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The chairman of Durham County Cricket Club, Bill Midgley, has resigned with immediate effect, following a row with a section of the club membership.Midgley, who took up the post nearly four years ago, had overseen a steady improvement in the club’s fortunes, and last month looked on in pride as the Riverside Ground at Chester-le-Street staged its maiden Test match, against Zimbabwe. But he was considered by some members to have "sold the soul" of the club."Quite simply cricket does not survive on membership alone," said Midgley in a statement. "The role of chairman, of what is a company and not a club, is to look after the interest of all stake-holders – that is you the members, our lenders and our sponsors. That is the reality of the situation, whether members like it or not.”In the circumstances, therefore, I am no longer prepared to spend 30 to 40 hours per week representing members’ interests and trying to ensure the long-term security of Durham CCC. I shall resign, with immediate effect, as chairman and director of the club which I have little doubt will satisfy many of the members who have offered no views on how to repay the Bank the £1.8m we owe to them, whilst securing our own long term security."

Australia’s coach John Buchanan has hit out at what he sees as the “mediocrity” of county cricket in England.Although Buchanan welcomed such developments as the advent of an academy and two divisions in domestic cricket, he suggested that there are too many counties and too many first-class fixtures.”Undermining these initiatives, though, is an archaic playing system, a true servant of mediocrity,” Buchanan told The Sunday Times.”The ECB must take the path that promotes less cricket, rather than allowing the schedule to be squeezed by more cricket in an attempt to meet the cost/revenue equation.”Buchanan, the former Middlesex coach, reasoned that by reducing the number of games there would be more time for constructive practise and recovery, and that would highlight the gulf in class that exists between the Test and journeymen players.”Skills will increase, weeding out the three or four ‘impostors’ who exist in every first-class county. I don’t want to deny these players an opportunity to play, but it should be at a level comparable to their standard and not be a continual drain on county coffers.”He also criticized England’s much-vaunted opening bowlers, Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, for their rivalry with each other.”There was a rivalry between Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick which seemed to be on show in each Test. It was Gough v Caddick, rather than Gough and Caddick v Australia,” Buchanan said.

India, at the halfway mark of their CB Series campaign, have the edge over Sri Lanka, whom they meet at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday. India completed a strong victory against Australia at the MCG, while Sri Lanka suffered a 128-run defeat to the same opponents last week.The game assumes significance for Sri Lanka, six points behind leaders India in the points table though with a game in hand, who have yet to catch fire in the tournament – their previous match against India was washed out after India’s innings.Most worrisome for Mahela Jayawardene, the captain, has been the team’s indifferent batting – apart from Kumar Sangakkara, none of the Sri Lankan batsmen showed character against Australia. “Our batting is a bit of concern,” he said. “You can have those days I suppose, just like what happened to the Aussies yesterday [against India]. They played seven batsmen, yet couldn’t get a competitive total on the board.” However, he felt there were enough runs in the wicket at the Manuka Oval if the batsmen got it right.The wicket is nothing different from the tracks in the subcontinent, except for the bounce. Considering the track is set to aid strokeplay, both teams are expected to opt for batting depth. India wouldn’t want to change a winning combination but Sri Lanka may bring in Farveez Maharoof, the allrounder, for Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is recovering from a bout of infection.Following their unfinished game at the Gabba, where they racked up 267 for 4, India will look to push forward the psychological advantage built by their batsmen against a Sri Lankan attack that’s been below par despite the presence of Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga. Only the young Ishara Amerasinghe kept the Indians in check with accurate bowling even when his seniors failed to build pressure. Harbhajan Singh, the offspinner, was especially pleased by the manner in which his batsmen dealt with the danger of Murali. “The way we played Murali was very good,” he said. “He got two early wickets but he gave away 50-odd runs.”For India, as the summer extends, every game is proving to be a profitable exercise. Harbhajan believes the team has more belief after every win and the hunger is increasing each day.”We have young guys who are all raring to go,” he said. “We played very well yesterday and we will stick to the same sort of the rhythm in the next game and try to win every game from here onwards.”Every game is different. It doesn’t matter what Sri Lanka did in the last game. It’s going to be a good challenge for both sides and we’ll put up our best show.”Jayawardene, however believes the competition is wide open now and says a Sri Lankan win tomorrow will even things out. “The challenge for them is to be consistent and the challenge for us is to challenge ourselves.”The match is also a special occasion for the locals given that international cricket is returning to Canberra after a 16-year hiatus. However, visiting teams have stopped over for the traditional contests against the Prime Minister’s XI, just like India did before the Perth Test this season.Teams
India (likely) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 7 Robin Uthappa, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Ishant SharmaSri Lanka (likely) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Lasith Malinga 10 Ishara Amerasinghe 11 Muttiah Muralitharan

