Bob Willis, the former England fast bowler, demanded Michael Vaughan be axed as captain following the team’s World Cup exit. Willis, now a TV pundit, said coach Duncan Fletcher and chairman of selectors David Graveney should also be removed from their positions after South Africa’s nine-wicket win condemned England to elimination.”They haven’t given it the priority it deserves. Latterly Duncan Fletcher has called for England to play more one-day internationals and eventually the ECB has ceded to that request. They are playing more and more,” Willis told Sky Sports. “Graveney, Fletcher and Vaughan – they’ve all got to go.”We have got to start planning now for the next World Cup, which is on the sub-continent. They should get out the birth certificates and anyone who is 32 or over now – they’re out of it. We have got to go back to preparing a side specifically for that tournament in four years time and get young players into the side. That preparation should start with the one-day internationals against the West Indies this summer.”Willis also hit out at the make-up of the county game in England as well as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) who he accused of being obsessed with Test match cricket and forcing the one-day game down its list of priorities.Ian Botham added his voice to the furore insisting that Fletcher’s time as England coach must come to end and that the ECB act quickly. The World Cup is over and England have been humiliated and it is just not good enough,” he said. “We have to change things and move on. We are disappointed but not surprised although surprised at how easy it was. I thought we would always battle and that we would have to play extremely well but to be quite frank we have watched this over the last couple of years in one-day cricket and it is not getting any better, it is getting worse.We are miles away from it. We need to stop right now, change our whole attitude, change our major personnel; everything has got to be changed. You cannot keep going like this.”Botham praised for Fletcher for his contribution to English cricket in his time as coach but said all good things come to an end. “I think Duncan Fletcher has done some great things for England over the years, let’s not forget that, but I am sorry, everyone has a shelf life and his has expired,” said the former all-rounder. I don’t see how he can possibly motivate players. The camp looks split; they are all over the place and in disarray. The time has come.”

Kevin Pietersen has handed England another injury scare ahead of the first Test against West Indies after being ruled out of Hampshire’s County Championship match against Lancashire with a calf strain.Pietersen picked up the injury while fielding during a match against Ireland in the Friends Provident Trophy on Monday. He batted with a limp but still went onto score an unbeaten 66 without the aid of a runner as Hampshire chased down their target. However, after an MRI scan he has been withdrawn from the four-day match. The ECB said a further assessment of his injury will be made later in the week.Pietersen wasn’t scheduled to play any more cricket before the first Test following the Lancashire match so even if the injury doesn’t prove serious he will be short of match time. The contest had been billed as a head-to-head with his England team-mates Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood who are all due to line-up for Lancashire.England are set to name their squad for the first Test at Lord’s on Sunday with Michael Vaughan expected to miss out with the broken finger picked up against Hampshire last week.

Graham Ford was appointed India’s coach on Saturday, filling a two-month-old vacancy and ending a search that seemed to have come to life in only the past week. Ford, the players’ choice for the job, has been offered a one-year contract and is expected to start work during India’s tour of Ireland later this month.After hearing the presentations of both Ford and John Emburey, the former England offspinner, the BCCI decided to go with Ford. The decision has to be ratified by the working committee of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, which meets in Delhi on June 12, but that is expected to be a mere formality.Addressing a haphazard and chaotic press conference soon after hearing presentations from both candidates, and then further deliberating among themselves, N Srinivasan, the BCCI treasurer, said, “The committee constituted to select the next Indian coach met and it was decided that the name of Mr Graham Ford would be put forward for the job of Indian coach.””It is now for the working committee of the BCCI, which meets in Delhi on June 12, to make the appointment final,” Srinivasan said. It is now up to Ford to indicate when he can seek a release from Kent, the English county where he is currently contracted till 2008.Just as there seems to be no defined season as far as the organising of matches is concerned, it appears that there’s no real system when it comes to the holding of meetings. The action began to heat up at the Park Sheraton well before 5pm, as Sharad Pawar was present in the hotel and a massive posse of policemen, in uniform and plainclothes, “secured” the area. From the portico outside the hotel to the main lobby, to the elevators, all passages were dotted withcops.The first real signs of activity began at about 7.20pm when both Emburey and Ford walked into the hotel. They’d both arrived in Chennai on a British Airways flight in the wee hours of Saturday. Once they’d posed for the gathered television cameras and still photographers, they were ushered up to the room where they would make their presentations.After the arrival of the candidates came the committee. The trio of board officials – Niranjan Shah, the secretary, Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer, and Mohinder Pandove, the joint secretary – made their way to the meeting room well before the appointed hour. Next to arrivewere two former captains, Ravi Shastri and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. The last man to arrive – and he was pulled away from his holiday in Goa – was Sunil Gavaskar, who clocked in at 8.20pm.Just over two hours later, Ford had the job. Kent will doubtless be reluctant to see him leave mid-season, but if that issue is resolved quickly, Ford’s first assignment might be a three-match series against the team that he coached with distinction for three years at the turn of the millennium.

