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Alex Kountouris, the former Sri Lanka physiotherapist, will replace the long-serving Errol Alcott in Australia’s set-up this summer. Kountouris worked as Alcott’s understudy for the past three years – he toured South Africa and Bangladesh with the squad early in 2006 – and is currently with the Australia A side for the Top End Series.Alcott resigned last month after more than 20 years as the side’s physiotherapist to take up a role with the South Sydney rugby league club and Michael Brown, the Cricket Australia general manager of cricket operations, was pleased with his replacement. “[Alcott’s] are big shoes to fill but there is no doubt we’ve found an excellent successor,” Brown said. “Alex handled a collection of demanding situations and injuries on the recent tours of South Africa and Bangladesh, and it is clear that he is already creating a positive environment in the changing room.”Kountouris spent seven years with the Sri Lanka squad, including being part of the 1996 World Cup win, and began assisting Alcott in 2003. “It is a fantastic honour to be given this responsibility and a really exciting challenge,” Kountouris said. “Errol has done an outstanding job with the team for a long time and I look forward to continuing to implement the structures he has developed.” Kountouris, who worked in soccer before moving to Sri Lanka, has helped develop the Master of Sports Physiotherapy course at Melbourne’s Latrobe University and is currently researching fast bowling injuries for Cricket Australia.

Scorecard

The Sri Lankans’ Test preparations suffered another severe wobble when their top order collapsed for the second time in the tour match against Queensland. After folding to 5 for 45 in the first innings, the visitors were in more trouble at 4 for 55 as they tried to overhaul the 85-run deficit created by Andy Bichel’s muscular century.Ashley Noffke continued his fine match when he raced through the openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu before Michael Vandort and Thilan Samaraweera added to the tourists’ pain. They finished the day at 4 for 62, still 23 runs behind, and will rely on Mahela Jayawardene (22) and Chamara Silva (2) to ease the headaches of a side already missing Kumar Sangakkara with injury.Jayasuriya began the tour with a century on a flat surface in Adelaide, but he has struggled with the pitch’s pop at Allan Border Field and managed only three runs for the game. Noffke, who captured five victims on Friday, forced him to fend a lifting ball to Clinton Perren and he departed to similar dismissals on both occasions.The exit of Atapattu, who was lbw to Noffke for 7, was less of a concern as he has performed strongly in both games, but Michael Vandort missed an opportunity for a meaningful contribution when he went for 26 to an excellent legside take from Chris Hartley. At least the Sri Lankans have an idea of what they will face at the Gabba from Thursday after dueling with a high-quality attack.Shaun Tait’s elbow injury means Mitchell Johnson is a virtual certainty for the first Test even though he has struggled for wickets in this match. He took one on Friday and was again out-bowled by Noffke, who had 2 for 8 off six overs in his opening spell. Bichel chipped in late to dispose of Samaraweera and complete a satisfying day of personal achievement.Bichel smashed seven sixes, the most in a first-class innings for Queensland, and 11 fours as he led the Bulls from the early-morning trouble of 4 for 60 to relative comfort. Entering at No. 6 in a bowler-heavy line-up, Bichel started the day cautiously but expanded his repertoire as he got comfortable and reached three figures shortly before tea.”I was a bit lucky today, I got away with a few things, but it worked for me,” Bichel said. “I’m feeling quite comfortable with the bat in my hand and I hope that continues.”The rescue mission of 125 from 168 deliveries ended when he top edged a sweep off Malinga Bandara, who suffered the most bruises from Bichel. Taking advantage of a dropped chance at mid-off on 18 and a run-out escape, Bichel hit freely and rushed to 99 with two sixes in a Bandara over before flicking a single to midwicket for his century.A couple of mistakes in the field did not help the bowlers, who were unable to shut down a pesky lower order despite regular movement off the pitch. Farveez Maharoof was the most successful with 3 for 72 while Bandara picked up 2 for 89 and Jayasuriya claimed the final two wickets as Queensland were dismissed for 285. Maharoof was unlucky, forcing numerous plays and misses, and eventually gained a reward when he had Hartley caught behind for 8 after Noffke had fallen for 34.Bichel and Noffke, who lost a ball with a six over mid-on, combined for an 80-run stand before Johnson and Bichel added 94 in quick time to pass the Sri Lankans’ first-innings total of 210. Johnson may have struggled for impact with the ball over the opening two days but he contributed a lively half-century to complement the work of Bichel.Maharoof, who was pleased with his return, said there was a lot of work to do on the final day. “Whoever gets in just has to bat on,” he said. “You can’t do that much on this wicket, the only thing you can concentrate on is playing down the line and occupying the crease. The first day the pitch was a bit spongy, but it’s dried out a bit and it’s taking off from a length.”

