Anil Kumble says Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, was “not willing to listen” when Kumble offered to defuse the Harbhajan Singh-Andrew Symonds situation with an apology. Kumble believes the incident could have been handled by the captains during the Sydney Test.”I spoke to Ricky that day,” he wrote in his column for the , “and having heard from Bhajji [Harbhajan] and Sachin before that, I was convinced that there had neither been any racist remark made, nor intended. I asked Harbhajan why he started it and he said he hadn’t, Symonds did and goaded, he responded. But he insisted he made no racist comment.”Ricky, meanwhile, was just not willing to listen, nor see my point. When I offered to apologise as Bhajji’s skipper, it was only to smooth things over. At no stage did I admit that he had made a racist remark, in fact, I said he had not.”Unfortunately, these days, when someone apologises, it is seen as either a sign of weakness or an admission of guilt. I am neither unnerved nor are we guilty. In the larger interests of the game, if an apology could help build bridges and smooth things over, then it is better made than left unsaid because of egos.”Kumble said the team had taken the matter seriously because they had a responsibility towards one of their colleagues. “In my book, it’s really important that when somebody is accused of being a racist, whoever that someone is, the charge is not made lightly, followed up just to prove a point and is not deemed as proven unless there is absolute evidence. Unfortunately, this did not happen in Bhajji’s case.”Then again, he is a colleague and I have a responsibility towards him as his captain and as a fellow Indian. It is a serious allegation, calling someone a racist. You are not just accusing a cricketer, but the ramifications of this accusation, unproven in the eyes of mostly everyone, were bound to be huge. After all, India’s cricketers are also the country’s ambassadors and by making such serious charges, without proof, it becomes a question of honour.”While acknowledging the support of the Indian board and the fans, Kumble thought it was time to move on and look forward to some good cricket. “We’re going to try and do our best in Perth, a place where no one expects anything much from us,” he said. “We are disappointed that we couldn’t enforce a draw in Sydney. We had a great opportunity when Hussey and Hayden were batting, to try and restrict their second innings score, but Hussey batted really well to put the game beyond us.”Still, we should have at least tried for a draw despite that. We really need to get our batting in order. Too often, of late, we’ve struggled batting in our second innings to save a game. Here, we were three down at tea and then lost seven in a row.”Finally, it’s important that the game goes on. Cricket is larger than any individual. One of the reasons I have tried to put the game and other things in perspective is to ensure that we move on and play good cricket. I’ll do my best but it takes two to tango and ensure things move smoothly. I can only hope it happens.”

ScorecardVictoria completed a set of four victories against South Australia in both state competitions with a four-wicket win in the FR Cup to help their finals campaign. In the process they leapt from bottom to fourth, picking up a bonus point as well, and still have two games in hand on the Redbacks, who they left only a small chance to reach the decider.This could be the game that swung the momentum for Victoria. The leaders Tasmania, who were beaten by Queensland, come to Adelaide for the last group match and should South Australia win that, Victoria only have to succeed in two of their remaining three games to qualify.The visitors had been beaten at home solidly in a disastrous start to their season, but they had begun to turn their fortunes around and were in second place heading into this match. They stay there for now but their bogey team, Victoria, led by David Hussey’s 47, gained precious ground.Hussey’s efforts helped chase down the required 160 with more than 12 overs to spare, while three wickets for Shaun Tait couldn’t make the difference. South Australia’s batsmen had hoped to put their Twenty20 disaster behind them, but they carried their poor form with them into this competition.It took a 41 from the in-form Graham Manou to lift the Redbacks from 5 for 56, and he was joined by the besieged captain Nathan Adcock, who made a steady and relieving 31. Ryan Harris also picked up 39 in an otherwise forgettable display, with Victoria’s bowlers working well as a unit to share the wickets around. Jason Gillespie struck early and then came a clump of wickets as the Bushrangers slipped from 1 for 52 to 5 for 65, but Hussey didn’t look troubled and steered his side to the brink of victory.