Midlands-West-Wales Division

Somerset crashed to their fourth straight loss as Gloucestershire romped to an eight-wicket win at Taunton. The new-ball pair of Anthony Ireland and Carl Greenidge each took three wickets to knock over Somerset for 104 – only Peter Trego’s 35 late on gave the bowlers anything to work with. But it didn’t take Kadeer Ali and Chris Taylor long to knock off the runs – they both made unbeaten forties, Charl Willoughby taking the only two wickets to fall.Worcestershire‘s match with Warwickshire was called off yesterday following heavy flooding at New Road. The county have switched their match with Gloucestershire this Sunday to Kidderminster but were unable to find a suitable alternative for this evening.

North Division

The War of the Roses may have been washed out earlier this week, but the return leg at Old Trafford was as bright and breezy as the conditions. Lancashire got off to a fluent start, but some tidy bowling from Jason Gillespie restricted them late on – and Yorkshire were particularly pleased when he bowled fellow Australian Brad Hodge for 57. David Wainwright should have had Hodge earlier, which would have been a wicket in his first Twenty20 over, but Richard Pyrah dropped a top-edged sweep. Mal Loye, after hitting deliciously across the line, fell on the boundary after making 38. Yorkshire were then in some difficulties, at 60 for 6, needing 84 from just under ten overs. They never really got going and were 113 all out; Tom Smith the pick, with 3 for 15. Sanath Jayasuriya took three wickets, too, late on.Nottinghamshire maintained their unbeaten record with an emphatic victory against Derbyshire, to continue to sit pretty at the top. Graeme Swann’s 61 helped them break the 200-barrier, posting 203 at Trent Bridge. The task proved daunting for lowly Derbyshire, whostumbled in reply and wound up 53 runs short.Phil Mustard helped Durham to cut it against Leicestershire at Chester-le-Street, with an eight-wicket win in a match shortened to 13 overs. Mustard peppered an unbeaten 52 from 29 balls to take them home with two overs spare. Steve Harmison was Durham’s most effective bowler, with 2 for 27.

South Division

Sussex moved to the top of the division with an easy nine-wicket win over Hampshire at Southampton in a game reduced to 13 overs. Hampshire batted first and while Adam Voges blasted 66 off 47 balls, the other batsmen failed to press on. Chasing 104, Sussex lost Murray Goodwin for a four-ball duck, but thereafter it was a stroll as Luke Wright (49*) and Chris Adams (56*) battered them to victory with three overs in hand.Ed Smith lifted Middlesex to 146 with 66 at Uxbridge. But the match won’t stand after Kent‘s innings was washed away without a ball being bowled.

Paul Nixon will captain Leicestershire in their remaining County Championship matches this season, taking over from Darren Robinson whose form has been poor in the first half of the summer.Nixon’s first match in charge will be against Glamorgan, starting on Sunday, as the Championship resumes following a two-week break for Twenty20.”I am delighted to be working with Paul as captain. He has consistently been a high performer on the field and as well as being one of the fittest members of the squad, he is a role model to all,” said coach Tim Boon. “His appointment will help us to develop our policy this year of giving the most promising young players at Grace Road a chance to stake a claim for a regular first team place alongside other senior players.”Boon added that the club needed some fresh ideas after a slow start to the season, which has seen them miss out on the Twenty20 quarter-finals due to the wet weather.”The first half of the season has been indifferent for a number of reasons,” he said. “We have had a catalogue of injuries, international call ups including RP Singh to the Indian touring team and latterly the weather”Despite the adversity in the first half of the season, I have been very encouraged by the way Jeremy Snape has led the one-day team and look forward to the Pro40 in the second half of the season.”Snape will continue to lead the one-day side and Robinson is due for a run in the second XI as he tries to find his form.

