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Under fire from the ECB for being to blame for many of the ills affecting county cricket, one of the county chairmen attacked recently by the board has hit back. In an exclusive interview in today’s Daily Telegraph, Neil Davidson, chairman of Leicestershire, accused the ECB of “talking nonsense”.Davidson, who runs Arla Foods, the country’s biggest milk supplier, defended the position of his fellow chairmen. “The majority of us are not old farts, but are either entrepreneurs or running businesses, and the average age of the chairmen is 50. So when John Read [the then ECB press spokesman] says county cricket is holding back English cricket he is talking nonsense. The counties are English cricket. Without us there would be no Test team and no cricket in this country.”What really upset Davidson was the recent proposal put forward by the ECB, and rejected by the chairmen, for domestic reform. “These were crackpot proposals,” he told the paper. “Lamb did not say much at the meeting but John Carr [cricket director] said this was for the good of cricket. But they had not tested it with the consumers.”Davidson admitted that four-day cricket will never draw the crowds in significant numbers, but said that it was vital for the future of the game. “[It’s] not a bum-on-seat event. However it is necessary to produce players for the Test team and that is are our prize asset and our cash cow. But Twenty20 and the other one-day matches are bums-on-seats events and we need to make them happenings, like baseball in America.”I would like the ECB to provide floodlights for all counties, to see Twenty20 made into a national league and played on a Friday evening so people can bring their kids and those who would otherwise go to the pub and drink, could drink at cricket. The National League should be 40 overs starting at 5pm.”And, like many of his colleagues, he was not happy with the way the Zimbabwe issue was handled. “The ECB were unfortunate to be caught in a political situation, but how did England find itself isolated on the world stage? The chairmen kept being told by the ECB we are going, when we really don’t want to go. That is no way to handle such an issue.”

Marvan AtapattuOn Sri Lanka’s performance
To start with, it wasn’t our best performance on the field, but having saidthat, having come back to the dressing room we wanted to make up for whathappened in the Asia Cup against India when we lost by four runs chasing270-odd. It was a good pitch and it did not deteriorate as much as peoplewould have thought. It was low but good for batting.On the run chase
As Graeme (Smith) said we were able to pick up singles easily for ashort while in the middle of the innings. But we planned the chase in such away that the required rate never lifted above seven. It was under six formost of the time. And we ensured that we still had batsmen remaining at theend.On Lokuarachchi’s return to the team
Lokuarachchi only went out of the team because of a few unfortunateincidents, but he is a competitive player and can contribute to the team inall three aspects of the gameOn the importance of the win for the series
It is definitely good to have won the first game of the series. But they area good, competitive side. Not many sides would have put 260 on the board.Even in the Asia Cup we did not see many of those kind of scores. It’s justthat on the day we played better.On Sri Lanka’s revival
Credit should go to everybody, from the manager down to the 15th player.Everyone is contributing. Everything has fallen into place. People aretaking responsibility and everyone wants to do well. When those things fallinto shape it is so much easier to be the captain.Graeme SmithOn the game
At the end of the day 263 should have been enough for us. But if I look atthe bowling, we did well in the first 15 to keep them to 70, as against thenew ball the wicket was probably at its easiest. Our problem was from the 15overs mark in the middle when we couldn’t contain enough runs. With thespinner bowling they were going at six or seven per over without taking toomany risks. The boys fought well to get back to where we were, but Sri Lankaplayed well at the deathOn whether South Africa have the right attack for SL conditions
I am not going to sit here and moan about my bowling attack because I knowthere is nothing better. We have got to work, challenge the guys and getthings right. We talk enough and we practice enough and there is nothingmore we can do. The guys have got to take responsibility and go an do thingsin the middleOn whether the new-look batting order worked
We are looking to get our strikers into the game a little earlier tokeep sides under pressure and take more advantage of the middle periods.When you try something new there is always going to be some working through,but I’m pretty happy with how it went today.On the committment of the players
The boys gave it everything and there was huge disappointment in thedressing room. We can’t ask for anything more in terms of commitment. Wequestioned the team’s commitment, and the pride and the passion for playingfor your country after the Test match, but the guys gave everything today.We just need a little bit of a luck change. I am pretty sure we are close.

