It is reported that the main reason for Shoaib Akhtar not traveling with the team was that PCB wanted to spare him from the media attention, when the team landed in London. After being called for throwing during the recent one-day series in New Zealand, the PCB decided it would be better to send the fast bowler at a later date so as to avoid embarrassing him in front of the British media.

Shoaib Akhtar, who was cleared of his illegal throwing action just in time to be selected to tour England had more heartbreak as the team left for England without him. The injury prone Shoaib has been suffering from a stomach ailment and required saline to replenish himself. The result was that he asked to be excused from the fitness tests prior to the tour. The PCB is turn taking a firm stance said a player could not board the plane unless proved fit. The PCB said it was willing to send Shoaib as and when he appears for the fitness tests.

It seems all is not well in the Pakistan camp over the inclusion of a few players on the tour of England. Whispers have been going around that skipper Waqar Younis was opposed to the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar and wanted Mushtaq Ahmed to be included despite strong protests from the selectors. In the end it looked like Waqar settled for Shoaib after Mushtaq was included. Waqar was of the opinion that Shoaib may not be fit enough to last the entire tour.

Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram felt that the ECB decision to allot two Tests to Pakistan was nothing short of an insult. He said he was not sure why the Pakistan Board agreed to it. He felt that since the Pakistan cricket team has as much support as the home team, he was sure all the venues where the team would play, would run full house. When asked about his relationship with the new captain Waqar Younis, he said it was cordial, and in jest remarked that he and the captain did not have any problems during their seven-hour flight to London.

In a shocking incident a young spectator Craig Edwards, who spent most of the day dancing at the St John's recreation ground in Antigua was stabbed and killed about half an hour after the second one-day match between West Indies and South Africa had ended. Reports say that the victim got into an argument with another man that resulted in the gruesome incident. Meanwhile the police have arrested a suspect in this connection.

The chief of ICC's anti-corruption unit, Sir Paul Condon, after looking into the match-fixing allegations in Sri Lanka will be proceeding to Pakistan. The PCB director Munawar Rana is reported to have said that he was not aware if Sir Paul would be conducting any investigations but agreed to fully cooperate with him if necessary. Of the nine foreign players named in the Indian CBI report, there were a few Pakistanis, but the PCB director said that no request has been made by the ICC's chief investigator to interrogate them.

The ICC's anti-corruption unit is likely to submit its first interim report on match fixing that will be made public on May 23, two days after its submission to the ICC. The decision to make the report public was to force other member countries to take action against any of their players who may be found guilty. The report also mentions that India is the only country to have taken some action against the match-fixers, while all the other countries are just engaging in unproductive exercises despite evidence that some of its players have been involved in cricket corruption. The report also emphasises that match fixing is still very much prevalent in the cricketing world, as is evident from the allegations that have been thrown at each other in the recently concluded one-day series in New Zealand with Pakistan.

The Pakistan Cricket Board agreed that it would re-evaluate its stand on India following the latest statements made by the Indian sports minister Ms Uma Bharati. The sports minister recently stated that the government had no objection to India playing Pakistan in tournaments such as the World Cup or the ICC Knockout, although she reiterated that the Indian government was only against playing bilateral series against Pakistan. The PCB had threatened not to play India in any tournament following India's pull out of the Sharjah tournament recently. The PCB said the matter would have to be discussed at the highest level before a Pakistani stance on the issue is decided. Meanwhile this issue will also come up for discussion in the forthcoming Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting.

Sports Minister Ms Uma Bharati giving reasons for the first time as to why India did not participate at Sharjah, said that the venue has become a business center and was getting too commercialized.

There has been speculation going around in the recent past that the Sri Lankan cricket board crisis that led to the dissolving of the BCCSL would result in the ICC withdrawing Sri Lanka's Test member status. The ICC however clarified that this would not be the case as the Board and its activities are a domestic matter.

West Indian fast bowler Cameron Cuffy is among the forty-one employees of the Cable & Wireless Communication Company, who were dismissed in a retrenchment operation at its St Vincent base. Cuffy, however has a strong backing from the prime Minster of the island, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who has written to the company asking them to reconsider Cuffy's case as special and withdraw his dismissal order.

A young cricketer from Bengal, Arindam Das, who is seen by many as an exciting prospect is headed to the Australian Cricket Academy at Adelaide in Australia for coaching and training. The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) will sponsor the entire trip. A prolific run scorer at the junior level, he averages over hundred and has fondly been nicknamed The Don by his colleagues.

The departing president of the MCC, Lord Alexander has called upon captains and players of the world to respect the authority of the umpire and uphold the traditions of cricket. He pleaded to the cricket fraternity not to indulge in any unsportsman-like behavior. The statement was made in the wake of one of the most acrimonious and bad tempered series held in Sri Lanka recently between the hosts and England.

Cricket is becoming a favorite area for politicians to venture into these days. Considering the amount of international attention the game gets and the perks that go with it (although the officials call themselves as "honorary"), the politicians feel it may not be a bad idea to join the cricket administrators bandwagon. After Congress politician Sharad Pawar was elected president of the Mumbai Cricket Association unanimously, it is now the turn of the controversial former chief minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav. The new state of Jharkhand that was born out of Bihar needs to form a new cricket association and the flamboyant former chief minister has filed his nominations for the post of president. Meanwhile cine-star turned politician Shatrughan Sinha has also filed his nominations for this post. The elections are due be held on May 20.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, after unveiling a 1.5 km road that was named after him at Rajarhat, near Calcutta, said he considers Australian Steve Waugh as his favorite cricket captain despite the two being involved in ugly verbal disputes during the recent series between the two countries in India. He also considers his teammate Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman and Pakistani Wasim Akram, the best bowler. Former England captain and left-hander David Gower, according to Ganguly, was his ideal cricketer and late Sir Don Bradman the best ever batsman.

Former New Zealand pace bowler Martin Snedden, 42, was named as New Zealand Cricket Council's new chief executive. Snedden, who was with the NZC for some years, will replace Chris Doig, who resigned in February to take up another job. A lawyer by profession, Snedden has appeared in 25 Test matches for New Zealand from 1981 to 1990 and has captured 58 wickets. During this same period he also appeared in 93 ODI matches and has 114 wickets to his credit. He also appeared in the 1983 and 1987 World Cups.

With the resignation of Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Vengsarkar may take over as the chairman of selectors of the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Despite an all-round performance by Michael Vaughan, Yorkshire lost to Leicestershire by 14 runs in a B&H Cup tie. After restricting the home side to 224-8, Yorkshire, at one stage were 163-2, before collapsing to 210.

In another B&H Cup match at Lord's, Middlesex defeated Kent by just 1 run. In a match, truncated because of rain, Middlesex made 146-9 in 31 overs, to which Kent replied with 145-9.

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