The England & Wales Cricket Board are emerging as key players in the gradual restructuring of cricket’s world order, after talks between David Morgan, the ECB chairman, and Inderjit Singh Bindra of the BCCI resulted in an agreement in principle for the two countries to play each other every alternate year.As two of the biggest drawcards in the world game, it would be an itinerary that replicates the Ashes scenario of a home-and-away cycle over four years, and India are keen to increase the frequency of their clashes with Australia as well. The situation is being closely monitored by the ICC, who last week went out of their way to remind India of their commitment to the Future Tours Programme, which requires all countries to play one another over the course of a five-year cycle.England, for their part, are keen to forge closer links with India, the new powerbrokers of the world game who are responsible for 60% of the game’s global income. “We’ve had exploratory discussions and are very interested,” a spokesman for the ECB told Cricinfo. “We believe [such a situation] would be mutually beneficial.”But equally, the ECB remain keen to stay on the right side of the ICC, who are in danger of being marginalised by India’s increasingly confrontational attitude to the FTP. They have threatened to withdraw from future Champions Trophy tournaments, and are increasingly adverse to hosting unprofitable series against the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Last week Bindra told a press conference in Mumbai that Bangladesh would be afforded “meal allowance only” if they were ever to take part in a Test series in India. After five years of Test status, India is the only country they have yet to tour.”All cricket boards have to honour their ICC commitments,” Morgan emphasised to The Daily Telegraph, although with an ICC Board meeting looming next month, the prospect of a rejigging of the FTP is very much on the cards. “We’re moving to a six-year cycle for our Future Tour Programme and, within that, countries can play each other more frequently,” Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, told The Daily Telegraph. “The Indians don’t have to re-invent the wheel.”Under the ICC ten-year plan, England had originally been pencilled in for a Test tour to Bangladesh in February next year – a short stop-over between the Ashes and the World Cup. But such is the fixture congestion of the modern-day tour, this was simply not a realistic option. “The first match of the World Cup begins on March 5, and our tour of Australia could finish as late as February 13,” explained an ECB spokesman. “There’s simply no time.”It is little wonder then, given the fixture overload that will require England’s cricketers to be on international duty for more than 300 days in the coming 12 months, that the ECB are proving receptive to these new proposals. “We’ve always wanted to develop closer ties with India,” Morgan concluded. “This was on our wish list that we gave to the ICC. They have a middle class which is as big as the entire population of the United States. Bindra was pushing at an open door.”

A suspension to Adam Voges has given Liam Davis the chance to become Western Australia’s sixth debutant of the summer in the one-day game against South Australia at the WACA on Wednesday. Voges missed a compulsory squad session last week and was banned for one match.Davis, a hard-hitting batsman from Scarborough, is in his second year with the state squad and is one of two changes to the side that beat Queensland. Marcus North also comes in for Shawn Gillies after recovering from a broken finger.Grant Roden, the Western Suburbs fast bowler, will replace Grant Lambert in the New South Wales squad to play Tasmania in the ING Cup match at Hobart on Wednesday. Roden is the leading wicket-taker in the Cricket Australia Cup with 25 at 13.88 this season, and he joins an attack including Matthew Nicholson, Doug Bollinger and Stuart MacGill. New South Wales enter the match on top of the table with 25 points and are looking to extend their advantage against the defending champions.Dane Anderson, the Tasmania opening batsman, injured his right shoulder during fielding training on Monday and has been ruled out. Rhett Lockyear has been recalled from the Cricket Australia Cup team playing in Perth and is expected to make his one-day debut.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Craig Simmons, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Brad Haddin (capt, wk), Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Grant Roden, Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill, Matthew Nicholson.Tasmania squad Michael Di Venuto (capt), Travis Birt, Rhett Lockyer, Michael Bevan, George Bailey, Luke Butterworth, Adam Griffith, Tim Paine (wk), Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Ben Hilfenhaus, Adam Polkinghorne.Western Australia squad Justin Langer (capt), Luke Ronchi (wk), Liam Davis, Marcus North, Shaun Marsh, Chris Rogers, Peter Worthington, Beau Casson, Steve Magoffin, Matthew Petrie, Ben Edmondson and David Bandy.