Ricky Ponting wants to dent England’s morale early and said the two one-day series would be crucial to gain a mental advantage ahead of the Ashes in July. Speaking ahead of the team’s departure from Brisbane, Ponting said it was crucial that the Australians dominated the one-dayers and created a few doubts in the minds of the Englishmen before the Test series.”It’s important that we get off to a good start in the one-day series,” Ponting said. “I’m not a big believer in taking momentum from a one-day series into a Test series, but if we can create some doubts in a couple of individuals’ minds then that’ll be good for us. Those guys obviously haven’t played much against Australia and I’ve heard different things that they think that could be a good thing for them.”Ponting acknowledged England’s fantastic run over the last year, but said some of their players might still have some apprehensions coming into the series. “The other thing is that they haven’t been successful against the best side in the world,” he said. “They’ll always have a few doubts in the back of their mind if they actually can compete against us.”He added that England wouldn’t gain too much out of their current two-Test series against Bangladesh. “It’s good for those guys to be playing some Test cricket at the moment but by the time we get there it’s coming towards the end of their summer, which will be a good time for us to play as well,” he said. “So they won’t take a lot out of that and we won’t take too much notice of what happens.”Ponting spoke of the hype surrounding the forthcoming series, but said the side was used to handling the pressures. “If our batsmen play as well as we can that’s going to be the key for us,” he said. “It’s up to us. There’s going to be a lot more pressure on everyone during this series just because it’s England. There’s no doubt about that, but the great thing about it from our side is that there’s been expectations on this team for five or six years. We go into every single series as favourite and this one’s going to be no different.”John Buchanan, the Australia coach, believed the offerings from the players taking part in the English County Championship – such as Shane Warne and Simon Katich – could prove crucial. “In terms of tactically preparing, and certainly preparing against some players that we may not have come up against regularly then the input of Shane or Simon or Michael Hussey, who have been over there, is always good,” he said. “Any little bit of information we can get is always valuable.”Australia begin their tour with a one-off Twenty20 match on June 13 before squaring off against England and Bangladesh in a triangular series. They play England three more times after that series in the lead-up to the opening Test at Lord’s that begins on July 21.

After weeks of no news – a legacy , so it was claimed, of gagging orders imposed by the courts – the USA Cricket Association and Council of League Presidents have finally made an announcement about the future running of the game in the USA. Few will be surprised to learn that the outcome is yet another fudge.In short, the legal proceedings have been referred to October 28, by mutual agreement, during which time an amended USACA board can operate. That consists of the ten members who won the contested elections earlier this year, plus the four individuals controversially disqualified for supposedly failing to adhere to the letter of the law regarding candidature.However, the quorum remains at six members, which effectively ensures that the controlling group led by Gladstone Dainty, the USACA president, can maintain the same hold over the running of the board that they have since those elections.What is also clear is that the CLP is to all intents and purposes shut out. Not only does it not have ant real representation on the board, it is also prevented from making any comments or putting up any postings on its own website. Given that the USACA has operated in virtual secrecy for some time, that means that the rank and file inside the US cricket fraternity will be even less informed about what is going on – as hard as that seems, given that they have been told almost nothing throughout this drawn-out affair.Rumours had been doing the rounds for a few weeks that the CLP was in retreat, and this announcement appears to confirm that. After arriving in a blaze of publicity and offering hope that there might be a chance for cricket in the US to salvage something from the wreckage of the previous regime’s mismanagement, The CLP looks to have been all bluster and little substance. There has been no new dawn – in fact, the national game looks to be crawling even further into the darkness.

A six-wicket haul by Mark Gillespie, the fast bowler, put Wellington on top at the end of the first day in their State Championship match against Canterbury at Wellington. Canterbury lost their way after a solid opening stand of 85 between Todd Astle (56) and Michael Papps (25), losing three quick wickets for two runs, all falling to Gillespie. Chris Harris (29) and Andrew Ellis (28) staged a recovery, adding 45 for the fifth wicket, before Grant Elliot claimed both victims. Gillespie ended the day with figures of 6 for 78, his sixth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as Canterbury finished on 256 for 9 at stumps.Rain washed out the first day’s play in two State Championship games at Auckland and Hamilton between Auckland and Otago and between Northern Districts and Central Districts respectively. Central Districts and Otago are tied at second place with 26 points in the points table, with the former slightly ahead on net runs-per-wicket. Both games are scheduled to commence at 10.00am local time Monday morning.

Lord’s will attract a record-breaking crowd when it stages its first Twenty20 match between Middlesex and Surrey on Thursday, July 15. MCC has confirmed that ticket sales have now topped 15,000, breaking the previous Twenty20 record crowd of 14, 862 for the match between Lancashire and Yorkshire at Old Trafford last June.”We are delighted that tickets have been selling so well,” beamed Roger Knight, MCC’s secretary and chief executive. “We look forward to staging our first Twenty20 match in front of a record-breaking Lord’s crowd.”Advance sales of tickets, which cost £10 for adults and £5 for children, will end on Monday, July 12. All eighty boxes and suites have been sold out since mid-May. Assuming tickets remain, on-the-day sales will be on a cash-only basis at the North Gate ticket sales points.MCC Ticket Office: 020 7432 1000

