Division One

Surrey edged the advantage on a wicket-filled first day against high-flying Durham at The Oval. Durham lost eight wickets before lunch as the top order was blown away with Matthew Nicholson claiming three scalps including Scott Styris for 1. However, the visitors fought hard to stay in the contest led by Phil Mustard’s counter-attacking 82-ball 70 that included confident reverse sweeps against the spinners. India’s Harbhajan Singh claimed three wickets as he started his stint with Surrey, but they found the early going tough with the bat. Steve Harmison struck in his first over and at 53 for 3 Durham were back in the match. Stewart Walters, in his first Championship game of the summer, steadied the reply with a composed half-century as Surrey moved into the lead but was trapped lbw to the final ball of the day for a career-best 70.Darren Maddy was quick to switch from Twenty20 mode back into Championship action as his century gave Warwickshire the advantage on the opening day against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. When bad light brought an early finish, Maddy had faced 263 balls in his second Championship ton of the season. Jonathan Trott, fresh from his time with England’s one-day squad, contributed 50 to a second-wicket stand of 119 and Jim Troughton (44) helped add 86 before he was removed by Chris Tremlett. Overall it was a tough day for the home attack as Shane Warne, who sent down 22 wicketless overs, used seven bowlers.The opening day of the Roses clash between Lancashire and Yorkshire at Old Trafford didn’t get started with the ground still saturated from the recent heavy rain. There was particular concern about areas at backward point and the run ups. The umpires made two inspections, but abandoned the day in mid-afternoon. The two captains, Mark Chilton and Darren Gough, had been keen to play but agreed conditions weren’t safe. Yorkshire currently lead the Championship with Lancashire fifth.Worcestershire had been hoping to work the impossible and play at New Road less than two weeks after the floods, but the opening day against Kent was unsurprisingly abandoned. There were still damp areas on the outfield, although the club are hopeful that there will be some play over the next three days.

Division Two

James Foster gave everyone a reminder of his batting talent with his first century of the season to steer Essex into a strong position against second-placed Nottinghamshire at Chelmsford. The early honours had been shared as Ravi Bopara’s 59 was weighted against regular wickets for Nottinghamshire. Graham Swann’s offspin was responsible for three, including Bopara, but Foster turned the day Essex’s way. He took 148 balls over his century while Andy Bichel offered fine support as the seventh-wicket added 180. Bichel ended nine short of a century after striking 12 fours and a six off 99 balls.Nineteen-year-old Ben Wright hit his maiden first-class century, but the rest of Glamorgan’s batsmen failed to follow suit as Paul Nixon’s reign as four-day captain of Leicestershire started promisingly at Grace Road. Wright came in at No. 4 after both openers had gone cheaply and the scoreboard read 2 for 2, but he responded with a 215-ball innings that included 13 boundaries and a six. He added 72 with Mark Wallace, but the home side maintained their advantage when David Masters removed Wright for 113. Masters and Garnett Kruger shared seven wickets and bad light meant 2.2 overs for the Leicestershire openers.The opening day at Southgate was keenly contested between Middlesex and Derbyshire, but the visitors will be disappointed with their final total of 340 after being 201 for 2. The Australian duo of Michael Dighton (68) and Simon Katich (80) built the strong position with a third-wicket stand of 166. However, Jamie Dalrymple broke through, on his way to three crucial middle-order wickets, as Derbyshire fell away to 247 for 7. Useful lower-order cameos from Ant Botha, Graham Wagg and Tom Lungley lifted the total over 300 before Murali Kartik picked up a brace.Steve Kirby took five wickets as Gloucestershire kept control against Northamptonshire at Northampton. The home side’s batsmen wasted a number of starts with three passing half-centuries but no one making more than Usman Afzaal’s 66. Afzaal and Stephen Peters added 122 for the second wicket and Afzaal was Kirby’s first victim. David Sales and Riki Wessels formed the other main stand – 99 for the fifth wicket – but Kirby ripped through the middle order as five wickets fell for 14. However, the innings was handed a late boost as the final-wicket pair of David Lucas and Jason Brown clubbed 56 and Northamptonshire’s day ended strongly with two early wickets.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has found further support, from the head of New Zealand’s players’ body, who is concerned that New Zealand will suffer most unless the ICC accommodates the ICL. The ICC is due to meet early September to determine whether the ICL will be officially endorsed.The players’ associations will convene at the same time in Johannesburg. Heath Mills, the manager of the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association, told the their message would be for the ICC to get behind the league, rather than ostracise it.”The ideal scenario from my point of view would be for the ICC to support it as long as it didn’t impinge upon international cricket,” he said. “I can’t see many negatives of third-party funding coming into cricket and another professional league would give players an opportunity to earn more income, just like those who go to county cricket. What would concern me greatly was if the league was not sanctioned and it became a ‘rebel’ league.”Mills said the comparatively low incomes of New Zealand’s players made them a prime target for the ICL, arguing that cricket’s big fish – the subcontinent, Australia, England and South Africa – have the resources to pay their players the sort of money that would ensure they don’t jump ship.”Our guys would be hugely at risk,” Mills said. “They’re paying their players close to a million a year so it’s a no-brainer. But a guy who is near the top of the [New Zealand] retainer list and plays most games a year is looking at $250,000 maximum. That makes us vulnerable.” Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming have all been linked with the ICL.Mills’s comments provide further momentum for the ICL bandwagon. In recent weeks, the league has received some support from at least two senior Indian politicians; Digvijay Singh, a general secretary of the ruling Congress party, asked the BCCI to help promote the ICL instead of confronting it. Lalu Prasad Yadav, the federal railway minister, has also indicated his support, saying he would allow organisers to host matches in stadiums under his ministry’s control.On Friday, half the Hyderabad first-class team announced it had signed on. Imran Farhat, who is out of favour with Pakistan’s selectors in the shorter version of the game, has been released from his central contract with the PCB and has all but sealed a deal with the ICL.There have been continued reports of big-name but disgruntled Pakistan players signing on as well. Brian Lara remains the only star to have officially committed to the league.

