Paul Collingwood, the England captain, has been fined 50% of his match fee for England’s slow over-rate in the second ODI against India at Bristol.The rest of the team was also fined 15% of their match fee as England were three overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, imposed the fines once the charge was laid by the two on-field umpires Billy Doctrove and Ian Gould and third umpire Nigel Llong. Since the shortfall was more than two overs, Collingwood was charged with breaching a Level II Code of Conduct.The hearing was attended by Collingwood, England team operations manager Phil Neale, coach Peter Moores and the four umpires on duty for the match.

Ashley Giles has been unveiled as Warwickshire’s new director of cricket, only one month after retiring from first-class cricket because of a long-term hip injury. Giles, 34, takes over from the former New Zealand opening batsman, Mark Greatbatch, and his first task will be to galvanise morale at the club, after their relegation from the first divisions of both the County Championship and the Pro40 League.Described by his England coach Duncan Fletcher as one of the most professional men he had ever worked with, Giles is a Warwickshire folk hero. He made exactly 100 first-class appearances for the club in a 12-year career, scoring 3,297 runs at an average of 30.24, and taking 323 wickets at 26.19. He was a member of the treble-winning Warwickshire side that won consecutive Championships in 1994 and 1995.The club could hardly be at a lower ebb at present. They were top of the Championship back in May, but they have not won a match since and their relegation was confirmed after their defeat at Old Trafford last week. Greatbatch, who was two years into a three-year contract, telegraphed his imminent departure with some outspoken comments in the local Birmingham press.”I can look myself in the mirror,” he told the Birmingham Post last week. “I’ve met some good people and some not-so-honest people. There have been more positives that negatives generally. When a team plays well, the players get the accolades but when they lose the coach bears the brunt. I’ve always said we need to re-strengthen. We’re short of quality. We have some … but we need to strengthen.”Though Greatbatch has been keen to pass the buck for Warwickshire’s predicament, there’s no doubt locally where the blame for their failings lie. “I don’t know what happened to [that] genial fellow,” said George Dobell in the Birmingham Post. “He is unrecognisable from the gruff man I’ve encountered of late. Stung by criticism, hurt by failure and confused by the lack of reward for his hard work, Greatbatch has, somewhere along the way, lost all those positive qualities.”Warwickshire’s best shot at glory this season came in the Friends Provident Trophy. Instead they went out to Hampshire in the semi-final, a match that earned notoriety after the controversial omission of their England batsman, Ian Bell. This, Dobell added, was just another example of Greatbatch’s misfiring man-management that has led to so many ructions within the dressing-room.”It was his fault that Mark Wagh left. It was his fault that Moeen Ali left. It was his fault that he alienated senior players like Michael Powell and [Dougie] Brown who had only the best interests of the club at heart. And it was his fault that the side played unattractive cricket. For Greatbatch distrusts flair.”Greatbatch met with the Warwickshire chief executive, Colin Povey, on Monday, and his departure was rubber-stamped at a press conference at Edgbaston on Tuesday afternoon. “We have agreed that it is in the best interests of the club to make this move now and to draw a line under the season,” Povey said. “I would like to thank Mark for all he has contributed.”Giles – who will be chosen for the role ahead of his former captain, Dermot Reeve – has a tough task to reinvigorate his old team-mates, but as a familiar and trusted face around the dressing-room, he starts his reign from a position of strength. “His knowledge of both the club and what it takes to perform at the highest levels make him an ideal candidate to take the squad forward,” Povey confirmed. “I very much look forward to working with Ashley and wish him every success in his new role.”

