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Australia’s opening batsmen Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater both have injury worries ahead of Thursday’s Second Test against England at Lord’s.Neither player batted for the tourists on the third day of the Vodafone Challenge match against Somerset at Taunton today.Slater is nursing a wrist injury sustained while batting against Somersetguest player Shoaib Akhtar on Friday. However, both are said to be confident that they will be fit enough to play in the Lord’s Test.In a net session on the Taunton pitch this morning he batted one-handed with a strapping protecting his left wrist.Meanwhile, Hayden felt his right knee lock while fielding against Somerset yesterday and is not expected to bat or field in the remainder of the game.The pair opened the batting against England in the First Test at Edgbaston and put on 98 for the first wicket with Slater, in particular, looking in excellent form with a quickfire 77.In the first innings of the game against Somerset, Hayden managed only six runs and Slater 28. This morning Justin Langer and Simon Katich opened the batting for the Australians.

Fast bowler Tim Southee will lead New Zealand against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Friday. Captain Brendon McCullum’s preparation for the three-Test tour was interrupted by his having to travel to England last week to give testimony in the Chris Cairns trial, and while he has rejoined his team he will be rested from the first match of the tour.New Zealand coach Mike Hesson on Wednesday confirmed that BJ Watling would also sit out of the match and Kane Williamson would likely be rested as well, leaving Southee to step up as captain. The 50-over pink-ball match against the Prime Minister’s XI on Friday will be followed by a two-day match with a red ball against a Cricket Australia XI on Saturday and Sunday.”It will be a good opportunity for him, part of his role in the leadership group is to take a little bit more responsibility,” Hesson said of Southee. “I think he’s looking forward to it.”McCullum is likely to take some part in the match against the CA XI, and Hesson said he was confident the captain would be well prepared for the first Test starting at the Gabba on November 5.”He’ll play a part, but Brendon has been away from training for a little while,” Hesson said. “He’s looking forward to getting back into that. We’ll ease him back in, make sure he’s ready to go by Brisbane … We’ve known the timelines for a long time, so we’ve put plans in place and Brendon will be ready by Brisbane. He’s very much on track.”The matches in Canberra will also provide New Zealand with a look at potential Test opponents including Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja. The changing nature of Australia’s Test team after the retirements of Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Chris Rogers, Ryan Harris and Brad Haddin give New Zealand hope of their first series win in Australia for 30 years.”There’s been some good New Zealand sides come over here in the past and I think it’s shown how formidable Australia are in their own backyard,” Hesson said. “1985 is a long time ago. A lot of us still remember that quite fondly. We’ve had the odd Test win, in 2011, but to win a series over here you know you have to play very well. We won’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”It cannot have escaped the attention of the New Zealanders that Australia struggled against the swinging ball on this year’s Ashes tour, as they had against Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell in Hobart in 2011. Since then, Boult and Southee especially have continued to trouble batsmen with their ability to move the ball.”Anyone in the world struggles against the swinging ball,” Hesson said. “That’s shown over the last few years, and Tim and Trent are pretty good exponents. I think if those two get it right and it does swing, they can put any side under pressure. Australia is no exception to that.”However, Australia’s own swing weapon could be Mitchell Starc, who was Player of the Tournament in their successful World Cup campaign earlier in the year and has dominated the Matador Cup one-day series so far, with a remarkable 23 wickets at 7.47 from five games. Although the white ball has been his specialty in recent times, Starc has got the New Zealanders thinking ahead of the Tests.”We’ve asked for some big, tall left-arm bowlers to bowl to us in the nets,” Hesson said. “He’s a high quality bowler, especially in white ball. In Test cricket he’s obviously very good as well, but probably doesn’t have quite the record that he has got with the white ball. The key thing with any bowler is to take them a bit deeper, and if the ball stops swinging it’s a little bit easier. Plenty of hard work to go into that beforehand.”However, the third Test of the series will be played with neither the red ball nor the white ball, with the inaugural day-night Test to be contested in Adelaide with a pink ball. New Zealand will have a hit-out against the pink ball in the PM’s XI game, having already worked with pink balls at a two-day training camp in Hamilton earlier this month.”That removed an element of the unknown,” Hesson said. “I think the guys enjoyed that. A one-day game with white clothing and pink ball will be a little bit of a novelty in itself, a nice way to start the tour.”