Former Zimbabwe captain Dave Houghton has pulled out of the race for the post of Bangladesh coach citing family reasons, a Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official told . Houghton had expressed similar reservations when the BCB had informally approached him in June.”He wants to stay with his father, who is about 85 years old,” Gazi Ashraf, the chairman of the BCB’s cricket operations committee, said. “So it is unlikely for us to get him now.”Houghton, who quit his post as director of cricket at Derbyshire in July, was shortlisted along with Australians Jamie Siddons and John Harmer after Dav Whatmore decided not to renew his contract with the BCB after the World Cup in the Caribbean. The BCB interviewed Harmer on August 31.Shaun Williams was appointed interim coach after Whatmore’s exit and will be in charge of the team during the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa.

An unwelcome visitor
The two days preceding the match were warm and dry but Hyderabad awoke to the sound of rain on Friday morning. The shower didn’t last long but it was enough for the groundstaff to bring out the covers to protect the square. An early-bird crowd cheered massively as each plastic sheet was removed and when the Indians jogged out to warm up the decibel level went up a notch. The loudest shouts were reserved for the Twenty20 stars – MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh – until, that is, Sachin Tendulkar strode out.A bit too straight
The stumps got hit twice in the first ten overs of the day, and all three times it was by the Australian openers. After facing a wide first up, Matthew Hayden began in style, flicking his first ball through square leg for four and following up with a powerful straight drive for the same result. He nearly had a hat-trick of fours but the booming drive cannoned into the stumps at the bowler’s end, uprooting one and pegging the middle back. In the fourth over, it was Gilchrist’s turn to drive too straight and umpire Shastri began to take cover before the ball hit the stumps.Going from superb to sloppy in a flash
Ricky Ponting drove the ball towards point and Yuvraj moved nimbly, diving full stretch to his right, to pull off a spectacular save. He leapt up in time to see Hayden stranded after Ponting declined a single. Yuvraj threw to the bowler’s end and Hayden wasn’t in the frame when the ball reached Zaheer Khan who broke the stumps. Replays showed that Zaheer didn’t collect the ball and broke the stumps with his hand. An easy run out through a superb throw had been ruined through sloppy finishing.An exercise in self-control
Sreesanth’s antics in Kochi attracted so much attention that he was restrained today. He began tidily, conceding eight off his first two overs before Hayden got stuck into him. In his fourth over, he bowled three wides outside off stump and got smacked for four of the ninth ball of the over. His day got worse in the final over of the game when he dropped a simple return catch off James Hopes. In frustration he shied at the bowler’s end where Hopes was safe and needlessly conceded an overthrow. Two balls remained and just as nothing seemed to be going his way, Sreesanth dismissed Symonds and Hopes off consecutive deliveries.