The England legspinner Chris Schofield has signed a two-year extension to his Surrey contract, after joining the club in 2006 after a lengthy period in the wilderness.Schofield, who played two Tests for England in 2000, had been turning out for the Minor County, Suffolk, after an acrimonious split with his former employers, Lancashire. But since arriving at The Oval, he has played a key role in both the one-day and four-day format of the game.After a hugely successful Twenty20 campaign, in which he took 17 wickets at an economy rate of six runs per over, Schofield was rewarded with a recall for England’s ICC World Twenty20 campaign in South Africa last month.For Surrey, Schofield took 50 wickets in all forms of the game at 25.22, as well as chipping in with 305 runs at an average of 20.33.Commenting on the deal, Schofield said, “I’m really pleased that things are back on track for me now. I have had a lot of uncertain times in my life when I wasn’t sure where my cricket was headed but since I joined Surrey last year things have moved forward for me. I love playing cricket here and really look forward to the next couple of years where I hope to help Surrey win some more trophies.”Surrey’s cricket manager, Alan Butcher, added: “Chris has fully repaid the gamble we took in offering him a contract last year. His performance in 2007 has convinced me that there is yet more to come in the Chris Schofield fairytale and I am therefore delighted that we have secured his services for a further two years.”

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Sri Lanka A completed another victory against Zimbabwe Select to end the series 3-0, beating them by 31 runs. The Zimbabweans were strongly placed in the chase of 264, with Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibabha taking them to 148 for 2 inside the first 30 overs, but when they both fell with 198 on the board, the rest of the innings fell away as Rangana Herath and Dilruwa Perera swept up.All of the Sri Lankans’ top five made decent starts, with Mahela Udawatte and Perera putting on an opening stand of 74. Once Gary Brent had removed Udawatte for 21, the home side took wickets at steady intervals. It was the first of four wickets for Brent, the most successful bowler, while there were two each for Chibhabha and Elton Chigumbura.Thilina Kandamby led them with 62, and he and Dammika Prasad (28) gave them a late boost with 74 for the seventh wicket to take them to 264, which proved the difference as Sri Lanka A signed off their tour on a high note.

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Brad Hogg did his Test chances no harm with 4 for 37 to confirm Western Australia’s 47-run win over Victoria after Justin Langer’s century set the Warriors up. The Bushrangers just managed to avoid conceding a bonus point as they struggled to 8 for 222 chasing 270 for victory.Victoria never quite got into top gear in their reply, although the opener Aiden Blizzard’s 44 from 45 balls initially gave them a chance. David Hussey top scored with 54 but by the time he found his rhythm the asking rate was already unrealistically high.Hogg helped restrict the hosts by trapping the out-of-form Brad Hodge lbw for 13 from 27 balls. He then deceived the debutant Aaron Finch, who was stumped off a wrong’un, and in his final over he had Clinton McKay caught in the deep and Hussey lbw to a conventional wrist-spinner.Victoria’s frontline slow bowler, Bryce McGain, also bowled well but he had no luck as Langer and Adam Voges guided Western Australia to 269. Langer’s 105 came from 106 deliveries and he took few risks, only letting loose towards the end.Voges also ticked the score over at nearly a run a ball in compiling his 51, while the Australian stars Adam Gilchrist and Michael Hussey teased the crowd with starts of 22 and 12 respectively. Western Australia are on top of the FR Cup table with three wins from three games and Victoria sit in third place.

Jamaica’s Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields has testified at an inquest that the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Team had ruled out a match-fixing link in connection with the death of Bob Woolmer, the former Pakistan coach.”The ICC anti-corruption and security team undertook to investigate if there were any allegations of corruption that may have contributed to Woolmer’s death,” Shields said. “And over the period of March, throughout the investigation, we were in frequent dialogue with the team, which informed us that they found no evidence linking the death of Mr Woolmer to cricket.”Shields, who led the Jamaica Police’s investigations, said the ICC team had conducted their own investigations into Woolmer’s death. He also said that there was no link between a book Woolmer was planning to write and his death and that he had visited Cape Town in May where he interviewed Woolmer’s family and professor Tim Noakes, co-author of the proposed book.Though Shieds said he didn’t see the draft, he said all concerned told him it contained nothing about match-fixing. “I trusted the integrity of professor Noakes and the Woolmer family that Mr Woolmer was not writing about the dirty side of cricket,” he was quoted in the . “I concluded that the manuscript was about the technical side of cricket.”

