In spite of their improbable victory in the recent ODI series in Sri Lanka – their first on the subcontinent in 20 years – England are expected to revert to their seasoned five-day specialists when the squad for the three-Test series in Sri Lanka is unveiled at The Oval tomorrow.England emerged triumphant by three games to two in Dambulla and Colombo earlier this month, in a contest that was played out on slow low wickets and at an unusually Test-like tempo. But for several members of that squad, as well as the veteran Mark Ramprakash, disappointment is on the cards.Foremost among England’s considerations will be the wicketkeeping position. Phil Mustard took the gloves and opened the batting during the ODIs, but having failed to establish himself in five opportunities, England are expected to revert to Matt Prior, whose Test career began with a remarkable debut century against West Indies at Lord’s in May, but who sustained a broken thumb during the recent World Twenty20 in South Africa.Prior’s position came under scrutiny following a poor series with both the bat and the gloves against India last summer, but having worked their way through six wicketkeepers in the past 12 months, the selectors are expected to give Prior another opportunity to establish himself. He is a key disciple of the new coach, Peter Moores, having learnt his craft under Moores at Sussex, and was Geraint Jones’ understudy on England’s last visit to the subcontinent in 2005-06.One man who seems certain to have earned a recall on the strength of the one-dayers is the offspinning allrounder, Graeme Swann, whose first matches for England in seven-and-a-half years were an unmitigated triumph. He spun the ball prodigiously, produced vital runs down the order, and assuming he recovers from the hamstring injury he sustained ahead of the final ODI, could be a useful sidekick to Monty Panesar, who will start the series as England’s No. 1 spin option.In the absence of Andrew Flintoff, Swann’s allround credentials will doubtless boost his chances of a call-up, while Ravi Bopara is another man well-placed to step up a level, following his nerveless displays in coloured clothing this year – although he could well be put on stand-by in the development squad that is due to be stationed in India during the tour. One man who has been headed in the opposite direction is the former stalwart Andrew Strauss, who this time last year was a candidate for the captaincy.Strauss’s form slump has already led to his omission from the one-day set-up, but having secured an ECB central contract, he seems set to retain his place in a 15-man squad. The man who will miss out is likely to be Ramprakash, whose prospects of a recall at the age of 38 were being talked up last week following his stunning summer of run-scoring for Surrey. Owais Shah is the other man in the frame for the final batting slot, having made 88 and 38 in his only previous overseas Test appearance, at Mumbai in 2005-06.England’s obligation towards their centrally contracted players should also ensure recalls for Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, both of whom missed large portions of the summer schedule with injuries. Harmison, with a hernia operation behind him, is hoping to prove his fitness in two first-class matches for Highveld Lions in South Africa.James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad – all of whom excelled during the recent ODI series victory – are expected to fill the remaining fast-bowling slots, with the only other significant change being that of the captain, Michael Vaughan. Four years ago, Sri Lanka was the scene of Vaughan’s first major tour as England captain, but he was unable to emulate the feat of his predecessor, Nasser Hussain, whose 2-1 victory in the 2000-01 series was one of England’s finest of all time.Possible squad Michael Vaughan (capt), Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Andrew Strauss, Owais Shah, Matt Prior (wk), Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar, Graeme Swann, Matthew Hoggard, James Anderson, Stuart Broad.

