South Africa drop troubled Gibbs

Batsman Herschelle Gibbs has been dropped from South Africa's side after breaking a team curfew before their Twenty20 match against Bangladesh.
He will miss the three-match one-day series against the Tigers, which starts on Friday.
Gibbs, 34, who recently split from his wife, will also be required to attend an alcohol rehabilitation course.
"It is clear that he has developed a problem that needs to be addressed," said team manager Mohammed Moosajee.
Although South Africa coach Mickey Arthur said the discipline breach was "unacceptable", Moosajee offered a more sympathetic voice.
"We are not trying to punish Herschelle but rather to help him," said Moosajee.
"He has been under a lot of pressure lately, notably from the publicity surrounding his recent divorce. "He still has a lot to offer South African cricket and his many fans but this has to be done in line with team structures and disciplines."
Gibbs's wife, Tenielle, blamed his escalating drinking problem as one of the reasons for the failure of their marriage after only one year.
South Africa's selectors have decided not to name a replacement for Gibbs, so Hashim Amla and Justin Ontong are likely to open the batting in the one-dayers against Bangladesh.
Johan Botha will continue to captain the team in Graeme Smith's absence.
Smith is still recovering from an elbow injury but hopes to make a return at some stage during the one-day series.

Iresh Pushpakumara dies aged 21

Iresh Pushpakumara, a 21-year-old left-arm chinaman bowler from Kalutara in Sri Lanka, has died in Colombo General Hospital after a brief illness.
Pushpakumara impressed during the 2008-09 Under-23 Division One tournament by taking 40 wickets at 14.50 in seven matches for Panadura SC. He was the third highest wicket-taker in the tournament after Ragama CC's Ranesh Perera (46 wickets) and SSC's Milan Fernando (41).
Pushpakumara's best figures were 9 for 75 against his former club Lankan CC. He captained Sri Sumangala College to victory in their annual cricket match against Moratu Vidyalaya in 2006-07 taking a match haul of 11 wickets.

Shane Bond rules out international comeback

Shane Bond has spoken of his unhappiness with the way he has been treated by New Zealand Cricket and said that he will not play for his country again, even if the stand-off with the ICL is resolved.

"I'm disappointed with the way my country's cricket board treated me," he told the PTI agency. "I don't want to represent New Zealand in Test matches or one-day internationals any more.

"Despite clearing me for the tournament earlier, the cricket board later changed their mind and stepped back from their stand. I am quite disappointed with that. I still enjoy playing cricket. I'm having a great time with the game, which has given me career and financial security."

Bond said he joined ICL after getting an assurance from the New Zealand board that he would be able to play international cricket. However, the board backtracked and he was asked to choose between ICL and New Zealand.

He was disappointed with the way his international career ended. "There were lots of politics going on in the background. It was disappointing not to finish on your terms for New Zealand. Playing the last game and have your family come and get to watch it."

Bond said financial reasons had prompted him to join the league. "I didn't know then I was not going to play for New Zealand, of course. You are always worried about kids; to give more than you got. After ICL, the financial pressure was off. I was just realistic. I was 32, had lots of injuries and I knew I had only two years or so of cricket. It was difficult to travel away with a young family. From the financial side it was just common sense. Family comes first; this money has made a massive difference. I discussed the proposition with my wife and went through thoroughly."

Asked whether he joined ICL because New Zealand was in decline as a team and would he have done it if he were playing for a strong team like Australia, Bond said he couldn't answer the hypothetical scenario. "I didn't think team was in decline. We were disappointed with the World Cup. We still had the makings of a good side."

He said he had informed his team-mates about the decision and they understood and respected it. "They were fully supportive. They were just disappointed with how it was handled (by the board). Some of them were also in dialogue with ICL and a few joined IPL later. I still follow New Zealand cricket. They are some of my best mates and I would always support them."

He also lashed out at the administrators who were preventing ICL players from participating in official cricket. "I was five when I started dreaming about playing cricket for New Zealand and someone, a bureaucrat, who has never played the game, takes it away from me. It's just ridiculous," he said. "ICC needs to really take control of the game. If this sort of behaviour carries on and players get banned the game loses its credibility."

