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The Pakistan team management has denied the rape allegation levelled at a team member, but the board has launched an investigation into the matter. has reported that the unnamed player accused of the crime denied it through his manager.The board has asked Haroon Rashid, the team manager, for a report before it begins the investigation. Zakir Khan, the manager of cricket operations for the PCB, who was alerted to the allegation by his Australian counterpart, said, “The fact is nobody knows what is the real story,” and admitted that they were baffled.”I cannot say anything more until we get to the bottom of what has happened,” said Zakir. “It has taken nearly three weeks for this woman or girl or whoever she is to come up with this. There is no police report and nothing else. We don’t know what is the legal procedure, so we will definitely be consulting people, lawyers also, on how to tackle this situation if it is true. It’s distressing for everyone.”The woman, who wanted anonymity, reported the matter to the Centre Against Sexual Assault, who informed Cricket Australia (CA) a while ago. A spokesperson for CA said that they had informed the Pakistan management of the allegations this late because the preparations for the tsunami relief game had been intense.”We should have told the Pakistan team management and we didn’t,” said the spokesperson. “There’s no excuse for that, although I should say that the last two weeks have been probably the most extraordinary two weeks in Australian cricket history in terms of what we’ve done and the outcome.”Bob Woolmer admitted that the team members were shocked when they heard the news. “There was stunned silence really. Everyone sort of looked at each other. Personally I don’t think anyone in the dressing-room was involved.”It’s totally against Islamic law. It’s totally against everything they believe in.”

Andrew Flintoff, who played such an immense role in helping England reclaim the Ashes, says he did not relish Nasser Hussain’s leadership style and is now flourishing under Michael Vaughan’s more relaxed approach.In extracts published in from his latest book, , Flintoff says it is not just coincidence that his best years as a cricketer have come under Vaughan, and not Hussain.”I don’t think it is any accident that I have played some of my best cricket under Michael simply because he encourages you to enjoy your cricket without fear of failure. I don’t want to turn around and see my captain throwing his cap on the floor or kicking sods out of the ground or rollicking people right, left and centre. That doesn’t make anyone feel better. I want his support.”Flintoff, who made his Test debut against South Africa under the captaincy of Alec Stewart in 1998, asserts that the difference in the atmosphere of the dressing room then and now is crucial to the team’s resurgence.”It is a totally different dressing room now. When I made my Test debut, members of the squad were so wrapped up in their own games that the mood was significantly different. I don’t know if selfish is the right word for it, but there wasn’t much emphasis on helping each other out.””I have played in sides when there has been a disgraceful attitude, when even some of your team-mates were half-hoping you failed, but that’s definitely not the case with the present day England team. Now we all enjoy each other’s success,”he said.Vaughan’s captaincy, which began when he took over from Hussain against South Africa in July 2003, comes in for special praise.”When Vaughan is in charge, he is very relaxed and chilled out and encourages people to express themselves, but Nasser was totally different to that. He was a lot more animated, ruled with more discipline and was more like a schoolteacher with us. He was a very passionate captain and also very astute, but he did it with a style I didn’t particularly like. He was confrontational and put a bit of undue pressure on the lads at times. He used to eff and jeff at mid-on and throw his cap around,” Flintoff said.