ScorecardA superb display from the India Under-19 bowlers helped their side to a 182-run victory against Sri Lanka U-19 in the first Test at the Colts Cricket Club ground in Colombo.Chasing 278 to win, the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 95, thanks chiefly to spinners Shiv Prakash and Ravindra Jadeja, who shared seven wickets between them. With the target out of reach, Sri Lanka had to play out time to salvage a draw but lost their last five wickets for eight runs in 74 deliveries. Jadeja was particularly impressive, conceding a mere five runs off his 13 overs and picking up four wickets. Mathurage Perera was the Sri Lankan top-scorer for the second time in the match, following up his first-innings 74 with 23 in the second, but apart from Lahiru Weragala, who also made 23, and Dinesh Lokuge, none of the other batsmen reached 20.The Indians started the day with a lead of 136 and added 141 more before declaring their second innings at 223 for 7. Overnight batsmen Abhinav Mukund and Tanmay Srivastava completed their half-centuries, while Saurav Tiwary blitzed 43 off 23 balls to ensure that the Indians bowlers had enough time to bowl Sri Lanka out in the second innings. Tissara Perera was Sri Lanka’s bowling star, snaring four wickets at an economy rate of less than three, but he got little support from the rest.The Indians complete their tour of Sri Lanka with the second three-day Test starting at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy on Thursday.

Wisden CricInfo Polly Umrigar
Unfortunately when he passed away, I was at his bedside, around 10pm late last evening. I had gone to visit him in the evening, and around 8pm he just opened his eyes, but I don’t think he recognised me. He was in a bad state and was on the oxygen mask, and I felt really bad for him going through this suffering. We played cricket together for so long, and for the last 15 years, we were neighbours, so we were very close to each other and I have lost a dear friend.An asset to any side, Ramchand was an allrounder and a gutsy and tough cricketer. He was a brilliant close-in fielder and he had no gear to protect him, which just goes to show how brave he was. The 109 against Australia in Bombay in 1956-57 stands out in my eyes as one of his best knocks. As a captain, he was an average skipper, but he always led by example. A jovial character off the field, his tough character on it used to motivate his fellow players.Chandu Borde
I am shocked to hear this news, as I didn’t know it till now. I have lost a family member. What a fine gentleman he was – always well-dressed, cordial and level-headed. Though he had limited resources as a bowler, he was quite deceptive. A decent leader of men, he was very tolerant; even if a player was not scoring runs, he never used to get irritated and used to take things in the stride. He led us brilliantly to victory against Richie Benaud’s Australians in the Kanpur Test [in 1959-60], always giving us the self-belief that we could beat them. As a batsman he possessed a tremendous punch along with a good sense of timing. I remember on our train journeys we – Tat (Vijay Manjrekar), Bapu Nadkarni and myself – used to pull his leg by speaking in Marathi, and although he couldn’t speak it, he used to understand. At the same time he never was silent and used to give it back.Nari Contractor
He was a very good man and it is very sad that he had to struggle for a long time when the end came. I was lucky that I got to see him a few days back when I visited him in the hospital. As a captain he was never arrogant and always had that we-can-do-it kind of attitude and that was on display when he was the skipper when we won against the Australians at Kanpur. Although this moment came late in his life, he deserved it. He should have taken over the captaincy in the immediate aftermath of Polly’s [Umrigar] resignation. One of the hardest-hitting batsmen of his era, his finest innings came at Brabourne in Bombay against the Australians and came against the odds. He was also a genuine allrounder – not very fast, but he could get the job done.

