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Even given the recent acrimonious history of conflict between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), it is utterly unbelievable that their latest, unnecessary dispute should arise during our own World Cup.This is cricket’s premier tournament. It is an opportunity to show off our best qualities. This is the game for which we have established an enviable record of excellence. We have invited the world to come to enjoy our culture as well. Governments that have failed at every attempt at meaningful integration have united as one, and invested millions of dollars they can scarcely afford, to ensure that it is the “best World Cup ever”.It has not been easy. There have been organisational problems, to be sure. But it has all, more or less, come together on the day. We have been uplifted by a stirring opening ceremony and by a nearly flawless performance by the West Indies team that brought a rare victory in the opening match against Pakistan.This is the stuff of our dreams. Even if we were ahead of ourselves, we could even envisage Brian Lara raising the trophy at Kensington Oval come April 28. Then, suddenly, we learn in the media that there has been “tension” between the board and the players because contracts for the tournament had not been issued. It was even reported that “the players might threaten to go on strike” if they did not get them.It was like a blow to the solar plexus. Tension? Strike? Surely not now, not at such a momentous time. Unfortunately, we should know by now, from bitter experience, better than to take anything for granted once it involves the WICB and the WIPA and contracts and money. World Cup? So what.The background to the trouble is well known. Unable to agree on the division of the US$11.5 million that is paid to each participant by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the two sides sought binding arbitration to settle the issue.The panel of Sir David Simmons, Chief Justice of Barbados, Elliott Mottley, former Attorney General of Barbados and Bermuda, and Aubrey Armstrong ruled that 75 per cent of the payout should go to the board, 22 per cent to the 15 members of the World Cup squad and three per cent distributed to the West Indies’ first-class players. It worked out to individual fees of between US$100,000 and US$170,000 per man, exclusive of any prize money won. No West Indian cricketers have ever been paid so handsomely.So why have the players had to wait so long for their contracts and why, even after receiving them yesterday, were they reluctant to sign them? It is difficult to understand why they should chose to make an issue of it, why they should be so keen to again expose the board’s inefficiency. Do they really believe that they won’t receive what is their due?Tony Deyal, the WICB’s communications and marketing head, explained that the delay was because the board “sought clarification on a number of matters in relation to the recent arbitration”. “We accepted the arbitration ruling but needed clarification on some issues,. But at no point was it ever implied [and the arbitrators knew it] that we were questioning the ruling or our being bound to it,” he stated.It is understood that contributions to the provident fund are also part of the issue. Whatever, it has thrown a cloud over the World Cup.Last week, without prior knowledge of the shenanigans in the background, Michael Holding said of the West Indies players in a newspaper interview: “It is all about money, money, money and it is a distraction. I think their focus is in the wrong direction and I don’t think this tournament will change that.”They were prophetic words.

Otago defeated Central Districts by 24 runsat the University Oval in Dunedin on Sunday. Batting first, Otago were powered by an 82-ball 72 by Jonathan Trott and a half-century by Craig Cumming, the captain. Both batsmen were dismissed by Greg Hagglun, the right-arm fast bowler, who picked up four wickets in an expensive spell. Gareth Hopkins, the wicketkeeper, played a cameo innings of 44 off just 28 balls before being dismissed by Brendon Diamanti, the medium pacer. A late-order collapse saw Otago dismissed for 250 before playing out their full quota of 50 overs. Diamanti picked up 3 for 49 off nine overs.In pursuit of 251, Centrals lost in-form opener Jamie How early and barring Jacob Oram who made 60, the rest of the batsmen were guilty of not converting their starts into bigger scores. The lower order were unable to step up the run-rate towards the end and finished on 226 for 9.

Sri Lanka’s official representation at the ongoing ICC Executive meeting inDelhi has descended into confusion as their Minister of Sports optedto send a ministry representative to the meeting in place of ThilangaSumathipala, Sri Lanka Cricket’s international envoy.Jeevan Kumaratunga, the sports minister, sent Damian Fernando to India onThursday morning. “We have informed the responsible international cricketauthorities through the proper channels that Damian Fernando would berepresenting Sri Lanka,” Kumaratunga told .Sumathipala, who is standing for a fifth term as board president later thismonth, also departed for Delhi to participate in the meeting according tocricket officials. However, the same newspaper’s sources claimed he had notjoined the official discussions on the opening day of talks.An ICC press release confirmed the unusual goings-on. “At the start of the meeting Mr Thilanga Sumathipala represented Sri Lanka Cricket,” read the statement. “At the lunch break of the meeting on the first day, the ICC received correspondence from Sri Lanka Cricket indicating that Mr Sumathipala was, in fact, no longer the representative of the Board. Mr Damian Fernando joined the meeting at the beginning of the second day of the meeting as an observer representing Sri Lanka Cricket.”The key issues that were raised during the two-day summit meeting included the disbandment of Project USA, a reduced status for Kenyan cricket, the awarding of full international status to this autumn’s Super Series, and various governance reforms, including one topic of particular interest for the ambitious Sumathipala: the decision to suspend the automatic rotation of the ICC presidency and award Ehsan Mani an extra year in charge.

