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JOHANNESBURG, March 4 AAP – Shattered Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie is in doubt for the rest of the World Cup.Ravaged by injuries throughout his career, Gillespie was taken for scans today to determine whether his right Achilles tendon injury would force him out of the tournament.”It certainly hasn’t improved since the problem initially occurred, which isn’t ideal,” said coach John Buchanan.Gillespie’s fate will be known within 48 hours.He initially felt pain at a net session before last week’s match against Namibia at Potchefstroom. He re-aggravated the problem at training before last Sunday’s clash with England.He missed both those matches and Buchanan rated him “extremely doubtful” for Australia’s first Super Sixes game at Centurion’s SuperSport park on Friday.Physiotherapist Errol Alcott has been briefing selectors on Gillespie’s worrying condition in case a replacement fast bowler needs to be brought into a squad already missing first-choice spinner Shane Warne.”The selectors are probably on the case there,” said Buchanan.”I know Errol’s been talking to them. They’ll be looking at all the options at this stage but this final scan will be the determining factor.”Before the World Cup, a fully fit Gillespie had said: “I can’t forsee myself having a problem … you always get emotionally affected when you get hurt.”I’d be more upset if I got injured and hadn’t done the work previously. If I hadn’t done the work and got injured I’d be dirty. I’m human, I get down and it’s disappointing and it’s happened to me a lot of times but you just have to think,’ What have I got to do to get back in the team?'”Gillespie was firing on all cylinders before he broke down, taking eight wickets at 12.25 against India, Pakistan, Holland and Zimbabwe.”The heel problem hasn’t gotten any better over the past few days,” he said today.”I’ll continue to work with Errol Alcott over the next few days and hopefully come good.”On a more positive note it was fantastic to see a fellow fast bowler in Andy Bichel stand in and do so well against England.”Bichel, coming off his 7-20 against England, is a ready-made replacement, but Buchanan hoped Gillespie would be able to return later in the tournament, which ends with the final on March 23 – less than three weeks away.”At this stage it’s a concern for sure because the injury hasn’t actually gone away,” said Buchanan.”He wants to be out on the field like anybody. For him it’s just another injury in a litany of injuries.”He’s always managed to get through that, he’s a pretty tough sort of bloke in that regard.”Asked how Gillespie was coping with his latest enforced absence, Buchanan said: “Obviously he’s disappointed. He’s part of the World Cup squad and wants to play every game.”It just seems that there’s always a little hurdle somewhere along the line.”He faces up to that pretty well. It’s the initial period that is always quite disillusioning and it’s almost like, ‘Here we go again.'”But he’s resilient, he’s a great kid and he works hard and whatever comes of this I expect him to get through it and be back in that team as soon as he can be.”

Spectators will be fined £1,000 if they enter the playing area duringthe First Ashes Test between England and Australia at Edgbaston starting tomorrow, the ground’s owners said.Warwickshire said it was imposing the toughest security measures in its 119-year history after a pitch invasion at the match at Edgbaston between England and Pakistan, and incidents at other grounds during last month’s NatWest series.While there is no history of crowd problems at Ashes matches,Warwickshire officials said they were also stopping supporterscoming on the field for the post-match awards ceremony.”We’ve learnt from those experiences and don’t want anyonetrespassing on the field,” WCCC Chief Executive Dennis Amisssaid. “We want people to enjoy themselves but at the same timewe’ve got to be more vigilant.”Australia batsman Michael Bevan sustained facial bruisingwhen he was struck by a full beer can thrown from the crowd duringthe NatWest Series final post-match ceremony at Lord’s.Stewards will be proactive dealing with troublemakers andthe club will press to prosecute those entering the field fortrespass, Amiss said.With Edgbaston capable of holding 19,000 spectators, stewardsmay be busy. Warwickshire have pre-sold all tickets for the openingfour days of a five-day Test for the first time.Australia’s dominance of the world game and an Englandrevival that has brought four wins and a draw from its past fiveTest series explained the popularity, said Amiss.”People want to watch a winning side,” Amiss said. “Ifpeople know that nine times out of 10 they are going to see theirside win, they’ll come and watch.”

West Ham United manager David Moyes has provided an injury update on Ben Johnson ahead of the Irons’ upcoming Europa League clash against Lyon.

The Lowdown: Johnson left out on Sunday

The 22-year-old was missing from the Hammers’ matchday squad for the 2-1 win against relegation-threatened Everton on Sunday. Prior to that victory, the right-back had played the full 90 minutes in West Ham’s last four Premier League games.