"The great, green, greasy Limpopo river …" Celebrated in Rudyard Kipling’s Just So stories as the place where the elephant got its trunk*, and situated on the Zimbabwean border in the northernmost reaches of South Africa, it is not the most likely of places to spawn a Test cricketer – let alone two in a single match. But all that is set to change tomorrow morning, when AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn are expected to make their Test debuts.There has been no standing on ceremony where these two players are concerned: neither of them has yet completed a full season of first-class cricket, but already their selection belies Kevin Pietersen’s assertion that there is no future for young white talent in the South African set-up. Steyn has just seven matches under his belt, including a nine-wicket haul against the Warriors at Buffalo Park in East London, while de Villiers has but one century to his name which, happily enough, was scored in the very week he was selected for the national squad. As wild cards go, they seem precisely the type of hungry young carnivores who should thrive under Ray Jennings’s raw-meat-eating regime.Are they green? Most certainly. Greased? Well, in Steyn’s case, his brief dalliances with the speed-gun have recorded a none-too-sluggish delivery of 147.7kph, while de Villiers’s penchant for belting the leather off a cricket ball has resulted in some lightning-quick performances in the Standard Bank Cup. And as for "great", only time will tell, but at the ages of 21 and 20 respectively, they clearly have plenty of that on their side – de Villiers especially, who has a useful little sideline as a wicketkeeper.As befits an opening batsman, albeit a strokemaking one, de Villiers is the more cautious of the pair. He watches all questions carefully onto the bat, and meets the more testing ones with a confident assertion that he will "play his own game", whatever that game may be. But he can certainly play his strokes with dismissive disdain as well. Steve Harmison, surely a daunting prospect for any debutant, is driven straight back down the ground as "just another bowler", while Test cricket itself seems no big deal either – "bigger crowds, a bit more professional, that’s it really."

Steyn, by contrast, has a more up-and-at-`em attitude, and plays his cricket in a style not dissimilar to a young Allan Donald, with speed through the air and late movement his trademarks. Though he has been given licence to crank up his pace at Port Elizabeth, he seems mildly disappointed that the St George’s Park pitch is unlikely to favour an out-and-out attack. "You need to bowl a fuller length down there," he concedes, "so if they want me to ping a few guys on the head I might struggle. But I’ll be up for it I promise you."Steyn has an interesting admission that belies his surname, and is sure to make readers of Die Beeld wince – he speaks no Afrikaans. "I do try …" he insists, but explains that his parents were British Rhodesians and so there was never any cause to take up the language. Already, however, his ignorance has stood him in good stead at the crease. Faced with a gutful of vitriol from Nantie Hayward, his fiery forebear in the South African team, Steyn could do nothing but shrug: "I couldn’t understand what he was on about!"They may hail from the same province, and play for the same franchise, the Gauteng-based Titans, but there was little overlap between the pair as they worked their way towards national recognition. de Villiers’s home of Belabela is a good 500km from Steyn’s stomping ground in Phalaborwa, and by the age of six he had already moved to Pretoria, where his sports-mad family gave him little option but to pursue a career in cricket.de Villiers continued his sporting education in Ireland last summer, where he played club cricket for Carrick and laid waste to records left, right and centre. Steyn, by contrast, took a much less focussed route to recognition, and it was only once he’d left school that he realised he wanted a career in the game. "They play a bit up there [in Limpopo], but no-one takes the clubs too seriously. It’s up to you want you want to do. It’s your life."Though he was mentioned in dispatches for the tour to India, Steyn was wisely left at home for that trip, for the subcontinent is no place for a young fast bowler. But he won’t exactly be on familiar territory at Port Elizabeth either – he’s never yet played at the ground. Not that he’s fazed, of course. "I’m ready to play on any track," he says. "Just to be there at all is a bonus."(* courtesy of a tenacious crocodile)

A Yorkshire club player has been jailed for three years after a row which started during a Sunday league match ended with an umpire suffering a fractured arm in a revenge attack.York Crown Court was told that Mahmood Akhtar was so incensed when he was given out leg-before by Qadeer Hussain in September 2002 that he instigated an attack with a baseball bat during a game a week later.Hussain was fielding during the subsequent match when Akhtar and his brother, Gulfam Zaqar, ran onto the field and began hitting him. Hussain’s teenage nephew, who tried to intervene, was also assaulted. Zaqar also pleaded guilty to the charge of grievous bodily harm and assault and is awaiting sentencing.”The fact that you didn’t wield the baseball bat serves you not a jot,”the judge told Akhtar. “The fight that followed was a cowardly attack upon this man. Your brother attacked him with a baseball bat with such effect it caused him serious injuries.”During the hearing, Akhtar’s solicitor had told the court that his client’s life “revolves around his family, his work and the people at his local cricket club.”

