Roland Butcher, who in 1981 became the first black player to represent England – ironically in Barbados, the country of his birth – has been appointed director of sports at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus in Barbados.Butcher was appointed to the role on a two-year contract in the hope that he would improve the profile of the centre. “He has international coaching qualifications in two of the leading sporting disciplines, cricket and football, so it’s like a double whammy,” Chelston Lovell, the centre’s media manager, told The Nation. “He will be working very intimately in the total preparation of Cave Hill Campus sports teams for major local and regional tournaments.”Aside from his cricket credentials, Butcher played a good standard of non-league football in England. But his experience as a coach in New Zealand, Bermuda and England will be his main asset.

While rain made the fifth Ashes Test its biggest casualty, poor weather also tried to hamper the Australians in teams pushing for County Championship honours or fighting to avoid relegation. Lancashire managed to avoid any serious interruptions to seal promotion back into Division One, and with only two rounds until the end of the season David Hussey’s Nottinghamshire are favourites for the main trophy ahead of Sussex and Kent.Notts gave themselves a ten-point boost at the top of the table with impressive help from Hussey in a two-day innings-and-54-run victory over Gloucestershire at Trent Bridge. Hussey stroked 157 from 187 balls in a sparkling innings that included 27 fours and three sixes. It was Hussey’s third century of a season that has produced 1220 runs at 76.25, and his fine effort was matched by Mark Ealham, who twice knocked into Gloucestershire with nine wickets.Middlesex, who were without the Australia A bowler Stuart Clark in the draw with Kent, are battling with Surrey and Warwickshire to miss the three-team relegation. The demotions of Gloucestershire and Glamorgan have already been confirmed.Boosted by a two-pronged Australian contingent, Lancashire earned Division-Two promotion with an eight-wicket victory over Essex at Chelmsford. Symonds made 98 from 135 balls – his Championship scores since joining after Australia’s one-day series are 134, 45, 121, 146, 1, 37, 4 and 98 – and Law added 14 and 13 not out after Murali Kartik collected ten wickets for the match. Lancashire are the first team to be promoted while Durham and Yorkshire currently hold the crucial second and third spots.Ian Harvey grabbed three wickets and scored 11 as the weather hindered Yorkshire’s push against Worcestershire at Headingley. Only five overs were possible on the final day as Yorkshire desperately tried to haul in their target of 203. When the match was abandoned they were 2 for 125 from 25 overs.Rain ruined the Northamptonshire v Somerset match at Taunton after three innings with the visitors on top. Martin Love contributed 14 and Damien Wright 71 as Northants cruised to 574 with centuries to Usman Afzaal and David Sales, while the home side managed 396 and 4 for 163 before rain intervened to force an early finish. Wright had a memorable match with seven wickets to go with his fourth Championship half-century of the year.Derbyshire confirmed they would finish last with a draw against Leicestershire that was limited to two innings because of the weather. Jon Moss managed 14 as Derbyshire were dismissed for 190 chasing the opposition’s 6 declared for 552 at Grace Road.