Two of the batsmen the SCG crowd was desperate to see put in unusual performances as they faced off for one of the last times. The left-handed gunfight between Adam Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya did not explode as the conditions were not ideal for the flashy strokeplay that has been a feature of the stunning openers’ careers.Jayasuriya’s only chance of returning to Sydney as a player is if Sri Lanka make the final and he was unable to find another jewel at a ground he adores in front of people who feel the same way about him. This time he was easily out-pointed by Gilchrist, who scored a 61 which was subdued by his exceptional standards.The previous time Jayasuriya toured here, having been reinstated to the team immediately after arriving late to the tour, he lashed a brutal 114, his third hundred in a row at the stadium. His 7 tonight included one striking boundary, a flay to third man off Brett Lee after he had joined Gilchrist in struggling to start in the usual tempo.Heavy rain forced the pitch to spend days undercover in the lead-up to the game and one of the results was slow and sometimes very low bounce. Something extra special was required for free scoring, which was achieved only by Matthew Hayden and Kumar Sangakkara in Australia’s 128-run win, and the surface upset the rhythm of the two top-of-the-order belters.Facing Lee a ball after hitting his boundary, Jayasuriya was not sure whether he wanted to leave outside off stump, but the bat drifted towards the ball, found the bottom edge and cannoned on to the stumps. A younger version of Jayasuriya would not have had the interference between mind and body, but he is 38 and the ticking grows louder by the tour.Gilchrist, 36, heard the retirement noise during the India Test series and his cross-country farewell is taking on the itinerary of a rock band. He is desperate to give his fans some final memories to lock away, but the conditions were not conducive to blasting entertainment and he was cautious for most of the innings.When Hayden was 33, Gilchrist was 4, but things soon looked like changing when he pulled a fierce six in front of square off Lasith Malinga’s speed and crunched boundaries through and over cover off Ishara Amerasinghe. However, a couple of legside miscues that narrowly avoided fielders showed the difficulty in gauging the bounce and the sensible option was taken.Often Gilchrist half-centuries have come before the 15-over mark, but his 54th fifty arrived in the 27th over from 67 balls. It is a measure of the way Gilchrist has altered expectations that it felt like he was crawling. Until Jayasuriya gained confidence as a one-day opener in the 1990s that rate of scoring was considered healthy. Both men rejected such thoughts and sprinted at a speed that was breathtaking and bowler breaking.Gilchrist was trying to lift his pace when he tried to sweep Chamara Kapugedera, who is significantly faster than medium, and missed. The ball was going on to the stumps until it hit Gilchrist’s pad and Tony Hill, the umpire, almost pointed at him to signal the dismissal.He headed for the dressing room to more moving applause, having taken 81 balls to register three fours and the six. A similar reception came when Jayasuriya trod back through the members’ area, ending one of the final head-to-head battles of a couple of game-changing swashbucklers.

Easterns maintained their increasing stranglehold on Zimbabwe domestic cricket with a seven-run win over Westerns in the final of the Twenty20 cup at Harare Sports Club.Easterns total of 142 for 9 was almost entirely down to Hamilton Masakadza’s 57-ball 82 not out, and his eighth-wicket stand of 43 with his brother, Shingirai, was the only partnership of note.Westerns were on course while Keith Dabengwa (42) and Gregory Strydom (38) were adding 62 for the third wicket but Prosper Utseya put the brakes on the innings and the last five wickets fell for 27 runs.Unsurprisingly, Masakadza was named Man of the Match and Player of the Tournament. He hammered 101 in the opening game of the competition and followed with 50 in the second match.Easterns won the Faithwear Cup and the Logan Cup in 2006-07, and so are now holders of all three major titles. Cricitics, however, have pointed out that the side is not representative as few, if any, of the players are local and are Harare-based cricketers imported for the competition. There were also concerns of the standard of the cricket on offer.Sadly, yet again, despite being rebuked by the ICC in 2006-07, Zimbabwe Cricket proved unable to provide the media with scorecards for many of the games, with the result that the competition’s profile was tarnished and reports of games minimal. That was reflected in dire turnouts for matches.

