India search for elusive coach after Ford snub

Red-faced Indian cricket officials resumed a desperate hunt for a national coach on Tuesday after first-choice South African Graham Ford turned down the high-profile job.

With Rahul Dravid's men due to embark on a four-month foreign tour next week, time is running out to find a successor to Greg Chappell who quit in April after India's first round exit from the World Cup.

India may once again be forced to settle for an interim coach, as they did for last month's tour of Bangladesh where former captain-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri managed the side.

The popular Shastri declined to continue, citing media commitments, leaving the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to look elsewhere.

The BCCI's decision-making working committee meets here later on Tuesday to ensure the egg on its face does not stick after Ford's dramatic refusal to take up the 300,000-dollar a year job.

Ford, a former South African coach, said on Monday he would continue as director of cricket with English county Kent after being offered the India job on Saturday in Chennai.

Ford's snub has shaken the BCCI, a rich and powerful player on the world stage with ambitions of making its current president Sharad Pawar the International Cricket Council chief in 2008.

"We announced Ford's selection on Saturday because he told us he will let us know by Monday when he can join," said the BCCI's influential treasurer N. Srinivasan.

"But now he says he can't commit to us at all. We will take up the matter at the working committee."

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was on the seven-member coach selection panel that picked Ford, admitted: "We are back to square one and that is a fact of life."

The BCCI are unlikely to go back to former England spinner and current Middlesex director John Emburey, who was also interviewed on Saturday and rejected.

The panel, headed by Pawar and also including Shastri and another ex-captain Srinivas Venkataraghavan, had earlier spurned former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, the initial frontrunner for the job.

The BCCI may now opt for an Indian to run the side on a temporary basis alongside bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh.

India are due to play three one-dayers against South Africa and one-off games against Ireland and Pakistan in Belfast and Glasgow between June 23 and July 3 before starting a full tour of England in mid-July.

The tour ends on September 8 and the team will head straight for the inaugural Twenty20 world championships which begins in South Africa three days later.

"Ford's refusal has put us in an awkward position," a senior BCCI official told AFP. "We must find someone fast... even a temporary appointment if we can't get a permanent coach so quickly."

The BCCI's ham-fisted search for a coach has drawn flak from the sport's leading website Cricinfo.

"By not advertising for the post or sending out feelers as soon as Chappell left for Australia, the board seriously overestimated its own hand," Cricinfo wrote.

"The promise of a big fat payday may lure those more mercenary but a top-level coach requires all sorts of assurances before taking up a job of such magnitude.

"Will they find a new coach before India's Test series against England begins?

"For a start, do they even know where to look? This is an embarrassment that the BCCI has brought upon itself."

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HENIN AND SHARAPOVA WIN THROUGH

Justine Henin overcame her toughest test yet to reach the semi-finals of the French Open as she bids to win the event for the third successive year.

The defending champion beat Serena Williams 6-4 6-3 to move into the last four, where she is joined by second seed Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova saw off the challenge of fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-3 6-4 to set up a semi-final clash with Ana Ivanovic, while Henin will face the other Serb left in the draw, Jelena Jankovic.

There was precious little to choose between Henin and Australian Open champion Williams in the first set, but it was the Belgian who claimed the decisive break.

Henin then grew stronger in the second set, breaking at 2-2 and then again to book her passage to the semi-finals.

The first set had been just the sort of tight encounter that had been expected, Henin winning just one point more than her opponent and with both players hitting the same number of winners and unforced errors.

The second set, however, was a different story. After trading breaks at the beginning of the set, Henin secured a further break to edge 3-2 ahead and consolidated with an efficient service game for a 4-2 lead.

Williams held in her next service game to keep the pressure on the top seed but was unable to follow it up with a break of serve.

Henin raced to 40-15 against the Williams serve in the ninth game and closed out the match at the first opportunity.

Playing in her fifth French Open, Sharapova reached the last four for the first time with a comfortable win over ninth seed Chakvetadze.

