New international cricket chief Haroon Lorgat said on Wednesday it was important that the expanding Twenty20 format did not begin to dominate the Test and 50-over game.

South African Lorgat, who will become the International Cricket Council's (ICC) chief executive in July, said test cricket must remain the leading format in the sport.

"I sat in on the ICC cricket committee meeting this month and they were very clear that Test cricket should remain the pinnacle of the game and I agree," Lorgat told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Twenty20, which began in England in 2003, is making rapid progress as the game's most popular format and since the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup in September, a slew of Twenty20 events have surfaced.

The unofficial Indian Cricket League began, the officially-backed Indian Premier League started last month and there is talk of England, West Indies and Pakistan expanding their own domestic Twenty20 competitions to exploit the wave of international popularity in the event.

"It's a form of the game we can use as a wonderful opportunity to grow cricket globally, though we will have to manage the load that Twenty20 takes on against Test and 50-over cricket," Lorgat said.

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Charu Sharma was fired by owner Vijay Mallya as the CEO of the ridiculously named Bangalore Royal Challengers franchise in the Indian Premier League. Yet, the most bizarre part of this story, if you actually think about it, is that Charu Sharma was hired as "CEO" in the first place! The ever reliable Wikipedia encyclopedia describes Mr. Sharma as "an Indian cricket commentator, cricket administrator and quizzer". I suspect that the "cricket administrator" bit comes from Sharma's stint at the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Charu Sharma has been a fixture during Cricket broadcasts (when the players take a break), goading inarticulate experts (former players) with provocative suggestions and liberal references to shame, spines (lack of) and guts, unless of course he has Miss Noodle Straps for company. This was the case during most of the 2003 World Cup, and with his looks and her brains, they proceeded to reinvent the old English game with all the imagination of a Bollywood B-movie script writer (Ok .. maybe B movie scriptwriters don't deserve this comparison).

Among Mr. Sharma's salient efforts as CEO of the Royal Challengers is this comment about cheerleaders:

The whole controversy is irrelevant. Frankly speaking, it is a trivial issue and doesn't deserve the attention it is getting. All those creating such a big ruckus are looking for publicity and the least we can do is not to allow them to get away with it
"the least we can do is not to allow them to get away with it" - if you can make sense of that statement, then you deserve to be in the Civil Service. I suspect (in all humility), that Mr. Sharma started off trying to point out that the whole issue with cheerleading was much ado about nothing. The latter portion of his quote suggests that inaction would be a bad idea. Now, this in itself, if one chose to be pedantic is not implausible. Of course, cheer leaders perform public service and have nothing to do with publicity. And Mr. Sharma making public comments about the so called "detractors" gives them less publicity, not more. So, Mr. Sharma in effect suggested that people who were uncomfortable with the fact that he had hired cheerleaders for publicity purposes in a public arena, were in fact, merely seeking publicity (my aunts don't think its a good idea, and they want no publicity).

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Coach John Bracewell has been on too many cricket tours of England to take umbrage at what's being written about his side this week.

"I've been coming here since 1983 and New Zealand teams have been coming here a lot longer than that, with the same assessments," Bracewell said of the English press.

"They just open up the file and pull out the same stuff."

Even England star Kevin Pietersen managed to mention New Zealand in the same breath as lowly Bangladesh yesterday.

The three-test series starting here at Lord's on Thursday is a hard sell for the English scribes and, it appears, the players, as the more marketable South Africans loom after New Zealand return home.

Fresh from their 2-1 series win in New Zealand, England are short-priced favourites against an inexperienced touring side with Aaron Redmond and Daniel Flynn eyeing their debuts and teenager Tim Southee his second test.

But veteran cricket writer Scyld Berry did not hold back in reminding the tourists of their place in the world in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

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 Australia batsman and vice-captain Michael Clarke may miss next week's first test against West Indies following the death of his fiancee's father, Australian Associated Press reported on Monday.

