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Scorecard
Durham continued to show why they are top of Division Two as they closed in sight of their fourth straight win of the Championship season. Mike Hussey engineered Durham’s commanding position as he carried his bat for 144. It was a vital innings after a middle-order slump reduced Durham to 159 for 6, with Muttiah Muralitharan picking up three wickets in eight balls before lunch. The Lancashire spinners were the main threat, taking the remaining eight Durham wickets. However, Phil Mustard played an enterprising innings that included a straight six off Gary Keedy to open his account. Muralitharan finished with 5 for 107 but Durham’s lead of 139 took on daunting proportions as Lancashire’s batting stuttered again. Steve Harmison dismissed Brad Hodge for the second time in the match and although Andrew Flintoff is unbeaten, the lower order faces a tough task to rescue anything from the match.
Scorecard
Essex were completely outplayed at Northampton as their batting crumbled. Johann Louw caused most of the problems as his four wickets hurried Essex towards the follow-on. He claimed three wickets for no runs as Essex crashed from 134 for 3 to 152 for 7. The top order were all guilty of getting out when well set, especially Will Jefferson, Andy Flower and Ronnie Irani, who had reached the thirties. They should have followed Usman Afzaal’s example. He converted his overnight 88 into 168 before David Sales declared the Northants innings closed. Dale Steyn had an innings to forget, taking 1 for 153 from 30 overs, and Essex will now be regretting the decision to rest Darren Gough and Alex Tudor for the same match.
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Derbyshire found themselves in a typically dire situation as Worcestershire dominated for the second day running. Apart from Michael Di Venuto, who fell first ball to Chaminda Vaas, all the Derbyshire batsmen got a start but none passed 43. Vaas added Hassan Adnan and Chris Bassano while Kabir Ali claimed three for himself. Worcestershire’s innings had finally ended on an imposing 478 with Stephen Moore eventually dismissed for 246, after facing 388 balls and striking 33 fours and a six. David Pipe was left unbeaten on 80 and his stand of 173 with Moore took on even greater significance as the Derbyshire batting struggled again.
Scorecard
Leicestershire are on course for their first Championship win of the season after skittling Yorkshire on the second day at Grace Road. A dramatic morning session developed as Yorkshire crashed to 45 for 6, with Ottis Gibson and David Masters ripping through the top order. Michael Vaughan could manage only nine before being trapped lbw by Masters. Some belated resistance from Ismail Dawood and Richard Dawson prevented a complete collapse but Gibson wrapped up the tail, finishing with 6 for 56. Only Dawood can be exonerated from the general malaise surrounding the Yorkshire batting after striking 62 from 88 balls. With a lead of 127 the Leicestershire top order extended the advantage, Dinesh Mongia stroking a fluent 70.

The Indian board has decided to appeal against the six-match ban handed to Sourav Ganguly for slow over-rates during India’s one-day series against Pakistan. Talking to reporters at the end of the board’s two-day working committee meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the BCCI president, also announced that India would bid for the 2011 World Cup, and that a fresh bidding process would be initiated for the right to telecast matches in India.”We have written to the ICC that the six-match ban is too much,” Mahendra said, referring to the punishment imposed on Ganguly by Chris Broad, the match referee. “The decision is not in tune with the terms of the ICC rules. We are taking this up with the ICC.” The BCCI has already lost one appeal in the matter, when Michael Beloff QC, the ICC appeals commissioner, ruled that the ban was justified.Talking about the 2011 World Cup, he suggested that India would put in a bid, though it wasn’t yet decided if it would offer a joint bid or seek to host it alone. “We have plenty of time to decide these things. But we are serious about holding the 2011 World Cup.” Australia and New Zealand are also planning on a joint bid.Meanwhile, the board has also decided that the six-man panel which selected India’s new coach will now form a new panel called the interactive committee. According to Rajeev Shukla, the BCCI vice president, the six men – Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, S Venkataraghavan, Jagmohan Dalmiya, Mahendra and SK Nair- would “act as a buffer between the selectors and the coach”, reported.Among the other announcements made after the two-day meeting were:

Murray Goodwin, the former Zimbabwe international, has been charged by his Western Australia Cricket Association with a breach of Cricket Australia’s code of behaviour. Goodwin made comments last week about the selection criteria for the Zimbabwe side.Under the code, players are prohibited from making detrimental public comment. Alan Sullivan QC of New South Wales, who is the deputy senior commissioner of the Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour Commission, will hear the charge. No decision on when that will be has been made but it will be as soon as possible.Players who are found to have breached the public comment rule range from a reprimand, to a match ban or to a fine of up to $5750 for a first offence.Goodwin said in his comments that black players were selected ahead of better white players in order to meet a quota system. His former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower commented upon his arrival in Adelaide last week that concerns over the selection system had been part of Zimbabwe cricket for some time.

