Division One

Points Table

At Lord’s, Middlesex crashed to an embarrassing innings-and-232-run defeat at the hands of a rampant Sussex after being bowled out twice in a day. Click here for a full report.Mark Ramprakash, who will be 36 next month, guided Surrey into a useful lead against Gloucestershire with a typically stylish 185, cutting and driving with elegance. His fourth century of the season allowed Surrey to recover from a poor start, when they slumped to 40 for 3 following the loss of Mark Butcher for six. Graham Thorpe added 98 with Ramprakash then Jonathan Batty combined in a stand of 133. When Malinga Bandara dismissed Ali Brown and Azhar Mahmood in the space of three balls Gloucestershire would have had ambitions of restricting Surrey to a similar total as their own. “This was the best Ramps has looked this season, the most relaxed and complete,” said Steve Rixon, Surrey’s coach. “I said it last year and I’ll say it again – he’s the best batsman in county cricket.”

Division Two

A record stand of 223 between Mark Chilton and Iain Sutcliffe gave Lancashire a brilliant start in their first innings response to Yorkshire’s 417 all out. Click here for a full report.Luke Sutton and Mohamed Sheikh both hit half-centuries to lead Derbyshire to an imposing first-innings score of 426 against Essex. Starting the day on 272 for 6, Sutton and Sheikh put on 120 for the seventh wicket. The Pakistani leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria, finished with the impressive figures of 60.1 overs 6 for 111. Sheik’s followed on from his excellent innings of 55 to take the wicket of Alistair Cook for just one. Graeme Welch took two further wickets, as Essex finished on 113 for 4. Derbyshire are still looking for their first win of the season, but are very well placed in this match with two days to go.Worcestershire completely dominated the second day of their game against Somerset, with a powerful and dominating batting display. Stephen Peters fell for a well-compiled innings of 88, but Zander de Bruyn, playing in his final Championship match before being replaced by Chris Gayle, struck a superb 161 from 213 balls. The other centurion was Ben Smith, who remains unbeaten on 117 as Worcestershire closed the day on 492, having lost just three wickets in the day. They hold a very handy lead of 174, and Somerset will be desperate for early wickets tomorrow morning.

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.

Michael Hussey has been thrust into the Australia squad as cover for Justin Langer, who is fighting a fractured rib to prove his fitness for the first Test against West Indies on Thursday. Langer, who was hit while batting for Western Australia in an ING Cup match on Saturday, has not been ruled out of the side, but Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, decided to give Hussey time to adapt in case he was asked to make his debut.”The reports from team medical staff suggest that Justin will aim to practice tomorrow, but in the event that he’s not fit to play, we want to have a player on stand-by in Brisbane,” Hohns said. “Although Justin has signalled his intent to train and make himself available for the Test, we must cover all of our bases.”Hussey will join the team from Perth today and his impressive ODI performances since being recalled in March – he has an average of 119.25 in his past 17 matches – and position as a specialist opener pushed him above Brad Hodge and Phil Jaques. “Hussey has played some fine cricket for Australia in the one-day international arena, so he is familiar with the set-up within the national side,” Hohns said. “He is a quality top-order batsman in first-class cricket and we believe he can fill a role in the Test side if required.” reported today that Langer risked puncturing a lung if hit again, but he was desperate to prove his fitness. “He would almost certainly wear a guard and he risks sustaining further injury, such as a punctured lung,” Dr Trefor James, the team doctor, told the paper. “It’s not a high risk, but the thing about it is it’s quite a serious injury. That will have to be explained to him.”Dr James said if Langer was restricted in any of his batting and fielding movements he would be ruled out. This is the second time in a year Langer has been injured in the lead-up to a Test, but he recovered from a back problem to play at the MCG last Boxing Day.