Watch out for falling objects
During the ICC World Twenty20, spectators often wore hard hats as it was raining sixes. There were no sixes for 39.5 overs today but when Symonds launched Irfan Pathan over midwicket hard hats were the need of the moment. The ball cleared the boundary and fell into the stands, hitting a spectator on the head. Symonds went on to clout four more sixes but the crowd had begun to watch carefully.Free hit anti-climax
The bowlers hadn’t over-stepped for 58.4 overs and then Brett Lee committed the first front-foot offence. Sachin Tendulkar was on strike for the no-ball and Yuvraj Singh reminded him that the next one was a free hit. The crowd realised what was in the offing once umpire Shastri twirled his hand above his head. The roar soon became deafening as they urged Tendulkar to cash in. Lee charged in amid the din, Tendulkar charged down the pitch, Lee fired it fast and outside off stump and Tendulkar was beaten. Terrific noise one moment, silence the next.

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

The one-day series might have gone but India lived up to their world champions tag in the Twenty20, finishing with a thumping seven-wicket win in Mumbai. Australia have bossed around for most of the last month but India can take consolation from one stat: the last eight internationals between the two sides have been shared 4-4.Ricky Ponting’s blazing 76 launched a meaty Australian total but it was soon to be overshadowed by Gautam Gambhir’s swash and buckle. The jury is still out on his Test and 50-over credentials but there’s few who will argue with his ability to swing a Twenty20 match. With fifties against New Zealand, England, Pakistan and Australia he’s been India’s most valuable batsmen in the shortest format. Only Matthew Hayden has managed a similar number of fifties; nobody has managed to defy expectations so consistently.Like he’s done on each of those occasions, Gambhir set the agenda in an emphatic manner, partnering Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh in rollicking stands. Gambhir cut loose with a fearlessness that was missing in some of the 50-over games. The dance down the track was a regular feature but the chiselled square-cut was the sight of the evening.Australia’s bowlers had a tough time – the 24 extras indicated as much – and all conceded seven or more runs an over. Brett Lee was shredded to the tune of 20 runs in his sixth over, when the total went from 30 to 50, and Australia never recovered. Overthrows and a wicket off a no-ball typified their day and there was really nothing that went their way in front of a raucous crowd. Gambhir fell with 24 still needed, holing out to mid-on trying to end with a flourish, but Australian would have known that the kangaroo was well and truly bolted.Robin Uthappa’s blistering 35, including six crunchy fours, went well with the fireworks illuminating the Mumbai skies. The cheerleaders in the stands might have twisted and turned but Uthappa didn’t waver from striking straight: walking down the track casually and ripping shots with laughable ease. Virender Sehwag managed just 5 on his return but Yuvraj Singh swung India to the finish. Ben Hilfenhaus, playing his first match of the tour, and Michael Clarke were the most effective bowlers but the others didn’t have much to smile.

Earlier Ponting made good use of the advantage at the toss. Cashing in on a belter of a pitch that was being used for the first time, he shrugged off a regular loss of partners to motor to his highest score of the tour.Entering as early as the first over, after Adam Gilchrist slammed three consecutive fours before losing his middle stump to a incisive RP Singh yorker, Ponting displayed controlled aggression. He threw his bat at anything wide of the stumps – fortunate to see Mahendra Singh Dhoni unable to clasp onto a thick edge while lunging to the right – and brought out the imperious pull when anything was short.He did struggle occasionally against sharp turn that Murali Kartik extracted – the most attacking bowler on show – and preferred to play out Harbhajan Singh’s yorker-length offerings. Hayden, who missed the two games due to a hip injury, hammered two huge sixes, walking down the track with characteristic impunity, before playing on to Harbhajan. A mid-pitch misunderstanding did Andrew Symonds in, just when he appeared set to open up, and Brad Hodge capped off a forgettable tour, finishing on an average of less than 10.Harbhajan was India’s most economical bowler, conceding just 17 in his four overs, and Kartik proved an able ally. RP Singh, largely erratic, should have ended with another wicket, with umpire Amish Saheba failing to detect an edge off Brad Haddin in the last over, but it didn’t make a difference in the final analysis. This was a Twenty20 and India were here to show their championship class.