John Buchanan, the Australia coach, is not expecting his team to be caught offside by any disciplinary problems during what promises to be a heated tour of South Africa.The Australians arrived on Monday and they have predicted hostile receptions after the South Africans were racially abused by Australia crowds during their recent tour. However, Buchanan said extra measures to avoid confrontation were not called for.”Management has just reiterated the same approaches, nothing more than normal, for incidents both on and off the field,” he said. “Our record over the last while has been pretty well exemplary, with just the odd incident, and we hope to leave the tour unscathed.”Mark Boucher, the South Africa wicketkeeper, said in an interview with that he hoped “our public give them a bit of stick”. “We’ve taken a serious amount,” he said. “In the past our crowds haven’t been too great with them, but, trust me, we’re not going to sit back and say ‘shame, poor things’.”For the Australia vice-captain Adam Gilchrist touring South Africa is a wonderful experience, not least of all because of his magnificent record in the country.”I’m just very excited to be here,” he said. “The tour’s come nice and quick, it doesn’t feel like four years since the last one and I have even fonder memories of winning the World Cup here three years ago. It’s great to be back on familiar territory and hopefully I can carry over my recent form.”Everyone seems so genuinely happy to have us here and the hospitality is second to none. Obviously a lot has been said about the stupid incidents in Australia, but I don’t think anything drastic will happen here. The abuse will be there, you expect it anywhere in the world, but it will not be untoward.”However, he told he had one “mixed memory” from the day he shed tears on reaching a double-century at Johannesburg after being the target of a vicious email rumour and crowd banners regarding his personal life. “But that day I happened to score 200 as well so that’s always going to be a more fond memory than a bad one,” he said. “I’ve moved on from that. That was just utter rubbish and that’s well and truly been eliminated. I won’t anticipate anything more directly aimed at me than anyone else in the whole team.”Gilchrist also had praise for the South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who endured a torrid time in Australia during his team’s losing run. “Graeme has tried to lead with a strong hand and a strong voice,” he said, “and I admire his tenacity in deciding to lead that way.”Australia’s first match is a Twenty20 against South Africa at the Wanderers on Friday and they will be without Michael Hussey, whose wife is expected to give birth this week.

Andy Bichel, who was today named the Pura Cup Player of the Year, is in line to become the first Queenslander in Australian first-class history to achieve a 500-run, 50-wicket season. Bichel needs only five dismissals and 51 runs in the final starting on Friday to join Greg Matthews, the New South Wales allrounder who entered the exclusive list in 1992-93.Bichel last played for Australia in 2004, but he has continued to out-perform most of his domestic rivals this summer, finishing the regular rounds in second place on the wicket table and boasting four half-centuries and a batting average of 37.41. Bichel’s 16 votes narrowly beat Darren Lehmann (15), Brett Dorey (13) and Michael Kasprowicz (13) for the main individual prize. In a further boost to Queensland before the final against Victoria, the Bulls were given the Benaud Spirit of Cricket award at the Gabba.Mark Cosgrove, who collected 591 runs including two hundreds and four fifties, took the ING Cup Player of the Year gong on a countback after being tied with Lehmann, his South Australia captain. Both batsmen picked up 26 votes but Cosgrove was deemed the winner because he had more maximum hauls in the 3-2-1 system. Karen Rolton, the new Australia women’s captain, dominated the WCNL Player of the Year category, registering 27 votes and a nine-point buffer over Alex Blackwell.Simon Taufel was the Cricket Australia Umpire of the Year for his “exceptional international season” while New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia tied for the Women’s Spirit of Cricket prize. The Benaud spirit awards were voted on by the match officials who judged how teams followed the game’s traditions and values.Pura Cup Player of the Year
Andy Bichel 16 votes
Darren Lehmann 15
Brett Dorey 13
Michael Kasprowicz 13
ING Cup Player of the Year
Mark Cosgrove 26
Darren Lehmann 26
David Hussey 25
Phil Jaques 21
WCNL Player of the Year
Karen Rolton 27
Alex Blackwell 18
Melissa Bulow 17
Shelley Nitschke 17
Lisa Sthalekar 17