Michael Hussey wants Australia to ignore Friday’s disturbing hit-and-miss performance and recall the strong batting memories from last week at the SCG for the first final. Hussey was one of the many failures as Australia fell from 0 for 107 to 208 all out against Sri Lanka in Melbourne, but he does not believe the display will affect the home team when it faces India in the most crucial one-day match of the season so far.As a spiteful summer draws to a close, Hussey has urged his team to shut out the various distractions, which have ranged from on- and off-field verbals to the shadow of the Indian Premier League, as they attempt to win the last Australian tri-series. “I’d prefer to bury everything and focus on final,” he said. “Both teams and the Australian and Indian public have had enough of the controversy.”Hussey encouraged his team-mates to take the emotion out of the encounter to achieve their peak performance. “It’s important we don’t let the distractions play any part on our minds,” he said. “If we play on emotions sometimes those distractions can have a detrimental part on your performance. If we take emotion out of it, I think we can play our best and go 1-0 up in the series.”A key ingredient to any Australian success is a well-rounded batting performance, which is something that has been missing for much of the series – they have played eight games and only twice passed 250. Despite the stuttering, Hussey expects the more batsman-friendly surface at the SCG to help the side forget the low of Friday night.”There have been difficult conditions in Melbourne during the year and all teams have struggled,” he said. “We don’t want to look too much into [the MCG performance]. We’re looking to our last performance in Sydney, when all the batsmen played particularly well.”Ricky Ponting broke free from his run drought with 124 in that game and all of the top six made useful contributions in the total of 7 for 317, which led to an 18-run victory. “We know we’re playing well,” Hussey said, “and we know we can put on a good performance.”

Dream start, nightmare finish
Coming back into international cricket after a while, Virender Sehwag had a dream start: the first ball he faced was a trifle short, and Sehwag played a short-arm flick so effortlessly that it was easy to wonder why he had been kept out of the side for so long. The answer wasn’t long in coming: the third ball he faced, his first from Mohammad Asif, did all the things that bother Sehwag – it pitched on a good length, came at a lively pace, and nipped back enough to beat the middle of the bat and take the inside edge. At least Sehwag can’t complain about encountering unfamiliar situations on his return.Uthappa hits back
For nine overs, India danced to the tune of Pakistan’s fast bowlers, especially Mohammad Asif. Then, in the tenth, the batsmen called the shots, albeit briefly. Robin Uthappa first walked down the wicket and creamed Yasir Arafat over long-off for an exquisite six, and then pulled him off the front foot for another. The Indian flags, which easily outnumbered the Pakistani ones today, finally got an opportunity to make their presence felt.The rain dance
To drizzle or not to drizzle? That seemed the perennial question through the first couple of hours of the game. Play started on time, but soon the weather gods decided to intervene, but in such a manner that everyone was kept on tenterhooks, with the covers coming on, going off, coming on,going off, and then again. Once the covers had only managed to travel halfway up to the stumps when the drizzle stopped, and it was time for play again. It served the Pakistan cause nicely, though – twice a wicket fell off the first ball after resumption.b>The last ball
Mahendra Singh Dhoni consulted with almost half the team and then decidedthat the entire team would be in the inner ring, then had a change ofheart and off went Gautam Gambhir to the cover boundary, then finallyraced around to backward point. The entire exercise took at least a coupleof minutes, before Sreeanth charged in and pitched it short. Misbah’s weakstroke couldn’t pierce the infield, and we had the second tie in Twenty20internationals.The Misbah factorWith Pakistan seemingly out of the contest, Misbah-ul-Haq produced thekind of blitz which silenced all the questions which had been raised overhis selection. There were two powerful blows off Harbhajan, but the shotthat showed he had a cool head came off Ajit Agarkar, when, with 18 neededoff eight balls, he coolly moved across his stumps and scooped one overfine leg for four. No fuss, little effort, maximum reward.The comeback kid
Irfan Pathan hasn’t had a whole lot to celebrate over the last year, buthe had a veritable blast here. His first ball produced a wicket – even ifit was a run-out – and after three dot balls it got even better, as YounisKhan chopped one onto his stumps. Pathan leapt up in delight, and the hugesmile that flashed across his face showed just how much he was enjoyinghis comeback.

