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The Cricket Club of India was buzzing with activity following the announcement that a Chennai court had held up the appointment of Ranbir Singh Mahendra and SK Nair, the new president and secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Raj Singh Dungarpur, a former Board president who was actively involved in the recent elections, told Wisden Cricinfo late on Friday evening: “It is a black day for Indian cricket. That it should have come during the platinum-jubilee celebration is tragic beyond description.”Dungarpur has been a vociferous critic of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI’s former president and new patron-in-chief, and went on: “Dalmiya and his coterie of supporters, who were tantamount to blind supporters, have left the board in a mess.”When asked why, then, Dungarpur had voted in favour of Dalmiya being appointed patron-in-chief, he explained: “I voted for him because I didn’t want to spoil the party. I felt he had worked hard enough to earn the position of patron.”But a patron is one who patronises, not one who organises,” he added. “The Maharaja of Patiala was a genuine patron. He brought Arthur Gilligan’s MCC team to India in 1926. CK Nayudu hit 11 sixes for the Hindus against them and India found a hero. Patiala brought Jack Ryder’s team to India soon after – that was the act of a patron.”The recent Board elections were fought in acrimonious circumstances, and Dungarpur has plenty to say on the subject. “Dalmiya, for the first time ever, realised he was up against it. His kingdom was rocked.” During the elections, representatives from Maharashtra and Rajasthan were barred from voting, following which Mahendra and Sharad Pawar had polled 15 votes each. Dalmiya then cast the deciding vote in Mahendra’s favour. Dungarpur claims: “Asking the representatives of Maharashtra and Rajasthan to leave the meeting was a death knell to the democracy of the board.”The way the television-rights issue was handled came in for particular criticism. “The way Dalmiya handled that was there for all to see. It is not a secret that the marketing committee voted 6-2 in favour of Zee, and that Dalmiya was one of the two who voted against. He has ignored all statutory requirements when it comes to convening meetings and has done things at the shortest notice. The BCCI traditions of 75 years have been thrown to the gates. And when it comes to the main management of cricket, pardon me for saying so, Mr Dalmiya knows very little.”And Dungarpur concluded: “When the great Sir Don Bradman was not indispensable to the Australian cricket team, why should Dalmiya be indispensable to the BCCI?”Inderjit Bindra, another former president known for his anti-Dalmiya stance, also had some strong words. “It’s a dark day, and one where those involved with running cricket in India, including me, should reflect about the manner in which we have been conducting ourselves in the recent past. No-one is bigger than the game itself.”

Ehsan Mani: taking a hard line over Zimbabwe question© Getty Images

England face a fine of at least US$2m, and could even be suspended from the International Cricket Council, if they fail to meet their obligations to tour Zimbabwe in October and November this year.”Touring teams are expected to fulfil their touring obligations,” Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, warned England’s officials at the end of a two-day executive board meeting in Auckland. “Failure to do so would result in a fine of a minimum (£1.1m) and possible suspension from the ICC.”Mani insisted that the ICC’s threat was not aimed specifically at the England & Wales Cricket Board, which has been agonising over the decision to tour. The ECB is expected to argue that the advice it has received from the British government is tantamount to an instruction to stay away, although the ICC does not consider this to be a firm order.”The board has reaffirmed its policy that countries should not be drawn into making political decisions when assessing their future tour commitments,” added Mani. “If a government takes this action, the decision will be accepted by the ICC and there will be no impact on the individual board.”For the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, the ICC’s decision is a welcome development in their bid to persuade England to tour. “This new regulation sends a clear message … to the ECB that it should honour its pledge to tour Zimbabwe later this year,” said the ZCU chairman, Peter Chingoka. “The West Indies has visited our country in recent months, Bangladesh is currently on tour and both Sri Lanka and Australia have recently confirmed their intention to tour, as well as expressed their satisfaction with the safety and security measures we have put in place.”The ECB is not expected to make a final decision until April at the earliest.