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has been summoned by the tribunal investigating doping charges against Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. Darryn Lifsun, the team physiotherapist, and Murray Stevenson, the trainer, have also been summoned.Shahid Hamid, a renowned barrister who is chairing the three-man tribunal which includes Intikhab Alam and medical expert Dr Waqar Ahmed, told Cricinfo that the three are most likely to appear on Wednesday.”They are part of the team management and we would like to know their thoughts on this very important matter. They work with the players closely so speaking to them is important. Without hearing their views, it would be tough to reach a conclusion.”The idea for holding internal dope tests was Woolmer’s, and the tests were held soon after the team returned from the tour to England.Shoaib and Asif, who were pulled out of Pakistan’s squad for the Champions Trophy on the eve of their opening game, were cross-examined by medical experts on Saturday. Both bowlers have said they will not challenge the results of their positive tests for nandrolone carried out in a WADA (World Anti-doping Agency) laboratory in Malaysia, and declined to have their B samples examined.It emerged, in the immediate aftermath of the scandal, that the PCB had suspected Shoaib of substance abuse. Shaharyar Khan, the ex-chairman, told an Indian TV channel that he had suspected this was the case for several months. Additionally, rumours had circulated among journalists of this very problem.But Hamid was adamant that media reports and such speculation would have no influence on the inquiry. “We will rely entirely on the basis of the evidence presented before us and nothing else. Newspaper or TV reports, rumours and speculation will play no part in this.”Though reluctant to put a precise date on when a verdict is likely, Hamid revealed that it would be soon after Woolmer and his team appeared. “I cannot give an exact date but I imagine it would be very shortly after they have appeared.” That raises the possibility of a verdict by the end of next week.Both bowlers face, potentially, a two-year ban, the minimum for a first offence under ICC doping rules. However, the PCB said it will make its own decision on any punishment since the tests were conducted internally.

Statement by Cricket Victoria President and Cricket Australia Chairman Bob Merriman“On behalf of Australian cricket, I offer our deepest condolences today to David Hookes’ family and all those near and dear to him.”All Australian cricket lovers will be in shock at the news of his tragic passing.”David was one of those rare, gifted athletes and people who instantly captured attention, whether it was through his aggressive batting, inspiring captaincy, aggressive coaching or his forthright commentary.”It is well known that David was an outstanding sportsman from the start and he demonstrated this at an early age for South Australia, who he eventually captained to a Sheffield Shield title, for Australia and also during the World SeriesToby (Aus): Cricket era.”He made a record number of runs for South Australia, but is probably better remembered for his remarkably explosive batting episodes, such as five successive fours in an over on Test debut in the Centenary Test, 29 off one over against Victoria and his Australian record for the fastest first-class century.”More recently, David became a very successful coach of Victoria. His willingness and ability to help others, particularly young players, was probably less publicly known than his other achievements but should also be noted as an important part of his significant contribution to the game he loved.”Hookes, 48, played 23 Tests for Australia after making his debut against England in the 1977 Centenary Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He went on to score 1306 career Test runs. His international career also included 39 one-day international appearances for Australia, in which he made 826 runs at an average of 24.29.Hookes had a long and distinguished career at first-class level, making 12,671 runs at an average of 43.99 from 178 matches. He finished his playing career in 1992, as Australia’s highest domestic run-scorer, a record that was later surpassed by fellow South Australian Darren Lehmann.

Don Bradman’s baggy green cap, as worn during the 1946-47 Ashes series, has been sold for £35,250 at an auction in London. The buyer, a private Australian collector who lives in London, said he plans to add the cap to his private cricket collection but also hopes to display it in Australia.”As we were getting ready to auction the cap off, there was a hum of excitement in the room,” said Rik Pike, a spokesman for the London auctioneers, Christie’s. “And the bidding took a couple of minutes. After we sold it, there was a clap in the room, which you don’t always have.”Bradman’s teammate, Keith Miller, claimed the pair swapped caps before the first Test against England in November 1946, but Christie’s is sure of its authenticity. A bat, used by Bradman to score 232 in the fifth Test at The Oval in 1930, was sold for £29,375 to another collector.