Out of nowhere, Sri Lanka have become the soul of the World Cup. India and Pakistan went a long time ago, and now with the hosts gone, Sri Lanka who play a band of cricket that fuses subcontinental artistry with contemporary ethos, have emerged the sentimental favourites for the neutrals. So much so that if they manage to beat New Zealand in Jamaica, they will be accorded the status of the home team in the final at Kensington Oval. And the man who helped them win their first World Cup believes that they have it in them to go all the way.Dav Whatmore, whose coaching experience in the subcontinent spans over a decade, says Sri Lanka have turned a corner because they have been able to strike a combination versatile enough to compete with the home team when they tour abroad.”They go to a country that has a bit of bounce and they have got the boys who can play the part,” Whatmore told Cricinfo. “You’ve got to have, as much as you can, a square peg and a square hole. Trying to fit in any other shape is always fraught with a bit of danger.”Sri Lanka have the most varied bowling attack in the current World Cup. Chaminda Vaas brings left-arm swing and experience. He can move the new ball both ways, and bowl a variety of cutters with the old one. Lasith Malinga brings skiddy, explosive pace delivered from an unnerving angle; Dilhara Fernando gets them to rear, with Sachin Tendulkar all at sea with one which cut in sharply off the pitch; Farveez Maharoof hits the pitch hard and gets the ball to deviate off the seam; and Muttiah Muralitharan has added to his considerable armoury a devious scheme to bowl doosras to right-handers from round the wicket.”To me, one of the biggest differences in Sri Lankan cricket has been finding the right balance,” Whatmore says. “They have multi-skilled boys who can fit into different roles without weakening any department.” It has helped that in Murali and Malinga they have two freaks, one a legend, the other fast acquiring a reputation for turning matches. “Good luck to them. These are players who come along once in a lifetime. The challenge is to keep them injury free.”

The other significant factor, according to Whatmore, is that Sri Lanka are blessed to find in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, two senior players who combine well in leadership roles. “They are pretty intelligent boys who have a reasonable idea of how to go about things and keeping it stable.”They gel pretty well, together with a foreign coach, they have been able to keep their injuries down to a minimum. It’s an important area, and they are reaping the rewards for that.”They have also been fortunate that Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu, two former captains, have come back from injury and banishment to provide support in fostering a healthy dressing-room atmosphere. “It’s all about creating a good team spirit and even though Sanath is not the leader any more, he has things to offer.”In the last 12 months Jayasuriya has blasted 1316 runs at an average of 50.61 and at a strike rate of 109.75.”For him to re-enter the group and appear to be so happy and calm and produce these performances is the result of the team spirit that has been created by the leaders,” Whatmore points out. “Sanath is a leader as well in certain areas. So is Murali.”Murali is one of the greatest competitors I have ever known. Whatever happens, he gets on that field and he just wants to win.”Even more than batting and bowling, their commitment is evident on the field. Despite being the oldest members of the side, Jayasuriya and Muralitharan abound with enthusiasm, diving, chasing and pouching up catches. The catch that Muralitharan took, running behind from mid-off, to dismiss Sourav Ganguly in Sri Lanka’s first-round encounter with India, looked much simpler than it was because Muralitharan was so quick to it.”Murali has never done anything slow,” Whatmore says, smiling. “He is always 100 miles an hour, even with his mouth, he has got all fast twitch fibres in his body. He will never change.”And even though training was never Sanath’s favourite pastime, he has also got a good acceleration. And above all, they are both good team men.”This will be Sri Lanka’s second appearance in the semi-finals since their first win and their former coach believes that they are best equipped since 1996 to win the cup.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The three-match one-day series followed a predictable script asSri Lanka wrapped up the second ODI and the series at the R PremadasaStadium in Colombo with a five-wicket win. The victory was fashioned by aruthless bowling performance, starting with Lasith Malinga’s incisiveopening burst, followed by Sanath Jayasuriya’s finishing touches,restricting Bangladesh to 137, a score few teams can realistically defend.Under overcast skies, the Bangladesh batting imploded for the second gamein succession. It was a good toss to win for Mahela Jayawardene as theseamers uitilised the damp pitch and overcast conditions to repeat theirdemolition of the top order. With their backs to the wall in terms of theseries, the start was hardly auspicious as the openers failed to lay thegroundwork, failing to adapt to the ball swinging in both directions andkicking off a good length.Malinga prised out both openers in quick succession, varying his length inboth dismissals. Shahriar Nafees’s patience ran out when he attempted acheeky glance down to third man off a good length delivery outside offstump, resulting in an edge which was taken comfortably by Jayawardene atsecond slip.Tamim Iqbal was subdued for 16 deliveries for his three and was dismissedwhile playing all around a Malinga yorker, beaten for pace. The strategyof promoting Mushfiqur Rahim up the order didn’t pay off as his stintlasted a mere four deliveries. A victim of another rude wake up call byMalinga, Rahim was caught off guard by one that kicked on him just shortof a good length and a big outside edge was snapped up acrobatically byKumar Sangakkara to his right.The second Powerplay produced just six runs, as the batsmen failed to getthe ball past the infield and the runs came at a crawl. The miserlyMaharoof gave no freebies in his opening spell – conceding just 11 runsoff eight overs – accounting for Tushar Imran.Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Ashraful dropped anchor and added 61 afterBangladesh had tottered to 26 for 4 in the 15th over. Aftab’s knock of 47was one completely out of character given his propensity to attack fromthe word ‘go’. When Ashraful departed for 29, Aftab and Shakib Al Hasanseemed to get another partnership going, pushing the singles withregularity once the spinners came on.However, indiscretion on Shakib’s part brought Sri Lanka back in businessas he was bowled by Malinga Bandara while attempting a slog sweep. Aftabsquandered an opportunity to get a fifty when he pulled straight tomidwicket, giving Jayasuriya his second scalp.

