Sajid Mahmood believes Kevin Pietersen’s new ranking as the world’s No. 1 ODI batsman will lift England during the Super Eights. Pietersen became the third England player, after Marcus Trescothick and Allan Lamb, to hold the top spot when he deposed Michael Hussey following the World Cup group matches.”It’s a big lift knowing we have the No. 1 batsman in the world in our side, and hopefully the other guys can feed off that,” Mahmood told . “He’s a fantastic player and I think he deserves to be in the top spot. The way he’s performed has been brilliant and his average speaks for itself.”Pietersen averages 56.76 from his 45 ODIs and his good form continued in England’s opening games at St Lucia, when he made 60 against New Zealand and 56 not out against Kenya. Mahmood said Pietersen was a remarkable batsman and could destroy any attack.”It’s difficult bowling at him in the nets because he has these really strange shots which he pulls out of nowhere, and you think to yourself ‘how has he hit that, I’ve never been hit like that before’,” he said. “But I’m fortunate I don’t play against him in a match situation – he’s a lot more relaxed in the nets than he is during a game so I’m happy to bowl at him then, rather than in the middle.”Mahmood, who played only in the Kenya match, when he took 1 for 39, said he hoped to have a bigger role as the tournament progressed. “I would have liked to get a couple more wickets, but I haven’t really played for a month or so now, so to get into a rhythm and bowl a few overs and feel the atmosphere is a good thing,” he said.”I’ve been working really hard in the nets, so pretty much everything was there already, the only thing that wasn’t was the match pressure I had to face. It was good to get out there before the Super Eights to get used to the conditions though, and hopefully I can get a few more games in that part of the competition and do well.”

The body of Bob Woolmer has arrived in South Africa after Jamaican officials gave permission on April 23 for it to be released and handed back to his family.A casket bearing Woolmer’s embalmed body arrived at the Cape Town International Airport shortly before 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on a South African Airways Flight from London. The Doves funeral group confirmed that the wooden casket wrapped in plastic being offloaded from the Boeing 747 contained Woolmer’s remains.”The body would be kept at a mortuary while his family makes funeral arrangements,” Theo Rix, the Doves Western Cape general manager, told AFP. “We are meeting the family tomorrow morning to make the final arrangements.”Woolmer’s body was in Jamaica since his murder on March 18 having been held back for the inquest scheduled for April 23. But instead the coroner allowed the body to be released and postponed the inquest indefinitely in light of what he described to be “significant developments.”Gill, Woolmer’s widow, who lives in Cape Town’s Pinelands neighbourhood, has previously said her English-born husband’s cremation ceremony would be a private family affair.

England women came unstuck against a men’s team in a match to celebrate Hertfordshire club Hoddesdon’s 125th anniversary. The match, which raised money for breast cancer, was attended by Kate Hoey, the former sports minister, who was guest of honour.”I wish that in 125 years time Hoddesdon Cricket Club is still in the hands of good decent people who want to enjoy this wonderful game,” she said before the game, speaking in front of 250 guests. She had flown in from Belfast specially for the match.Hoddesdon batted first – by mutual consent – and made 234 for 6, with the opener Rob Miller scoring 118 before being stumped by Sophie Le Marchand off Holly Colvin. Colvin was the most successful bowler, with 3 for 63 from 8 overs. England women reached 185 for 5 in reply, Caroline Atkins – captaining in lieu of Charlotte Edwards – topscoring with 53. Lydia Greenway made 48, while Ebony Rainford-Brent reached 41 not out.Despite the defeat, the match will be useful practice for the girls in among their Super 4s games, and ahead of New Zealand’s visit in August.For Hoddesdon, their secretary Andy Byrne hopes this will be the catalyst for a women’s cricket section at the club. “We are planning to have a team,” he told Cricinfo. Three local girls’ football teams have been invited down to the club with the aim to form a girls’ section, and their response, so far, has been positive.A longer term aim is for England women to come back to the club next year. “Perhaps the match would not be on such a grand scale,” Byrne said, but the competition against the men is certainly valuable.

