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Amidst the euphoric scenes which greeted the Scottish Saltires’ heart-stopping victory over Lancashire at Old Trafford on Monday, it was easy to forget that, once again, as on so many occasions during the last five years, the bowlers had stepped up to the mark, where the batsmen had previously failed. In three Friends Provident Trophy outings this, ahem, spring, the Saltires have managed totals of 73, 169 and 155; one doesn’t exactly have to be Stephen Hawking to deduce that these kind of scores are never going to win you more than perhaps one match in every ten, which begs the question of why there exists such a glaring discrepancy between the practitioners of the two disciplines.The statistics simply serve to reinforce the dearth of truly first-class batsmen in these parts. Fraser Watts has amassed more than 125 appearances for Scotland, and averages less than 23. Gavin Hamilton, an allrounder who no longer bowls, accumulates less than 30 an innings as well. Ditto the rest of the Saltires line-up with not one single person higher than 28 and 29, whilst, in England, only one Scottish player – Durham’s Kyle Coetzer – is currently performing regularly on the 1st XI stage. By contrast, Ireland are exporting an increasingly rich seam of ability to the counties: Eoin Morgan and Ed Joyce are at Middlesex, Niall O’Brien at Northants and Boyd Rankin at Derbyshire, and the Irish boast an exceptional future star in 17-year-old Paul Stirling, who struck a massively assured 70 in the FPT last weekend. There has to be a reason why the Saltires have deep bowling resources, yet struggle to post competitive targets with the bat. What is it?Craig Wright, the former Scotland captain, has no doubt that the pitches in his homeland offer a compelling answer. “It is far easier for us to produce bowlers than batsmen up here, purely due to the conditions which young players grow up experiencing. Indeed, it will always be difficult for us to produce confident, technically assured batsmen when they grow up playing on soft, seaming wickets, on which they cannot trust the bounce of the ball,” said Wright. “In addition, our wickets up here do not bounce, so our batsmen never learn to play off the back foot. Therefore, when our lads have to go and bat against professional bowlers who are operating at 85-90mph, on surfaces which bounce waist high and above, we tend to be found out.”This is why we need to ensure that our youngsters train in facilities which have even bounce, an also that they play enough cricket at a young enough age against good opposition. That’s why we have arranged the tours [to South Africa] and put in place two-day games for the under-17s against English opposition.”On the other hand, it is much easier for us to produce bowlers because the conditions have much less influence on how a bowler goes about his business. Whereas, when one of our batsmen faces a Scottish club bowling attack on a poor wicket, he is virtually playing a different sport from the one facing Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson & co in Manchester.”Wright makes several valid points, but that still doesn’t properly explain how somebody such as Watts can look so stylish for short spells and then depart in anti-climax so frequently. One might also wonder why the Scots should seem to rise to the occasion on their away journeys without being able to replicate the same standards at the Grange.”It’s a mystery,” says Wright. “Conventional wisdom would say we should do better in home conditions where the ball seams around more, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I can’t speak for the other guys, but I’m not sure there is anything in the theory that they are inspired more by the surroundings down south, I don’t buy that. But maybe some of them feel under less pressure than when in front of an expectant home crowd.”Wright and his confreres will strive to maintain the momentum established by the defeat of Lancashire. But until the foundations are laid more adequately by their top order, the majority of supporters will forever be fearful a collapse is just around the corner.

Elections to the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), due on September 8, could see changes at the top with Vijay Mallya, the Bangalore-based industrialist, offering his support to a campaign against the ruling faction. The campaign, headed by Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, seeks to remove the bloc led by Brijesh Patel.Mallya, whose businesses include Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries, takes the first step towards his direct involvement with cricket by being made president of the Select Cricket Club, of which AV Jayaprakash, the former international umpire, is secretary. Mallya has used his financial clout in other sports, including horse racing and football.At the moment it is unclear if Mallya can hold office but, should he wish to make an entry into cricket, his home state of Karnataka – and the Select club – would be an obvious starting ground.Mallya’s declaration of support for Wadiyar has been welcomed by former cricketers Erapalli Prasanna and Syed Kirmani, who have been pushing for a change of guard saying the present administration lacked transparency. Wadiyar, in a statement where he also referred to having received Mallya’s backing, promised to better the administration of the association in all aspects and spoke about delinking team selection from private cricket academies or coaching camps.Patel, KSCA secretary and a former Indian Test batsman, has been part of the board’s ruling bloc for nine years. He refused to comment on Mallya’s stand.

