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Marvan Atapattu explains all: ‘I didn’t know anything about it’ © Getty Images

Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka’s vice-captain, has strenuously denied any connection with a sum of money that is alleged to have been found in his hotel after the second Test at Kandy.Atapattu’s denial followed a report in the state-run Sunday Observer that revealed that 11,000 lakh of rupees (around £7000) had been found by an hotel employee after the team’s departure.”Was it a bribe to fix the match?” speculated the article. “Has any interested bookie had a hand in the matter similar to what happened to India’s former captain Mohammad Azharuddin and his South African counterpart Hansie Cronje?”Ajit Jayasekera, the Sri Lankan team manager, read out a statement before the start of the fourth day’s play in Colombo, and announced that the cricket board had called upon the police to make a full investigation:”There was a news item today in one of the English newspapers stating that some money was found in a Kandy hotel room that had been occupied by one of our players,” said Jayasekera. “It implies that it was found in a room occupied by Mr Marvan Atapattu. To prevent any speculation we decided to speak to the media.”Marvan has denied totally that it is his money. We left the hotel on the morning of December 14 and money had been found subsequently. There were several people that occupied that room after Marvan had left. It could be possible that the money belongs to someone else.”The cricket board will be conducting an enquiry into this. They will get the CID to look into this to find out what really took place.”Atapattu denied any connection with the money: “The coach told me yesterday that the president [Thilanga Sumathipala] was expecting a call from me. I called him and he told me what the hotel had said and asked me ‘Is it yours?’ I told him I didn’t know anything about it.”

England’s pre-Test three-day match tomorrow with Otago starting in Queenstown, New Zealand’s major tourist resort, is in celebration of 125 years of cricket for the Otago Cricket Association – the southernmost first-class association in the world.Otago’s first international opponents were the England touring side of 1863/64 which popped over in the middle of a tour of a Australia to play matches against Otago and Canterbury, a visit to the latter association being celebrated also in England’s next pre-Test game.But Marcus Trescothick’s men may be following in the footsteps of their illustrious forebears by creating a precedent fit to stand for the next 125 years.Queenstown, the same region which was home to a cousin of the immortal Grace family of Gloucestershire, W G Rees, who played in that Otago side which met the 1863/64 English team and caught out his cousin E M Grace, is hosting its maiden first-class game at its stunning new Events Centre, nestled in the lea of the Remarkables mountain range.It is doubtful that there is a more picturesque ground in the world, although that will always be a matter for individual taste.However, Queenstown’s popularity as a tourist resort, makes it an ideal venue to be developed with cricket in mind, and given that the game is only taking place here due to the mean spiritedness of New Zealand rugby officials who refused to move a Super 12 game from Carisbrook to allow the match to be played in Dunedin, it may be that Queenstown becomes a favoured venue for international matches hosted by Otago.Returning to W G Rees, he was one of the first European settlers in the Queenstown district and his name is remembered through the naming of one of the rivers in Lake Wakatipu’s headwaters, the Rees river.He also acquired some of the Grace skill in disputing his dismissal. Local legend has it that while playing a game in the region he was clean bowled but contested his dismissal saying that his attention had been distracted by some distant sheep.His biographer commented: “Rees was not the kind of man who was very often laughed at to his face, but ‘Got a sheep in my eye’ became a legendary saying in the district.”Despite their best intentions, the men of Otago, 22 of them, were no match for England in 1863/64, and there is little chance they will be severely tested by the men of 2001/02.Otago has gone through a miserable trot and have lost seven games in a row. They have lost international players, Matt Horne and Mark Richardson, who have returned to their home base of Auckland, they lost international off-spinner Paul Wiseman to Canterbury and they are without international left-arm bowler Shayne O’Connor who has damaged his knee again, during the recent tour of Australia. To compound matters, wicket-keeper Martyn Croy, who was originally named in the side, has withdrawn as a precautionary matter, one game after taking seven dismissals in an innings.But with all the subterfuge surrounding the incumbent Test wicket-keeper Adam Parore the cynics might wonder if Croy is being considered as a possible Test player should Parore not be selected.However, there are still players of talent in the Otago unit, Brendon McCullum, a member of the CLEAR Black Caps side in the recent one-day series will be keen to have a good long innings unfettered by run rates and fielding restrictions. Fast bowler Kerry Walmsley, who as recently as last summer during New Zealand’s injury hiatus was called up to South Africa, will be looking to show his wares against quality opposition.In reality, however, this game is all about the English getting their longer version of the game together.And that most affects the players not wanted for the one-day squad and who have tried to use a few days in Dunedin and, now, in Queenstown to shake off the winter blues to be ready for the next month.Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash and Usman Afzaal especially will be seeking time in the middle to press their claims for Test inclusion with their batting.While Andy Caddick showed when being hammered all around Jade Stadium in the first One-Day International that he was in need of plenty of bowling. In that regard he will have to take his place with Richard Dawson, Andrew Flintoff, James Ormond.The other concern facing England is the local weather. Queenstown has not been immune to the miserable summer New Zealand has suffered and the forecast is for rain on the first day.The teams for the game are:England: Marcus Trescothick (captain), Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe, Usman Afzaal, Andrew Flintoff, Craig White, Warren Hegg, James Ormond, Andy Caddick, Richard Dawson.Otago: Craig Cumming (captain), Simon Beare, Duncan Drew, Chris Gaffaney, Robbie Lawson, Brendon McCullum, James McMillan, Nathan Morland, Craig Pryor, David Sewell, Rob Smith, Kerry Walmsley.