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Yuvraj Singh’s electrifying 70 led the batting charge and Sreesanthdelivered the telling blows with the ball as India produced a magnificentperformance to beat Australia by 15 runs and set up a dreamall-subcontinent final against Pakistan at the ICC World Twenty20. Formuch of their pursuit of 189, Australia were well in contention, withMatthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds muscling balls to the rope, but Indiakept their nerve superbly to clinch another famous victory.Thousands of Indian flags were waved with abandon as Kingsmead came toresemble Little India, but Australia were still marginal favourites with41 needed from the final four overs. Symonds was still there,having biffed his way to 43 from 25 balls, but the moment Irfan Pathanpegged back his off stump with a delivery that evaded the attempted cut,the momentum shifted decisively towards India.Harbhajan Singh conceded just three runs in the next over, yorking MichaelClarke in the process, and Rudra Pratap Singh then returned to bowl anoutstanding over, having gone for plenty in his opening spell. When theinexperienced Joginder Sharma was handed the ball for the final over, 22were needed. Michael Hussey, the master finisher, was on strike, but therewas to be no comeback here. A miscue induced by Sharma’s lack of pacelanded up in Yuvraj Singh’s hands at deep midwicket, and Brett Lee wasthen cleaned up by a yorker as the Indian players started impromptuvictory jigs on the field.Australia were left to reflect on a middle-order meltdown, and anastonishing second half of the Indian innings where Yuvraj, Robin Uthappaand Mahendra Singh Dhoni drove, flicked and bludgeoned 128 runs. Uthappaadded 84 with Yuvraj in just 39 balls, and Dhoni provided the finalflourishes as India ensured that Australia would have a TableMountain-like target to scale.Yuvraj, who had missed the South Africa game after his 12-ballhalf-century against England, carried on in six-hitting vein, pullingStuart Clark, the top wicket-taker in the competition, for a huge one overmidwicket. Adam Gilchrist responded by bringing back Brett Lee, but Yuvrajresponded with a sensational pick-up short over square leg for six, takingIndia to 60 for 2 at the halfway stage, marginally better than the 57 for3 they had against South Africa.Virender Sehwag had gone cheaply, edging Mitchell Johnson behind, andGautam Gambhir’s bright 24-run cameo ended with a stunning catch in theoutfield, but that merely set the stage for dazzling strokeplay thatripped up whatever plans the Australians may have had.Symonds came on and was straight away flicked for four, before both Yuvrajand Uthappa pulled him for sixes in a 19-run over. Neither NathanBracken’s slower variations nor Clark’s steadiness could stem the tide, asYuvraj played sumptuous shots over cover.Another massive pull for six off Clark took him to 50 from just 20 balls,in an over that went for 21, and the return of Johnson provedjust as expensive, with Uthappa slamming a straight six and poweringanother over midwicket. Australia were wobbling, but respite came in theshape of a nonchalant direct hit from Symonds after Yuvraj had turned downUthappa for a single.Dhoni, usually a watchful starter, was into his stride right away, carvingSymonds down the ground, and with Yuvraj carrying on merrily, Gilchristturned to his final bowling option, Clarke. The first ball was heaved forsix over midwicket, but Yuvraj didn’t quite time the next one, and Husseyran in to take the catch.Australia came out prepared to swing, and RP Singh, who had sent SouthAfrica tumbling out of the tournament on Thursday, found the best openingpair in the business a different proposition. Gilchrist repeatedly flickedhim over midwicket, once for six, and also lofted one straight down to thesightscreen.Hayden struggled against Sreesanth, whose eccentricities shouldn’t obscurejust how beautifully he bowled. There was pace and swing as Haydenrepeatedly swished at air, but it was Gilchrist that departed first,castled by a wonderful delivery that swung back in. That was the signalfor Hayden to move through the gears, and Sharma was the first to feel theimpact, taken for two huge sixes over midwicket as 18 came from the over.