One of Ramnaresh Sarwan’s comments following the West Indies’ loss to Bangladesh on Thursday that eliminated them from the ICC World Twenty20 tournament at the first stage was typical of recent captains.”It is a matter of us going back and working hard,” he observed, noting that the West Indies return to South Africa in December for a series of three Tests and five ODIs. He also acknowledged, with unusual candor, that “we’ve been saying this for the longest while about our fielding and bowling and sometimes our batting”.It was the fielding and bowling that were mainly responsible for the losses to South Africa in the opening match on Tuesday night and to Bangladesh two days later. Three critical outfield catches were missed and a record 23 wides conceded in the former. The count in the latter was one straightforward chance to third man that would have changed the course of the match and eight wides.There were fumbles and errors, even by the supposedly better fielders, and the stumps weren’t hit once on run out attempts. All the bowlers were clearly intimidated by batsmen who came at them hard.The statistics were simply a repetition of those of recent times and are a certain reflection of a lack of practice and preparation. These are two areas to which the West Indies have given scant attention since Denis Waight, the tough Australian trainer, whipped Clive Lloyd’s champion teams into the fittest of their generation.Sarwan’s latest sentiments echoed those of Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Carl Hooper, Jimmy Adams and Courtney Walsh during their time at the helm. The problem is that the words have not been matched by action.As the latest captain, Sarwan is in a position to insist that “going back and working hard” means just that, not going back and failing to follow the detailed individual programmes prepared by interim coach David Moore and seconded trainer Richard Smith.The new captain’s plea for a camp to prepare the team for the World Twenty20 was reportedly turned down because of the continuing financial plight of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) which could not afford the cost of staging even a week-long session. Yet fleeting get-togethers prior to tours have been held before with little effect.

As coaches, from Rohan Kanhai to Roger Harper to Bennett King, and trainers, from Waight to Ronald Rogers to Bryce Cavanagh, have noted, the only benefits are derived from the players’ complete commitment to practice and to fitness schedules.That requires an absolute change in an attitude that has become deep-rooted and has coincided directly with the steep decline in fortunes over the last 15 years. Lara and Hooper, captain and vice-captain on the 1998-99 tour of South Africa, grumbled that Waight’s regime, which had so benefited earlier teams, was too taxing on the players. It was duly reduced and, within a year, Waight was gone, for a period with Pakistan and then retirement.Rogers, formerly of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, took his place before resigning after three years to pursue a university degree. Cavanagh, like Waight an Australian who had worked in rugby league clubs, took over but quit midway through the tour of Pakistan last November, frustrated by the lack of response from his charges to his methods.Harper was in South Africa for the World Twenty20 as coach of Kenya, a post he now leaves after their elimination. He repeated the comment this week he made at the end of his three-year contract as West Indies coach following the 2003 World Cup.He stated that the current players have developed through a culture that does not have the same approach to the game as the West Indian players of the past. “The love for the game, the desire to learn all about it and to master it has to be inculcated at an early age and that is what is necessary through well-structured development programmes,” he added.That clearly will take time and effort but Sarwan, in conjunction with the new coach and fitness coordinator, to be soon appointed, and with key players under permanent contracts to the WICB, has a role in ensuring that those under him really get back to working hard. Otherwise, they will continue to be the embarrassment they were again here this week.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

England’s lower order held their nerve to edge a thrilling two-wicket win at Dambulla to take a 2-1 lead in the series. They made hard work of chasing 164, but Stuart Broad again showed his calmness under pressure with an unbeaten 20 as the win came with seven balls to spare. Graeme Swann’s outstanding series continued with a Man of the Match display as he followed 4 for 34 with a vital 25, but when he was bowled with 17 still needed it was left to Ryan Sidebottom to accompany Broad.It is the second time in six one-day internationals that Broad has helped England across the line in a tense scenario after he and Ravi Bopara completed a thrilling chase against India, at Old Trafford, in August. As in that match the run rate was never a major issue for England even when they slumped to 107 for 7. It meant Swann, who earlier secured the best figures by an England spinner in ODIs since Michael Vaughan’s 4 for 22 against the same opposition in 2002, and Broad were able to bat time. Swann gained two crucial boundaries off the extra pace of Lasith Malinga, who was also driven for a four by Broad to take England within two runs of their target.A low, slow pitch became even tougher for batting as the day wore on and Sri Lanka fought hard to defend 164. Farveez Maharoof removed key figures in the top order – taking his series tally to 10 wickets at 9.5 apiece – and Sanath Jayasuriya claimed Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood to keep his team in with a shout.Needing early wickets to stay in the contest after stuttering to 164, mainly due to a ninth-wicket stand of 46 between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dilhara Fernando, Chaminda Vaas found the first breakthrough when Alastair Cook prodded forward to an outswinger and provided a thin edge. Phil Mustard tried to take the game away from Sri Lanka with an aggressive approach, but after three handsome boundaries was unlucky to drag Maharoof into his leg stump with the aid of the thigh pad.Kevin Pietersen’s poor run continued when he played across the line after ticking the scoreboard over with Ian Bell. Pietersen clearly wasn’t happy with the decision, but he hasn’t found anywhere near his best form in the series and is again talking about the overload of fixtures that England face. When a player hits a slump on tour it can be hard to find a way out.Bell, on the other hand, has continued to middle the ball with the same confidence that he did against India, but hasn’t managed to build an innings. He used his feet against the quick bowlers to try and combat the movement and played a delightful back-foot drive off Fernando. However, trying to repeat the shot off Maharoof he couldn’t keep the ball along the ground and it was intercepted by a flying Dilshan from backward point.All the quick bowlers used a liberal supply of slower balls, especially Fernando, but it was the wise old head of Jayasuriya who conjured the breakthroughs when they were needed. Shah had a rush of blood, charging down the pitch and missing, then Collingwood prodded forward and was taken on the pad in front of middle. When Bopara was trapped lbw by Malinga, the momentum was with Sri Lanka.But Swann continued to make up for lost time in his international career, playing pace and spin with ease. Two balls after giving away a no-ball – and with it a free hit – Fernando slipped a quick yorker through Swann, but England had just enough left in the tank with Broad and Sidebottom.

