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Michael Clarke has said he was pleased with the smooth captaincy transition during the one-day tour of Bangladesh, which was Ricky Ponting’s first international series under another skipper in seven years. Clarke said he felt Ponting still had plenty to offer the team, in both runs and experience, and that the former captain had no trouble handing over the reins to Clarke.”Both of us spoke openly daily, we enjoyed it and I certainly see Ricky playing a big part not only in my captaincy, but the other guys in the team and their development,” Clarke said at a function in Sydney on Wednesday. “There’s a lot less stress on his shoulders now. He can concentrate on batting well, as he has been, and helping the rest of the boys.”Ponting became the first Australia captain in nearly 30 years to stay on in the team after relinquishing the leadership, when he was named in the squad for the series in Bangladesh. But Clarke, who had already led Australia 43 times across all formats before he took the job full-time, said there was no risk of him deferring to Ponting when making decisions.”It will never get to that,” he said. “You’re always asking other players for ideas and what their thoughts are on the field. He was there in Bangladesh when I needed him. Ask him a question and he’ll give me the answer, then it’s the captain and the vice-captain’s decision to work out what’s best for the team and make that call.”The relationship among all the players – that’s one thing I make clear to all the guys, to feel free to be who they are, to be open, be upfront and if they have an idea to try and do whatever’s best for the team. Just about all the guys have played under me as captain, whether it be Twenty20 or one-dayers.”He gave me the freedom to be me and be the captain I wanted to be. He was there if I needed guidance or had any questions. As I said before we left for Bangladesh, Punter and I have a great relationship and I know that’s the guy he is – he’ll want to continue to do whatever is best for the team and he certainly did that in Bangladesh.”Clarke’s next on-field challenges don’t come until August, when the team heads to Sri Lanka for a Test tour. In the meantime, one of his major tasks will be to discuss the future direction of the side with the Don Argus-led panel charged with conducting Cricket Australia’s performance review.

Gautam Gambhir will be Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain for the fourth season of the IPL, the franchise has announced. Gambhir was the most expensive player at the January 2011 auction, bought for $2.4 million, and was the obvious choice as captain, after Sourav Ganguly, who led Kolkata in the first and third seasons, went unsold.Gambhir has experience as a captain in the IPL; he took over from Virender Sehwag as captain of Delhi Daredevils during the second season, and captained them in the third season as well as in the 2009 Champions League. He has also been captain of India in the absence of MS Dhoni, during India’s 5-0 one-day series win against New Zealand in 2010.The issue of captaincy of Kolkata has raised controversy in the past. In the 2009 season, they announced there would be a rotation system for captains, but eventually Brendon McCullum led them throughout in what was a dismal campaign. Kolkata have struggled in past IPLs: they finished last in the table in the second season and sixth in the other two. They performed well in the auction, though, picking up marquee players like Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan and Brett Lee, apart from Gambhir.”I believe that the KKR management has put together a terrific team and I am looking forward to the season,” Gambhir said after he was announced as captain. Kolkata are now the fourth team to appoint a new captain for IPL 4. Virender Sehwag will reclaim the captaincy of Delhi now that Gambhir has moved; new franchise Indi Commandos will be led by Mahela Jayawardene; and Adam Gilchrist was announced as captain of Kings XI Punjab.