The Indian board has welcomed the removal of umpire Steve Bucknor from the third Test against Australia in Perth but has said the bigger issue is the three-Test ban on Harbhajan Singh. The focus now shifts to the meeting of the board’s working committee in New Delhi on Tuesday evening – that, the board president, Sharad Pawar, said is where the next course of action would be decided on.”We are watching the Harbhajan issue more closely,” the board secretary, NiranjanShah, told PTI. “It is more important that the umpiring issue because he has beenaccused of racism and we will never tolerate any such thing. We have already made anappeal against his ban and we are waiting for the process to start.”His words were echoed by the board’s chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty.”For us, Harbhajan’s case is more important at this point of time,” he said. “Themanner in which the hearing was conducted, that itself has been challenged.”While speculation is rife over the future of the tour to Australia the thinking inthe board appears to be focussed on the “battle of nerves”, trying to get theirdemands without taking any extreme step like boycotting the tour.The emergency meeting of the board on Monday involved officials speaking to AnilKumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Chetan Chauhan, the team manager. Allnarrated first-hand accounts, including Ganguly and Tendulkar talking about whatwent on when they were in the middle.The board it is learnt, felt that priority should be given to sorting out theumpiring matters instead of quitting cricket. A pull-out, it seems, is being seen asa last resort, especially given the implications of such an action. Apart from heavyfinancial losses, which the board can probably absorb, there is also a matter ofAustralia and India set to play quite a number of bilateral series in the nearfuture.There was a bit of debate about the team staying on in Sydney, considering that theywere booked only till January 7, but the board decided to pay for the team’s stay incase Cricket Australia had a problem. It is still unclear if CA is bearing the costsfor the stay but the team has decided to stay put till receiving furtherinstructions from the BCCI.

New Zealand’s captain, Daniel Vettori, was predictably despondent as he reflected on his side’s 126-run defeat against England at Wellington, a result that levelled the series and gave England the momentum going into next week’s decider in Napier. The match was played on the liveliest pitch that the teams are likely to encounter on this trip, and Vettori believed that New Zealand’s failure to capitalise on their first-day breakthroughs was the decisive moment of the match.On the first afternoon England’s middle-order, visibly lacking in confidence after their horrific display at Hamilton, had been on the ropes at 136 for 5 after being asked to bat first. But the carefree Tim Ambrose, playing in only his second Test, counterattacked gamely in a superb 149-ball 102. England never looked back after that, and though their catching went awry in the second innings, a brace of five-wicket hauls from James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom cemented their dominance of the game.”Obviously it’s a very disappointed dressing-room,” said Vettori. “If we reflect back on the Test match it was a pretty even one expect for the third session on the first day. We let Tim Ambrose get away through some poor bowling and by feeding his strengths, and if you analyse the rest of it, it was a pretty even contest. But because of that [first day] we left ourselves too much to do on the last day.”It wasn’t immediately apparent just how significant Ambrose’s efforts would be to the end result. Vettori had no qualms about bowling first at the Basin, a pitch that traditionally plays at its best on the second and third days, but admitted that New Zealand soon came to rue their missed opportunity of that first day.”We didn’t reflect on it at the time but as the days went on I suppose we started to realise how important that lost session was for us,” he said. “We knew the wicket was pretty sporty, but for us to have made inroads and for them to post the score they did, we knew we had to bat very well and we didn’t. But it just all comes back to that session. We fed [Ambrose’s] strengths and he capitalised. He played very well too, and probably took the game away from us.”After the total team effort that New Zealand put together at Hamilton, the Wellington Test was something of a reality check for Vettori and his men. Although the selectors made no changes to the batsmen for Napier, definite shortcomings among their top-order were exposed on a pitch that aided England’s younger, faster, seam attack. Their senior seamer, Chris Martin, was also visibly off the pace after his exertions in the first Test, while Kyle Mills finished the match with pain behind his left knee, a development that earned a precautionary call-up for the 19-year-old paceman, Tim Southee.”I thought Jacob [Oram] and Kyle Mills were outstanding in the way they bowled on this wicket,” said Vettori. “Chris may be a bit disappointed but we will give the seamers a bit of a rest before the final Test. They’ve had a huge workload over the last two Tests and hopefully they can get a rest and come into the third Test on a wicket that we know will be extremely flat, and a tough ask for our bowlers.”Even so, the Napier pitch is likely to suit New Zealand’s adhesive style of play. Their success in Hamilton stemmed from the patience they were willing to show on a flat, lifeless deck. England contributed to their downfall by scoring at barely two runs an over, but they received an exclusive diet of wicket-to-wicket deliveries and were offered none of the width that Ambrose in particular was able to exploit in this Test.”The Napier pitch will be very flat, we know what to expect,” said Vettori. “It’ll be a good deck and tough work for the bowlers but it was like that in Hamilton and we expect the same thing from them in Napier. It always does [have more pace than Hamilton] but if you get a couple of days of sun then it will tend to slow down a little bit. It’s generally quite a good cricket wicket, because if you’re prepared to put something in then you’ll get something back.”

