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Sussex’s joy at reaching the third round of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy has been severely tempered by the realization that they will now miss out on a lucrative three-day clash against the touring Australians – a fixture that was expected to have netted them a cool £50,000.Sussex’s four-wicket victory in a low-scoring encounter against Nottinghamshire on Wednesday was greeted with a certain ambivalence by those in the know in Hove. Their reward, if it can be termed as such, is a tricky away fixture against Lancashire at Old Trafford, which will be played on either July 15 or 16.The honour of hosting the Australians, on the other hand, now passes to Leicestershire, and given that the fixture falls in the week before the first Test, it is expected that something approaching their full-strength XI will take the field for that game. As Robin Marlar, the new Sussex president, told The Guardian, “To make up the money we have lost today we will have to go on and win the trophy.”Sussex have, of course, already hosted one touring side so far this summer, although the challenge that the Bangladeshis posed last week was rather less of a drawcard. Sussex defeated them by an innings and 226 runs inside three days, and given that entry to the ground was free, they could only rely on sales of lunchtime lasagne to boost their coffers.There would have been no love lost between Sussex and the Australians either. During Sussex’s recent match against Hampshire, Chris Adams and Matt Prior were involved in an unseemly war of words with Shane Warne, and all three would have relished the renewal of hostilities. As it is, the Australians will now warm up in Grace Road, against a less alluring attack that includes the likes of Charl Willoughby, Ottis Gibson, Phil DeFreitas and Claude Henderson.

Ravi Shah, Kenya’s quality opening batsman, will be out action for six months due to a knee injury, according to Tom Tikolo, the chairman of selectors.”We have just received a letter from his doctor saying his knee injury will take six months to heal,” Tikolo told reporters, although Shah himself was less pessimistic. “I am still on the bench and have been asked to rest by a specialist for a couple of months,” he said. “With physiotherapy, I should be back to full strength in a couple of months.”Either way, Shah will miss Kenya’s crucial Intercontinental Cup decider in Namibia starting on June 3, although the semi-finals are not until October by which time he should be back in action.

Sanath Jayasuriya could follow Muttiah Muralitharan to England next summer having been approached by the Scottish Saltires who are looking for a top-quality overseas star for their third season in the Totesport League Two.”There are one or two big names who are interested in coming over. Jayasuriya is one of several we are talking to,” Saltires skipper Craig White was quoted as saying on BBC Online. Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka’s skipper, had also been approached. Sri Lanka are taking a break from international cricket from February to mid-July next year creating a window of opportunity for their players to play a half-season in England. Sri Lanka’s cricket board is encouraging the players to go to gain valuable experience.The main stumbling block to the Jayasuriya deal will be money. Scotland lack the financial muscle of the counties and a deal with Rahul Dravid in their first season was only clinched after assistance from the Indian expatriate community in Scotland.Scotland are keen to wrap up the deal as soon as possible: “Obviously we would like to be able to make a decision as soon as possible, because it would encourage season-ticket package sales and create a buzz,” admitted White.Muralitharan signed for Lancashire earlier in the week for a third season after stints in 1999 and 2001 and Mohan de Silva, Sri Lanka’s cricket board president, hopes that it will pave the way for more players securing county contracts in the coming months.”I hope Murali’s signing paves the way for more Sri Lankan cricketers to have stints with counties,” said de Silva. “The contrasting conditions could only make a player better.” Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are both being sought contracts by former England batsman Neil Fairbrother, who works with a leading sports agency called International Sports Management, the UK agents for Muralitharan.