Amid much press speculation that the England players have come out strongly against fulfilling their World Cup fixture in Harare on February 13th, ECB chief executive Tim Lamb and players’ representative Richard Bevan have both indicated the likelihood that England will be in Zimbabwe as scheduled.Speaking on BBC Radio, Bevan, managing director of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), said there was legitimate concern over the security situation among the players. However, he refuted widespread reports about more sinister developments.”The players have not received death threats, they have not received letters. They have received propaganda about the disastrous state Zimbabwe is in.”He went on to say that England captain Nasser Hussain had asked him to confirm this point.Speaking on the same programme, Lamb said, “We can understand the players’ misgivings but the best information we have is that the players are fully committed to going.”There will be a statement tomorrow and I very much hope that the outcome of that statement will be that the players will reaffirm their intention to go, providing the security situation is kept under review in the run-up to the match.”Bevan continued, “The players over the last few months have had numerous discussions about this. Certainly in the minds of some of the players they’re going to be torn, but ultimately they are contracted to the ECB, and their responsibility is to their contracts."They have had reservations for a number of weeks, but that’s not to say they weren’t going to commit to the ECB and actually go. The players are supportive of the ECB, they are supportive of what Tim Lamb is trying to do.”The statement from the players is expected tomorrow. As well as reaffirming their position, they are likely to take the opportunity to express their dislike of the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe in order to distance themselves from any accusation that, by appearing in Harare, they are in any way supporting his policies.At the same time, all sides will be watching the security situation and any significant deterioration could trigger an immediate change of attitude.

Some of England’s old habits returned to haunt them at Old Trafford that would have had any watching Australian chortling with glee. A spectacular collapse, which saw England lose their last eight wickets for just 75 runs, handed back an initiative to Pakistan that they could scarcely have expected.It had all been so simple and straightforward in the morning session as Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan cruised along like a galleon in full sail. Thorpe hammered Waqar Younis off the back foot to bring up his ninth Test century and his second against Pakistan. Just as Vaughan was exuding his first signs of anxiety as he moved into the nineties, he was bizarrely gifted a maiden Test century thanks to Wasim Akram. Poor fielding allowed Vaughan to turn for a second run and then a wild throw sped past Rashid Latif to the boundary and Vaughan was catapulted to the magical three figures.Then England literally ran themselves into trouble. Thorpe and Vaughan had run superbly, stealing singles hither and thither with the Pakistanis caught on their heels time and time again. Next, though, Thorpe attempted another one to go one past his career best of 138. Akram rolled back the years with a panther-like reaction, a quick turn and throw, the stumps shattered and Thorpe didn’t bother to wait for the third umpire’s verdict.A partnership of 267 was over and, as often happens, Vaughan departed six balls later, touching a quick lifter from Waqar to Latif. England’s lunch was now less palatable at 298 for four.The all Surrey duo of Ward and Stewart resumed in the afternoon. This time it was Ward who took on Azhar’s throw and again was woefully short. Stewart then had to stand and watch bemused as Saqlain Mushtaq and Abdur Razzaq folded England up neatly for 357, conceding a lead of 46. The stand-in captain remained alone on the burning deck with 39 not out.There had been cause for umpire Shepherd to intervene in a sledging incident involving Caddick during his innings. This seemed to affect the Somerset seamer who was slammed for 19 runs in his first two overs, as Pakistan again set about the England attack.Gough, although expensive, had been unlucky. He caused Saeed Anwar real alarm, an inside edge and a fend both going to the boundary but another short one was steered to Thorpe in the gully. Razzaq was firing on all cylinders but he attempted one shot to many and mis-hooked Hoggard to Cork at mid off. Caddick returned, bowled much better and was rewarded with the wicket of Faisal Iqbal. Things finally slowed down, England defended, Pakistan were calmer and bad light robbed a good crowd of eight overs with Pakistan holding a lead of 133.