As a result, this sparked rumours of an injury which he would have picked up whilst on international duty with England under-21s last week.

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The Latest: Moyes’ update on Johnson

During his post-match press conference following the Everton game, Moyes provided details as to why Johnson did not feature in his matchday squad, seemingly a last-gasp decision given the defender’s training pattern leading up to the game.

As quoted by football.london, the West Ham manager claimed: “He felt his hamstring playing for England on Wednesday night. He trained Friday and Saturday but felt it again Saturday. We don’t think it’s bad but it was a decision today. We didn’t not want him for other weeks. I’m hoping he’ll be ok.”

The Verdict: Could be a blow

Whilst Moyes doesn’t think that the injury is severe, Johnson could be a doubt for West Ham’s Europa League quarter-final tie against Lyon, which takes place on Thursday.

This would come as a huge blow to the Irons, as the 22-year-old has stepped up brilliantly in Vladimir Coufal’s absence, ranking in the squad’s top five for tackles and clearances per game. It could now be up to an out-of-sorts Ryan Fredericks to fill the void – only one player to have started a league game for the east Londoners this term has a lower WhoScored performance rating.

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Described as a “wonderful professional to deal with and work with” by West Ham coach Stuart Pearce, the Hammers will be hoping that Johnson will be back to full fitness in no time.

In other news: Noel Whelan makes transfer claim on this potential Hammers target

	Brendon McCullum: “The couple of warm-up games before the Test are going to seem incredibly low key” © Getty Images

Brendon McCullum knows New Zealand’s Test tour of England is more important, but he admits it will be difficult to depart the Indian Premier League after his final game on Tuesday. McCullum was an early star of the experimental tournament, smashing 158 in the opening contest, and is aware the atmosphere of the warm-ups in England will be significantly less than at the throbbing stadiums in India.”It’s going to be hard to leave this,” McCullum told the Dominion Post. “This is where it is all happening, but having said that I understand that there is a tour to England about to begin which is really important.”Five New Zealand players were given permission to arrive late and while the tourists start the opening game against MCC on Sunday, McCullum will be preparing for his final fixture for Kolkata on Tuesday. The first-class affairs with Essex and England Lions will be the only chances for the quintet to switch from Twenty20 to Test mode and adjust to the conditions.”The couple of warm-up games before the Test are going to seem incredibly low key when compared to what is going on here,” McCullum said. “The hype here is huge. The Kolkata fans are regarded as some of the more passionate and so we’ve not ventured outside the hotel very often.”McCullum said the opening week of the IPL had been “pretty special” and he compared it to a golfer making the cut at the US Masters. “The fanfare is quite amazing,” he said. “As a young kid I always aspired to play in front of big crowds, it was always something I wanted to do, but you don’t really imagine things like this.”After being bought for US$700,000 at the auction, McCullum felt the pressure before the opening game and classed his century as a career highlight. “At the World Cup you had to wait about two months until the semi-finals came around, but here it was only about two minutes,” he said. “I think it was because of the occasion … and probably most of all the expectation because of the value placed on me.”

Old foes: Off the field Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan enjoy each other’s company © Getty Images

Muttiah Muralitharan says “winning the series” will be his main focus on the tour of Australia in November, but he is also keen on becoming Test cricket’s most successful bowler. His tally of 683 wickets leaves him 25 short of Shane Warne’s record of 708.Murali will play in two more matches against Bangladesh in the ongoing home series, and he could head to Australia within touching distance of Warne’s mark. Warne retired from internationals at the end of the Ashes in January.”I am looking forward to playing in the Test matches and maybe it [the record] will happen there, but the main focus is winning the series, which we have not done in Australia,” Muralitharan told . Murali has confirmed his availability for the matches in Brisbane from November 8 and Hobart from November 16.Murali has had a controversial relationship with Australia ever since he was called for throwing by the umpire Darrell Hair in the 1995 Boxing Day Test. Four years later, Ross Emerson also called him in an ODI at Adelaide. When the Sri Lankans walked off the field after the second incident, only an intervention by the respective boards and the ICC saved the tour.He has also had to endure some rough treatment from the crowds in reaction to these on-field episodes. Murali had decided against touring Australia in the 2004 after John Howard, the Australian prime minister, labelled him a “chucker”.”I was disappointed with what the Australian prime minister said,” he said ahead of the second Test against Bangladesh which starts on Tuesday. Muralitharan was well received in Australia during the tsunami fund-raising match at the MCG in 2005 and returned later in the year for the Super Series.