Mumbai 337 (Naik 78, Kukreja 66, Jaffer 55) and 70 for 2 drew with Karnataka 195 (Akhil 57, Powar 5-69) and397 for 6 dec (Dravid 214, Pawan 80)
Scorecard

Rahul Dravid found his true form on the last day of this match, hitting a double-century to guide Karnataka to a draw against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium.Karnataka made 397 for 6 at tea before declaring to set Mumbaia target of 256 in 32 overs, 17 of which had gone by before both captains settled on a draw.Mumbai secured three points for their first-innings lead while Karnataka got one.The wicket had baffled many: it offered great assistance on the first day, which Ramesh Powar exploited, and lost its venom as the moisture evaporated. Also, Karnataka were guilty of being overcautious in the first innings and conceded the vital lead to Mumbai.Dravid said the regular fall of wickets didn’t allow them to attack. “We kept losing regular wickets, lot of players in our team are quite young as well and it would have been a good education for them to play a quality attack.”The final day belonged to Dravid who blasted 137 runs from 152 balls with 11 boundaries and three sixes. There were no big celebrations after he reached his hundred – off 213 balls – in the first session, with a dab to third man. He acknowledged his ton with a small raise of the bat towards the dressing room, then at the 50-odd spectators who’d bothered to turn up. He offered a similar reaction after bringing up his double hundred, in the second session, with a sweep to the square-leg boundary.Dravid, while understandably happy, wished he had contributed more in the first innings. “It is satisfying to have played a innings that helped the team. It would have been better had I played a big knock in the first innings. To be honest 195 was never going to be enough, we needed at least 300 but credit to them. Ajit got couple of wickets early and Ramesh [Powar] bowled very well.”In an otherwise smooth innings, Dravid had three moments of concern:on 110, he survived a run-out chance when C Raghu called him forinjudicious single but Wasim Jaffer didn’t find the target from squareleg; on 191 he checked a drive off a slower delivery from AbhishekNayar, who spilled the return catch and on 198 another run-out chancewent begging as Amol Muzumdar missed from cover.Dravid started off with a fluent drive through covers off Iqbal Abdulla and continued tobat positively as the new ball was taken in the fourth over of the day. Dravid showed his full repertoire of strokes – there was a hook and a pull, two crashing drives over cover, a steer to third man, a leg glance, a cut and a few lofted drives against the spinners to the straight boundary. He hit three sixes too, sending the ball out of the ground on one occasionwhen he swung Abdulla over long-on.Mumbai’s bowlers could not keep him in check. Ajit Agarkar, who removed KB Pawan with a full-length delivery that took the edge off a loose drive, sent down a series of bouncers but Dravid went for the horizontal shots.Ramesh Powar, introduced in the 20th over of the day, also didn’t cause any major problems. Dravid, at times, went down the track or made room by going back and twice swinging him over the midwicket.Raghu looked to get forward to play before he fell, under-edging a pull that wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant took sharply down the leg side. Encouraged by that wicket, Powar stuck to the middle and leg line, spinning into the hips, with a short leg and backward short leg inattendance, but could not break through.Abdulla, who mostly bowled over the wicket aiming for the rough, picked up his first Ranji Trophy wicket in his 41st over of the match when Yere Goud scooped one to cover. Abdulla picked two more easy wickets as Karnataka went for quick runs before the declaration.The bat continued to dominate in the second session before Dravid fell after facing 333 balls in 437 minutes to a tired pull shot off Abdulla to deep midwicket. He was one short of his highest Ranji score – 215 against Uttar Pradesh, 10 seasons back in a Ranji final.When Mumbai batted the second time, Vinay Kumar removed Wasim Jaffer in an identical fashion to the first innings, cleaning up his off stump with an incutter as he was caught at the crease, and trapped Sahil Kukreja in front but the fate of the game was sealed by then.