Clarke was granted compassionate leave by Cricket Australia last week to allow him to stay at home with model Lara Bingle during her father's illness.

Graham Bingle died from cancer on Saturday at a Sydney hospital. His funeral is due to be held later this week.

Australia play a three-day match against a Jamaica Select XI starting on Friday before the first test begins on May 22.

Simon Katich would probably replace Clarke in the test side.

Pakistan Cricket Board`s (PCB) decision to ban Shoaib Akhtar for five years and then open a month-long window for the controversial quickie to play for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has amused several former cricketers. Fast bowling great Wasim Akram says that the drama surrounding Akhtar would make a good script for a Bollywood comedy. We at Zeecric.com bring to you the views of fiery pacer of yesteryears on the pugnacious Rawalpindi Express.

The former Pakistan captain says the PCB`s decisions on Akhtar were `baffling` and would make a `good Bollywood comedy.`

“First you ban him and then you suspend it to facilitate something. After that, Naseemsaab (Naseem Ashraf, PCB chairman) and Shoaib are on TV, a politician mediates to sort out the matter and then, Naseemsaab drops his case. I think a good Bollywood director can make a hit comedy film.”

“And Shoaib should eventually join politics. He will really do well there,” he added.

Akram says the publicity-hungry Akhtar will be all fired up while playing in IPL.

“Once Shoaib sees the crowd and, of course, the babes around, I think he`ll be able to perform. It will take him just a couple of games to get fit and since he has to bowl just four overs in a match, he doesn’t need much fitness,” he said

Akram said the PCB`s ways and means were ridiculous, and slammed Akhtar for using political help to weave his way out of the mess he had landed himself in. 

With an infusion of bling, Bollywood and go-go boots, a new cricket league is trying to spin off India’s colonial inheritance into a money-making symbol of a brash, emerging nation.Whether the Indian Premier League, as it is called, will ultimately succeed in cultivating a loyal fan base at home, challenging cricket’s world order and globalizing the game of the former British Empire remains to be seen. Already, it has upturned many conventions of an erstwhile gentleman’s game, drawn corporate sponsorships from multinational firms selling everything from cellphones to real estate and, with salaries comparable to the English Premier League of soccer, lured some of the top names in international cricket, including players from India’s traditional rivals, like Australia and even Pakistan.

The game itself is a fast and furious brand of cricket called Twenty20 referring to 20 overs per team in which games are played in about three hours. In contrast to the leisurely, ritualistic five-day matches played by men in white, this form of cricket is a loud and powerful display of batsmanship geared to grab eyeballs on prime-time television, and sponsored by Adidas (and Nike and Reebok).

“Less time, more fun,” was the verdict of Harshal Kini, 20, at a Sunday night match pitting the Mumbai Indians against the Deccan Chargers of Hyderabad.

Renuka Tahiliani, 49, seated in the front row with her husband and their 14-year-old son, said, “It’s too hot to sit out here for the whole day.”

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'A Test side that can't even draw games'. The glum look on the face of the teenager who held up the banner at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, at the end of Bangalore's latest defeat, told a story. A forgettable IPL journey so far - Rahul Dravid booed on his homeground, Wasim Jaffer heckled on the boundary line and five defeats in seven matches - became unforgettable for all the wrong reasons on Tuesday with the ouster of Charu Sharma. It's unclear, though, what impact a change of CEO will have because Bangalore's poor form stems from poor cricket-related decisions.

Most didn't give Bangalore much of a chance before the tournament - simply because the side was packed with so many Test specialists - and the prediction has been spot on so far.

"After the first round of auction in Mumbai, a few friends congratulated me on my Test team," Vijay Mallya, the franchise owner, said before the IPL. " I mentioned this to our captain Dravid and he laughed it off and told me that Test cricket is the ultimate test for any cricketer and if a player can do well in that format, then he can do well in all other formats, be it one-day matches or Twenty20."

