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Indian coach John Wright won’t be attempting to stifle his players’ batsmanship as they go out to bat in the second National Bank Test against New Zealand starting in Hamilton tomorrow.While India were twice dismissed in less than 100 overs in total in the first Test, Wright said it would be dangerous for him to be telling his batsmen how best to do their job.”Coaching is more of a process. Obviously you can hope for the outcome but you don’t necessarily control that,” he said.It was unrealistic to expect the Indians to change their approach overnight.They had come to New Zealand from playing a series against the West Indies on some of the flattest pitches they had ever seen.His side were definitely the most attractive batting line-up in the world and he was hopeful that New Zealanders would get to see them playing their natural game.”It’s very important that you may give a message to players of what you want to achieve, it’s very dangerous when you start telling them how to do it.”I really don’t think that Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid and [V V S] Laxman and [Sourav] Ganguly have achieved what they have in the game by playing a certain way. They have to express themselves.”Obviously there are guidelines about how to play in the conditions, and they have to work that out for themselves. If you start changing natural inclination, the way you play, that’s what’s got them there. I believe that from a coaching perspective. So hopefully, we will perform better with the bat and we know we’ve got a reasonable chance of getting 20 wickets.”It is dangerous to tell players how to achieve what you try and set out to do.”The biggest thing they need to achieve is the self-belief and confidence to go out and play their game,” he said.Because all of them wanted to go out and get runs, he added.India had shown several times in recent years that it could come back from 1-0 down in the series. While it was a little disappointing that this series only involved two Tests that was the way circumstances dictated.But a three-Test series at least allowed the chance for a comeback because players got to know each other better, he said.

The South Africa A tour of India which was planned forSeptember this year has been postponed, the United Cricket Board has announced.It is understood that the reason for the cancellation is the monsoon conditions prevalent at that time of the year.The South Africa A team, however, will play against Kenya, India and Australia during the 2001/2 internationalseason.

West Ham have enjoyed an exciting campaign which has seen attacking midfielders Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma kick on and develop into key players for the team, with the trio scoring a combined 19 goals to help the club fight for European football once again next season.

However, one of their star midfielders could be headed for the exit door this summer, much to manager David Moyes and the West Ham faithful’s frustration.

What’s the news?

The Hammers could be about to lose one of their fan-favourites Manuel Lanzini, as according to La Pagina Millonaria, he has already met with representatives from former team River Plate – including their vice club president, ahead of a potential summer move.

At 29-years-old, the creative midfielder still has a number of years left at the top of his game, and despite that and also his recent career revival at the east London club, according to the report he also wants the move back to his native Argentina.

Disaster if he doesn’t stay?

Despite having started just 12 games in the Premier League this season, he has become a critical cog in Moyes’ machine – starting in all of the team’s last six games in all competitions as we head towards the business end of the season.

In the league, he has scored four goals and set up a further two, averaging a 6.92 –  ranking above the likes of Benrahma (6.90), Andriy Yarmolenko (6.73) and £27m signing Nikola Vlasic (6.52).

Since signing from United Arab Emirates outfit Al-Jazira back in 2016 for £10.8m, he has gone on to provide some incredible moments in his West Ham career which has seen him rack up 191 appearances in total – including one which saw him score a last-minute screamer to complete a stunning 3-3 comeback away to rivals Tottenham.

Labelled as a “special player” by teammate Declan Rice, Lanzini is statistically one of the best passers in Europe right now, ranking among wingers and attacking midfielders across the top five leagues and continental competitions over the last year in the top 1% for passes completed per 90 (56.71), pass completion percentage per 90 (90.6%) and top 5% for passes into the final third per 90 (4.16).

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Moyes needs to keep the £69k-per-week earner, for at least another season, in order to build on the positives that can be taken out of this campaign and continue their steady progress towards eventually reaching the top four – and avoiding disaster by letting him go.

