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The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s bid to appoint a new foreign coach for the national team before the tour of New Zealand received a blow when John Dyson, the former Australian batsman who was one of the contenders, decided to take up the West Indies job.Dyson, who had coached Sri Lanka earlier, was in talks with the Bangladesh board and expected to make his presentation this month. “It’s a discomforting situation for us now because it would be difficult to rope in a new coach soon,” Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, chairman of BCB cricket operations committee, was quoted as saying in the Dhaka-based .”We had completed all necessary talks with Dyson. He said he would be available from mid-November and also gave us an offer. As almost all his conditions suited us, we would have given him our counter-proposal following his presentation. We felt that we were as close as we could be to seal the deal. Naturally, Dyson chose the better option but now we have to start afresh, which is a difficult task.”The board president’s October deadline for the appointment of a new coach is now unlikely to be met. “It’s more of a preliminary target than a deadline. It would be better if we achieve the target of confirming a coach by October,” Lipu said. “In fact, coaches are not very much available for international jobs as most have commitments.”We still have two men on our list but it seems that Gordon [Greenidge] cannot stay in Bangladesh for full two years without interruption. We have already sent him our itinerary and I will contact him tomorrow to know his views.”BCB’s short-list also includes Australian allrounder Colin Miller, who isn’t as experienced as the other two. “Gordon is looking through our international schedule for the next two years while Dyson has also communicated with us after returning from his holiday,” Lipu said. “We also added the name of Miller to our list. We can reach a concrete decision next week.”

James Foster, the former England wicketkeeper, has extended his contract with Essex until 2009.Foster, 26, had an improved season in 2006 averaging 42.41 and also took 68 catches, the most by a wicketkeeper in either division of the Championship.”There was never any question or problem with me signing a new contract,” Foster said, “but it just took a little longer to complete for a variety of reasons. It was just that there was no real massive panic because David East [the Essex chief executive] and myself both knew that I would sign it.”I’m very happy at Essex. I’m really pleased with the way we are going as a team – I think we are going in the right direction,” he said. “There’s a great mix of youth and experience at the moment and I firmly believe we will be able to continue to push for silverware.”Obviously in the last couple of years we’ve performed exceptionally well in one-day games and hopefully we can get promoted in the four-day game – which we should do. We just missed out this year but I believe we can do that. I’d love to be a part of an Essex team that is a force in the four-day game as well.”

Stuart MacGill has given Shane Warne, his possible legspinning partner for the Super Test, a vote of off-field support as well as labelling his Ashes performance “the best season ever”. Warne’s after-hours behaviour came under more scrutiny today following personal revelations in British tabloids, but MacGill told “sportsmen were sometimes judged on things that the wider community was not subjected to”.”People certainly don’t look at a man sitting in an office and judge him not only on his work but on his personal relationships and on his moral codes,” he told the news agency. “I’m not condoning any activities that are not socially acceptable, but I do wonder sometimes whether it’s appropriate for us to judge sportsmen and women and high-profile members of the community to such an extent … based on our own moral judgments.”However, MacGill is excited about the prospect of bowling in tandem with Warne during the Super Test, which starts on October 14, and expects the SCG pitch to favour the slow men. “Wrist spinners on this pitch bowling together have taken a lot of wickets,” he said. “Providing there is a lot of [sunshine], the wicket’s going to be perfect for Shane and myself.”The pair last bowled together at the ground against Pakistan in January, when MacGill captured eight wickets and Warne five. Since then MacGill has watched Warne claim 40 victims on the Ashes tour and wished for another chance.”If I was selecting the team [in England] I would obviously have been one of the first names picked, but I don’t have to look at the bigger picture,” he said. “I don’t have to look at the balance of an attack. Those things may have been in favour of my non-selection.”MacGill, 34, also stepped into issue of Damien Martyn’s dropping from the Test side when he said he didn’t see why Martyn should be forced out when he was averaging almost 50. “It was a very, very harsh call and one that I’m personally very disappointed about,” he said. “Everywhere else in Australian society we’re trying to raise the age of retirement. I’m not sure why sportsmen have to suffer.”