Trevor Barsby, the former opening batsman, will begin coaching Queensland immediately following a restructure that pushed Terry Oliver into the new position of high performance manager. Oliver has looked after the Bulls for six years, but the team has struggled in the Pura Cup over the past two seasons, finishing fourth and last, and has lost some long-term players in Jimmy Maher and Michael Kasprowicz.Queensland Cricket completed a two-month review of its major teams before settling on the revamped structure. Oliver departs for the West Indies on Saturday as an assistant with the national team and when he returns he will oversee all of the state’s elite programmes.Barsby, a level three coach, played 111 first-class games for Queensland and will step up from his post at the Queensland Academy of Sport, where he has worked since 2005. “I’ll be looking to use the experience I had as a player with Queensland, through the good times and the bad, to work with the current group,” Barsby said. “This decision allows the Bulls to focus on playing and the coaches to focus on coaching.”After starting his state career in 1984-85, Barsby experienced some painful near-misses in the Sheffield Shield before scoring 151 in the breakthrough win in 1994-95. He retired after the 1996-97 success in Perth.Damien Mullins, the Queensland Cricket chairman, said Oliver’s role was the most significant appointment since John Buchanan was hired in 1994. “It comes after some intensive scrutiny of how we have managed our elite programmes in the past,” Mullins said. “Terry takes on this position after following a pathway through Queensland Cricket that has seen him progress through our system, first as a player and then as a coach, so that he has a deep understanding of all of our processes.”Oliver was in charge when the Bulls won the 2005-06 Pura Cup and the 2006-07 FR Cup. “I’m excited about taking Queensland in a new direction,” he said, “while also maintaining contact with the Bulls and working closely with Trevor.”

Lasith Malinga began Bangladesh’s slide towards their lowest total in Test cricket in his first over and proceeded to blow away the top four batsmen to finish with 4 for 25 in nine overs on the first day at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo.”For me the first over is the best. I put in a lot of effort in that over to capture as many wickets as possible,” said Malinga after the day’s play. “My fast bowling coach, Champaka Ramanayake, has instilled in me that the first ball of the match is the most important. I begin every match with that attitude. I give the ball 100%.”Malinga said Bangladesh’s dismal batting was not due to poor technique but because Sri Lanka made use of the conditions and bowled well. He said the ball swung more here than at the SSC on the first day probably due to the overnight rain. When questioned whether playing against a weak side like Bangladesh brought him easy wickets, Malinga replied: “I try to obtain wickets with variations. I don’t’ think any side gives you wickets easily. It’s a challenge for me to take wickets. There are a lot of fast bowlers on the fringe waiting to get into the side. So it’s a challenge to perform well to be in the team.”Malinga said there was intense competition for places in the team. “With Murali going for [Shane] Warne’s record, [Chaminda] Vaas having taken over 300 Test wickets and two other fast bowlers supporting them, there is competition in our bowling line-up to take wickets. Murali doesn’t have the pressure he used to have because every one of us is taking wickets.”

The interim executive of Zimbabwe Cricket has announced that it has dissolved the existing five provinces and replaced them with ten new boards.The move, which had been planned for some time, further weakens opposition to Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, and his executive as many of the existing provincial board members are now to all intents and purposes redundant.A statement issued by ZC said that it had received applications for affiliation from five provinces around the country – Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South – and that it had “affiliated them in line with the policy of the country’s sports regulatory authority, the Sports and Recreation Commission, for national sporting associations to devolve along the country’s 10 administrative provinces.””In affiliating the five, we have not only implemented one of the Interim Committee’s terms of reference but also continued with the ZC mission of spreading the game to all the corners of the country without regard to race or creed,” Chingoka explained. “We will continue working with the new affiliates to create provincial cricket administrative structures.”Three of the five – Manicaland, Masvingo and Midlands – were dissolved because they did not “conform with the new geographical limitations of their central government administrative namesakes”. The other two – the more infulential Mashonaland and Matabeleland – have effectively been split in smaller units.Much of the opposition to Chingoka has centred on the old established provinces, and their demise and division will ease the pressure on the board. Furthermore, ZC, which has effectively cleansed itself of any dissenters in recent months, will appoint interim committees to run the new entities pending the drawing up of new constitutions and fresh elections.The new ZC affiliates are as follows:
Harare Metropole Provincial Cricket Association
Bulawayo Metropole Provincial Cricket Association
Matabeleland North Provincial Cricket Association
Matabeleland South Provincial Cricket Association
Mashonaland Central Provincial Cricket Association
Mashonaland East Provincial Cricket Association
Mashonaland West Provincial Cricket Association
Manicaland Provincial Cricket Association
Masvingo Provincial Cricket Association
Midlands Provincial Cricket Association