Marcus Trescothick hoped that the subcontinent would not be serving up anymore surprises for England’s cricketers, after an eventful second day’splay in the second Test at Faisalabad. By the close, England had inchedalong to 113 for 3 in reply to Pakistan’s first-innings total of 462, buttheir struggles had been overshadowed by controversy – involving bothumpires and players – and moreover, by a large explosion on the boundary’sedge.”You don’t expect things like that when you’re out in the middle,” saidTrescothick, who was on 41 when a blast ripped out the advertisinghoardings at midwicket and held up play for five minutes while England’ssecurity team ascertained that a gas cylinder had exploded. “My instantreaction was that it was something quite serious, and we were a bitworried for a while.”Trescothick, who was on 41 at the time, is no stranger to suchdistractions. At Rawalpindi on England’s last tour of Pakistan in 2000-01,he and Alec Stewart were affected by tear gas that had been fired onrioting fans outside the stadium. “Hopefully this is as bad as it gets,”he said. “It was a bit of a shock to the system, but fingers crossed thatnothing else bad happens.”England were already in some difficulty when the incident occurred, withTrescothick and Ian Bell regrouping after the loss of two early wickets.”We talked for a while afterwards and just took time to switch back on,”he explained. “It’s just like you would after a drinks break or interval.As much as you can, you’ve got to get your focus back as quickly aspossible, and get back into a routine at the crease.”England’s distractions didn’t end there, however, for no sooner had theyresumed than they were talking to the umpires about some mysterious damagesuffered by the bowlers’ footmarks. TV replays showed that Shahid Afridihad used the distraction to twist his studs into the pitch.”I can’t really judge on it too much at the moment,” said Trescothick,”but we showed the umpires straight away because they were on a goodlength, and it was up to them to judge it from there on. I have a goodidea how they might have been caused, and I think most people have seen iton camera.”Trescothick was eventually dismissed on 48, caught behind by Kamran Akmalwho swooped to complete the latest of a series of debatable low catchesthat have been a feature of this Test. But Trescothick, who himselfclaimed a similar catch to end Afridi’s innings earlier in the day, had noqualms about the decision.”With low catches you instantly have an idea about whether you’ve caughtit,” he said. “With mine, I got it in my fingers, and generally speaking,if you feel you’ve caught it, that’s fair enough. It’s all a part of thegame.”A less common part of the game, however, was the controversial run-outthat ended Inzamam-ul-Haq’s magnificent innings. Steve Harmison shied atthe stumps in his followthrough, Inzamam seemed to take evasive action,and after viewing the incident from several angles, the third umpire,Nadeem Ghauri, gave him out.”It’s an instant reaction from the bowler,” said Trescothick, “but sometimesthe batsman has taken a few steps down the pitch. I spoke to Darrell [Hair] andhe said he thought he might just have lifted his foot, but it’s the firsttime I’ve seen it referred to the third umpire while we’ve been fielding.”Amid all the excitement of the day, Trescothick’s thoughts while off thefield remain with his family, after his father-in-law was hospitalisedfollowing a fall from a ladder last Saturday. “I’ve got to remain focusedon my cricket,” he said. “Things aren’t too good at home but they areimproving which is good news. I’ve been in good form, so I can’t afford todwell on what’s happened. I’m obviously concerned and get regular updates,but once I step over the rope, just got to focus as much as I can.”

Scorecard

First-class debutant Shawn Gillies made a mockery of South Africa’s top order and then Beau Casson took 4 for 21 to force the follow-on on a miserable day for the visitors at the WACA.Gillies bagged the wickets of both openers in his first over and then snared a third just two overs later to open the door for Casson to clean up. At stumps South Africa were 2 for 25, trailing by 187 runs and in need of some seriously staunch batting to save the match on the final day.South Africa were already on the back foot at tea, losing four wickets for 116 after the home side had declared their first innings at 8 for 391. But things got worse for them as they lost eight wickets for 88 in the final session.It was medium-pacer Gillies, called into the state team for the first time after some impressive performances at club level in Perth, who did the damage in the afteroon. With his second delivery, the 24-year-old bowled opener AB de Villiers for 27 after the South African dragged the ball onto his stumps. De Villiers and partner Jacques Rudolph had added 71 runs and looked comfortable until Gillies was introduced. Just four balls later Gillies, a Jamaican-born allrounder, struck again as Rudolph, on 43, lifted a catch to David Bandy at point with the score on 72. That was about as good as it got for South Africa.Two overs later he dismissed Ashwell Prince, caught near the boundary after top-edging a hook shot. That wicket saw South Africa slump to 84 for 3 and gave Gillies figures of 3 for 7 – not a bad start for his first three overs of first-class cricket. Herschelle Gibbs then helped steady the ship but he fell just before tea, bowled by Ben Edmondson for 25.But this stability was only transitory – after tea South Africa lost their last six first-innings wickets for 63 runs, and the first two of their second innings for 25.Earlier in the day Western Australia declared their innings closed half an hour before lunch after the South Africans failed to stamp their authority on a state team which has lost its first four domestic matches. Charl Langeveldt was the best of the South African bowlers taking 4 for 104 from 24 overs.South Africa’s coach Mickey Arthur denied there was any cause for panic amongst his ranks He said the players simply needed to blow out some cobwebs after their tour of India where they played four one-day matches.”We haven’t pushed any panic buttons,” he said. “The guys are still very, very tight. We have come across four or five time zones in the last week and that was almost expected. We’ve been very low intensity, obviously building up to next week and then to the Test match.”