By then, Bangladesh hardly looked like crossing 150 and the nature of thedismissals that followed was just a sad reflection of an innings which hadlittle entertainment value. A run-out, followed by desperate loftsstraight down fielders’ throats ended the innings in the 47th over.Jayasuriya reached a personal milestone when he wrapped up the tail,reaching 300 ODI wickets.Chasing a modest 138, Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga were off in a rush,adding 43 for the first wicket and it was wayward fare from the Bangladeshseamers which contributed to the racy start. Syed Rasel and ShahadatHossain failed to land the ball on a good length roundabout the off stumpunlike their Sri Lankan counterparts and instead sprayed it wide and toofull.Fielders patrolling point and cover were given an early work-out asTharanga drove and cut with privilege and freedom. Shahadat wasn’t sparedin one over in which he conceded three consecutive boundaries offTharanga’s blade, all square of the wicket in the off side. However, hewas rewarded the minute he landed the ball on the right length – short onoff stump – forcing Tharanga on the backfoot and getting it to slantacross the left hander with a faint edge going through to Rahim.Jayasuriya meanwhile took on Rasel and lofted him for successiveboundaries, down to long-off and long-on respectively, and the targetseemed one mighty blow away. Rasel then had his moment, albeitcontroversially, when he beat Sangakkara’s bat with a full deliveryoutside off and the look on Sangakkara’s face suggested that he wasn’t toopleased.Bangladesh’s spirits rose again after a double strike sent back Jayasuriyaand Jayawardene. Bowling short and wide, left-arm spinner AbdurRazzak bowled to his field and got Jayasuriya to slash hard outside theoff stump straight to point. Agile catching at midwicket by Aftab sent back Jayawardene and for a change, the heat was on Sri Lanka.After a few quiet overs – Tillekaratne Dilshan was scoreless for 16 balls- Chamara Silva cut loose. He lashed two boundaries off medium pacerFarhad Reza, including a fierce slash over backward point and waltzed downthe track to Razzak. The sparse crowd in the high-capacity stadium turnedvocal as Sri Lanka strolled home with 113 balls to spare.

