Shane Warne has arrived back in Australia after being sent home from the World Cup following the news of his positive drugs test. The leg-spinner, who is fighting to save his career in the game, was obviously tired after his flight and the traumatic events of the past two days.At a press conference at Melbourne airport, he said, "I still feel a bit in shock and devastated at the news."Obviously, I would prefer to be in South Africa congratulating Andrew Symonds on a wonderful innings and the rest of the boys on the great start to the World Cup. While my best wishes are with the team and I wish I was there being my last one-day international for Australia. I felt it was important to address these issues personally.”Warne had to chose his words carefully with a formal hearing to be faced, probably next week, but he was able to confirm some of the facts of the case."I can confirm that the fluid tablet I took before appearing to announce my retirement from one-day cricket was given to me by my mum," he said. "Contrary to speculation, taking it had nothing to do with the treatment for my shoulder injury or for masking any banned substance."I did not give it another thought until contacted by the ASDA (Australian Sports Drugs Agency) this week. My most recent previous ASDA test was on 12 December and it was negative."He reiterated his stance on drugs. "I do not, never have and never will take any performance enhancing drugs. They have no place in cricket and I do not condone them in any way.Warne then gave details about the next stage of the formal process. "The B sample test is to be held as soon as it can be arranged, which will, hopefully, be before the end of the week. I don’t know yet how long the tests will take or when the hearing will be held, but hope it is sooner rather than later."The Australian Cricket Board has confirmed that Warne himself notified the team management in South Africa of the test results, at which point it was agreed that he should return home to deal with the issue. It is not a matter for the ICC because the events in question occurred in Australia and not at the World Cup.If the test on the B sample proves positive, Warne has a period of seven days in which to challenge the validity of the test. He can waive this right, in which case the ACB will receive immediate notification of the result. If found guilty, Warne faces a ban from cricket of at least two years. At the age of 33, he would find it hard to get back to increase his tally of Test wickets, currently standing at 491.The drug he is accused of taking – a diuretic known as Moduretic – is available on prescription and is widely used in the treatment of hypertension, high blood pressure and fluid retention. It is banned because it has the potential to act as a masking agent for steroids. It achieves this by diluting traces of the substance in the urine.Even if found guilty of taking a prohibited substance, there is a chance that his ban might be less than two years. ACB Anti-Doping medical advisor may provide reports, statements and evidence to the committee which it may use to consider lowering the penalty.There is even an outside chance that he could return to South Africa to take part in the later stages of the World Cup, as he said himself. "I am hopeful of returning back to South Africa to play a part in the World Cup."Although the ACB is considering an approach to the ICC’s World Cup Technical Committee to draft in a replacement, no final decision will be taken until after Warne’s hearing and, should he be cleared of any offence, the ACB can apply to have the player reinstated to the squad.It has to be said that this is a long shot and a moment of stupidity might well have cost Warne the chance to end his one-day international career on the great stage of the World Cup – and robbed that stage of one of its most charismatic players.

The excitement of the World Cup is already in the air, at Newlands in the beautiful city of Cape Town. The first encounter is going to set the tone for this World Cup – host South Africa taking on West Indies.

On paper South Africa might look like a stronger team, and many pundits wouldn’t even dare to give West Indies a chance of pulling off a big upset. I think West Indies will give their best to make this a close and entertaining encounter.To my thinking, both the teams are evenly balanced. West Indies batting can be very explosive and tear apart any attack. The likes of Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper should never be taken lightly by any side. The resilience of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the talent of Ramnaresh Sarwan makes the West Indies batting line-up an awesome one.