Jayasuriya’s fine form in England may see him pushed back to the top in the Tests © Getty Images

Sanath Jayasuriya has been named in a 14-man squad for the first Test against South Africa starting in Colombo on Thursday. The national selection committee, headed by Ashantha de Mel, finalised the squad after the three-day tour opener against Sri Lanka A ended in a draw yesterday. With no A team player showing great promise, the selectors sprung no surprises in their decision.Jayasuriya, 37, has been tipped to retain his opening slot alongside Upul Tharanga following Michael Vandort’s failure in the warm-up match. Jayasuriya had been called back from retirement during Sri Lanka’s recent tour of England, and batted at No.6 in the third Test. During the one-day series, Jayasuriya hit the England bowlers for 322 runs as he picked up the Man-of-the-Series award. He and Tharanga were also involved in a record 283-run stand that carried Sri Lanka to a 5-0 sweep.All the fast bowlers who toured England – Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof – have been retained while Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, has also been included. His last Test was against Bangladesh in September 2005. Sajeewa Weerakoon, a slow left-arm bowler, has been placed on standby with reports that Herath is nursing an injury.The 14-man squad is subject to final ratification by Sri Lanka’s sports minister. Meanwhile, South Africa have yet to finalise their team for the Test.Sri Lanka squad: Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Malinga Bandara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Michael Vandort, Rangana Herath.

Glenn McGrath: new shoes, new hairdo, but the menace of old© Getty Images

With their leader restored at the head of the pack, Australia’s pacemen have stared down a pitch promising sore backs and nothing more. While the game’s frontline spinners twirled potential records in their minds, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz did well not to baulk at the damage the deck would do to theirs.Instead McGrath, used in five neat five-over spells, led Australia to a228-run lead on the first innings and reaffirmed his status at the top of the bowling heap. Until he ran through India’s high-quality batting line-up with 4 for 55 there were concerns that, at 34 and stepping back tentatively from ankle surgery, this could be the tour he ended on the scrap heap.McGrath helped Australia roll over the Indian top order, but they were forced to toil through the lower half, and he added only one wicket to his three on the second day. Forcing Harbhajan Singh to bunt a slow offcutter to Darren Lehmann at cover was nothing to compare with the two daggers he slipped through Aakash Chopra and Rahul Dravid on Thursday, but the method showed another old trick. The rest of the bowlers chipped in with wickets as well, but it was the olden-day work of McGrath, confident and assertive once more, that was the most impressive. He could even start sledging again soon.Throughout his career McGrath’s delivery, actions and haircut had stayed much the same. Like the heavy bowling boots he recently discarded, they were unfashionable but worked. Very well. For this Test, his 98th, he has tried lighter, hi-tech shoes and updated his mop to a style worn last summer by many of his team-mates. In everything but bowling the gangly McGrath has generally been a bit off the pace. In his defence, he missed last season’s catwalk.For almost a year the oohs and aahs came from ankle operations and recovery delays instead of Bay 13 and Yabba’s Hill. Missing both home series against Zimbabwe and India, he bowled for New South Wales late in the season like a county trundler. Doubters said he was too old to make it again. For a short time McGrath agreed.Before returning in Darwin against Sri Lanka he considered quitting, then delayed mortality in his comeback innings with five wickets. Still he was – insultingly, for he has more wickets than any Australian fast bowler – considered only a match-by-match proposition. On arriving in India he was nominated for the tour game and the whispers continued. Was it a bowl-off with Brett Lee? Or an opportunity to lube his joints? Whatever the reason, his head was down while the feet of Gillespie and Kasprowicz were up. The new ball stayed in his hand. Body willing, he will hold it until Nagpur, when he will become Australia’s first fast bowler to reach 100 Tests.By then he might also have created another milestone. If McGrath remains scoreless (as he did in the first innings here) until he strikes off another six victims, he will have 450 wickets – equal to his haul of Test runs. As a hard-practising batsman it would be one record he chooses to ignore.

