James Anderson will miss England’s first Test against Sri Lanka – as well as the next two one-day internationals – after he twisted his ankle playing squash. Anderson went over on his ankle playing squash at the team’s hotel after torrential rain washed out a scheduled practice on Wednesday evening.Although X-rays showed no break, an MRI scan showed soft-tissue damage to the area and Anderson, who is on crutches, is now expected to be out of action for the next fortnight. “James has had scans and x-rays which have revealed some ligament trauma,” Dean Conway, England’s one-day physio, explained. “We need a couple more days to assess it, but I’m quite optimistic that he will be back from 10 days to three weeks. Realistically the second Test in Kandy is his likeliest deadline.”Yorkshire’s Matthew Hoggard, who joins the rest of the Test squad tonight, will provide fast-bowling cover for James Kirtley and Richard Johnson in Sunday’s third ODI, also in Colombo.

Lower grade scores in Wellington club cricket last weekend were:Senior 2: Karori 217-8 ( D Archer 70, M Atkins 48, M Prior 37, L Moore 3-48,) beat Brooklyn 154 ( D Hartley 45, G Stretch 38, M Atkins 4-20); Onslow 201 ( T parker 53, C Jones 36, K Calnon 4-34, Mason 3-28) beat U Valley 172-8 ( Carter 47, McKenzie 35, Bulman 31, T Cook 3-24) ; Taita 86-0 ( B Lee 55*) beat J’ville 83 ( P Leamy 33, M Best 4-6, C Taylor 4-14); Well Coll 168( J Dean 30) beat Hutt 104( J Sewell 4-37, J Stevens 3-18)Senior 3: Indians 98-2 ( A Dahya 68, A Ranchod 61*, J Patel 36) beat E’bourne 194 ( C Reed 71); Hutt Dists default to Karori : Collegians 184 ( G McDonald 51, J tong 44, D Haste 3-40) beat Pet/Riv 78 ( D Cambray 3-6); Naenae 34-2 beat Univ 33 ( C talbot 5-18, K Patel 3-9).Super 8s Section One: U Valley 130-5 ( J Marsden 38, K Rust 37,) beat Colls 87 ( K Foote 4-17);Taita 136-5 ( J Dunce 39, R Betteridge 4-33) beat Pet/Riv 126 ( B Bridger 50, M Dalton 3-23); Naenae 120-5 ( J Cross 50, J Williams 43) beat J’ville 117 ( D Trendle 44).Section Two: U Hutt B 117 beat U Hutt A 116-5(R Walters 48*)Univ 79-4 ( D Lawless 35*) beat Wainui 78( L Bailey 4-5) Onslow defaulted to tawaHutt Valley 2A:N Park 106-4 ( M Duncan 34,) beat Taita Red 105 ( W Juno 3-19); S Valley 213 ( J Pope 51, D Marshall 37, D Vulu 3-35) beat Tokelau 69 ( R Gillmore 4-13); Wainui A 96-4 ( A Russell 37*) beat U Hutt 94 ( R Wilson 3-21, I Matheson 3-29); Taita Black 152-8 ( R Flitcroft 68*, M Stonyer 3-22, K Butterfield 3-26) beat Wainui B 148 ( D Hewitt 45*, R Bowater 4-26).2B: Naenae 192 ( C Hooper 46, A Dixon 3-30, M Boyle 3-29) beat Wainui 73 ( Romble 3-18, Arthur 3-23); E’bourne 162-9 beat Pet/Riv 139( C Murphy 4-28, H McKay 3-38); Taita Black 82-0 (Fairbrother 42*, Rodley 34*) beat U Hutt 81 ( T Burt 37*, Rodley 3-13, Sinai 3-26)Trafalgar defsulted to S Valley.4A:S Valley 123-8 beat U Hutt 120; Te Aroha 181-6 ( E Reriti 54, K Reriti 44) beat Hutt 136-8.4B: S Valley 53-3 beat Taita 52 *(J Pouw 4-11, M rennie 3-27); Pet/Riv 316-4 ( J Nippert 102, J Jackson 51, Quickfall 44) beat Naenae Gold 114 U Hutt 181 beat E’bourne 132.4C: Tokelau 208( K Morgan 3-26() beat Naenae Silver 109 ( B Munn 30)Pet/Riov 71-5 beat U Hutt 66: Te Aroha 87-1 beat Naenae Green 86.Wellington2A: Easts Roosters 152-3 ( C Dry 71*) beat Univ 151 ( T Walker 36, G Rendel 4-24);Easts Panthers 273-6 ( D McIntyre 121*, A Brown 56, J Maulder 46) beat Tawa 70 ( M Bull 4-22); Onslow 99( S Lynnberg 5-8, R Davies 3-16( beat Mana 91( C Shanks 4-10, A McKenzie 3-8).2B: Onslow 231-4 ( A Young 74*, I Sos 34, M Willis 48) beat Tawa 109 ( S Mataira 4-22)Indians 190-8 ( W Bicknell 95,A Prior 3-18) beat Brooklyn 188 ( A Cameron 75, W O’Halloran 4-50); easts B 194-5 ( D McCarthy 68, K Grove 50, S Reeves 3-33) beat Easts A 96 ( N Greenel 4-19, D Marsh 3-27).2C: Brooklyn 172-7 ( T Grace 62,D Giles 39.) beat Mana 168-7 ( Robb 59, Remfrey 37*, R Willis 3-22)Colls 130-7 ( J Singh 4-29) beat Onslow 126-9.2D: Newlands 175-6 beat Karori 143Easts 174-7 ( L Corkery 62, A Ware 32 ) beat Indians 173 ( S Patel 55*, U Patel 44, C Gill 4-25);3A: Univ A defauult to Easts B; Easts A 176-9 beat Univ B 84( J Brown 6-14); Brooklyn 205-5 L Jamieson 50, D Sheriton 35*, D O’Connor 30, ) beat Newlands 201 ( S Boswell 81).4A: Univ 138-4 ( Wainwright 31*) beat Sikhs 137 ( Sainsbury 4-10); Mana 104-4 ( Renwick 33*) beat Colls 103 ( J Grindrod 3-42);’Onslow A 169 ( L Bray 79, C Paterson 32) beat Onslow B 81( M Herring 4-14); Thorndon 235-8 ( M Morrison 61, R Wilson 53( G Baldarin 5-24) beat Easts 234-8 ( G Baldarin 100, H Mainwaring 81, N Wootton 4-38).4B: Easts A 142-7 beat J’ville A 141Onslow B 128-7 ( T Fairbrother 3-14, H Johnson 3-31)’ beat Univ A 125 ( T Fairbrother 39); Onslow A 217 (C Gazley 87, J Upton 58,L Kiddle 6-7) beat Univ B 130( A Sagito 47, J McLeod 4-27, C Gazley 3-14);Colls 252-9 ( Cox 117, Hill 46, D LeBreton 4-33, D Gascoine 3-36) beat J’ville B 85.

