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Shane Warne has been sent home from the World Cup after failing a drugstest, the Australian Cricket Board confirmed at a Johannesburg pressconference.ACB chief executive officer James Sutherland revealed that leg-spinnerWarne had tested positive for a diuretic – a drug often used to helpweight loss or as a masking agent for other drugs.Sutherland said that Warne would be flying home later today and wouldundergo further tests in Australia.Warne has been recovering from a shoulder injury and has been on afitness programme since the start of 2002.The test, carried out by the ACB, was a routine test.Sutherland told the press conference: “I am here today to announce thatShane Warne has expressed his wish to stand down from the AustralianWorld Cup team and will return to Australia today to complete furtherdrug tests and face a hearing under the ACB anti-doping policy.”This follows Shane’s advice to us that the Australian Sports DrugsAgency have told him he has tested positive for a diuretic on samples heprovided in Sydney last month.”Shane notified the ACB yesterday as soon as he received the news and hebelieves the failed tested is because of a flu reduction medication hetook in Sydney last month.”The ACB has referred the matter to the ACB anti-doping committee basedon our belief that he may have committed an offence under the ACBanti-doping rules.”The hearing will take place in Melbourne as soon as possible.”Sutherland added: “There has been an anti-doping policy since 1998. Allplayers have been educated about the policy.”We support the testing.”At the same time, we commend Shane about his approach, including comingforward as soon as the information was made available.”We have advised the ICC of the situation and have applied to thetechnical committee for approval to replace Shane in the World Cup squadcommittee.”Warne said: “As James has said, I was shocked and absolutely devastatedthat the test sample indicated a presence of a prohibited substance.”It’s not finalised until my B sample.”I’m shocked because I have not taken performance-enhancing drugs.”I did take a fluid tablet before my comeback game in Sydney and didn’tknow it contained any banned substance.”I have decided to return home in the best interest of the team andaddress the situation personally which the ACB are supportive of.”I want to repeat, I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs and amconfident it will be cleared up soon.”My previous tests have always come back negative. I have spoken to myteam-mates and they are supportive.”

Glamorgan have joined the race to try to sign left-arm pace bowler Paul Hutchison, who is being released by Yorkshire at the end of the season.But although skipper Steve James is believed to have spoken to the 24-year-old Leeds-born bowler other counties have confirmed an interest including Warwickshire, Lancashire and Northamptonshire.The only problem for Glamorgan is that Hutchinson is injury prone and has spent a lot of this season out of action.Hutchison represented England at Under-17, 18 and 19 and seemed destined to go all the way, but has got bogged down because of injury.On top of that, Yorkshire have a plethora of seam bowlers, including Darren Gough, Chris Silverwood, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Kirby and Gavin Hamilton on their books, so they cannot keep everybody happy.Recruiting a left-armer would no doubt interest Robert Croft when it comes to bowling into the rough to right-handed batsmen.If Glamorgan do grab his signature he would be the county’s first left-arm seamer since Simon Dennis left the club a decade ago, and he would be the county’s first non-overseas signing since Alex Wharf was recruited from Nottinghamshire two seasons ago.

After piling up 394 in the first innings Andhra had Karnatakastruggling on 83/3 to hold the whiphand at stumps on the second day oftheir Cooch Behar Trophy South Zone league match at the VisakhapatanamSteel Plant stadium on Thursday.Resuming on the second day at 281 for 6, Venugopal Rao lost Mohd Faiqwith the score at 294. Manoj Sai joined Venugopal in the middle andthe two put on a useful 40 runs for the eight wicket. Venugopal wasthe chief scorer during the partnerships that ensued on the second dayand before long proceeded to complete a well deserved century. Playinga typical captain’s knock, he took the team nearly past the 400 runmark, when he himself fell. With the score at 394, Venugopal was thelast man to be dismissed after a fighting 130 off 223 balls.In reply, Karnataka started in a circumspect manner with openers SudirRao (22) and Bharat Chipli (18) adding 37 runs in 18.2 overs. Rao wasthe first to go, when he was castled by GS Rao. Then Deepak Chougulejoined Chipli, but Chipli himself did not last long. He departed afterbeing caught by Manoj Sai off Venugopal Rao with only 56 runs on theboard. This brought in skipper C Raghu to the centre and in thecompany of Chougule he took the score to 75. GS Rao pushed Karnatakafurther on the back foot when he shattered the defences of Chougule.But Raghu and AK Bafna saw Karnataka safely through to stumps withoutany further hiccups.