Cricket Australia has announced a 13-man squad to represent the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence (CBCE) and Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) on the tour of India where they will pit their skills against an India Academy side and two state teams.The 13 have been selected from the 26 who just completed a 13-week programme at the Centre in Brisbane. Craig Simmons and Adam Voges, both from Western Australia, and Doug Bollinger, a New South Welshman, have already made their domestic first-class debuts in the Pura Cup competition, whilst Travis Birt, a Tasmanian, and Brad Knowles, from Victoria, have played in the ING Cup one-day competition.Voges and Bollinger have secured state contracts for the 2004-05 domestic season, whilst Knowles, Tim Paine of Tasmania and Jason Krezja, from New South Wales, have been signed to rookie contracts.Bennett King, who will coach the side to India, said that the CBCE forms part of the cricket pathway to help talented players refine their skills and prepare for the next step in their career. “Travelling and learning to handle the conditions of the sub-continent is an important element for anyone who wants to play at the highest level,” he said. “The experience this trip will provide will be invaluable to the players’ development.”The squad
Tom Plant, Craig Simmons, Travis Birt, Ryan Broad, Adam Voges (capt), Jason Krezja, Matthew Harrison, Tim Paine (wk), Daniel Cullen, Brad Knowles, Darren McNees, Doug Bollinger, Brendan Drew.Schedule
July 28 – 29 2-day match v Indian National Cricket Academy (NCA) U/19, BangaloreJuly 31 – August 1 2-day match v Karnataka State CA XI, BangaloreAugust 3-4 2-day match v KSCA XI, BangaloreAugust 6-7 2-day match v KSCA XI, BangaloreAugust 10 1-day match v Tamil Nadu State CA XI, ChennaiAugust 11 1-day match v TNSCA XI, ChennaiAugust 13 1-day match v TNSCA XI, Chennai

