Six captains on this week's ICC Cricket World Radio Show

Cape Town : Hashim Amla, South Africa's stand-in captain, is one of the six captains to participate on this week's ICC Cricket World Radio Show as he looks forward to his side's series against Australia which starts today (Thursday) with a Twenty20 International (T20I) in Cape Town.Also, Zimbabwe and New Zealand captains Brendan Taylor and Ross Taylor preview their series which starts in Harare on Saturday with a T20I while India's Gautam Gambhir talks about his fitness and the ODI series against England which kicks off in Hyderabad tomorrow (Friday).Looking forward to the series in South Africa and India are former captains Kepler Wessels and Ravi Shastri while West Indies women's team's captain Merissa Aguilleira looks ahead to the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier 2011 which will be held in Bangladesh from 14 to 25 November.Amla says: "I am quite excited and it is a big honour for me. The injury to AB de Villiers is a big blow to the team."We are enjoying Gary Kirsten's coaching. It will take a little time to know Gary's ideas but so far it has all been positive."Both the teams are on similar stages in their development. Australia and South Africa have similar traits. It is going to be very competitive (series) and no doubt will be one of the contests to watch out for.The show can be used in whole or part by radio stations that want free cricket content for editorial use, while the public can also download it straight from www.icc-cricket.com or from iTunes.Gambhir, who is staging a comeback after missing the ODI series against England earlier this summer, says: "I don't know why people are talking about this being a payback series. I think it is just another series."There is no word in my dictionary called "payback". England deserved to win when we played them there."Winning is important for us whether convincingly or otherwise does not matter. They will come hard at us and we will go hard at them."Apart from these exclusive interviews, there is the usual round-up of cricketing news and an update of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings

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No Aussies fixing matches: Clarke

SYDNEY : Australian Test and one-day captain Michael Clarke said Friday he was "100 percent confident" that no Australian cricketers were involved in match-fixing.His comments followed allegations made in a London court this week implicating Australian players during the corruption trial of ex-Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif."Me personally, I have never been approached by anyone," he said on his departure for South Africa for a three-match one-day series that kicks off on October 19 ahead of Tests in Cape Town and Johannesburg in November."The players I have played with, I'm 100 percent confident they would never be involved in that," he added on the Cricket Australia website."It is not the Australian way. Never in my time have I experienced a conversation with anybody about any such things.He admitted that some Australian cricketers had been approached, but it had always been reported to the authorities."There has obviously been a couple of occasions where guys (in our team) have been approached and that has been reported to our team manager and to the International Cricket Council," he said."So all the boys in the Australian team are aware that it is happening and that it is going on."But, like I said, it has never involved me and I'm very confident that it has never involved any of the Australian players.The fixing claims emerged as Mazher Mahmood, the former investigations editor for Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World, gave evidence at the trial of Butt and Asif on Tuesday.In recordings played to Southwark Crown Court, an agent, Mazhar Majeed, alleged that Australians, as well as some of the biggest names in Pakistani cricket, were prepared to fix parts of matches.Majeed claimed Australian players would fix "brackets", a set period of a match on which punters bet.Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland has blasted the claims as baseless."These comments or allegations would appear to be outlandish and were made by a person of dubious repute," he said this week. "These would appear to be baseless allegations.

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Australia beat South Africa by 5 wickets in first T20

CAPE TOWN : Australia defeated South Africa by five wickets in the first of two Twenty20 internationals at Newlands on Thursday.South Africa made 146 for seven before Australia reached their target with three balls to spare.The second game takes place in Johannesburg on Sunday.Check Out Cricket Ratings

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Windies beat Bangladesh by 40 runs

DHAKA : Lendl Simmons smashed a maiden century as the West Indies posted an easy 40-run win over Bangladesh in the first one-day international on Thursday to gain a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.The opener made a 124-ball 122 as the West Indies scored a challenging 298-4 before restricting Bangladesh to 258-7 in the day-night match in Dhaka. Shakib Al Hasan top-scored for the hosts with an unbeaten 67.