Scorecard
Powered by Brenton Parchment’s 75 and Xavier Marshall’s 55, Jamaica reached the target of 209 to beat Barbados by six wickets to earn a consolation win in the KFC Cup at Bridgetown in Barbados. Despite the loss, Barbados finished second in the preliminaries of the KFC Cup. Jamaica, meanwhile have failed to reach the semi-finals for the second consecutive season.Batting first, Barbados managed a modest 208 thanks largely to an unbeaten half-century by the veteran Floyd Reifer. Gareth Breese, the offspinner, named man-of-the-match broke the back of Barbados with his figures of 4 for 24.
Scorecard
Trinidad & Tobago, the defending champions, hurtled towards their fifth straight loss and ended their season winless as Guyana chased down their meagre total of 172 in the final round of the KFC Cup in Barbados.Sent in to bat first at the Windward Sports Club, T&T continued their dismal run putting up a paltry total of 172 which was never going to challenge Guyana. Sewnarine Chattergoon, the left-handed Guyanese opener, hit an unbeaten 78 and shared an opening stand of 131 with Krishna Arjune (55) to take his side to the top of the points table. Earlier, T&T were dealt a huge blow when Daren Ganga, the captain, had to pull out with a leg injury leaving Dinesh Ramdhin to lead the side.
Scorecard
Windward Islands scored a comprehensive victory over Leeward Islands in their final round match of the KFC Cup at the Cable and Wireless Sports Club Ground to earn themselves a semi-final berth.Devon Smith, the West Indies opener, led the way with an attacking 59 off 48 balls to chase down the target of 145. Earlier, the Leewards were shot out for 144 in just 38.2 overs after an inspired opening spell by Darren Sammy and Deighton Butler, who picked two wickets apiece.Speaking to CMC Sports at the end of the match, Rawl Lewis, the Windwards captain, said, “We are now looking forward to the semi-finals in Guyana, I think the guys have worked hard and though we will be considered by many as the underdogs in the tournament, I think that we have performed well in the preliminaries and we will be hoping to do the same in Guyana in an effort to reach the final”.

Easterns pulled off a remarkable four-wicket win by successfully chasing 340 against Free State. After declaring overnight on 126 for 1, Free State would have been confident of winning after they had bowled Easterns out cheaply for 165 in the first innings. A magnificent 134 not out from Jaco Booysen, to go with his 40 in the first innings, took Easterns to the target in 83.3 overs.Having been put under pressure by Eastern Province from the end of day one, Boland could not manage to overcome a bad pitch, sticky sightscreens and a power failure and eventually fell 22-runs short of their 197-run target. The highlight of the match was Juan Theron who took 6 for 47 to go with his 3 for 12 in the first innings.At Kimberley, Griqualand West declared on 264 for 8, setting Gauteng a target of 264. Adrian McLaren scored 131, and Wendell Bossenger scored 53, and took Griqualand to a strong position, allowing them to set an almost ungettable target. Johnson Mafa had kept Gauteng in the game taking 4 for 79. Gauteng made steady progress and was on the way to victory when a spell of 4 for 79 from Nathan Arthur put a halt to the run chase. A run-a-ball 55 from Douglas Gain and 66 not out off 46 balls from Diaan van Wyk was at the end not enough and Gauteng fell 24 runs short.