Ricky Ponting has called on Brad Haddin to stop wasting his positive starts at the top of the order, as Australia search for the big scores they will need to defend their World Cup title. Haddin is one of the most experienced members of the side but he has been overshadowed by his opening partner Shane Watson in recent months, and hasn’t made a hundred in nearly a year.The Australians are in no doubt that Watson can go on and make big scores when it counts – centuries in the semi-final and final at the Champions Trophy two years ago are the proof of that – but they need Haddin to lift his output. During the home summer against Sri Lanka and England, he reached 20 on eight out of ten occasions, but his best effort was 54.It was a frustrating trend for a man who has now had two years to prove himself as an ODI opener. In 35 matches at the top of the order he has made two centuries and averaged 33.58, and while his ability is not in doubt, Ponting would like Haddin, who is one of the leaders within the group and has at times been vice-captain, to show more application once he builds a platform.”It’s something we discussed throughout the summer with him as well,” Ponting said. “We all understand, as top-order players, you have to make big scores. A 30 or 50 in any form of the game very rarely wins you anything. It’s your responsibility as a top-order player to be in late in the innings.”Hadds, sometimes I think the game can get a bit easy for him. He scores really freely and probably just gets a bit carried away with scoring as easily as he does. He needs to pull the reins back in a little bit, work the ball around in those middle overs. He still scores quickly – he’s got that ability to score boundaries that other blokes don’t have. He and Watson are really big keys for us. They both know that. I’m sure we’ll see them play well.”A strong start against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad on Monday would be a boost for Haddin, who made a duck in his only warm-up innings, but the conditions in the subcontinent don’t always make it easy to get away briskly. And Zimbabwe are almost certain to open the bowling with a spinner, which will present a different challenge again for Haddin and Watson, who can both handle the slower men but enjoy the ball coming on to the bat.”When you come in on wickets like these over here, it’s hard to go in and hit the ball straight away because the pace of the wickets, and of the bowlers you’re going to face, are a bit more foreign than we’re accustomed to,” Ponting said. “Even at the top of the order, we know Haddin and Watson are going to score pretty quickly, but Pup [Michael Clarke] and I are going to need to take our time to get set and make sure that we build a partnership and keep wickets in hand through those middle overs.”Unlike Haddin, Ponting did enjoy some valuable time in the middle during the practice matches against India and South Africa, when he made 57 and 55. He is on his way back from a broken finger that ruled him out of the second half of the Australian summer, and despite suffering some discomfort in the nets on Saturday, he was confident he wouldn’t be affected during Monday’s match.”I haven’t been too restricted in the practice games that I’ve played,” he said. “The fact that I’d had four days without any batting was probably the major reason it stiffened up yesterday. It took probably until half-way through my training session yesterday that it started to feel right again. I’ve been fielding with it taped up because I just prefer a little bit of extra protection.”Both men returned to the nets on Sunday, keen to get their eye in before taking on Zimbabwe, but the real test will be when they face the stronger teams further down track. And if the top three of Haddin, Watson and Ponting fire against those sides, Australia will be well on the way to defending their title.

John Davison, Canada’s all-time leading run scorer, will be available for the World Cup after renouncing his decision to would withdraw from the squad.Davison initially withdrew over the exclusion of fellow batsmen Geoff Barnett and Ian Billcliff. He had told Cricket Canada he would be withdrawing until the pair are given the reasons for their exclusion from Canada’s 30-man preliminary line-up for the tournament but after recent discussions he appears to be satisfied.Davison has an excellent World Cup record and this will be his third consecutive appearance for Canada at the showpiece event. In 2003 he scored the fastest World Cup century against West Indies which he followed with the third-quickest World Cup fifty against New Zealand.After talking with Ranjit Saini, president of Cricket Canada, Davison made his commitment clear and he is now certain to head to the World Cup, though he is not part of the current side competing in the Caribbean T20.