He’s young, blond, good-looking, intelligent, polite and musical. Oh, and he’s the fastest bowler in the world. The only drawback? Sorry to spoil the celebrations after that win over West Indies, but Brett Lee is Australian, and he’ll be coming to England next year as one of the most exciting members of the best Test and one-day teams in the world.At a depressing time for cricket, when many of us have become cynical about leading players, it has been a relief and a delight to find a highly talented bowler who is as generous and polite as some of his seniors are selfish and egotistical. Lee is fast and fun to watch, and his emergence reminds us that cricket can continually renew itself.Lee, who’s 24 on November 8, made his Test debut in December last year. He immediately took five wickets blitzing the hapless Indians with an impressive combination of skill, raw pace and unadulterated enthusiasm. A few months later, during a one-day game in front of a noisy and passionate sellout crowd at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Lee equalled the fastest delivery ever recorded by electronic means, with a 156kph (97mph) thunderbolt.Soon afterwards, in July, an investigation was announced into his bowling action. Three long weeks later the International Cricket Council’s panel of experts cleared his name. Lee had already survived career-threatening stress fractures of the lower back six years ago, after which he worked hard at remodelling his action, under Dennis Lillee’s tutelage. All this helped him take the throwing allegations in his stride.Many cricketers, if they’re suddenly thrust from relative obscurity to a sort of a pop-star fame, happily believe the most breathless publicity about themselves. They lose their way, their perspective, and become cut off from the real world. A lot of those players live and learn and, often with help from selectors who drop them for a while, come out the other end as reasonably decent human beings.But Brett Lee seems to be the sort of character whose head will not be swayed by fame and fortune. Certainly success hasn’t changed him so far. An easygoing country boy with a politeness that comes to him as naturally as his charming smile, Lee is different. He happily admits to loving classical music and to resorting to the soothing melodies of Mozart when he relaxes away from the game.”It’s a bit different for a fast bowler, isn’t it?” Lee admits. “For me, music is the same as the other guys playing golf. They play golf to get away from cricket, to relax. I play music, strum a few chords on my guitar.”Dad played a lot of classical records around the house and Mum played piano, so I’ve grown up with music. When I’m on tour I’ll take a very mixed lot of CDs. I’d have some Mozart, some Jimmy Barnes, Backstreet Boys – the whole lot. I’m a huge Elvis fan. I appreciate most types of music.”Lee is not just another cricketer who strums a chord or two on the guitar and fantasises that he is a rock star (just as most rock stars wish they were international cricketers). He can actually play.These days a team singalong in the hotel bar after an important win features Lee on the house piano, mingling passages from Chopin nocturnes with the `60s and `70s rock he also loves. Older brother Shane – an Australian one-day player himself and New South Wales’s captain – plays guitar, and younger brother Grant is now a qualified music teacher. Brett and Shane are in a pub band called , made up of NSW players, who play regular gigs around Sydney in winter and will soon release their first CD.Although he no longer needs to work outside cricket, Lee is in his third year on the sales staff of a Sydney men’s outfitters – Barclay’s. He works there three or four days a week – when cricket allows – and is featured in newspaper ads for the company, which he does free of charge.Lee has a real job for two reasons: to keep his feet on the ground, and to repay Richard Bowman, his boss, for the support he offered in the early days of his career.”I’ve been here for three years,” Lee told me as we chatted in a café in the mid-city arcade that houses Barclay’s suit shop. “I was working here when I was just playing first-grade cricket. He took a punt on me and now it’s paid off. I do those ads because I owe him a lot and it’s good to be able to pay him back.”He’s never knocked me back when I’ve asked for time off for cricket. We agreed from the start that cricket was Number One. If I’ve come up to him and asked for four months off he’s said `take five’. So I work here, then when cricket comes up I go and do that and then come back. He’s been right behind me and now I want to look after him.Lee also sees advantages in avoiding fulltime professional cricket. “I don’t really have to work, but it’s good for me. So much has happened in the past year that this keeps my feet on the ground. It’s a place where I can come and not worry about bowling or batting, and I’m not sitting at home watching TV. I can do something that’s teaching me skills – how to meet people and what-have-you.”It’s funny sometimes. People come into the shop to meet me or ask me to sign something. Twelve months ago I was working here and no-one had any idea who I was. Which was good. Still I suppose now it makes a sale a helluva lot easier when you talk cricket, take their minds off the price and nail’em at the end!Although this may all sound far too sensible for a young cricket star, an express bowler no less, it is not contrived. Brett Lee might receive astute advice – from older brother Shane, from the other members of his close-knit family, from manager Neil Maxwell (a former NSW player), and from mentor Dennis Lillee – but he is also smart enough to take that advice.After discussions with Shane and Maxwell, Brett recently ignored a lucrative sponsorship offer from a liquor company. It was not the sort of product he wanted to be associated with. Instead he and Shane advertise Weet-Bix, a well-loved Aussie breakfast cereal, and also promote a charity whose aim is to reduce Australia’s alarming teenage suicide rate.So much for Lee the young man. But can he bowl? The evidence is unequivocal. Lee is consistently faster and more accurate than Shoaib Akhtar, seems able to bowl an outswinger with the new ball at full pace, has an excellent yorker and a promising amount of bowling nous.Lee would have made his Test debut two games earlier if the selectors had acceded to the wishes of captain Steve Waugh and then vice-captain Shane Warne and included him in the XI for the Third Test against Pakistan at Perth last winter. Michael Kasprowicz was given a deserved chance instead, but a few weeks later the word went out: Lee just had to come into the Test side.In a Sheffield Shield game at Perth, Lee had launched an astonishing onslaught, the fastest bowling seen in Australia since the days of Jeff Thomson back in the `70s. He broke Jo Angel’s arm, and frightened his own fielders, let alone the West Australian batsmen.”Well, I’ve been told by the NSW boys, Mark and Steve Waugh, that’s the quickest they’ve ever seen me bowl,” Lee says. “It felt heaps quicker than when I was clocked at 156kph in South Africa. Perth was the quickest I’ve bowled. I just wish they’d had a speed camera there. But the most important thing to me is taking wickets. People ask me if I think about reaching 160 [about 100mph]. That doesn’t worry me as long as I’m taking wickets.”Lee is as excited as other Australians about the prospect of sharing the ball with Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie for the first time this summer. Gillespie is back from a one-year lay-off caused by the broken leg he suffered in that horrific collision with Steve Waugh in Sri Lanka last year, and McGrath is simply the best in the business. The trio might just develop into the best fast-bowling combination Australia has had since Lillee and Thomson ruled the world.”It’s very exciting. I’m very good mates with Dizzy [Gillespie], and it’s just great to see him back. I’m looking forward to playing at the WACA, taking the West Indies on there in the Second Test. It’ll be huge.”Add a spinner called Warne (“Yeah, he’s not too bad, is he?” Lee laughs) and a quality back-up swing bowler like Damien Fleming, and Australia will bring a powerful attack to England next year. However, after six consecutive one-sided Ashes series, there is always the chance that a new generation of Australian cricketer might think the gloss has faded from cricket’s oldest rivalry. Brett Lee was only 10 when Australia last lost a series to England. Where do the Ashes rate now?”Number One”, he says. “Doing an Ashes tour is the cream of the crop for any cricketer growing up in Australia. The biggest thing for me so far was getting my baggy green cap and playing my first Test. I think if I get a chance to go and play in England it would be a dream come true.”We’ve got such a love-hate relationship with the English people, it’d be great to knock them off. We actually enjoy playing against England. We love it. They’re very competitive and that’s what Test cricket is all about: Australia playing England.”Lee might bring the best of feelings and intension to England next year; but he won’t be able to pack local experience along with the Mozart and Elvis CDs. Strangely, he has never played in England, although when I point out that the ball travels through the air just as fast in England as anywhere else, he flashes that smile.”Exactly.”——————————————————————————–Brett Lee
Born Nov 8, 1976, Wollongong New South Wales
First-class debut 1994-95 for Australian cricket Academy, NSW debut 1997-98
Test debut 1999-2000 v India at Melbourne; took 5-47 in 1st inns. After 5 Tests, has 31 wkts at 16.06
ODI debut 1999-2000 v Pakistan, Brisbane, After 19 matches, has 32 wkts at 22.43. BB 5-27 v. India, Adelaide, has taken 3 wkts in inns 6 more times
Family ties Brother Shane (born Aug 8 1973) has played 43 ODIs for Australia since 1995-96
Back and forth Has had a reputation as a lightning-fast bowler since his teens, but suffered back problems in 1994-95, and again, to lesser extent, in 1998. Worked on strengthening his back and remodelling his action with Dennis Lillee. During the Australian Academy tour of South Africa in 1998 coach Rod Marsh said Lee was the fastest thing he’d seen since Thomson, and was a must for the Test team