Nathan Bracken, the Australian fast bowler, has revealed how close a knee injury was to ending his international career. Bracken, 30, underwent surgery in Melbourne this week after a scan showed his cartilage was dangerously close to snapping and he has been advised between four to ten weeks of rehabilitation.”I was doing more damage to the ligament every time I walked or moved,” Bracken told the . “It was serious. It could have ended my career if it went, for sure.”The recovery seriously threatens his participation in the Indian Premier League, but he hopes to be fit for the one-day component of the West Indies tour, which starts on June 24. Bracken has signed with Bangalore in the Twenty20 competition that starts on April 18 and finishes on June 1.Bracken went into the season aware of a problem, but he continued after he was diagnosed with severe bruising. He took 21 wickets in the CB Series, which earned him the Man-of-the-Series award.”I knew something was wrong,” he said. “There was a bit of pain and when I experienced it during the Pura Cup final the doctor suggested I get it looked at. The big thing now is that I do the right rehabilitation. If there is any pain and discomfort I’m going to have to stop. It’s important I don’t push it too hard. Because the injury is in a really bad spot it can cause all sorts of dramas.”Bracken said the bone was bruised and that the doctor who operated on him said the cartilage “was like old paint peeling off a wall”. “A big chunk of cartilage came out while he was cleaning the area up,” he said. “He was amazed I was able to play through the summer.”The doctor who performed the operation looks after two AFL teams and this kind of injury is common in that code. He said I wouldn’t be able to kick a ball with this injury but he was still surprised I was able to land upon it as comfortably as I did; though it wasn’t really comfortable.”

Match facts

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

The wheels seem to have fallen off for Delhi Daredevils, who lost four games in a row and languish in fifth place after being on top of the table less than two weeks ago. The good news for them, though, is the schedule: two of their next three games are against Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers, clearly the weakest teams in the tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders used their matches against these opponents to find their way back into the IPL, and it’s now Delhi’s turn to do the same and inject some momentum into their campaign again.On current form it might appear that Deccan are already out of the tournament, but if they win the rest of their matches and other results go their way, they can still make a push for a semi-final spot. For that to happen, though, Deccan must significantly spruce up their act – they were woeful in the field during their previous match, against Kolkata. Their big stars have failed to get their act together too, but going by their track record so far, an away game gives them the best chance of success – they’ve won two out of five away matches, but lost all four at home.One of those four defeats was a nine-wicket drubbing at the hands of Delhi when the two teams first met more than three weeks ago. On that occasion, only one Deccan batsman made more than 15; they’ll need much better teamwork if they are to get a favourable result this time.

Tournament position

Delhi Daredevils: P9, W4, L5, NRR +0.291Deccan Chargers: P9, W2, L7, NRR -0.352

IPL form (last five matches, most recent first)

