Vettori to play only Tests

Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand captain, has confirmed that he will be taking a break from one-day and Twenty20 cricket in an effort to prolong his Test career.

"My reason for taking a break from the shorter forms of the game is primarily so that I can preserve my body and continue to represent New Zealand in Test cricket," Vettori said. "I also believe a break now will give me the best possible chance to take up one-day cricket again in the next couple of years and, if all goes well, make the World Cup team for 2015."

Vettori has been battling a knee problem: he hurt his right knee during New Zealand's World Cup league game against Pakistan in March. He missed the rest of his side's league games, before returning to play in the quarter and semi-final matches, and struggled during the IPL with the injury. He said that one of the reasons for the break was injury management. "Part of the break is around injuries," he told the Weekend Herald, "and trying to stay a little bit fresher and I'll reassess the situation at the end of the contract year and go again from there."

Vettori, who made his debut at the age of 18, is the youngest to play Test cricket for New Zealand and is one of eight players to have the double of 300 Test wickets and 3000 runs. With 345 Test wickets, Vettori could close in on Richard Hadlee's 431, and only Stephen Fleming has played more Tests for New Zealand.

New Zealand have a busy summer, playing Tests against Zimbabwe, Australia and South Africa and Vettori hoped to be fully-prepared for the challenge. "I want to play Tests as long as I can," he said. "That's the part of the game I've always loved. I want to be fully fit and prepared and ready to go for those, and sometimes a lack of preparation can hinder your Test performance. So hopefully there's a nice buildup to each of those series and I can hit the ground running."

Vettori has already been succeeded as New Zealand captain by Ross Taylor, who had served as his deputy. "I think Ross will do a great job. I don't know where that conservative tag comes from because I don't think he'll be like that at all. He's got a really good cricket brain," Vettori said.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said he respected Vettori's decision and was delighted to know he has kept his options open for the future. "Dan has been a great servant for a long time now and I believe this decision is not only in his best interest but also for New Zealand," he said. "The fact that he has signalled a desire to play ODIs and Twenty20s in the future and possibly make a return when we co-host the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is great.

"Although he's taking a break from 50-over cricket, I look forward to seeing him turn out in the whites for New Zealand, as I'm sure are many cricket fans around the country."

Vettori will continue to play first-class cricket for the Northern Districts and will also honour his commitment to play for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL. He is likely to feature in the Plunket Shield as well as the HRV Cup Twenty20 competitions for Northern Districts.

"They're [Northern Districts] keen for me to be involved and it's obviously less intense than international stuff," Vettori said. "I'll sit down and decide on that in the next little while because they need some answers too and are looking at overseas players and what to do with that."

Offspinner Nathan McCullum and left-arm spinner Luke Woodcock were part of New Zealand's World Cup squad and Vettori said he would be "happy to fight" for a place in the national side, should another spinner seal a permanent spot in the shorter versions.

"I think that would be a good thing for me, reignite that challenge to fight pretty hard for a place in the team. It's weighed on my mind that I might fall back into the pack and may not be able to fight my way back. But you've got to back yourself if you want to get back."

Hafeez, Akmal issued showcause notices

AB de Villiers relishes captaincy challenge

At the start of his cricket career, captaincy may have "definitely not been" one of AB de Villiers' goals, but now that he has been appointed South Africa's limited-overs captain, de Villiers is "prepared to give up everything to make it work".

He didn't enjoy captaincy during his school days, but South Africa's new limited-overs captain AB de Villiers is prepared "to give up everything to make it work" now� Associated Press.

de Villiers takes over from Graeme Smith, who stepped down as the ODI and Twenty20 captain after the World Cup, and will be Smith's deputy in Tests. In an interview with Reuters, de Villiers confessed that while he didn't enjoy his previous stint as captain when he was at school, those misgivings were now behind him. "I captained my team at school (Afrikaans High School, Pretoria) for a few games but I didn't enjoy it so much," De Villiers said. "I was more focussed on my batting then and playing other sports like rugby."

So what was it that brought about a change of heart? "Captaining South Africa was definitely not one of my goals," de Villiers said, "but I started believing I could do it when Graeme Smith said I had a lot of leadership qualities. He said I should take more responsibility, act more like a leader and talk more in team meetings."