South Australia have called on the former New South Wales batsman Daniel Christian in a bid to shore up their batting and he is expected to play in the next match. Christian, 24, was out of contract after New South Wales surprisingly chose not to offer him a deal for this season, although he played every one-dayer and Twenty20 match last season.His move to Adelaide will boost the Redbacks’ struggling top order. The side has lost all three of its Pura Cup matches, and won just one of its FR Cup matches this year, against New South Wales where the batsmen squeezed a last-ball victory.Rod Marsh, SACA’s high performance manager, told that he hopes Christian’s arrival can begin a turnaround for South Australia. “I’m very excited about it. He’s a lovely young man and I think he’s got a lot to offer South Australian cricket,” Marsh said. “He’s a kid with good talent, he’s been a very good junior player.”He was at the Academy with Callum Ferguson and Shaun Tait and I think he will fit in very well. I think he’s a bit unlucky not to be in the New South Wales contract list, they just couldn’t fit him in.”I’ve had my eye on him for a couple of years now. He offers a bit of everything. He can bat anywhere in the top seven or eight. He bowls quicker than a lot of people give him credit for. So, without being too harsh, I think that we can do with a player of that quality in the squad. We’ve got to start getting a winning culture happening.”Christian had a promising first season in the FR Cup last year, finishing the limited-overs season with 256 runs, second only to Brad Haddin for New South Wales. “[I’ve] just come down here to work on my own game and hopefully get some runs on the board and perform well,” Christian told . “I dive around the field and things like that and just try to enjoy it as much as I can.”A member of the victorious Australia Under-19 World Cup-winning squad in 2001-02, alongside new team-mate Mark Cosgrove, he also offers sharp bowling and was an Academy graduate in 2003. But it’s his batting that is badly needed with several Redbacks batsmen either injured or out of form.”It puts more pressure on those playing to make sure they play well,” Marsh said. “All good cricket teams have pressure put on them by those outside the team. Look at the Australian team. As a batsman you wouldn’t want to fail with [Simon] Katich playing so well. [Nathan] Bracken’s taking wickets, Tait is coming back from injury. As a consequence you see Mitchell Johnson bowling well on debut.”Although Christian has not been signed to South Australia’s contract list, Marsh said he could soon feature in first-class games as well as one-dayers. Christian has not yet chosen a club to play for but is expected to do so by this Sunday to give him a run ahead of the Redbacks’ next game, which is against Western Australia next Wednesday.Marsh doesn’t rule out chasing other players to boost South Australia’s stocks either. “We are always on the lookout for good cricketers and it’s always been a firm belief of mine that you want the best 66 players in the premier competition,” he said. “South Australia over the years have had a history of recruiting some outstanding players – Bradman, Sobers, Gibbs, Garner – some not as good. If we have to go outside the state, then we have to go outside the state.”

India get into action with their first tour game against Victoria on Thursday, two days after their arrival in Australia. The Indians won’t be taking the game lightly given that it’s the only practice match before the first Test, but both sides have concerns over injuries and the weather with rain forecast for the next three days.Victoria have been in good form this season, equal on points with top-ranked New South Wales, and will take the game against India as a chance to blood allrounder John Hastings and batsman Aaron Finch.Victoria’s bowling will not be at full strength with fast bowlers Shane Harwood and Gerard Denton injured and Dirk Nannes being rested. Cameron White, the captain, is ruled out while Brad Hodge, who is to lead the side in White’s absence, is an uncertain starter and will be passed fit only after his back is assessed on Thursday.The visitors will look to playing most of their first-choice Test XI but Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, who didn’t take part in training on Tuesday, are uncertain for the clash. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who along with Tendulkar and Zaheer missed the final Test against Pakistan in Bangalore, is fit to play the opener and said the game was a crucial one for the team.”It’s always better to have a few sessions before a big Test match [and] we don’t really have much time for practice,” Dhoni told the . “Tomorrow is crucial … I think most of the players would love to play.”Tendulkar, Dhoni said, was improving, “[but] if he needs some more time to rest himself and recover, to be 100% for the first game, he can take it.”Dhoni played down talk of the team not having enough practice and of the importance of the forecast of rain. “You’d love to have more time [for practice], but that’s too many ifs and buts,” he said. “Even if it rains there’s nothing can be done about it – we’ll go indoors and have a knock, do whatever we can.”Dhoni said the team were aiming for a win. “If you are on the field and if you are playing you have got to win, there is no question of just playing the game for practice.”He said the team would have to adapt to the bouncy pitches in Australia. “Getting used to the conditions is very important … so the practice game is important, especially when you’re coming from a series in India,” he said. “When you’re playing in Australia, the length you’re bowling is very important, very different to where you bowl in the sub-continent or England.”Meanwhile, Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, said despite missing a few regulars, his team would give India a tough fight. “We will come out and play some good quality cricket and I’m sure probably surprise them,” he told sportal.com.au. “I think it [the pitch] will be quite grassy – it will be hard and I’m sure it will be a good cricket wicket with plenty of pace in it.”He said the team had enough strength in bowling and was expecting legspinner Bryce McGain to make an impression, which could aid him in winning the nod for a place in the Australian Test squad. Ricky Ponting revealed that McGain was considered by the selectors as a candidate for the Boxing Day Test.”A four- or five-for from Bryce McGain here certainly throws his hat into the ring for the second Test,” Shipperd said. “I was disappointed for Bryce [missing out on the Boxing Day Test] because I thought it was a 50-50 bet between him and Hogg.”Teams (from):
Victoria : Brad Hodge (capt), David Hussey, Aiden Blizzard, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Nick Jewell, Michael Klinger, Andrew McDonald , Bryce McGain, Robert Quiney, Peter Siddle, Matthew Wade (wk), Allan Wise.India: Anil Kumble (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Pankaj Singh.

Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, says the rights of cricketers must be weighed against the importance of retaining strong Test teams as speculation mounts that Shane Bond might join the Indian Cricket League (ICL). New Zealand Cricket is already encouraging its selectors not to choose players who have already taken part in the league and now a report in the suggests Bond has agreed to play in the ICL in 2008.”With New Zealand and these other poorly paid countries, it’s incredibly enticing at the end of their career, or even in the middle of their career, to look after themselves,” May told the paper. “It’s their job and they’re trying to do the best for their families.”You may well see more ICL contracted players signed up. So what are we going to do, have a New Zealand second XI out there? Is it in New Zealand’s national interest to put out a half-baked team?”Is it in world cricket’s interest? These are the questions people really need to sit down and think about. And there is also the rights of the players to ply their trade. We want to encourage people to play cricket professionally, don’t we? It’s not necessarily a bad thing, this ICL.”New Zealand Cricket has told its selectors that when they choose national and representative squads they should consider other players ahead of those who have taken part in the ICL. Daryl Tuffey was the only one of the six affected players who was realistically in the frame for further Test and ODI action.However, if Bond joined the ICL it would provide a major crisis for cricket in New Zealand. The reported that if NZC tried to stop Bond, or any other player, signing up with the ICL it could face legal action for restraint of trade.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has said that Bangladesh could have shown more resolve in chasing a mammoth target of 336 in the second one-day international in Napier yesterday. Bangladesh failed to build on a solid opening stand of 63, losing three wickets for the addition of only five runs and went on the defensive for the rest of the chase. Bangladesh ended on 181 for 6 before rain forced an early end to the match, handing New Zealand a 102-run victory by the D/L method, and the series 2-0.”There was probably a little bit of frustration about the style of play,” Vettori said. “We thought Bangladesh would chase a little bit harder – whenever you chase 330 [sic] you have to take a few risks. If you don’t, you stall and that’s what happened.”Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said the quick loss of wickets, including that of captain Mohammad Ashraful, was rather unfortunate as it threw the team’s plans off balance.”We had a plan in mind and we were going along according to that plan but we lost three wickets for five runs and the plan changed,” Siddons said. “The batsmen really did not get going after that and we probably lost our biggest strokemakers.”Siddons also backed his batsmen to go for their strokes, despite several instances of experienced players throwing away their wickets in the first two matches. He said a lot of improvement was needed on the bowling front, after each of the New Zealand batsmen enjoyed a good hit in the middle, in particular Jacob Oram ,who clubbed 55 off 31 balls in the slog overs.”If the ball is not swinging or spinning, which it really didn’t today apart from the early overs where I think we bowled really well today, then it is a problem,” he said. “The pace is also not there.”Despite the heavy defeat, Siddons was willing to be patient. “These are young players and it’s going to take time. We are going to suffer some pain, there’s no way round it.”The other topic of discussion was Ashraful’s controversial dismissal, after he spooned a low catch to Ross Taylor at cover. Taylor claimed the catch while Ashraful stood his ground, convinced that it was a bump ball and that prompted the umpires to confer. Vettori backed Taylor’s honesty and the umpires’ decision.”You saw Ross’ reaction,” Vettori said. “He left it in the umpires hands and they made the call. From what I’ve heard it was the right call.”The third and final one-day international will be played in Queenstown on December 31.