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How they were out

Twenty20 is meant to be a batsman’s game, but try telling that to anyone present at Port Elizabeth as West Indies completed a five-wicket win with 19 balls to spare in a frantic match reduced to 13 overs a side by early rain. South Africa crashed to 22 for 7 after Jerome Taylor took three wickets in his first over but defending a paltry 58 – the lowest total in Twenty20 internationals – Dale Steyn produced another triple-wicket over to make a statement of his own ahead of the Test series.West Indies went hard at the run chase from ball one, literally, as Brenton Parchment walked down the pitch at Shaun Pollock then three balls later launched him out of the ground, half way towards Cape Town. But he slapped the final ball of the first over to cover as Pollock won a mini battle. A few moments of normality followed as West Indies moved to 32 for 1 before Steyn’s intervention.Devon Smith was late to get his bat down, losing his off stump, Runako Morton was bowled off his pads and Marlon Samuels offered Steyn a full view of the timber as he backed away to leg. None of those were anything, though, in comparison to Dwayne Bravo’s first-ball dismissal as he was left with one stump standing following a shattering 90mph yorker from Steyn. For a moment it looked like South Africa might pull off an astonishing turnaround, but Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin produced some sensible shot selection although Chanderpaul could have been run out on 4.It is dangerous to read too much into a Twenty20 match – South Africa were without Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla who will all be part of the Test side – but such matches have been known to set the tone early on in a tour. Remember England’s clash against Australia at The Rose Bowl in 2005, when Darren Gough helped reduce Australia to 31 for 7 in a similarly mind-boggling passage of play. No international side enjoys being humiliated in any format, and West Indies should have taken note of the way some of the batsmen played the extra pace. This wasn’t the military medium of the New Zealanders.The conditions were ideal for quick bowling, a heavy atmosphere and a pitch with pace and bounce. South Africa could barely get the ball off the square; their first two came in the eighth over and they didn’t find the boundary inside the first 10 overs.Taylor’s opening over certainly woke anyone up who was still snoozing after the rain. His first delivery beat Morne van Wyk’s loose drive, then he followed up with a rapid yorker which beat JP Duminy for pace. AB de Villiers survived the hat-trick delivery but not much longer, although was slightly unfortunate when the ball went off the inside edge from a defensive push. Taylor had bowled a triple-wicket maiden; a rarity in any cricket let-alone a 13-over match.Three wickets in six balls became four in seven when Daren Powell removed Herschelle Gibbs, but Powell owed everything to a stunning one-handed catch by Chanderpaul at mid-on. And, as if it wasn’t tough enough, South Africa gifted the next wicket through a horrible mix-up which left both Pollock and Gulam Bodi at the same end.Everything West Indies touched turned to success. Bravo’s pick-up-and-throw from the covers – aiming at one-and-a-half stumps – brought the end of Albie Morkel’s brief stay and a notable milestone for South Africa was when Bodi’s innings reached double figures of balls faced. Finally, in the 11th over South Africa cut loose (it’s all relative) as Botha went high over long-on off Darren Sammy, but revenge came Sammy’s way he ended Bodi’s 26-ball resistance – which almost classed as a vigil – off the final ball of the over.Fidel Edwards charged in and made the batsmen hop around, pinning Johan Botha on the grill leaving him needing lengthy treatment on the outfield. Botha recovered to lift his team above fifty with a couple of meaty blows in the final over and, given the chaos surrounding him, his 28 was a Herculean effort. It ended as the highest score on a crazy evening, but West Indies took the honours and can enter the more serious business of the Test series with a timely confidence boost.

