Harmison defends Flintoff

Worcester: England fast bowler Steve Harmison is certain his friend Andrew Flintoff will rebound from his disciplinary issues this week in time for the Ashes. Flintoff, England’s leading all-rounder, was reprimanded by team officials after he missed the bus that was taking the team to a war memorial site in Belgium on Saturday while on a team-bonding trip.

“Andrew is a fantastic all-rounder and is somebody that England needs to do well because of what he stands for in this country,” Harmison said. “He is a larger-than-life character, and if he gets on a roll he will take 18,000 people with him at Cardiff next week.”

North support

Worcester: Marcus North has urged detractors of Phillip Hughes not to make too much into the Australia opener’s failures against England’s back-up bowlers ahead first Ashes Test.

“I wouldn’t read too much into his two dismissals in this game. He was facing a guy that is one of the tallest blokes in world cricket. He’s always going to get a bit of bounce,” North said. “If you look back to the first innings, I’d be surprised if that ball didn't get a lot of us out.”

Vaas denial

Galle: Veteran Sri Lankan seamer Chaminda Vaas on Saturday refuted the chief selector Asantha de Mel’s claim that he wanted to retire from Test cricket, saying he had not taken any such decision. Chief selector had said that the 35-year-old left-armer did not want to play Test, but was still available for one-day and Twenty20 cricket.

“I have not retired from Test cricket,” he said. “I have not even spoken to De Mel or any other selecto,” Vaas said.

BCCI meeting

Calcutta: The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s technical committee and the National Cricket Academy committee are to meet here on July 8 ahead of the 2009-10 season. “The technical committee meeting will be chaired by Sunil Gavaskar and would undertake a review of the 2008-09 season,” said BCCI’s chief administrative officer Prof. Ratnakar Shetty. “We have made changes to the formats of the under-19 and under-22 events, by making these cricketers play on a home and away basis. The technical committee would be informed about this,” Prof. Shetty added.