The Sri Lankan cricket board has revealed that the number of teams in the Premier League – the flagship domestic competition in Sri Lanka – is to be reduced to 16. It’s only a reduction of two, but if this is the prelude to a radical restructuring of the first class game then this represents a momentous occasion for Sri Lankan cricket.More noteworthy than the construction of grandiose cricket stadiums and high technology training centers. More important than the controversial employment of foreign batting coaches and far more significant than the fanciful development of fast bouncy pitches in the backyard of Premadasa International Stadium.Sri Lanka is blessed with rich, almost embarrassing, reserves of cricketing talent. Moreover because the game is followed with such enthusiasm, Sri Lankan youngsters develop sound technical skills at an early age. Compare the best eight-year-old in Manchester or Sydney and he will not be able to match the technical prowess of the best eight-year-old in Colombo.Surely, if a combination of natural talent and technical skill were sufficient to ensure international success then Sri Lanka, India or Pakistan would be perched on the top of Wisden’s world table. Unfortunately they are not sufficient and Sri Lanka is not riding roughshod over the rest of the cricketing world.The single most important reason for this is, without doubt, the present state of first class cricket in Sri Lanka. It should pit the best players in the land against each other, it should be a finishing school that polishes the technical skills of the young, and it should wed mental substance to natural talent, ensuring that each player has the necessary tools to perform whilst under pressure. It fails miserably in all these departments and by doing so it robs a cricket loving people of their rightful success.In general, the Premier League produces middling cricket played out at an easygoing pace. There is too little at stake and far too many teams. This year, 18 teams and approximately 250 players participated. What is more, the best players in the land don’t play – national squad players missed most of the season and others opted instead to play club cricket in Australia rather than Sri Lanka.With the exception of a handful of games in the final stages of the Super Eight competition, the standard is not high enough to test the best players and not high enough to sharpen the skills of the youngsters coming through. The disparity in talent, both within and between teams, is alarming. Moreover the intensity of the games are more akin to the low tempo affairs played out each weekend on the sleepy village greens of England.Small wonder then that the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Indika de Saram, Avishka Gunawardene and Chamara Silva have struggled to bridge the gap between first class and international cricket. Although no one who has seen Dilshan in full flow doubts he that he has the talent to take on the world’s best, he lacks the precious experience of playing tough hard cricket and has therefore failed to deliver on the international stage thus far.It’s a problem not faced by Australian cricketers, who have been brought up in the harsher environs of grade and shield cricket. Their youngsters experience hard-nosed cricket from an early age and, when the talented ones slip on the baggy green cap, they have a greater chance of early success. There is just simply no comparison between Australian Sheffield Shield cricket and the Sri Lankan Premier League. Even the County Championship in England, a bastion of mediocrity for so long, provides a superior apprenticeship.The Sri Lankan players themselves have long argued that the structure of the domestic competition needs to be changed and members of the Players Association can be heard enthusing about the merits of an eight team competition, in which the best players are pitted against worthy adversaries on a weekly basis – a competition that produces high quality cricket in a high tempo atmosphere.The facilities do matter – especially the pitches, which have deteriorated in recent years – but not as much as the standard of the first game. Moreover, better first class cricket will help provide the necessary facilities by attracting greater sponsorship and possible television revenues. The fact that there is no sponsor for the Premier League speaks volumes for the competition’s irrelevance.If Sri Lanka truly wants to regularly re-visit the glories of the 1996 World Cup triumph and if the cricket board is serious about making Sri Lanka the best Test nation in the world, then the standard of first class cricket has to be raised. It’s too late for 2003 – success there is dependent upon the meticulous preparations of Dav Whatmore and his growing backroom staff, who have been rebuilding the side now for 2 years, but will still need every one of the next 18-months to go on to transform a talented young team into a consistently competitive unit. If they do succeed then it will be despite not because of the health of domestic cricket in Sri Lanka.Raising the standard – a term coined by the ECB as they tried to persuade the English counties to accept two-division cricket – will not be easy of course. The belief that change is necessary is not uncommon, but so are the low expectations of real change. Administrators of all factions acknowledge the problem – it’s just that some are scared of the implications of implementing it.The constitutional structure of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka provides a formidable impediment to progress. The voting procedures and the electoral system encourage unashamed populism and to gain office one simply must curry favour with the clubs. Restructuring the game, possibly by creating two divisions in the Premier League, would mean overnight relegation for some clubs and only the most brave or foolhardy office bearers would believe that they could propose a reduction of the Premier League to eight sides and still expect to win office the following year.There were structural impediments to change in England too, but eventually change was affected, as the clubs were persuaded that a successful national side ultimately meant more money; enough money to secure their financial security, regardless of whether they were in Division One or Two. The same holds true in Sri Lanka. The value of Sri Lankan cricket is ultimately bound up with the performance of the national side. Quite simply, the more successful Sanath Jayasuriya’s team is, the more television companies and sponsors will be willing to cough up.The Interim Committee now has an opportunity, a chance that Sri Lankan cricket needs them to grasp. They have been given a mandate by Sports Minister to affect change and they are not constrained by old board’s bogus constitution. They have to persuade others of the urgent need for change. The board’s constitution must be refashioned and the Premier League must be transformed.Hiring coaches, buying software, importing Australian clay and building player dormitories will not secure the future health of the Sri Lankan game. Raising the standard of first class cricket will and if, when this caretaker’s administration has finally ended, they leave in their wake a competitive domestic game, then they will have contributed something truly significant to Sri Lankan cricket.

