Recently retired Australian umpire Daryl Harper has accused India of "bullying", just days before the start of their Test series against England.Harper pulled out of his farewell Test this month after criticism from India players and a "lack of support" from the International Cricket Council."I thought someone had to make a stand, so I did," Harper told BBC Sport.India said they had "no comment to offer" in reply to Harper's claims, and the ICC have yet to make a response."I never tolerated bullying when I was a teacher," Harper said, "and I don't think bullying should be allowed to continue here."Following the first Test between India and West Indies in June, which India won by 63 runs, captain Mahendra Dhoni condemned Harper's performance.Dhoni said: "If the correct decisions were made the game would have finished much earlier and I would have been in the hotel by now.His comments went unpunished by the match referee Jeff Crowe.

DARYL HARPER'S CAREER

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• Umpired in 95 Tests between 1998 and 2011
• Took charge of 174 ODIs, starting in 1994
• Stood in 10 Twenty20 internationals
• Indian newspapers also reported that "
• a very senior member of the side"                                                                                                       had claimed that the entire team did not want Harper to officiate in the final Test."We don't want him - you can quote it as the reaction of the entire Indian team," was the alleged remark.Harper had been due to officiate in the third Test a few days later but pulled out.In an interview to be broadcast on 5 live Sport on Monday evening, 59-year-old Harper said: "There were a number of factors... but the main one was what I deemed was a lack of support from the ICC."I wanted some action to be taken when there was some unwarranted criticism of me. But no action was taken after the Test match and I felt that if the ICC were not going to take some action then I thought I would. So I packed up and went home."There were five or six articles that were very derogatory that were not good for me and not good for cricket.Harper also feels that the behaviour of India's players is not in the spirit of the game."Cricket umpires have to have thick skin these days," he said. "I don't think I'm easily intimidated but you must respect the officials and I don't think that was the case. It's just the Indian way at the moment.It doesn't matter if it is Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Australia, England or India. The same conditions should apply and when I look back at before that third Test match I was starting to think 'maybe I should wait and see who is playing' then I thought 'this is a bad day, this is not a game I want to be involved with at the moment'India begin their four-Test series against England on Thursday at Lord's.

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Spot-fixing: Pak cricketers to appear in London court

Pakistan, cricketers, involved in spot fixing case, will appear in a London court tomorrow.A British court has summoned the Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir to appear on Tuesday.Former captain Salman Butt will not appear in the court as his England visa expired on July 11. He will be now be represented by his Indian lawyer Yaseen Patel.However, Salman Butt has applied for England visa to personally appear during next hearing of the case.Fast bowler Muhammad Aamir is already in England while Muhammad Asif’s lawyer will appear in the court on his behalf.

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Fans select their Greatest Test Team of all time

Cricket lovers from across the world have cast more than a quarter of million votes this month to choose their Greatest Test team of all time. Fans voted on the ICC's official website, www.icc-cricket.com, using a short list provided by the game's governing body, to pick their leading eleven, as part of the activities to commemorate the 2000th Test Match, which will begin at Lord's between England and India on Thursday. Four Australians, four Indians, two West Indians and one Pakistani have been named in the ?people's' Dream XI. The final selection is as follows:

Virender Sehwag

Sunil Gavaskar

Donald Bradman

Sachin Tendulkar

Brian Lara

Kapil Dev

Adam Gilchrist (wk)

Shane Warne

Wasim Akram

Curtly Ambrose
Glenn McGrath

Haroon Lorgat, ICC Chief Executive, said: "The huge interest generated during the past month was amazing as media and supporters worldwide speculated and then selected the fan's Greatest Test team of all time. It supports our view of the everlasting popularity of Test match cricket."It would have been quite special to see this team take the field of play given the array of batting and bowling talent contained within the playing eleven. "Selecting from such greats is no easy job, and not surprisingly, the selection mainly reflects modern players seen by present day supporters. There are many greats from the past who would have easily merited selection in this team, but it is nevertheless interesting to see the fans view on their greatest eleven of all time.A series of activities are planned during this week in the build-up to and during the England-India Test match to celebrate the 2000th Test.