England have been very clear on their selection plans in recent times, but the one area that has caused them plenty of headaches is the limited-overs wicketkeeper and at the 11th hour they have gone back to Matt Prior for the World Cup. Steve Davies will now spend the next three weeks travelling around Australia knowing he’s not wanted in the subcontinent having previously been the favourite for the role.It has been one of the mysteries of English cricket in the last few years as to why Prior has never established himself in the one-day team despite having all the skills to be the ideal man. He will open the batting alongside Andrew Strauss, beginning in the second one-day international at Hobart, where his clean striking should make him perfect for the role. Yet from 55 ODIs, in 27 of which he has been used as an opener, he averages 25.38 and during his last stint in the side he batted in the middle order.England’s squad for the one-day series against Australia was named in mid-December and a month has proved a long time in cricket. Prior timed his Ashes form well, finishing the series with 85 in Melbourne and 118 in Sydney, then joined Victoria for the Big Bash which meant he was never far from Flower’s view.”The circumstances have changed,” Andy Flower, the England team director, said. “Matt Prior did very well out here for the Test matches. He is a combative aggressive cricketer and he fits our aggressive fielding unit. So those are the reasons why he’s been picked for the World Cup.”It was a tough decision,” Flower added. “We always knew the timing of the World Cup announcement would be tricky. It’s not ideal one game into a seven-match series. Steve Davies was picked in our last one-day series in England and he did OK against Pakistan.”We picked him for this series in Australia because of the conditions out here. But as we get closer to the World Cup we’ve made that adjustment and we want Prior to get a few games under his belt before we get out there so he’s going to be arriving in Hobart [on Wednesday].”Another aspect in Prior’s favour will have been his near-faultless work with the gloves during the Ashes series and he is now a world-class keeper. Davies is solid, but the subcontinent can be a tough place for wicketkeeper’s and in one-day cricket, where the smallest margins matter, it could prove valuable to have Prior’s class behind the stumps.This isn’t the first time Flower has been involved in significant selection calls around a global tournament. At the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, James Anderson missed out for the entire campaign when it was decided Ryan Sidebottom’s left-arm angle and control of yorkers was a better option. Flower has a ruthless streak and Davies has just found that out.”Of course he’s disappointed, any player would be disappointed to be left out of the England side,” Flower said. “It means a lot to our players. They’re very difficult decisions to make because they affect people’s careers, but those are the harsh realities of playing professional sport and Steve and others that are left out will have to accept it.”The other marginally contentious positions in the final 15-man squad were the back-up bowlers, but it was widely expected that Ajmal Shahzad, preferred ahead of Chris Tremlett or Chris Woakes, and James Tredwell, the Kent offspinner, would get the nod.With England’s plans revolving heavily around two spinners they need a frontline option in reserve should illness or injury strike, and Graeme Swann will also miss the warm-up period to be at the birth of his first child, while Shahzad has impressed in his brief international appearances so far.”We wanted to make sure we not only had two frontline spinners or a third in case of injury or illness out there,” Flower said. “Spin will play a significant part in the World Cup, there’s no doubt. Shazhad was very impressive in the last game that we played in Melbourne. He’s been in and around our squad for a while now, just getting tastes of international cricket and hasn’t secured a spot yet. We think he shows a lot of potential. He can reverse swing the ball which will be important on the subcontinent and he’s a good competitor.”At the other end of the experience scale is Paul Collingwood, England’s most capped one-day cricketer, who was dropped for the first match against Australia following his poor Ashes and Twenty20 form. Andrew Strauss said Collingwood needed time away from the spotlight and Flower believes the allrounder, who is also on paternity leave in the build-up to the World Cup, still has a crucial role to play.”He missed out the last game but his experience, his credentials as a player, the energy he gives in the field and the quality of his fielding and obviously the all-round capabilities with bat and ball make him a strong contender,” he said. “The reason why he was left out in the first place was he was struggling recently and needs a little time to reassess but he’ll be back in the side.”Now that the final 15 has been named preparations can swing into full gear for the tournament which starts on February 19. England’s first match is against Netherlands, in Nagpur, three days later and Flower said there will be a duel focus to the rest of the one-day series in Australia.”It’s a balance of both,” he said. “This series is important in its own right. It is very important series for our preparation for the World Cup. Some of our training will evolve around subcontinent-type methods and certainly we’ll be working towards that. I think our one-day cricket has improved significantly over the last couple of years and I believe that we can do well.”

The accumulator
Alastair Cook batted on and on and on – for so long, in fact, that his eventual score of 235 not out was almost ten times his previous average in Tests against Australia. By the time England called a halt to his magnum opus, the previously formidable Gabbatoir was as tame as a petting zoo, with the Barmy Army singing his praises against an echoing backdrop of flipped-up plastic seating. Not only did Cook’s score outstrip Donald Bradman’s 226 as the highest individual innings at the Gabba, it exceeded the series total of 222 that Cook mustered in the 2009 Ashes, while his match total of 302 was also a new ground record, beating the 300 that Matthew Hayden made against England in 2002-03Business as usual
Jonathan Trott is getting pretty used to taking part in gargantuan stands. In England’s last Test, at Lord’s back in August, he and Stuart Broad shattered England’s eighth-wicket record by piling up a massive 332. So today’s unbeaten 329 stand with Cook was small beer by comparison. Nevertheless, in taking his chance to rack up a fourth Test hundred, Trott reacquainted himself with his favourite opponents, Australia, against whom he has now racked up second-innings hundreds in each of his two games.Trebles all round
England haven’t had to lot to cheer about triple-century partnerships in recent Ashes history. On Saturday, their immediate prospects were quashed by Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin, who set a new Gabba record mark of 307; while four years ago in Adelaide, Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen’s 310-run stand ended up as the sorriest of footnotes in the most crushing defeat in recent Ashes history. This time, however, there was a lot more for England to get excited about, as they overhauled both of those figures to achieve a new national high in Ashes cricket.Extra extras
Australia’s attack has been overly generous during the past two days, buttheir discipline before lunch on the final day was particularly bad.Mitchell Johnson attempted a bouncer from around the wicket that went sofar down the legside it ended up as five wides. Later, Brad Haddin gave upeight byes in two balls from Xavier Doherty, with the second batchbringing up England’s 400. Shane Watson was also called for a wide when heattempted a bouncer as nothing went right for the hosts.Slip’s slip
Michael Clarke was in the business section of the field after spending thefirst innings floating around to protect his injured back. However, hebecame one of five Australians to spill a chance when Trott edgedto him at first slip on 75. By Test standards it was a sitter, but Clarkespilt it to his right, causing more comments about his fitness, and moreanguish for Watson.Declaration delight
By far the best moment for Australia was the declaration at 1 for 517shortly before tea. The tired and relieved Australians were gracious intheir praise for Cook and Trott, showing there are good feelings in thisseries as well as bad. Simon Katich fell in Australia’s short reply, butRicky Ponting’s mood improved slightly with a breezy half-century.

