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Darrell Hair has admitted he can be “stand-offish” and has vowed to improve his communication skills after being reinstated as a Test and one-day international umpire. Hair is back after being demoted following his role in the forfeited Pakistan-England Test in 2006, but he believes it is time to “move on”.”Well it caused me a lot of stress, I suppose it caused a lot of people some stress along the way,” Hair told Sydney radio . “The laws now have been changed to take those decisions out of the hands of the umpires and I fully support the way that that’s going to happen in future. So, it’s time to move on.The ICC ruled Hair’s “rehabilitation”, which included a course at Sydney University, has been completed and he remains contracted for another 12 months. “Every day in life you like to pick up something and move forward,” he said. “So I won’t say my whole attitude to umpiring has changed but I think I have picked up a few things that are going to be very helpful to me in the future.”Probably just … having a broader understanding of what everybody else is thinking and the old communication issue of making sure that what you say and what you want is understood by the other people. I’ve always been a little bit … stand-offish in that I’ve always preferred to let them play the game themselves and only get involved when things go overboard but maybe there’s a case to be made for a little bit more work in that area.”The ICC will keep Hair away from games involving Pakistan, who are upset with the official’s elevation. “I’ve got no comment on anyone else’s reaction really,” he said. “I’m just going to look after my own patch and go out there and umpire the matches that I’m appointed to and do that to the best of my ability, which is what I’ve always done.”

Ricky Ponting has conceded he is struggling for form less than a fortnight from the start of the Ashes. Ponting was out for 10 in Tasmania’s Ford Ranger Cup loss to Victoria on Sunday, following on from his below-average performances in the Champions Trophy.Since September Ponting has played nine one-day internationals at the DLF Cup and the Champions Trophy, averaging only 22.33 with three half-centuries and five single-figure scores. After he was caught behind down the legside on Sunday, Ponting said he was keen to spend time at the crease in Tasmania’s Pura Cup match with Victoria starting on Tuesday.”I’m not great, I’m probably not setting the world alight at the moment,” he told . “It would have been nice to spend a bit longer out there today and get a few runs under my belt, have something to do with the result of the game. The last few months haven’t been my best batting. Hopefully some time in the middle will come for me and hopefully that’s in the next game.”Ponting said Australia’s Test players would need to adjust quickly to the conditions in Australia after spending nearly a month in India. “I worked really hard on my game through India and I felt I played a couple of decent innings over there,” he said. “But back in Australia, the conditions are slightly different to what we had over there, so I think it’s important for all of us looking forward to the Test match to make what we can from this next game. Probably we’re all looking forward to a good, solid hitout.”But we’ll worry about that when we need to – I’m looking forward now to be able to change things around for Tasmania. If that means me spending some time in the middle and getting some runs, getting some valuable time in the middle looking ahead, then that would be great. But we’ve got a state game to win now.”

Owais Shah, the England debutant included in the team after Alastair Cook’s eleventh-hour withdrawal, said the last-minute call didn’t induce any butterflies. “I never thought I would play in the series after Alastair’s century on debut,” he told a press conference. “Since he was scheduled to play over the last two or three days there was no chance of becoming nervous on the eve of the match as I was told I am playing only a few hours before the match.”On his team’s strategy, Shah said, “the basic plan was to keep them on the field as far as we can.” He said batting in the second innings would be a tough ask, although the wicket had not yet showed any signs of affording turn to the slow bowlers.”But what will happen over the next two days cannot be predicted,” he added. “It will be a tough task to bat against the two world-class spinners [Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble]. But our first task is to try and force them to follow on.”Shah said the batting lessons he received from the former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin when he came to India in 2004 had helped him launch his Test career with a flourish. Shah, who made 88 in England’s first innings score of 400, said Azharuddin’s tips were invaluable and he had stuck to them diligently. “I came down to India after hearing Azhar was opening a cricket academy,” he said. “He put me up in a hotel for ten days and gave me batting lessons and after going back to England I stuck to these. They helped me here.”He added that the example of Australia’s Mike Hussey, who made runs by the tons in domestic cricket to force his way into the national squad, was an inspiration to him. “I have seen people like Mike Hussey not getting a chance to play for Australia for years together. He scored heavily and got into the team. I knew that I would get an opportunity to play for England one day and that I should try and get as many runs as I can [in English county cricket]. The selection is not in my hands.”Shah had to retire yesterday owing to cramps in both hands and he said the experience had taught him to take more fluids today to avoid getting dehydrated. “I sweat a lot and get cramps in my hands. I learned the lessons of yesterday and made sure I was high on hydration today.”He dismissed the pleasantries exchanged with Indian pacers Munaf Patel and Sreesanth as light banter. “It was all in good spirit.”