Brad Hodge didn’t last long, heaving one to short fine leg, but the adventof Symonds changed the complexion of the game. Both men heaved Pathan forsixes in an over, and Dhoni’s gamble to give Sehwag an over, after he hadtweaked his hamstring while batting, backfired. Hayden heaved a six to getto 50 from 40 balls, and another loft down the ground saw 20 come from theover.When Symonds then clattered Harbhajan over midwicket for six more, the DJstarted to play Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out of my Head, areflection perhaps on how the match was moving inexorably towardsAustralia. It was clear that India needed a hero, and they found one inthe swing bowler with the long stare and the quirky mannerisms.Sreesanth came round the wicket and send Hayden’s off stump for a walk toend the 66-run partnership, and though Symonds continued to swing to thebitter end, the rest of his mates weren’t up to the task. Sreesanthfinished with sensational figures of 2 for 12, but the no-name Sharma’slast-over best summed up what was a tremendous team effort.Australia will have to wait to get their hands on this trophy, but forIndia and Pakistan, who exited the World Cup in such humiliatingcircumstances just six months ago, Monday afternoon at the Wanderers can’tcome soon enough. It will surprise no one if the DJ decides to kick offthe festivities with .

Scott Styris is likely to miss the first Test against Sri Lanka due to an ongoing back problem. Styris managed only two games in the Champions Trophy before his injury flared up again.New Zealand team manager Lindsay Crocker said Styris was suffering from a small rupture to a disc in his spine and the priority was to ensure he was fit for the World Cup starting next March. “It’s not in anyone’s best interests for Scott to play when he isn’t 100 percent right, so it’s unlikely he’ll be considered,” Crocker told the .”We just need to be patient and get him back to full fitness,” he said. The injury first appeared in September when Styris was playing for the English county side Middlesex. The opening batsman Michael Papps will also not be considered for the first Test in Christchurch starting on December 7 due to a broken finger.New Zealand will play two Tests against Sri Lanka, followed by two Twenty/20 matches and five one-day internationals.

For the umpteenth time in this series Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell insisted that there was still a long way to go, and that being 2-0 up would make no difference to the way they prepared, and to the intensity they carried into the third game.”We will just concentrate on what we have to do. I am happy with the way my team has played in the last two games,” Dravid said on Sunday after a lengthy practice session at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. “But I am not worried too much about the results. We need to focus on the processes we put in place and on our goals, and I believe if you do the processes well, the result takes care of itself.”Dravid also reiterated the need to be consistent, and said that it was something he had put across to the team. “I have put the challenges forward to them,” he said. “We know that we have been inconsistent in the past, and the challenge is to make sure that doesn’t happen again. We have learnt to prepare hard for the match in hand, irrespective of the result of the previous game.”The fact that India are 2-0 up gives them the luxury of considering resting Sachin Tendulkar – who has just managed a successful return to cricket after a long lay-off owing to a painful tennis elbow – although perhaps the time has not yet come for that. “We are aware of that, we have to make sure that we don’t put too much pressure on him,” said Chappell. “If and when the opportunity presents itself, we will look to rest him for a game somewhere down the line.”Dravid added that Tendulkar’s style of playing was in line with the team’s current needs. “When you play 15 years of international cricket, you can’t score in every game, and we don’t expect him to score in every game,” he said. “He’s hitting the ball well, is in good form, and we hope he may continue to do that. Most importantly, he is a team man who can play according to the requirements of the team, who can play differently in different conditions.”Chappell conceded that playing at home did give the Indians an edge. “Playing at home does make a big difference, and Sri Lanka are on the road,” he said. “But the fact is that we have played good cricket in the last two games. We have approached matches with strategies that we think will give us an advantage and work against them, and so far, they have succeeded. Good teams are those who have different players performing in different matches. If someone fails, then someone else turns up.”

Marvan Atapattu, the beleagured Sri Lankan captain, was once again faced with questions on how his team planned to bounce back in the series after suffering heavily at India’s hands. Keeping his cool, he said, “We need to play well as a group for us to bounce back. We have a few things planned, and one of those is not to pressurise individuals. The team has to gel together for us to come up trumps. There is no point having stars and putting pressure on them. As a unit, we all have to respond to the challenge.”Atapattu also defended Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, who have not had as big an impact as expected. “Murali is a class act, and it’s not easy to bowl on flat tracks,” he said. “Actually, if you take the figures of all the bowlers in the series so far, you will find that Murali has the best figures. As for Vaas, it will be unfair to pull him down when he is bowling to someone like Sachin, who is batting as well as he has done all career long. Vaas is among the top five bowlers in one-day cricket, but how he is bowling here is a reflection of both the conditions and the person he is bowling at. He can’t go from being very good to very bad overnight.”Mahela Jayawardena, who also attended the pre-match press conference, echoed Atapattu’s words, and said he, as an individual, was not feeling any special pressure to perform. “I don’t feel any additional pressure. As a team, we need to get our acts together. We all have the capability, of that there is no doubt. What is important is how we approach the task tomorrow. Personally, I will take it as just another game.”