That wasn’t quite the case at Wellington, and in the build-up to the Test, Vettori was openly critical of the surface that Brett Sipthorpe, the curator, had prepared for this Test. But he refused to use it as an excuse in the aftermath of defeat. “If you want to be a good side then you have to adapt to all conditions and have to win in all types of conditions,” he said. “You can’t turn up in Sri Lanka and ask for the type of deck you want, so you have to be adaptable.”Vettori added that he doubted whether England would have wanted such a sporting track either, although the way in which their bowlers fared would suggest otherwise. England were devoid of both their most experienced men, Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison, but Anderson thrived in the first innings, Sidebottom starred in the second, and Stuart Broad played a vital enforcing role in both innings, on a pitch far removed from the lifeless horrors of his Colombo debut.”You have to look at the way Anderson bowled,” said Vettori. “For us to be bowled out for 198 in the first innings was purely down to him. He hit the right lengths early on and did a really good job. I suggest Hoggard would have done a similar job but to have fresh legs to do some very good work can only lift a team. New players coming in bring in enthusiasm and it lifts a team.” They were sentiments that suggested that Southee could yet feature in the final match.The spotlight, however, will be on New Zealand’s batsmen when the third Test gets underway. Not only will it be Stephen Fleming’s swansong after a record-breaking 14-year international career, it will also be a chance for Mathew Sinclair and Matthew Bell to repay the selectors’ faith after sketchy starts to the series. Bell received a further boost after the game when he was awarded a Cricket New Zealand contract, but with a series top-score of 29, he’ll need to keep up his interest payments.”The top five didn’t get the runs we required but thought Mathew [Sinclair] batted well in the second innings,” said Vettori. “I enjoyed how positive he was in trying to get on with the job. That was exciting to see. In saying that, you still need to keep getting the runs to keep getting selected. The selectors have to ask some questions but hopefully those guys have a lot more runs in them, and more chances to score those runs.”

Saurashtra and Maharashtra played out a draw on Friday in a CoochBehar Trophy contest in the West Zone league, with the latter gainingfive points by virtue of their first innings lead.At Rajkot’s Municipal Stadium, Maharashtra won the toss and werebowled out for 273 late on the opening day. The top ten batters allreached double figures, AS Bhosale top scoring with 58. Saurashtra’sskipper Uday Karavadra, a National Cricket Academy graduate, picked up5/73 with his off spinners.Saurashtra fell away to 200 all out, notwithstanding opener and wicketkeeper AK Dawda’s 75. Maharashta’s own offie, Kashinath Khadkikarbested Karavadra’s figures with a haul of 6/69. The visitors showedno inclination to force an outright result, batting out the third dayto finish on 289/7.

