Jamaica: India’s vice-captain Harbhajan Singh is confident that the Indian side will sign off the series on a winning note in the fifth ODI on Thursday.

The loss in the fourth ODI in Antigua on Monday will have no impact on the outcome of the series as India had already pocketed an unassailable 3-1 lead but Harbhajan said a 4-1 series win is what they are eyeing.

“If we keep it simple and stick to the basics, we will get the right results, and that would be nice so we can finish the series on a good note and take a 4-1 victory,” said the off-spinner. “We are looking to give our best shot and win the last match.”

Harbhajan, who has taken four wickets and scored 47 runs in the series so far, said he always enjoy playing in the West Indies. “I have enjoyed every moment playing in the West Indies and this is probably the best place to play cricket. Here in Kingston is an exciting venue and I have played here in previous tours also.”

Following the conclusion of the ODIs, the three-match Test series between the two sides will begin at the Sabina Park here from June 20.

Pakistan: The Pakistan Cricket Board and former captain Shahid Afridi appeared on course on Tuesday for an out-of-court settlement after the suspended star met with the chairman.

Afridi had gone to court after the PCB punished him for allegedly breaching a code of conduct by announcing his retirement after he was dumped as one-day captain, and for leveling allegations against the board.

The board has now agreed to allow the sacked one-day captain to play for English county side Hampshire after he agreed to withdraw his case against the PCB in the Sindh High Court.

PCB confirmed that chairman Ijaz Butt and Afridi met in Islamabad. “At this stage the PCB will not make any further comments on the discussions that have been taking place,” their official said.

Afridi’s manager Umran Khan also confirmed that the meeting went very well and both parties had come to a friendly agreement to end the dispute between them.

He added that he had spoken to Hampshire manager, Giles White and “they’re very pleased that it’s all sorted out”.

The PCB will not make any further comment on the discussion at this stage.

Australia: Cricket Australia have announced the return of the traditional one-day international tri-series for next summer, with the host nation taking on India and Sri Lanka.

The governing body announced its fixtures for the 2011/12 international summer today and they include two Tests against New Zealand, four against India, two Twenty20s and then the 12-match Commonwealth Bank Series of one-day internationals.

The tri-series was played for more than 20 years before being replaced four years ago. The season kicks off with the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba from December 1 with the second match to follow at the Bellerive Oval from December 9-13.

The four-Test series against India will be played at the MCG (December 26-30), the SCG (January 3-7), the WACA Ground (January 13-17) and Adelaide Oval (January 24-28) before the Twenty20s against India at the ANZ Stadium (February 1) and the MCG (February 3).

The Commonwealth Bank Series begins at the MCG from February 5 and takes in a pair of matches in Perth, at least three in Adelaide including the second final – and third if required, three in Brisbane and two each in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart.

“Fans will certainly have plenty of variety this summer,” said CA chief executive James Sutherland.

“ICC Cricket World Cup winners India are also the number one ranked Test team in the world at the moment,” he said. “Sri Lanka have also been in great form as we saw in the World Cup, while we know New Zealand are always a formidable opponent as they do well when playing Australia.”

“With the beginning of the ICC World Test Championship we know that every Test win is vital and the Australian team will be keen to start the home season positively against New Zealand,” he added.

Trinidad: India won the toss and decided to field first in their 2^nd ODI against West Indies yesterday, at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Quite an interesting match it turned out to be, with the men in blue bowling brilliantly to restrict the Windies to a below par total.

West Indies initiated well with a fifty-run stand upfront, followed by a couple more partnerships above the 50-run mark, but the middle-order collapsed miserably and failed to capitalise on the start. The Batting Powerplay proved fatal for the Windies as they lost three quick wickets and managed to score just 20 runs during that period.

Indian bowling was top class, with Amit Mishra leading the pack by claiming four wickets, and he was well supported by Munaf and Pathan.

Commanding performance by team India to register a resounding win over the Windies. In a chase of 241, the Indian side suffered an early blow in the form of Dhawan’s wicket but Parthiv joined forces with Virat Kohli and together the duo knitted an 120-run stand, thereby completely closing the doors ofto a Windies’ comeback.

Due to rain, the target was reduced to 183 off 37 overs, of which 83 runs were needed off 90 balls, but it didn’t bother the visitors, much as they chased that down comfortably with 20 balls to spare.

Match Summary

India 183/3 3 (Kohli 81, A Martin 29/1) beat West Indies 240/ 9 (Sarwan 56, A Mishra 4-31) by seven wickets (D/L method)

Man of the Match: Virat Kohli

Sri Lanka vs England 2nd Test match Day 4

London: The start of day 4 at Lords was delayed due to rain. Lankans looked like they would probably get ahead of the English total, but good bowling by Steven Finn and Graeme Swann restricted them and  Sri Lanka ended up conceding a 7-run lead to England.

Tea was taken early at Lords, thanks to the rain. England had faced five overs until then and the start hadn’t been healthy as they lost the wicket of skipper Andrew Strauss early on for no score to Welegedara.

After the break, Cook and Trott stitched together a 117-run partnership. Herath did manage to get a breakthrough with the wicket of Trott but thereafter, Pietersen and Cook stayed steady.

The  day wasn’t great for either of the sides but looks like it’s going to be an intriguing final session. England have a lead of 156 runs and if they can set Lanka a target of 250 or more runs, it could be interesting to watch.

Match Summary:

ENG 486/10 (First innings; Matt Prior 126, Chanaka Welegedara 122/4)

SL 479/10 (First innings; T Dilshan 193, S Finn 101/3)

ENG 149/2 (Second innings; A Cook 61, R Herath 17/1) leads by 156 runs

Trinidad: If Day 3 of the India vs West Indies series was anything to go by, a strong Indian performance in the Casure up on top-ranked Australia in the 50-over version with a strong performance in the Caribbean. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni being rested for the ODIs, stand-in captain Suresh Raina will certainly be hoping for an improvement on his current position at 32 in the batting log.