Match Facts

November 8, Dubai
Start time 15:00 (11:00 GMT)Pakistan squeezed home to a one-wicket victory in the fourth match and and have fought back to 2-2 for the second time in their last two series•AFP

The Big Picture

An intriguing contest looms as Pakistan and South Africa head neck-and-neck into the final match of their limited-overs series. Pakistan were in this exact position in their last one-day last series, against England in September, having fought back from 2-0 down to set up what should have been a thrilling finale to their controversial English sojourn. As it happened, they capitulated pitifully on an autumnal evening at The Rose Bowl to hand England a 121-run win and the series.Pakistan’s mercurial style of play lends itself to such scenarios, and less than two months later a fittingly enthralling end to what has been a classic series is once again on the cards. It would be foolhardy to suggest a particular approach that Pakistan might take into Monday’s encounter at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium; they could flourish or implode in equally spectacular fashion. But despite the seemingly obligatory disciplinary issues in the Pakistan camp ahead of the game, morale is undoubtedly high and with a noisy crowd behind them they could well surge to a series-stealing win.Of course, South Africa have their own oft-repeated problems with ‘choking’ in crunch matches and will be hoping for a calmly professional performance to quieten those criticisms. The South Africans certainly started this series as the more fancied team, taking their dominance in the opening Twenty20 exchanges into the first ODI where they eased to a crushing eight-wicket win in the at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.But the three games since then have all been nail-bitingly close, and game No. 5 has the feel of a tournament final between two equally-matched teams. Can Pakistan overcome their indiscipline and inconsistency? Can South Africa finish the job and, with the World Cup just over 100 days away, show that the ‘chokers’ tag no longer fits them? There is plenty for both teams to gain from the final ODI.

Form guide

(most recent first)
South Africa: LWLWW
Pakistan: WLWLL

Watch out for…

Younis Khan’s return to Pakistan’s middle order has brought a much-needed level of calmness and experience, and has already added two half-centuries in this series to take his career tally to 39 – along with six ODI hundreds. If they are to avoid a repeat of their shocker at Southampton in September, a solid contribution from him will be vitally important.Graeme Smith is the kind of captain that looks to lead from the front, and won’t shy away from his responsibilities at the top of the order as South Africa push for a series win. He is also reasonably consistent against Pakistan’s attack, having managed 745 runs at 41.38 in 21 ODIs against them. Those runs include eight half-centuries, the last of which was Friday’s well-paced 92.

Team news

Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s back spasms continue to be a worry for South Africa, and once again they didn’t have the firepower to restrict Pakistan in the closing overs on Friday. Wayne Parnell leaked 53 runs in less than nine overs in that game, and could make way for Rusty Theron, who is a canny operator at the death.South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Colin Ingram, 7 David Miller 8 Johan Botha, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Rusty Theron
Pakistan seem to have struck a winning combination and, barring injury, are unlikely to mess with the line-up that fought so hard for Friday’s series-levelling win.Pakistan (possible): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Fawad Alam, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Zulqarnain Haider (wk), 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Shoaib Akhtar

Pitch and conditions

The same strip is being used for the third match in a row, and the low, slow bounce and grip for the spinners that has been exhibited by this pitch so far is sure to get more exaggerated. Of course, that didn’t stop 549 runs being scored in the fourth match, and if the bowlers get it wrong they will still be punished. All of which makes a winning total rather hard to predict. What be predictable, though, is the weather: there might be the odd cloud around on Monday but it should be hot and dry once again.