New South Wales will look to Mark Cameron and Doug Bollinger to bolster their fast-bowling stocks in the Pura Cup match against Victoria at the SCG from Tuesday. Cameron, a 25-year-old quick, is in line to play his second game for the Blues after making his debut in 2002-03 while Bollinger has recovered from a side injury.Nathan Bracken’s elevation to the Australia one-day squad has created one of the openings while Scott Coyte has been dropped. Daniel Smith, the wicketkeeper-batsman, was also not included and his place has been taken by Aaron O’Brien.The game will mark 150 years of first-class matches in New South Wales. The opening contest between the states was held in Melbourne in March 1856 and the return fixture was hosted in Sydney in January 1857. At the halfway point of the current competition New South Wales are tied with Victoria for third on 12 points, two behind Tasmania and six adrift of Queensland.New South Wales squad Simon Katich (capt), Phil Jaques, Ed Cowan, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Brad Haddin, Grant Lambert, Beau Casson, Doug Bollinger, Mark Cameron, Matthew Nicholson, Stuart MacGill.

Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, will be joining the Mumbai Indians squad to replace the injured Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga.Lalchand Rajput, Mumbai’s coach, confirmed that Bravo was the unanimous choice of the “few” names discussed by the team think-tank. “The decision to pick Bravo was a collective decision,” he told Cricinfo.Malinga, recovering from a knee injury that he picked during the CB Series in Australia, and, had to miss the Caribbean tour but was confident last week he would be fit to join the Mumbai squad. But Rajput said “we got a report that his recovery might take a further two to three weeks. So we decided to have a back-up”.Charl Langeveldt, the South African pace bowler was amongst the names discussed but Bravo nosed ahead by virtue of being an allrounder. “We wanted an allrounder and not another regular bowler”, Rajput said of the outcome of the team meeting that took place on Thursday. Bravo will be the fourth West Indies player to feature in the IPL joining Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan.Bravo would only be available for short period before he returns home for the Australia series but the Mumbai team management felt they could extract the most out of him before he heads back. Bravo will also miss Mumbai’s opening game against the Bangalore Royal Challengers at home as he arrives only on Sunday but will get to be part of seven of their 14 league matches before he heads back home on May 14. “We know he would be returning on May 15 but by then we would have played most of our games.”While confirming the signing, Reliance, owners of the Mumbai team, did not disclose the price they had offered him. A sum in the range of US $200-250,000 wouldn’t be amiss considering his international record. Bravo may not have a good Twenty20 record – he averages 11 in seven Twenty20 games and has just two wickets at 55 – but he could light up the show like he did in the first game of the ODI series against Sri Lanka recently, grabbing four wickets and playing a handy cameo as an opener.Bravo’s late call-up means that he misses out on Trinidad & Tobago’s Carib Beer Challenge match against Jamaica, starting on April 24. The development was confirmed by Trinidad’s manager, Colin Borde, who said the experience of playing in the IPL would be beneficial for Bravo.”I think everybody is excited for him going up to the IPL and playing with Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, [and] Shaun Pollock,” Borde told CCN TV6, a television station based in Port-of-Spain. “I think it’s good for him and as a Trinidadian you must feel proud … he’s the first guy to get in the IPL.”