In other news: “Good chances..” – Romano drops big West Ham transfer claim, supporters surely buzzing

	The amount of big bucks in the Indian dressing room could, feels Gary Kirsten, be a big challenge © Getty Images

Gary Kirsten, India’s coach-in-waiting, feels the vast and varied sums of money the players have picked up following the Indian Premier League auction may present a new challenge for him.”The IPL is new territory for all of us. So maybe, the kind of money that’s come in presents a new sort of challenge for me,” Kirsten, whose India contract starts on March 1, told . But we will focus on that if the need comes.”All the current Indian internationals have been signed up by the eight IPL franchises, with some players attracting much more money than others – while 28-Test-old opener Wasim Jaffer was bought by Bangalore for US$ 150,000, five-Test-old fast bowler Ishant Sharma was snapped up by Kolkata for US$ 950,000.Kirsten said IPL is a great opportunity for international cricketers, and saw “no reason why it shouldn’t succeed”. However, the former South Africa opener added that he has no interest “for now” on being part of the Twenty20 tournament starting April 18 as he is focused on the new assignment with the Indian team.”The IPL is unique because it brings in a new kind of supporter to cricket. It also adds a new dimension to the game. I think it’s great,” said Kirsten. “But I am clear that it’s not for me. Certainly, not now. My focus right now is on getting my plans in place for the Indian team.”Kirsten is currently in Mumbai, meeting BCCI officials about getting new support staff in place for the Indian team following the resignations of physio John Gloster and trainer Gregory King. “There are a couple of names in the mix, but we will have to discuss various options before coming to a decision,” said Kirsten.However, he said that he was very keen on getting his business associate and mental skills coach Paddy Upton on board on a permanent basis. “He brings a tremendous amount of experience into the field, and am sure that will add a lot of value,” said Kirsten. Upton has also worked with the South Africa team as a fitness trainer.Although Kirsten was with the Indian team as a consultant during the recent Test series in Australia, he will begin work on a full-time basis starting with the South Africa tour to India next month.

Inzamam-ul-Haq and Nasim Ashraf at the memorial service © AFP

Pakistani players and dignitaries attended a memorial service in Lahore for Bob Woolmer on Sunday.Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq led a contingent of seven players among the 400 mourners at the 100-year-old Sacred Heart Church in Lahore while officials lit candles and laid floral wreaths at a portrait of the late coach.Inzamam, accompanied by team-mates Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Asif, Mohammed Hafeez and Kamran Akmal, said Woolmer was an “excellent coach and above all things was an excellent human being.””After Woolmer’s family, the Pakistan team was the most aggrieved by his death,” AFP quoted Inzamam as saying during the hour-long service.Archbishop of Lahore Reverend Lawrence Saldanha said Woolmer was like a “second father” to his players. “We pay tribute to his excellent qualities. He was known for his passionate interest in cricket. We salute him for his professional competency, as well as his sense of responsibility and commitment,” Saldanha said. “He was also a kind and gentle person who won the hearts of his players who looked up to him as a second father.”Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf described Woolmer’s death “a terrible tragedy” and said that he was a “rock of stability” who lived for cricket and loved the sport. “He was internationally known and was the first modern coach of cricket. The world will follow his method and teachings.”He remembered Woolmer as a man of simple tastes, choosing to live in a room at the National Cricket Academy rather than a five-star hotel, who developed a taste for Pakistani food and movies and understood some Urdu. “He would go to food street (a restaurant area of Lahore) and watch Pakistani movies and he once told me that the boys do not know that I understand half of their jokes.”Ashraf lit candles and along with Punjab governor Khalid Maqbool laid wreaths on behalf of President Pervez Musharraf around Woolmer’s portrait, which was decorated with red roses and yellow marigold. “Muslims and Christian citizens gathered here at the Sacred Heart Church over the sorrowful death of coach Bob Woolmer and all prayed for the departed soul,” Maqbool said. “Defeat and victory is part of the game. The disappointment of Pakistani cricket team is just for the time being. It will soon emerge as as one of the greatest cricket teams of the world.”Experts from Britain’s Scotland Yard and a couple of senior Pakistani police officers are assisting the Jamaican police in investigating Woolmer’s murder.

West Indies have won just one out of 12 Test matches under Bennett King as coach © Getty Images