David Morgan, the president-elect of the ICC, has voiced his concern over Sunil Gavaskar’s recent critical comments on Mike Procter. Gavaskar, the former Indian captain and the chairman of the ICC’s cricket committee, had come down hard on Procter after the decision to hand Harbhajan Singh a three-match ban.”Conflicts of interests pervade our sport. In terms of Gavaskar, within the ICC, there is a concern now that he’s chairman of the cricket committee and a journalist who has expressed some fairly outspoken comments,” Morgan said in Perth, while on a business visit.”But that would be dealt with by David Richardson of the ICC. In all walks of life and business, you have people operating with conflicts of interests. All boards have a policy for conflicts. When people come to the board table they leave their other baggage at the door.”Morgan was happy to have witnessed a “terrific Test”, especially after the tumultuous week that preceded it. He said the Sydney fiasco had offered several lessons, mainly with regard to umpiring and technology.”Once we have fool-proof technology we should trial it,” he said, looking ahead. “We need to see technology improved and find a way to embrace it. I think referral system with improved technology is the way to go, as long as it doesn’t take away the authority of the umpires.”He said the ICC would back Steve Bucknor, but revealed that the decision to replace him was not related to the protest made by the Indian side. “The decision to replace Bucknor was not the result from any protest from one of the participating teams,” he said. “There was a protest but the decision wasn’t a result of the process.”Would this be a precedent for other umpires to be replaced too? “I don’t believe that a precedent is being set. I believe we have acted in the best interest of the game and the best interest of Bucknor. He’s our longest serving umpire and our best umpire. I’m sure he will be back.”Bucknor himself said that he would like to continue for another year, if his contract is extended in March, but no more. “I am scheduled to go to Bangladesh, where they will play South Africa, in another four weeks,” Bucknor, speaking from Jamaica, told CANA. “I am in reasonably good physical condition.”I think I am seeing reasonable well, so I will go on until I think it is necessary. I can’t stop anybody’s opinion. I would not wish to go on beyond another year. If I am asked to go on for another year, I would accept, but not beyond.”Morgan agreed that the volume of cricket was a concern but said that it was up to the member boards to come to an agreement. “The ICC doesn’t drive the volume of cricket, the member boards do,” Morgan said. “Volume of cricket is a concern, sometimes exaggerated.”When England play Australia all that is needed as far as ICC is concerned is a two-match series, twice in six years. If we operated to that from a business point of view, it would be commercially suicidal. So it’s a fact and minds [between the two concerned boards] need to be engaged about it.”

Lancashire will begin the first stages of redeveloping Old Trafford next January with the initial work costing the club £12 million.It will include replacing the County Suite, Tyldesley Suite and the Ladies stand – which runs from the pavilion around to the broadcast media centre – with a 1000-seat function room which will provide hospitality during international matches.There are also discussions taking place with Trafford council, Ask developers and Tesco about a regeneration of the area around Old Trafford. A decision on this won’t be made until later this year but Lancashire hope the first set of works will be complete by April 2010. The overall plan also includes installing permanent floodlights.”We knew it would take time to finalise the overall development so we thought we had better show willing to the ECB and our own club members by making the first steps,” chief executive Jim Cumbes told the . “We are talking to the bank about funding. If we realised our dreams of a new or improved hotel, and complete redevelopment of the ground, it would probably cost around £70m.”Lancashire believe redevelopment of the ground is the only way to secure its international future. They lost out on an Ashes Test in 2009 when the match was given to Cardiff and their current hosting agreement with the ECB runs out at the end of the forthcoming season.From August, Lancashire will play its home matches at outgrounds such as Blackpool and Liverpool so that work can start on laying a new outfield with state-of-the-art drainage. Considerable time has been lost at Old Trafford in recent seasons when the weather has been fine because the playing area hasn’t recovered from heavy rain.