Division One

Phil Jaques and Stephen Moore combined for an opening stand of 234, and Vikram Solanki also hit a hundred, as Surrey’s woes continued on a tough first day against Worcestershire at New Road. Jaques was in typically belligerent form, bringing up his ton off 126 balls, and his innings eventually included 17 fours and two sixes when he was caught behind off Matthew Nicholson. But Surrey’s bowlers continued to toil with Moore crossing to a hundred for the first time this season before being stumped off Ian Salisbury. Although Salisbury provided the breakthrough it was an unproductive day for the spinners with he and Chris Schofield going for 165 off 44 overs. With the openers having done their job, Solanki reached three figures shortly before the close and Surrey had another day to forget.Mark Chilton struck his first century of the season as Lancashire fought back from a poor start during a closely contested encounter with Durham at Chester-le-Street. Chilton’s 115 was vital for Lancashire after they’d slipped to 63 for 3 – with Brad Hodge out for 1 – following their decision to bat first. The recovery began slowly, but Chilton’s fourth-wicket stand of 140 alongside Stuart Law built during the afternoon until, with Law – dropped on 5 by Will Smith – appearing set for another large score, he fell to Ottis Gibson for 60. Chilton, though, went to his hundred from 185 balls before being stumped off the last ball before tea. Luke Sutton and Glen Chapple pushed their side closer to 300 during the evening session, while former New Zealand offspinner Paul Wiseman collected his second wicket. Bad light ended player 14 overs early.Centuries from Joe Sayers and Anthony McGrath made it a tough day for Kent as Yorkshire built a strong first-innings position at Tunbridge Wells. The pair added 204 for the second wicket with Sayers hitting his third Championship ton of a fruitful campaign and McGrath his first to follow his fine one-day form. McGrath was marginally faster to three figures, 220 balls to Sayers’ 233, but was trapped by Andrew Hall three balls after reaching the landmark. Sayers remained unbeaten through to the close and, despite a failure for Younis Khan, Yorkshire are ideally placed to push onto a monstrous total.Sussex failed to make the most of a solid start against Hampshire at Arundel although Mushtaq Ahmed’s late fifty redressed the balance somewhat. Chris Nash and Richard Montgomerie laid a foundation of 105, but Shane Warne and Chris Tremlett shared the top four wickets as Sussex slipped to 130 for 4. Chris Adams (52) and Andrew Hodd (28) added 77 then another four wickets fell for 26 after Shaun Udal removed Adams. However, Mushtaq brought out the long handle and swung a 43-ball 54, adding 69 with Luke Wright, to edge Sussex over 300. He fell to the final ball of the day, bowled by Stuart Clark for his first scalp, while the bowling honours went to Warne and Tremlett.

Division Two

2nd daySeventeen-year-old James Harris has already produced the goods with the ball this season, now he as shown his ability with the bat becoming the youngest Glamorgan player to score a Championship half-century. His unbeaten 87, alongside a stand of 185 with Robert Croft, who made 115, meant Glamorgan reached the heights of 429 after being 193 for 8 on the first day against Nottinghamshire at Swansea. Croft’s hundred, his seventh in 341 first-class matches, took 158 balls but it wouldn’t have been possible without Harris’s support. He faced 224 balls and was not all defense, either, striking 11 boundaries before Dean Cosker fell for 30 to leave him 13 short of a memorable century. Nottinghamshire were strongly placed in reply at 143 for 1, but Cosker nipped out Jason Gallian (78) and, crucially, Stephen Fleming for eight via a brilliant catch at slip. However, the final say went to Harris as he trapped Mark Wagh lbw and removed Chris Read with the last ball of the day.Derbyshire continued to control their clash against Gloucestershire at Derby after declaring on 500 for 9 and taking five wickets. Ant Botha built on Steve Stubbings’ opening-day century, adding 93 with Greg Smith and 85 with James Pipe, but was run out two short of his ton. When Simon Katich eventually ended the innings, after 157 overs, his bowlers set about making full use of the total under their belts. From 83 for 1 Gloucestershire slumped to 120 for 5 as Tom Lungley took three wickets, including Chris Taylor for a third-ball duck.1st dayRonnie Irani’s runs will be sorely missed by Essex, but in Ravi Bopara they have a run-machine of the present and future, or at least until England take him away. He hit his second consecutive Championship ton to give Essex the honours against Northamptonshire at Chelmsford on the day Irani announced his retirement. Bopara was dropped twice, on 0 and 90, before reaching his hundred, with a powerful cut, off 182 balls. His knock included a six over long on and he ended the day four short of his career-best. He added 116 for the second wicket with Varun Chopra, a stand broken by a sharp catch from Stephen Peters, a former Essex player, at slip off Jason Brown. Grant Flower then provided solid support, in an unbroken third-wicket stand of 182, as the home side accumulated steadily.Somerset overwhelmed Leicestershire on the opening day at Taunton, racing into a lead of 189 after skittling the visitors for 168. Steffan Jones grabbed 6 for 61, ripping through Leicestershire’s middle order. The paltry effort was put into stark perspective when Marcus Trescothick and Neil Edwards sped past the total shortly after tea and both went onto post centuries. Edwards’ came first, off 114 balls, followed by Trescothick’s second of the season and he had time to pass 150 before the close. Somerset screamed along at nearly six-an-over and Stuart Broad, who conceded 84 off 12 overs, will be wondering if he timed his return from injury correctly.

