Cape Town, Mar. 17: South Africa captain Graeme Smith has hinted that there is a split between the management and players in the wake of a fiasco that resulted in the side having four captains during the current series against the Australians.

The team, which is 2-0 down in the three-match series, has refused to comment on Mark Boucher replacing Smith on the field and then Ashwell Prince, who has been out of the side for five Tests, being appointed opener and captain for the third Test.

Lahore, Mar. 17: PCB's chief selector Abdul Qadir has asked pacer Shoaib Akhtar to prove his fitness if he wants to participate in the World Twenty20 Championship in England.

The 2009 World Twenty20 Championship will be held in England in June. The PCB is going to select its preliminary squad by the end of this month, The Nation reports.

Qadir said a ''fully-fit'' Shoaib would prove to be a huge asset for Pakistan, and hence, will certainly be considered for the team going to participate in the prestigious tournament.

Due to poor performance in ODIs against Sri Lanka, Shoaib was ignored for the Test series against Lankans, and also left out from the upcoming Bangladesh tour.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 17: West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor, who will appear in his 128th and last Test here, has stirred controversy by saying that money power allowed the Indian cricket board to succeed in having him sacked from a Test match in Perth in 2008.

"Some people are more equal than others," the Waikato Times quoted Bucknor, as saying in reference to the explosive second test in Sydney in January 2008 that led to India captain Anil Kumble filing a negative report on the West Indies official.

Hamilton (New Zealand), Mar. 17: New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori has reportedly received some tips from a schoolboy on how to get the wicket of Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

According to the Waikato Times, Owen Robinson told the Black Caps skipper that Tendulkar is susceptible to the lofted drive after bowling to the cricket superstar in the nets.

London, Mar. 17: Andy Flower, the assistant coach of the England cricket team, has given a withering assessment of its chances in Twenty20 cricket.

“We’re rubbish and we know we are,” The Sun quoted Flower as saying, adding that England will be among the rank outsiders when they host the World Twenty20 this summer.

Speaking after his team’s six-wicket loss to the West Indies on Sunday, Flower said the plain fact is “England are poor at Test cricket, inconsistent in 50-over games and utterly hopeless at Twenty20.”