South Africa announced a packed international and domestic 2007-08 season, which includes as many as seven international tours for the national team, the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship as well as the regular domestic calendar.The season begins with South Africa’s first tour to Ireland, which begins this week, for a series of ODIs against the hosts and India. The squad, captained by Jacques Kallis, includes a number of new players.Subsequently, there are tours to Pakistan, Zimbabwe, India and Bangladesh, while New Zealand and West Indies are due to visit South Africa. In September, before the tour to Pakistan, they host the first Twenty20 championship.Gerald Majola, CEO Cricket South Africa, said, “This is going to be a bumper season for South African cricket, both domestically and internationally. The new season, which kicks off with the tour to Ireland this month, will include seven international tours and the hosting of the inaugural World Twenty20 South Africa in 2007.”We believe that the Twenty20 format is going to bring in a new audience for cricket, and we believe this interest will spread to other forms of the game. On the international front, we will be using this season to increase the pool of Proteas players so that we can meet the challenges of this busy 2007/8 season.”

Cricket Europe has reported that Graeme and Chris Davey, Netherlands’ South African-born twin brothers, were forced to sit out the opening match in the European Under-19 Division 1 Championship in Bangor after the board (KNCB) failed to complete the documentary formalities in time.The KNCB did not provide documents to show that the Daveys had fulfilled residence and development criteria as required by the ICC. The board has been reminded several times that all players needed to meet the ICC regulations and so the oversight was unforgivable.Graeme, who was appointed captain ahead of the tournament, had to sit out the opening game, an eight-wicket defeat by Ireland alongside wicketkeeper-batsman Chris. The necessary paperwork had been sorted in time for them to play in the second match today.

Peter Moores, the England coach, has said that a balanced lifestyle on and off the field will helpextend Kevin Pietersen’s international career.Pietersen recently complained of feeling mentally fatigued after taking part in most of England’s matches since his debut in 2005, and had called for more time off for England’s players. He also had a poor run in England’s 2-1 NatWest Series loss against West Indies, scoring 42 runs at an average of 14 in three ODIs, a performance which caused him to lose his No.1 ranking in the ICC ODI ratings.”After seeing him this morning he seems okay to me,” Moores told AFP, ahead of the first Test against India at Lord’s. “In my brief time here he’s never not been up for the game, he’s very intense, a really hard worker and he loves playing the game. I think he does know what he does is a privileged thing, to play for England.”There have been suggestions that Pietersen cut down on his number of endorsements to ensure he is fit and fresh to play cricket. Pietersen has denied that his off-field activities have in any way affected his cricket, but Moores indicated that the board was constantly reviewing the non-cricket activities for the players to make sure they don’t become a hindrance to the team.”It’s something we’ll continually look at, to get the balance right for the player. It’s a fine line. They are in demand because they are in the public eye but we need players who are fresh to play cricket for England. We talk to the commercial guys to make sure we get the balance right.”Pietersen, 27, is due to wed his pop star fiancee Jessica Taylor in December. He has deals for equipment endorsement, a national newspaper column, and various other agreements including one with a watch manufacturer.

Kenya have announced their 15-man squad for next month’s Twenty20 World Championship and the side contains few surprises.The only two new faces from the squad that took part in the World Cup are both 19-year-olds, Alex Obanda and Elijah Otieno.Obanda’s inclusion is not surprising as he has been considered one of the most promising young batsmen for some time. He represented Kenya at Under-17 level while still only 14, and earlier this year he was one of the successes of Kenya’s participation in Zimbabwe’s Logan Cup, scoring 386 runs at 38.60 including a maiden first-class hundred. That won him selection for the Africa XI in the Afro-Asia Cup in June, but he struggled in two outings against India A this month, making three ducks in four innings.Otieno, a medium-pace bowler who gets surprising bounce from the pitch, also played in the Logan Cup but in three outings took only 1 for 166, although he was considered extremely unlucky as he beat the bat more than anyone else. He has no pretensions as a batsman – all his career runs came in the same match, and his seven first-class outings include five ducks.Kenya Steve Tikolo (capt), Rajesh Bhudiya, Jimmy Kamande, Tanmay Mishra, Alex Obanda, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Collins Obuya, David Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo, Lameck Onyango, Elijah Otieno, Maurice Ouma (wk), Tony Suji, Hiren Varaiya.