Transfer insider Dean Jones has made a claim on Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes and reported manager target Erik ten Hag.

The Lowdown: New Fernandes deal; Ten Hag talks

Fernandes looks set to pen a new five-year deal in Manchester, as first reported by Fabrizio Romano.

The transfer guru shared a ‘breakthrough’ in talks last week and added on the weekend that it is a matter of time until the contracts are signed.

The Red Devils star looks set to be a key member of the squad going forward under a new manager, possibly Ten Hag, after the club held ‘positive talks’ with the Ajax boss earlier this month.

The Latest: Jones’ comments

Talking to The Transfer Tavern, Jones had this to say on contract situations, such as Fernandes, and Ten Hag possibly coming in at Old Trafford.

“I think that players with their contract situations like Bruno Fernandes, for example, were led to believe that that Ten Hag was the path that they were going to go down. So I still think that it’s most likely to be Ten Hag.”

The Verdict: Interesting…

It seems as if players such as Fernandes have been getting the feeling that Ten Hag will replace Ralf Rangnick over the summer.

That could have possibly played a part in the attacking midfielder committing his future at the club, and United chiefs now need to tie up a move for the 52-year-old.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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He has been approached by two more clubs following talks with the Red Devils, so the last thing United will want is to miss out on his services and possibly upset several players, including Fernandes.

In other news: ‘Absolutely shocking’ – Source reveals Man Utd star now wants to quit even if Ten Hag arrives

Salim Dhanji, who was chairman of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association until January 2007, has contacted Cricinfo to confirm that rather than being absent from Kenya, he resigned on leaving for a two-year sabbatical in Australia.He also clarified the position regarding the ongoing review of the NPCA’s constitution. While NPCA officials have maintained to Cricinfo that there was no obligation on them to amend it to bring it into line with Cricket Kenya’s requirements, Dhanji said that was not the case.”I should also point out that as one of the persons that drew up the CK constitution, it was not only part of our mandate but our wish that all provincial bodies should and would amend their existing constitutions in order to bring them in line with the CK constitution,” he said. “To this end, during my tenure as the NPCA chairman, I set up a subcommittee to deal with this specific issue. If my memory serves me correctly, one John Moyi headed this subcommittee.”At the time of my resignation I was informed that the existing constitution had been amended and would be discussed at a meeting early in the New Year (2007).”Last year Moyi told Cricinfo, in response to suggestions that Dhanji had entered into such an agreement, that he was unable to answer and if he had done so it was “without our agreement”.The delays in obtaining the Nairobi clubs’ approval to constitutional changes has delayed elections, both for the NPCA and CK, for more than nine months and continues to rumble on.

Graeme Smith will make sure he is fully fit before returning to national duty © AFP

Graeme Smith has undergone surgery on his left knee and now faces a careful period of rehab before he will be considered for a return to action.Smith twisted his knee during the World Cup match against England. Although treatment ensured he was able to play the semi-final against Australia he further exacerbated the problem in the field. He had the operation on Tuesday after extensive scans revealed a small tear in his knee ligaments.”Graeme was treated extensively before the semi-final and probably regained about 95% of his function for that game,” said South African physio Shane Jabaar. “However, during the game he again dived to stop a ball and further exacerbated his knee. This time the injury appeared to be a bit more debilitating and on his return home he was sent for an MRI scan and assessment by a knee specialist.””Given the extent of the disability it was causing him the specialist decided to do an exploratory arthroscopy with a view to repairing both the meniscus and any other pathology that was found. Graeme will now undergo an intensive rehabilitation programme and based on his response to the programme, we will be able to indicate when he’ll be able to get back to practice and then play.”Smith will not be rushed back into action and has already been ruled out of the Afro-Asia Cup in India. His participation in the ODIs against Ireland and India at Stormont towards the end of June must also be in doubt. “I am experiencing some pain after the surgery to my left knee and will follow medical advice before making any decisions to play again,” said Smith.”We have another trying season ahead and preparation for that is priority. I want to make sure I have fully recovered from the operation to my knee.”

Kanwar Naved Jameel, Hyderabad district Nazim (mayor), said the management of the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad would be handed over to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) completely after the completion of some official formalities.An MoU between the District Government Hyderabad and the PCB has already been signed, he said. He was speaking after inaugurating an exhibition cricket match between Journalists-XI and Photo Journalists-I in connection with the golden jubilee celebration of Hyderabad Press Club at the Niaz Stadium.Kanwar said the District Government has taken all possible measures within its available resources for the renovation of the Niaz\ stadium. He added that the local administration is in contact with the PCB constantly for accelerating cricket activities in Hyderabad at the national level. Kanwar stated that efforts are underway to have a five-star hotel in Hyderabad to ensure international sports events can be staged here in future.