McCullum named Player of the Year - New Zeeland

Brendon McCullum has been named New Zealand's Player of the Year following a prolific season during which he starred at both international and domestic level. McCullum was given the award for 2007-08 at a ceremony in Auckland in addition to receiving the Walter Hadlee Trophy for one-day batting.

Dion Nash, one of the national selectors and a member of the awards selection panel, said McCullum had earned the recognition not only through his explosive batting but also his first-rate glovework. "In the domestic and international one-day and Twenty20 competitions he outperformed everyone else," Nash said.

"Who will forget his 170 from 108 balls for the Otago Volts in the State Shield final or his 80 from 28 balls against Bangladesh in Queenstown? While his batting was breathtaking at times, so were some of the wicketkeeping catches he took. During a long and demanding season he retained his extremely high standards throughout, including the Test series against England in England."

McCullum's year also featured one of the most memorable innings in Twenty20 history, when he kicked off the inaugural IPL match with a brilliant 158 from 73 balls. But despite his all-round success McCullum missed out on the new JR Reid Best Allrounder award, which went to Jacob Oram, who scored two Test centuries, three ODI fifties and collected 37 first-class wickets at 16.12

The Walter Hadlee Trophy for bowling in one-day internationals went to Kyle Mills, who over the past year was making his return from a severe knee injury. Mills took 40 ODI wickets over the past 12 months, including a career best of 5 for 25 against South Africa in Durban last November.

The Redpath Cup for the best batsman in first-class cricket went to Ross Taylor, who made his Test debut in South Africa late last year. Taylor's maiden Test century came in Hamilton, where he helped set up a New Zealand victory over England, and he added another Test hundred in a losing side at Old Trafford.

The Winsor Cup, for first-class bowling, went to Chris Martin. One of three players who appeared in all ten Tests during the past year, Martin collected 34 wickets at 30.64.

Nathan McCullum was named the State Cricketer of the Year following an excellent all-round 2007-08 season in which he averaged 36.10 in first-class cricket and also picked up 17 wickets. The Young Player of the Year was Kane Williamson, who captained New Zealand to the semi-finals of the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia.

Nicola Browne was given the Ruth Martin Cup as the best batsman in women's cricket, Helen Watson picked up the Phyl Blackler Cup for women's bowling and Sara McGlashan was named Women's State Cricketer of the Year. Richard Hadlee was also recognised for outstanding services to cricket and received the Sutcliffe Medal.

I was removed by the peple - Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly has said he believes people outside the team poisoned Greg Chappell against him, leading to his removal from the captaincy and, for a while, from the team. Ganguly, who will bow out after the Nagpur Test against Australia, said he would not have been in the team for the current Test series against Australia if the "old selection committee had stayed" and that he would have "thought differently" about his retirement had he still been playing one-day cricket.

"The thing that hurt me the most, in my whole career, was that public email he [Chappell] sent - what was written in it and the tone in which it was written," he told the Indian Express. "It was very upsetting, and I found it strange because I didn't think we'd spent enough time together in the team for him to form such a strong opinion about me. I'm convinced that some people had poisoned him against me."

Asked whether they were people in the team, he said, "No, outside the team.'

The email was subsequently leaked to the media and Ganguly was out of the team till he staged a comeback late in 2006.

Chappell was appointed as coach with the backing of Ganguly, then India captain. "I'd discussed my batting with him a couple of times and he'd been very helpful. Most of the others wanted [Tom] Moody but I pushed for Chappell. You could say it was my biggest mistake, but I had the best for Indian cricket at heart. People joke with me that I was to blame for getting them stuck with him."

Ganguly suggested he might have continued for longer if he was still a part of India's ODI team. "I'm sure it's [retirement] never easy for anyone," he said. "But there were a lot of factors. I'd been left out of the Irani team, and I'd been out of the one-day side for a while. The fact that I wasn't playing ODIs played a big part. If I'd been playing in both forms of the game, perhaps I would've thought differently. I always wanted to leave on a high. There is no point being pushed around, dragging on for the last few years when nobody wants you."