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 .

Bangladesh are being lined up by New Zealand for a tour early in 2007 after India pulled out of a proposed series because it was too close to the World Cup. Sources at New Zealand Cricket said that the India series is now likely to be staged in December 2008.”Next season we will be hosting a full international tour. We’re not exactly sure who that will be at the moment,” Martin Snedden, NZC’s chief executive, told a local radio station. “Under the existing FTP (Future Tours Programme) agreement it’s Bangladesh, but the whole FTP programme is currently under revision and has been for some months now so it’s a little bit uncertain as to whether it will be Bangladesh or whether it may be someone else.”Snedden dismissed suggestions that the India series had been scrapped because of the simmering row between India and the ICC. “We weren’t getting home from the VB Series in Australia till mid-February and had to be in the West Indies by March 1 so we were never going to fit in three Tests and five one-dayers against India,” he said. “What happened with the postponement of the tour is completely unconnected.”Any series against Bangladesh would be easier to fit in as it would be much shorter than one with India.

The dispute between players and board which has brought Zimbabwe cricket to its knees in recent months appears to be on the verge of being settled after a weekend of meetings between representatives of both sides.Last Friday it appeared that the situation had again broken down, but over the weekend Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) agreed to meet with Clive Field, the players’ representative who it had shut out of negotiations earlier in the week. A number of stumbling blocks were removed when the two sides sat down on Sunday.Twenty-two players have been offered the seven-month contracts which run until the end of August, with 16 having already signed. Three of those offered contracts – Sean Williams, Chamunorwa Chibhabha and Graeme Cremer – are currently in Sri Lanka with the Zimbabwe squad for the Under-19 World Cup.The board agreed that the new contracts could be index-linked to the US dollar. Until now, ZC’s offer had made no allowance for inflation, which is currently running at close to 600%, and had also pegged salaries to an unrepresentative local exchange rate.The players will also be free to take unpaid leave at the end of the proposed tour to the Caribbean in May to enable them to play cricket overseas. Any who do not find such work will return to Zimbabwe where they will be paid the basic retainer.Although some players have yet to sign the contracts, it is expected that most will do so within the next 48 hours. Four others will be considered for contracts after medical assessment. They are Gavin Ewing, Douglas Hondo, Mluleki Nkala and Tinashe Panyangara.Dion Ebrahim was not offered a new deal, and he is reported to have joined a club in the United Kingdom. While he said he was available for selection on a tour-by-tour basis, Hamilton Masakadza asked for study leave for his university studies in South Africa, while Stuart Matsikenyeri turned down the offer.Signed contracts Andy Blignaut, Elton Chigumbura, Charles Coventry, Keith Dabengwa, Terrence Duffin, Anthony Ireland, Blessing Mahwire, Bernard Mlambo, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Allan and Waddington Mwayenga, Edward Rainsford, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Gregory Strydom and Prosper Utseya.

Criticism of Damien Martyn following his dumping from the Test side was unwarranted, according to Ricky Ponting. In another bout of Ashes revisionism Ponting said Martyn, who scored 178 runs at 19.77 during the 2-1 series defeat, was treated badly by the selectors and commentators after the England tour.Martyn was picked instead of Brad Hodge on Tuesday in the 14-man squad that included Michael Kasprowicz, Michael Clarke and Shaun Tait, sparking a barb from Mark Boucher that Australia were relying on “Ashes rejects”. Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, was also shocked by the selections but said the looking-back policy gave his team confidence. “They realise it’s going to be a tough series out here,” he told .Ponting told the agency Martyn, who should bat at No.4 in the first Test next Thursday, was a quality player who deserved his place after his Ashes axing. “You’d think it [criticism] was pretty harsh,” Ponting said. “It was pretty harsh he was left out in the first place – I’m not sure if that fact was mentioned either. You look back to what happened through the Ashes series, he didn’t have the most luck of all our players through that series and he ended up missing out.”However, Ponting also described Hodge’s demotion as “harsh”. “He made a very good 60 in his first Test and a double-hundred in Perth, so that’s a really tough decision but one that to get the proper answer behind you will have to ask the selectors,” he said. “There will be opportunities that present themselves in the next couple of years, and if Brad keeps scoring runs then I’m sure his name will be at the top of the list.”Smith said it was surprising a player of Martyn’s age – he is 34 – was coming back into the Test team. “Knowing my luck I’ll say yes [he’ll be targeted] and he’ll go on to get 3,000 runs in the series,” he said. “We’ve got our game plans to him and they’ve worked well so far in the one-day series especially when we’ve got him early. Obviously he’s a class player. He’s got a really good record and you can never write someone like that off.”

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.