The Indian cricket board has decided to serve a show-cause notice to Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors for defying an official gag by continuing to write his weekly column and giving an interview to , a Mumbai-based newspaper.Rajiv Shukla, vice-president of the Board for Control of Cricket in India told PTI that the decision to serve the notice was taken by Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president. “An explanation will be sought from Vengsarkar for the columns which have appeared in Hindi and Marathi dailies,” he said. His column appeared in a Marathi paper, , and Hindi daily, .”The BCCI is of the view that if he wants to continue as a columnist, he can give up the post of the chief selector,” Shukla said. However, the board secretary Niranjan Shah said that the notice hadn’t yet been served. “It will be done some time by today,” he told Cricinfo. “We have decided to issue it, maybe by evening.”The BCCI had earlier imposed a seven-point diktat to the national selectors, and one of the main points of the directive was to restrict them from airing their views by writing newspaper columns or even interacting with the media.Vengsarkar had earlier flouted an oral directive by the BCCI after a piece carrying his byline appeared in , a Marathi daily run by the brother of Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president. That prompted the board to seek an explanation from Vengsarkar as well as impose further restrictions on all the national selectors by banning them from accompanying the team on foreign tours.Vengsarkar has been writing his columns ever since he took over as chairman. There is a view, especially with selectors enjoying only a honorary post, that Vengsarkar shouldn’t be asked to sacrifice what is effectively a regular salary.In his latest interview, Vengsarkar spoke of India’s Test captaincy issue, following Rahul Dravid’s resignation after the England tour. He hinted that Dravid’s batting form may have contributed to his decision and the selectors felt it was best to give him a break by dropping him from the one-day squad.”I feel he [Dravid] is a very sensitive person and I guess too much media pressure affected his batting,” Vengsarkar told the paper. “Dravid looked mentally down when we gave him a break. At such a time, it is always better for a player to play domestic or even club cricket to get his confidence and rhythm back. Dravid has done that and I’m sure he will score loads of runs in the future.”On the appointment of separate captains for Test and one-dayers, Vengsarkar said the selectors were in favour of an experienced candidate for for the Tests keeping in mind India’s challenging tour of Australia next month. He added that Mahandra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were close contenders for the one-day post.”It is really difficult to differentiate between the two because both have some great qualities to take Indian cricket to the top,” he said. “I guess Dhoni’s cool demeanor in a crisis tipped the scale in his favour.”Kumble is highly respected by his team-mates but also by the opposition. Most importantly he knows how to handle the Aussies in their own backyard.”

Scorecard

Opener Dale Richards blasted 80 off 93 balls with 11 fours to lead Barbados to a thumping nine-wicket win over Windward Islands in Kingston. Richards, who capitalised on some wayward bowling to bring up his half-century off 55 balls, added 111 runs for the first wicket with Jason Haynes, before Haynes and Dwayne Smith finished off the job. Earlier, Windward, who resumed on 58 for 3, with a lead of only two runs, lost overnight batsmen Andre Fletcher and Liam Sebastian for 14 and 18 respectively as they slumped to 87 for 5. Donwell Hector looked assured before he was run out for 14, the second time that he was dismissed in such a manner in his debut match. Lindon James, the wicketkeeper-batsman, took Windward from 104 for 6 to 190 with an unbeaten 56. Smith then took the last two wickets to finish with 3 for 41. Ryan Hinds was named Man of the Match for scoring 95 in Barbados’ first innings as well as claiming three wickets with his left-arm spin.
Scorecard
Guyana slumped 128 for 4 against Trinidad to gain an effective lead of only 61 runs at the end of the third day’s play in Port of Spain. Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, with an unbeaten 35, was at the crease when stumps were drawn after Guyana began their second innings 67 runs in arrears. Richard Kelly gave Trinidad the early breakthrough by getting rid of Shivnarine Chattergoon, the first innings century-maker, for four. Seamer Rayad Emrit, playing his first match as Trinidad captain, then dismissed opener Travis Dowlin and Leon Johnson for 10 to leave Guyana at 48 for 3. Narsingh Deonarine, who scored 46 of 51 balls with seven fours and a six, set about doing the repair job with Sarwan, adding 74 runs for the fourth wicket, before he was dismissed by offspinner Amit Jaggernauth. Earlier, Trinidad, who resumed on 273 for 3, lost Lara in the morning session when he gave left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul a return catch after only adding eight runs to his overnight score of 115. Trinidad lost wickets at regular intervals, but Kieron Pollord, who had resumed on 41, kept up the attack by scoring 85 off 103 balls before edging to the wicketkeeper. There was an hour-long stoppage after lunch due to rain, subsequent to which, Richard Kelly, with an unbeaten 30, took Trinidad to 401. Offspinner Zaheer Mohammed claimed the bowling honours with figures of 4 for 78.
Scorecard
Jamaica, after overcoming a nervy start, were led by an aggressive half-century from Wavell Hinds, who scored 62 off 82 balls, to take them to a five-wicket win over Leeward Islands at Sabina Park. Leeward’s seamer Gavin Tonge took three wickets to have Jamaica stuttering at 20 for 4, but they could not capitalise on that opening, with Hinds and David Bernard adding 82 runs for the fifth wicket. Earlier, Leewards could only add 96 runs to their overnight 87 for 2, with legspinner Odeon Brown taking 5 for 31 to finish with a match haul of 10 for 103, his maiden ten-wicket haul at the first-class level. Brown, who was named Man of the Match, was aided by left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, who claimed figures of 4 for 43 to end with overall figures of 7 for 85. Montcin Hodge provided resistance from Leeward, taking his score from 38 to 64, consuming 267 deliveries in a knock that stretched five hours.