The same combination had set Sri Lanka onto the back foot after the home side had seemingly gained the advantage of batting first, only to be interrupted by early showers. Broad and Sidebottom again took out the big names – Broad removing Jayawardene with his first ball – Sri Lanka fell to 42 for 4.Kumar Sangakkara’s wicket provided the major talking point when he slashed at Broad, but neither the bowler nor Mustard hinted at an appeal only to watch Sangakkara turn on his heels and head for the dressing room. A wide-eyed Broad began a surprised series of high-fives with his team-mates, while Mustard again showed an unusually quiet side for a wicketkeeper after also not appealing for a thin edge during the second match.With Dilshan and Chamara Silva stabilising the innings, Swann was quick to make his impact after being handed the ball. His fourth delivery accounted for Silva, via a bottom edge onto the boot which was well grabbed by Mustard. Swann’s next two scalps were down to superb use of flight as he accepted return catches off Jehan Mubarak and Maharoof. Mubarak had gone inside out over long-off for the first six of the innings, but Swann responded with a slower, loopier delivery which had the batsman in two minds and resulted in a tame leading edge.As his team-mates disintegrated, Dilshan held firm with a fine response to his omission from the Test tour of Australia. When he reached fifty off 65 balls he pumped his fist towards the dressing room and kissed the badge of his helmet. He’d given his side a chance, but ultimately they couldn’t quite pull it off in the field and travel to Colombo needing to win two matches to take a series they’d been expected to dominate.

ScorecardA fine 85 from Alex Obanda, playing in only his second one-dayer, led Kenya to a thumping win over Canada in the second and final ODI at Nairobi. Chasing a modest 190, Kenya rollicked to victory with more than six overs to spare.It was not all plain sailing though. In cool conditions and under cloudy skies, Kenya’s top-order struggled with the early loss of Maurice Ouma and Nehemiah Odhiambo. David Obuya (34 from 51) helped put on 41 with Obanda, crunching five fours, before he fell attempting his sixth slog and was caught at deep midwicket off Qaiser Ali.All the while, Obanda showed a calmness belying his years – he turns 20 in December – and stroked 15 fours in his 103-ball 85. He was particularly savage through his favoured cover region but also slogged the spinners over midwicket and hit cleanly over the top. It was his maiden ODI fifty and he looked set to register a hundred before he propped forward to Jason Patraj and was stumped. Collins Obuya was on hand to see Kenya home with a powerful 44.The ease with which Kenya’s batsman reached their target owed much to the discipline of their bowlers. Thomas Odoyo and Peter Ongondo bowled tidy opening spells, but it was the introduction of the spinners – Odhiambo and Steve Tikolo – which unsettled Canada’s top-order. Mohammad Iqbal was stumped for 30, Ashif Mulla trapped in front for 1 before Sunil Dhaniram was neatly held by Tony Suji at mid-on. Trevin Bastiampillai anchored innings with a defiant 49 – with seven fours and huge a six over long-on – but his was a lone cause.Canada’s final match of their tour, the second Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia in Windhoek, gets underway on Thursday.