Billy Bowden has apologised for his horrible lbw decision against Virender Sehwag, despite a clear inside edge, and blamed the noise from the Bangalore crowd for the error.Bowden, officiating in his first Test in India, was surprised by the ear-splitting atmosphere, which made it almost impossible to hear the nicks, and appealed for understanding after he had been criticised in the local press. “Everybody makes a mistake,” Bowden said. “There are ups and downs in everyone’s career. You have to move on. This is the first time I’m umpiring under such circumstances and it’s just too noisy.”After the match Bowden talked with Sehwag and said “sorry”. Sehwag, who was fined 65% of his match fee for showing dissent after the second-innings decision, replied: “It’s ok.”Bowden and Steve Bucknor made at least seven incorrect calls during the Test, most of them going against India, but the captain Sourav Ganguly refused to be critical. “You’ve all seen it on TV,” he said. “We understand that, and move forward.”

Rahul Dravid will lead the Indian team in the forthcoming triangular series in Sri Lanka, while Sourav Ganguly has been included in the squad as a provisional 16th member.This means that Ganguly will play under Dravid if the suspension handed down by the ICC in April – which has four further games to run – is revoked. In the event of the suspension not being lifted, Ganguly will not travel to Sri Lanka, focussing instead on his county commitments with Glamorgan.The selectors brought in two new faces, Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao, while Jai P Yadav’s reward for some stellar performances in domestic cricket last season is the allrounder’s slot.Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman both found a place in the squad, while Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji were the medium pacers selected. The series starts on July 30 with India taking on Sri Lanka in Dambulla.Squad Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid (capt), VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopala Rao, Jai P Yadav, Mahendra Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashish Nehra.

Barney Rogers is just the latest of the former Zimbabwe rebels to have signed contracts with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and who are set to resume their international careers.Among those disaffected players who had accused the ZCU of racism in April, the allrounder Gavin Ewing and the wicketkeeper Charles Coventry have re-signed. But senior players like Heath Streak, Grant Flower and Andy Blignaut have stayed away. “Other guys decided that Zimbabwe cricket wasn’t what they wanted and some signed contracts for county cricket and with Australian teams,” Rogers told BBC Sport, “but I still want to play international cricket.”Rogers, 22, indicated that his decision to return has been welcomed from all quarters. The older players, who have not returned, “fully understand that we’re young and we’ve got 10 or more years to play, so there’s been no problems with them whatsoever.”Rogers, who had played seven one-day internationals before the crisis, had been resumed training with Zimbabwe A when the ICC investigation into the ZCU cleared them of the allegations of racism last month. “At one stage it was looking like I’d have to sacrifice my career,” he said, “but cricket is my life, it’s the only thing I know how to do.”Rogers concluded in his interview with the BBC: “Zimbabweans want to see Zimbabwe win, they’re not fussed what colour people playing are. It’s a young squad and there’s lots and lots of talent. I think it’ll take time, but I don’t see why we can’t pull through.”

Cameron White, who led Victoria to fourth in the Pura Cup last season, has been reappointed as Bushrangers captain for 2005-06. Brad Hodge, who considered leaving for New South Wales during the off-season, was confirmed as vice-captain by Cricket Victoria’s board today.White said he learned more last year, when the Bushrangers finished third in the ING Cup, than he had in his career. “It’s always a great challenge and I’m looking forward to working with Brad,” White said. “He’s a great tactician and has a really good feel for the game and will bring back plenty of experience from the Ashes.”Greg Shipperd, the coach, said the appointments were another piece in the puzzle. “Having lost some experienced players in the off-season, it was important that we maintained some stability at the top and I’m confident that Cameron and Brad’s fantastic leadership qualities and passion will pave the way,” he said. “We have enormous faith in their ability to lead from the front and we look forward to their leadership having a positive effect on the rest of the group”.