What are the yips?
“Getting the yips” is a phrase used to describe a (mostly) mental affliction that prevents sportsmen from performing a repetitive task – such as bowling – in the presence of an audience. Most commonly prevalent among golfers, in cricket the syndrome usually affects bowlers, particularly left-arm spinners.How are the yips different from an attack of nerves, or a choke?
Getting the yips is not, unlike nerves, a passing phenomenon. It is akin to being trapped for long periods in the choking process.What causes it?
There is no one cause, but a change in bowling action to compensate for injury may be a trigger. Also, research has shown that bowlers with the yips may be overusing the analytical left side of their brains.What are the manifestations?
At nets, yippers generally feel everything is fine, only to fall to pieces in a match situation, losing length and line, and often both.Have any well known players been victims?
Fred Swarbrook, the Derbyshire left-arm spinner of the 1970s, was one of the first public cases. Ravi Shastri, Phil Edmonds, and Maninder Singh are among the better known players to have been affected.Is there a cure?
There is no fail-safe cure, but victims have found help in such measures as rubbing a soft pebble kept in the pocket before bowling, and in starting a spell from over the wicket. Research also suggests bowling in the nets against a friendly batsman, then going on to an unfamiliar batsman, then in the middle with nets, then without, and so on, may help.

It’s not been a happy few months for the Asian Cricket Council.In December its Under-15 Elite Cup in Nepal was reduced to near farce after eight of the ten participants were thrown out for fielding over-age players – as many as eight in a 15-man squad. Last week the ACC Under-19 Challenge Cup took place in Thailand, but with only four of the original ten countries taking part. There has been no official explanation for the withdrawals, the last of which, Iran’s, came two days before the tournament started on January 12.The organisers were left with four teams – China, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia and Maldives – who played each other in a round-robin format and then, rather embarrassingly, all four then progressed into semi-finals.Saudi Arabia dominated the round-robin stage, winning all three of their matches and only being run remotely close by Maldives in their opening game. China, however, lost by large margins, underlining how far their cricket has to come despite bullish noises from those running world cricket.In the semi-finals, Saudi Arabia followed their ten-wicket drubbing of China earlier on with an equally impressive 191-run rout, while Bhutan beat Maldives by six runs in the game of the tournament. Maldives appeared set for victory but lost their last five wickets for five runs in 11 balls.In the final, Saudi Arabia easily beat Bhutan by 59 runs. Saudi Arabia, who won the toss, rattled up 247, a good score considering with 16 overs to go they were 131 for 5. Man of the Match Hussain Anwar triggered the late onslaught with a 68-ball 62, including two sixes. Bhutan were never up with the asking rate and only one of their top six passed 12.

Michael Clarke will wait for news from the selectors on whether he is elevated to the vice-captaincy following Adam Gilchrist’s retirement. Clarke was Australia’s captain during the Twenty20 international against New Zealand last month, when he expressed his leadership aspirations, but after posting his sixth Test century he said there was only a light-hearted application being made for the position.”One came from Haydos,” Clarke said. “I said to him: ‘Are you retiring as well?’ He said: ‘Not now, I’m a chance of getting a stripe.’ We had a joke about it but other than that it hasn’t been spoken about.”Clarke and Michael Hussey are the main contenders for the spot and the pair was involved in an on-field exercise on the fourth day when Hussey was operating as Ricky Ponting’s runner. Ponting, who scored 140 and combined for a 210-run stand with Clarke, suffered a lower back injury and did not field as India reached 1 for 45 at stumps. However, he is expected to return to guide the team on the final day.The Clarke-Ponting partnership allowed Australia to dream of a lead, which eventually stopped at 37, and they retain hope of repeating the miracle last-day win against England in 2006. Clarke raised a century in that match as well and his hard-working 118 today was a mixture of attacking bursts and considered play.”The easiest time to score was when the ball was new and hard, so it was our intention to come out and be positive with the new ball,” he said. “Once it got softer and started to go reverse – they also bowled a lot of spin – we knew it was going to be hard to bat. With guys on the boundary it was hard to keep the runs flowing.”Australia were eventually dismissed for 563 and their chase for quick wickets would have been more successful if Clarke had held a regulation chance at second slip when Virender Sehwag was two. It was the fifth attempt Clarke has missed in the past three games and Australia’s reshuffled cordon is having trouble matching the success of its predecessors.Despite the lapses Clarke said there was no major problem behind the fumbles. “Over the last 20 Tests Australia hasn’t dropped too many catches so I don’t think you’ll see too much change,” he said. “We train just as hard as we do when we take all our catches and nothing has changed in our preparation. I apologised to Brett Lee, and I certainly didn’t mean to drop it.”