Harbhajan Singh has said that he has a way to curb Sanath Jayasuriya’s murderous methods. He revealed a few strategies ahead of Sunday’s Asia Cup final at Colombo.”When Sanath sweeps,” a PTI report quoted Harbhajan as saying, “he turns his eyes away which is an encouraging sight to me. It is not the sweep of a Matthew Hayden who is looking at the ball while executing such strokes.”Harbhajan also revealed the field that he plans to have for Jayasuriya. “I will have five fielders on the on side for him — one at short fine leg, the other at deep fine leg, one fielder right in front of square leg umpire, the fourth one at deep midwicket and the fifth at mid-on, drawn a little inside the right.”All this was in the hope that he may induce Jayasuriya into an airy sweep. Apart from deciding to feed Jayasuriya on the leg side, he also has said he would bowl over the wicket and deny him the room to play the cut. “I would not bowl round-the-wicket to him. He has such a brilliant tap shot which is defensive in nature but still goes for a four. By bowling over the wicket, I would not be giving him room.”Harbhajan termed his ball to get Marvan Atapattu, in the do-or-die clash, as his best ball of the tournament. “He came forward to me, was beaten in the flight and picked up by Yuvraj Singh in front of the square-leg umpire.”Harbhajan said he felt extremely comfortable bowling after a long break and added, “I am now doing things which I never bothered about before. I give the finger ice-treatment after matches. I have three devices to strengthen my bowling fingers. One is sort of plaster-of-paris , which I squeeze to strengthen my fingers from the inside. There is a loop which I tie to two fingers and expand it to strengthen my fingers from the outside. Then there is a squeezing ball.”

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Australian squad’s equipment last May in Trinidad has finally been clarified, according to the Trinidad Express.Trinidad police, acting on a tip-off, discovered some of the 35 missing items in a local taxi-driver’s car and house last weekend, and it has been revealed that the culprit was planning to make a bob or two out of the stolen stash as well.The thief was planning to use the pads, bats, gloves and sun-glasses as prizes for a cricket tournament he was in the process of organizing in Couva, central Trinidad. Claiming to be the cricket coach of the Metal Industries Company in nearby Macoya, and wearing an official Australian yellow t-shirt to boot, he approached the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) and said he wanted to co-ordinate a tournament between the two organisations.To pull the wool further over the NESC official’s eyes, he gave them two white cricket balls, claiming they were a gift from the Australian squad, before showing off the rest of the stolen gear which he had in his car, again saying it was given to him, this time by Matthew Hayden.He then offered the equipment as prizes for the tournament, with a generous cut of the gate money in return.It has since emerged that the crook was hired by the Australian team as part of their retinue, and that he stole the goods while they were temporarily under his supervision at the Hilton in Trinidad. Trinidad police then questioned everyone who had responsibility for the equipment, and after they searched his car and house and found some of the missing items, they duly arrested him.However, he was released two days later after the police said that they could not proceed with the charges without a formal complaint from the Australian Cricket Board.However, Stephen Bernard, the Australian manager, contacted Trinidad-based BWIA airlines to say he would be sending them a list of the stolen items by the end of the week, which will then to be forwarded to the police.

India’s ace leg spinner Anil Kumble, who is on the comeback trail, isto return to international cricket in October. The architect of manyan Indian win has been out of action for more than nine months now. InJanuary this year, he underwent a surgery on his right shoulder inSouth Africa for the injury he sustained in Sharjah last October.Indian bowling will look a lot different with Kumble and HarbhajanSingh bowling from either end. CricInfo caught up with Kumble at theRSI Ground, Bangalore on Friday, when he was playing for KarnatakaState Cricket Association XI against Andhra Cricket Association XI inthe Coromandel Cement Cup tournament,Kumble has been training and is happy with the progress he has beenmaking. After playing a couple of club games, he has gained inconfidence. The match against the Andhra Cricket Association XI is thefirst of any serious nature. He came through unscathed after a spellthat fetched him the figures of 17-4-37-1.Even though these are early days and the domestic first class seasonwill start only in November, Kumble might well play for KSCA in theBuchi Babu tournament in Chennai this month.It has been a major disappointment for Kumble to have been out ofaction for such a long time but he is not in a hurry to make acomeback to the Indian squad. Kumble said that he would miss the AsianTest Championship and is looking forward to the tour of South Africa.As for the medical clearance required, he added that there was no needfor any certificate from his surgeon and he would take the finaldecision about his return to the side. Kumble is quite positive abouthis chances of playing in South Africa in just about two months time.