A new concept gives Australia a chance to scratch a new guard. Following a winter of serious discontent the team will attempt to dissolve their Ashes memories and start answering some of the pages of questions from a series that highlighted gaping chinks and forced changes. The squad that the World XI will face in the first of three one-day games starting in Melbourne on Wednesday carries players unknown and untried – these are characteristics similar to the Super Series.Australia will test their experiments against a line-up unmatched in its global brilliance, even with the absence of Sachin Tendulkar. Previous Rest of the World outfits were picked during last minutes, but there is no doubting the quality of candidates. Inzamam-ul-Haq has eventually replaced Tendulkar and Shaun Pollock can choose a fast bowling attack for the first game from himself, Shoaib Akhtar, Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff with Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori as the slow bowling back-up.The cheerful mode of the visitors will be matched by a nervous yet publicly confident mood from the Australians. As a Cricket Australia outfit ploughs through the England wrongs, Ricky Ponting and his squad talk about “one bad series”. They appear relaxed about an assignment that a year ago appeared to be a formality, but now has quickly marked them as eager underdogs.Over the past month Ponting’s role has been dissected in an almost prime ministerial capacity. Now he can answer his critics collectively on home turf. With a couple of new faces arriving and more wrinkles set to appear, Ponting has the opportunity to develop a squad in his own image rather than hanging on to the dusting relics of Steve Waugh’s rule.Act one begins with three one-day matches on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday before the most compelling game of a concocted series, the six-day Super Test in Sydney starting on October 14. The glare in the undercover and air-conditioned Telsta Dome will be striking, but there is little chance of the roof raising – although Kevin Pietersen will surely try it – during the limited-overs matches that should offer undoubted bouts of brilliance without the lasting reminders of a Test.

Changes in Australian personnel as well as the Ashes loss and the end of local football seasons have slowed ticket sales. A first-up contest of Pollock to Simon Katich holds less appeal than him running in to a clubbing Matthew Hayden. Cameron White, the Victoria legspinner who was called in for the equally anonymous Brad Hogg, and Stuart Clark, a replacement for Shaun Tait, line up in the 14-man squad alongside James Hopes. The three new players who can shop unbothered in their local supermarkets will stare at men reluctant to step away from bodyguards shielding them from masses of admirers. They will not be the only ones in a peaceful state of shock and awe.The World XI, which omitted Makhaya Ntini and Chris Gayle from match one, is a team of such riches – one of Sehwag, Lara, Pietersen, Dravid, Flintoff, Kallis, Sangakkara and Afridi will bat at No. 8 – that it will provide Australia’s generation next with a guide to whether the 2007 World Cup is an event to be watched from the dressing room or the lounge chair.Although Ponting dismissed this series as the official start of the road to the West Indies, it provides Australia with renewed purpose against a wildly impressive unit of united nations, who will be intent on impressing with their vibrant mix of skills and personalities. Individually, the contest will be fascinating, but there is little doubt as to which team has more to play for.For the World XI prize money, prestige and a chance to defeat a giant are the lures. Australia, who sealed their No. 1 status in both forms of the game before the Ashes and held it despite the England slips, begin an era that will be analysed more than any period over the past decade.Shown to be fallible, they are waiting to discover whether the next chapter is one of further mortal stumbles or a swift return to lasting success. The Super Series will help supporters across the globe form judgments, but the performances of Australia will also be critical to a custom-made contest sweating on similar verdicts over novelty, commercial and acceptance values.Teams
World XI
1 Shahid Afridi, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Jacques Kallis, 6 Brian Lara, 7 Kevin Pietersen, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock (capt), 10 Daniel Vettori, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan, 12 Shoaib AkhtarAustralia
1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Andrew Symonds, 9 Cameron White, 10 Brett Lee, 11 Glenn McGrath, 12 Nathan Bracken

Tony Howard, the West Indies manager, does not expect the recent contracts dispute to have any divisive effect on the team as it prepares for the upcoming tour of Australia. Howard said that despite the history of the differences between the West Indies Players’ Association and the West Indies Cricket Board, he anticipated a professional approach from the players in the current training camp.”Generally speaking [there has been] camaraderie, and I expected nothing less. These are players who have been playing on the circuit for several years and any minor things that come up among the organisations that represents them should not really affect them when it comes to playing cricket,” Howard told CMC Sports during the West Indies training camp at the Three Ws Oval. “So I didn’t expect anything different and they are demonstrating that they are all still friends.”When negotiations between WIPA, the players’ union, and the WICB broke down prior to the Sri Lanka tour, it resulted in a second-string team being selected to represent West Indies. Key players like Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle all sat out the tour refusing to sign match/tour contracts after WIPA and WICB failed to reach an agreement.With a month to go before the start of the Australia tour, negotiations are currently going on between the two bodies. With Australia still smarting from their loss to England in the Ashes series, West Indies are expected to face a tough time on that tour, but Howard explained that he was remaining focused on preparing the team.”I am not particularly interested in England, Australia or anybody else. My job is to get the West Indies team to be the best it can be and I think once we get them to that level, irrespective of who we play, we are going to give a good account of ourselves,” Howard said. “Ability is not all, it’s application, it’s attitude, it’s training and practice and these are the invulnerables that we are trying to get into these young men.”