Australian players have dominated the English county scene in recent years, in both their number and with their figures. But the IPL, the new one-overseas player limit, and, ultimately, the rain all had their part to play in limiting Australians’ appearances and their chances to contribute to the opening round of seven first-class matches last week.Chris Rogers, however, made the most of his opportunity to give a nod to the selectors who had dumped him off the contracts list, with a second-innings ton for Derbyshire in their Division Two draw with Gloucestershire in Bristol. He had made an inauspicious 3 in the first dig as the visitors collapsed.His former Western Australian team-mate Marcus North topscored in the home side’s first innings with 87 and did not bat second time out as rain put paid to proceedings after Derbyshire’s Rogers-led rally. Only three wins were registered, the four draws all victims of the weather.Lancashire captain, the English-qualified Stuart Law, made 38 as Lancashire, last year’s runners-up, drew with the champions Surrey at The Oval. His team-mate Brad Hodge made an unbeaten 43 before the rain came. Surrey were without Matt Nicholson, who had a virus.In the second division, Western Australia’s Steve Magoffin took one wicket in each innings as Worcestershire drew with Warwickshire.

The Indian squads for the tours of Ireland and England will be selected on June 12 in Delhi. The selected players will have to attend a camp in Bangalore from June 13 to June 16.”The selection committee will meet in Delhi at 5.30 pm on June 12 after the meeting of the working committee to choose the team for England and Ireland tour,” Niranjan Shah, BCCI secretary, told PTI. “The selected players would be asked to assemble in Bangalore by the afternoon of June 13 for the cricket camp which will run till June 16.”The camp will follow a fitness-specific camp for batsmen which will be held at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore from June 9-12.India are scheduled to play a three-ODI series against South Africa in Ireland in July before heading to England for three Tests and seven one-day internationals.

Sri Lanka’s captain, Mahela Jayawardene, praised the performance of his young team and said that their efforts ranked up there with the best, as the first Test at Lord’s was saved through a brilliant rearguard action.Having followed on a whopping 359 runs in arrears, Sri Lanka ground their way through 199 overs on the final two-and-a-half days before bad light brought their epic innings to an end on 537 for 9. No fewer than seven batsmen recorded fifty in the innings, and after slumping to 91 for 6 in the first innings, Jayawardene was thrilled with the fight they had shown.”It was a brilliant effort which showed a lot of character from top to bottom,” he said, after being named as Man of the Match for his twin scores of 61 and 119. “It will have given a lot of confidence to the youngsters, and that’s what they need, belief that they can do it at this level of cricket, because most of them haven’t achieved anything in their careers yet.”The effort will also have given Jayawardene a lot of belief. Since assuming a senior role in the side, he has endured criticism of his leadership skills, and still remains as the official vice-captain on this tour, in the absence of the injured Marvan Atapattu. But he was able to answer the doubters by leading from the front and watching his charges take inspiration from his resistance.”In the past when I’ve been given responsibility, people have said how difficult it is for me to concentrate on my batting at the highest level,” he said. “I think I’ve proved people wrong. It’s how I go out there and perform that matters. It’s all to do with team efforts.”Jayawardene admitted that the thought had crossed his mind to declare once they had established a lead of 140-150, but added that good sense had prevailed, given the placid nature of the wicket. Even so, had England managed to take that final wicket and set themselves up for a run-chase, his side were ready and waiting for the challenge.”If we had been put in that situation we would definitely have gone for it,” said Jayawardene. “It was really flat out there but with three or four wickets we would have had a chance. It was all about the effort we had put in, and we couldn’t have let it go like that.”Jayawardene insisted that the spate of dropped catches shouldn’t detract from his team’s achievement, but he did recognise Sri Lanka had issues to address. “We’ll need to show the same determination in our bowling,” he said, “and we might have to look at different combinations when we get to Edgbaston. We have to get England out twice to win Test matches, and we only got five wickets. Those are the areas we have to improve.”