Ian Botham has unveiled plans for his 11th charity walk to raise funds for Leukaemia Research and the Teenage Cancer Trust.Botham, who has walked 6,500 miles to raise more than £8m on previous treks, and even led a herd of elephants across the Alps on one occasion, will walk for nine days from October 8 to 17, stopping off at Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Cardiff.Botham’s last walk took place in October 2003, when he walked 210 miles across Wales to raise more than £300,000 for a new children’s hospital. He said at the time that would be his last such walk but, having turned 50 last November, he is in no mood for retirement just yet.Andrew Flintoff is expected to join Botham for at least part of the way, although with England’s Champions Trophy campaign getting underway on October 15, there may be a conflict of interests.Botham himself had no doubt where the team’s priorities would lie, however. “Freddie and the England boys will all be coming along,” he said. “Freddie will be doing more than one town and we hope to involve a number of the other players in their home cities.”A lot of guys from the rugby world, the cricketing world and a few friends from showbiz will also be taking part.”

Pakistan now has two players in the top five of the Test batting rankings following the drawn first Test against England at Lord’s. Inzamam-ul-Haq has climbed one place to third in the list after twin half-centuries and he has been joined in the top five by Mohammad Yousuf, who made 202, his second successive Test double hundred against England.Yousuf is up two spots to fifth place and now has his best-ever ranking and his highest tally of points. Completing a trio of Pakistan batsmen in the top 10 is Younis Khan, who missed the Lord’s Test through injury. He lies seventh in the table.The only players Inzamam now trails in the rankings are his opposite numbers Ricky Ponting of Australia and India’s Rahul Dravid. England, by contrast, has just one batsman in that top 10, Kevin Pietersen in 10th position, but below him, several of his team mates are making positive moves.Andrew Strauss’s ninth Test hundred has seen him rise two places to 12th (overtaking team-mate Marcus Trescothick in the process) while Paul Collingwood’s Test-best 186 has boosted him up to joint 34th position, a climb of 16 places.Ian Bell and Alastair Cook, two more century-makers from the Lord’s Test are up to joint 42nd and 51st place respectively, and the duo – along with Collingwood – have career-best ratings.The bowling ranks have seen no changes in the top 20 with England’s Matthew Hoggard still the highest-placed player from either side. He remains in fifth spot, ahead of injured team-mate Andrew Flintoff in sixth and another injured player, Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, in seventh position.Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan remains top rankings, clear of South African fast bowler Makhaya Ntini.

Scorecard

Clinton Perren and Chris Simpson upset New South Wales’ victory plans by avoiding the follow-on as Queensland posted 8 for 464 at Sydney. The Bulls, who need a win to stay alive in the competition, immediately declared and the Blues were 0 for 25 at the close.The home side’s first-innings 613 looked adequate when the Bulls fell to 7 for 309, still 155 runs short of making New South Wales bat in order. Lacklustre fielding cost the Blues, as Simon Katich dropped Ashley Noffke on 0 before he and Simpson compiled a 99-run stand to edge Queensland within reach.Simpson and Daniel Doran (30 not out) passed the required mark despite some great bowling from Grant Lambert. He took 3 for 0 from eight balls – it would have been 4 for 0 had Noffke been caught – with the second new ball and finished with 4 for 77.Lambert had little assistance as Simpson (85 not out) recorded his best first-class score and Perren continued his late-season form spike. Perren’s 110 was his first Pura Cup century in 2006-07 and featured 17 fours before he became Lambert’s initial victim.Katich, the New South Wales captain, left the field with an injured hand after his missed chance. He will now have to decide whether to set the Bulls a chase – the Blues lead by 174 runs – or accept first-innings points and focus on beating Tasmania in a top-of-the-table clash next week.

Andre Nel, the South African bowler, has been fined 20% of his match fee for breaching the ICC’s Code of Conduct during the 5th ODI between South Africa and India at Mumbai on November 28.Jeff Crowe, the ICC Match Referee, concluded that Nel was guilty of using foul language – a breach of ICC Code 1.4 – after conducting a hearing with Nel, Graeme Smith, and Goolam Rajah, the South African team manager, after the match. ICC Code 1.4 relates to “using language that is obscene, offensive or insulting” which includes swearing in frustration at one’s own poor play or misfortune. “While not wanting to stifle the character of a lively player such as Andre, his explicit obscene language that was witnessed by TV viewers is unacceptable,” Crowe said in an ICC media release.All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50% of a player’s match fee. The charge was brought by Daryl Harper and Hariharan Krishna, the on-field umpires, as well as Ivaturi Sivaram, the TV umpire , and Ravi Subramanium, the fourth umpire .