Scorecard

Saurashtra’s new-ball bowlers Sandeep Jobanputra and Sandip Maniar were the stars with the ball as Uttar Pradesh were bundled for 188, but by stumps, one of them was batting and the other – the last man – was padded up, as UP had Saurashtra tottering at 116 for 8.On a day when eighteen wickets fell – including four occasions when two fell in the same over – Saurashtra will rue letting UP recover after having them at 69 for 7.Saurashtra’s decision to field seemed to have paid off, with Maniar using the early morning freshness and the life in the wicket intelligently. He struck with the first ball he bowled, as Rohit Prakash opened the face and edged to wicketkeeper Sagar Jogiyani. A loose drive from Suresh Raina resulted in another edge to Jogiyani, before Amir Khan, playing in the absence of Tanmay Srivastava, was done in by one that pitched on the stumps and moved away. The first three dismissals had all come in similar fashion – caught Jogiyani bowled Maniar – as UP were reeling at 15 for 3.Mohammad Kaif and Ravikant Shukla then put together a sensible partnership, lifting the total to 69 in quick time. Kaif got a reprieve on 20 when he drove uppishly to wide mid-on; Rakesh Dhurv was late in moving and only got his fingertips to the ball. Shukla scored 29 off 28 balls with six cleanly struck boundaries, before he was out shouldering arms to Jobanputra off the first over after drinks.Piyush Chawla, promoted to No. 6, was caught on the crease to his first ball and Rahat Elahi didn’t stay long, edging a widish delivery off Maniar to Jogiyani. Praveen Kumar hit two fours before missing one from Kanaiya Vaghela as UP were reduced to 110 for 7 five minutes before lunch.The Moti Bagh wicket has a reputation for assisting the bowlers in the first and third sessions, and the first day’s play followed the script, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, playing his third first-class match, hung around with Kaif after lunch. He stuck to his task of playing second fiddle to Kaif: his first run came off the 17th ball he faced, the second off 29th, and the third from the 38th. The two put together 28 runs as Saurashtra let the game drift, allowing Kaif to take singles even off the fifth or sixth ball of the over.Kaif top scored with 80, and the lack of a third seamer hurt Saurashtra as Jobanputra and Maniar operated for the majority of the innings. Kaif, the UP captain, finally fell to a good diving catch by Jaydev Shah, his Saurashtra counterpart. They were lucky to nail him immediately after he had been reprieved: off the previous ball, Firoze Bhambhania had spilled a chance at mid-off off Maniar. The eighth-wicket partnership cost Saurashtra 49 crucial runs, with Bhuvneshwar contributing 14. UP were finally dismissed for 188, with Bhuvneshwar unbeaten on 33. Maniar took 6 for 88 and Jobanputra 3 for 60.Saurashtra were on top after bowling out UP for a low score, but it was now their turn to struggle with the bat. Praveen and Sudeep Tyagi took three wickets each while Bhuvneshwar took two. Praveen struck first in the third over, when Kanaiya Vaghela edged one which moved away.Shitanshu Kotak, who had batted for 796 minutes without getting out against Mumbai in the previous match, spent only two minutes and two balls in the middle this time. He was superbly set up by Praveen: the first ball moved away, and Kotak let it pass, but the next one straightened and trapped him plumb in front. Sudeep Tyagi then scalped the big wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara, who played on to one that was quicker and rose more than expected. Saurashtra were reeling at 7 for 3.Shah, who in a surprise move opened the innings and was the best batsman of the day, then began to rebuild the innings. He played with soft hands, and didn’t miss out on any scoring opportunity.With Jogiyani, Shah added 31 for the fourth wicket before Praveen struck again as Jogiyani missed an offcutter. Shah dominated another brief partnership but Bhuvneshwar took two in two to pull Saurashtra down again. Soon after Shah reached his half-century, Mohammad Kaif brought Tyagi back into the attack and he delivered, removing Shah and Kamlesh Makvana off successive balls. Jobanputra survived the hat-trick and hit a few lusty blows in an unbroken 29-run ninth-wicket stand with Dhurv, who was not out on 21 at the close.