Stephen Harmison has been ruled out of the Test series against Sri Lanka with a back injury.Harmison was forced to return home early from the Bangladesh Test series with a dodgy back, and even there he missed the second Test after picking up match figures of 9 for 79 – and the Man of the Match award – in the first game at Dhaka.After a scan showed no serious damage, he was planning to rejoin the squad in Sri Lanka. He has been undergoing treatment at the national academy at Loughborough, but today failed a fitness test.”He bowled at the national academy a week ago and he was sore for a few days afterwards,” said Peter Gregory, England’s chief medical officer. “Then he returned for a fitness test on Monday in front of the selectors, England’s Test-squad physiotherapist Kirk Russell and myself, and, when bowling his second spell in the nets, it was clear that he could not continue.””I’m disappointed not to be leaving tomorrow for Sri Lanka as planned because of my back injury especially when I feel my Test career is going forward with every game,” Harmison said. “Missing the tour is hard, but I know that injury is just part of the highs and lows of being a professional sportsman. My main aim now is to get fit as soon as possible and return to the England team, hopefully before the end of the Sri Lanka tour.”As a result, Richard Johnson will retain his place in the Test squad after originally being called up as a replacement. The three-Test series begins at Galle on December 2.

SYDNEY – New Zealand all-rounder Dion Nash has been ruled out of tomorrow’s second tri-series cricket final against South Africa.Nash suffered a side strain last night during New Zealand’s heavy loss to South Africa in the first one-day final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.Kiwi coach Dennis Aberhart said Nash was unavailable for tomorrow’s match at the SCG and it appeared unlikely he would be able to play in the third final scheduled for Sunday.There has been no word on Nash’s replacement but with the rain-affected SCG pitch expected to suit fast bowlers, the most likely candidate is James Franklin.The Kiwis were hopeful of practising at the SCG today, if it stoppedraining.

Before the Zimbabwe tour he looked complacent and confident when I met him in BKSP. He told me candidly that his performance against Australian Bank Academy( CBCA) had raised his level of self-reliance undoubtedly and he was looking forward to do much better in Zimbabwe. There is no way denying the fact that a scintillating century against CBCA and couple of good knocks in the exhibition one-day matches propped our idea that Mushfique was a perfect replacement of Khaled Mahmood, the ex-alrounder of the national squad.However, things turned into an upsetting finish for Mushfique after the tour had been over. He played all matches including the practice ones. Only the first ODI could serve him some contentment( he scored 31) when after a rapid collapse he hold the rope to seek for a partnership with Akram Khan. The rest two and the four test innings brought only gloom and despair. Why so?" I could not get on and that was all happened there. I played some nasty shots in the test innings and got the payment accordingly. Besides runs are hard to find against themthey are too good for us. You can’t just find a single gap where you can take a single with comfort. I contrived for power shots to get some quick runs on the board but I am unlucky, that’s all."Had he been promoted to number five or six, he could have done better because he feels much better there. " But they won’t allow me to bat in a position where players like Aminul Islam or Akram Khan are apt to. Certainly it feels good to bat with specialist batsman on the other end than to bat with the tails," he added resentfully, " may be they are thinking to drop me off the squad and I heard some of them calling me only a slow-medium bowler while before the tour they kept calling me a batsman who can bowl medium pace. I don’t have any answer right now-I will prove it through my performance. As for Zimbabwe, I really did bad and I have nothing that can stand any cause behind my failure."We hope that this only genuine al-rounder of our team will soon be found with his rhythm backbefore the Asian Test Championship begins.

ScorecardVarun Chopra’s half-century helped set a winning total for Birmingham•Getty Images

