Cricket West Indies

Gayle to be considered if he retracts statements

---

Chris Gayle will only be considered for selection for West Indies if he retracts statements he has made about the West Indies board and its officers, the WICB has said in a statement. The board will appoint a facilitator to assist Gayle in complying with their requirements. The decision comes after the last meeting between Gayle and WICB chief Ernest Hilaire, on August 25, had more positive results then previous interactions between the parties.

Relations between Gayle and the board had broken down after he gave an interview in April to a radio station during which he was scathing about both the board and coach Ottis Gibson. After attempts at reconciliation failed, and Gayle was left out of the squad for the whole of the home series against India, he released a long and emotional public statement, in which he traced the evolution of the dispute back to 2009, when, he said, Hilaire had cast doubts on his ability to captain the team.

The board has now said it recognises that Gayle can "contribute meaningfully" to the West Indies team, but will only select him if he withdraws his criticisms. The WICB said they had told Gayle of their decision and were waiting for his response.

Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain and now WICB director, said it was important to get a senior player like Gayle back in the West Indies setup and that it would be wise for Gayle to comply with the board's requirements.

"First of all it is disappointing that the matter has gone on for as long as it has," Lloyd said in the board statement. "What we need now is closure and, to be fair, anyone of whom those comments were made would have a right to take umbrage.

'Withdrawing the comments would be the intelligent thing to do to get the issue resolved and have everyone move on. We need senior players to be in the setup to drive the progress forward and any team would love to entertain Gayle, but under the right circumstances."

Gayle has not played for West Indies since the 2011 World Cup. Since then, he has been an integral part of Royal Challengers Bangalore's squad in their IPL and Champions League Twenty20 campaigns, finishing as the leading run-getter in the IPL.

His saga with the board had escalated to a level where the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government had become involved. West Indies are currently touring Bangladesh, after which they will go to India to play three Tests and five ODIs.

Cricket Australia

Warne wants Lehmann as Australia's coach

---

Shane Warne believes Darren Lehmann would be the perfect coach for Australia as the search continues for Tim Nielsen's replacement. Lehmann is in his first year as Queensland's mentor but Warne believes his old-school approach would be perfect for either the vacant head coach role or a position on the selection panel.

"I think Darren Lehmann is absolutely outstanding - as a coach or in some senior role involved in the team or as a selector," Warne told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday. "I think he's got a really good understanding of the young guys, he's got a great understanding of old school and what's required to perform.

"[There's] old-school '70s and '80s - sit down and don't say a word and let the experienced people talk - to the new way where you play one game you think you've played a hundred and you're part of the furniture. Somewhere in the middle is about the right way."

Warne was famously critical of John Buchanan during his team at the helm of Australia's side, believing that Buchanan complicated things unnecessarily. Warne once said that international teams should not have coaches, but rather team managers to act as a facilitator for the captain, and he believes "old-school toughness" is a key requirement for whoever gets the job.

"That hard work, get in the nets and train hard for two hours, forget the ice baths, physios, calories, stretching," he said. "All those sort of things, which are important in modern-day sport, and you should have them, they have a place - [but] I just think you need someone with old-school thoughts - a bit of hard work, a bit of the new stuff and mix and match.

"It doesn't matter how many computers you want to look at, pie charts or all those rubbish things, you have to physically do it. Whoever they appoint, hopefully it's someone like a Darren Lehmann if it's not a Darren Lehmann."

Cricket Australia has started a global search for the new head coach, who will also have responsibility for directing the coaching strategy down through the states. Steve Rixon, the Australian team's fielding coach, is considered one of the front-runners due to his strong relationship with the captain Michael Clarke.

Spot Fixing

Butt has 'been caught' court told

---

Salman Butt was told by the prosecution he had "been caught" as his long vigil in the witness box that stretched over three days was completed in the afternoon of the eleventh day of the alleged spot-fixing trial in London on Wednesday.

