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There are difficult decisions to be made by the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board selection panel as they try to put together a formidable team that can successfully defend the regional KFC Cup limited overs title.Although the selectors remain tight-lipped on the final composition of the squad, the chairman of selectors Dudnath Ramkissoon did say that coming up with a final 14 is proving to be quite a challenge.”It will be difficult to make the final decision with all the players getting runs and taking wickets,” Ramkissoon said. “A number of the batsmen are getting some runs which is very encouraging, but the bowling needs to be a little tighter. I think we are in a fortunate position where we have a wide range of players to choose from in terms of performances.”There is only a certain number of people we can carry, and it is unfortunate that some players will have to be left out. It is not that they are not performing well, it is that the other guys are performing better at this point in time.”T&T have been preparing for the KFC Cup since late August. However, they will be without two key players for next month’s tournament. “It is a bit unfortunate for us that two of our young players, Darren Bravo and Adrian Barath, who are performing very well and hitting very good, will not be in the national squad.”Bravo and Barath will be representing the West Indies Under-19 team in the KFC Cup as part of preparation for next year’s ICC Under-19 World Cup.”This will only give an opportunity for other players to come into the squad. All the Test players will be available – Ravi Rampaul, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo- and of course they will strengthen the team. These guys will bring their experience not only to the matches, but having them training with the team will encourage the youngsters and will be an inspiration and motivation to them during the practice sessions.”

Simon Taufel was named as Umpire of the Year for the third successive time at the ICC Awards in Mumbai. Taufel, was picked by the ten Test captains as well as the eight-man Elite Panel of ICC Referees.”On behalf of the ICC I would like to congratulate Simon on this award,” said Percy Sonn, the ICC president. “He is a brilliant umpire and it is good to see that he is being recognised as such. It is clear that the players and the referees have enormous confidence in him and rightly so. He has once again had an outstanding year making decisions in pressure situations all over the world and this award reflects the fact he has got the vast majority of those decisions right.”Mind you, it should be pointed out that the competition for this award was very tough because all the members of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires are excellent decision-makers in both ODIs and in the longer form of the game.”Taufel, 35, made his first-class debut as an umpire in 1994-95 and joined the Elite Panel in 2003.”It is good to win an individual award but really it should be remembered that umpiring is a team sport,” Taufel told the audience. “There are two guys out there in the middle, one in the box and a fourth umpire too so although it’s great to win this, it’s not an individual effort.”Winning this for the third time is possibly even more special for me because it tells me that what I am doing is along the right lines and it inspires me to keep improving in what I am doing. It is also a tribute to my coaches and family who have been supporting to me for so long.”It can be a tough existence at times and it’s not easy to keep at the top of your game but it is events like this that make a difference to us. Perhaps the ICC Awards will inspire other people to choose umpiring as a possible career path and that can only be good for the game.”

Michael Hussey has been thrust into the Australia squad as cover for Justin Langer, who is fighting a fractured rib to prove his fitness for the first Test against West Indies on Thursday. Langer, who was hit while batting for Western Australia in an ING Cup match on Saturday, has not been ruled out of the side, but Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, decided to give Hussey time to adapt in case he was asked to make his debut.”The reports from team medical staff suggest that Justin will aim to practice tomorrow, but in the event that he’s not fit to play, we want to have a player on stand-by in Brisbane,” Hohns said. “Although Justin has signalled his intent to train and make himself available for the Test, we must cover all of our bases.”Hussey will join the team from Perth today and his impressive ODI performances since being recalled in March – he has an average of 119.25 in his past 17 matches – and position as a specialist opener pushed him above Brad Hodge and Phil Jaques. “Hussey has played some fine cricket for Australia in the one-day international arena, so he is familiar with the set-up within the national side,” Hohns said. “He is a quality top-order batsman in first-class cricket and we believe he can fill a role in the Test side if required.” reported today that Langer risked puncturing a lung if hit again, but he was desperate to prove his fitness. “He would almost certainly wear a guard and he risks sustaining further injury, such as a punctured lung,” Dr Trefor James, the team doctor, told the paper. “It’s not a high risk, but the thing about it is it’s quite a serious injury. That will have to be explained to him.”Dr James said if Langer was restricted in any of his batting and fielding movements he would be ruled out. This is the second time in a year Langer has been injured in the lead-up to a Test, but he recovered from a back problem to play at the MCG last Boxing Day.