New South Wales has scored a resounding seven wicket win over Tasmania with more than thirteen overs to spare in a rain-reduced Mercantile Mutual Cup match at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today. A win which gave the Blues a second bonus point under the newly-revised rules in the Cup competition this season, it was achieved when Steve Waugh (75*) and Michael Bevan (43*) emphatically put the seal on some fine work from their team’s bowlers earlier in the day.The last time that these two sides each had their international players available to them for a one-day meeting (two seasons ago at this venue to be precise), Tasmania recorded a very easy win. Today, things could not have been more different.The gods smiled kindly on Waugh at the toss – for the second time here this week – and his decision to insert the Tasmanians yielded decisive results. By as quickly as the eleven over mark, the Tigers’ top and middle order lay in ruin and, notwithstanding a laudable fightback with the bat, the match was as good as over even by then.Disastrously, captain Jamie Cox (0) was lost to a run out only two deliveries into the innings and it set a poor tone for the next hour. The ill news continued when dashing left hander Michael DiVenuto (10) was well caught by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to his left after forcing away from his body at a Nathan Bracken (2/21 off seven overs) ball which lifted on him. In the sixth over, the Blues struck probably their most crucial blow of all on the capricious pitch when Bracken found the outside edge of the normally broad Ricky Ponting (0) bat to conjure a catch for Mark Waugh at second slip. And then in the eleventh over, the horribly out of form Shaun Young (1) became the fourth man to depart after being well caught, low to the ground at backward point, by Mark Higgs off the medium pace of Shawn Bradstreet (1/22 from seven overs).This action had all come on the back of a two-hour delay caused by the unreadiness of the pitch at the western end of the Bellerive Oval square. While overcast, Hobart’s weather was perfectly fit for play to start on time this morning; however, the pitch was not. The force of the driving rain deposited at the ground by a late afternoon thunderstorm yesterday resulted in the appearance of several wet patches and they needed to be dried this morning before the midday start was made possible. This contributed to a reduction of the match to a thirty-eight over per side affair and granted the Blues the luxury of being able to exploit variability in bounce and healthy seam movement.Daniel Marsh (57*) again underlined his capabilities with the bat to lead a recovery, combining with Dene Hills (40) and Scott Kremerskothen (23) to both stabilise and add some scoring momentum to the innings. However, it was the Blues’ bowlers – and pacemen Bracken and Brett Lee (1/27 from eight) in particular – who clearly commanded most of the plaudits after the opening session. The Tigers’ eventual tally of 8/162, while respectable, never looked like it would be enough.When Haddin (2) and Michael Slater (18) let over-impetuosity get the better of them in a mad dash for quick runs at the start of the chase, the Tasmanians raised flickering hopes of an unlikely upset. But, following a few anxious early moments as he played and missed outside the line of off stump from the back foot, Steve Waugh (75* off 73 deliveries) was in command from there and the Blues careered away to victory. He clubbed nine fours and two sixes in a belligerent display, his most memorable blow coming in the form of an audacious lofted cut that slammed into the pavilion. With his brother Mark (22), the skipper added fifty-seven for the third wicket in quick time before stepping up the pace even further in a brutal, unbroken eighty-six run assault in the space of a mere thirty-five minutes for the fourth with Bevan (43* off 23 balls).In the end, the visitors had nearly six overs to spare in their pursuit of the bonus point offered to any side that can score at a rate at least one and a quarter runs per over times that of their opponents. The Tasmanians, for their part, looked aimless in the absence of their best one-day bowler, injured speedster Damien Wright. Young produced a brilliant catch running to deep extra cover from wide mid off, and Ponting a characteristic direct-hit run out from backward point. But that was about as much as a decent-sized home crowd was left to smile about.