After the encouraging performances of the senior side, Bangladesh’s A team have embarked on a one-month tour of England. The 15-member squad, which includes nine players with Test experience, will play five three-day games and four one-dayers against various county sides.Talking to the media before leaving for England, Shaun Williams, the coach of the side, said: “We will try to build on the results of the national team especially their performance in the one-day games. But it will not be an easy task for my boys because we are going to face some strong opponents. This is a very exciting squad. There are some talented players who have the potential to dominate the game in future. Our main objective will be to perform at a certain level and gain valuable experience.”Bangladesh’s senior team performed dismally in the two Tests against England, losing both by an innings, but came up with a couple of outstanding displays in the triangular NatWest Series, pulling off a shock win against Australia and then running them close in their last game.Williams admitted that the three-day games would be a bigger test for his team, but added that relatively dry conditions in the second half of the English summer would help the side. “I have watched all the matches of the senior team. I think the conditions were not suitable for our players to perform as per their potential. But now the conditions are almost similar to what we have here. That’s why I believe this side will fare better.”The squad, to be led by the 19-year-old left-handed batsman Shahriar Nafees, includes six players who were in England with the senior team earlier this season, and Williams indicated that handling the rigours of the tough international schedule would be another challenge for them. “Most of these players are very young so fatigue is not unlikely although they have international experience. But they have to cope with the hectic international schedule and that is another off the field challenge for them.”Talking about some of the players for whom this tour could be a huge opportunity, Williams brought up the name of Alok Kapali. Still only 21, Kapali made his international debut three years back and was rated highly for his batting and also became the first Bangladesh bowler to take a hat-trick in Tests, before he lost his way and was dropped from the senior side. “Kapali is a brilliant cricketer,” Williams insisted. “He is still very young and I can tell you that within a couple of years he will be doing justice to his potential.”Williams also had words of praise for Enamul Haque Jr, the left-arm spinner, and Shahadat Hossain, the fast bowler. “I think Enamul will be playing a vital role as I expect the pitches to be dry at this time of the season. I am also looking forward to seeing how Rajib [Shahadat Hossain] responds to the demands after a bitter Test debut at Lord’s [he was spanked for 101 runs in 12 overs]. However, I do not have any doubts about his talent.”Nafees himself exuded confidence on the eve of the trip. “This will be my third visit to England so I have the opportunity to share my experience with my team-mates. To me captaincy is not a burden. Rather it is just additional responsibility and I am looking forward to prove myself both as a captain and a batsman,” said the 19-year old left-handed opener.”This is a very balanced side and there are some out-of-favour cricketers who will be desperately looking to get back their national team places. On the other hand, younger members including myself will also be anxious to impress. So it will be a fantastic tour for us.”Squad
Shahriar Nafees (capt), Nafees Iqbal, Tushar Imran, Alok Kapali, Mehrab Hossain Jr, Nazimuddin, Hasanuzzaman, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mushfiqur Rahman, Alamgir Kabir, Talha Jubair, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Russel, Enamul Haque Jr, Abdur Razzak.

Neil Ferreira, a left-hand top-order batsman, is expected to be called into the squad when the Zimbabwe selectors name their team for the first Test against New Zealand on Thursday.Sources within the selection panel said that Ferreira, a 26-year-old left-hand batsman, would be named in the starting line-up as an opener. The selectors wanted Matabeleland and Zimbabwe A opener Terrence Duffin to partner Ferreira, but Duffin is unavailable for selection due to a knee injury.Ferreira, who is currently playing club cricket in England, impressed the selectors during Zimbabwe’s two four-day matches against Pakistan A in May. To show that he was really committed to playing for Zimbabwe, he bought his own ticket to return home from England when he learnt that he had been called up to the A side. He scored 57 runs in the first innings and followed that up with 90 runs but that all in vain as Zimbabwe A went down by three wickets in the first four-day match at the Harare Country Club.The selectors have constantly ignored Ferreira in recent years despite brilliant form forManicaland in the Logan Cup. In 2001-02 he hit three centuries in five matches with a high score of 210 against Matabeleland despite the pressure of being captain, wicketkeeper and opening batsman for Manicaland.Ferreira and former Manicaland teammate Richard Sims hold the country’ first-class record for the first wicket stand of 314 against Matabeleland at Queens Sports Club in October 2002.He was part of the group of players who rebelled against the Zimbabwe board last year but he subsequently returned to the fold. It is largely believed that the selectors are fed up with Stuart Matsikenyeri’s consistent failure at Test level and now want to try out other options for the top-order slot.