"Henning Gericke [mental conditioning coach] and Corrie van Zyl [South Africa coach until the World Cup] said I could be a captain if I wanted to be one. That's when I started to believe."

de Villiers rated his predecessor Smith as the best captain he has played under and said he was very keen to make his captaincy stint work. "I truly believe I have qualities as a captain and I have to make up my own mind - captain the team my way, not how Hansie [Cronje] or Graeme did it. As a captain, I can't make the same mistake twice. As a player, you can get away with that, but if the captain does that then it affects the whole team."

He also said he respected the "passion, pride and fighting spirit", that Gary Kirsten, South Africa's newly-appointed national coach, showed during his playing days. "He's shown the same qualities as a coach, especially at the World Cup, and I hope I'll be able to help bring those into our side too. I'd like to be the same sort of captain, showing resilience.

"I think we'll complement each other a lot, Gary's just a wonderful coach and a top-class human being."

Having played 66 Tests, 119 ODIs and 33 Twenty20 games for South Africa, de Villiers is not only one of the senior batsmen in the side, he is also keeps wickets in the limited-overs format. He acknowledged that with captaincy, the additional responsibility of keeping wickets will have to be re-examined. "We're definitely going to have to discuss the wicketkeeping, although it doesn't have to happen right now. But it is important to decide if there is too much on my shoulders."

de Villiers said one of" his key objectives as captain would be to address South Africa's history of failing to succeed in multi-team tournaments. "Obviously, we have a history of not performing well in big events. We didn't play badly overall, but went down when the pressure was on us again.

"But there's a fresh look in the side now, which is good, and then it's up to the leaders to work together with trust. But it's an unbelievable responsibility.

Rohit shows willingness to change

"He is a lot more disciplined now," was what Suresh Raina had to say after Rohit Sharma played one of the most mature knocks of his international career to help India win the third one-dayer against West Indies in Antigua. It wasn't the pitch, or the attack that Rohit conquered today - there wasn't much venom in either. Instead it was an on-going inner battle with himself that he finally won. For some time now the battle has been: Rohit v Rohit. He has always given the impression of man who gets bored easily. He will lace a couple of pretty drives, play a big shot, make it all look easy before suddenly and, inexplicably, throw his wicket away. Perhaps the game came too easily for him.

He usually starts his innings a touch edgily but he flowed from the start on Saturday. The intent was still the same; he usually goes for couple of big hits early in his knock and he did so again. In the past, those attempts have threatened to derail him. Even in the second ODI, there was an expansive heave against Devendra Bishoo when he was yet to get off the mark and the ball just about cleared mid-off. On Saturday, he hit a six and a four against Sammy early on but in a more controlled arc, in the V.

The thing that stood out, though, was how well he controlled the chase. We have seen it from him in the IPL where he has earned his name as a finisher. He has rarely displayed that skill at the international stage but he did it in Saturday's game. India coach Duncan Fletcher was lavish in his praise. "It was a tremendous innings," Fletcher said. "I thought it was a great innings. It's not easy to finish like that. It shows the quality of this team that a player like him is not in [the] Test [squad]. He can probably make most Test sides but there is such quality in Test side now- there are such great players in there …"

Rohit seems to be in a hurry to erase the blots in his CV. He is a lot fitter now and by his own admission, a lot hungrier for success. He had played over 60 one-dayers for India with little to show. At the start of the tour he said that he was a changed man, desperate do well and represent India for long. He has done most things right in the series so far.

However it is a touch early to say that Rohit has turned the corner and has finally arrived. He has definitely taken the first step but more proof of that will come on tougher pitches and against tougher attacks. It wasn't all that long ago when he struggled against the bounce and movement that Morne Morkel extracted in the ODI series in South Africa early this year.

And there were a few technical problems that ailed him even before that. He would often drive without quite leaning forward fully and the short cover was almost omnipresent in most opposition plans. He worked on this shortcoming in the nets by using a shorter bat which forced him to lean forward as otherwise you couldn't connect with the ball. However, in the recent times, he started to develop an initial forward-and-across movement with his front leg which helped him to lean into the drive but threw up other complications: if the delivery cut in at pace, he often found himself having to play around the front pad and became an lbw candidate. If the ball, as Morkel repeatedly did, bounced from short of length and held its line outside off, Rohit would get a touch squared-up and stab out at it.