Virat Kohli, in eighth position, is the highest-ranked India player in ODIs and in the absence of Gautam Gambhir (in 12th position), Virender Sehwag (in 13th) and Yuvraj Singh (in 17th), Kohli can put some more daylight between himself and his colleagues.With no Chris Gayle or Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the West Indies squad, at least for the first two matches of the series, the highest-ranked home batsman will be Ramnaresh Sarwan, in 38th place.

India also holds the advantage in the bowling. Experienced off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (17th position) is the highest-ranked bowler from either team in this series and the only one in the top 20.

Trinidad: Without key senior players, even a second-string India will be hard to stop for the struggling West Indies when the two sides meet in a T20 match today.

India are without seniors such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and their regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but they can still turn the tables on the West Indians whom they have never beaten in a Twenty20 match before.

West Indies have two of the most economical medium-pacers in skipper Darren Sammy and Ravi Rampaul but the Oval pitch appears to have been made more for India’s taste.

India has three top spinners in Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin and Amit Mishra to take advantage of the surface while West Indies have only young leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo who could do likewise.

India have twice faced West Indies in Twenty20 internationals, first during the 2009 Twenty20 World Championships, when they lost by seven wickets at Lords, and then  West Indies repeated the result in the second encounter, again during the Twenty20 World Cup.

Team Lineup

West Indies: Darren Sammy (capt), Christopher Barnewell, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Danza Hyatt, Ashley Nurse, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons

India: Suresh Raina (capt), Harbhajan Singh (vice-capt), S Badrinath, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Vinay Kumar, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar has almost every record under his belt, but the iconic Indian cricketer says he is still not satisfied.

“When you win something or score a century you say you are happy, but not satisfied. Satisfaction is like engaging the handbrake and hoping a car moves forward,” Tendulkar said. “I am not yet satisfied with my career and what I have done, not at all. I feel the moment you start to feel satisfied, it is only natural that you begin to cool down and lose it.”

“I still love cricket as much as ever. It is my job, but it is also my passion. Cricket remains in my heart and I don’t need anything else to motivate me. I dreamt of playing for my country when I was young and it is still my dream, it is still fun for me. Life without cricket is unthinkable,” the little master added. “India’s recent World cup win after a gap of 28 years was the best moment of my career for which I had waited for 22 years. I had played in the previous five World Cups, but had fallen short each time. The experience left me feeling shattered beyond words.”

Tendulkar described the experience as “a different kind of feeling, a high, like living on a different planet, it felt as though I was flying”.

On his personal records – highest run getter in both ODIs and Tests, and highest number of centuries in both formats – the genius player said, “You have to be still in your mind, and keep it blank. It is also important to avoid any needless anger. While growing up, I picked up a lot from my father, who never lost his temper, and I have always tried to follow that, so I try not to ever lose my cool.”

Pakistan: A legal firm acting on behalf of Shahid Afridi has sent the Pakistan Cricket Board a letter to resolve the ongoing dispute between the two parties, sparked by his removal from the ODI captaincy, and his subsequent announcement of a “conditional” retirement.

“The letter has gone into some depth in explaining the history of Afridi as a player, his contributions to Pakistan cricket and his global standing as a player. The Hampshire issue has also been raised, the player’s manager, Umran Khan, said, though he refused to reveal the name of the legal firm.

Afridi has been summoned to appear before a three-man disciplinary committee formed by the PCB on June 8 in Lahore, to face charges that he has breached two clauses of the code of conduct, with his retirement announcement and subsequent criticism of the board. Afridi, in his first response to the show-cause notice, accepted that his comments were a violation of the code but Khan clarified that no apology had been made. “He accepted the violations, he did not offer an apology,” Khan said. He did confirm that Afridi would be appearing before the committee.

Afridi has appealed directly to Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, who is also patron of PCB. On Thursday, Rehman Malik, the country’s interior minister, also tweeted he would try to resolve the dispute, and it is believed that pressure has been applied from his quarters on the board to do just that.

A handful of parliamentarians have expressed their anger at the handling of the situation. On Thursday, the sports ministry had been asked by the offices of the Prime Minister and President to submit an independent report on the dispute within a week.

Colombo: Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has said the BCCI’s financial might has turned the ICC into a “toothless tiger”. Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup triumph, said the ICC has become a body which is constantly under the BCCI’s pressure.

“The ICC’s job is to protect the game. They don’t have to favour anyone. The game has been nurtured by honourable men of the ICC for decades, but at present, ICC looks to be under the thumb of India,” Ranatunga said.

“Not too long ago, we had individuals like Malcolm Speed, Eshan Mani and Malcolm Grey, who stood against India. But the current ICC is weak and they simply give in. The ICC is becoming a toothless tiger,” he said.

Ranatunga praised former England captain Tony Greig for stating that the ICC needs to shake off India’s influence on it to make right decisions. “SLC is like a puppet on a string. The job of the ICC is to protect the game rather than any individual country,” he said.

Ranatunga said he feared for the future of Test cricket due to the IPL as players seemed to be gravitating towards the league instead of the traditional format. He blamed the absence of cricketers from the ICC’s top decision-making body for the scenario.

“One fault that I see with the ICC at the moment is that most of the directors haven’t played the game and the main decisions are taken at the Directors’ meeting,” the former skipper remarked. “If you take most of the CEOs of cricket boards, they are past cricketers, but when they come up with suggestions for the well-being of the game, the directors need to support those decisions rather than rejecting them.”