Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain, says Shane Warne is an insecure player. In his keenly-awaited autobiography he also hits out at Ian Chappell and the national selectors.Waugh, who retired as Australian captain in January 2004 year after 168 Test matches and 10,927 runs, confirmed rumours that during the 1999 World Cup Warne had problems with his captaincy. “Shane needs constant support, encouragement and reassurance that he is the man. He loves to be loved.”Waugh has little time for Ian Chappell, another former Australian captain, who once described him as a selfish cricketer, but says he was baffled as to why Chappell didn’t like him. “It might have been that I praised the work of Bob Simpson, the former Australian coach, who was his sworn enemy, or that I didn’t spend hours in the bar drinking and regurgitating old cricket stories.”Waugh, 40, also talks about his brother Mark’s involvement in supplying pitch and weather information to an Indian bookmaker, for which he was fined by the Australian board in 1998. Waugh said he was assured by his twin brother that he had indulged in nothing more serious than supplying match information. He said seeing Mark walk out to bat at the Adelaide Oval to a chorus of boos, after his penalty had made the headlines, was “one of the toughest couple of seconds of my cricket life”.Test cricket’s longest-serving player says his sacking as one-day captain in 2002 had come three years after Trevor Hohns, chairman of selectors, had first suggested he was close to being dropped. This came after Australia’s rough start to the 1999 World Cup, which they eventually won. Waugh’s place in the side was saved by his match-winning century in the Super Six match against South Africa at Leeds. “I was a little shocked at how cut-throat the selectors’ attitude was.”Waugh writes that when the axe finally fell, he was informed of it by Hohns in his Melbourne hotel room on the day the Allan Border Medal was being given away in February 2002. “I didn’t have a problem with the decision. However, I did have an issue with the lack of man-management skills involved. Surely, after so many years playing and being the captain of a side that had been ranked No.7 when I took over and was now No.1, at least one phone call or conversation letting me know how the selectors saw the bigger picture would have been nice. The clinical efficiency of my dismissal stung me most because as a player I had always given everything.”Waugh also lifts the lid on his most famous sledging incident – his toe-to-toe confrontation with West Indian paceman Curtly Ambrose in 1995. The episode in Trinidad has gone down as the turning point in a series that began Australia’s domination of Test cricket in recent times. The diluted version of what Waugh said to Ambrose would have it that he incensed him by saying: “Just you bowl.” The truth is revealed in Waugh’s autobiography. Ambrose repeatedly stared down Waugh during a searing spell, and Waugh, who sized up the towering quick, said: “What the f— are you looking at?”Waugh also dwells on the difficulty of dropping Michael Slater following his personal troubles during the 2001 Ashes tour of England. “It’s funny with Michael … in his first book I was his mentor and in the second I had become his tormentor. You can read into that what you like. I put more time and effort into Michael than anyone else at the time, except perhaps his wife. I tried to help him as much as I could.”John Howard, the Australian prime minister, will launch Waugh’s book on October 23 at Sydney with publishers Penguin reportedly paying 1.3 million US dollars in the biggest advance paid for an Australian book.

If selected, Chris Cairns, the New Zealand allrounder, will pose a potent threat against Australia in the upcoming Chappell-Hadlee one-day series, believes Garry MacDonald, the former Canterbury coach.In a sort of rejoinder to John Bracewell’s comments on dropping Cairns from the side that lost 0-4 in the one-day series against South Africa, MacDonald has stated that Cairns is “really starting to get his game together” with both bat and ball. MacDonald is currently coach of Cairns’ Lancaster Park-Woolston club, and has seen Cairns’ productivity first-hand over the past few months.Cairns, told to go back to club and first class domestic cricket and improve his fitness following an indifferent season, took his club to a six-wicket victory against Burnside-West-University on November 12, hitting an unbeaten 79 from 71 balls, and followed that up the following day by dismissing the Marist top order. “He’s gone up another groove today with his bowling,” MacDonald said to stuff.co.nz, after Cairns captured three wickets for 15 runs against Marist. “That’s the quickest he has bowled this season. I was talking to the Marist boys and they said it was whistling through.”Playing against Australia will be an obvious challenge over club opposition, but MacDonald believes that what he saw of Cairns this past weekend was enough to justify his return to a beleaguered New Zealand side. “I don’t think he is putting any more effort into it. It’s just that his rhythm is coming back and his fitness is up. Like a powerful car, he has gone up a couple of gears.”In a similar emphasis on Cairns’ form, Dave Nosworthy, the current Canterbury coach, maintains that there could be no question over his contribution at the batting crease following a 101-ball 118 against Central Districts in a warm-up match last week. “Chris has been excellent,” said Nosworthy, who has been monitoring Cairns as he plots his international rehabilitation. “He’s played a full part in everything we’ve done and has shown the way, really,”

Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain, and Daniel Vettori, his New Zealand counterpart, believe the Chappell-Hadlee Series has the potential to become cricket’s equivalent of rugby’s Bledisloe Cup. “It’d be great if we can get it to that level,” Vettori said in the .”If you keep coming up with it every year, we’ll get a better feel for playing Australia and knowing what we need to do as opposed to meeting them every two to three years. And therein lies more chance to beat them.”Ponting was also in support of the idea, although he said the long-term success would depend on scheduling. “The cricket has been fantastic, and as long as we can get the timing right for everyone involved, this concept has got a great future,” he said. “The overall concept is great. Any time you get Australia and New Zealand playing any sport, it’s a great contest, as we’ve seen both times we’ve played the series. All I’ll say is it wouldn’t be ideal if it was in the middle of an Ashes series.”The series was awkwardly placed between Australia’s Test campaigns against West Indies and South Africa and Australia host England over five Tests next summer. “It’s not ideal for us as far as getting prepared for a Test series but it’s just what you have to do these days,” he said. “It’s professional cricket.”New Zealand, who won the third game at Christchurch after losing the first two, continue their season with a home series against Sri Lanka later this month. Australia begin the three-Test contest against South Africa at Perth on Friday.

Chris Cairns requires just 80 runs to complete the unique double of 5000 one-day runs and 200 one-day wickets, and he has an ample opportunity to do so as the third one-day match against Sri Lanka begins at Wellington on Friday.Only Sanath Jayasuriya and Jacques Kallis have recorded this feat, and Cairns has two opportunities remaining in the series to join them. He picked up his 200th ODI wicket when he dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan in yesterday’s encounter at Jade Stadium in Christchurch, becoming only the second New Zealand cricketer to do so after Chris Harris.”We don’t have many guys that have got 300 hundred odd wickets in our game, so 200 is a pretty good haul,” Cairns said to the yesterday. “Even if you’ve been around the game for a long time you still need the confidence. Jacob (Oram) and I have a really important role when Kyle (Mills) and Shane (Bond) have been bowling particularly well and it’s important that we back them up, but we haven’t quite nailed it yet.”New Zealand have already won the series owing to their sole victory before the Boxing Day tsunami aborted the 2004 tour, but the remaining two matches give Cairns an ideal opportunity to knock the target off before the team’s month-long hiatus ahead of the tour to West Indies starting in late February.”I’ve never been one for setting milestones as such. I’ve been somebody who enjoys them when they come along rather than seeking them,” Cairns said. “It’s often when you sit down and reflect that you feel pretty chuffed with what you’ve down, so it’s nice to reach it. To get a further 80 odd runs to tie it in would be nice, but that’s a by-product of what I do.”

With the 2007 World Cup a little more than a year away, both New Zealand and Sri Lanka have an eye on future targets going into the third one-day international at Wellington on Friday. For John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, the objective is to develop depth ahead of next year’s World Cup while the desperately out-of-form Sri Lankans would look to team up with a sports psychologist for much-needed mental analysis.The Sri Lankans are still struggling for self-belief after coming to New Zealand off a 1-6 hiding in India, and they have turned to Sandy Gordon, the South African sports psychologist, for help. Gordon will spend time with the team when they arrive in Australia next week to prepare for the tri-nations series there.”We’ve let ourselves down with some bad basics,” Marvan Atapattu, the Sri Lankan captain, said. “It’s a matter of winning one game. We are better than this and if we can win the whole thing changes.”From the New Zealand squad which won the second match at Christchurch, Nathan Astle has been dropped to make way for returning captain Stephen Fleming, while Jeetan Patel, the offspinner, has been brought in for James Franklin, the fast bowler.The surprising decision to drop Astle, New Zealand’s most successful one-day batsman who ground his way out of a batting slump with an unbeaten 90 on Tuesday, was part of the “squad mentality”, according to Bracewell. Heading towards the 2007 World Cup, player development across all positions took precedence over the individual.”They’re always tough decisions, but we need a squad mentality and I want to continue with the long-term planning towards the World Cup, which is developing a strong competitive squad in all positions,” Bracewell said.Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket has announced their team for the third National Bank series match against Sri Lanka at Wellington.New Zealand squad Stephen Fleming (capt), Daniel Vettori, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Hamish Marshall, Brendon McCullum (wk), Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Lou Vincent .

