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Less than three months after sacking him, Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan board, has reappointed Mushtaq Ahmed, the former Pakistan legspinner, as assistant coach for the tour to South Africa, set to begin from January 2.Mushtaq had been removed from the post hours before the Pakistan team left for the Champions Trophy in October, one of Ashraf’s first moves upon taking over the chairmanship of the board. At the time, he was deemed as “irrelevant staff” by Ashraf, though speculation centred around a combination of his close friendship with Inzamam-ul-Haq and his implication in Justice Qayyum’s report on match-fixing.But at a press conference in Lahore, Ashraf said Mushtaq was capable of serving the team. “Mushtaq has impressed me a lot with his cricketing knowledge and I think he can be a better choice for the South African tour,” he said. Mushtaq is expected to remain with the team through the whole tour, while Waqar Younis, the bowling coach, will return home after the Tests.

There are three candidates seeking to become the new USACA president in elections set to take place on March 29.A list of all candidates for the various executive posts, including secretary, treasurer, and vice presidents, was announced by USACA after the vetting processes required under the new constitution were completed.As expected, Gladstone Dainty will be seeking re-election as president, and he faces a strong challenge from Ram Varadarajan. A third candidate, Kamran Khan, a former USACA president and captain of the US side, is also standing.The main battles for the other posts are between existing USACA officials and those who have lined up on Varadarajan’s ticket.Click here for a full list of candidates

The Indian board and the the state of Maharashtra told the Supreme Court today that they were not opposed to the anticipatory bail granted to Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former BCCI president, in the case regarding misappropriation of funds related to the 1996 World Cup.The state of Maharashtra, which had challenged the anticipatory bail granted to Dalmiya, changed its stance after a bench of Justice SB Sinha and Justice PK Balasubramanyan observed that “it was a problem of vindictiveness”.However, the court issued notices to Dalmiya, SK Nair, former BCCI secretary, and treasurers Kishore Rungta and Jyoti Bajpai, on Maharashtra’s Special Leave Petition as Harish Salve, senior counsel appearing for the state, said he wanted certain observations made in the Bombay High Court order expunged. Salve said that the high court’s observations on the merits of the case amounted to saying there was no case against Dalmiya and the others.When initially L Nageshwar Rao, the board’s counsel, opposed the anticipatory bail granted to Dalmiya, the court said “BCCI is only a complainant in the case. It has no locus standi… This is too much…”, following which Rao retracted his earlier position.On behalf of Dalmiya, senior counsel Soli J Sorabjee submitted it was a case of vindictiveness and nothing else and the court should record it in its order.Salve submitted certain documents relating to the case in the court for perusal. However, when Sorabjee asked for a copy of the same, he refused to part with them saying he cannot share it with the accused as the investigation was still going on.

England warmed-up for their quadrangular tournament in Chennai with a 97-run win against India B at the India Pistons Ground. Claire Taylor led the way striking 52, as England used 13 players, then Holly Colvin impressed with the ball claiming 5 for 31.Taylor’s innings took just 40 balls and she used the sweep to good effect before retiring after completing her half-century to allow others a hit. Charlotte Edwards contributed a run-a-ball 46 and looked to dominate throughout her knock. The middle order ensured momentum was maintained and Laura Marsh capped the innings with 20 off 13 balls.A solid bowling effort followed and was backed-up by some sharp fielding. Isha Guha made an early breakthrough but the Indians moved to 86 for 1 before Guha struck again. However, they were never in touch with the target and Colvin ran through the middle and lower order, while Beth Morgan and Laura Newton grabbed one apiece.England’s second warm-up match is on Monday when they take on India A at the main stadium in Chennai.

Muttiah Muralitharan has plans to work alongside Anil Kumble to coach subcontinent players in spin bowling after his retirement. “He [Anil] is one of the greatest bowlers I have seen and he knows a lot”, Murali told , a Mumbai daily.”We will see which country needs help. We are looking at subcontinent countries and academies.” Murali said they wanted to spend one to two weeks working with each academy. “I think bowling coaching is not about technique but how to access the conditions and bowl in those conditions. When both of us call it a day we will look at coaching together. Hopefully, it will help future generations.”Murali said he hoped to play for at least three more years so that he could complete 20 years in international cricket. “I am enjoying Twenty20 now so much so I might play a few years. I have signed for three years so I have to play for these three years. Then I have to see if I can play for one year or more. It depends on how I bowl.” In the IPL so far, he has taken three wickets in three matches for the Chennai Super Kings, who are at the top of the points table having won all their games.Murali said Twenty20 was as much a game for bowlers as it was for batsmen. The key, for bowlers, he said, was to read what the batsman is going to play very early. “Mainly people like to see sixes and fours and if there are wickets where batsmen can’t score then people will get bored. But bowlers also have to give themselves chances.”