West Indies saved the follow-on on the third day at Port-of-Spain … just.Daren Ganga and Marlon Samuels batted well, but the lower ordercouldn’t keep up the momentum and the innings folded for 408.Australia took a handy first-innings lead of 168, and extended that toone short of 200 for the loss of Justin Langer in an uncharacteristicallyrestrained hour’s batting before the close.It took some time, but Australia eventually worked their way through theWest Indian batting order. Steve Waugh hasn’t batted in this match yet,and won’t mind too much if he misses out tomorrow as well. On abelter of a pitch, albeit one showing signs of occasional unevenbounce and offering substantial turn, Waugh will be looking to pushthat lead towards 400 before letting his fast men off the leash again.Ganga’s century, his second in successive Test innings after 17matches without one, gave West Indies hope in the first session. Thespinners, Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg, were turning the ballappreciably, but Ganga picked them with great certainty, apart from theodd rush of blood, building on his century at Georgetown. He cracked15 fours and a six in his century,It was Ganga’s second Test hundred, and his first at home in Trinidad.Ironically Brian Lara, who was out for 91 late on the second day, has yetto reach three figures in 10 Tests on his home island. Some estimateshad it that 5000 extra people might have ventured to the ground on thisEaster Monday if Lara had still been batting.Ganga had 117 by lunch, but failed to add to his score afterwards. BrettLee, armed with the new ball, moved one away from him – the perfectpacy outswinger – and Matthew Hayden clutched a screamer into hismidriff (279 for 5). The new batsman, the debutant David Bernard,played straight enough despite being clunked on the head by a Leebouncer that flew off for four leg-byes, but had made only 7 when JasonGillespie threaded one through the gate and knocked back his offstump (300 for 6).Samuels, who made two single-figure scores in the first Test, wassketchy at first against Lee, but blossomed later, unfurling somedeadeye drives. One over from Hogg cost 14, including an off-drive thatblistered to the boundary, followed by a huge six over the cycle-trackinto the crowd at long-on. At 47 Samuels was caught by Hayden at firstslip off Andy Bichel, but it was a no-ball. He sauntered to a half-century,in 130 minutes, in the next over.At the other end another new cap, the diminutive wicketkeeper CarltonBaugh, played a breezy innings. In the first match of the Australians’tour Baugh bagged a century for the President’s XI in Georgetown.Here he played some breezy strokes and helped Samuels put on 67,but at 19, off what turned out to be the last ball before tea, hedemolished his own stumps trying an extravagant cut (367 for 7). It wasMacGill’s 100th Test wicket, in only his 21st match.West Indies nibbled nervously at the tea-time sandwiches, needing 10to save the follow-on. Samuels fell for 68 with the lead exactly 200,chipping a catch to the incoming Bichel at long-off (376 for 8). VasbertDrakes earned a huge cheer for the vital single, and although he soonlost Merv Dillon – lbw to Jason Gillespie for his 25th Test duck (384 for9) – Drakes set the Trini Posse jiving with two huge sixes off Hogg, oneof which nearly reached the TV commentary box.Drakes was eventually trapped in front, a fourth wicket for Lee. Despitethe extravagant turn the spinners extracted at times, it was the fast menthat did the damage: Gillespie was also waspish and wasted little.West Indies may have saved the follow-on, but they haven’t saved thismatch yet.

Andrew Leipus, India’s physiotherapist, has asked to be relieved of hisday-to-day duties with the national team after the home series againstSouth Africa, which ends on Dec 2. Leipus, who has been with the Indianteam since late 1999, wants to spend more time with his family, and alsowants to improve his professional qualifications by studying.The Australian-born Leipus, 34, was recently offered a contract until2007, but it is understood that he has not yet signed that, and has made acounter-proposal wherein he would still be involved with the team, butwould play second fiddle to someone else who did the job on a morehands-on basis.Leipus has suggested that the load on the physio is increasing all thetime, and feels that two professionals are needed to do the jobefficiently. In his letter to the Indian Board he has suggested that JohnGloster, the former Bangladesh physio, be considered for the post he wouldbe vacating. Gloster, who has also worked with Surrey in the past, spentabout two years as the physio of the Bangladesh team, but left them onOctober 9 when his contract ran out.However, Leipus does not want to make a clean break from his duties withIndia, and hopes to be involved occasionally in the future. A sourcewithin the Indian team confirmed that Leipus has always meant to take timeoff from his job to pursue further studies to enhance his professionalqualifications. However, it had been expected that he would take a breakat the end of the current season, and not immediately after the homeseries against South Africa.Leipus is likely to meet with board officials soon to discuss the matter.He succeeded Andrew Kokinos as India’s physiotherapist, after beingrecommended for the post by Dr Mark Ferguson, the South African surgeonwho treated Javagal Srinath.