Ganguly, however, said he still had "great respect" for Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of the previous selection committee. "If he hadn't been the chief selector, I would've never made a comeback in 2006 [in South Africa]. I may not have agreed with his dropping me from the one-day team and the Irani, but that's okay."

Ganguly felt his fielding was the reason that cost him a place in the ODI team; he was dropped for the CB Series in Australia earlier this year. "I did think I should have played one-day cricket for longer. I was included in only some 30-odd matches in the last three years. In no other country can a player who's scored 12,000 runs in his career be used so sparingly.

"I believe it had to do with my fielding, and because they wanted to build a team for the 2011 World Cup. I didn't think I'd be around for that long, so I knew my one-day career was over after being left out for the Australia series."

We feel un done by the rules - middlex CCC

Vinny Codrington, Middlesex's chief executive, has said the county does "feel penalised" by rules that would prevent their leading players from taking part in the Champions Twenty20 League in India in December.

Middlesex will be affected by a tournament rule under which they can use only those players on their books when they qualified for the Champions League. That rules out Neil Dexter, who was signed post season from Kent, and Neil Carter, a short-term loan signing from Warwickshire. Dirk Nannes is also missing from the squad as he is representing Victoria.

They are also unlikely to have their two England players, Owais Shah and Andrew Strauss, who will be part of the national team touring India. While Shah is part of both the Test and ODI team, Strauss has been included for the two-Test series, which starts on December 14.

"Chennai [Super Kings], for example, have got four internationals while it doesn't look like England are going to release Shah and Strauss, so we have look at alternatives and we do feel penalised," Codrington told the Daily Telegraph. "We are also only allowed one overseas player while Chennai can pick Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Muttiah Muralitharan so we are starting behind the eight-ball.

"The guys will go out early and we are having to pay for that as they will not fund us being there until the 30th [November] but we want to give ourselves the best chance of competing," Codrington said. "We let the Trinidad match get away from us and we were stuffed by the Stanford team, although not as badly as England were."

Swann ready for India challenge

Graeme Swann is hoping that a return to the subcontinent will bring a change of fortune for him as England begin their tour of India. Swann is part of both the one-day and Test squad, but although he isn't guaranteed a starting place in either side he is hoping conditions will be in his favour.

He played a key role in England's one-day series win in Sri Lanka last year, taking seven wickets in four matches, but has since struggled to maintain his place in the team. He hasn't played an ODI since June and against South Africa he was sidelined by the emergence of Samit Patel. However, he was selected for the final two matches in the Stanford Super Series and with conditions likely to favour spin he could partner Patel over the next month.

"I am really excited, I can't wait to get out there because I did well in Sri Lanka last year, the wickets obviously suit spin bowling more than other parts of the world," Swann told the Press Association. "So I hope to play a big role in both the one-dayers and the Test matches."

The tour includes seven one-day internationals, starting in Rajkot on November 14, followed by two Tests before Christmas. The last time England toured India they lost the one-day series 5-1, following an impressive drawn Test series, and Swann knows it's vital that the squad begin strongly this time around.

"The start of this tour is the most important couple of weeks we have got left in this year because if we start well and get off on the right footing then it sets you up for the whole trip," he said. "The last thing you want to do when you are on a tour like India and you're travelling, it's hectic and you're not in places that you're familiar with, is lose the first couple.

"Suddenly it can seem like a whirlwind, flying around, playing games but never having time to prepare. On the same basis if you are winning, you just can't wait to play again."

England had 12 hours in London after arriving back from Antigua before departing for Mumbai and Swann said the team has already moved on from the disappointment of missing out on a million dollars each.

"I was a lot less bothered than I thought I'd be," he said. "Even though it was a big week in terms of publicity, it still ranks low in the grand scheme of England cricket.

"The journey back after the match was very English. There was a lot of mickey-taking and Paul Collingwood came out with 'don't worry lads, at least we got to the final'."