The committee appointed by the West Indies Cricket Board to review the tenure of Bennett King, the West Indies coach, and his staff has been unable to determine whether the Board are getting value for money. However, they have recommended that King and his men stay put.The WICB issued a media release on the report submitted on February 15 by the committee headed by Jackie Hendriks and including the WICB directors Deryck Murray and Enoch Lewis were the other members.The evaluation of King, David Moore, the assistant coach, Stephen Partridge, the physiotherapist, and Bryce Cavanaugh, the trainer, had been prompted by a request by Chetram Singh, the Guyana Cricket Board president and WICB director, for the Board to determine whether King and his colleagues were worth the collective sum of US$1m they are reportedly receiving. Since his tenure began, King, who has been given full responsibility for the team, has presided over just one Test victory in 12 matches, the latest defeat being Monday’s 27-run loss against New Zealand in Auckland.However, in the release, the WICB said: “The Hendriks Committee noted that there was not sufficient evidence to work with in determining whether the investment in the coaching staff had paid dividends and suggested that the coaching staff be given more opportunity before a further evaluation is made.”Specifically, the Hendriks committee had been asked to:1. Review the conditions of employment which relate to the imported coaching staff and to evaluate the results which have been achieved to date and2. To advise whether, in the view of the committee, the results achieved have justified the investment.However, while failing to come to a firm conclusion on the success of King and his men, the committee commended “the obvious commitment of the coaching staff toward moving West Indies cricket forward”. The committee noted further that ” King and his support team appear to be keen and resolute in their determination to ensure that the West Indies team shows a marked improvement in both one-day and Test matches, and they realise that their future employment with the WICB depends very largely on an improvement of the team’s performances over the next 18 months.” It also concluded that strides had been made in fitness and technical areas.The committee also said King was “in complete charge of the West Indies team in accordance with his mandate and the results achieved by the team must be taken as an indication of the effectiveness of his tenure to date”. “However, off-the-field issues over which the head coach had no control have led to a negative view of his performance, including the lack of funds available for him to carry out certain of his plans and, too, the very unsettling industrial impasse that has existed before and during recent home and away series. The delay in implementing retainer contracts for players was also a cause for great concern by the head coach in working on achieving the goals and objectives set by the coaching staff.”The committee also found there was a need for several changes to be made in the running of regional cricket. These changes included the structure of West Indies first-class cricket, which they said needed to undergo considerable change so as to maximise its effectiveness; the need to adopt and implement the Regional Cricket Development Plan; the reintroduction of a central cricket academy with a vastly improved structure, and the establishment of satellite academies within the territories which would greatly enhance the effectiveness of the central academy; the need for a process and a system to be put in place to raise the standards throughout the region; and the need to appoint a West Indian understudy to the head coach to provide for succession planning.In addition, the committee urged that a consistent and uniform coaching policy throughout the region be established and that leadership training continued to be pursued.

Darren Gough says he played against some of the current Australians when he was in the England under-19s© Getty Images

Darren Gough, who faces constant questions about his longevity, believes Australia’s ageing players could become a weakness for the world champions. As the Ashes tour approaches, Gough, 34, said the advancing years of England’s opponents were a bonus.”Some of their players are getting on age-wise, many of them are a similar age to me,” Gough said. “I played against quite a few for England under-19s so they’ve been around for a long while. That should be seen as a positive for England.”Gough, a one-day only bowler who hopes to reach the 2007 World Cup, said it was important not to underestimate Australia because they were a great side capable of destroying anyone. “They’ve just beaten New Zealand in a one-day series 5-0, we lost to New Zealand in England and they’ve also just beaten an experienced New Zealand 2-0 in a Test series – they can’t be under-estimated.”A regular bowling headache for Australia over the past decade, Gough said the lower-order batting would also be targeted. “They have a long tail now with Shane Warne coming into bat at No. 8 – and, with no disrespect to Warney, he can bat but he’s not probably a Test match No. 8, more like a No. 9,” he said.”Gough said all of England’s players needed to be in form by the start of the Test series in July. “We all believe we have got a chance but we all have to be at the very top of our games,” he said. “At the minute, we’re not.” Australia’s first match against England in the NatWest Series is on June 19 at Bristol and the opening Test starts at Lord’s on July 21.

Brian Lara powers towards his hundred © AFP

Brian Lara: To get my first hundred against South Africa, away from home after 12 tests was very pleasing and the team needed it. The bowling was good but the pitch played very good. I struggled to get set but batting withGanga reminded me of batting with Jimmy Adams and had a very steadyinginfluence on me. Once set I am an attacking batsman and try as hard as I canto get as much as I can.When Peterson came on during the second-last over the field was all up and Iplayed every ball on its merit, the players were up and I went over the top.I did not know that 28 was a record and just did what I thought was right.Today you saw a different Brian Lara, From what I learnt from Jimmy [Adams]and Carl [Hooper] I have become a more determined player and a bettercaptain.I woke up early this morning and watched the Indians play against Australia.Australia and South Africa are teams that the rest of us want to do wellagainst and I took the impetus from Dravid, Laxman and Patel and playedtoday from their strength.Eric Simons: It was a hard day but I am really happy with the way we bowled, especially in the first and last session. It is two good teams and a good contest. On another day we could have bowled worse and come away in a better position. The Nel vs Lara contest was a good experience for the bowler bowling at one of the best batsmen in the world. He has picked up a lot of pace after some technical changes and losing some weight.