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, says his team will not sit back on its 1-0 lead and will aim for a 2-0 result when the Test series concludes in Port of Spain from Thursday. “It is important that we go for a win in the second Test,” Jayawardene told . “This is the way we play cricket. We want to win every match in which we play. This is the attitude with which we play whether we are playing at home or away.”Sri Lanka won their first Test in the West Indies with a 121-run success in Guyana and Jayawardene said the desire to succeed had helped his team post overseas triumphs in recent years “This is the attitude that has helped us in the last few years, and this is why we have been winning Test matches away from home, and we will not move away from this attitude,” he said.”We want to get accustomed to the conditions in Trinidad. We’ll make sure we do all the hard work and challenge West Indies, and see if we can win this Test series 2-0.”A victory would make Sri Lanka the first visiting side to complete a cleansweep in the West Indies. Australia came close five years ago when they won the first three Tests, but a record-breaking chase in the final match in Antigua ended their hopes of a whitewash.Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, said his side needed to be optimistic and tougher than in Guyana. “I believe that if we can remain positive and focus, we can win the Test,” Gayle said. “It’s a must-win situation for us to square the series. We’ll try and see what Sri Lanka has to offer a second time around both in the batting and bowling, so it is just for us to return to the drawing board, and come up with a plan, and come prepared to play a tough Test.”Jayawardene said there would be no let-up in intensity from his side. “We are going to pay attention to all areas of our game, and see where we can tighten-up,” he said. “This is how we work. The first Test is finished, and the next venue is totally different, and conditions will be totally different.”The visitors will be boosted by the familiarity of the Queen’s Park Oval, which reminds them of Muttiah Muralitharan’s home ground. “It is definitely Kandy,” Jayawardene said. “We always enjoy playing in Kandy because the bowlers have a little bit of help, but once the batsmen put up the initial hard work it’s going to be a good batting surface.”Sri Lanka are expected to make one change with Prasanna Jayawardene likely to be forced out with a hamstring injury. “He is struggling, he’s probably 80% fit but he’s a wicketkeeper, he needs to do a lot of work in a Test match, so we have to make a decision,” Mahela Jayawardene said.”We’ve got an adequate replacement. Kumar is a wicketkeeper who can do the job for us, so I don’t think we need to take too many risks in that department. We’ve got the extra batsman, Chamara Silva, who has been scoring runs, it’s a bit unfortunate to leave him out of the first Test team. He will get his opportunity to play and I’m sure he is looking forward to that.”

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has delayed its probe into allrounder Marlon Samuels’ alleged bookie connection, which was raised by the police on West Indies’ tour of India in February 2007. Julian Hunte, the WICB president, has said that they cannot investigate the matter until they know the nature of the charge against Samuels.The ICC had asked the WICB to investigate Samuels after receiving a report from its anti-corruption and security unit. The ICC said the report contained allegations that Samuels indulged in “inappropriate activity” and behaved in a manner that was “prejudicial to the interests of the game of cricket”, and asked the WICB to submit the results of the investigation by January 31, 2008.”What the WICB has done is to write to the ICC, asking them for a copy of the report, so that we will know what Samuels has been charged with,” Hunte told the . “The WICB will await receipt of the report to enable it to determine how it proceeds to carry out an investigation, if any, in terms of the Samuels affair.”Hunte refused to comment on whether the investigation would hinder Samuels’ chances of selection for the tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa later this year.”I honestly do not know … and this is the honest, possible truth. A lot depends on the selectors, a lot depends on when the investigation is started, and they are so many imponderables that it would be wrong for me to speculate,” Hunte said. “What I can promise, whatever we put in place will be fair and transparent, and Samuels should have no fear.”On February 7, the Nagpur police had charged Samuels with sending team information to Mukesh Kochar, an alleged bookie, on the eve of the first one-dayer in Nagpur on January 21. At the time, Samuels defended himself and said he had known the man for many years and he was a family friend. The ICC allowed Samuels to take part in the World Cup and beyond, pending a final assessment.