Uncertainty loomed large over the composition of the Indian team on the eve of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Delhi. Rahul Dravid, suffering from fever, did not practice with the team, but is likely to recover in time to play. It is not entirely clear if Virender Sehwag’s situation is as good. In bed with a throat infection, Sehwag had struggled to eat solid food, and was in a city hospital receiving treatment. He was on intravenous drip, receiving nutrition and medication in this manner. It looks extremely unlikely that he will play, although there was no clarity coming forth from the board-appointed media officer M Baladitya.Should Sehwag not play, Yuvraj Singh will get a go, although whether he will open the batting with Gautam Gambhir, or bat in the middle-order while Sourav Ganguly is promoted to do the job, remains unclear.Sri Lanka, on the other hand, were happy to announce that everyone was fit and available for selection. Marvan Atapattu stressed the fact that his team had taken all they could out of the Chennai match, and Tom Moody, the coach, was equally upbeat.One man’s burdenAs much as we would like to think otherwise, most tongues are wagging in the direction of Sachin Tendulkar. Yes, India must win, the fans tell you, but what about Sachin’s 35th Test century? Ever since he got to century No. 34, albeit with a little help from the butterfingered Bangladeshis at Dhaka just over a year ago, fans have eagerly waited for the one ton that would push him to the top of the heap, clear of Sunil Gavaskar. The rain-drenched Chennai affair provided a good chance for him to get the milestone out of the way, but it was not to be. Can Delhi do the trick?New, but improved?After the South Africa one-dayer at Kolkata this Indian team will not be thinking too much about getting the most out of the home advantage, but still, no team likes to play a big game on a largely untried ground. The Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi is no young turk when it comes to stadia, but it has been in such a state of flux since the Delhi and District Cricket Association set out on a revamp in 2004 that no-one is really sure what to expect till the last moment. The teams have not even been able to practice on the ground, which is always a dampener. “It’s always nice to get a feel of the ground you are playing at, in the lead up. It’s the small things – just knowing where everything is, what the different stands are like, what the view is from different field positions,” one Indian player remarked. India have been practising at one ground, the Sri Lankans at a second, and the actual game will happen at the Kotla. Not ideal.No room even for blusterOne of the worst things in modern cricket is the death of the inventive sledger, the artful dodger of tricky questions, the witty manipulator of routine press conferences. Rod Marsh would rather ask the batsman who walked in, “how is your wife … and my kids?” than go “You can’t effing bat you effing effer”; Nasser Hussain would reply, “You’ve covered enough cricket, tell me how you’d bowl to Sachin,” when asked what his strategy was, rather than say, “I don’t want to reveal strategy before a match.” Nowadays the talk is all about the “psychological edge” Sri Lanka gained from bowling India out cheaply on an iffy Chennai pitch in a match that was shortened more than the skirts of airhostesses on gimmicky airlines. There’s talk of “moral victories” when defeat was not even in the realm of the possible. Let’s face it, any which way you look at it, this Test series begins here. What has passed is a lot of water under the leaking covers.What you did not seeA key factor in Delhi could be the manner in which India blunt Sri Lanka’s key bowlers. With all due respect to the rest of the crew, Sri Lanka’s success hinges largely on how badly opposition batsmen play Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan. If batsmen have to dig deep enough to give Vaas ten maiden overs on a day, then there’s serious trouble. Vaas needs just two wickets to hit the 300-mark in Tests, and will be only the second Sri Lankan to do so. If Murali reaches that eye-popping delivery stride unchallenged, without being seriously attacked, there’s a struggle on hand. India’s mastery over Sri Lanka in the recent one-day series could not have happened without their best batsmen taking on that strangulating duo. Can Sachin Tendulkar attack Vaas as he did recently? Will VVS Laxman have the wherewithal (and time at the crease before being tragicomically run out) to banish Murali to all parts? That we did not see at Chennai. That we must look out for.

Tatenda Taibu arrived in Dhaka on December 8 to play in the premier division cricket league starting from December 12 for City Club, last year’s runners-up. It will be Taibu’s second visit to Bangladesh after leading Zimbabwe earlier this year in a three-match Test series and five-match one-day international series.”I was supposed to play in South Africa in collaboration with Zimbabwe Cricket but after my retirement they just shut the window. There was no way out for me after the decision. It was painful for me that for quite sometime I couldn’t think about cricket; rather I had to concentrate on other issues. Then I got the proposal from Mamun (Reazuddin Al Mamun). Without cricket, life was so difficult to me,” Taibu told Dhaka-based For the past few days Taibu has been brushing up on his knowledge regarding the local league and his new club. “I came to know the domestic league here is very competitive. I spoke with Streaky [Heath Streak] as well as Steve Tikolo. I was told that players like Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, and Akram played here. I thought that it would also be nice for me.”I have little idea about my team but now I know that my team finished runners-up in the last two seasons and the club boasts five national players including Rajin [Saleh] and [Alok] Kapali. I have also been informed about the other sides.”He, however, clarified that his main priority would still be Zimbabwe cricket and that he hopes to get back in action for his country soon.” I will return to my country after one month and come back to Bangladesh after three weeks. But you know my first priority is Zimbabwe cricket that’s why I am looking forward to play for my country in our next tour of West Indies in May and I believe things will be okay by then.”If Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute quit, the crisis will be resolved soon. I’m hopeful that everything will be back to normalcy. You know whenever Themba Mliswa [the man who made the threats against me] was involved in any sport he destroyed it. He destroyed rugby, soccer and a club and then came to cricket.”Replying to a query on whether the ICC should intervene, he said: “The crisis is so deep that there is no scope for them to do anything and it was already too late.”