Venugopal Rao has been named captain of the India A side for the six-nation EurAsia Cricket Series at Abu Dhabi from April 22 to May 5.Robin Singh has been named coach of the squad, which, apart from Rao, also includes three players who were part of the mix in the national side during the home series against England: Piyush Chawla, the 16-year-old legspinner, played in the first Test, while RP Singh and VRV Singh were in the one-day squad and played the fifth match at Jamshedpur. The squad also includes Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper from Tamil Nadu who played for India before being upstaged by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.India have been bunched along with Pakistan and Holland, while Sri Lanka, Ireland and UAE comprise Group B. India open their campaign with a match against Holland against April 23.Squad
Robin Uthappa, Shikhar Dhawan, Sivaramakrishnan Vidyut, Venugopal Rao (capt), S Badrinath, Abhisek Jhunjhunwala, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Shib Sankar Paul, RP Singh, VRV Singh, Piyush Chawla.

Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, has said that it was important for Pakistan to beat India in the two-match ODI series beginning in Abu Dhabi to regain their confidence. Pakistan lost the recent one-day series at home 1-4 after beating India 1-0 in the Tests. However, they toured Sri Lanka and won the Test series 1-0 and the one-day series 2-0, their fourth win in the last five ODI series.”Its needless for me to elaborate on an India-Pakistan series,” Woolmer told Press Trust of India. “These games draw massive interest around the world. Our team is in high spirits for the two games. We certainly would like to have our names as the first-ever winners at this venue.”Both matches are day-night fixtures and will be played at the Zayad Cricket Stadium which can seat 16,000 fans. It is the second venue in the United Arab Emirates, after Sharjah, to host international cricket matches. The proceeds from the first game will be donated to the survivors of the earthquake that hit parts of Pakistan and northern India.Since October 2005, India have beaten Sri Lanka 6-1, Pakistan 4-1, England 5-1 and held South Africa to a 2-2 draw, and Woolmer admitted that they would be hard opponents. “Obviously India is not an easy team to beat. They are playing well at the moment but Pakistan has got the type of players to match them in all departments of the game.”India’s strength has been that different players have produced matchwinning performances and therefore the pressure on Rahul Dravid in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar has been reduced. The poor form of Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif has been balanced by sterling performances from Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “We need both Veeru and Kaif at their best but I am glad there are others willing to raise their hand for the cause of the team,” said Dravid. “We have always had good contests against Pakistan and it should be no different in these two games as well.” India had a practice session at the stadium on Monday but were without Greg Chappell who was suffering from an upset stomach.Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, arrived to watch the first game and several other dignitaries – UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, BCCI President Sharad Pawar and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel – will be present during the match. A host of Indian film personalities – like Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Zayed Khan and Esha Deol – were also expected to be at the matches. Preperations were under way for a spectacular laser and firework, where around 200 acrobats will perform.India: Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt) Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Venugopal Rao, S Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh.Pakistan: Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Faisal Iqbal, Abdul Rehman.