Surrey have signed Usman Afzaal on a three-year contract. Ufzaal, 30, left Northamptonshire by mutual consent last week.Afzaal started his career at Nottinghamshire, making three England appearances during the 2001 Ashes. He moved to Northamptonshire in 2004 where he was consistent, and this season he scored 570 runs at 35.62 in eight Championship matches.”I want to continue to learn more about myself and my game and feel a new challenge, in a new environment will help me achieve this,” Afzaal said. “To learn from and play with the likes of Alan and Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash will be an honour and something I’m looking forward to.”My dream is to play more cricket for England and I see this move to Surrey – where I will be under pressure to prove myself in a quality side – as a stepping stone to being recognised by the English selectors once more.”Alan Butcher, Surrey’s cricket manager, welcomed the addition to his squad. “With some of our top batsmen nearing the end of their careers, it was important for us to acquire a proven and experienced player approaching his prime. I believe Usman to be ambitious, both for himself and for the club and think that he has vital parts to play as the rebuilding of the team continues.”

Sreesanth, India’s fast bowler, has denied clapping in the face of Andrew Symonds after he was dismissed in the fourth one-day match on Monday. Sreesanth, a 12th man in Chandigarh, reportedly had to be calmed down by Stuart Clark, who was also running the drinks, when Symonds was approached between the field and the entry to the dressing room.Sreesanth has had an eventful series after targeting the Australians with his strange behaviour and he apparently continued to argue with Symonds and his team-mates after the eight-run loss. Despite not playing, Sreesanth went to Symonds as he walked off with 75 and observers said he clapped in the batsman’s face.”I said to him: ‘Hard luck, you’re going to lose now,” Sreesanth said in the Australian. “That’s all.” Both the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald reported the bizarre actions that continued an ugly series, which has its fifth game at Vadodara on Thursday.However, neither Chris Broad, the match referee, or Lalchand Rajput, India’s manager, were aware of the Sreesanth-Symonds incident. Rajput said Sreesanth had been talked to about his behaviour in the early part of the series.”He was told that he has been playing international cricket for long enough now that he should know what is right and wrong,” he told the Herald. Both players also had an on-field argument during the second match in Kochi when Sreesanth tried to run-out Symonds after he had gone to speak with Brad Haddin.

Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, has indicated that Shaun Pollock might not play the first Test against New Zealand starting at the Wanderers on Thursday. According to Arthur, the winning XI who won the Test series against Pakistan in October would probably take the field.”We’re very much a squad and there’s always going to be one guy that misses out,” Arthur was quoted as saying by the website. “The spinner [Paul Harris] has made a huge impact for us – he’s bowled particularly well – so I don’t think we’ll tinker too much. We’ll have a look at the conditions later and see where we go, but it’s still very much a squad system. If conditions warrant it, Polly [Pollock] will play.”Pollock was dropped for the first time in his 107-Test career during the Pakistan series with captain Graeme Smith explaining that it was a tactical decision to rest Pollock and give some young fast bowlers exposure to alien conditions.That successful series over, Arthur was not very worried about his bowlers having to switch from Pakistan’s flatter surfaces to the bouncier ones at home. “We need to get back into our own conditions quickly, and prepare accordingly,” he said. “The guys are skilled and good enough to make the change quickly.”That’s part and parcel of international sport – you change disciplines pretty quickly. We just have to tighten up our defences and tighten up our skills in the nets, so we’ll be fine. I’m hoping by the end of today the players will be back in Test-match mode.”