Stuart MacGill, who picked up a knee injury during Australia’s five-day boot camp in the Queensland bush recently, feels the problem may interfere in his Ashes preparations. MacGill has resumed training for New South Wales after missing the first state practice session, but by his own admission, was more than concerned about an “avoidable” incident at the age of 35.”I’m going to have things go wrong with me this summer, that’s for sure,” MacGill was quoted as saying in the . “I don’t really need to go into a season already carrying something that was probably avoidable.The camp was designed with certain objectives in mind and I’d say those objectives were achieved. I just think we probably could have achieved those goals in a different format.”Having recently recuperated from surgery to his right knee, MacGill conceded that the latest injury left him quite sore. With the Ashes around the corner, MacGill hoped he would fully recover to be a part of Australia’s attempt to win the urn back. “Unfortunately the timing has not been great,” he said. “I am going to ease my way into things, and my intention is to be bowling at my peak and being ready to go when the NSW season starts in four or five weeks. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to take it a little bit slower than I had hoped to at this point.”Ricky Ponting has publicly said once more that England are very susceptible to wrist spin, and MacGill – with 39 wickets in six Tests against them – refused to shirk away from his predicament. “Now is not a time for me to be stepping out of the game because I’m sore. I can’t really afford that in my career. I’m 35, and every day I’m out of the game is shortening my career. I can’t have that. If I’m ever omitted from the team and a second spinner is picked, I want it to be because they are better than me.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNasir Hossain collected three wickets to rattle Chittagong•Raton Gomes/BCB

Dhaka Dynamites bounced back from their defeat on Wednesday, securing a convincing six-wicket win against Chittagong Vikings. In yet another low-scoring encounter, Dhaka’s bowlers showed good control, rolling over Chittagong for 92. The top-order batsmen then complemented the bowlers as Dhaka chased down the target with 17 balls to spare.Chittagong’s innings began on an undesirable note: Tamim Iqbal was given out caught behind despite the ball not grazing the bat or the glove on its way to Kumar Sangakkara. Tamim dragged himself off the field, after which Anamul Haque was out lbw, trying to pull Farhad Reza in the next over.The 19-year old Yasir Ali, however, started off with three fours off Abul Hasan. He drove past cover, over mid-off, and pulled over midwicket to briefly revive the innings. However, he nicked a Mustafizur Rahman cutter behind in the next over.Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a four and a six soon after, but left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain had him lbw for 20. Chittagong promoted Mohammad Amir to No.6 but he made only 2 before chopping on Yasir Shah as Chittagong slumped to 50 for 5 in 8.4 overs. Naeem Islam, playing his first match of the season, hung around with the lower order after Jeevan Mendis (1) and Ziaur Rahman (9) were undone by Nasir Hossain.Naeem launched a six in the 18th over but ran out of partners and finished unbeaten on 29 off 38 balls. Mustafizur and Nasir claimed combined figures of 7.4-1-26-6.Shykat Ali and Shadman Islam, playing his first T20 game, laid a solid foundation, for the chase, with a 45-run opening partnership. Shykat went about his work impressively, the highlight being a pick-up shot that sailed over square leg for a six. However, he holed out to long-on for 23 off 17 balls.Nasir Jamshed then was caught at long-off in the 13th over, for 12, and Nasir was bowled by Naeem two overs later. Shadman, who was largely becalmed early on, then unleashed two square-cuts off Shafiul Islam. The opener fell with his side two runs away from the target but Kumar Sangakkara completed the chase with a pulled four.

Canada 203 beat Kenya A 193 by ten runsCanada got their tour of Africa off to a winning start with a 10-run victory over Kenya A at Ruaraka Sports Club.Canada were stuck in by the Kenyans and struggled throughout their innings, with none of their batsmen able to go on and make a decent score as they ended on 203. Moses Otieno and Dominic Wesonga shared three wickets while Ashif Mulla top scored with 36.Kenya started solidly to reach 67 for 1 but lost regular wickets and fell short.With Canada set to meet the full Kenyan side in the Intercontinental Cup later this week, Steve Tikolo, the captain, said his side were ready. “The team is alright and we have been in intensive training for three weeks where we have worked on rectifying our mistakes,” he told The Standard. “We believe we will put a good performance to lay a platform to reach the Intercontinental Cup final next year as well as prepare for the next World Cup.”

Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka’s most successful fast bowler, has opted out of next month’s Afro-Asia tournament. Kangadaran Mathivanan, Sri Lanka Cricket’s secretary, said that that Vaas, who is currently involved in county cricket with Middlesex, informed the board that he will be unavailable.Vaas becomes the second notable absentee from the Asia squad. Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, was earlier dropped on fitness grounds having been initially selected.The series is due to kick-off with a Twenty20 game on June 5 followed by a three-match ODI series between the combined Asian and African continent teams at Bangalore on June 6 and at Chennai on June 9 and 10.Vaas joined Middlesex to play in the early part of the English season before he returns to Sri Lanka mid-June to play in the home series against Bangladesh.

Seam bowler Andrew McGarry has joined Essex until the end of the season as the county search for injury cover. It is his second stint at Chelmsford after he played 15 matches between 1999 and 2003.McGarry was called into the Essex squad as a non-contracted player for the Championship against Glamorgan at the end of April. He went wicketless but did enough to encourage the club to sign him up.”Once you play somewhere you don’t expect to get a second chance, so to get another go is really good,” he told the Essex website. “I’ve matured and have a bit more experience. Obviously I haven’t played much on the first-class scene for three years but I’ve played a lot of minor counties cricket [for Suffolk] and have learnt a bit more about myself so will hopefully come back a better bowler.”David East, the chief executive, said: “Andrew has bowled well for us in our early season matches and demonstrated that he has matured as a cricketer. We have a number of injuries to our seam bowlers at present and Andrew’s addition to the squad will give us further options over the next few months.”McGarry went straight into the Essex squad for their three-day match against Cambridge University.