Shane Warne feels like he’s had “50 Vodka and Red Bulls” whenever he’s walked on to the field during the series, but it won’t stop him from waving goodbye at the next Test at Sydney. The first of Warne’s two tribute laps ended with him being chaired briefly by Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds before he stepped down to walk off with his fellow retiree Glenn McGrath.Warne showed his full repertoire to his home crowd for the last time in a Man-of-the-Match performance that was boosted by his unbeaten 40 in the first session. Two wickets as England fell to an innings loss pushed his match tally to seven and the team is now in sight of a 5-0 result.The first time Warne came to the ground was when Allan Border and Jeff Thomson failed by four runs to beat England in 1982-83. Money was tight in the Warne family back then, so they caught the train and entry was free. In the future those who have been lucky enough to be at the MCG at any time during Warne’s career will remember his performances as fondly as Border and Thomson’s brave steps.”I’m jumping out of my skin at the moment, I feel like I’ve had 50 Vodka and Red Bulls every time I go out on the field,” Warne said. “I suppose that’s why I’m trying all my tricks. I feel very happy and young and fresh.”Warne said there were tears in the dressing room when Andrew Symonds earned his first Test century, but he felt only excitement at the victory when he stepped off his “backyard”. “I’m not sad,” he said. “I’m leaving when I’m on top and feel I’m bowling as good as at any stage during my career.”I couldn’t ask for this to go much better. I got my 700th wicket, runs down the order, some catches.”The performance of Warne left Ponting light-heartedly reconsidering his decision not to challenge him when he originally brought up the exit plan. “I didn’t even think about talking Warney out of retirement,” he said, “but I might have to think about it after today.”

Send us your views on the Ehsan Mani interview

Ehsan Mani, the ICC’s president, has said that there are no plans to review Zimbabwe’s Test status despite the country’s dismal performances in the last 18 months.In an exclusive interview with Cricinfo, Mani said that any such decision was the responsibility of the Full Members (the ten Test-playing countries) and that while the possibility of suspending Zimbabwe to give them time to rebuild had been discussed, it was rejected as an option.”In all sporting competitions there are strong sides and weak ones and Test cricket is no different,” Mani said. “The history of the game is littered with examples of such teams going head-to-head resulting in one-sided contests. We recognise that some countries such as Zimbabwe are not at their strongest at the moment but also acknowledge they are in a rebuilding stage.”There appears to be an underlying assumption in many matters concerning the ICC that someone, be it the President or the Chief Executive Officer, has the power to pick up the phone to, for example, suspend a Member but that is not the case. It is the Members themselves that determine such policy within the framework of the ICC’s constitution.But while Mani acknowledged that the ICC were following events inside Zimbabwe closely – “any situation where conflict exists is obviously regrettable” – he was keen to empahise that the politics of any member country was not the ICC’s concern. “Our remit is cricket, not the internal politics of our Members.”Asked why the ICC acted against South Africa in the apartheid era and yet not against Zimbabwe, whose human rights record is the subject of widespread international concern, Mani said: “The issue of South Africa’s sporting isolation was confirmed by a decision made by politicians when the Gleneagles Agreement of 1977 was produced and the ICC accepted that document. Economic and sporting sanctions were imposed against South Africa but no member government of an ICC country has sought to take such a stance against Zimbabwe.”He also reiterated that any country refusing to fulfill its obligations to tour would face financial penalties, but that there would not be any ICC repercussions against New Zealand in the light of their government refusing to allow Zimbabwe to visit. “The decision to stop Zimbabwe touring by refusing to issue their players with entry visas was one made by politicians and, as we have said previously, we will always abide by such decisions.” However, he warned that such action could have consequences. “It would be worth observing that any unilateral or even multilateral action taken that may not be in accordance with the views of the majority might result in consequences. For example, if a Member wished to apply to host an ICC Event having earlier acted in a way that some of its fellow Members felt to be inappropriate then that might jeopardize its chances of securing that Event when the time came for a vote on the issue.”And Mani appeared to hint that he acknowledged the idea of assembling the best players in the world for the Super Series had not been that successful. Asked whether there had been any consideration given to raising an all-Africa side to replace Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa, he replied: “That argument says that a combined side might be able to boast more top-class players in its line-up than any side made up of the players from just one country. The Johnnie Walker Super Series has re-opened the debate about whether it is possible for players from more than one country to come together and form an effective team. The merger of teams into one line-up may also impact on players’ ability to represent their country of birth, something many of them would always aspire to do.”

South African players are unlikely to participate in the Indian Premier League tillApril 25th, as they will be involved in the Standard Bank Pro20 matches in SouthAfrica. The franchises were informed of the development by the IPL governing councilin a meeting held in Mumbai, where a host of administrative issues surrounding the league were discussed.Ten South African players have been signed on by the eight IPL franchises, and a few of them, depending on how their domestic teams fare in the Pro20, might join their IPL teams after the tournament ends on 25th.However, a franchise representative was confident the players would beavailable for the full duration. “The decision is not final as yet. We are in the process of talking to the players, their teams and the board and we will work something out.”In among other things that were discussed in the meeting, each franchise has been allotted a liason officer from a South African agency, which was involved with the ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa, who will travel with the teams and oversee the security preparations.The meeting saw a host of experts from the consulting firm IMG counselling the franchises on the issues ranging from security, accredition, ticketing, and movement of officials across grounds, and entertainment guidelines. “Not many of us [franchises] have prior experience in organising games and this meeting was very helpful in that regard,” a franchise representative said.