Minolta South Africa, a Bidvest Group company, have announced a R1.5million sponsorship deal with the Highveld Lions side for the next year.A long-standing supporter of South African sport, Minolta SA has decided to shift its focus to cricket and Alan Griffith, their managing director, said that the agreement with the Highveld Lions reflects Konica Minolta’s ongoing support of local and national sport initiatives. “We are proud to be associated with a well-established sport like cricket, a team like the Highveld Lions and our co-sponsors, 94.7,” he said.Minolta had been involved with cricket earlier as well – they sponsored West Indies’ first tour to South Africa in 1998-99; they have had a major sponsorship in cycling, with the successful Conica Minolta team; and have also been involved with with the Free State rugby team. Alan Kourie, the CEO of New Heights, the governing body of Gauteng Professional cricket, said “We are grateful to have two such prestigious companies joining forces to support our team”.Both Minolta SA and the Highveld Lions are looking forward to a mutually beneficial relationship and hope to renegotiate the sponsorship once the one-year agreement comes to an end.

John Buchanan considered walking away from his record-breaking role as Australian coach in the aftermath of the Ashes defeat. A month later he has convinced himself to stay and today extended his contract until the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.Buchanan, who replaced Geoff Marsh in 1999 and immediately enjoyed a 16-Test winning streak, was reappointed on the recommendation of a Cricket Australia review committee that began assessing the game’s direction between the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests. In England, Buchanan was criticised for a lack of off-field intervention as Australia struggled with reverse-swing, no-balls and an inability to raise their game.With his current contract expiring this month, Buchanan said he thought about stepping aside. “That was one of the things that crossed my mind during the Ashes campaign and at the end of it,” he said. “But I wouldn’t be sitting here if I hadn’t reached the conclusion that I wanted to continue, and I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have the support of Cricket Australia and the players.”Winning the Champions Trophy, the Ashes in 2006-07 and the World Cup remain Buchanan’s goals and he said he would reconsider his coaching methods in a bid to making it possible. “We’re all looking at the way we operate,” he said. “One of the things that I always champion is that we’re never satisfied and we’re always looking for improvement.”The review committee, which includes Allan Border, Mark Taylor and the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, will also decide whether Buchanan will be given a team of specialist coaches after the success of Troy Cooley as the ECB’s bowling mentor. “England set some benchmarks there which we can hopefully improve on and one of those is support staff,” Buchanan said. The committee’s findings will be released at a Cricket Australia board meeting in December.