“The repercussions of the latest dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) are damaging enough for the two organisations to seek the early intervention of a mutually accepted arbiter.”It is increasingly clear that the divide between the two has become so wide and acrimonious that it is unlikely to be bridged by further bilateral negotiations.”Those were the introductory paragraphs in this column last November 11, the day after the WIPA told its members not to accept the WICB’s invitations to be available for the tour of Australia in January on the specified contract terms, charging they represented “an attempt to exploit the players for commercial purposes”.It took no special skills in logic to come to such a conclusion and, with no essential change in the situation in the intervening eight months, it takes none now to realise that arbitration, final and binding, is necessary to save West Indies cricket from the ultimate disaster of the head-on collision for which the two bodies charged with sustaining it have long since been heading.It is an indictment on both that they remain at loggerheads over a matter that could have been so quickly settled with a little common sense and goodwill.Since it first surfaced prior to the trip to Australia for the VB Series, hundreds of thousands of words have been written on the impasse, hours upon hours have been spent in tiresome and futile discussions and accusations, insults and outright abuse have left the air as pungent as Emmerton.Two foreign telecommunications companies, bitter rivals, each with more capital than many small Caribbean nations, have fought over ownership of the West Indies team and the best West Indian players with a fury once associated with Mike Tyson.If they could have, each would have bitten off the other’s ear.Granted, there has been concerned intervention, from no less a body than Caricom’s sub-committee on cricket, headed by Grenada’s prime minister Keith Mitchell, and even arbitration by Justice Adrian Saunders of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).But they have been limited in scope and have simply bought time so that the WICB could fulfil its obligations under the International Cricket Council (ICC) schedule.It was inevitable that the argument would reach the point where the procrastination and pussy-footing would have to end.That moment arrived last week when ten of the 13 players chosen for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka declined to sign the WICB contracts, objecting, as they did back in November, to clause 5, and the WICB responded to the WIPA’s proposal for final, binding arbitration of their differences with a rejection of its own.It now seems as if the WICB is prepared to chose a new team from whoever is prepared to sign the contract, clause 5 and all.That would leave not only the objecting players to consider their future-and there are likely to be many more outside the chosen group- but West Indies cricket as a whole.The WICB’s position from the start is that clause 5 is non-negotiable as it seeks to safeguard the interests of the new sponsor, Digicel, which has put up $20 million for the right.Its relevant parts state: “(a) The player acknowledges that the WICB has the sole and exclusive right to permit any person to represent that they, or their goods or services, have the sponsorship or approval of, or are in any way endorsed with the WICB or any WICB team.