Sharapova had to save three match points to get past Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, but she earned decisive breaks at key times to subdue Chakvetadze.

The former Wimbledon champion broke for a 4-2 lead in the first set and after saving three break points in the next game was able to serve out for the set in the ninth.

Chakvetadze then dropped her serve to love in the ninth game of the second set to ease Sharapova on her way to victory.

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Younis unlikely to be considered for captaincy

Younis Khan is unlikely to captain Pakistan, not at least under the current administration. Younis declined the captaincy when it was offered to him after the World Cup, the second time he had walked away from the position in the last seven months.

Younis had been Pakistan's vice-captain for the two years leading into the Caribbean tournament and was widely expected to take over the lead role from Inzamam-ul-Haq. He was eventually convinced to lead Pakistan during the Champions Trophy last year by Nasim Ashraf, the board chairman, after having walked away from the post the previous day. He was the preferred choice of many, including Ashraf before Shoaib Malik was appointed.

While fully backing Malik's appointment, Ashraf expressed his disappointment at Younis's decision to scupper the board's succession plan. "To be honest, yes [I was disappointed]," he told Cricinfo.

"Younis had been groomed for this position and he also deserved an automatic place in the team, just like Shoaib Malik," he added. "Younis has got leadership quality and it was part of a succession plan that the board had put in place. When he did that after the World Cup, I think it was because of personally taking that performance to heart too much and he was mentally I think depressed about it." By Suggesting that Malik could remain captain for the next three World Cups, Ashraf has seemingly closed the door on Younis returning as captain at least under his tenure.

Since the decision, Younis has been playing for Yorkshire, choosing to make himself unavailable for the Abu Dhabi series against Sri Lanka. His refusal to play in the three-match series and be unavailable till September for Pakistan, while turning out for a county side, irked the PCB officials.

But Ashraf asserted that though he will appear for Pakistan again, he will not lead them. "Obviously he won't be captain, that has been decided. But in terms of playing I hope that he makes himself available and that he continues to play for Pakistan."

Ashraf revealed that Younis had sought, and been granted, permission to be unavailable till September, but added, "I want to also make it clear that people have to make themselves available first for Pakistan and then for anything else."

Ashraf also cleared up the confusion surrounding Shoaib Akhtar's withdrawal from the Afro-Asia Cup. Shoaib had initially said he was keen and fit to play for the Asia squad, though he had also preferred to skip the Abu Dhabi series. He was subsequently dropped from the Asia side on fitness grounds and Ashraf confirmed that the Shoaib was not fully fit yet.

"If anybody is not fit to play for Pakistan they are not fit to play elsewhere. Shoaib Akhtar had told me he was not fit to play in Abu Dhabi. He told me that he would be fit by September and that is a great motive for him. We didn't want him to get injured in the Afro-Asia tournament. But our policy is very clear: if you are not fit to play for Pakistan you cannot play anywhere else."

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Adam Gilchrist is considering retiring from one-day cricket for Australia so he can continue his Test career

The wicketkeeper, who is vice-captain, recently smashed 149 against Sri Lanka to help his country win the World Cup for a third successive time.

However, at 35, and following the recent birth of his third child, Gilchrist admits he could quit limited overs action in the future.

"Up until the last 12 months, I had never been a guy to consider phasing out one form of the game and just focusing on one," Gilchrist told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"But I am open to thinking about that now. I have been quite firm on playing both forms in the past, but I guess that things have changed a little.

"When a few of the guys started retiring last year, it made me stop and reflect on where I was personally.

"And, while the appetite is still very strong to keep playing, I've just noticed the hunger and the drive for Test cricket that guys like Warney (Shane Warne) and Justin Langer had when they didn't have one-day cricket to consider."

Gilchrist has played 268 one-dayers, scoring over 9,000 runs at an average of 36.

His retirement is unlikely to come before the Twenty20 Championship in September, while he could also play on until the Commonwealth Bank Series with Sri Lanka and India at the start of next year.