The Pakistan International Airlines batsmen staged a splendid fightback, as they finished the third dayof their Patrons Trophy Quadrangular Stage match against Habib Bank with an overall lead of 296 with three second-innings wickets remaining.After having earlier surrendered a 19-run first-innings lead to Habib Bank, PIA reached 315 for 7 in their second innings by close of play on the third day. Ghulam Ali followed his 79 on the first day with another valuable knock of 84, off 162 balls in just over four-and-a-quarter hours with 10 fours and a six. At stumps, Bazid Khan, PIA’s stand-in captain, and Najaf Shah, the left-arm pace bowler, were at the crease on 38 apiece, having added 73 for the eighth wicket.Earlier, Ghulam Ali and Yasir Hameed (30) had put on 71 for the second wicket. Then, Ghulam was joined by Asif Mujtaba (45) as another 105 were made added for the third wicket. Four wickets fell with only 24 scored before Bazid and Najaf steadied the ship.On a day cut short by bad light, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) reached a first innings score of 214 for 6 on the first day of their Patrons Trophy match against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) at the Sheikhupura Stadium .At the forefront of PTCL’s late fightback was an unbeaten 59 by Asim Kamal, Pakistan’s left-handed middle-order Test batsman. Kamal scored his runs off 122 balls in under three hours with nine boundaries.Earlier, after PTCL had been put in, they lost their first three wickets with only 14 on the board. Aamer Bashir, the captain, then helped take the score to 54 in partnership with Usman Tariq. Aamer’s 55 came off 87 balls with eight fours. Shahzad Malik had to retire hurt but Aamer and Asim helped move the score to 117 for 4, when Aamer was dismissed by Wasim Khan, the fast bowler, who bagged three wickets. Another 97 runs were added till the day’s close, with Asim and Tahir Mughal adding 58 for the seventh wicket.This match was earlier scheduled to start on Friday in Multan, but it was shifted because floodlights are being installed at the Multan Cricket Stadium prior to the ODI between Pakistan and India next month.

James Franklin sent a message to the New Zealand selectors about his allround ability with an unbeaten 173 against Auckland. His innings contained 22 fours and three sixes and helped Wellington to an imposing 436 for 5 at stumps in reply to Auckland’s 235. Franklin was dropped for the final two one-day internationals against the West Indies after some uninspired bowling and will be keen to press his credentials as an allrounder ahead of the Test series. Franklin was not the only centurion, with Neal Parlane (110) also passing three figures. Matthew Bell (58) and Chris Nevin (48 not out) cashed in as well. Lance Shaw took 3 for 90.Canterbury will take a handy advantage over Northern Districts into the third day of the match after a number of useful contributions enabled them to post a first innings lead of 41 with three wickets remaining. At the top of the order Gary Stead made 51 and Michael Papps a laboured 45. There were cameos from Craig McMillan (23) and Chris Harris (22), before Andrew Ellis (57) and Todd Astle (41) put on 82 for the sixth wicket. Canterbury ended the day on 310 for 7. Joseph Yovich was costly, but his 18 overs also saw him capture 3 for 91.Central Districts were in the box seat at New Plymouth after posting a first-innings total 416 and watching Otago go to stumps at 191 for 5. Central resumed day two on 275 for 6 and made it past 400 thanks to half-centuries from Bevan Griggs, the wicketkeeper, and Brendon Diamanti. David Sewell was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 87. Otago began the long chase for first innings comfortably enough, but trouble struck late in the day when the impressive Jordan Sheed was out 11 shy of his maiden first-class century. Otago’s hopes rested with Neil Broom, who battled to 34 not out. Min Patel, the former England spinner, bowled Otago to a virtual standstill with his 1 for 20 off 18 overs.