South Africa 561 and 226 for 6 dec beat West Indies 410 and 188 (Chanderpaul 74) by 189 runs
Scorecard

South Africa wrapped up a comfortable victory against West Indies by 189 runs on the final day at the Wanderers. Apart from an entertaining 98-run stand between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs, the rest of the batsmen offered little resistance as Shaun Pollock took four of the seven wickets to fall today.It was always going to be a tough job for West Indies to save the game after they lost three late wickets yesterday. However, once their main hope, Brian Lara, fell early on in the morning, the writing was on the wall.Pollock was the man who got things going for South Africa as he made a dream start with two quick wickets. Ramnaresh Sarwan was the first to go, out lbw in the fourth over of the morning. The ball pitched just short of a length, kept a touch low and trapped Sarwan dead in front of middle (41 for 4).Pollock struck gold in his next over when he picked up the prized scalp of Lara for 5. Again, the ball kept a little low, and Lara got a thick inside edge onto the stumps attempting to pull (43 for 5). Pollock celebrated as if the match was over, but Chanderpaul and Jacobs made them think again.Chanderpaul was positive from the outset, stroking boundaries all over the pitch, including an eye-catching straight-drive off Pollock, and a delicate square-cut off Jacques Kallis’s first ball. Jacobs wasn’t deterred from playing his strokes either. He launched some big cover-drives and booming square-cuts off anything short or wide.Jacobs had a couple of scares, though. He survived a close shout for lbw off Kallis, but umpire Darrell Hair correctly adjudged the ball pitched outside leg, and Hair again gave him the benefit for an appeal for caught behind off Robin Peterson.Chanderpaul, meanwhile, raced to his half-century from 63 balls, and by lunch, he and Jacobs had put on a sixth-wicket record for West Indies against South Africa. But their brave resistance was broken shortly after the break when Jacobs was yorked by a beauty of an inswinger from the tireless Andre Nel (141 for 6).

Chris Gayle again hobbled out to the pitch with a runner, and after he was lucky to survive a close lbw shout first ball, he produced a host of handsome shots. It was a case of stand and deliver from Gayle, who, still unable to move freely, smashed 26 – 24 of them in boundaries.Chanderpaul was still in the mood for some big shots as well, but that proved to be his downfall. Facing Pollock, he gave his wicket his away with an extravagant flick off his legs straight to Nel on the fine-leg boundary for an entertaining 74 (168 for 7). With the way Gayle was playing, his wicket was only a matter of time, and he edged Nel to Mark Boucher going for another flat-footed drive (176 for 8). Nel sent him off by sticking his tongue out close to Gayle’s face, a needless act which could well land him in hot water with the match officials.Dillon hung around for 17 balls until he was clean bowled attempting a horrible heave across the line to Makhaya Ntini, who finished the match with nine wickets (188 for 9). Corey Collymore was then trapped plumb lbw to Pollock as South Africa completed what always looked like a routine victory. And even more bad news for Brian Lara was that he was later fined 10% of his match fee for a slow over-rate.