These are technical kinks but the most important criticism leveled against him was about his mindset. Rohit has shown the willingness to change and the third ODI was further proof of that. He has fans in the opposition camp as well. "He is a wonderful player," Ramnaresh Sarwan had said earlier in the series. "He has a way of sneaking up on you. He seems to be flow quietly and suddenly you realise he has reached 40."

Even as the ball that brought up the winning runs sped towards the midwicket boundary, Rohit turned to collect a stump for a souvenir. This knock could well be the one that he will look back later in his career as a little "big moment".

West Indies collapse again, losing five for 20

So what's new? West Indies have collapsed yet again after competing well for 15 overs, losing five wickets for 20 runs in 10 overs after Lendl Simmons and Ramanresh Sarwan provided them a decent platform. It all began - at 65 for 1 in the 15th over - with a mix of ordinary running, good fielding and some misfortune, but didn't seem like stopping anytime soon. Amit Mishra kept tormenting the West Indies batsmen who seem like they won't be able to read his variations if he wrote them down on paper. There was everything, the small legbreak, the big legbreak, the straighter one, and the googly.

Amit Mishra had West Indies in a spin again

Simmons was once again the bright spot for West Indies. Even though they lost Kirk Edwards for nought to a good Munaf Patel outswinger, Simmons targeted the same bowler to get the innings underway, hitting him for a four and a six in the sixth over. Sarwan, too, made a positive start to depart from his ways of late, hitting Mishra's second delivery for a straight six.

Sarwan's running, though, remained slow, and was part of reason why the collapse started. Simmons played just wide of midwicket, called him for a single, but Sarwan was slow to leave the crease. Suresh Raina was quick in returning a one-handed throw by the stumps, and as Sarwan - struggling to make it - slid his bat in, the bat stuck in the pitch. All over. Even if the bat had not stuck, Sarwan would have struggled to make it.

After that it was all Mishra. Marlon Samuels' wicket was a piece of smart bowling. Operating on a middle and leg line, Mishra bowled legbreaks with a crossed seam. The balls turned, but not big, and Samuels defended them. And then came the orthodox big legbreak, dipping at Samuels, luring him out of the crease, and then ripping across, beating the bat. Stumped.

Debutant Danza Hyatt, in because Dwayne Bravo wanted to be rested having played four ODIs and seven IPL games since the start of May, had no clue which way Mishra was turning. Even then the swipe to a googly that bowled him was ugly. The big blow, though, came when another big legbreak kissed Simmons' glove to deny him a sixth half-century in last seven innings. That capped a spell of three wickets for one run for Mishra.

Harbhajan, who had supported Mishra well with five overs for just 11, removed Kieron Pollard in the 25th over, but it wasn't clear if the edge had hit Parthiv Patel's pad as he fumbled the chance before catching it.

Latif's future with Afghanistan still unclear

Uncertainty continues to surround Rashid Latif's position as Afghanistan coach, after an Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) official said his contract would not be renewed. Latif, however, says he has not been contacted yet about any decision.

Rashid Latif's contract as Afghanistan coach expires on July 20

Following the 3-0 series defeat to Pakistan 'A' last month Latif had said he was disappointed with the attitude and effort put in by some of the players, who he believed did not perform to the best of their abilities because they wanted to see former coach Kabir Khan back in the post.

Now, according to a report in the Pakistan newspaperThe News the ACB has decided against renewing Latif's contract. "We believe he has failed to fulfill our expectations and that has prompted us to look at other options," ACB chief executive Naseemullah Danish told the newspaper. "We all respect Latif, but the recent drubbing at the hands of Pakistan A forced us to ponder over our future. We need someone who is mentally tough and does not make lame excuses for defeats.

"I can tell you that we have received the CVs from England and one of them is a big name with a ten years coaching experience in county cricket, and he is likely to be appointed as our batting coach."

Latif told ESPNcricinfo, however, that his contract was currently valid until the end of next month. "I have not been contacted about this. My contract is valid as far as I know till July 20th," he said.