The convenor of South Africa’s selectors, Haroon Lorgat, has warned the country’s top order that their performances in Australia have not been up to scratch. Lorgat’s comments follow their 94-run defeat against Sri Lanka, at Brisbane, which came two days after they beat Australia.The South African batting has not been helped by the withdrawal of Jacques Kallis, who has been replaced by Johan van de Wath, but Lorgat told that this is no excuse and other players should take responsibility.”van der Wath is a like-for-like replacement for Kallis, although he is obviously not in the same class as a specialist batsman,” Lorgat admitted. “But we still have plenty of senior batsmen available and, quite frankly, it is high time that they started pulling their weight.”Jacques Rudolph played well against Sri Lanka, but it is high time that [Graeme] Smith, [Herschelle] Gibbs and [Ashwell] Prince start making the sort of scores we expect from them.”I don’t think there is anything wrong with the personnel we have in Australia, but there is definitely something missing, and the team must sort themselves out quickly. What happened [at the Gabba] was simply not acceptable.”Smith’s form has been a concern throughout the tour. In the Tests, Twenty20 and one-day internationals he has failed to reach fifty in nine innings, with a top score of 39. However, for the head of the national selection panel to be making comments such as this mid-way through a tour is hardly going to inspire confidence among the players.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has been fined 10% of his match fees for a slow over-rate during the third ODI against India. The rest of the team was fined 5%.Pakistan bowled one over less in the stipulated time during their loss to India at Lahore. The Indians were pulled up for the same offence after the first game at Peshawar that Pakistan won by seven runs.India lead the five-match series 2-1 going into the fourth ODI at Multan on Thursday.

On getting to the milestone of 500 wickets
It’s a great feeling to reach a milestone like this. What makes it more special is the fact that only four other bowlers have got to the 500-mark and I am the first Indian to do so.On how he’d sum up his journey in cricket in 16 years
I’d say I’ve persevered. When I began people questioned my kind of bowling and even now people do. I guess after 16 years that has still not been answered and I find that strange. I’ve just gone into every game thinking I need to perform, to contribute something to the team.On what has kept him going all these years
I’ve always had the self-belief that I can perform at this level. There have been doubts created by other people over my ability to perform. When you play for 16 years people are bound to create such doubts. But I have never doubted myself. And nor have my team-mates and my family. Coming back from my shoulder injury [in 2000-01] was crucial.On what the next target is
Already the tally is 501. How many more wickets depends on my body and the schedule, so I can’t really say what the target is. Warne has 659, Murali just got to 600 yesterday, hopefully I’ll also scale those heights some day.On setting up batsmen
When I bowl I believe every ball can get a wicket. That’s my attitude. Obviously you try and set up a batsman, get him to play a few shots. Some days it works and some days it doesn’t. You’re always trying to play a mental game with the batsman. If you consistently ask questions of the batsmen you are bound to be successful.On how he continues to strive to improve after 16 years in international cricket
You need to constantly evolve and bring up some variations because these days even before you step out, the opposition knows everything about you. I still try to bowl the classical legspinner, the classical flipper and the classical googly. That’s the only way to enjoy yourself. The day I think I’ve had enough of trying out new things, I won’t be playing the game.On whether he had fears that he may never bowl again after his shoulder injury
There were fears that I may not bowl again, when I had the surgery. It took two months to just lift my hand. Playing cricket at the international level was a distant thought. That’s when my wife, Andrew Leipus, Omkar [yoga expert in Bangalore] and Ramakant [Karnataka team physiotherapist] constantly motivated me and helped me in my rehabilitation. Also the thought that one day when I bowl there would be no pain was enough motivation. Srinath’s coming back to international cricket after a similar surgery also gave me lot of strength.On how he seems to be bowling at his best in the recent past
The last couple of years have been good. The experience that I’ve gained over the years and the way the ball is coming out of the hand has been good. The number of overs I have bowled over the last 16 years have helped me in understanding what needs to be done. The last three years have been really good.On the memorable wickets along the way
The first wicket of Allan Lamb, which was where it all started. The 10-wicket haul against Pakistan in Delhi was special. Also the performance against Australia at Sydney [in early 2005] … There have been many special moments. When we won against Australia at Adelaide … the series win in Pakistan in 2004.On whom he dedicates reaching this milestone to
I dedicate this to all those players who have played with me. To the fielders who took the catches, the fellow bowlers who applied pressure from the other end, to batsmen who put runs on the board … I would not have got 500 wickets if they had not played their part.On what Matthew Hoggard, Kumble’s 300th victim, had to say when the wicket of Harmison fell
He suggested that I might have been more happy if I’d picked up the wicket of a batsman as my 500th.