It will be interesting to see whether the stylish batsman Marlon Samuels makes it into the side. If he has recovered from the injury and is fit to play, any bowling attack will find it hard to have a crack at the West Indies batting.I would think that West Indies would go in with four fast bowlers, with Hooper and Gayle wheeling their arm over to fill in the fifth bowler’s role. Merv Dillon, Drakes and the extremely quick Jermaine Lawson have it in them to cause panic in the South African batting line up.What might possibly give South Africa the slight edge over their opponents from Caribbean is their better fielding talent and the number of allrounders they possess. The likes of Jonty Rhodes and Herschelle Gibbs are simply brilliant in the field, and surely they will try to set the tempo by stopping valuable runs, putting pressure on the batsmen, effecting run outs, and importantly taking stunning catches. Yes, someone like Jonty flying across the turf is something people travel miles to watch.

The old warhorse Allan Donald still has it in him to strike like a lightning, and the most improved fast bowler in recent times – Makhaya Ntini provide wonderful support to the extremely efficient South African skipper Shaun Pollock. The South African batting looks a well-oiled machine and is capable of posting huge scores, with someone like Mark Boucher scoring consistentlylow in the order.The availability of Jacques Kallis for this important game is going to make a huge impact. Kallis is possibly the best allrounder in world cricket today, and if he were to miss the game, that will only help the happy-go-lucky Windies team’s cause. Possibly the one thing that will go against the home-crowd favourite South Africa is their uncanny knack of crumbling under pressure.When the two teams met last in the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka last September, South Africa almost choked and scraped through to a narrow win.I am sure that the first game of the competition is a very important one, and I for one won’t be surprised if both these teams qualify for the Semi Finals.

An Englishman is set to try his hand at saving the West Indies’ fledgling cricket fortunes.Bob Woolmer, the former England allrounder, believes he could be the man selected as new West Indies coach at the end of the ongoing World Cup.He confirmed yesterday he was interviewed by highly-placed West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) officials in Kimberley, South Africa, last week."I had been told by good friend Dr Rudi Webster [former West Indies team performance enhancer and current director of the West Indies Academy] the job would soon be vacant and he asked whether I wanted to submit my CV, which I did," Woolmer was quoted by BBC Online.The BBC also quoted a source as saying: "The WICB has progressed to the point of talking dollars with Woolmer, so it’s a safe bet he is the man they want."Along with Woolmer, three other candidates – Australian academy coach Bennett King, former Leeward Islands West Indies allrounder Eldine Baptiste, and former West Indies batsman Gus Logie, who coached Canada at the World Cup – were interviewed.The interviewers will report to the WICB and a board meeting is expected to to be held a few days after the March 23 World Cup final. The key item on the agenda will be to discuss and ratify the nominations of the interviwers."It is a case of sooner rather than later," a source close to the matter told the DAILY NATION yesterday. "Time is of the essence as we have the Australian (Tests and One-Day) series upcoming and we want to be well prepared."Woolmer was the man behind South Africa’s return to prominence after their readmission to international cricket. At present he is the International Cricket Council’s high performance manager with responsibility for non-Test playing teams.He also told the BBC: "I had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with the West Indies selection panel in Kimberley early last week. I am not sure what will come of it. It is up to them to call me now. But it goes without saying, for the meeting to last as long as it did means it was encouraging on both sides."He added: "The one thing I did make clear was if I was going to coach a national side again, I would expect to be able to implement the various techniques that I have developed over the years."But I am interested in the job. Otherwise I would not have expressed my interest."Guyanese Roger Harper has not re-applied for the position which expires after the World Cup.When contacted yesterday, WICB president Wes Hall had little comment, only saying it was being dealt with by interviewers in South Africa who would then send their report to be considered at the upcoming board meeting.

The decision of the International Cricket Council to freeze $SUS2.5million of the payout due to New Zealand from the World Cup was “not unreasonable”, according to New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden.He described the ICC action as prudent in the face of contract disputes.”I am confident that our decision not to play in Nairobi was correct and that our position is sound,” he said of New Zealand’s refusal to play the preliminary round match against Kenya.”Given the extent of the claims the ICC may face from Global Cricket Corporation it is not unreasonable for the ICC to hold monies payable to NZC, India, England and Sri Lanka until those claims have been resolved.”Obviously, if NZC ultimately receives less money than expected from the World Cup, this would have some effect on our cricket programmes, but it will be some time before the financial effects are determined,” he said.