Danish said the board is looking to reappoint Khan as bowling coach. "Kabir will help us in two ways, firstly he is very close to our players and secondly he will help our players understand what the foreign coach will instruct them, since most of our players cannot understand and communicate in English."

The former Pakistan fast bowler Kabir has been coaching United Arab Emirates since October last year after his stint as Afghanistan coach ended abruptly in August 2010; alleged interference from ACB officials forced him to leave the team then.

The situation, however, may not be as clear-cut as it appears. It is believed that there has been contact between ACB chairman Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal and Latif in a bid to clear the fog around what has gone wrong between team members and Latif during the Pakistan 'A' series. That intervention, observers believe, may yet have a role to play in the conclusion of this matter.

Amir fixture was official match, say ECB

The England & Wales Cricket Board has launched an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the appearance of the banned Pakistan fast bowler, Mohammad Amir, in a Surrey League fixture last weekend, after accepting that the fixture, between Addington 1743 CC and St Luke's, falls under its regulatory jurisdiction.

In a press release, the ECB announced that it had requested the Surrey Cricket Board to assist it in its investigation, adding that it had also written separately to Addington, seeking a full written explanation from the club of the events leading up to Amir's appearance in the match.

The ECB's acknowledgement of the incident increases the likelihood that Amir will now face sanctions from the ICC for breaching the terms of the five-year ban that he incurred earlier this year, following his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal which erupted during the Lord's Test between Pakistan and England last August.

Though Amir did not deny reports in the Daily Starthat he had taken part in the fixture, he claimed he had done so on the understanding that it did not contravene the terms of his ban - something that the ECB have now made clear is not the case.

"I was informed by club representatives before the game that it was a friendly match, being played on a privately owned cricket ground," Amir told PakPassion.net. "I asked the club representatives if the match fell under the jurisdiction of the ECB and they informed me that the match did not. I spoke to several club representatives about the issue and they all told me that it was a friendly match and therefore would not contravene my ban from the ICC. I was informed that I was fine to play."

Amir also denied that he had signed any registration documents with the club and insisted that he would never have taken the risk of playing had he known it was an official match.

"I would not be stupid enough to knowingly play in a match that I knew would contravene my ban. Wherever I am going to play cricket, the world will know about it. I would not be stupid enough to play in a match where I knew that I would be taking a risk".

Amir was central to Addington's 81-run victory in the game, against St Luke's CC. He surprisingly opened the innings and scored 60 before returning figures of 4 for 9 in seven overs.

This is not the first time Amir has appeared in a game which has had to be investigated by cricket authorities. Earlier this year in January, when he was under provisional suspension and still awaiting punishment for the Lord's scandal, he turned out for a Rawalpindi club to play a friendly game. That prompted the ICC and PCB to investigate the nature of the game before the former eventually concluded that it was an unofficial game and the club wasn't registered with the Rawalpindi cricket association; Amir was thus found to have not broken the ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct

Mature Kohli makes all the right moves

Virat Kholi, comes to meet the press in a sleeveless shirt. An image of a Japanese samurai warrior with a sword raised screams out in a tattoo on his left shoulder. He looks relaxed; the musk he is wearing is called confidence. He was once brash but he was always ambitious. For a while he was living on the edge, struggling to come to terms with early fame, but his ambition has roped him in.

Virat Kohli was back to his old habit of anchoring chases

It was during an inane tri-series in Bangladesh in January 2010 that he first showed signs of maturity in public. It made you sit up and notice then. These days he wears it lightly. The clarity of thought is striking. He seems to be at peace with himself. It's no coincidence that his cricket too is flourishing.

Today's knock was yet another one from the stable of Kohli. He seemed always under control. The bowling wasn't too testing, the pitch had eased up and he rarely let the opposition into the game. Later, he said the right things. These days he always says the right things with a smile. The confidence hits you. The once brash brat is now almost likeable. Times they are changing.

"I was always determined to do well," Kohli said. "Probably what I was doing off the field was not on at that time. I probably got carried away. Someone or other always tell you that this has been spoken about you at this place. I decided to change. I decided myself. No one can force myself to change. I had to do it. It was time to change.