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Wasim Surprised Over Gayle Omission

LAHORE - Pakistan’s former captain Wasim Akram has expressed surprise over the omission of Chris Gayle from the West Indies team against India. “Gayle not being part of the West Indies team, I feel is baffling to the cricketing world. Judging by his recent form, he is an automatic selection. In any version of the game, he is such a dangerous and useful player,” Akram was quoted as saying by ESPN.
IPL’s orange-cap winner Gayle accumulated 608 runs in 12 matches as an opener for runners-up Bangalore in this edition. The left-handed batsman hit 2 hundreds, 3 fifties and a record 44 sixes to demoralise the opposition bowlers. Akram believes Gayle was the show-stealer of the tournament. “We have seen him in the recently concluded Indian T20 League. I mean the guy is a class act. He is a destructive batsman, a pretty safe fielder and is very handy with the ball in the shorter version,” the Kolkata bowling consultant was quoted by tv interview Sport.Gayle has been at loggerheads with the WICB after the ICC Cricket World Cup. He was not selected for the series against Pakistan due to an abdominal injury. The batsman, however, claimed that he was dropped. According to Akram, there is more to it than just cricket. “There might be something very serious going on between the player and the West Indies board but that doesn’t warrant him an axe from the side. But I think it is West Indies’ loss,” opines Akram. Meanwhile, Akram is not too pleased with the media’s role in playing up the club versus country debate. Many senior Indian players have opted out of the Windies tour just after the cash-rich league and the issue has raised concerns about players’ ethics

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Afridi is still Pakistan’s T20 captain!

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) new official website is a reflection of the poor state of the cricket body, which is evident from the fact that it shows retired allrounder Shahid Afridi as Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain.Recently, PCB chief Ijaz Butt declared that Afridi is not captaincy material and would never lead the national side at least not during his tenure. But the chairman’s word has not reached the concerned authorities responsible to look after the PCB’s web portal.Afridi and Butt were at loggerheads, which saw the talismanic allrounder criticizing the current setup of the PCB and ended up paying Rs 4.5 million for serious breaches of disipline. Butt later claimed Afridi was responsible for Pakistan team’s losses in last two One-dayers on the tour of West Indies.Several weeks have passed since this controversy but still Afridi’s name continues to be mentioned as T20 captain until the filing of this report.

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PCB, ICC may decide PTT visit in London this week

KARACHI: Pakistan, the most successful team in the fastest format of the game, are confident of raising a squad strong enough to regain the ICC World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka next year, writes Khalid Hussain.

The Pakistanis, who lost to India in the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa in 2007, went on to capture the crown in England two years. But they failed to defend the title in the Caribbean last year when they fell to Australia in the semifinals from a seemingly winning position.They may lag far behind teams like old rivals India, South Africa and Australia in Tests and One-day Internationals but in Twenty20 cricket Pakistan have a better success ration than any other side. They have in their ranks some of the most successful players in Twenty20 format.However, in recent times their performance in the slam-bang version of the game has dipped a bit.The exit of Shahid Afridi, widely regarded as the most destructive allrounder in Twenty20 cricket, might further dent Pakistan’s title chances in Sri Lanka. Afridi, the former Pakistan captain, retired from international cricket after a bitter fall out with the country’s cricket authorities earlier this summer.But Pakistani cricket officials are upbeat about the country’s Twenty20 future. They believe that by blooding youngsters in the team, Pakistan can boost their World Twenty20 title hopes.“We are in the process of making our plans for next year’s Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and are confident of preparing team that is good enough to win the title there,” Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan team manager, told ‘The News’ in an interview.Intikhab’s optimism springs from the fact that Pakistan have a number of talented youngsters, who are currently making their bones at the domestic circuit. Youngsters like Ramiz Raja Jr  an explosive top order batsman — showcased their talents at a Twenty20 tournament in Faisalabad last month.“Twenty20 is mostly a young man’s game,” said Intikhab, a former Pakistan Test captain. “You have to have young guys who can hit the ball out of the park. You need guys who can really fight even while defending small totals. You need guys who are exceptionally good fielders. I’m sure that Pakistan currently has plenty of such guys.”Intikhab has been keenly following the opening phase of a fast-track coaching project that concluded last week at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore. It featured fast bowlers and batsmen. The second phase, dedicated to spinners and wicketkeepers, will begin at the NCA from today (Monday).

“Several of the youngsters who featured in the first phase seem to be really good,” said Intikhab, who has also served as Pakistan’s national coach. “We can even blood some of them in our national Twenty20 squad,” he added.The coaching project is taking place under the supervision of former Test cricketers including chief selector Mohsin Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Ijaz Ahmed and Abdul Qadir. The programme is being run by Intikhab, who is also Pakistan Cricket Board’s Director of Game Development.The initial phase of the project featured a number of leading players including Test batters Taufeeq Umar, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali. The fast bowlers, who took part in the training camp, include Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Talha.