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Simmons boosts Windies with maiden ton

DHAKA : Lendl Simmons hit an impressive maiden century to help the West Indies post a challenging 298-4 against Bangladesh in the first one-day international on Thursday.The opener, 26, cracked two sixes and eight fours in his 124-ball 122 to prop up the innings after the tourists had been put in bat in the day-night match in Dhaka.He added 67 runs with Adrian Barath, who retired after making 21, and 150 with in-form Marlon Samuels (71).Simmons, who had scored six half-centuries in his last nine one-dayers before this match, completed his hundred in the 37th over with a single to mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan His best came in the 40th over when he hit paceman Shafiul Islam for four boundaries before being caught by Alok Kapali off paceman Rubel Hossian in the 42nd over.Samuels also fell in the same over after hitting two sixes and six fours in his 78-ball knock, but not before setting the stage for the closing-overs onslaught with Simmons.The West Indies plundered 74 runs in the last eight overs, with Kieron Pollard smashing three sixes in his 25-ball 41 and Darren Bravo scoring 20 off 19 balls.Barath left the field due to a hamstring injury as runners are not allowed under new rules, but there was no respite for Bangladesh as Samuels looked in good form from the beginning.Samuels, who hit a half-century in the one-off Twenty20 international on Tuesday, lofted left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak over mid-wicket for the first six of the match.Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, leading in his first one-day series, used seven bowlers, but none could keep pressure on Simmons and Samuels who continued to gather runs comfortably against both pace and spin.Wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin led the West Indies in place of all-rounder Darren Sammy who was ruled out of the match due to an upset stomach

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Misbah vows to win Sri Lanka series

LAHORE : Pakistan cricket team captain Misbah-ul-Haq said that the national team would go all out to win the series against Sri Lanka.However, the opponents cannot be taken easy despite in the absence of Muralitharan, said the captain. Talking with media here at the Qadhafi Stadium, Misbah said that cricket is a team game and it is not wise to rely on a single player He said that the national team would display good performance in the series against Sri Lanka.He further said that there were bowlers in the team with a potential of getting opponents out.The Pakistan captain appreciated the decision of opting referral system during the series

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Sri Lanka look for revival against Pakistan

COLOMBO : Sri Lanka hope to end their Test drought when they face Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates later this month, the team's captain Tillakaratne Dilshan said Thursday.Sri Lanka have not won a Test in their last 11 outings, since beating India in Galle in July 2010 when world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan made his final appearance.This year, Sri Lanka lost an away series against England 1-0, before falling to Australia by a similar margin at home.Dilshan said he looked forward to turning the tide when they clash with Pakistan in a three-Test series which opens at the neutral venue of Abu Dhabi on October 18."The important thing is to remain patient. We have got some inexperienced bowlers and it takes time for them to develop," Dilshan told the Colombo-based Island newspaper.If you take the last series against Australia, we lost one Test that could have gone either way. I thought we played well in the remaining two Tests."Dilshan said the team needs time to overcome the absence of the retired duo of Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas."Guys like Murali and Vaasy did an exceptional job for us for 15 years," he said. "Suddenly when you lose them the team struggles. I believe we need to be patient rather than take harsh decisions.Injured fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep returns to the bowling attack, which also includes off-spinner Suraj Randiv and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.Dilshan predicted a close contest against Pakistan. The Tests will be followed by five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match."I feel they have a balanced side," the captain said. "The wickets will be batsmen friendly and the big challenge for us will be to take 20 wickets in a game.The Sri Lankans leave for the UAE on Friday.Pakistan has been forced to host international matches in neutral countries after a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009

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Bangladesh put Windies in to bat in first ODI

DHAKA : Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim elected to field after winning the toss against the West Indies in the first one-day international in Dhaka on Thursday.Denesh Ramdin led the West Indies in place of Darren Sammy, who was ruled out of the match due to an upset stomach.West Indies: Denesh Ramdin (capt), Adrian Barath, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Danza Hyatt, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons. Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt)Abdur Razzak, Alok Kapali, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal

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