If there was any doubt that early 2002 is the time of a changing of the guard in Australian cricket, then today’s developments represent the most indisputable evidence of all.The decision of national selectors Trevor Hohns, Allan Border, Andrew Hilditch and David Boon to relieve Steve Waugh of the country’sone-day international captaincy is a clear statement of their determination to start rejuvenating a team that is showing signs of fraying at theedges.It also signals that no player is potentially immune from their axe. Because, if Australia’s most statistically successful long-term limited-overscaptain can be dropped, then no-one can assume their position in the team to be safe.This new year started with Australia looking as invincible as ever, its completion of a 3-0 series whitewash of South Africa a comprehensivere-assertion of its superiority over its rivals in the Test arena.But, in the weeks since, it has been impossible not to detect hints of deterioriation in the performances of the country’s limited-overs line-up.Nor to imagine that the decisions of the team’s selectors over the next few months will be anything other than crucial to its hopes of success inthe years ahead.In finishing behind both South Africa and New Zealand in the recently-concluded VB Series, Australia not only failed to qualify for a homeone-day international finals series for just the third time in 22 years. But its batsmen also struggled to produce large scores on a consistentbasis; a number of its biggest names endured lacklustre individual campaigns; and its policy of rotation – of which Waugh has generally been astrong advocate – did not work well.Against that background, impressive performances from a range of players pushing for inclusion in the team helped to foster the sense thatsome form of renewal might be required.Through this period, the symbolism of thumping wins by Australia ‘A’ – a collection of the nation’s second-tier players – over each of the twotouring teams was especially hard to ignore.Outstanding cricket at domestic level from youngsters like Shane Watson, Paul Rofe, Michael Clarke and Sean Clingeleffer, meanwhile,effectively poured cold water on claims from some quarters that Australia might not have the depth to effectively cover the eventual loss of itssenior players.The country’s unbeaten run at the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand has been another telling recent development.In itself, Waugh’s swift demise as one-day leader represents a major shock.He has been one of the world’s most distinguished players and it is not as though his recent performances have been in any senseunderwhelming. The second-most capped player in one-day international history, he has scored 387 runs at an average of 48.38 in his last 11innings; guided the side to 22 wins from its last 29 matches; and been far from the worst of its players.Waugh’s ruthlessness, his drive and his iron-willed determination were also crucial factors behind Australia’s World Cup wins of 1987 and1999 and the acquisition of its mantle as the world’s number one side over recent years.Yet pressure was always likely to remain centred on his team for as long as it even gave the impression of toying with decline. And, if theselectors hadn’t detected the message during recent weeks that at least some tinkering with the side was needed, then any ambitions of asuccessful World Cup defence might as well have been surrendered.It is likely that Waugh won’t be the only player to experience first-hand the impact of such changes. His brother, Mark, is another for whomhope of a sustained career at one-day international level must now be cast in grave doubt. The futures of all-rounders Ian Harvey andAndrew Symonds will doubtless also be carefully considered.But, as captain of the side, the buck has most immediately stopped with him.At some point in the early part of this decade, Australia’s selectors were always likely to have to confront the stomach-churning decision ofknowing when to end Waugh’s one-day international career.In attempting to determine exactly how Australia’s limited-overs fortunes will shape up without him, they have decided there is no better timethan the present.

The Cooch Behar clash between Railways and Haryanaat the Deccan Gymkhana in Pune ended in a draw onWednesday. Resuming on 117/4 in response toHaryana’s mammoth 616/8 declared, Railways wereskittled out for 180. Amit Mishra (5/29) and NitinAggarwal (4/67) were the architects of the Haryanasuccess story. Manoj Sriwatav with an unbeaten 66was the only Railways batsman to offer anyresistance.Surprisingly, Haryana decided not to enforce thefollow on. After having Railways on the ropes theylet them off the hook. In their second essay,Sumit Sharma slammed an unbeaten 128 and tookHaryana to 258/4. The draw gave Haryana enoughpoints to qualify for the semifinal stage of thetournament.