After the disappointment of their early exit from the Champions Trophy, after an error-strewn fielding performance on a bitterly cold autumnal day at the Rose Bowl, John Dyson, Sri Lanka’s ever-upbeat coach, has predicted a quick resumption of Sri Lanka’s winning run in Pakistan this month.Just days after their return from England and after a practice week that has been marred by wet weather in Colombo, Sri Lanka will depart for Pakistan on Sunday for a four-week tour that includes a tri-series also involving Zimbabwe and a two-Test series with Pakistan.Their first-round defeat to England, the eventual finalists, broke a winning run that had carried Sri Lanka to the No. 2 spot in the ICC’s official ODI rankings. But Dyson refused to be downbeat, describing the loss as "just one bad day"."We were caught on a day that was cold and wet and given the vast change in climatic conditions it affected our fielding game," Dyson said as the team limbered up for Pakistan. "We missed a couple of pretty good chances and we paid for that in the end. We won the toss, choose the right thing to do, and bowled pretty well. If we had held on to our chances we would have restricted England to a reasonable total.""But we have won 18 out of the 22 one-day matches we have played in the last 12 months and also won four and drawn four of the eight Tests that we have played – our fielding had been a big part of that success and we just had one bad day," he added. "We are going to a country with similar climatic conditions to our own – although perhaps a little colder – and I expect them to continue the good form they have shown in the past few months."Sri Lanka will be expected to breeze past a second-rate Zimbabwe side still ravaged by their ongoing player dispute, and fight it out with Pakistan for the Paktel Cup. But Dyson has already discussed the dangers of complacency with the team. He also expects Pakistan to present a tough opposition after signs of an upturn under coach Bob Woolmer."Pakistan are playing at home and can be expected to perform well under their own conditions, like most teams do," said Dyson. "They have some superb players and there has been a pick-up in their game and their loss in the Champions Trophy to West Indies, a result that few people predicted, will be a bit of a kick in the backside.""We have also spoken about complacency against Zimbabwe and the need to guard against it. We have played so much against them recently that they are starting to get know us – we’re almost on first-name terms. The guys are aware of that they know that they need to be on top of their game to make sure that Zimbabwe don’t slip one under us.Dyson views the tour as an important opportunity for some of the younger players to make a name for themselves: "We have got a couple of young guys going away. Maharoof is developing fast and I will be keen for him to be given opportunities with the bat. For [Thilina] Kandamby, it will be good to see him grab his opportunity as we need a good middle-order player who is also a good hitter. Dilhara [Fernando], meanwhile, has shown some excellent form in the nets and he is ripe for coming back in."Sri Lanka will be missing Muttiah Muralitharan, who is still recovering from shoulder surgery, and Dyson is looking forward to seeing how his trio of spinners – Upul Chandana, Rangana Herath and Kaushal Lokuarachchi – respond to the added responsibility."We have shown that we can win without Murali at home during the South Africa series, but this will be a bigger test as it is outside the country and against a very good cricket team. The spinners will be put under a lot more pressure this time to fill his boots but they have stepped up before and it will be interesting to see how they handle the extra pressure."