(b) the player agrees that at all times whilst representing the WICB (including whilst playing, training, attending official functions, attending media conferences and being present at a match venue) he will not do anything that constitutes a player endorsement in relation to a competitor of a WICB major sponsor unless he has a pre-existing agreement with such a competitor that has been approved in writing by the WICB under this contract or the player’s previous player contract with the WICB or the player’s agreement with such a competitor pre-dates any contract he has had with the WICB.”Such conditions seem reasonable enough. Any team sponsor would seek to protect itself against competitive promotion from a player within the team.On those grounds, the WICB stuck to its position prior to the recent home series with South Africa and deemed players with conflicting personal endorsement agreements with Cable and Wireless ineligible for selection.The consequence was that several of those affected withdrew from their contracts and returned to the team.But legal consultants to the WIPA and its members hold the view that the clause is too restrictive and has advised that they should not sign any contract containing it.Equally, the WICB’s legal counsel is certain that it is on solid ground to insert such a clause as a safeguard of the sponsor’s exclusivity.With such utter divergence, settlement can only be achieved by mediation, either through an independent individual, such as Justice Saunders, or through the law courts.In rebuffing the WIPA’s proposal for a conclusive ruling on the clause 5 issue from Saunders, the WICB could well have been emboldened by the earlier decision of the Cable and Wireless players to give up their contracts to return to the team, even though all of them are now among those who have rejected their Sri Lanka contract.The WICB might also have been fed up with the threats of a player pullout that have so frequently shrouded recent series in doubt almost up to the time the plane takes off or the first ball is bowled.Yet, seeing that it is confident of its position and even at this late stage, the WICB would be well advised to accept the WIPA’s proposal for a conclusive ruling by Justice Saunders, acceptable to all parties, including Digicel, on every aspect of its match/tour contract.It would put the issue to rest, once and for all, so that we won’t have the same chaos and confusion before the Australian series in November and every one after that.It would let all and sundry know where they stand, not least the players.The alternative is likely to be litigation in the law courts with the players’ lawyers claiming restraint of trade. It represents a potentially long, bitter and costly exercise.In this regard, the WICB’s officers would do well to read transcripts of the judgment in the case Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket brought against the International Cricket Conference (ICC) on the same grounds in 1977.The ICC then stated: “No player who, after October 1, 1977 has played or made himself available to play in a match previously disapproved by the Conference shall thereafter be eligible to play in any Test match.”WICB representatives, president Jeffrey Stollmeyer and vice-president Allan Rae, the vaunted opening pair of the 1950s, saw the dangers implicit in such a stipulation and argued strongly but in vain against it.The upshot was that Justice Slade found in favour of Packer and the ICC and its member boards (including the WICB) had to fork out more than 200,000 pounds in costs and compensation.Not that the court, Caribbean or Privy Council, would find against the WICB in this case but it is a chance neither necessary nor worth taking.Let Justice Saunders, on his own, settle matters now so that West Indies can, in this case at least, be free of the chains of conflict that have bound it and be able to move on.