West Indies275 for 4 (Lara 125*, Sarwan 55) trail Pakistan 374 (Younis 106, Kamal 51, Collymore 7-78) by 99 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Brian Lara produced another batting masterclass on his way to a 30th Test century as West Indies dominated the second day at Sabina Park. Having wrapped up the Pakistan innings for the addition of only 38 runs in the morning, West Indies were given a flying start by Chris Gayle, before Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who responded to failure in Barbados with a gritty 55 here, stitched together 146 for the third wicket. And even though Pakistan stemmed the flow of runs in the final session, it wasn’t until Shivnarine Chanderpaul was out to the last ball of the day that they made any sort of impression.Lara started in circumspect fashion, having arrived at the crease after Devon Smith’s assured 25 had been ended by a worm-killer that knocked back off stump. Gayle had taken heavy toll of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan – whose right thumb was badly hurt by a delivery from Daren Powell – stroking some splendid drives and flicking the ball nonchalantly off his pads. There was also one magnificent six over long-on off Shabbir Ahmed before Abdul Razzaq got one to nip away a shade and take the edge.As many as 59 had come from 11 overs before lunch, but the innings was becalmed after the interval, with Danish Kaneria proving especially miserly. But having taken his time to get his eye in, Lara opened up as only he can to send the fielders scattering and give Inzamam-ul-Haq plenty to ponder by teatime.Having taken 68 balls to reach 33, Lara then sauntered along at a run-a-ball until he reached the 90s. The purple patch included two massive sixes over long-on off Kaneria, and when Naved, who had been flayed for 22 in two overs with the new ball, was brought back, Lara responded with two coruscating pulls interspersed by the most gorgeous cut for four.At the other end, Sarwan overcame early jitters against Kaneria to give his former captain sterling support. Kaneria, who conceded just 18 from his first 11 overs, went for 32 from his next five as West Indies went from 100 to 200 in just 142 deliveries. The stage was set for an assault after tea, but when Sarwan, who had got to 50 with a tremendous square-drive off Shabbir, mistimed a hook, the momentum was irrevocably lost.Chanderpaul pottered around initially, and with Lara also going into a shell of sorts as he neared three figures, Pakistan were able to gather breath and regroup. Lara, who scored as many as three-fourth of his runs on the leg side, finally reached his hundred with a delicate glance for four, and then opened up with some gorgeous strokes, none more exquisite than two off-drives off Kaneria.Chanderpaul took imbibed some of the attacking intent, slamming a wayward Shahid Afridi for two fours through midwicket before Kaneria ensured that he wouldn’t be around for fun and frolic on day three.Earlier in the day, West Indies had been indebted to another seasoned campaigner. Corey Collymore, who reined in Pakistan during the final session yesterday, picked up three more to finish with stunning and richly deserved figures of 7 for 78.Razzaq and Kamran Akmal were the last recognised pair at the crease, but any hopes that Pakistan had of posting a huge total were dealt a severe blow in the day’s first over when Collymore trapped Razzaq in front without any addition to the overnight score. Akmal continued to pull and cut in positive fashion, stitching together 19 with Naved before Powell intervened with a quick delivery that smashed into Naved’s hand.Shabbir didn’t bother the scorers, giving Collymore his sixth victim of the innings, and when Powell sneaked one in low to trap Kamran one short of his half-century, Naved strode bravely out to the middle. He couldn’t make any impact, however, as Collymore mopped up the innings with a full delivery to Kaneria. It took just 10.3 overs to thwart Pakistani ambitions of a huge total, and thereafter Lara was to the fore as West Indies went in search of a total that would shut the door as far as both match and series are concerned.

How they were out

PakistanAbdul Razzaq lbw Collymore 19 (336 for 7)
Ball nipped back, struck in frontShabbir Ahmed c Browne b Collymore 0 (360 for 8)
Good length ball, edge behindKamran Akmal lbw b Powell 49 (374 for 9)
Trapped in front by one that kept lowDanish Kaneria b Collymore 6 (374 all out)
Bowled by a full deliveryWest IndiesGayle c Kamran Akmal b Abdul Razzaq 33 (48 for 1)
Swung away from round the wicketSmith b Abdul Razzaq 25 (59 for 2)
Ball didn’t rise more than a couple of inches after pitching.Ramnaresh Sarwan c Danish Kaneria b Shabbir Ahmed 55 (205 for 3)
Set up by a short ball, which he hooked on the swivel to fine leg.Shivnarine Chanderpaul c Kamran Akmal b Danish Kaneria 28 (275 for 4)
Undone by a googly that reared up at him. Thin edge to the keeper.