Heath Streak, Zimbabwe’s captain, has insisted his side are not in the VB Series to simply make up the numbers. He is aiming to qualify for the finals, despite injury worries over Craig Wishart and Stuart Carlisle.On their one-day tour of Australia so far, Zimbabwe scraped home by eight runs against Australia A last week, but went down to Western Australia by 70 runs at the weekend, and were comfortably beaten by Australia A today.Their preparation hasn’t been helped by Wishart’s knee injury he suffered against WA, and by Carlisle’s blow to the thumb while fielding today. However, Streak is still confident Zimbabwe can make an impact. “We haven’t come here to be a third playing nation, we’ve come here to make the finals,” he told . “We’re going to be all out to win every game.”Streak also had a word to say regarding the Australian team, claiming that they were right to be introducing younger players into an ageing squad. “When you look at the Australian team, you know, they’re not the youngest now,” Streak said. “Some of them are getting a bit long in the tooth.”Someone told me that the Australian bowls team is a younger average age than the cricket team. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s good for them to have a look at the youngsters.”Obviously they’re being looked at and I think it’s a wise decision by the Australian selectors to start blooding some of the youngsters. I was very impressed with a lot of the youngsters. Obviously Shaun Tait had a good outing against us and we are very impressed – he’s got pace.”Zimbabwe’s first game of the VB Series is against Australia on Sunday, January 11, at Sydney. The opening game, between Australia and India, starts on Friday at Melbourne.

Shane Warne’s return from the sporting wilderness has reignited the debate about drugs-testing in cricket. Although Australia’s federal government is a strong supporter of the controversial World Anti-Doping Agency drug code, several of the country’s cricketers are opposed to its adoption, and are preparing to speak out against it.According to a report in Australia’s Courier-Mail newspaper, Tim May, the joint chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Association and the Australian Cricketers Association, is expected to put the cricketers’ case to the ICC at a meeting in Bangladesh this week. “Along with most, if not all, professional team sports,” said May, "we have concerns about the application of WADA to our sport."Not only is WADA’s list of banned drugs considered too broad, but it is considered more applicable to individual events such as the Olympics, where success and failure is judged purely in terms of seconds or centimetres, and not by extraneous factors such as hand-eye co-ordination, or in Warne’s case, the ability to spin the ball prodigious amounts.Cricket’s officials would prefer the code to be more sport-specific. With a degree of flexibility, it would be possible to draw up a banned list for different sports, rather than imposing a blanket ban on any athletic who transgresses in any way. Under the current rules, a player cannot be exonerated even they prove exceptional circumstances. WADA’s code also includes a ban on recreational drugs, which do not enhance performance, leading to fears that players might have their drinks spiked by team-mates and opponents.Rod Kemp, the Australian Sports Minister, is on the board of WADA and was instrumental in its rise to prominence over the past two years. But even Kemp was unable to influence Cricket Australia last year, when they handed down a one-year ban for Warne’s use of a banned diuretic. It was a ruling that contravened their own drug code, which advocates a minimum sentence of two years, and the decision provoked scorn from WADA’s president, Dick Pound. Such tensions are likely to flare if the cricketers push this issue any further.

Western Australia 6 for 248 (Harvey 53*) beat Queensland 244 (Harvey 4-28) by four wickets
Scorecard