99.7 mph Jeff Thomson 160.45 kph, Australia v West Indies, Test, 1975-76
97.0 mph Brett Lee 156 kph, Australia v South Africa, ODI, Johannesburg 1999-2000
97.0 mph Shoaib Akhtar 156 kph, Pakistan v South Africa, ODI, Sharjah 1999-2000
94.3 mph Nantie Hayward 151 kph, South Africa v England, Test, Port Elizabeth, 1999-2000
93.7 mph Darren Gough 149.8 kph, England v West Indies, Test, Edgbaston 2000
Thomson’s delivery was measured using different equipment to the current Speedster radar-gun. But he also claims he wasn’t trying very hard at the time

• It was the 1554th Test in cricket history.
• It was Australia’s 617th and England’s 784th match and the 299thbetween these two sides. The record now reads : Australia 120, England93, drawn 86.
• Umpires John Hampshire and S Venkataraghavan were officiating in their17th and 46th match respectively, while Talat Ali was officiating asICC match referee for the eighth time.
• It was the 20th Test between these two sides on the Trent Bridgeground. Australia has won 7 and lost only three. 10 matches weredrawn. Australia had last lost a match on this ground back in August1977.
• Alex Tudor was making a comeback into the English side after twoyears. His last appearance was against New Zealand at Birmingham inJuly 1999.
• The wicket of Robert Croft in the first innings was the 100th forShane Warne against England. He became the 11th Australian and 16thbowler overall to achieve this feat. At the end of this match, Warnehas a tally of 106 wickets from 21 games against England. Thefollowing table lists the leading wicket takers against England inTest cricket:

• Mike Atherton, at the end of this match, has an aggregate of 7676 runsfrom 113 matches which takes him ahead of Colin Cowdrey who had anaggregate of 7624 runs from 114 matches. Now only Graham Gooch (8900runs from 118 matches), David Gower (8231 from 117) and Geoff Boycott(8114 from 108) are ahead of Atherton for England.
• The wicket of Andrew Caddick in the second innings was the 100th forJason Gillespie in his 24th match. He became the 29th Australian and121st bowler overall to do so.
• When Mark Ramprakash was stumped by Gilchrist in second innings, itwas the 19th time Shane Warne got a wicket in this fashion. With thishe moved ahead of India’s Vinoo Mankad and Bishen Singh Bedi andAustralia’s Ashley Mallett who each had 18 such dismissals againsttheir name. Now only Clarrie Grimmett (28) and India’s Subhash Gupte(20) are ahead of Warne.
• When Mike Atherton was dismissed by McGrath in the first innings, itwas the 20th occasion Atherton was getting out without opening hisaccount. He thus joined seven other batsmen who have suffered theignominy of recording 20 or more ducks in a career. They are: WestIndian Courtney Walsh (43 ducks), Curtley Ambrose (26), AustralianShane Warne (24), New Zealander Danny Morrison (24), India’s BhagwatChandrasekhar (23), Australia’s Glenn McGrath (22) and India’s BishenSingh Bedi (20).
• Brett Lee has now played in 10 matches without being on the losingside even once. He has now equalled West Indian Eldine Baptiste’srecord in this category of statistics. The following tables have thedetails :