Scorecard

If there were 2 000 spectators at Carlton Club for the third day of the Carib Beer Cup semi-final between Barbados and Guyana yesterday, more than 75 per cent appeared to be vociferously throwing their support behind the visitors.As Guyana resolutely recovered before going on the rampage, their followers screamed themselves hoarse, jumped up and down and waved their national flag with pride. In contrast, outnumbered Barbados supporters watched in disbelief with the knowledge that the match was gradually slipping away.From a lunchtime position of 112 for 4, only 77 ahead, Guyana consolidated to reach 192 for 5 at tea, but pressed on the accelerator in the final session to lash 124 runs at better than five runs an over before declaring at 316 for 9 with six overs remaining.Guyana, facing a first-innings deficit, knew that nothing less than victory will give them a place in the weekend’s final against Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados. They reached seven without loss at the close, and will face a stern test of skill and character after being set a target of 282.For two hours, Barbados wiped away the cream of Guyana’s batting and were into the last pair of specialist batsmen. For the next two hours, Sewnarine Chattergoon, who had defiantly survived the first session en route to a solid half-century, continued his resistance by showing immense powers of concentration in an effort that eventually spanned five hours.His impressive 82 off 219 balls, highlighted by his ability to present a straight, broad bat, followed his 51 in the first innings when he was similarly stubborn. His only mistake was to the ball that caused his downfall – a short, wide offering from Ryan Austin, the offspinner, which he tried his best to connect to and ended up giving a catch to backward point.Chattergoon led the recovery in a fifth-wicket stand of 75 with Assad Fudadin (33) and it was the first of three successive half-century partnerships. By the time Chattergoon was out, Neil McGarrell was already into a devastating act with the long handle. His 82, the identical score as Chattergoon, came from 98 balls and contained 16 boundaries.As McGarrell was into his element, the noisy Guyana supporters burst into chants of “Beast! Beast! Beast!” and the allrounder lived up to his nickname with a brutal assault on the hapless Bajans.His sixth-wicket partnership with Chattergoon was worth 61 and his seventh-wicket stand with Mahendra Nagamootoo was 60, a stand in which Nagamootoo was just as enterprising with a quickfire 28 off 37 balls. They took the attack to a flagging Tino Best, who was punished mainly for trying to hammer the ball in an unresponsive pitch.For the last two sessions, the Barbados attack, featuring three fast bowlers with Test experience, looked a trifle ordinary and the fielding became slightly ragged. In the circumstances, Dwayne Smith, with his bustling seamers, appeared to pose the biggest threat.It was a big turnaround from the first session when Barbados got rid of the cream of Guyana’s batting. Collins removed Krishna Arjune with a low catch by Patrick Browne, the wicketkeeper, and Steven Jacobs was caught by the diving Best, failing to pick the slower ball from Bradshaw. Narsingh Deonarine batted with Chattergoon for close to an hour before he gave the impression he was unhappy with a leg-before call against him off Smith.When Barbados removed Travis Dowlin 20 minutes before lunch with a catch at slip, it was advantage to the hosts. The same thing could be said at the close.