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Bresnan returns to England Test squad

The England selectors today named a 12-man squad for the first npower Test match against India at Lord's, commencing Thursday July 21 Test captain Andrew Strauss will lead an England squad that includes Yorkshire paceman Tim Bresnan, who returns to the England Test squad for the first time since the 5th Ashes Test in Sydney in January.The inclusion of Bresnan and the omission of Middlesex's Steven Finn is the only change to the England squad that won the recent npower Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 England National Selector, Geoff Miller, said: "This is clearly a highly-anticipated series between two of the world's top Test playing nations and I know the England team is certainly looking forward to the challenge of taking on the number one ranked team in Test cricket."Following the successful Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka we're pleased to be able to include Tim Bresnan in the Test squad after his excellent return from a calf muscle injury. Tim adds further bite to our pace attack along with James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad who has greatly benefitted from getting overs and wickets under his belt for Nottinghamshire during the week."Steven Finn has also benefitted from his time at county level in recent weeks and continues to press hard for Test selection. It's very pleasing to see the depth of quality around our bowling attack particularly with a challenging four-match Test series on the horizon."

England squad - 1st npower Test

Andrew Strauss (Middlesex) (Captain)

James Anderson (Lancashire)

Ian Bell (Warwickshire)

Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire)

Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)

Alastair Cook (Essex)

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex)

Kevin Pietersen (Surrey)

Matt Prior (Sussex)

Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)

Chris Tremlett (Surrey)

Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire)

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England name squad for 1st Test against India

LONDON: England on Sunday named fast bowler Tim Bresnan in their squad to face India in the first Test, which begins at Lord's on Thursday, but there was no place for Steven Finn.Bresnan takes Finn's place in the only change to the squad that beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in the recent Test series.Yorkshire paceman Bresnan is returning to the England squad for the first time since the fifth Ashes Test in January."This is clearly a highly anticipated series between two of the world's top Test-playing nations and I know the England team is certainly looking forward to the challenge of taking on the number one ranked team in Test cricket," said England national selector Geoff Miller."Following the successful Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka we're pleased to be able to include Tim Bresnan in the Test squad after his excellent return from a calf muscle injury."Tim adds further bite to our pace attack along with James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad, who has greatly benefitted from getting overs and wickets under his belt for Nottinghamshire during the week.England squad to face India in the first Test at Lord's Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott

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India collapse to 138-8 against Somerset

TAUNTON: India suffered a miserable time against Somerset as South Africa's Charl Willoughby took five wickets to reduce the tourists to 138-8 in their first innings on Saturday.This is India's only warm-up game ahead of next week's first Test against England at Lord's, but there has been little to encourage coach Duncan Fletcher and his players so far as they struggle to adapt to English conditions.

After a rain delay of more than three hours, India were finally able to take the field on the second day, but the tourists must have finished up wishing it had kept on raining.India's bowlers spent most of the first day being hit to all parts of Taunton as Somerset opener Arul Suppiah scored a century, while England Test captain Andrew Strauss guesting for the west country outfit -- and Nick Compton recorded half-centuries.It was more of the same on Saturday as Suppiah took his total to 156 before he was caught by Rahul Dravid off the bowling of Sreesanth with the score on 356.Chris Jones, who scored an unbeaten 51, moved the total onto 425-3 before Somerset declared to the relief of an Indian bowling attack without rested stars Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh.A strong Indian batting line-up including Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir should have been able to respond with big totals of their own on a flat pitch.But left-arm seamer Willoughby had other ideas as he finished the day with figures of 5-50, while no Indian batsman passed 30. Gambhir, returning to action after missing the recent West Indies tour with a shoulder injury, was first to go as he fell on 21 after edging Willoughby to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.Willoughby struck again to dismiss opener Abhinav Mukund with the score on 51.That brought Tendulkar together with Dravid, but India's two star batsman failed to deliver.Dravid was caught by James Hildreth off Willougby for 17 and then Yurav Singh departed for a duck to Willoughby.Tendulkar couldn't stem the tide and he went for 26 as 19-year-old Craig Meschede claimed his opening first-class wicket.India were 90-6 afer Peter Trego dismissed wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and only Suresh Raina, who made 30, offered any resistance as they finished in danger of defeat on the third and final day.

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