New deal for Indians

India's board has announced new performance-based contracts for the national team that will give the players bonuses for wins and slashed payments for losses.

The president of Board of Control for Cricket in India, Jagmohan Dalmiya, said that 20 players would initially be offered the contracts, which are based on retainerships.

Dalmiya said the payments for the contracted players would be divided into four scales and based on individual performances.

He also said the 11 players who played each match would be paid more than the reserves in the national squad.

Players with "outstanding performances" would be paid 7.5 million rupees ($155,000) annually, he said.

Over and above the match fees, the players will be paid a bonus for defeating a team - the sum will be more if the rivals are ranked higher.

"In case of a defeat, the match fee would be reduced by 50 percent," Dalmiya said.

Under the present system, players in the national team are paid a fixed amount irrespective of whether they win or lose a match.

BCCI goes down the contract road

India and Sri Lanka in England

Ronnie Irani was delighted to gain an England recall after a three-year break, but kept his focus firmly on Essex' B&H Cup final date this Saturday.

Irani's tremendous form this season saw him secure an all-rounder's berth in England's 15-man squad for the triangular series against Sri Lanka and India.

"It's always a nice touch to get back on the international scene and it will be good to get on board again," he said.

"But I have got a big game before that at Lord's. After that I will try and win some games for England."

Essex continued their dominating one-day form with a C&G Trophy fourth round victory over Lancashire, with Husain leading the way.

Pakistan in Australia

Third one-day international, Brisbane:
Pakistan 256-7 (50 overs) beat Australia 165 all out (40 overs) by 91 runs.

Five wickets from Shoaib Akhtar consigned Australia to a 91-run defeat in Brisbane and secured a 2-1 one-day series victory for Pakistan.

Shoaib's first six-over spell yielded 16 runs as Australia stumbled to 83 for six. And he returned to have Jason Gillespie lbw first ball as the hosts were bowled out for 165 in the 40th over.

Shane Warne joined Shane Watson in a gritty seventh wicket stand worth 57 in 15 overs, but it was already too late to save the deciding match of the series.

Watson finished 44 not out from 78 deliveries.

Scorecard | Match report | Slide show

"World's fastest bowler"

Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar, currently the fastest bowlers in the game, are set for a showdown in a "world's fastest bowler" competition to be held later this year, the organisers said.

Australia's Lee and his Pakistan counterpart, both vying for the tag of the fastest ever bowler in cricket history, have agreed to take part, organisers International Management Group (IMG) said in a release from Bombay.

They will be joined by eight other bowlers in the event which may take place in India, IMG said.

Akhtar, 26, was clocked at 161km/h in April, a fraction over the 100 miles per hour mark, during a one-day game against New Zealand at Lahore's Gaddafi stadium.

Lee had been clocked at 99.4mph against South Africa in Cape Town earlier in the year.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has however said such feats would remain unofficial.

New Zealand in West Indies

New Zealands cricketers are set on revenge when they meet the West Indies in the first of two Test matches after losing a five-match limited overs series in controversial circumstances.

A Caribbean newspaper said that umpires Asoka de Silva of Sri Lanka and West Indies' Billy Doctrove could be censored by the International Cricket Council (ICC) following the home team's last ball victory against New Zealand in St. Vincent.

The victory gave West Indies a 3-1 series victory but Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming stormed after the match that the umpires had failed to keep account of how many overs each player had bowled, depriving him of a specialist one-day bowler for the crucial last over.

Miscellaneous

Alistair Brown, Surrey and Glamorgan have all set world batting records for first class one-day matches.

Brown's 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan in an English Trophy match at The Oval was the highest individual score in a senior limited-overs match.

His side's innings total of 5-438 in 50 overs was also a record for matches at this level. Astonishingly, Glamorgan nearly won, making 429 before falling nine runs short of victory.

Their total was both the highest by a losing side and the second highest behind Surrey's 438 in a first-class one-day fixtures.

The match aggregate of 867 runs for 15 wickets was also a senior one-day world record.

South Africa great Graeme Pollock held the previous individual record with a score of 222 not out for Eastern Province against Border in the 1974-75 season.

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Pakistan batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq's score of 329 against New Zealand and Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan's figures of 9-51 against Zimbabwe have been rated as the best individual Test performances in past 12 months.

Wisden, the game's authoritative annual, marked the first anniversary of its player ratings by releasing the year's top 10 best batting and bowling performances in Test and one-day cricket.

While Inzamam and Muralitharan top the Test charts, Dinesh Mongia (159 not out for India against Zimbabwe) and Pakistan's captain Waqar Younis (7-36 against England) take the honours in the one-day international ratings.

"This first year of the Wisden 100 ratings shows how many exceptional performances there have been at international level," Steven Lynch, editor of Wisden Online, said.

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The South African Cricketers' Association (Saca) was formally adopted as a constituted body following a meeting held by senior cricketers.

Those players included national contracted players and one from each of the 11 provinces where office bearers were also elected.

Jonty Rhodes was chosen as the president and Victor Mpitsang as the vice president. Tony Irish is the Chief Executive Officer, Errol Stewart is the secretary and Steve Elworthy will tend to the finances.

Saca, whose objective is to represent the interests of proffessional cricketers and promote the game in general, will try and meet with the United Cricket Board of South Africa.

The organisations is also looking at a possible affiliation to the Federation of International Cricketers' Association which has the Australian and English Cricketers' Association as their members.

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Mark Butcher's scheduled disciplinary hearing with the England and Wales Cricket Board this Friday has been postponed because it falls on the same day as his knee operation.

Butcher was due to appear at Lord's less than two hours after undergoing an operation on his left knee, which has troubled him since England's second Test victory over Sri Lanka at Edgbaston.

But the hearing will now take place some time in July after Butcher's representatives appealed to the ECB and secured a postponement.

The hearing was called after Butcher refused to accept a monetary punishment - believed to be in the region of GBP1,500 - imposed by the ECB's Discipline and Standing Committee after he alleged that Sri Lanka bowler Ruchira Perera "threw" during the first Test at Lord's.

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