India A 556 for 7 dec beat Sri Lanka A 340 and 124 (Kartik 4-27) by an inninga and 92 runs
ScorecardMurali Kartik’s omission from the national team might hurt them in Australia, but it proved to be a blessing for the India A side, as he starred in a convincing victory in the second Test against their Sri Lankan counterparts at Pune. Trailing by 216, Sri Lanka A were bundled out for a mere 124 in their second innings, giving the Indians victory by an innings and 92 runs. Kartik ripped through the Sri Lankan middle order to finish with exceptional figures of 4 for 27 from 23 overs.Kartik got into the act after Amit Bhandari had done the early damage, dismissing Prasanna Jayawardene and Jehan Mubarak cheaply. Lanka de Silva (20) and Ian Daniel briefly threatened a revival with a 35-run stand, but Kartik broke through when he had de Silva bowled round his legs. Daniel was then controversially given out caught at silly point off Kartik, after which the Indians never loosened their hold.SS Das kept up the pressure with plenty of close-in fielders, and appeals for catches and lbws went up with monotonous regularity. It all proved too much for the Sri Lanka A batsmen, who crumbled in less than 56 overs. After Bhandari and Kartik had run through the top and middle order, Munaf Patel wrapped up the tail, as the Indians completed the win 20 minutes before tea on the final day.

News that world-class all-rounder Chris Cairns may not be available for New Zealand’s seven match one-day series with India until halfway through, at best, was disappointing for the home side.There is a worst case scenario that could see Cairns miss all the side’s games and that he could go to the World Cup in South Africa without any international matchplay behind him.Cairns had to undergo surgery to remove floating cartilage from his troublesome knee last week.New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, in Hamilton to prepare for his side’s second Test of their National Bank series with India said it was very disappointing that Cairns might not be available until so late in the series.It was a great shame, Fleming said, that Cairns was making every effort to get right but was having these sorts of setbacks.”The team would love to get him back and to have some preparation before the World Cup,” he said.Equally, however, it was just as important that he had everything right before coming back.”It’s a matter of time and how the rehabilitation goes day by day.”As his fellow players, we just want to see him involved with the team.”But we hope he’ll be there in his full capacity but we will just have to wait day by day and see how he progresses,” he said.Fleming said it was also disappointing that New Zealand Cricket were being forced to name their World Cup side by December 31, after only two games in the National Bank One-Day International series with India.The benefits were there for all to see if New Zealand were able to have another week in which players could make their claims for selection, both in the international series and in the domestic State Shield competition.