"I have been given a chance to play for India, which is not a small thing because you have 20 others with same talent are waiting for that kind of a chance. So why waste the opportunity given to me. I got the odd game here and there in 2009. I was a replacement player then. I was very determined to do well at each opportunity."

In the early days, the lack of consistent runs devalued the swagger that he always seemed to have. It made him look arrogant. Brash. Wild. Unlikeable. And even made you forget that he was just a young boy, learning to deal with things that not many at his age are forced to deal with. The bad press accumulated. The bad karma continued. Kohli was living in the headlines for the wrong reasons. A talent was on the verge of self-destruction. Then something happened.

"It's about realising that every opportunity is as important as the next one or previous one," he said. "Not everyone gets an opportunity to play for India. It's a big honour for me. I have realised that massively in the last one and half years. I want to give 100% and make use of every opportunity. Initially, in my ODI career, I have made rash mistakes with my rush of blood at important times. If you keep doing it, you are not going to get the opportunity. I enjoy my batting these days. Especially during a chase I know what I have to do, rotate the strike."

Questions about his attitude have dogged him for a while. Has he got bored now? "I think I have answered that too much," he said with a smile. "But I have enjoyed answering that question every time. I feel good with myself for having changed what people did not like initially and then transform into that performances. I feel good about it but it's not something I want to be too proud of and get relaxed. I don't want to get complacent. The whole point in changing from that kind of attitude to this current attitude to perform consistently. I want to keep going."

It's not going to be easy. It will take a constant vigil over oneself. The danger of relapse is going to be there. But Kohli continues to not only say but also do the right things. Sample this answer to a question about whether he strives to ape a Tendulkar or a Sehwag. In his own mind, he has translated that question to mean whether he is striving to be as famous as them.

"It was never in my mind that I had to be at the level of them in fame or whatever. Those guys have been there, done that. It has taken a lot of time to reach where they are. There is no point in comparing oneself to them. Everyone has their own style of batting. I have realised that in the last one and half years. I admire them but there is no use batting like them. Take the first match of the World Cup. If I had tried to bat like Virubhai, I would have perhaps ended up scoring 40. They have a special ability that has made them legends of the game. There is no point in doing what is not my strength."

The answers were perfect. The cynics will say they were too perfect. His fans will say they come from a man who is in a hurry to mature. He won't say it publicly but one gets the impression that he thinks he can become India's captain one day. Kohli has always struck you more ambitious than a Rohit or even Raina for that matter. A scribe put it to him that he has a wonderful ability to talk and express, and asked if he works on that skill.

"I don't think I work on that ability (to express myself)," Kohli said. "It's about being honest."

Does he think it's a leadership quality?

"I can't say anything about it being (leadership quality). I am honest in whatever question is thrown at me at every press conference. I don't really work on it."

Virat got up and left the room. Ambition floated in the air.

IOC head keen to make cricket Olympic sport

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, is keen to see cricket becoming an Olympic sport in the future. Speaking to the London Evening Standard, Rogge also indicated that if cricket were to feature in the Olympic games, it would have to be through its shorter versions.

Jacques Rogge: "People don't bet any more on the result but on the facts of a match, like bowling no-balls ... events that are not suspicious when you see them in isolation."

"The ICC will decide at the end of June whether they will make an application [for making cricket an Olympic sport]," Rogge said. "We would welcome an application. It's an important, popular sport and very powerful on television. It's a sport with a great tradition where mostly you have a respect of the ethics. In the Olympics, it will not be Test cricket, of course."

A formal application to take part in the Olympics does not appear to be on the ICC's horizon at present. "There are currently no plans to submit an application to add cricket to event programme. The matter is not on the agenda for the Board meeting in June," an ICC spokesman told ESPNcricinfo.

Rogge, the 69 year-old former Belgium rugby union player and surgeon, revealed that he was a huge fan of cricket and that he follows the sport whenever he can. "When I'm at my office, whether it be at home or here in Lausanne, I put the telly on and I have a Test match or a one-day match on," Rogge said. "I continue to work and once in a while I hear a big roar and I know something has happened, an lbw or a run out, and I watch the replay."