Multan. A city of dust, heat, beggars and burial grounds, according to an old Persian proverb that is swiftly becoming a well-grooved cliché. And it is true, Multan is hot – though not oppressively so as the Asian winter draws in – while the dust is omnipresent, not least during England’s final practice session, as an army of jharoowallahs work the stands with their brooms in preparation for the fans who may or may not turn up to claim their share of a 70% free ticket policy.As for the begging and burials that may occur here, the next five days will reveal all. An England team high on confidence after the Ashes but shorn of their captain and short of batting form, take on a young and eager Pakistan side with renaissance at their fingertips. It is the most timely challenge that either side could wish for at this stage of their respective developments.England, for their part, have arrived in this country with a self-confident strut, visibly emboldened by their summer’s exploits against Australia. Not even two indifferent warm-up matches have been enough to disturb their equilibrium, while the loss of their captain for one Test, and possibly more, seems but a fly in the ointment. Rarely can such a calamitous start to a tour have been given such benefit of the doubt. From tomorrow, however, there can be no more mitigating circumstances.England have said all along that the atmosphere of a proper Test match would be all that was needed to get their juices flowing, and Marcus Trescothick, the acting captain, encountered his first true whiff of cricket, subcontinent-style, at this afternoon’s press call. As he was herded into a cramped attic-room at the top tier of the media enclosure, he was welcomed by a blaze of cameras, cables and questions that left him in no doubt as to the universal significance of tomorrow’s tussle.Trescothick, however, remained unfazed by the challenge and the responsibility, and was adamant that England’s approach would be far removed from the cling-on-at-all-costs approach that served Nasser Hussain’s squad so proudly five years ago. “We are a totally different team,” he insisted, “We’re a more youthful team, with a little bit more positiveness about us. We’ve gained confidence from winning big series over long periods of time, and we will go out to express ourselves.”That urge for self-expression has arguably been at the root of England’s problems so far on this tour, as a host of top-order batsmen have self-destructed in their haste to play their big shots. But one look at the wicket would imply that England’s reasoning in the warm-ups has been correct. The seaming greentops of Rawalpindi and Bagh-e-Jinnah have been replaced by a familiarly dry and grassless strip, on which India’s Virender Sehwag launched last year’s epic series with a national-record 309.Officially, England will not be unveiling their team until the morning of the match, but in his best media-speak, Trescothick conceded that there was a “pretty good chance” of England playing two spinners to match the conditions. That roughly translates as a first Test cap for Hampshire’s veteran, Shaun Udal, who toured with the Ashes squad more than ten years ago, before sinking back into the morass of journeymen tweakers who have been tried and tested over the past decade.Udal might have envisaged a rather earlier baptism than this, but it promises to be no less fiery than the one he had braced himself for in Australia all those years ago. Given the respect and recognition that Ashley Giles has earned for his efforts here in 2000-01, Udal can expect to be targeted from the word go, and in Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and the captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, he will be up against a middle-order who eat slow bowling for iftar.England’s own middle-order, by contrast, has an alarmingly threadbare look to it now that their captain has been ruled out. It is easy to forget that Kevin Pietersen, so imposing at The Oval, has just five Tests to his name and if, as expected, he is to be flanked at Nos. 3 and 5 by Ian Bell (eight Tests) and Paul Collingwood (three), that would leave the entire middle order with the same number of caps combined as Asim Kamal and Hasan Raza, the two relative rookies fighting it out for Pakistan’s No. 6 berth.For all his superlative talent, Pietersen’s lack of runs on this tour is a worry, for the simple reason that he has never yet failed and is undoubtedly due to do so. His early-tour assertion that he wished to develop his bowling was shot down in flames by his coach, Duncan Fletcher, who reminded Pietersen of the pitfalls that await the over-confident, not to mention his additional responsibilities now that he has moved up to No. 4 in the order.Bell, by contrast, lacks nothing in humility, although in his case that is hardly an asset. His Ashes tribulations have been well-documented, and his body language on the early days of the tour has been woebegone in the extreme. But he now has an unanticipated opportunity to restate his credentials, and a chance for an anonymous return to form that, to judge by the faith that England kept all summer, should have been his from the start.With Collingwood providing a 21st Century, professional-era, return to the bits-and-pieces allrounders of yesteryear, it is clear where the bulk of England’s runs must come from. Trescothick and Andrew Strauss have enjoyed a prolific alliance since Vaughan’s last knee injury threw them together in unexpected circumstances 18 months ago, and they represent the one area in which England have an indisputable weight advantage. In the absence of any experienced openers, Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, is expected to opt for the youth of Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt.Andrew Flintoff lurks down the order, ready to cash in as the shine comes off the new ball, but before that can happen, Trescothick and Strauss must first withstand the cut-and-thrust of Pakistan’s new-ball attack – an attack that is not only fully fit for the first time in six Tests, but needs to fire as the pressure for places hots up from below.”It’s going to be a tough challenge for us,” said Trescothick, and although it sounded almost as much of a cliché as Multan’s dust and beggars, these were no mere platitudes. England are in for a battle royal against a side still smarting from that twilight robbery five years ago, and as Trescothick admitted, the burden of the captaincy may force him to reappraise his own approach to the game.”There are different areas I’m going to have to make sure I’m stronger on,” he said, “and certain things will crop up that I’ll have to deal with. But the boys are in good shape, and we’ve switched on a bit in last few days, which generally happens when you get into the warm-up days before a Test match. We’ve done a lot of preparation, we’ve talked a lot as a unit, and we need to make sure we’re really comfortable come tomorrow.”The afterglow of Ashes victory has shielded England’s cricketers ever since their appearance in Trafalgar Square. But come 9.30 tomorrow morning, it will be time to step, once again, outside of the comfort zone.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick (capt), 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Shaun Udal, 10 Matthew Hoggard, 11 Steve Harmison.Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Shoaib Malik, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Hasan Raza, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Naved-ul-Hasan Rana, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Danish Kaneria.