That theory has been torn apart. Bangalore are yet to settle on an opening combination - at a time other teams are riding on fire-starting partnerships up front; they haven't gelled as a unit and are yet to string together two successive wins. Their two victories have been against two of the weakest sides in the tournament and both were clinched in the final over. Here's a look at some of the key problems:

Little Twenty20 experience

Dravid had hoped his experienced internationals could deliver under pressure but what's actually happened is the converse: their lack of Twenty20 experience is hurting. Jaffer started the tournament without a single Twenty20 game; Dravid and Anil Kumble had only experienced two apiece; and Mark Boucher, the most experienced, could still be termed callow with 16 matches. Compare that to the Rajasthan Royals, who chose Dimitri Mascarenhas (31), Graeme Smith (27) and Shane Watson (17).

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Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who landed in New Delhi last evening, has expressed his gratitude to Bollywood star and Knight Riders' owner Shahrukh Khan for his support during the past few months when he faced an inquiry and subsequently suspended from international cricket.

Shoaib was hired by Shahrukh for "Knigh Riders", but wasn't able to play following his suspension by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). As per IPL rules, a cricketer can't play in the League if he is banned by his country's cricket board.

Only two days ago the PCB had temporarily lifted the five-year ban on Shoaib.

"I am grateful to the people of India for embracing me, especially (team owner) Shah Rukh Khan who supported me. Eden Gardens is like my home ground. I am looking ahead to be there soon," the Dawn quoted Shoaib as saying in New Delhi.

He added: "I am happy to be in India. I am looking forward to play in the IPL and play my role for my team."

Shoaib admitted that he would have to train hard and acclimatize with the conditions though he had visited the country late last year. "I have not played cricket for four months. I have to acclimatize with the conditions and train hard. I want to do my bit for my team,

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf said Monday he had withdrawn a defamation lawsuit against Shoaib Akhtar after the banned fast bowler made a public apology.

The 32-year-old paceman was banned for five years last month for breaching the players' code of conduct by criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) when it did not offer him a central contract in January.

Ashraf and the PCB sued him for three million dollars after Akhtar alleged in an interview the day after the ban that the board chief had demanded payments from the bowler's contract to play in an Indian tournament.

"I have withdrawn the defamation case as my honour was vindicated after Akhtar apologised publicly and retracted his baseless allegations," Ashraf told AFP.

"I forgive him as it was a matter of principle," he added, with the PCB also withdrawing its suit.

Local media said that Pakistan's prime ministerial advisor on interior affairs, Rehman Malik, brokered the deal at a dinner in his house in Islamabad on Sunday night where Ashraf forgave Akhtar.

The civil court in Lahore had summoned Akhtar for a hearing on May 16.

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It’s a fortnight since the Indian Premier League (IPL) began and the descriptions have ranged from it being a carnival and an extravaganza, a tamasha and a money-making exercise. But one third of the way into the competition, there is little doubt that the IPL has caught the imagination of the public at large.

The very fact that it is perhaps the main subject of discussion not only among cricket fans, but also among those not normally interested in the game underscores this. Various opinion polls have focused on the large number of women followers among the millions of TV viewers and also significant according to the pollsters is that IPL has scored over Shah Rukh’s newly-inaugurated game show Kya Aap Panchvi Paas Se Tez Hai.

The cricket has ranged from the exciting to the predictable though not too many matches have gone down to the wire. Yes, there have been surprise results and this is shown in the points table, where the lesser fancied Rajasthan Royals, no doubt inspired by Shane Warne’s presence and leadership qualities, are in the running for a place in the semis, while Deccan Chargers, Mumbai Indians and Bangalore’s Royal Challengers, who were all highly rated on the eve of the tournament, are all languishing in the bottom half.

The tournament has also helped explode some myths about the Twenty20 game. Oh sure, it has rained fours and sixes but that is to be expected when the duration is so limited. The point I want to emphasise is that the bowlers have not exactly been willing slaves just there at the batsman’s bidding.

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