Division One

Glamorgan v Kent at Cardiff
Glamorgan have recalled Darren Thomas as they continue to search for their first Championship win of the season. Thomas could replace David Harrison or Andrew Davies, after they have both suffered a loss of form. Kent have a full strength squad available, except for Geraint Jones who is with England.Middlesex v Surrey at Lord’s
Melvyn Betts is the only injury concern in Middlesex squad, with 19-year-old Chris Whelan on standby to be called in. Graham Thorpe returns for Surrey, after winning his 100th Test cap at Durham, and Dominic Thornley will make his Championship debut. Thornley, the New South Wales allrounder, has been signed as cover for Azhar Mahmood. Middlesex missed the last round of Championship matches, while Surrey were forced to settle for a draw against Warwickshire at Whitgift School, despite dominating the match.

Division Two

Somerset v Worcestershire at Bath
Andrew Caddick and Richard Johnson return to bolster the Somerset seam attack while Matthew Wood replaces James Hildreth in the middle order. Worcestershire are without Vikram Solanki and Kabir Ali, who are with the England one-day squad, but welcome back Gareth Batty from Test duty. Nadeem Malik, the tall seam bowler, comes in for Kabir.Yorkshire v Lancashire at Headingley
Matthew Hoggard has been passed fit for the first Roses clash of the season and takes his place in Yorkshire’s 12-man squad. David Lucas, the left-arm seamer acquired from Nottinghamshire in the off-season, is also included. Lancashire will give a late fitness test to Muttiah Muralitharan after he sustained an injury during the National League game against Hampshire on Sunday. “It’s a slight adductor strain,” said Mike Watkinson, “We will see how he feels in the morning.”

India may be at defeat’s door, but it was a defiant Harbhajan Singh that addressed the media after a sixth consecutive five-for in home Tests against Australia. He bowled magnificently today, picking up 6 for 78 as Australia were restricted to 228 in their second innings. Harbhajan took aim at some of his more strident critics, and then insisted that India would come back hard at the Aussies, like they did back in 2001.On whether India are reconciled to defeat
The match is still going on. Rahul [Dravid] is still at the wicket.On the batting
We haven’t been at our best. Sachin [Tendulkar] not playing was a big blow for us. And we also got a couple of bad decisions. But in the first innings, we gave away too many runs, and then didn’t bat well enough.On the remarkable streak against Australia, and whether they have a weakness against his offspin
I don’t know what it is, but it’s a good habit to have against the best team in the world. I just go out there and bowl my best.On the support from the close-in cordon
It’s great to have fielders like Aakash Chopra, Yuvraj Singh at forward short leg, and to have someone like Dravid in the slips. When you bowl, you know that they won’t be dropping catches. It was the same last time, when SS Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh took some great catches.On those who have criticised him in the recent past
They have got their answer. I hope they’ll keep quiet for some time now. I’m not a God, and you can’t expect me to take 32 wickets every time. Sometimes I’ll bowl badly, sometimes I’ll go for runs.On the contentious umpiring decisions
That’s part of the game, and I can’t say anything about it. They are good umpires, and you can’t do much about it. Not me at least (laughs).On Tendulkar’s possible return to the side
When he comes back, we’ll be a different side. He’s a great batsman, no matter what kind of pitch, and he’s confident that he will be back for Chennai. He also takes a few wickets with his legspin (smiles).On what he did differently in the second innings
I was bowling in the right spots. There were a few marks on the pitch, and I concentrated on those.

Tasmania 5 for 270 (Marsh 106*, Bevan 55) beat Western Australia 9 for 208 (Hussey 79) by 62 runs
Scorecard

Tasmania cruised to a 62-run win over Western Australia in their opening ING Cup match after Daniel Marsh, their captain, blasted 106 runs off 90 balls to set a total which proved just too big to chase.The match did not start happily for Western Australia. They lost the toss and off the fourth ball of the day, Scott Meuleman dislocated his shoulder in attempting to run out Michael Di Venuto and was taken to hospital. But they pegged Tasmania back to 3 for 62 before Marsh’s arrival changed things.He started slowly, but added 89 for the fourth wicket with Michael Bevan, who hit an 82-ball 55 on his debut. Marsh, who was dropped by Steve Magoffin when he had made 7, accelerated towards the end of the innings, with the last 16 overs producing 141 runs. He posted fifty partnerships with both George Bailey (21) and Luke Butterworth (29) as Tasmania closed on 5 for 270.In reply, WA lost both openers very cheaply – Luke Ronchi fell to the first ball, and a batsman down already with Meuleman absent, became over-reliant on Mike Hussey, who scampered to a fluent 79. But after he was dismissed, their hopes of victory disappeared, and they lost their last four wickets for 39.