Close South Africa 362 for 4 (Kallis 32*) v England
Scorecard

An astonishing display of non-stop shotmaking from Herschelle Gibbs blazed South Africa into command against England, on the first day of the fifth npower Test match at The Oval. Gibbs walloped 183 – 146 of which flowed in boundaries – as South Africa closed on 362 for 4. He added 227 with the equally admirable Gary Kirsten, in a performance that brought back painful memories of the first days at Edgbaston and Lord’s. Back then, of course, it was Graeme Smith who took centre stage. Today it was the gallivanting Gibbs.Gibbs was all about power and placement as he treated the crowd to his dazzling array of strokes all round the wicket. He fired a non-stop procession of classy boundaries: 35 fours and a six in all, and ten in the morning session alone. He took a particular liking to Ashley Giles, dancing down the wicket and driving him over the top at any opportunity. The shots just kept coming and he brought up his tenth Test century in the afternoon with another boundary – his 20th – when he lofted Michael Vaughan over mid-on for four. An astonishing 86 runs of his 100 came from boundaries, and he wasn’t finished there, not by a long way.Immediately after reaching his hundred, Gibbs cracked James Anderson for three fours in an over, but might have been out twice. The third of his boundaries flew straight past Mark Butcher’s hands at point, and that was after Martin Bicknell had made an unconvincing attempt to catch a skyer running back at midwicket. The crowd were pleased with the entertainment, but Kirsten wasn’t. He stomped down the pitch and gave Gibbs a long lecture, telling the young upstart to calm down and not throw it away. Meanwhile, amid all the mayhem, Gibbs had passed 400 runs in the series.Next came the 150. England tried everything to stop him: short balls, full balls, but Gibbs treated it all like a load of balls as he carried on hammering anything loose to the fence. He eventually fell after five hours and twenty minutes at the crease when he heaved across the line to Giles and was bowled for a breathtaking 183 (345 for 3).Kirsten was less explosive, but still just as effective. As England have found out down the years, once Kirsten’s in, he’s pretty tough to get out. He soon realised that this pitch held no demons to compare with those lurking in the Headingley track, and played with increasing freedom. He reached his fifty off 84 balls with a host of characteristic drives and slashes past point. Crucially, he also saw out a spell of short aggressive bowling from Stephen Harmison, and proved an effective foil to Gibbs as the pair batted throughout the middle session. Kirsten was eventually adjudged lbw while sweeping against Giles, even though TV replays show the ball hit him just outside the line (290 for 2).Jacques Kallis, on the back of a double-hundred against Derbyshire, got under way with two perfectly-timed onand off-drives, as well as a huge six into the pavilion off Giles. He and Neil McKenzie almost saw out the last hour of play, but McKenzie edged Anderson to Alec Stewart in the final over to give England some joy in an otherwise depressing day.It was another day of toil for a batch of bowlers, who appeared to be suffering from a Headingley hangover. Apart from a mindless run-out, a dubious lbw, and a tired slog from a centurion, England and the packed Oval crowd had little to shout about until McKenzie’s late dismissal. Anderson was once again erratic and Andrew Flintoff was expensive, going for 73 from 14 overs. They had a few good appeals turned down, but they didn’t bowl well enough. One ball was too short, the next too full. It was a familiar story.Vaughan was forced to turn to Giles as early as the 12th over of the day, but Gibbs promptly pulled him for four to bring up the fifty. Smith’s run-out temporarily lifted England’s spirits back up again. Gibbs dropped Giles into the off side, and set off for a quick single. It was a risky run and Smith was slow to get out of the blocks. Vaughan, at cover, was much quicker off the mark and hurled the ball to Stewart who did the rest with Smith well short of the crease (63 for 1). It was the only sour point on what was a champagne day for Gibbs, and for South Africa. But Vaughan, on the other hand, will be left cursing England’s perpetual FPS: flat pitch syndrome.Wisden Verdict: Gibbs’s power lights up the day

Captain Simon Katich said Western Australia’s first outright win of the season, over South Australia at the Adelaide Oval today, was a reward for patient bowling and sharp fielding.The Warriors dismissed South Australia for 154 to claim the 76-run victory, with paceman Matt Nicholson taking his second four-wicket haul of the game to benamed man of the match.”It was good for the bowlers to get the rewards,” Katich said.”Brad Williams, Matt Nicholson and Jo Angel were all good.”The fielding was excellent, that could have been the difference, although it was a 70-odd run game, but we fielded very well in both innings.”WA’s 227 in the first innings was the highest score of the match, but Katich said the pitch was not that difficult to bat on and the low scoring was a credit to the accuracy of the bowlers.”The wicket was good, yesterday it was a bit up and down and a bit hard to score on but the bowlers just hit good areas and bowled to their fields,” he said.SA started today at four for 52, needing to reach 231 to win the game, but lost Brad Young in the first over of the day without adding to the score and Ben Higgins nine runs later to fall to 6-61.Wicketkeeper Graham Manou and all-rounder Mike Smith provided the only real resistance, hitting a rapid 68-run seventh wicket partnership, with Manou topscoring with 43 from 38 balls.But his aggression cost him his wicket, when he skied a sweep shot attempting to loft Brad Hogg over mid-wicket, giving WA keeper Ryan Campbell an easy catch.That virtually ended the South Australian fightback, with the last three wickets falling cheaply, Nicholson picking up the final wicket of Mark Harrity 25 minutes after lunch.WA left-arm spinner Brad Oldroyd was unable to celebrate the win with his team-mates after being knocked unconscious and being taken from the ground on astretcher after an accidental collision with SA’s Peter McIntyre just before lunch.McIntyre was running between wickets while Oldroyd was attempting to get back to the stumps, and the pair clashed heads.Oldroyd was hospitalised with concussion but was not believed to have suffered any more serious injuries.SA skipper Darren Lehmann said while his team was disappointed with its batting, there were several positives to take from the match, including eight wickets to20-year-old paceman Paul Rofe in just his eighth first-class match, and a first innings unbeaten 121 from opener Ben Johnson.Johnson only made the team because regular opening pair Jeff Vaughan (concussion) and David Fitzgerald (illness) were unavailable.The two sides meet again here on Friday for a limited overs day-night match.Oldroyd will miss the game, with Angel expected to replace him.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:19

