2009.

Since then, the 36-year-old has gone on to play for clubs such as Atletico Madrid, AS Monaco, Manchester United, Chelsea, Galatasaray and Rayo Vallecano.

In 529 senior club appearances throughout his career, the Colombian has scored an impressive figure of 300 goals across all competitions, with 54 assists provided along the way, highlighting how much of a deadly attacking threat he’s been for such an extended period of time.

The veteran, who has been described as being a “charismatic” character by Thierry Henry, as well as a “leader” on the pitch, has also won numerous team titles and individual awards in what has undoubtedly been a glistening career.

Even though the man who has been dubbed a “tiger” failed to have much of an impact during his time in England with United and Chelsea by only scoring five goals in 41 games, there’s every possibility that it could have been a very different prospect for Villa had they secured his signature when they had the chance.

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Taking all of this into account and with the benefit of hindsight, it could have been a masterstroke from the Villans to splurge that little bit of extra cash to get Falcao to Villa Park, a decision that may well have sent them soaring up the table and proven game-changing in their modern history.

Sadly, it will now be seen as a big howler from O’Neill and the club’s hierarchy for letting a striker of Falcao’s calibre slip through their grasp.

In other news: AVFC can land Gerrard’s own Grealish in “super-talented” gem who won’t cost a penny 

Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson is going to skip the upcoming season of the Big Bash League to rest his body and spend time with his family. Johnson’s retirement from international cricket last month had raised his prospects of playing the BBL for the very first time for his home club and defending champions Perth Scorchers.”[It] is a real shame because I think everyone in Australia was hoping he’d play,” Scorchers coach Justin Langer told radio station on Thursday. “And I really respect where he’s at. He retired for a reason and he won’t be playing.”Since the BBL was going to run parallel to the Australian international home schedule, the Scorchers were hoping to get Johnson on board in the absence of Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh and Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile who are part of the Test squad to play West Indies. Johnson’s management, however, said he would explore the option of playing the BBL next summer.Head of the BBL Anthony Everard was confident that despite the absence of a few international names, the quality of the fifth season of the BBL would surpass that of the previous four seasons.”We would have been delighted to have a player of Mitch’s quality involved,” Everard told . “We’re disappointed that he won’t be involved this year, however the quality of players we have this season is the best we’ve ever had, both in terms of domestic players and overseas players. To have guys like Brad Haddin and Shane Watson playing for the first time in a meaningful way is fantastic. And then there’s the internationals, the likes of [Kevin] Pietersen, [Chris] Gayle, [Kumar] Sangakkara, [Jacques] Kallis – I could go on. The quality is the best we’ve had in four seasons so there’s still a lot of look forward to for fans.”The Scorchers have played all four finals of the BBL so far and won the last two tournaments. Their squad will be strengthened by England allrounder David Willey, who impressed in his first international season as a limited-overs player and will miss the ongoing England Lions tour of the UAE.”You can just start to feel it heating up,” Langer said. “We’ve got a good crew of players. Again, the expectations are very high, and that’s good. A lot will depend on who’s playing for Australia and if we can get our best guys on the park.”The Scorchers open their season on December 21 against the Adelaide Strikers at home.

A report on the caribbeancricket.com website claims that Judge Adrian Saunders, the mediator in the dispute between the West Indies board (WICB) and several leading players over contracts, will find in favour of the players. It is expected that he will agree that there is a distinction between endorsements they can sign in their private capacity and as a member of the West Indies team.The decision was conveyed to the board and the West Indies Players Association on Thursday and will be made public in the next day or two. What is means is that the board cannot prevent players taking up private endorsement deals before being selected or after they are dropped. For their part, the players cannot use team logos and similar branding to market themselves privately as a member of the West Indies side.Some issues remain outstanding, and the judge asked for both sides to show a willingness to sort these out by negotiation. That seemed unlikely as within 48 hours of receiving the decision, both the board and the WICA made thinly-disguised attacks on each other.On Saturday, the WICB accused the association of attempting to “undermine the mediation process” and of trying to “characterise the judgement of the independent arbiter in a manner favourable to WIPA”.The target of the board’s ire was Dinanath Ramnarine, the president and CEO of the WICA, who on Friday had issued a statement in which he had expressed concern that the board had delayed the naming of the side to tour Australia. He said: “We trust that the delay in naming the team does not arise from any attempt by the board to sidestep the appointed adjudicator.”Ramnarine’s confrontational style – some would argue he is simply standing up for the rights of his players – resulted in the resignation of Roland Holder as secretary earlier in the week.

ScorecardEngland were denied the chance to build on the psychological advantage of their 100-run at Lord’s when rain washed out the second one-day international against India, at Shenley, after just 16 overs.It was India, in fact, who were better placed when the rain arrived after restricting England’s early scoring. Charlotte Edwards followed her duck at Lord’s with just four this time around before edging Jhulan Goswami. Caroline Atkins, batting at No. 3 in place of Claire Taylor was soon trapped lbw. aylor missed this match after suffered a sore arm, the result of her unbeaten 156 at Lord’s. Therefore, India were sensing their opportunity.However, a series of heavy showers sent the players heading to the pavilion and although the sun appeared during the afternoon, the outfield had become too wet for any further play.

Steve Harmsion: should feel right at home playing at Chester-le-Street © Getty Images

England have named an unchanged team for the second Test against Bangladesh, which starts at Chester-le-Street tomorrow (Friday, June 3), following their innings-and-261-run win at Lord’s. After that comfortable victory England will again be expecting a maximum of just over two days’ work in Graham Thorpe’s 100th Test, barring any intervention from the fickle north-eastern weather.All eyes will be on Steve Harmison as he performs in front of his home crowd, and one thing is certain: homesickness will not be a problem for him. Gareth Batty will be hoping for a more active Test than he experienced at Lord’s, where he was not required to bat or bowl. He may get to the crease in this match, but as far as bowling goes, it could be another quiet game for Batty.Jon Lewis again misses out on a Test debut, but England’s pace attack will be targeting an improved performance, now they have some overs under their belts. Michael Vaughan highlighted the first ten overs of the Lord’s Test – when Bangladesh managed to put on 31 for the first wicket, helped by a lot of no-balls – as the one time when they were not at their best.England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Ian Bell, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Gareth Batty, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Simon Jones, 11 Stephen Harmison.