Butt faced the prosecution headed by Aftab Jafferjee QC for two days running, following the day he spent in the stand with his own counsel on Monday. It was an often fraught exchange that concluded with Butt accepting no part in the alleged spot-fixing and Jafferjee telling the court that he was "controlling" the players through the no-balls.

Former Pakistan captain Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord's Test last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage pace bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.

The jury was walked through the detail of the frantic phone traffic between Butt, Majeed, Asif and Amir on the night before the Lord's Test commenced, after Majeed had been caught on a secret camera pocketing £140,000 for pre-planned no-balls to be bowled plus future fixes. A previous amount of £10,000 had already been paid.

There were 20 calls or texts between Butt and Majeed, 25 between Amir and Majeed and four between Butt, Asif and Amir. Some of these calls or text messages were made in the early hours.

"The Lord's fix was on Mr Butt in the early hours of the morning and you know it don't you," Jafferjee said.

Butt replied: "No."

"It's all going on behind your back is it?" Jafferjee asked sarcastically.

Butt: "Yes."

"It's the three of you who are all (planning) the no-balls Mr Butt," Jafferjee continued. "You are all saying what is going to go on, isn't it?

Butt: "I'm not part of it."

"But we agree don't we Mr Butt," Jafferjee went on, "that if Amir and Asif were involved they would have to have spoken to you?"

Butt: "Okay, I'll take that from you (with a wry grin)."

"Everything suggests that Amir was in on the fix doesn't it Mr Butt?"

Butt: "Yes."

Jafferjee then talked about what he has repeatedly called "the performance" that followed Amir's first no-ball, as Amir checked his spikes, examined the crease and Butt then arrived to sprinkle sawdust on the crease.

Jafferjee: "You would agree it was a performance wouldn't you Mr Butt?"

Butt: "I didn't bring the sawdust with me from the hotel. It is always there on the ground when the weather is damp."

"Yes no-balls are bowled accidentally, sawdust is there out on the ground and batsmen do tap the pitch," Jafferjee hit back. "But what you and Majeed and Amir and Asif did was exploit things what normally happen out on the cricket pitch."

The prosecutor then reminded the jury of the text message that Majeed sent to the undercover News of the World reporter just before the third pre-planned no-ball was delivered. Because Amir was bowling beautifully and eventually reduced England to 47 for 5 in that first innings, Majeed texted to warn the journalist that the captain might tell Amir not to bowl that no-ball now because of the form he was in.

Jafferjee concluded: "He (Majeed) was talking about you because you are in there controlling the players and particularly the youngest player out there - the impressionable Amir, Mr Butt. And you have been caught."

Although Butt defended himself consistently and stoically, he was forced to concede on several occasions that Majeed's fixing-related messages to him were "annoying". Jafferjee pressed him hard on why he never - in the messages before the court anyway - told Majeed that he would not tolerate it anymore.

The night before he allegedly agreed to bat out a maiden at The Oval in the third Test - the night before they eventually won the match - was such an episode that Jafferjee focused on. On how when Majeed called him, unknowingly on speakerphone so the journalist could hear, to say: 'You know the maiden over yeah?' To which Butt went 'Yeah'. Majeed continued, 'Do one more'. It was then that Butt said, 'No mate, just leave it.' Butt did not bat out the maiden. Majeed contacted Butt again on the same subject the following morning, a Saturday, before Butt left for the ground.

Jafferjee continually pressed Butt on why he did not respond more angrily to Majeed. "You were on the verge of a great win and you didn't tell Majeed how annoyed you were by these messages?" Butt reasoned that he was focusing on the game and didn't want to get into an awkward conversation at that time. Butt also said in the subsequent celebration dinner that Majeed attended along with "seven or eight" of the players he never mentioned the messages.

Jafferjee was unimpressed by the answers he was receiving on the issue and at one point said: "You are lying your head off to this jury aren't you Mr Butt?"

Before the day ended, Butt's lawyer Ali Bajwa QC told the court that some Pakistan numbers in the phone records during this time corresponded to calls Butt made to family, friends and former players including Imran Khan, who Butt admitted he would call for advice.

The case continues.