A year after the recruitment of Matthew Elliott ended in a serious knee problem, South Australia have returned their focus to home-grown players as they named their contract list for 2006-07. Elliott, whose injury ruled him out of an off-season stint with Glamorgan, retained his place on the list alongside Greg Blewett, another former international who performed below expectations last summer.Mark Higgs and Matthew Weeks were not offered new deals while the rookie Peter George was also dropped from the squad. Gary Putland, the left-arm swing bowler from Southern District, has been added after he played five ING Cup games in 2005-06 and took two wickets. Three rookies have been called up with Lachlan Oswald-Jacobs, the 21-year-old batsman, Chadd Sayers, an 18-year-old from Woodville, and the Southern District batsman Simon Roberts earning their first contracts.”The selectors have continued to show faith in the product of grade cricket and the young talented cricketers in this state,” Harvey Jolly, the SACA general manager of cricket, said. “After the promise shown last season and from my discussions with the playing group it is clear they are excited about being part of the future.” The captain and vice-captain will be named during the pre-season campaign, but it would be a surprise if either Darren Lehmann or Graham Manou were demoted.Squad Nathan Adcock, Cullen Bailey, Greg Blewett, Cameron Borgas, Ben Cameron, Mark Cleary, Mark Cosgrove, Daniel Cullen (Cricket Australia contract), Shane Deitz, Matthew Elliott, Callum Ferguson, Jason Gillespie (CA), Daniel Harris, Ryan Harris, Trent Kelly, Darren Lehmann, Graham Manou, Gary Putland, Paul Rofe, Shaun Tait (CA).Rookies Lachlan Oswald-Jacobs, Tom Plant, Simon Roberts, Chadd Sayers, Ken Skewes.

The second of five one-dayers gets underway in south London tomorrow, at The Oval, with England licking their wounds after Sri Lanka comprehensively outplayed them at Lord’s on Saturday. Sri Lanka, buoyed by Upul Tharanga’s crisp 120 and impressive performances from Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga, enter the match brimming with confidence. Indeed, Tom Moody, their coach, insists Sri Lanka’s best is yet to come.”We got off to a good start at Lord’s,” Moody said at The Oval. “It was pleasing. But I felt we should have got 300, and I also felt we can field better than [we did].”If we win this one-day series, and we’ve got a long way to go, we’ll fly out of England a satisfied team,” he said. “It’s important to have the young players playing on a regular basis. In the short to mid-term we’ll continue to see the benefits like we saw with Upul Tharanga at Lord’s.”The one beacon of light to emerge from England’s disappointingly limp display on Saturday was the batting of Jamie Dalrymple, playing in his first serious one-dayer (after making his debut against Ireland last week). Dalyrmple bowled tidily during his five-over stint, giving the ball a useful tweak, before attempting to stabilise England’s run-chase with a cultured 67.Speaking after England’s practice session at The Oval today, Dalrymple was keen to stress that all is not lost for the home side.”However Saturday went, is it showed to us that with a lot of new faces around we’ve got it in us – if we perform to our best – to give the Sri Lankans a run for their money,” he said. “That’s a positive thing we can definitely hang onto.”We’ve got to take care of our own performance and if we can all up our levels a little bit, five or 10% each, then we should put up a very good challenge.”Of most concern to England was the performance of their bowlers who, although they bowled with greater control during the second-half of Sri Lanka’s innings, conceded 42 extras and 23 wides. With a margin of defeat of just 20 runs, the sundries handed Sri Lanka a far more comfortable victory than would otherwise have been possible.”England won the toss and they were eager to make early inroads on a wicket that appeared to have little bit of life in it,” Moody said. “There’s no doubting the quality of their attack, they had a bad day at the office.”Though Steve Harmison roared in with impressive fire, generating encouraging pace and bounce, he was simply too wayward. Most impressive was Paul Collingwood who conceded just 29 from his ten overs, while picking up the prize scalp of Mahela Jayawardene.The sight of Kevin Pietersen practicing his reverse-sweep in the nets today – effectively batting as a left-hander – might thrill the expectant fans, but England would rather a run-a-ball hundred than a crowd-pleasing 40. Indeed, the England coach Duncan Fletcher confirmed that they would likely enter tomorrow with the same team.”There’s a very good chance we’ll go in with the same side,” he said, “and they’ve got to go there and put it right.”Tomorrow’s match at The Oval starts at 10.45BST.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss (capt), 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Jamie Dalrymple, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Sajid Mahmood, 11 Steve HarmisonSri Lanka (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dilhara Fernando, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan

Scorecard andball-by-ball details
How they were out

In a match that bettered Saturday’s series opener for pure adrenalin,Brendan Taylor single-handedly took Zimbabwe to a 2-1 series lead inanother thriller at Harare. Faced with the daunting task of scoring 17 offthe final over of the match, Taylor smoked Mashrafe Mortaza for two sixes- the second off the final ball with five to win – to overcome the oddsand take Zimbabwe to their second fantastic win in a week. All this in amatch in which Shahadat Hossain became the first Bangladeshi to take ahat-trick in one-day cricket as Bangladesh tried to keep the late-orderrally at bay.Taylor, the only Zimbabwean to shine, took the fight back to Bangladeshwith a spirited unbeaten 79 from 72 deliveries. Partnered by theenthusiastic Tawanda Mupariwa, Taylor added a record 81 for the eighthwicket. When the run rate soared past 12 in the last four overs – the 47thover, bowled by Abdul Razzak, seemingly added the varnish on the game asthe bowler allowed just five runs – there was little stacked in Zimbabwe’sfavour.But what a final over: Mupariwa, whose career-best 33 was immense,pinched a single, Taylor smashed six off the second ball, refused a singleoff the third, watched as Kevin Barbour called a dubious wide, slammed aone-handed four high over midwicket, watched as Mupariwa was runout, and wiped his brow. The equation, in the end, came down to five offone ball. The crowd was on its feet. And Taylor simply lofted the lastball over midwicket for maximum. It was electric stuff.Zimbabwe looked down for the count, but Taylor played an impossible innings. Mupariwa, who had done little in his brief career to suggest he could contribute such valuable runs, held his nerve to give Taylor fine support. It was hard to imagine a better Zimbabwean win than in the series opener, but this was heart-pumping cricket.For the value of this effort to sink in, we must rewind to Shahadat’s moment in thematch. In the 39th over of Zimbabwe’s chase, with the hosts on 150 for 4,he rocked the boat. And how. Tafadzwa Mufambisi, on debut, nicked a widedelivery to Khaled Mashud, Elton Chigumbura departed as he played all over afull and fast delivery and was given lbw in a flash, and Prosper Usteya hunghis bat out at one outside off. One, two, three. Every Bangladeshisupporter and more erupted, the flags were flown high, and Shahadat wasjoined by his team-mates in playful celebration.

The denouement apart, Zimbabwe had never really looked at easechasing 237 on a track that eased out during the day. A steady 30-runopening stand between Terry Duffin and Vusi Sibanda was snapped when Razzak trapped Sibanda leg before in the tenth over. Hamilton Masakadza chugged along to 38 before he slashed a wide delivery from Farhad Reza to backward point to give the bowler his maiden international wicket. Duffin, who had finally got a game, looked out ofdepth against this attack. He might have been preferred in place of ChamuChibhabha for stability, but his sluggishness may have done more harm thangood. His 80-ball 48 came to an end when he failed to execute a sweep and wasstumped off the part-time spin of Rajin Saleh. Saleh delivered a secondstrike when he forced Stuart Matsikenyeri to offer extra-cover thesimplest of chances, but that was nothing in comparison to what enfolded asShahadat took centre stage.Earlier, Zimbabwe’s bowlers came back from an Aftab Ahmed caning and apotential middle-order explosion to restrict Bangladesh to 236. In 49.1overs of see-saw cricket, they seized the impetus, lost it for a briefperiod but came back to wrest it and leave themselves with the lowesttarget of the five-match series thus far.Regardless of the fact that Bangladesh had lost both their openers withonly 13 on the board, Aftab tore into the bowling. Like his manic 40 off25 balls in the second match, he began with a carefree attitude, carvingthree fours to different parts of the ground in four deliveries. Two sixes- a punch over long-off and a merciless smash out of the ground overlong-on – stood out as Aftab raced to 50 off just 31 balls andswung the momentum Bangladesh’s way.