Easterns have won Zimbabwe’s provincial Twenty20 tournament with a seven-run win over Westerns in the final on Good Friday, but concerns over standards of play over the three days hogged the limelight.Zimbabwe Cricket were using the tournament, a last-minute fixture in place of the twice-postponed Logan Cup, to prepare for South Africa’s domestic Standard Bank Pro20 contest. But the ever-tumbling domestic standards were in evidence.It gave indications that the Zimbabweans could expect pretty much the same or even worse treatment on the field against the South African franchises as they did in the MTN domestic championship, more so as their opponents in South Africa have more adept and experienced at this version. What’s more, they have already identified their Twenty20 specialists while the Zimbabweans are still searching.And neither did they find them in this tournament. No one set the competition alight, although the usual suspects, Brendan Taylor (Northerns), Hamilton Masakadza (Easterns), Tatenda Taibu (Northerns) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (Easterns) all showed good consistency with the bat and threw caution to the wind when necessary, perhaps conscious of their role as the best Zimbabwe can manage at the moment. They could ill-afford to have their best misfiring.If this was a positive, its one that quickly wipe the smile off the selectors’ faces because few from outside the pool of current national and A side players staked claims and showed Twenty20 attributes. Perhaps it’s a good thing because now the coaching staff can only concentrate on few, targeted players at Twenty20.But then, Zimbabwe Cricket has been boasting about the success of its outreach programme where new cricketers are being churned out in the new structures. Besides, Zimbabwe needs to widen its pool now more than any other time. It was generally acknowledged that the available talent wasn’t that big when Zimbabwe were doing well before the senior players left, and with not much resources now as in the past, it will be a real struggle to get things right.Without experienced bowlers, those in the tournament, particularly the seamers, tried too hard to adjust their actions for Twenty20, thus overcomplicating their bowling and not getting the balance between defence and attack. They went for aggression and in the process losing the basic line and length. The only time they looked good was when the batsmen were getting themselves in trouble. To the better bowlers, it was so easy to read the batsmen’s good shots thereby getting them to play outside their comfort zones and drying up runs.Attendances were far from encouraging, largely because few outside the inner circles knew about the tournament due to poor publicity. Only a handful stumbled upon the final day play while patronising the Keg & Maiden bar on Good Friday.The victory by Easterns, formerly Manicaland, means they become the new dominant side in Zimbabwe provincial cricket after winning the Logan Cup last year. But the province is made up almost entirely of players from Harare, drawn from the Takashinga club in particular, and cricketers based in the province hardly got a chance to play, as was the case last year. The purpose seems to be to fool people into believing these is strength outside the capital.Southerns (Masvingo) and Centrals (Midlands) do have a fair number of players originally from the provinces, but Harare players are also posted to strengthen the sides. That leaves Northerns, the former Mashonaland, and Westerns (Matabeleland), the only sides without exported players.

Australian players have dominated the English county scene in recent years, in both their number and with their figures. But the IPL, the new one-overseas player limit, and, ultimately, the rain all had their part to play in limiting Australians’ appearances and their chances to contribute to the opening round of seven first-class matches last week.Chris Rogers, however, made the most of his opportunity to give a nod to the selectors who had dumped him off the contracts list, with a second-innings ton for Derbyshire in their Division Two draw with Gloucestershire in Bristol. He had made an inauspicious 3 in the first dig as the visitors collapsed.His former Western Australian team-mate Marcus North topscored in the home side’s first innings with 87 and did not bat second time out as rain put paid to proceedings after Derbyshire’s Rogers-led rally. Only three wins were registered, the four draws all victims of the weather.Lancashire captain, the English-qualified Stuart Law, made 38 as Lancashire, last year’s runners-up, drew with the champions Surrey at The Oval. His team-mate Brad Hodge made an unbeaten 43 before the rain came. Surrey were without Matt Nicholson, who had a virus.In the second division, Western Australia’s Steve Magoffin took one wicket in each innings as Worcestershire drew with Warwickshire.

The popularity of Twenty20 cricket has spread to Canada, including a chance that Indian Premier League teams could visit the country following “advanced” discussions, Cricket Canada has confirmed to Cricinfo.The board held talks with important IPL figures at the start of the Indian tournament last month but have so far been offered “no promises and no confirmations”.”Atul Ahuja, Cricket Canada’s chief executive, had discussions with leading individuals in respect to possible visits to Canada by IPL teams,” a CC spokesperson said. “In some cases, those discussion were quite advanced, but at the moment there are no promises and no confirmations.”Either way, Twenty20 will be taking centrestage for the next few months in Canadian cricket. The first-ever national Twenty20 championship will be held over the weekend of May 17 and 18 at King City near Toronto, on four turf pitches. There will be 12 matches per day, involving teams from Briitsh Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The competition is a formal Cricket Canada event in partnership with their new major sponsor Scotiabank.”There is growing commitment to the Twenty20 format across the country,” said the spokesperson, “in part because it fits perfectly with the North American sporting format.” The Toronto and District Cricket Association now has a separate Twenty20 League, as does the Etobicoke and District Cricket League in the suburbs of Toronto. In British Columbia, their mainland competition launched a Twenty20 league in April, with Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga as the chief guest.There will also be a non-representative team from Canada at the upcoming MAQ T20 Cricket Festival May 23-25 at the Broward Stadium north of Miami, Florida.The Twenty20 arrangements are aimed at solidifying cricket across Canada. “It’s also geared to preparing Canada for playing more Twenty20 cricket internationally,” the spokesperson said, “with a particular eye on the Associates tournament in Ireland in August and the June 2009 Twenty20 World Championships.”