Sri Lanka seal clean sweep

Sri Lanka’s seamers ploughed through the West Indies top order then weathered a Marlon Samuels surge to set up a 19-run Duckworth-Lewis victory and complete the series whitewash. Buoyed by Samuels’ 94-ball 110 not out, West Indies got to 206 for 9 from their 36 overs, but, having had them at 105 for 6 before a 135-minute rain interruption, Sri Lanka had that total scaled down via the Duckworth Lewis method. Kusal Perera top-scored with 50 off 47 balls in a chase of 190. Sri Lanka had moved to 179 for 5 after 32 overs when rains came down again to end the match. The par-score at that final interruption was 160.A West Indies victory always seemed unlikely when they lost four batsmen in the first six overs. Lasith Malinga and Suranga Lakmal collected two wickets each in their opening bursts, then a little later Dushmantha Chameera dismissed Denesh Ramdin with raw pace. Ajantha Mendis had also claimed a wicket before the big downpour came. Sri Lanka lacked some discipline as they were forced to contend with a slippery ball after the break, but just as his frontliners appeared to be losing their way, a half-fit Angelo Mathews stepped into the breach to deliver two cheap overs towards the close.Despite the loss, Samuels produced what was perhaps the best individual innings of the series, while his team collapsed around him. He had moved sagely to fifty before the rain break, then unshackled by the urgency of West Indies’ situation upon resumption, scored heavily on the offside as he hurtled to a ninth ODI ton. It was inherently a remarkable innings, but it was particularly sublime from a batsman who had spent the first four weeks of this tour in a funk.As West Indies have found throughout the tour however, individual distinction usually can’t trump collective excellence. Lasith Malinga rifled through his variations from his first over, and Lakmal found zippy movement off the track. Malinga’s two victims fell in identical fashion – both fending bouncers tamely to point. Lakmal had Andre Fletcher lbw on the stroke of a first rain break that lasted over an hour, but didn’t cause a reduction of overs, then he bowled Darren Bravo with an indipper the batsman offered no shot to.Samuels had moved smoothly to 50 off 51 balls after that first rain break, but came out intent on attacking after the second, major interruption. His first ball after the interruption, from Malinga, was clattered over midwicket for four. The next delivery was sliced over the third-man fence.Samuels took a particular liking to Malinga in the second half of his innings, cracking the bowler through or over the point region for three consecutive fours in the 28th over, then continued to back away and aim blows to the square fence. The other bowlers were not so severely punished, but as Samuels was batting with Nos 10 and 11 in the last seven overs, singles into the outfield were routinely turned down.West Indies’ only substantial partnership was his 55-run, eighth-wicket stand with Carlos Brathwaite, who made 18. Jason Holder, who hit 19, was the only other batsman to make it into double figures. Malinga, Lakmal, Chameera and Mendis all picked up two wickets apiece, and Mathews got a wicket for himself at the death.West Indies’ bowlers were consistently threatening even with a wet-ball, but as the target was modest, Sri Lanka found themselves cruising. Kusal and Tillakaratne Dilshan bludgeoned a few early boundaries to give the chase some impetus. Dilshan was out cutting to Samuels at point, after having been dropped by the same fielder on the previous ball, but Kusal and Lahiru Thirimanne put on a 50-run stand together to settle the innings.Thirimanne, Kusal and Dinesh Chandimal all departed within nine overs of each other, and yet, with Mathews at the crease, the chase never seemed in trouble. He struck up unhurried partnerships with Milinda Siriwardene and Shehan Jayasuriya to inch Sri Lanka towards victory. Mathews was unbeaten on 27 when the rains came again and the players went off the field for the third and final time.