Pakistan’s cricketers made a big mistake on Sunday at The Oval in London. Having refused to take the field immediately after tea in the aftermath of umpire Darrell Hair’s decision that the ball had been illegally tampered with by the tourists, Inzamam-ul-Haq and his men should have abandoned the fourth and final Test against England then and there.But by belatedly emerging from the dressing-room some 45 minutes later, at a time when Hair and Billy Doctrove had already ruled that England were the winners by virtue of their opponents’ forfeiture, they had significantly weakened their own principled position, ultimately succumbing to pressure from within or without that playing a cricket match, and more than likely going on to win it on the final day, was more important than dignity and integrity.If the Pakistanis were really serious with all of the post-match comments about their country’s honour being at stake, they should have boarded the team coach back to their hotel and left the officials to wonder what to do next. Being vilified in the British press or roundly booed by thousand of blind loyalists is a very small price to pay for making an emphatic statement that enough is well and truly enough.What is it about us former colonials that we feel compelled to measure ourselves by our one-time masters’ yardstick of what constitutes civility and fair play? Giving up a Test match is as legitimate a protest as any other, especially if the degree of the perceived offence goes beyond issues of umpiring incompetence, or even bias. Those strident defenders of Victorian values, who will tut-tut and mutter disapprovingly about such behaviour being just not cricket, need to come to terms with the reality that this is only a game, and if it means being disrespected and insulted – as the Pakistanis claim – then it isn’t a game worth playing.It is of course not unprecedented for a team to threaten to abandon a Test. The all-powerful West Indies side came extremely close to walking out on the second match of the turbulent 1979-80 series in New Zealand, so incensed were they at what are generally accepted to be a litany of blatantly biased umpiring decisions against them (I say that on the basis of not just having read about that tour, but listening to the comments of those who saw it “live” or were actually involved during the West Indies trip there earlier this year).Unlike Pakistan, Clive Lloyd’s team eventually took the field after a similarly prolonged tea interval before it was too late. Everything continued as before: the bad decisions, the West Indian complaints, the New Zealand rebuttals about poor sportsmanship. The chance to make an attention-getting statement had been lost.Would it have made any significant difference to the future course of the game if the West Indians had walked out in the middle of the match more than 26 years ago? More than likely not, just as you would usually say that this latest raging controversy will probably run its swift course before it’s back to regular programming, courtesy of some creative negotiating, all for the sake of ensuring that the lucrative global business of cricket is not significantly interrupted.But the conciliatory mood might just be changing, especially as this latest issue comes in the midst of allegations of terrorist plots and a deepening mistrust between two distinct cultures. Will the players rally behind Inzamam and refuse to play in the scheduled limited-over series against England if he is slapped with a ban at Friday’s hearing for his team’s ball-tampering and then bringing the game into disrepute?There seems to be no easy way out this time, especially as the umpires have clearly drawn the line in the sand by first penalising Pakistan on the field and then apparently standing by the decision that the match was over as far as they were concerned when the visitors chose to stay in the dressing-room immediately after tea.On the evidence of those two issues alone, Inzamam is guilty, and if the International Cricket Council is consistent in applying its Code of Conduct, then some sort of ban is inevitable.What this matter has also highlighted is the continued polarisation of the traditional cricket establishment and the increasingly assertive and aggressive nations of the Indian subcontinent, never mind the best public relations efforts of the ICC.While Hair is being mocked and ridiculed in the streets of Karachi and Lahore, across in his native Australia, he is being hailed in the media as forthright and courageous. Not for the first time, there is no definitive border between right and wrong, especially as that line is so often blurred by the perceptions of different people conditioned by the mores and standards of very different societies.In the modern era of sport, of course, the common denominator is not fair play, but money, and while Pakistan will complain long and often about being insulted and humiliated yet again, they will also be made aware of the severe financial consequences of failing to fulfill their contractual obligations should the heavy hand of cricketing law come down on Inzamam in two days’ time.What price, if any, will they determine is too high to pay in defence of their honour and dignity?