It was then that Anthony Ireland struck the second definitive blow when hebreached Aftab’s defences with a crafty slow yorker. From here, Saleh andMohammad Ashraful played valuable knocks but ultimately failed to sustainthe momentum. The two added 91 in good time, but a position that couldhave been lethal for Zimbabwe was remedied by Hamilton Masakadza, whoselegspin accounted for the duo before they really cut loose. With a fiftythere for the taking, Ashraful tickled one down the leg side and BrendanTaylor held a fine catch. Having just moved past fifty with a punchthrough mid-off for four, Saleh pulled a rank full-toss from Masakadzastraight to midwicket. Ireland came back to dismiss the dangerous MohammadRafique and Mashrafe Mortaza at the death. His spell, 3 for 41, did plentyto rein in the big-hitters and could prove to be vital to the result ofthe match.Overall, Zimbabwe’s bowling was a mixed bag but it did the trick. Irelandtried too much too soon in his first match of the series, but once hefigured out that line and length was better than pace, he was a handful.Mazakadza was preferred at the death despite his inexperience in that rolebut did well to pick up career-best figures of 3 for 39.How they were outBangladesh
Shahriar Nafees c Taylor b Mahwire 0 (4 for 1)
Javed Omar c sub (Chibhabha) b Mupariwa 6 (13 for 2)
Aftab Ahmed b Ireland 53 (83 for 3)
Mohammad Ashraful c Taylor b Masakadza 46 (174 for 4)
Rajin Saleh c Utseya b Masakadza 54 (179 for 5)
Farhad Reza run out (Sibanda) 15 (195 for 6)
Mohammad Rafique c Mupariwa b Ireland 0 (198 for 7)
Mashrafe Mortaza lbw b Ireland 2 (201 for 8)
Khaled Mashud run out (Masakadza/Mahwire) 11 (224 for 9)
Shahadat Hossain st Taylor b Masakadza 1 (236 for 10)
Zimbabwe
Vusi Sibanda lbw b Razzak 14 (30 for 1)
Hamilton Masakadza c Aftan b Reza 38 (84 for 2)
Terry Duffin st Mashud b Saleh 48 (121 for 3)
Stuart Matsikenyeri c Ashraful b Saleh 7 (131 for 4)
Tafadzwa Mufambisi c Mashud b Shahadat 8 (151 for 5)
Elton Chigumbara lbw b Shahadat 0 (151 for 6)
Prosper Utseya c Mashud b Shahadat 0 (151 for 7)
Tawanda Mupariwa run out (Rafique) 33 (232 for 8)

The school team of St John’s College in Johannesburg has been instructed to return home along with the South African national side mid-day through their tour of Sri Lanka because of the bomb blast in Colombo on Monday.The St John’s College team played a match in Colombo on Thursday, a day after South Africa cancelled its participation in a Sri Lankan tri-series following a bomb blast near their hotel that killed seven people and injured several others.”We wanted to finish our engagements here and then return home, but our Counsel advised us to return home at the earliest,” Richard Venter, the coach, was quoted as saying in , a Bangalore-based daily. “We had arrived here by Emirates; now because of the change in plans, we have to procure fresh tickets by Singapore Airlines and we are leaving for Johannesburg tonight.”The star batsman of the school side is a Sri Lanka-born player, and the team was keen to carry on playing, but they had no option but to leave once they were instructed to do so by their government. Gordon Templeton, the media manager of the South African cricket team, said he was unaware of the developments as regards the College team. “They aren’t affiliated to Cricket South Africa, and therefore have received no advisory from the apex body. Cricket South Africa has no control over the side.”Amid all the controversy surrounding South Africa’s decision to return home, the school side had played a match in Colombo. They had already been in Sri Lanka for 10 days and had another week of the tour left when the council ordered them to return home.