Anyone who has visited the County Ground over the last few days will have noticed a digger busily shifting a pile of rubble on the Coal Orchard side of the ground.This waste material has been created by the construction of a new entrance by the side of the Riverside Stand that is the final phase of the ground improvement scheme that was started last year by Somerset County Cricket Club.The creation of this new entrance turnstile means that spectators who park in the Coal Orchard and Priory Bridge Car Parks will be able to enter the ground without having to cross a busy main road.Speaking at the County Ground this morning chief executive Peter Anderson told me: “The club has invested £457,000 in these ground improvements, for which we have received £189,000 in grants from the Safety at Sports Grounds Fund. We now have attractive boundary walls and entrances and safe surfaces for people to walk on around the ground.”He continued: “With the introduction of these new turnstiles I can tell at anyone time exactly how many people are inside the ground which is important from a safety angle.”Next season will also see the introduction of the new style membership card which will be in the form of a swipe card with the members name and photograph on it.Before the new style cards can be issued all members need to submit a passport sized photograph of themselves with their name written clearly on the reverse side to the club.Alternatively members can also call into the County Ground where their photograph will be taken, no appointment is necessary and the process is quite painless!Membership secretary Jo Arnold told me: “Up until now only about one quarter of the members have either sent their photograph into the office or have called in to let us take it for them. In order that we can process the new memberships it is important that we have a photograph of every member as soon as possible.”

Australia are expected to take an unchanged line-up into tomorrow’s second Test but they will carry new plans for Kevin Pietersen, the only batsman to escape them at Lord’s. After making two half-centuries on debut, Pietersen, who has delivered more inciteful off-field comments this week, has become the central opposition figure in Australia’s team meetings for Edgbaston.Pietersen was reported in the as saying Brett Lee “tried to kill him” as the Australians attempted a number of unsuccessful ways to dismiss him during the first Test. “They went for me for two hours outside off stump, then they tried to get me lbw bowling at my legs,” Pietersen said in the paper. “Then they went to the bumper theory. Lee tried to kill me and that wasn’t nice. I came through it and I gained great heart from that.”Only a brilliant outfield catch by Damien Martyn stopped Pietersen in the first innings and he was unbeaten on 67 in the second. “We’ve got to have a bit of a look at the way he played in the first Test,” Ricky Ponting said in . “We had some plans that we executed well for short periods, but we’ve got to be able to do it for long periods against him because he scores so freely and hits the ball so hard that he can get away from you pretty quickly.”Ponting said they would try to devise ploys to shut Pietersen down when he arrived at the crease. Australia will rely on the same attack to change tactics despite Michael Kasprowicz’s five-wicket haul against Worcestershire. Jason Gillespie, who has generally struggled during the tour, also bowled strongly last weekend and Ponting suggested he would hold his place alongside Lee, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.”[Kasprowicz] has done everything he can do, but in saying that Jason probably did as well,” Ponting said. “It’s going to be another tough decision come Test-match time, but if you look at the way Jason bowled and the way we performed in the first Test you would probably think it would be unlikely that we would change the team.”While Pietersen remained a focus, Ponting also discussed the predicament of Ashley Giles, the left-arm spinner who complained in his newspaper column of unfair treatment from England supporters. Ponting warned it was a situation Giles was “never going to win”. “Some of the points he made were pretty true,” Ponting told . “There are a lot of ex-English players out there that have made some comments that would indicate they don’t think England can win the Ashes. I’d be disappointed if an ex-Australian player came out and said the same thing.”

Hopes of reconciliation between the Zimbabwe board and the rebel cricketers were dealt a blow with the board’s tetchy reaction to the news that Heath Streak had been drafted in to help with coaching at Matabeleland.Streak, a former captain of Matabeleland, offered to assist Pommie Mbangwa, their bowling coach. But as soon as ZCU officials were made aware of the situation, they ordered Phil Simmons, the national coach, to the ground at Bulawayo to replace Streak.Streak involvement was as an unpaid assistant, and given that he has other priorities – his wife is heavily pregnant – the ZCU’s action appears unnecessarily provocative.

Murali Kartik, the Indian left-arm spinner, has made an impressive debut for Lancashire, taking 5 for 93 against Essex. After being reduced to 145 for 7, an 86-run partnership between James Middlebrook and Andre Adams helped Essex reach 267 at Chelmsford.Kartik struck in his very first over by bowling Andy Flower who tried to execute his trademark reverse-sweep. Kartik then ripped through the middle order by removing Ronnie Irani and James Foster in quick succession. A couple of sixes, courtesy Danish Kaneria, and a spate of no balls, spoiled to a certain extent Kartik’s fantastic debut for Lancashire.Meanwhile, Dinesh Mongia, the former Indian middle-order batsman, hit a useful 71 that included ten fours and a six, as Leicestershire declared after amassing a gigantic 552 for 6 against Derbyshire at Leicester.

Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian batsman, has been given the all-clear to return to action in the upcoming Challenger Series beginning on October 10. Anil Kumble, the legspinner, and Ashish Nehra, the left-arm swing bowler, have been rested and will not take part in the tournament.Sourav Ganguly was appointed as the captain of the India Seniors side while VVS Laxman and Dinesh Mongia will lead the India A and B sides respectively. Unlike in earlier seasons, when the selectors distributed the international players into the three different teams so as to make it an even contest, the seniors side picked was packed with stars while the India B side was filled with players from the fringes. The selectors also decided to blood Under-19 stars like Manoj Tiwari and Piyush Chawla after impressive performances last season.Sachin Tendulkar, who is returning from a long lay-off caused by a tennis elbow and subsequent surgery, has been named in the India Seniors team. The injury forced him to pull out of the Super Series against Australia, where he had been selected to play in both the Test and ODI squads. However, John Gloster, the Indian physiotherapist who has managed Tendulkar’s recovery, told the selectors he (Tendulkar) was ready to start playing again.”Tendulkar is playing in the Challenger Series,” said Kiran More, the chairman of the national selection committee. “I also spoke to John Gloster, who said he can play.” Tendulkar said he was delighted to be able to play again: “I have been wanting to get into action at the earliest and test the strength of my elbow.”Teams:
India Senior:
Sourav Ganguly (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Y Venugopal Rao, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, JP Yadav, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan India A:
VVS Laxman (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Hemang Badani, Niraj Patel, Dheeraj Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ramesh Powar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Laxmipathy Balaji, VRV Singh, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manoj TiwariIndia B:
Dinesh Mongia (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Utthappa, Sridharan Sriram, Sunny Singh, Satyajit Parab, Parthiv Patel (wk), S Sree Santh, Ranadeb Bose, Amit Bhandari, Ravikant Shukla, Piyush Chawla, Sreekumar Nair

Former England batsman Ian Ward has announced his retirement to pursue a career as a full-time cricket presenter and commentator.Ward, 33, was a key member of Surrey’s Championship-winning side between 1999 and 2002. He was rewarded with an England call-up in 2001, against Pakistan and Australia, but was quickly found out by Glenn McGrath, and failed to make an impression. He moved to Sussex in 2003 and was half-way through his contract. He hit 8575 first-class runs in a 14-year career.”I have really enjoyed my time at Sussex and the club have been very good to me,” he said. “I am disappointed I wasn’t able to make more of a contribution this year. I’d never missed a match through injury before so to miss so many games in the second half of the season was very frustrating.”Sussex are a great county to play for and I know I’ll miss it when the new season starts, especially the camaraderie in the dressing-room and the adrenaline rush you get as an opening batsman facing quick bowlers.”Ward has spent the last two winters as a presenter and commentator on Sky Sports. “Television provides its own challenges,” he said, “and I am really looking forward to developing my career in a different direction.”Ward’s departure follows that of Tim Ambrose, the wicketkeeper-batsman who joined Warwickshire last week. But Sussex, for their part, have no plans to replace either man with a big-name winter signing. “The cricket management [at Sussex] are highly confident of being able to fill the void with one of our own young players,” said Mark Robinson, the county’s professional cricket manager. “I have every faith and confidence in their ability to take up the challenge to prove themselves at this level.”

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, questioned Michael Vaughan’s controversial fielding tactics, saying he would seek clear guidelines from Test officials.”We would like the ICC (International Cricket Council) match referee and umpires to give a clear definition of how the relevant law is to be read after what happened in Pindi,” Woolmer told AFP.Woolmer was referring to Vaughan’s ploy of moving while the ball is being bowled, during his team’s opening tour match against the Patron’s XI at Rawalpindi last week. Vaughan, on several occasions, was seen running from slip to leg-slip while the ball was in mid-flight.England won the three-day side match by 52 runs and are currently playing their second side match, their last outing before the first Test against Pakistan starts at Multan on November 12.The tactic contravenes cricket Law 41, which states: “Any significant movement by any fielder after the ball comes into play and before the ball reaches the striker is unfair. In the event of such unfair movement, either umpire shall call and signal dead ball.”Vaughan defended the tactic, saying it was a smart move. “I thought it was quite smart,” said Vaughan after the tour opener last week. I moved very fast, as soon as the ball had been released. If a player is going to sweep, it is an option – we’ll see if we use it in the Test matches.”Woolmer wants more clarity before the Test series starts. “I can understand the principle behind the ploy by Vaughan but we have to be clear on whether the law allows such things and that should be clear before the Tests.”Woolmer, who played 19 Tests for England, said the series should be played in the proper spirit and any controversies should be avoided. Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, has defended Vaughan’s tactics, insisting that a fielder is entitled to anticipate where a shot is likely to go and act accordingly.Roshan Mahanama, the former Sri Lankan batsman, will supervise the three-match Test series and Woolmer said he hoped he would clarify the situation before the series starts.