Delhi Daredevils: LLLLW
Deccan Chargers: LLWLL

Watch out for …

Ravi Bopara has cited his dropping from the England side in Sri Lanka as the catalyst which has led to his remarkable early-season form.Bopara was discarded by England following a miserable tour of Sri Lanka in which he failed to score in his last three innings. Fast forward four months and Bopara has amassed 499 in just four innings since the season began, with Championship hundreds against Northamptonshire (150) and Derbyshire (137).”The tough time I had in Sri Lanka has helped me – it has made me more determined to get back in there,” he told the ECB’s website. “Being dropped was a kick up the backside in a way because it shows what you need to do to survive at that level. I’m glad it happened now, at a young age. I’m more hungry for runs – to perform well and get my place back in that England team.”He has a fight on his hands to regain his Test spot, however. Alongside him are Robert Key, who struck 178 not out against the New Zealanders at Canterbury on Monday, and Owais Shah who many believe has been unlucky not to break his way back into the team. Key will captain them both in England Lions’ match against New Zealand on May 8, the tourists’ last warm-up game before the first Test on May 15 at Lord’s.”Some people might take it as a knock-back and not come back for it,” Bopara said. “That’s not me. I want to be put under that pressure again and I want to play for England. Playing Test cricket tells you where you are with your cricket – and to be able to do well there you’ve got to be a cut above anyone else in your county team.”Sri Lanka showed me areas I need to work on and what I need to do to perform well at international level. I went away and worked on certain areas of my game, a couple of technical things.”I didn’t have to do a great deal of mental work because the hard time I had in Sri Lanka made me mentally tougher.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Nuwan Kulasekara dismantled Rangpur Riders•BCB

Having skittled Barisal Bulls for 89 in their previous game, Comilla Victorians topped that effort by bowling out Rangpur Riders for 82, now the lowest score batting first in the BPL. Nuwan Kulasekara did the bulk of the damage, taking figures of 4-1-12-4. Marlon Samuels then struck an unbeaten 42 off 24 balls, ensuring that Comilla finished the chase in 11.5 overs. The win lifted Comilla to the top of the table with three wins in four matches.Samuels, who is scheduled to leave Dhaka tonight for the Australia tour, led the quickest chase in BPL history with eight fours and one six. Despite how well Samuels and Imrul Kayes batted, one was tempted to question the standard of the pitch – an unused one where batting should have been easier. Rangpur looked hypnotised by the trend of low-scoring performances as they lurched from one poor shot to the other.The win was set up by Kulasekara, who struck in his first over, having Soumya Sarkar caught at third man while attempting a slog. Lendl Simmons was out next ball, edging behind to slip. Sunil Narine, who hadn’t hit rhythm in the competition, then had Jahurul Islam caught at midwicket for 4.Misbah-ul-Haq, who led Rangpur in the absence of the suspended Shakib Al Hasan, however, was unfortunate to be given out lbw when the Abu Hider ball had pitched outside the leg stump. Al-Amin also fell lbw as Rangpur slipped to 32 for 5 inside 11 overs.Hider then got the big wicket for Thisara Perera when he holed out to long-on for 9 in the 14th over. He could have had Mohammad Mithun caught and bowled in his next over but lost balance and had the ball rolling onto the pitch. Kulasekara, though, removed Mithun, Hider coincidentally taking the catch. Rangpur’s innings ended with two run outs and Kulasekara claimed career-best T20 figures.Comilla lost Mahmudul Isam early in the chase but Kayes and Samuels took charge and steered their side home. Samuels was the more aggressive of the two, smashing four fours and a six off Abu Jayed.

Moeen Ali has withdrawn from the IPL auction after the ECB raised concerns over his workload.ESPNcricinfo understands that Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, contacted Moeen and his representatives today to discuss his involvement in the tournament after papers were lodged to confirm his inclusion in the auction on Thursday.While Strauss made it clear the final decision was up to Moeen, he did express his concerns over the volume of cricket such an IPL stint could commit Moeen to in addition to his international commitments. As a result, Moeen decided to withdraw.England are currently playing their second of 17 Tests scheduled for 2016, with Moeen likely to play a prominent role in all of them. He is also likely to be included in the World T20 squad. After a long summer – broken from the winter’s tours only by the few weeks in April and May when the IPL will be contested – England head to Bangladesh in September and then, having moved on to India, do not return until a few days before Christmas.Strauss has previously suggested he was keen for England players to gain experience from such high-profile T20 tournaments. But given Moeen’s current selection in all three formats of the game, it was decided that a balance had to be made.Moeen is understood to be happy with the decision to withdraw from the IPL and gratified that Strauss sees him as such an important part of England’s long-term plans.