Australia have a busy schedule ahead, including playing 20 Tests in 2008.

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Hewitt in the know about Paris

Lleyton Hewitt has never won the French Open, but he still knows what it takes to conquer the toughest Grand Slam of all. On his last two appearances on the Paris red clay, the 26-year-old Australian has been defeated by the man who eventually went on to win the title.

In 2004, he was beaten by Argentina's Gaston Gaudio in straight sets in the quarter-finals while, last year, he took a set off Rafael Nadal before the Spaniard prevailed in the fourth round.

Hewitt, a former world number one and a Wimbledon and US Open champion, is seeded 14 at Roland Garros this year and is confident of making at least the fourth round where, once again, Nadal should be waiting.

Hewitt pushed Nadal all the way in the Hamburg Masters semi-finals, a performance which earned the praise of the 20-year-old French Open champion.

No Moody blues as Sri Lanka give him perfect farewell gift

World Cup finalists Sri Lanka gave their Australian coach Tom Moody an ideal goodbye on Tuesday as they beat Pakistan by 115 runs in their third and final one day international in Abu Dhabi.

Sri Lanka - whom Moody has been coach of since 2005 - made 296-9 off 50 overs while Pakistan could only muster 181 all out off 42.5 overs.

Pakistan - who crashed out of the World Cup in the first stage and whose coach Bob Woolmer died mysteriously shortly after they were sensationally beaten by minnows Ireland - still won the series 2-1.

Sri Lanka's innings was based round a 124 run partnership between skipper Mahela Jayawardene - who made 83 - and Chamara Silva (64) until Jayawardene was bowled by Mohammed Hafeez with the score on 225.

Pakistan - who arrived for the series without a new coach and with a new captain in Shoaib Malik - had the upper hand before that thanks to Ifthikar Anjum skittling out the top three Sri Lankan batsmen - including veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya for 19 - to leave them in trouble at 101-3.

The Pakistanis, however, never got any momentum going in their innings with just Shoaib producing any resistance of note as he stroked a superb unbeaten captain's innings of 79.

However, he was always facing an uphill battle once the Pakistanis were reduced to 70-6, not helping their cause with two of those being run outs.

Pakistan claim series win

Second One Day International

Abu Dhabi
Pakistan 313-9 Innings Complete (Salman Butt 74, Yasir Hameed 50) v Sri Lanka 215 (D P M D Jayawardene 61)
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 98 runs

Pakistan have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in their three-match one-day international series with Sri Lanka, beating their tourists by 98 runs in Abu Dhabi.

In only their second appearance since their disappointing World Cup first round exit, Pakistan posted an impressive 313 for nine in the first innings.

The bowlers then did their job, skittling Sri Lanka out for a measly 215 off 39.5 overs to claim a 98-run victory.

Shahid Afridi showed his capabilities as an all-rounder, backing up his match-winning knock in the first match with bowling figures of 3-37.

Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul all chipped in with two wickets apiece as the World Cup finalists were given a tough time in Abu Dhabi.

Salman Butt (74) top-scored this time with the bat for Pakistan, while Yasir Hameed (50) was one of several players to contribute in the middle order.

Butt and Hameed put on 98 to set up the victory before the latter finally departed caught-and-bowled by Malinga Bandara.

When Butt eventually left the crease he also fell to a return catch, but Mohammad Yousuf ensured the innings kept its momentum with a quick 37.

After his batting heroics in the first encounter Afridi could only contribute a solitary run with the bat this time, but Sami weighted in with a rapid 22 to take the score past 300.

Bandara and Farveez Maharoof claimed the credit in the Sri Lankan bowling attack, taking 3-56 and 3-65 respectively.

Their reply started in blistering fashion, with 37 runs coming off the first five overs.

However, Chamara Kapugedera lost his middle stump and wickets continued to fall regularly from there.

Mahela Jayawardene's 61 provided the only real resistance but when he was bowled with the score on 188-7, the writing was on the wall.

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