Scorecard

Middlesex and Surrey played out a draw on a slow final day at Lord’s. Surrey’s bowlers failed to make inroads as Middlesex kept their Eds – Smith and Joyce – long enough to put the result beyond doubt. Smith posted 88 and Joyce made 60 and, with Surrey’s bowlers failing to find any penetration on a flattish pitch, the game petered out into a tame draw.The final day started with Surrey in a position to go for the win and Graham Thorpe – Surrey’s stand-in captain in the absence of the injured Mark Ramprakash – kept the catchers in but his bowlers lacked the venom to force the issue. Thorpe turned to Dominic Thornely to try for the breakthrough. It was a sound decision: Thornely removed Smith 12 short of what would have been only the third championship century for Middlesex this season. But by that time, Smith and Joyce had posted a stand of 100 and the result was a foregone conclusion.Smith played well for his 88 while Joyce again showed why he is England class with his 60, which included nine fours, before Harbhajan Singh eventually trapped him lbw. Singh bowled consistently but, as with the rest of the attack, rarely was he threatening. Not that he had much opportunity: he was given only ten overs on the final day.The game meandered on – and even the commentators on Sky Sports began to question whether this was a great advertisement for the county game. Scott Styris helped himself to a stylish 55, while Ben Scott added 61 not out from lower down the order and by the close Middlesex were 353 for 6.The pitch didn’t help the search for a result, neither did the loss of 30 overs last night through bad light. “We wanted to try to get a lead [on the third day] and there were some tired bowlers out there,” Ramprakash told Sky Sports after the match. “But then the bad light came and we can’t control that.”Nevertheless, he was in bullish mood, as Surrey recorded yet another draw. “We are very happy with how we are playing at the moment. Twice in this match we had Middlesex under pressure. If we keep putting ourselves in those positions, I think those wins will come.”He confirmed that he has a hairline fracture of his thumb and is not anticipating a return to action for at least three weeks.

Muttiah Muralitharan will be sent to the University of Western Australia forassessment by Bruce Elliott, an ICC-approved human-movement specialist, Sri Lanka’s cricket board confirmed on Tuesday. Elliott will film and analyse Muralitharan’s doosra after it was reported as suspect by Chris Broad, the match referee during the recent Test series against Australia.Elliott tested Muralitharan in 1996, after he was no-balled for throwingduring the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne in December 1995 by Darrell Hair. Elliott cleared his action then, but has since voiced concerns in the media over the legality of Muralitharan’s doosra, arguing that it should also now be tested.Elliott said in a report for the Sydney Morning Herald: “Having seen him bowl on television, it looks like an area of concern. There does seem to be some extending of his action as he releases the ball. You are allowed a ten-degree extension of the arm during delivery.”