Barcelona are ‘well advanced’ in talks with Raphinha over a summer move from Leeds United, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano.

The Lowdown: Constant Raphinha rumours

Sadly for the Whites, endless reports are linking the Brazilian with a summer exit from Elland Road, as he seemingly weighs up his future.

Barcelona appear to be the current front-runners to snap up Raphinha at the end of the season, as new manager Xavi looks to add more quality to his squad.

Now, Romano has provided an update that further suggests the winger’s future may lie at the Camp Nou.

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The Latest: Romano makes fresh claim

Taking to Twitter on Friday, the renowned journalist claimed that talks are ongoing and ‘advanced’, although nothing will be agreed quickly:

“Barcelona are in well advanced talks with Deco for Raphinha as summer target since one month, but the official negotiation with Leeds won’t start now – it will take some time.”

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The Verdict: Turning the screw

Once a club of Barca’s history and stature show interest in a player, the end result is invariably a formality, which is clearly concerning for Leeds.

A recent claim made by transfer expert Dean Jones does at least suggest that Raphinha, and Kalvin Phillips for that matter, could still stay put but it is clear that the Catalan giants consider the former a primary target.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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It is easy to see Raphinha slotting in seamlessly at Barca with some superb players around him and he may see it as a perfect opportunity to boost his chances of starting for Brazil at the World Cup later this year.

In other news, Beren Cross has dropped a key update regarding one Leeds player. Read more here.

Worcestershire are confident they have a long-term future at New Road after meetings with the Environment Agency. While the club realise they are not a top priority Mark Newton, the chief executive, was positive about the discussions.”As you would expect, it was a constructive meeting. We totally understand where we are in the list of priorities but the meeting did help us on a number of fronts,” he said. “We are committed to staying at New Road and short term contingency plans are in place if there is another summer flood.”It would be a huge boost if government were to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into flood prevention measures along the River Severn but the reality is people’s homes and personal safety are far more important than a cricket ground. As we do on a regular basis, we will continue our dialogue with the Environment Agency to keep up with future climate change trends.”Cricket returned to New Road earlier this week when Worcestershire took on Warwickshire in a pre-season friendly. It was the first action at the ground since the mid-summer floods last year and the recovery process wasn’t helped when there were further floods during the winter.

The ICC-appointed team from the Africa Cricket Association is due to arrive in Nairobi on Friday to begin their investigations into the crisis which threatens the future of the game in Kenya. The four-man delegation is led by Peter Chingoka, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and president of the ACA, and will be assisted by Percy Sonn, the ICC’s vice-president.”We have been told that we will meet the delegation twice on Saturday,” Sharad Ghai, the beleaguered chairman of the Kenyan Cricket Association told reporters. “We are ready to meet them and put our point across. We don’t have many things to discuss with them.”While Cricket Kenya, the body formed by the government to replace the KCA which has the backing of players, clubs and supporters, has not formally reacted to the ICC’s appointment of the ACA team, it is not thought to welcome the intervention.One local administrator explained that the ICC had been kept closely informed of the situation, and was aware of the long-standing problems concerning the KCA. He added that there was nothing else for the ACA to uncover and the whole exercise had the feel of the ICC wanting to be seen to do something rather than actually taking more decisive action.It is common knowledge that Jimmy Rayani, a former KCA chairman, has been trying to broker a deal which would enable some of the existing KCA officials to remain in office. But there is deep opposition within the cricketing community to a group that is seen as being responsible for the current parlous state of the game inside the country being allowed to retain any control. The feeling is that all the old guard needs to removed, and some senior officials within the ICC are known to share that view.The ICC’s decision to release US$54,000 to the KCA to enable it to meet its liabilities was also greeted with incredulity and anger. The KCA has no staff, no coaches and no players, and locals are bemused why the ICC decided to make the payment in the knowledge that it was unlikely to be used to promote the game but rather used to clear outstanding debts.