The former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan lashed out at the Pakistan Cricket Board regarding the poorly planned itinerary for the tour of England. Calling this tour as just a sideshow for the upcoming Ashes, Imran said no other country would have accepted such a schedule. Imran lamented that the players came into the first Test under prepared and not properly acclimatised to the English conditions. He added that he would never have accepted to playing a series of this nature if he was captain.

England bowlers ran through the hapless Pakistani batting line up by taking sixteen wickets on the fourth day to win the opening Test match at Lord's by an innings and nine runs. No Pakistani batsmen except Younis Khan (58) in the first innings and Abdur Razzaq (53) in the second innings showed any inclinations of concentrating and wanting to stay at the wicket. For England, pace duo Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough claimed eight wickets each in the match. Incidentally, this was England's second successive win against Pakistan after winning the Karachi Test match last December by six wickets.

England's left-hander Graham Thorpe said he welcomed the decision to appoint Alec Stewart over himself as captain during the Lord's Test match, in the absence of the injured Nasser Hussain. Thorpe, who had led England in the one-day series in Sri Lanka in March, said he was told by the selectors through coach Duncan Fletcher, that Stewart would lead the side in Nasser's absence.

In his autobiography England cricketer Darren Gough came out with some shocking revelations. The bubbly Yorkshire and England fast bowler admitted that he and five others (Graham Thorpe, Graeme Hick, Neil Fairbrother, Ian Austin and Alan Mullally) had decided to walk out on England during the 1999 World Cup in protest of the fees they were being paid. But since the others were not prepared to risk their careers they backed out at the last minute. The protest was over the fee of £ 12,000 offered by the ECB for the World Cup 1999, while they were given to understand that they would be paid £ 30,0000-40,000. The players were later informed that the above amounts were paid by the ECB to each of the counties to get them released from their respective clubs during the World Cup.

Former England all-rounder Ian Botham claimed that the findings by the ICC anti corruption chief were just a tip on the iceberg and he was aware that as much as $1 billion have been bet on a single match. Botham's allegations are to be aired on a television channel this week. Botham explained that it was not only the players, but also a wide network of people are involved in betting.

It seems the Anti-Corruption Unit's (ACU) report on match fixing to the ICC will be released on the Internet by next week. It is said that while the report has not made allegations against any specific individual, it has been very critical of the way the ICC has handled the cases of suspected bribery against Australians Shane Warne and Mark Waugh and the attempts by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to cover it up. The ACU report also mentions that the BCCI was the only cricket board to initiate some action against the tainted players, while the others did an excellent cover-up job. In fact, recently the chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board Gen Tauqir Zia had expressed his inability to take any action against some the senior Pakistan players.

The Indian cricket team would soon have a payment system based on the performances they put on the cricket field. One hopes this will ensure that the players will strive for better performances. Speaking on the new payment system being worked out, the BCCI President AC Muthiah said that the payments would be by seniority basis. He also confirmed that the contract system, as suggested by the Indian players, has been put on hold for the time being as the system required a detailed study. He said financial schemes to benefit those players who perform well, will encourage better performances and also a system by which any player suffers from the loss of payments due to injury are being worked out.

The proposed meeting of the ICC in June will see the setting up of an elite panel of eight full time contracted umpires. These umpires will be contracted by the ICC and will have to bear the brunt of the workload as they will do the majority of Tests and one-day internationals from April next year. The ICC chief executive David Richards however clarified that the other umpires not in the elite panel will also get ample opportunities to do international matches

The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has signed a contract with the Cricketers Benefit Fund Scheme (CBFS) to play in six tournaments at Sharjah that begin from October 2001. The financial details of the contract were however not revealed. The CBFS has also agreed to invest Rs. 500 million towards a new cricket stadium in Kandy. Pakistan too has signed a contract for an undisclosed amount. The Sri Lankan agreement comes in the wake of the Indian governments refusal to allow the national team to participate in tournaments in Sharjah, Singapore and Toronto. Incidentally, India's contract with the CBFS expired last month.

New Zealand will name their new cricket coach by the end of June. With yesterday being the last day for submission of applications the New Zealand Cricket Council will draw up a schedule to interview the candidates. New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming, who is now in England, playing for Middlesex in the English county, will also be consulted during the process of selection. The names of the applicants have not been disclosed. However it seems former Kiwi off-spinner Dipak Patel is the most likely candidate for this position.

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