Highest Percentage of Winning matches : (Min.Qualification : 10matches)

• Alec Stewart has now appeared in 47 `lost’ matchesmaximum by anyplayer in Test cricket history. He was earlier at level withAustralia’s Allan Border. The details :

• Australia has now played in 21 consecutive result matches winning 19and losing two. It is now only one short of equalling England’s alltime record of 22 consecutive matches without a draw between 1884-85and 1891-92 with 17 wins and five losses.
• The defeat was Mike Atherton’s 21st in 54 matches. Only Allan Borderhas lost more matches (22) than Atherton.
• The win was Steve Waugh’s 20th in 27 matches. He became the eighthcaptain to win 20 or more matches after West Indian Clive Lloyd (36wins in 74 matches), Australian Allan Border (32 in 93), South AfricanHansie Cronje (27 in 53), Viv Richards (27 in 50), Australian MarkTaylor (26 in 50), Greg Chappell (21 in 48) and Englishman Peter May(20 in 41).
• The victory in this match also sealed the series in Australia’sfavour. Australia has now won seven Ashes series in a row. The lastoccasion Australia lost a series to England was back in 1986-87 whenEngland defeated Australia on latter’s soil by a 2-1 margin.
• Shane Warne was winning his ninth Man of the Match award – his thirdagainst England. He had last won an award way back in 1997-98 againstSouth Africa in Sydney.

Another heavy loss, another dream, so real only a week earlier, shattered.Yet, even as Dale Steyn’s irresistible pace with the second new ball propelled South Africa to their series-clinching victory by an innings and 100 runs nearing the end of the third day of the third Test here yesterday, Marlon Samuels’ second Test hundred and the overall fight in a hopeless situation exemplified two of the gains for West Indies from a series in a country that had previously brought only defeat and despondency.No advance – and there have been a number – has been more individually significant than Samuels’. No aspect has been more noticeable than the general spirit.For nearly three hours yesterday, Samuels and Dwayne Bravo, two of those on whom the future lies, kept West Indies’ flame alive in a fifth wicket partnership of 144.But, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the rock of the batting in the two previous Tests, so ill with a virus infection he was incapable of joining the fray and Steyn firing on all cylinders, South Africa only needed to separate the two to lighten their load. It came with the sixth ball after tea when Steyn removed Bravo lbw for 75 (117 balls, as many as 13 fours). It was a timely return to form after a run of low scores but the method of his dismissal was all too familiar, aiming to work the ball to leg off the stumps.By then, Samuels was 19 away from his hundred and Denesh Ramdin, with another neat, but brief, cameo, and Darren Sammy remained to see him through to his goal.Ramdin, in no bother while stroking five fours in 25, surrendered his wicket with a dab at Andre Nel that appeared to be an after-thought but the two Sammys batted through to the new ball, the Jamaican arriving at his hundred four overs before Graeme Smith handed it to Steyn.Samuels slapped the first ball, short and wide, dismissively to the point boundary for his 18th four. The next was a wicked delivery, fast on a perfect length and straightening enough to breach his defence and trim his off stump. It was the first of Steyn’s four wickets from 15 scoreless balls that hastened the end of the innings as Sammy, caught and bowled off the leading edge, and Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards, comprehensively bowled, followed.Samuels’ vigil of four-and-a-quarter hours and 190 balls began 35 minutes into another hot, cloudless day following the summary dismissal of the two openers.Brenton Parchment was lbw to Steyn, aiming to leg, and Daren Ganga, another in Samuels’ last-chance situation, fell cheaply yet again to a weak shot and a slip catch. For 50 minutes, Runako Morton trusted his eye and his power in punching seven fours in a run-a-ball 37. It was ironic, after his shot-a-ball attack, that he should chose not to offer a shot at all to Shaun Pollock’s second ball of the day to be plainly lbw.It was a special dismissal for Pollock as it was to be his last, and 421st, wicket in what he had announced the day before would be his final Test. He will be missed, as all great players are, but it was, he said, time to go.The Samuels-Bravo association began with a stroke of luck, a straight drive when Bravo was seven that Andre Nel failed to catch, two-handed, on his follow through. There were a few more alarms on the way but the two stuck it out.During one fiery spell from Steyn after lunch, Bravo took a blow on the shoulder and Samuels, then 41, was missed low down at second slip by Jacques Kallis. Later, with Samuels into his 50s, there was one frenetic over from Nel when he slashed three fours, two in succession through the widely-spread slips.The introduction of Hamish Amla’s club level offspin was a concession from the South Africans as the stand went past 100, the second session yielding 96 off 27 overs and no wicket.