The National Bank batsmen faltered in the second innings against Sialkot on the third day at the Multan Cricket Stadium, yet their team finished 241 runs ahead of the opponents with four wickets intact.After having gained a first-innings advantage of 102 runs, National Bank lost five wickets in the second outing for 72 runs. A sixth-wicket stand of 64 had them breathing again and they are back in the game hoping to achieve an outright win on the final day.Allrounder Mansoor Amjad, a legspinner from Sialkot having to play against his own regional outfit, came to National Bank’s rescue with an unbeaten innings of 30 as his team reached 139 for 6. Naved Latif, a former Pakistan batsman, quickly contributed 39 runs in his partnership with Mansoor, who had scored 122 in National Bank’s first innings. He also had figures of 4 for 102 in 27 overs as Sialkot were restricted 409 chasing National Bank’s first-innings effort of 511 runs.Sialkot resumed on 236 for 2 with opener Atiq-ur-Rehman unbeaten at 150. He managed to add only seven runs to his score, before falling to paceman Wasim Khan, who captured 4 for 90 in his 29 overs. Later, Abdul Rehman (49) and Kamran Younis (42) added 78 runs for the seventh wicket, but getting to 511 runs proved to be a difficult task. Mansoor’s fourth wicket was his 100th in his 33rd first-class appearance.A lead of 300 or thereabouts today would place National Bank in a good position to achieve an outright win. In any case, they will take the first-innings points if the match ends in a draw.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul may have stepped down as West Indies captain, but he continues to play a key leadership role. That’s the early assessment from Brian Lara, the new captain, who also feels there are a few players in the team capable to taking over the mantle.”Shiv [Chanderpaul] has come back in a great manner. He is there fully supportive,” Lara said. “Even though he has resigned his position, I still think he is taking on a leadership role, which is great. That itself is a plus for West Indies cricket.”Chanderpaul was appointed captain last year in circumstances that virtually gave him the job by default. On resigning his position last month, he pointed to wanting to concentrate on his batting.While Lara was appointed captain for a third time, the West Indies Cricket Board opted not to name a vice-captain for the one-day against Zimbabwe. In the event that that Lara has to leave the field, he will identify a player to take over, but he reiterates that the matter over an official No. 2 will resolve itself. “I feel there are two or three guys who can actually go out there and do a decent job in case I have to leave the field or in case I am missing a match for whatever reason,” Lara said. “It is not a situation that we should beat over its head. It’s going to handle itself.”What West Indians want is that the next person who takes over this team, be it tomorrow or in a year’s time, is the right person for the job and somebody we can depend on to lead West Indies into a bright future.”Lara also spoke of his relationship with Bennett King, the coach, against the background that Chanderpaul had complained that in his tenure as captain, he was restricted because of “inside” influence.”My short stint with him [King] this time around has been something of all the heads coming together and deciding on how we’ll move forward,” Lara said. “In any committee there is going to be debate and that is always very going to be healthy. He’s been welcome to that.”I think he knows that with the likes of Joey Carew, Gordon Greenidge and Clyde Butts, he has people who know their cricket and knows West Indies cricket, people who he can depend on for sound advice.”

Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan allrounder, is set to undergo a shoulder operation in South Africa next week to try to improve his suspect bowling action.”Malik’s problem is that due to those two accidents his arm tendons have become loose,” Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told Reuters. “So when he bowls one gets the impression there is a problem with his action. The operation is being carried out to loosen his tendons so that his arm extension improves and he faces no more problems with his action.”Malik, 24, has been reported twice owing to problems caused by the after-effects of two road accidents which have limited the mobility of his arm extension. Malik was reported for his suspect action during the Paktel Cup one-day tournament in October 2004 but the Pakistan board suggested that the kink was the result of an accident which Malik suffered a year before that. Malik’s action was cleared last May after he went to South Africa to have his action tested.