In a surprising development, considering the intense competetion that has characterised previous bids involving the Indian board (BCCI), only one company has bid for three tenders issued on August 2.The last date for submission of tenders – for formal wear for the Indian team (2006-2010), for producing and executing ratings and award ceremony (2006-2011); and for ground rights for the tri-series in Singapore and Malaysia – was August 11 but only one company, Percept, met the deadline. The bids will be opened on Monday at Chennai during the BCCI’s marketing sub-committee meeting in Chennai.However, Lalit Modi, the chairman of BCCI’s marketing sub-committee, wasn’t alarmed. “The base price [for all three tenders] was around US$1million and whoever could afford have submitted,” he was quoted as saying in .Canali, the Italian-based company, had shown interest in the formal wear category but backed out once the bidding process began. “Canali’s proposal was an exchange offer and we had almost finalised things with them,” Modi continued. “But when others too came forward and offered to do the same we decided to go in for a bidding process.”And what of the ground rights of the Singapore-Malaysia tri-series? “Maybe they [bidders] felt the tournament comes in between Sri Lanka [Tri-series] and Champions Trophy,” Modi reasoned for the lukewarm response. “Anyone who fulfils the minimum criteria of $1m will get it. Those who can’t won’t put it.”

Trevor Barsby, the former opening batsman, will begin coaching Queensland immediately following a restructure that pushed Terry Oliver into the new position of high performance manager. Oliver has looked after the Bulls for six years, but the team has struggled in the Pura Cup over the past two seasons, finishing fourth and last, and has lost some long-term players in Jimmy Maher and Michael Kasprowicz.Queensland Cricket completed a two-month review of its major teams before settling on the revamped structure. Oliver departs for the West Indies on Saturday as an assistant with the national team and when he returns he will oversee all of the state’s elite programmes.Barsby, a level three coach, played 111 first-class games for Queensland and will step up from his post at the Queensland Academy of Sport, where he has worked since 2005. “I’ll be looking to use the experience I had as a player with Queensland, through the good times and the bad, to work with the current group,” Barsby said. “This decision allows the Bulls to focus on playing and the coaches to focus on coaching.”After starting his state career in 1984-85, Barsby experienced some painful near-misses in the Sheffield Shield before scoring 151 in the breakthrough win in 1994-95. He retired after the 1996-97 success in Perth.Damien Mullins, the Queensland Cricket chairman, said Oliver’s role was the most significant appointment since John Buchanan was hired in 1994. “It comes after some intensive scrutiny of how we have managed our elite programmes in the past,” Mullins said. “Terry takes on this position after following a pathway through Queensland Cricket that has seen him progress through our system, first as a player and then as a coach, so that he has a deep understanding of all of our processes.”Oliver was in charge when the Bulls won the 2005-06 Pura Cup and the 2006-07 FR Cup. “I’m excited about taking Queensland in a new direction,” he said, “while also maintaining contact with the Bulls and working closely with Trevor.”

Northamptonshire have signed Davey Jacobs, the South African batsman, as a temporary replacement for Chris Rogers, one of their overseas players. Rogers is out for at least a month after breaking his left thumb in the Friends Provident Trophy match against Nottinghamshire last week.Jacobs, 24, is a team-mate of Johan van der Wath with the Eagles, who are based in Blomfontein. In 44 first-class matches to date he has scored 3,229 runs at 41.39 including a career-best 218 in 2005. In 2006 he toured Australia with South Africa’s Emerging Players team.”We looked at a lot of options and now we’re very pleased to have Davey with us until Chris is fit again,” said David Capel, Northants’ head coach. “I’m sure he can do a job for us, and at the same time it’s a good showcasefor him in county cricket.”Jacobs is expected to make his Championship debut this Tuesday, in the home match against Somerset.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