Reigning NatWest T20 Blast champions Birmingham booked a home quarter-final this time round by beating Northamptonshire by one-run in a thriller at Edgbaston.Set a target of 154 for a victory which would have secured their own place in the last eight, Northamptonshire needed 23 from the final over, from Recordo Gordon – and almost got them. But despite the heroics of Alex Wakeley and Rory Kleinveldt, who hit 29 from just 11 balls, they fell just short so must win their last game, at home to Durham on Friday, to be sure of qualifying.Birmingham’s hopes of a valedictory Brendon McCullum masterpiece in his last home game for the club floundered when he perished for just 26 but captain Varun Chopra’s 54 from 48 assured his side a decent total, albeit one that looked a little below par.The loss of early wickets undermined the Northamptonshire pursuit and it was only down to that spectacular last over that they came so close.Northamptonshire chose to bowl and face the threat of McCullum straight away, a decision they might have questioned when he cracked four of his first ten balls for four. That was as far as his boundary count went though before he was superbly caught at point by Kleinveldt off Steven Crook.It was left to youngster Tom Lewis to show McCullum how to clear the ropes, but that blow was one of only two sixes hit by the Bears as the Northamptonshire seamers, led by Azharullah (4-0-24-1), bowled an excellent length. Chopra hit five fours and a six before becoming one of three victims for Crook.On a good batting track, the Steelbacks began their reply as slight favourites but lost early wickets. David Willey, Ben Duckett and Richard Levi all went for broke in the first six overs and sent up catches, the latter superbly taken by Lewis at deep midwicket.Another fine opening spell by Rikki Clarke (4-0-16-0), providing more ballast to those who believe he is worth an England recall in limited-overs cricket, cranked up the required run rate and spinners Jeetan Patel and Josh Poysden maintained the pressure to send Northamptonshire into the last six overs needing 69.That came down to 23 from six balls and when Kleinveldt clobbered the first two for six it was game on – but, with four needed from the last ball, Gordon held his nerve, just, and conceded only two to long-on.

New Zealand allrounder Suzie Bates will miss the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe in February-March 2026 with a quadricep injury. Bates, 38, will also miss the remainder of the domestic home summer for Otago and will remain on the sidelines for three months.Bates suffered the injury last month while fielding for Otago during the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, New Zealand women’s domestic one-day competition. Subsequent scans revealed that due to the severity of the tear, she will require three months of rehabilitation. This is the second injury blow for New Zealand in recent weeks after Eden Carson faces a longer period out because of an elbow injury.Related

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Bates is hoping to return to action in the white-ball series against South Africa in March.”I’m gutted to be missing out this summer, I was really looking forward to another season with the [Otago] Sparks, especially the Super Smash,” Bates said in an NZC statement. “I’m determined to get back on the field with the White Ferns in March, so that’ll be my focus for now.”Before the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, Bates had a difficult ODI World Cup in India, managing only 40 runs in five innings at an average of eight and a strike rate of 61.53.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will host a rematch of last year’s Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) finals when arch-rivals Victoria Spirit and the New South Wales Breakers do battle in the three-match series beginning on 31 January.The finals showdown is a best-of-three match series with the limited-over games scheduled for 31 January, 1 February and the deciding match, if required, on Monday 2 February.Victoria Spirit claimed its inaugural WNCL title last season, defeating the New South Wales Breakers 2-0 in the finals series, also played at the MCG.Since the women’s national competition was established as the WNCL in 1996-97, the two sides have dominated the championship. New South Wales won six consecutive titles before Victoria broke the sequence to claim last year’s championship.In their two limited-over encounters this season, the sides completed a thrilling tie at Butler Oval in Frankston, before Victoria Spirit claimed a four wicket victory the next day at the same venue.Overall, the two states have played 25 times with the WNCL head-to-head battle standing at New South Wales (15), Victoria (9) and one tied result (this year).In WNCL finals series, they have met on four occasions – 1996-97, 1998-99, 2001-02 and 2002-03.Six players have played in all 25 WNCL matches between the states – Bronwyn Calver, Julie Hayes and Lisa Keightley (New South Wales), and Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Melanie Jones and Belinda Clark (Victoria). Clark played 15 WNCL matches for New South Wales before relocating to Victoria.Play begins at 1000 and entry is free. Patrons should enter via gate 8.

Powered by Rob Nicol’s 134 Auckland ran away to a 149-run lead before restricting Central Districts to 114 for 4 at the end of the second day’s play at McLean Park. Nicol added 36 runs with his overnight partner Colin de Grandhomme, who moved from 65 to 87, but three quick wickets left Auckland struggling at 182 for 6. Nicol, then, stitched together a valuable 103-run partnership with Andre Adams to lift Auckland and was the last man to be dismissed, when he became the fourth victim of Gregory Hegglun. Chris Martin, who took a five-for in the first innings, caused a dent in the top order with a double strike but Jamie How revived Central Districts with a fluent 84-ball 72. Central Districts still trail by 35 runs, with only six wickets left.On a turgid day’s of cricket Northern Districts reached 181 for 3, in response to Otago‘s 404, at the end of the second day’s play at Dunedin. Bradley-John Watling shared a patient 122-run opening stand in 62.3 overs with Alun Evans but Bradley Scott struck twice to push Northern Districts on the backfoot at 142 for 3. Watling, however, carried on with his immensely patient knock and ended the day 15 runs short of what would be his maiden ton.Michael Papps starred with a fine 98 but three quick wickets in the last session saw Canterbury slide from a healthy 171 for 1 to 204 for 4 at the end of the second day’s play at Wellington. Jesse Ryder cleaned up Papps to start the mini-collapse and 22 runs late Shanan Stewart fell as Wellington came back into the game. Earlier, Wellington’s tail wagged to lift the score from the overnight 314 for 8 to 365.