Kade Harvey led a one-man assault on Queensland, to give Western Australia a thrilling four-wicket win in the final of the ING Cup. Harvey launched his display with 4 for 28 with the ball as Queensland batted first and reached 244, and then turned the game on its head with a blazing 53 not out off 42 balls from No. 7.WA had been almost down and almost at 6 for 173, but Harvey teamed up with Darren Wates (29 off 27 balls) to add an unbeaten 75 for the seventh wicket to guide them to victory with two balls to spare. They had needed to score 45 from the last four overs, and 8 from the last six balls alone, but Wates sealed the Cup with a six and then a four off the part-time bowling off Clinton Perren, who was called into the attack after four Queensland bowlers sustained injuries in the course of the innings.It was an excruciating loss for Queensland, who had seemed all set to end a three-year curse and become the first home team to win a domestic one-day final since 2000. “They came back from the dead,” admitted their captain Jimmy Maher. “We thought we were home.”Queensland’s optimism had been based on a fine mid-innings display, after WA had raced to 1 for 100 in 22 overs. Nathan Hauritz (2 for 55) was the catalyst, obtaining great turn and using subtle variation to bamboozle the batsmen. The opener Scott Meuleman smacked an impressive 71 from 85 balls, but the middle order failed to build on his good work as WA lost 5 for 62 and the run-rate required escalated.But the 47th over, which featured 13 runs including a dropped outfield catch by Ashley Noffke that went for six, was the turning point.Harvey and Wates took control against a Queensland attack that was visibly limping by the end. Maher was nursing an injured hamstring throughout, Andy Bichel and James Hopes suffered cramp and Craig Philipson was replaced with an upper leg injury after a long chase to the boundary. They paid the price by conceding some late-innings misfields, with slower fielders made to cover extra ground.Earlier, Harvey’s four wickets in Queensland’s innings came at crucial moments. Stuart Law (50 off 40) and Maher (46 off 43) were the first two victims, after racing to 100 in the first 12 overs. Meanwhile, the rookie wicketkeeper Chris Hartley enjoyed a one-day debut to remember by dismissing Meuleman with a vital stumping, standing up to the medium pace of Hopes.

The ICC has announced that the winner of the India-Pakistan series, to be decided in the fifth one-dayer on March 24, will be ranked higher than the other in the ICC ODI championship table.At present, Pakistan is ranked fifth with 107 points, and India and England are just behind on 106 points. If India win the series, they will climb to fifth, with 107 points, and Pakistan will go down to 106. If Pakistan win, they will go to 108, with India slipping to 105. If the series – and the final match, of course – is tied, then the status quo will be maintained. Australia, of course, head the table, with a mammoth 135 points.Meanwhile, South Africa will stay in second spot in the Test rankings even if they lose the third match to New Zealand. However, their rating of 113 points will drop to 108, and they will be just two points ahead of New Zealand, who will jump to third position. If South Africa win, though, they will remain comfortably placed at No. 2 with 112 points, while New Zealand will only be on 101.Australia’s victory against Sri Lanka at Kandy ensured that they would maintain a healthy lead over the rest of the field regardless of the outcome of the third Test. Even a defeat in Colombo would leave them with 125 points, as many as they had when they started the series, while a win would boost the tally to 127.

Bryan Strang’s attempted comeback has hit a brick wall in the shape of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU).Strang, who played 26 Tests and 46 ODIs for Zimbabwe between 1995 and 2001, was looking to return from a career-threatening injury by playing in the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s domestic first-class competition.But the ZCU, which repeatedly stresses that it is a non-political organisation, slapped a ban on Strang playing in the competition after objecting to comments made by him last year. Strang was one of a group of players who argued that Zimbabwe should not be allowed to host matches during the 2003 World Cup on moral grounds.The relationship was further strained when Strang wrote to The Wisden Cricketer earlier this year alleging racism against a ZCU official. He said: “A union which promotes racial division and does nothing about hate speech should not be given the courtesy of touring democratic countries.”

The ECB has cleared the fast bowler Robbie Joseph to play for Kent with immediate effect.Joseph, who is 22, was born in Antigua, but came to England in 1997. he finished his schooling at Sutton Valence School in Kent, and is currently completing a degree course at St Mary’s College in Twickenham, in Middlesex.His only previous first-class match was in 2000, when he was called up for a First-Class Counties XI against the touring New Zealand A side at Milton Keynes. He took one wicket (Jacob Oram) for 56 in that match.

Shoaib Akhtar has sued two Pakistani citizens and has sought Rs 100 million (approximately $1.7 million) for tarnishing his reputation and for damages caused to him mentally. The two citizens had earlier moved a court seeking a life-long ban on his playing cricket.According to a report in Mr Furrukh Hussain, a civil judge in Lahore, called the defendants, Syed Muzammal Hussain Shah and Syed Najamul Abbas Shah, to appear in court on July 5 for the next hearing.In July last year, the two had approached the court saying they were hurt by Shoaib’s comments that he would have been better off playing for Australia. In an interview with The Guardian, Shoaib had said that he might have made a bigger impact in cricket if he was bowling Glen McGrath and Jason Gillespie rather than with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.”Wasim and Waqar are in decline. They were great but they’re not match-winning bowlers anymore. Wasim has not won a match since 1996. So I have to make it all happen on my own. There is so much expectation on my shoulders. But, if I come on after those two [Australians], when the ball’s a bit older and swinging. Imagine, it would be ‘see you, mate, talk to you later’ every time.”The two suitors had also accused Shoaib of attending a fashion show on the night of an important Muslim festival. However, they had failed to establish the charges and the civil court had dismissed the case. Shoaib will now be claming Rs 70 million as compensation for the ‘malicious prosecution’ and Rs 30 million for the mental agony that he had to suffer.