Steyn’s immediate intervention after tea with Bravo’s wicket and his new-ball burst at the end settled the issue, securing the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy for South Africa for the fifth successive series. It presented Pollock with a fitting farewell to international cricket as he was hoisted shoulder high by his jubilant team-mates as they left the ground.In contrast, it was a disappointing finale for the West Indies, even given that they were cruelly stricken by misfortune even before a ball was bowled.With captain Chris Gayle incapacitated and missing and his stand-in Bravo’s side strain preventing him from bowling, their fate was sealed once they were six wickets down for 57 an hour-and-a-half into the match. It was a tomb from which there was never any escape against superior opponents, buoyed by their hard-fought triumph in the second Test just a few days before.Samuels innings, and series form, was more than a grain of consolation. A batsman of such obvious ability that he was thrust into the hottest of cricket war zones, Australia, aged 19 with one first-class match to his name, he arrived in South Africa with 24 spasmodic Tests spread over the intervening seven years, with the dubious credentials of a batting average of 27.3 and a solitary Test hundred.The word most regularly associated with him was “attitude”. He once said he would like to become a model and, collar up, he often moved like one at the crease and in the field. There was a lot of style, too little substance. Like some others, this was surely his last chance. The middle-order position left vacant by the retired Brian Lara needed to be filled and, potentially, he best suited the bill. But even West Indies selectors eventually run out of patience.Finally, their persistence has had its reward. Samuels yesterday crowned a series against tough opponents that confirmed his development and capacity to produce consistently. His 314 runs at an average of 52.33 occupied just over 17 hours all told. This was the discipline missing for too long.

Middlesex 151 for 4 (Joyce 42) beat Northamptonshire 148 (Sales 70, Wright 3-29, Finn 3-30) by six wickets with 22 balls to spare
Scorecard

Middlesex, who finished third in the Pro40 Division Two, secured promotion in to the top flight with a six-wicket win over Northamptonshire, who had ended seventh in Division One, in the Pro40 play-off at a sunny Southgate.The match was all but over within an hour as Middlesex’s seamers blasted through the Northants top order, justifying Ed Smith’s decision to bowl. Some excellent close catching supported the bowlers, and in a six-over spell Steve Finn and Chris Wright took 5 for 25 to leave Northants 59 for 6 in the 15th over. Only a super rearguard 70 from David Sales took the match into the late afternoon.A brilliant one-handed catch by Ben Scott, the wicketkeeper, started the rot in the first over to remove Robert White, but Andrew Cook and Nicky Boje appeared to have weathered the storm before Finn and Wright got going. Another excellent catch – Andrew Strauss leaping to hold the ball one -handed high above his head in the gully to remove Boje – set the slide in motion. Middlesex bowled well, Man of the Match Finn especially, but the batsmen contributed to their own problems.Sales was a lonely figure amid the carnage. But he manipulated the strike and in Graeme White and David Wigley finally found some support. Middlesex kept close catchers in to support their spinners, Murali Kartik proving almost impossible to get away and getting turn and considerable bounce.Sales brought up his fifty – at a run a ball – with a crisp straight drive off Jamie Dalrymple and then lofted the next delivery, a half-volley, for six over straight midwicket. But he was fighting a lone battle and Middlesex, having done the damage early on, were content to allow three or four singles an over. Sales was the last man out with more than four overs in hand.Middlesex, needing less than four an over, could take their time and, initially, they did, brushing aside the early loss of Ed Smith to cruise to 60 for 1. Strauss and Ed Joyce fell in quick succession, and Northants were still in with an outside chance when a horrible misjudgment from Dalrymple – padding up to Graeme White’s arm ball – gave them an outside chance at 114 for 4.In the next over Lance Klusener bowled Nick Compton only for the umpire to call a no-ball; Compton paddled the resulting free hit down to long leg for four and that was just about it, and with Eoin Morgan in good touch, Middlesex eased home with 22 balls in hand.