The Southern Electric Premier Cricket League is facing a shortage of qualified umpires barely a week into the new season.Roy Harrison, appointments secretary of the South Coast Panel of Umpires who officiate Premier League matches, has told clubs that there are only four Saturdays during the 18-week season that he has enough officials to go round.In total, the Premier League is 36 umpiring appointments short over the course of the season.Speaking in the Premier League’s new handbook, chairman Alan Bundy reckons there is a twofold reason for the shortage of officials.”Many umpires no longer enjoy the role due to the adversarial nature of the game today.”They have to put up with excessive appealing, players forever questioning decisions and, in some instances, cheating,” he points out.”Secondly, there are an unsufficient number of ex-players wishing to become umpires, resulting in a lack of new blood joining the South Coast Panel.”Bundy, a regular official on the Second XI Championship and Minor Counties circuit until this season, has reminded players that the umpires are there to enjoy the game as much as the players themselves.”If players adhered to the Spirit of the Game, everyone would enjoy the game that much more,” he added.Bundy is urging clubs to persuade one ex-player every season to take up a winter’s umpiring course and get themselves suitably qualified to officiate in Premier League matches.”If every club did this, our problem would be solved inside two years,” he said.

Even as tentative diplomatic negotiations flower between India and Pakistan, the Sahara group is outlining an exhibition match on August 15, where a joint India-Pakistan team will battle a Rest of the World XI for the “Peace Cup”.Abhijit Sarkar, head of communications of the Sahara Group, told the that “our full support lies behind the project which would promote the cause of global peace through cricket. Both the sponsors and event managers are now eagerly waiting for a no-objection from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the six players who have been shortlisted for the event.”The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) too must approve the match, since an English ground is the planned venue. The proceeds of the game would aid thewidows of soldiers who died during the Kargil war.A spokesman for the Percept Group, who came up with the concept, said that Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan andParthiv Patel had “informally confirmed” their participation. From Pakistan, the organisers will look to seniors like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and MoinKhan, who may not feature in the national team at the time.”Regarding the Rest of the World team,” the spokesman added, “we have been assured of the availability of Ricky Ponting, Carl Hooper and Andy Flower – all of whom will be in England around that time.”

Canterbury have decided to appoint a new captain for their State Championship and Shield sides for next summer.They will not reappoint Gary Stead, their leader of the last five years.The selectors felt it was time for a change, the chief executive of Canterbury Cricket, Richard Reid said today. The chairman of selectors, Craig Thiele had approached him with the recommendation and it had been endorsed by the board of Canterbury Cricket.It is a bold move as Stead has been a significant factor in holding together a Canterbury side that has struggled over the last few seasons to maintain the dominance they achieved during the 1990s in New Zealand cricket, a period when they practically ruled the domestic one-day competition especially.Stead, who played a year of international cricket for New Zealand, also had the difficult job of providing a solid backbone for the side which contributed so many players to the New Zealand side.Stephen Fleming, Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and Chris Harris over a long period of time, and Shane Bond and Chris Martin more recently, have left significant holes in the Canterbury side when called for international duty.That has made life difficult for Stead as he has tried to lead a side to maintain the competitive levels achieved when the internationals were playing.Reid commented further: “All reviews of the previous season have now been completed and this was a recommendation that came out of those reviews.”Thiele said the decision to replace Stead as captain did not suggest that he was not in consideration as a player for the future.”We see Gary as an integral part of our plans for this upcoming season and beyond. We certainly recognise and value the contribution he has made, particularly in leading the side to two Shell Cup titles over his time as captain.”It was the unanimous point of view, from the selectors, that it was simply time for a change. There are two or three possible candidates for the captaincy at this stage. We see that it is important to get the best person for the position and to that end we will not be naming a captain until later in the year.”