England cruised into the Super Eights with a seven-wicket win over Kenya in St Lucia as Ed Joyce and Kevin Pietersen made light work of the run chase through a stand of 103. Joyce struck his second half-century of the World Cup while Pietersen enjoyed an extended net against the gentle Kenyan attack. Steve Tikolo had been the only one to stand up to England’s bowlers as the pacemen put in a strong effort.Michael Vaughan had been more than happy by Tikolo’s decision to bat after a two-hour delay, due to heavy morning rain, reduced the contest to 43 overs per side. Being in the field first allowed England to settle any early nerves and overall this was a very competent performance in the manner the team needed. James Anderson struck with the new ball, Andrew Flintoff was fiery on his return to the ranks and Paul Collingwood’s medium-pace wobblers were productive.Ideally, chasing 178, England would have wanted a nice confident start from Joyce and Vaughan. But Kenya bowled tightly with the new ball, Peter Ongondo extracting some tennis ball bounce to undo Vaughan for just 1. Collins Obuya made excellent ground to his right, dived and held an impressive catch to complete another failure for the England captain.Joyce, though, was quickly into his stride and showed excellent timing. He waited for the ball and worked the gaps on both sides of the wicket, while also remaining aware to punish the loose balls. His cover driving was in fine order and a Graham Thorpe-style pull shot was also in evidence.Ian Bell made a steady start, keen to use his feet to the medium-pacers, but after doing the hard work lazily lofted a drive to mid off as Thomas Odoyo was rewarded for a persevering spell. But Joyce latched onto Lameck Onyango, cracking him off the back foot before swivelling onto a pull which went into the stand at deep square-leg, to keep the innings on track.Pietersen imposed himself immediately with an elegant straight drive off his first ball, but Kenya missed a chance to keep themselves in the match when he edged Hiren Varaiya’s first ball only to watch Maurice Ouma shell the chance. From then on it was one-way traffic as Pietersen used his innings as a useful sighter ahead of the next stage and Joyce went to a calm 62-ball fifty. Pietersen’s half-century took 54 deliveries and included a glimpse of some of his power and craft as he milked the spinners. When Joyce was bowled by Tikolo’s doosra England were home and hosed and completed the job with 10 overs to spare.

Kenya appeared to hand themselves a disadvantage when they batted first and Anderson exploited the early conditions to remove both openers in his first spell. Tikolo responded with a rush of boundaries – some off the middle and others the edge – and Kenya’s run rate remained a healthy four-an-over.But Sajid Mahmood struck with a well-disguised slower ball to remove Tony Suji and Tanmay Mishra dragged Collingwood into his stumps as the innings stumbled to 74 for 4. With his main men back in the pavilion the onus was on Tikolo to carry the innings, and his fifty came off 58 balls. But he continued to lose partners at the other end and had a hand in Obyua’s run out when, after playing a sweep against Monty Panesar, he was more interested in the appeal rather than Obuya racing up the pitch. By the time Tikolo sent him back it was too late and a furious Obuya trudged back to the pavilion.Flintoff finally got his first wicket of the tournament when he trapped Odoyo in front, although his shout was so half-hearted it nearly passed everyone by. He could have had a second next ball but Jimmy Kamande escaped a close lbw shout. All the while Tikolo soldiered on, was dropped on 52 by Joyce at mid on, and showed his class with a couple of late deflections and deft sweeps off Panesar. He was eventually cleaned-up by Flintoff, who produced a rapid yorker and offered Tikolo a pat on the back, while England’s late-innings bowling and fielding was on target.It wasn’t a faultless performance from England but after a week to sweat on this match they’ll just be glad to have come through unscathed. Next up is the home nations clash with Ireland; what a day that promises to be in Guyana.

Steve Stubbings, the Derbyshire batsman, has been awarded a benefit by the club for next season.Stubbings, 29, has served Derbyshire for 11 years, scoring 6,755 first-class runs at 32.01. He was handed his county cap in 2001 and has captained the side on several occasions over the past two years.”This is a thoroughly deserved accolade for Steve who has been a terrific servant to Derbyshire for over a decade,” Don Amott, the Derbyshire chairman said. “Not only has he been an outstanding and reliable player, he is also one of the nicest and most genuine guys you will meet in cricket.”I hope he has a very successful benefit year and that the members and supporters come out and support his events throughout the year 2008.””I have been very proud to represent Derbyshire over the last 11 seasons,” Stubbings said, “and to be given a benefit year is an incredible honour and is very humbling.”Being awarded a benefit year is something that doesn’t happen to everybody and I feel extremely privileged to be selected, particularly when you look at the list of previous beneficiaries in recent years which is pretty exclusive company to be in.”