Stats and trivia

• Shoaib Akhtar has bowled reasonably well in this series without setting the world alight, and is Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker with six scalps at 32.16. But his career average in ODIs against South Africa is very impressive indeed, with his tally currently at 26 wickets at an average of 21.53.
• Hashim Amla needs just four runs to reach 1,000 in ODIs in 2010. AB de Villiers is not far behind him at No. 3 on the 2010 runscorers list, and will also reach 1,000 for the year if he gets close to a hundred. Shahid Afridi, at No. 22, is the leading Pakistani runscorer, with 577 ODI runs to his name.
• Pakistan are yet to beat South Africa in a limited-overs series, and have not won a one-day series since they beat West Indies 3-0 the last time they were in Abu Dhabi in November 2008.

Quotes

“This series is a very close affair, so we need to take all our chances and if we do then we will win the series, which will be a very good achievement considering our recent record.”

“We obviously want to win the series, but you also want to see which players are available before the World Cup because this is our last chance to play on sub-continent type of pitches here.”

Scorecard
Terry Duffin’s 193 set up Tuskers victory•Zimbabwe Cricket

Matabeleland Tuskers posted their first win of the season, overcoming Southern Rocks by six wickets in Bulawayo, to move into second spot in the Logan Cup standings. The defeat leaves Rocks at the bottom of the table, with zero points after three matches.Two of the architects of the victory were 22-year-old medium-pacer Keegan Meth, who took seven wickets in the match, and former international opener Terry Duffin, whose 193 was nearly half of Tuskers’ total in the first innings. The finishing touches to the win was provided by an unbroken 98-run stand for the fifth wicket between Steven Trenchard and Adam Wheater.Rocks were in trouble after choosing to bat, new-ball bowlers Meth and Njabulo Ncube slicing through the batting to leave them at 12 for 3 and later 124 for 6. It was 24-year-old Pakistan-born batsman Sikandar Raza who hauled them to a respectable total, making his maiden first-class century and forging substantial partnerships with Tendai Chisoro (50) and Blessing Mahwire (45) for the seventh and eighth wickets.Tuskers’ innings was a reversal, with the top half contributing and the lower order collapsing. Duffin made 193, his highest first-class score, and Gavin Ewing chipped in with 81 as Tuskers marched to 319 for 3 before offspinner Keith Kulinga and Mahwire rolled over the rest of the side. Kulinga’s 5-114 was his first five-wicket haul.The Rocks’ top order didn’t impress in the second innings as well, and it was again left to Raza to rescue them again, this time with an unbeaten 60 that lifted them to 225. Faced with the fairly small target of 176, Tuskers nearly made a mess of it, losing their top four for 78 before Trenchard and Wheater secured the victory.
Scorecard
Mashonaland Eagles had to fight hard to secure the first-innings lead and with that one point against Mid West Rhinos in Kwekwe. Former South African allrounder Andrew Hall’s unbeaten century from No. 6 helped Eagles fight back from 193 for 6 and clamber past Rhinos’ competitive first-innings score of 351.Sent in to bat, Rhinos slid to 98 for 5, before they were also bolstered by a lower middle-order century – from 23-year-old Remembrance Nyati, whose 118 and Solomon Mire’s 52 pushed Rhinos beyond 300. Eagles’ opener Simbarashe Gupo posted a half-century and captain Forster Mutizwa made 42 at No. 3 but they soon found themselves at 144 for 5, in danger of conceding a big lead before Hall intervened. At 270 for 7, either side could still have grabbed that lead, but No. 10 Trevor Garwe stood firm with a 41 to assist Hall in guiding Eagles past the Rhinos’ total.In the second innings, Rhinos’ top order was in top form: Gary Ballance made a century, his opening partner, Friday Kasteni, made 56 and captain Vusi Sibanda contributed a brisk 57. Rhinos declared at 294 for 4, leaving Eagles a target of 292. Mutizwa blasted 84 at nearly a run-a-ball but there weren’t enough overs for Eagles to get near the target, finishing on 187 for 5 in 52 overs.