India Under-19s batsman Sarfaraz Khan, who scored 74 in India’s 79-run win against Ireland in Mirpur, has expressed disappointment at not being able to convert his fifty into a bigger knock. Sarfaraz’s 70-ball effort was the top score in India’s win but the batsman said he would have liked to score around “100-150″ since he had built up a strong start.The rest of India’s top five batsmen managed only 49 runs together as the Ireland bowlers moved the ball around. The repair work was then done by Sarfaraz and Washington Sundar (62) who led India to a competitive 268 for 9 with a partnership of 110. Ireland’s middle order also responded with two fifties but the rest of the batting line-up could not do enough and they were dismissed for 189.”I should have scored more because I had settled in well,” Sarfaraz said. “Hopefully, I will do better in the remaining matches. But it is good to start the tournament with a win.”I am quite sad because I know if you score big in your first match then you carry that confidence to the next game. But whatever has happened, has happened. I can’t keep thinking about it. To do well in the next game is in my control, and I will try to do that. I will try to ensure that the mistakes we did in the last World Cup are not repeated here, and we go on to become the champions.”India captain Ishan Kishan, who got out for a duck in the first over, also rued the shaky start against a side that had lost both its warm-up matches, against Afghanistan and Canada. “I am not that much happy with the batting as we lost early wickets but this was the first match and I am sure we’ll learn from this and do better in upcoming matches,” Kishan said.While Sarfaraz admitted there was “slight pressure” on the team, since it was their first match of the tournament, he stated he was not nervous about his performance and wanted to take his time to settle on a pitch that was assisting the bowlers early on. Sarfaraz was joined by Sundar at the score of 55 for 4 and the duo combined for a stand of 110 runs in 17.2 overs, scoring at more than six runs per over.”The wicket here was seaming a bit initially, but as the wicket improved we got better,” Sarfaraz said. “I had thought of taking my own time and it happened like that. But I thought had I batted for a bit longer I could have achieved a big score of 100-150. But, no problem I will get it next time.”It was a crucial partnership [with Sundar] because we had lost four wickets. He also opens the batting for our team, so I was confident that he would be able to tackle the swing and seam. Our lower order is fine, so we were focused on playing as long as possible.”Does he think India’s openers should change their approach and perhaps curb their attacking shots early on given the seam-friendly nature of the Shere Bangla pitch? It is where India will play their remaining league matches.”The ball will swing, bowlers will do their job, but an individual cannot change his game at this level. Yes, if the batsman understands the situation and plays it is good, but if those shots start connecting then the batsmen following him will have it easy. It depends on the day. Today was my day, it might be the top three’s day tomorrow.”Sarfaraz also agreed that the early jolts were a good reality check for the side. It reminded him of India’s opening match in the last Under-19 World Cup, against Pakistan, where his 74 had helped them recover from 94 for 4. The difference was that against Ireland he was the senior batsman in the partnership, while two years ago he was helped by the more experienced Sanju Samson.”Yes, it was a similar situation, though we were 94 for 4 in that game. After that, Sanju and me pulled the team out. Hopefully, in the upcoming matches, we will do well and qualify. That’s our first aim. We are going match by match.”The change in role meant Sarfaraz had to take on the onus and adapt to the situation, instead of attacking from the moment he arrived at the crease. “I am an attacking batsman, and till last year I was batting at No. 6, so I had to attack [right from the start],” he said. “This year I am batting at No. 4 so I have to take more responsibility and play. Everyone has a role in the team, and my role is to play as long as possible.”With a different approach and mindset, a fitter Sarfaraz was also on display and the batsman attributed it to spending time with Virat Kohli during the IPL days. “It has happened by seeing Virat ,” Sarfaraz said with a laugh. “After playing in IPL, you get to learn new things and you try to implement those things in your overall development. From Virat I have learned how much importance to give my fitness.”