Hampshire sunk to a two day defeat against bottom club Derbyshire in the Frizzell County Championship at The Rose Bowl. Dominic Cork’s side outplayed Hampshire at both batting and bowling in what was a disapointing display by the home side.Derbyshire’s last four wickets added a further 155 runs to their first innings overnight tally, as Nathan Dumelow led the charge with a run a ball career best 75. Dumelow hit 13 fours and a six and was aided by some loose bowling and poor fielding including two apparently straightforward catches being dropped.Dimitri Mascarenhas was the pick of the Hampshire bowlers as he toiled in the heat in an attempt to stem the tide. Chaminda Vaas in his first Championship match took 4 wickets. James Bruce proved expensive, but he was the unlucky bowler to see chances go astray as butterfingers seem to rule.With a lead of 198, Derbyshire soon got amongst the Hampshire batting, four wickets fell for 24 runs, with Cork again being the main protaganist. John Crawley came in with a runner and held up the visitors progress for a while, but only Simon Katich held his end in resolute fashion.Chris Tremlett hit three fours and a six in a bright 30 to take Hampshire past 150, but the inevitable happened shortly after tea.

Andrew Flintoff will captain England for the first time in his career when they take on a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI at Dhaka tomorrow.Flintoff missed the Test series with a groin injury, but flew into Bangladesh with the rest of the one-day players not in the Test squad. Flintoff will take charge in the absence of Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, who are both having a well-earned rest. Also missing from the team are Richard Johnson and Rikki Clarke, who are still suffering from a viral infection picked up during last week’s second Test at Chittagong.All of the seven newcomers to the tour are set to play, with Andy Strauss making his first senior appearance. The first of three one-day internationals is on Friday November 7 at Dhaka.Team 1 Andy Strauss, 2 Vikram Solanki, 3 Paul Collingwood, 4 Anthony McGrath, 5 Andrew Flintoff (capt), 6 Ian Blackwell, 7 Chris Read (wkt), 8 Gareth Batty, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 James Kirtley, 11 James Anderson.

The two top teams in this years Santiago league met on Sunday and produced the closest finish ever seen at the Craighouse ground in La Dehesa.Las Condes, who elected to bat, reached 216-4 off their 40 Overs. Paul Hollis was once again on song scoring 50 and Mathew Hickman showed great form in his 61 not out. Additional support came in the shape of opener Clive Marriott (27) and stalwart Ian Walker (32 not out). Las Condes looked comfortable but never grabbed the bowling by the scruff of the neck as maybe they should have against a La Dehesa attack that lacked any real pace. Indeed, for several spells in the innings, the wily spin bowling of Tony Adams (2-41) and Bruce Phillips (1-38), coupled with the medium pace of Cameron McGovern and Clint Larsson kept the Las Condes fire power well pinned down.With La Dehesa at the crease, Phillips and McGovern continued their contribution as they punished some sloppy bowling scoring 40 off just the first 5 overs. Hollis eventually claimed both openers wickets as Phillips (25) fell to a popper and McGovern (39) was bowled trying to hit the ball into the sewage tanks. Guy Hooper looked as confident as ever but on 22 runs, skied a warm up full toss off Valenzuela and was well caught by Marriott. The floodgates then started to open and the fat lady started to flex her vocal chords as wickets started to fall with some regularity as La Dehesa were forced onto the back foot by accurate spells by Willem Mouton (2-23) and Walker (1-33). However, she sneaked back towards the dressing room when Clint Larsson’s savage attack on the Las Condes third string bowlers started to pay off as his team consistently began to average more than 8 runs an over. This battering continued for the last 10 overs leaving La Dehesa just needing 5 off the last over for victory with one wicket remaining. Tim Messner then showed his class by bowling a quick, accurate over that saw the end to Larsson for a splendid 80 off the last ball of the match, but not before 4 runs had been scored resulting in a tie.With honours even, both teams now meet each other again in the Santiago League Championship final at the end of the month at the Craighouse playing fields.Result :Las Condes 17 pointsLa Dehesa 14 pointsSunday 27th April1st/2nd Final – Las Condes vs La Dehesa3rd/4th Playoff – Santiago vs PWCC