Wasim Akram has been fined by a Lahore court after failing to appear to answer changes that he hurt religious sentiments by appearing in an advertisement for an Indian liquor company.The civil court ruled against him by default as a result of his non appearance, although Wasim’s solictor later claimed that his client had never been notified of the hearing. He dismissed the claim as a "frivolous petition".The case was brought by a local individual who claimed that he had suffered as a result of the advertisement. He asked for a public apology and damages of Rs 25,000 (US$500).Wasim appeared in the advertisement last year, along with other cricketers such as Harbhajan Singh and Glenn McGrath. He previously denied the accusation, arguing he worked for the company which also manufactured sports equipments.

West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels will fly to the United States to seek medical treatment for his left knee on Thursday.The decision was reached following dialogue between Rev. Wes Hall, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board; John Pinnock, Samuels’ United States-based agent; Samuels and two medical specialists in the United States."Marlon will fly to Barbados and onto New York on Thursday and will see Dr. Ainsworth Allen to get an evaluation of his knee," remarked Michael Hall, the chief cricket operations officer of the WICB."From New York, Marlon will travel on Monday to Baltimore to see Dr. Michael Mont, a highly-rated knee specialist, to get a second opinion."Samuels was withdrawn from the West Indies’ 15-member squad to the Cricket World Cup 2003 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya after a medical report on his left knee – on which he had surgery earlier this year – revealed there was a strong chance it could deteriorate during the competition.

The residents of Matale could get a glimpse of former and present Sri Lankan cricketers when the Sri Lanka Cricketers’ Association played a friendly match at Bernard Aluvihare Stadium yesterday. The stadium – situated in the Matale town, about 20 kilometers away from Kandy – was filled by 4,000 people, who flocked to see their heroes, who have conquered the world of cricket.The cricketers obliged willingly to the autograph hunters. For those who had come to witness them, the result of the match was secondary. The real winner of the day was the Matale District Cricket Association who had organised the event with the intention of promoting the game in the area and encouraging their budding youngsters.Fifteen past and present Sri Lankan cricketers gathered to play the friendly game. Don Anurasiri, Kumar Dharmasena, Ruchira Perera, Kumar Sangakkara and Kaushalya Weerarathne had to sit out of this game, but were seen going around the ground obliging the autograph hunters and posing for photographs.The match played between SL Cricketers’ Association and the Matale District Cricket Association, the only serious cricket team from the district, started around 10 o’clock in the morning.

Roshan Mahanama, captained the Cricketers’ Association while P.K. Aluvihare, captained the Matale Side. Aluvihare has been a consistent performer with the ball for the Matale side in the domestic tournament getting more than 75 wickets. Mahanama, winning the toss, elected to bat first and the residents of the area were presented with an entertaining display of batsmanship.The man who rose to the occasion was Michael Vandort, the promising tall youngster. Vandort, opening the innings, smashed 60 off just 46 deliveries with 11 boundaries and a six. He put up 90 runs for the first wicket with Lanka de Silva before he retired.After Vandort retired, there was a mini collapse for the visitors as Lanka de Silva, Indika de Saram and Roshan Mahanama got out within the space of few runs. But Ruwan Kalpage, batting at number six, made a fine 40 with the help of four boundaries and a six. If Kalpage’s 40 helped the visitors to go past 200 run mark, Eric Upashantha’s 38 with six fours and a six helped them to score an imposing 246 in 40 overs.In the bowling department, I. Abeyrathne picked up three wickets for 39 runs while M.B. Tillakaratne picked up three for 63 runs. J.C. Welagedara too bowled impressively getting two wickets for 36 runs.The home side started the run chase impressively with D.L. Wijewardene leading the way in top of the order. Wijewardene made 51 in 41 balls with 11 boundaries. But after his dismissal, the innings fell apart and none of the middle order batsmen managed to impress. However, the tail-enders provided some entertainment later in the innings. But they ended 54 runs short, as they were bowled out for 192 in the 39th over.Champaka Ramanayake, though retired from competitive cricket, was the most impressive. He picked up three wickets for 18 runs. Dinuk Hettiarchi and Ruwan Kalpage picked up two wickets a piece.The scores:

SL Cricketers’ Association XI. 246/9 (40)
M. Vandort 60, L. de Silva 22, C. Silva 25, R. Kalpage 40, E. Upashantha 38.I.Abeyratne 3/39, M.B Tillakaratne 3/63, J.C Welagedara 2/36.

Matale District Cricketers’ Association XI. 192 all out (39.2)

D.L Wijerwardene 51, M.B. Tillakaratne 21, N. Bokalawela 35.C. Ramanayake 3/18, D. Hettiarchi 2/17, 2/15.