Rogge developed an interest in the game when he was introduced to French cricket by relatives in Cornwall, whom he visited in his formative years. "Let's be very clear, I can't play cricket, but I know the rules," he said. "I love the game. I have watched Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne, Ian Botham. It's tactically very interesting, a game of patience, a game of great skills and the only sport where, after five days, you can have a draw!"

Rogge will step down after the 2012 games in London, which will become the first city to host the Olympics three times. Rogge expects it to be a historic event, and his biggest concern is the menace of illegal bookmakers. Like cricket, football and other popular sports have come under the match-fixing spectre, and Rogge believes it can have a more damaging impact on sport than doping scandals.

"We had monitoring in Vancouver and in Beijing and there was no sign of illegal betting in either those Games," Rogge said. "But it would be naive to say this could not happen at the London Olympics. Of course, I am worried it could happen. We have to be ready.

"People don't bet any more on the result but on the facts of a match - like bowling no-balls, who is going to concede the first corner in a football match, or who is going to make the second double fault in tennis; events that are not suspicious when you see them in isolation.

"We are looking at a system whereby governments will legislate in controlling and defending sport. We also want governments to exchange information with us and Interpol. The illegal betting networks are very international. You can bet from the far end of one continent on a match played at the far end of another continent.

"We've been told by Interpol that the criminal gangs involved with illegal gambling are the same gangs who deal with drugs and prostitution. So it's not a couple of guys wanting to make a few quick bucks out of fixing a match."

IOC head keen to make cricket Olympic sport

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, is keen to see cricket becoming an Olympic sport in the future. Speaking to the London Evening Standard, Rogge also indicated that if cricket were to feature in the Olympic games, it would have to be through its shorter versions.

Jacques Rogge: "People don't bet any more on the result but on the facts of a match, like bowling no-balls ... events that are not suspicious when you see them in isolation."

"The ICC will decide at the end of June whether they will make an application [for making cricket an Olympic sport]," Rogge said. "We would welcome an application. It's an important, popular sport and very powerful on television. It's a sport with a great tradition where mostly you have a respect of the ethics. In the Olympics, it will not be Test cricket, of course."

A formal application to take part in the Olympics does not appear to be on the ICC's horizon at present. "There are currently no plans to submit an application to add cricket to event programme. The matter is not on the agenda for the Board meeting in June," an ICC spokesman told ESPNcricinfo.

Rogge, the 69 year-old former Belgium rugby union player and surgeon, revealed that he was a huge fan of cricket and that he follows the sport whenever he can. "When I'm at my office, whether it be at home or here in Lausanne, I put the telly on and I have a Test match or a one-day match on," Rogge said. "I continue to work and once in a while I hear a big roar and I know something has happened, an lbw or a run out, and I watch the replay."

Rogge developed an interest in the game when he was introduced to French cricket by relatives in Cornwall, whom he visited in his formative years. "Let's be very clear, I can't play cricket, but I know the rules," he said. "I love the game. I have watched Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne, Ian Botham. It's tactically very interesting, a game of patience, a game of great skills and the only sport where, after five days, you can have a draw!"

Rogge will step down after the 2012 games in London, which will become the first city to host the Olympics three times. Rogge expects it to be a historic event, and his biggest concern is the menace of illegal bookmakers. Like cricket, football and other popular sports have come under the match-fixing spectre, and Rogge believes it can have a more damaging impact on sport than doping scandals.

"We had monitoring in Vancouver and in Beijing and there was no sign of illegal betting in either those Games," Rogge said. "But it would be naive to say this could not happen at the London Olympics. Of course, I am worried it could happen. We have to be ready.

"People don't bet any more on the result but on the facts of a match - like bowling no-balls, who is going to concede the first corner in a football match, or who is going to make the second double fault in tennis; events that are not suspicious when you see them in isolation.

"We are looking at a system whereby governments will legislate in controlling and defending sport. We also want governments to exchange information with us and Interpol. The illegal betting networks are very international. You can bet from the far end of one continent on a match played at the far end of another continent.

"We've been told by Interpol that the criminal gangs involved with illegal gambling are the same gangs who deal with drugs and prostitution. So it's not a couple of guys wanting to make a few quick bucks out of fixing a match."