The match against India brought out every possible emotion from a Pakistani cricket fan – absolute jubilation during Pakistan’s batting to utter despair at the end of the game. Their performance, similar to the emotions experienced by the fans, was a mixed bag. The bowling, which has been our source of pride for so long, let us down at the crunch time.However, I shall put my hand up and acknowledge the brilliance of Sachin Tendulkar’s knock. The world has rarely seen such an innings played under immense pressure, and the beauty of it lay in the fact that it was an array of classical strokes, not mindless slogging. The Indian team looked a side with a mission, playing like a unit and their huddles at the fall of each Pakistani wicket, proved how committed they were.The Pakistani team did not lack commitment either, but there was a lack of common sense. The fans in Pakistan should not be over critical of the team’s performance it was almost as if they were too passionately involved to think logically. As far as I am concerned the team gave it their best shot and fought in a manner they have not in the recent past. We simply have to acknowledge the fact that the better side won at the end of the day.Pakistan’s batting was far above anyone’s expectations. Pakistan won the toss, made the right move to bat first, and piled up a total that on other days would have been easily safe. Saeed Anwar returned to form in brilliant fashion answering all his critics in grand style. He showed tremendous composure during his innings, and kept his concentration despite being highly fatigued during the latter half of his knock. Inzamam’s body language when he walked out to the center was outstanding, and the “slumbering giant” looked more pumped up than I have ever seen him since the World Cup in 1992. His run-out was a tragedy, but such things are part and parcel of the game. Younis Khan looked very good, thoroughly warranting his inclusion, while Youhana looked in terrific touch as well. At the end of the day 273 was a tremendous score keeping our recent form in mind, and only a very harsh critic would find faults with the batting performance.The performance on the field, commenced awkwardly when Rashid Latif could not make it onto the field after he had been hit a blow on his helmet while batting, leaving Taufeeq Umar with the huge task under immense pressure. Taufeeq Umar deserves tremendous praise for his effort, with the bat and the gloves, as he pulled of some saves that professional keepers would have been proud of. Keeping wicket to an erratic pace attack is no easy task, and I really feel that Taufeeq Umar should be groomed for this task after the World Cup. If he can put in a bit of effort and practice, he can be a useful wicket keeper in ODI’s and would lend tremendous balance to the team.The Pakistani bowlers, touted as the best pace attack in the world were smashed to all corners of the park by Tendulkar, who played like a man possessed. While the bowling at him may have been a bit of a mixed bag, he played some unbelievable strokes. Fortune favoured him when Razzaq got his fingertips to a catch offered early on, but failed to latch on. The Pakistan plan of blasting out the opposition backfired badly, as they tried to knock over the stumps on each ball, rather than looking to peg away on a line and length and frustrate the opposition. The bowling was governed more by the heart than mind, and although Waqar got early wickets, he was one of the culprits too.Shoaib Akhtar’s performance is hard to describe, where he bowled a couple of beauties along with a majority of highly wayward deliveries. The idea of giving him the new ball has brought little for Pakistan, and its time to get him back to first change, even after the World Cup. The new ball deserves to be taken by bowlers who can genuinely swing it, and Waqar, Akram and Sami fit that bill.The game was always going to drift away after the swashbuckling start by India, and Pakistan managed to make a good fist of it anyway. Full marks to the fielders for putting in great effort though the overthrows were disappointing. To summarise the fielding effort, it was good to see the Pakistanis throw themselves around for a change, and produce some direct hits, which were unfortunately of no use in the end.At the end of the day, it leaves a nation in misery and a cricket team that has slim chances of progressing to the next round. England will have to lose to the Aussies, and Pakistan win by a huge margin against Zimbabwe, but even if they do manage to progress to the Super Six (which will be nothing short of a miracle), the Pakistan cricket fans will not be satisfied at heart. I would strongly urge Pakistani fans to refrain from over-reacting to this loss and not resort to ugly demonstration of their disappointment. The team fought bravely and that was the maximum they could offer. Someone had to lose, and fate had Pakistan on the losing end.This may be the last occasion we get to see the greats like Akram, Waqar and Anwar clash against India, and it is sad that it had to end this way.Ed: If readers wish to correspond with the author, please email Taha Noor

Neil Johnson the Zimbabwean all-rounder receives his cap after just 3 months with the side. He recently recovered from a shoulder injury, and the return to full bowling fitness has contributed to the success Hampshire has found of late.Alex Morris the tall Yorkshireman has fought well through injury to command a regular place in the first team. His seam bowling has been an great asset to the side, and his batting at times can prove vital down the order, as was proved against Durham in the recent CricInfo Championship match.Derek Kenway’s season started badly when he was left out of the Hampshire party to their pre-season tour to South Africa. There were doubts mainly to his fitness levels. Instead of sulking, this likeable opening bat, who also acts as wicket-keeper in one day matches, has knuckled down to his game, and is now looked as as one of the brightest batting prospects around.The trio were awarded their caps by David Robinson, Cricket Committee Chairman, with Club Chairman Rod Bransgrove and captain Robin Smith in attendance.

Saket Bhatia and Sanjeev Sharma, with a sixth wicket partnership of112 runs, were instrumental in Rajasthan gaining a first innings leadof 26 runs on the third day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy leaguematch at the KL Saini stadium in Jaipur on Wednesday. Replying to UP’s270, Rajasthan were all out for 296. In their second innings, UP were81 for three at stumps.Resuming at 183 for five, Rajasthan lost their sixth wicket only at253 when Bhatia was leg before to Salabh Srivastava for 79. Bhatiafaced 184 balls and hit ten fours. Sanjeev Sharma kept going till hewas ninth out at 296. For his 85, he faced 180 balls and hit 11 fours.The bowling honours were cornered by opening bowlers AW Zaidi (5 for84) and Srivastava (4 for 98).Openers Rohit Prash (26) and Jyoti Yadav (28) gave UP a good start byputting on 46 runs. But in the last hour, UP lost three wickets to bein a position of some anxiety at close.