Time is running out on Kochi, the most faction-ridden of all IPL franchises. The BCCI’s deadline asking the franchise owners to register themselves as a company is only a week away but instead of sorting out the ownership wrangle, Kochi’s owners have entangled themselves in fresh problems.Rendezvous Sports, led by Satyajitsinh Gaekwad, has made a fresh offer to buy the whole 25% of free equity, granted to them ‘for life’ when the franchise was set up earlier in the year. There has been no response to the offer in three weeks and an official involved in the discussions said, “Both factions have failed to resolve the dispute.”The biggest investors of the consortium, Mehul Shah of the Anchor group (26% ownership), had earlier offered Gaekwad and the other Rendezvous co-owners payment of 10% of the free equity in cash to exit the consortium.”They [Rendezvous] have made a fresh offer and are waiting for a response,” said one of the Kochi officials involved in the emergency meetings.After an emergency IPL governing council meeting last Sunday, the BCCI served a show-cause notice to Kochi, giving the franchise 10 days to resolve the internal disputes which, Manohar said, had split the five-partner consortium into two groups. In the same meeting, the BCCI also terminated the contracts of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab over their ownership patterns, thus indicating to Kochi that the consequences of inaction were severe.Rendezvous’ argument is that they took a risk in deciding to incur all the costs leading up to the bid until they won it, a proposal agreed to by the other investors in exchange of 25% of free equity. According to a Kochi insider, Rendezvous got the equity in consideration other than cash. “This was offered as per the unincorporated joint venture agreement made before the bid for Kochi,” he said, “with the responsibility to manage all the processes including outsourcing to win the bid.”It was Gaekwad who put up all of the Rs 4 crore (US$ 905,000) initial investment till the bid was won, the source said. “If they [Kochi] had lost the bid, the money would have been lost.” The terms of the sweat equity were offered in exchange of Gaekwad’s “intangible services” in the run-up to the bid along with the risk of losing Rs 4 crores.The other faction in the franchise, led by Anchor’s Shah, is against both the involvement of Rendezvous and the appointment of Gaekwad as CEO. The Kochi source revealed that the Shah group are offering Rendezvous 10% of the equity as an exit payment from the consortium. Rendezvous, however, had remained adamant: “Their latest offer is that they are willing to invest 100% of the free equity to save Kochi from falling apart.” This is an increase from Rendezvous’ initial offer of investing 15% of the equity to end the feud.The Kochi franchise has been controversial from its very inception in March. Rendezvous Sports World, a consortium of five companies, became the tenth IPL franchise after a successful bid of US$333.33m but almost immediately ran into trouble over the composition of its ownership, after the discovery of a few “secret partners” in the consortium. A new agreement was then signed by both the parties but fresh controversy broke when Lalit Modi, the then IPL chairman, made the ownership details public on his Twitter feed.Even then Modi had categorically questioned the 25% “free equity” granted to Rendezvous Sports. “25% of Kochi team is given free to Rendezvous sports for life. The same equity is non-dilutable in perpetuity. What does that mean?” Modi had asked. Kochi can either solve its problems within a week or face an even more troubled future.

Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz has been questioned by Scotland Yard over the spot-fixing allegations surrounding the Lord’s Test that arose out of the sting. Wahab is the fourth member of the Pakistan team to be questioned by the police so far.”(We) can confirm that today, September 14, one further Pakistani cricketer was interviewed by appointment under caution,” the Scotland Yard said in a brief statement.Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed identified Wahab as the player taken in for questioning. “They called us up late afternoon and we took Wahab to the station for the interview,” he told .Wahab was questioned for about half-an-hour in the presence of the team’s barrister, Elizabeth Robertson, and their security manager. Yawar said he did not know if the player would be required for any further interviews.A statement issued by Robertson on behalf of the PCB and Wahab indicated that he had “voluntarily attended Kilburn Police Station to provide assistance in the ongoing investigation concerning allegations published by the . He has been unconditionally released.”Wahab took five wickets on Test debut at the Oval, when Pakistan beat England by four wickets. He then took one wicket in the Lord’s Test and played the first Twenty20 international, but has played no further part in the tour since.Scotland Yard have already questioned Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, all three of whom have been provisionally suspended by the ICC pending its own investigation.The suspended trio have returned to Pakistan on the condition that they will be available for any further questioning by Scotland Yard. They have also filed their replies to the ICC asserting their innocence and asking for their suspensions to be lifted.”We can also confirm that Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt have written to the ICC indicating their intention to defend themselves in respect of the disciplinary action brought against them,” continued the statement released by the players’ lawyer.”The players have expressed concern that the ICC’s investigation could prejudice the police investigation, and have requested additional time to respond fully to the charges. The ICC has granted additional time. The players remain willing to co-operate in full with the ICC. No further comment will be made at this time.”