In a bid to control costs and streamline its administration, the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) has terminated the services of three international umpires and 36 coaches. Thilanga Sumathipala, who was recently elected president of the board, is clearly in a hurry to professionalise it."We could not go on like this," said Sumathipala to news agency Associated Press. "I can assure you that the BCCSL will not be an inefficient place any more."The three umpires to lose their jobs, Peter Manuel, TH Wijewardena and Gamini Silva, have all officiated in Test matches, and were employed by the BCCSL to help train other umpires. While that assignment is effectively over, they remain eligible to stand as umpires in all forms of cricket. Sumathipala said that following a review, the three might even be re-employed.Sumathipala is also planning a review of the services of the 36 coaches, and a decision on re-employing them will be taken within a month.Sumathipala had defeated Arjuna Ranatunga in last month’s elections by a margin of 121-7. A significant item on his agenda was to bring the BCCSL back to financial health. They lost Rs 288 million (US$3 million) last year, as revenue from ticket sales and merchandising fell short of expectations. He has made an emphatic start towards turning it around.

Plans to erect a permanent replay screen at the Adelaide Oval have gone back to the drawing-board after the city’s council rejected a proposal to build a Aus$2m structure next to the state heritage-listed scoreboard.”We have had meetings with architects to see if we can do something about the design,” Michael Deare, chief executive of the South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) told the Adelaide Advertiser. “They have gone away to have a think to see whether they can improve the design. We have always felt the screen was a benefit to the Oval and provides the patrons with an extra facility.”The council’s decision leaves the SACA in an embarrassing position as it has already bought the 11-metre high screen. "Heritage advisers and the relevant minister have accepted the proposal and we thought it would be a simple rubber stamp by the council,” Deare explained. The SACA either submits an alternative proposal or undertakes a legal challenge against the council’s decision.Michael Harbison, Adelaide’s mayor, explained that the council recognised the need for a screen on the ground but had serious concerns about the bulky design. Referring to previous planning assent given to erect floodlights at the ground, he added: “I think decisions by this council have eroded the beauty of the Oval”The council’s decision leaves two planned Rugby World Cup matches in October in doubt.

Brooke Walker was retained as captain of the State Auckland Aces today asseventeen players were named in the first training squad to prepare for the2003/04 season.The squad, chosen by the panel of Mark O’Donnell (convener), Rowan Armour,Richard Irving and Austin Parsons, includes eight international players.Two players – Heath Davis (Cornwall) and Lou Vincent (Takapuna) – were notconsidered as both are in Australia. They will join the squad upon theirreturn. Vincent will join fellow international players Mark Richardson,Kyle Mills and Paul Hitchcock on the forthcoming tour to India.”This forms the base of a highly competitive squad that should be tough toknock over in both forms of domestic cricket this season,” said O’Donnell,who is the State Auckland Aces coach and also convener of selectors.Other players will be involved in the State Auckland Aces pre-seasontraining programme when required. On Walker’s retention as captain, O’Donnell said the leg-spinner had aproven record as captain and was well organised and very determined.”Brooke is very clear on what he wants to achieve, and what he wants othersto do.”Walker was pleased the selectors had shown faith in his captaincy.”We’ve moulded together a team in the true sense of the word. I’m lookingforward to building on the positive culture that’s been created both on andoff the park,” he said.The 17 players named in the initial squad are:Brooke Walker (captain – Howick Pakuranga), Andre Adams(Takapuna), Aaron Barnes (Cornwall), Tama Canning (Suburbs New Lynn), Paul Hitchcock (Takapuna), Matt Horne (Grafton), Llorne Howell (East Coast Bays), Tim Lythe (Auckland University), Tim McIntosh (Parnell), Andy McKay (Howick Pakuranga), Kyle Mills (Howick Pakuranga), Rob Nicol (Cornwall), Craig Pryor (Grafton), Mark Richardson (Parnell), Gareth Shaw (Papatoetoe