Badureliya created the biggest upset of the season by trouncing the formidable Nondescripts team by a 271-run margin at the Nondescripts Stadium. Led by captain Hemantha Wickramaratne, who scored 114, Badureliya managed 339 in their first innings after being put in by Nondescripts. Wickramaratne, though, narrowly missed out scoring a century in both innings when he was dismissed for 91 in the second innings as Badureliya topped 300 twice in the match. Nondescripts’ batting was dismantled by Badureliya’s all-round bowling strength, collapsing for totals of 191 and 187.The win placed Badureliya second on the points table.Sinhalese recovered from 52-3 to total 514 and beat Tamil Union by an innings and 104 runs at the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium. The foundation for their victory was laid by their fourth wicket pair of Thilan Samaraweera (125) and Thilina Kandamby (who scored a career-best 163), who figured in a stand of 261. Sachitra Serasinghe’s offspin then unsettled the Tamil Union batting as they were forced to follow-on. He ended the match with eight wickets.In a low scoring game played at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colts recovered from conceding a first-innings lead of 21 runs to beat Ragama by four wickets to retain third spot.Colombo recovered from their shock defeat at the hands of Moors last weekend to beat Bloomfield by 257 runs at the Colombo Cricket Club Ground. Discarded Sri Lanka batsman, Jehan Mubarak, was in great form for Colombo, scoring 121 and 49.Following their giant-killing performance last weekend, Moors were brought down to earth by Chilaw Marians, who beat them by 226 runs at the Moors Sports Club Ground. The architect of Marians’ victory was the former Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Dinuka Hettiarachchi, who took a match bag of ten wickets including six in the second innings.Player of the Week: Dinuka Hettiarachchi
Hettiarachchi got his first big break at the age of 24 when he was picked to represent his country against Nasser Hussain’s England at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in 2001, but after that he never came under the microscope of the national selectors despite consistent performances in domestic cricket for Colombo Colts, SSC and now Chilaw Marians with whom he has been for the past three seasons.Part of Marians’ success in the past few years has been due to Hettiarachchi’s presence but as team manager Godfrey Dabare noted: “Dinuka is a very talented cricketer who for some reason has been overlooked for selection even to the Sri Lanka A team. He was given one opportunity with the A side that toured New Zealand and he performed well. After that he has been performing consistently taking nearly 50 wickets a season without much luck.”It is frustrating for bowlers like Dinuka to bowl their hearts out and not get a look-in even for the A team. Unless they give opportunities to bowlers like Dinuka there’ll come a time when Sri Lanka will be stuck for a quality spinner the day Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] decides to retire.”

Points Table

Nottinghamshire will announce to members at the AGM on Monday that they have made a profit for the seventh successive year. The club made a pre-tax profit of £137,831 and are also on course to complete the £8.2 million Bridgford Road Stand and other improvements on budget in late April.Despite the results, finance chairman Richard Tennant still sounded a cautious note. “We cannot afford to stand still in what is a very dynamic competitive environment,” he said. “Since last year’s AGM, not only have Cardiff completed their re-development but the Rose Bowl, The Oval, Headingley and Old Trafford have all announced their own very ambitious plans.”We are fortunate to have a staging agreement with the ECB which guarantees international cricket at Trent Bridge until the end of the 2011 season,” he added. “But 2012 will be on us before we know it and we must ensure that our business is in the best possible financial shape as we are forced to bid with other venues for major matches – without any staging agreement certainty.”Barry Pailing, the club chairman, will announce at the meeting at that he will not be continuing in his role after four years, but he will remain on the general committee for a further year.