Brad Hodge, the Victoria right-hand batsman, could open the batting for Victoria’s one-day side in the coming season. John MacWhirter, the chairman of selectors for Victoria, said that though it was difficult to disrupt the opening combination of Michael Klinger and Jon Moss, letting Hodge open remained a possibility.”We’ve discussed all possible options, because we haven’t got to a final in the one-day competition for a while and we’re looking at ways of doing that,” MacWhirter told . “One of the options could be for Brad to open, but that certainly hasn’t been finalised.”Hodge played three ING Cup matches last season – being busy with national duty for the most part – with a strike-rate of over 71. His overall domestic one-day average is 38.33 with a top score of 164. On their part, Klinger and Moss played ten matches each last season with strike-rates of over 79 and 91 respectively.Hodge wasn’t part of Australia’s victorious DLF Cup campaign in Malaysia and he has also been left out of the Champions Trophy squad. “We want to give our players every opportunity of playing for Australia, that’s one of our main missions combined with the fact we’re just looking to get whatever edge we can in winning games,” said MacWhirter.

Division One

Points TableGloucestershire recovered from a tricky start against Middlesex to post a reasonable score of 333 on the first day at Bristol. Their efforts, however, weren’t enough to join Glamorgan in being relegated to the second division. Choosing to bat first, Middlesex plucked out Craig Spearman for nought and Ramnaresh Sarwan for four. A partnership of 88, and a pair of fifties for Stephen Adshead and Alex Gidman steadied Gloucestershire’s innings, but neither went on to contribute a hundred. At 209 for 6, they were indebted to a brisk knock by Malinga Bandara, who struck seven fours and two sixes in his innings of 70, his top score this season. Alan Richardson and Jamie Dalrymple were the pick of the bowlers, each taking four wickets for Middlesex who ended the day on 20 without loss trailing by 313 runs.Glamorgan, who only last week sealed their first Championship win of the season, crumbled to 151 all out against Nottinghamshire at Cardiff. Choosing to bat first, they lost 5 for 76 and it was only Mike Powell who showed any form of resistance with a solid innings of 62. Ryan Sidebottom finished with figures of 3 for 31, and the South African, Greg Smith, had the impressively economical figures of 4 for 28 from 17 overs. Nottinghamshire ended the day 2 wickets down with the scores level, with Darren Bicknell unbeaten on 81.Hampshire had the better of the day against Warwickshire, in which they scored 353 for 6 but, while four of their batsmen registered half-centuries, none progressed to the three-figure mark. Sean Ervine got Hampshire off to a flyer, and combined well with James Adams in an opening stand worth 104. There were fifties for John Crawley and Shane Watson, too, with Watson ending the day unbeaten on 91. Makhaya Ntini was the pick of Warwickshire’s bowlers, with 2 for 60 from 27 overs.

Division Two

Points TableTwelve wickets fell on the first day at Chester-le-Street between Durham and Derbyshire. The home team won the toss and batted first, but were quickly in trouble as they lost Jimmy Maher and captain Paul Collingwood cheaply. Only Gary Scott, with 45, and Dale Benkenstein, with 49, made meaningful contributions, with five of the batsmen succumbing to Ian Hunter who took his first five-wicket haul of the season. In reply, however, Durham removed both openers Michael Di Venuto and Steve Stubbings, as Derbyshire ended the day on 36 for 2, trailing by 194 runs.Northamptonshire batted slowly against Lancashire at Northampton, limping to 280 for 9 at the close. Several of their batsmen got useful starts, but only David Sales, with 66, offered anything substantial. Dominic Cork was remarkably economic, conceding just 23 runs from 15 overs and he also picked up three key wickets, including the dangerous Martin Love for 44. Ben Phillips was left not-out on 14, from 40 balls, with just Jason Brown left for company.John Maunders’ first first-class hundred, in his twelfth game, was the cornerstone of Leicestershire’s innings on day one of their match against Worcestershire at Worcester. Maunders featured in partnerships of 94 with Tom New, and 74 with Paul Nixon. But wickets fell consistently and, Maunders’ 148 aside, the next highest score was Paul Nixon’s unbeaten 37. The visitors went to stumps on 342 for 7.