Maurice Odumbe: to face a preliminary hearing on May 19© Getty Images

The International Cricket Council has announced that the preliminary hearing into match-fixing allegations against Maurice Odumbe, the former Kenyan captain, will take place in Nairobi on May 19.The preliminary hearing, which will be presided over by Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, the former Zimbabwean Supreme Court judge, will deal with any preliminary points raised by Odumbe’s lawyers and will set a process in place for a more substantive hearing.The preliminary hearing follows an investigation by the ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit and a recommendation by Michael Beloff, who is the chairman of the ICC’s Code of Conduct commission. Under the ICC’s code of conduct, the penalties that the players can face range from a two-year suspension to a life-ban depending on the nature of the charge.Odumbe, 34, has been an integral part of the Kenyan one-day team, with his middle-order batting and slow bowling coming in handy. He was the Man of the Match in Kenya’s historic win over the West Indies at Pune in the 1996 World Cup.

Natalee Scripps: nine wickets in two matches against Wellington

Auckland qualified to defend their State League title despite a last-round loss to Wellington yesterday.They will meet Canterbury in the final at Redwood Park on Saturday.Details of the defending champions’ last two games were:On Monday Auckland medium-fast bowler, Natalee Scripps ended the Auckland Hearts’ vital State League match against the Wellington Blaze on Monday with the competition’s second-best figures.Scripps took six for 19 and bowled her side into Saturday’s final where the Hearts will defend their title against the Canterbury Magicians.The best bowling figures are held by another Auckland pace bowler, Munokoa Tunupopo, who took 7-19 against Central Districts in 1999/00.Earlier, TelstraClear White Ferns captain Emily Drumm top scored with 34 of the Hearts’ total of 145, their lowest total against Wellington. However, Scripps’ second five-wicket bag saw Wellington dismissed for 110.Yesterday, an unbeaten record-breaking sixth-wicket partnership of 144 by Wellington Blaze’s Maia Lewis and Megan Wakefield took their side to a five-wicket win over the State Auckland Hearts.It was the second match of a double-header played in Auckland and the home side looked set for a win after Scripps had the visitors six for three in the seventh over.But Wakefield (76 not out) and Lewis (74 not out) consolidated the innings and overhauled the Hearts’ score of 198 with 15 balls to spare.In the Auckland innings, Kelly Brown top scored with a hard hit unbeaten 43 off just 47 balls. Seventeen-year-old Ros Kember compiled 37 and captain Michelle Lynch 23.Despite the loss, the State Auckland Hearts will travel to Christchurch to defend their title in the final on Saturday.

Pakistan A captain, Hasan Raza, made his second century of the series, when he made an unbeaten hundred to help his side make 179 in their first innings of the Third ‘Test’ Match in Galle today. He made his first century at the First unofficial ‘Test’ Match in Dambulla and another 50 in the Second ‘Test’ Match in Colombo.The Pakistani captain reflected after the day’s play on his hundred: “I think this innings was very important because we’ve nearly got a 40 runlead. We don’t want to chase too many runs on this pitch, as it will favour the spinners and Sri Lanka have got three of them.”Hasan, who broke into the international scene at the tender age of 15 in 1996, has just played in two Test Matches so far.”At times I get very nervous, because I am so keen to play for my country,” he admitted. “I have performed well in the domestic season. I want to play for my country and want to play for a long time, like Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas.”I have made a few changes to my game as well and I now play lot straighter. I think the day of me becoming a regular member of the senior team is not far away,” he said.Talking about today’s performance, the 19-year-old from Karachi says he never thought of a century when the Pakistani last man walked into the middle. He had just completed his 50 when the number 11, Najaf Shah, walked to the crease. The pair put on a vital 52 run partnership, only five of which were scored by Shah.”I was lucky to get a hundred here,” he thought. “I tried to extend the lead of the side by keeping Shah away from strike, but when I was in the nineties, he faced lot of deliveries and I was praying that he’d not get out.”Though Pakistan had a wonderful start on the first day with their bowlers restricting Sri Lanka to 141, the Pakistani batsmen didn’t capitalize on that today. Hasan was disappointed: “We started off the day with three wickets down. We were expecting lot of things from Humayun Farhat, but he struggled and I was disappointed about the way some of the batsmen got out. Our batsmen tackled the fast bowlers pretty well, but against the Sri Lankan spin attack they were vulnerable.”However Hasan was delighted with the bowlers fought back. If Pakistan wins this game, they’ll win the series as well: “We have a good chance now of winning as we have already got through the cream of their batting. Kaneria is bowling in an attacking way at the moment and if we can get them out quickly in the morning, it’s going to be our day tomorrow.”