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Australia have altered their focus from swing to Twenty20 as they try to find a way for their bowlers to cope at the World Championship in South Africa. Troy Cooley is hosting a camp for the fast men at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane this week to prepare for the two-week tournament in South Africa.This time last year the bowlers were working on traditional and reverse-swing in a bid to tackle England, but the unforgiving nature of Twenty20 has forced some experimenting. “We are really trying to develop plans to help the bowlers survive in the game,” Cooley said in the Courier-Mail. “It’s a pretty tough one for bowlers to survive in.”We have been doing a lot of talking about that and we are working on some technical things as well. Last year we worked on swing bowling, this year we are working on Twenty20.” Bruce Reid, the former Australia bowler who was a part-time coach with India, is also at the camp where Brett Lee is continuing his return from ankle surgery.

The inaugural overseas tour by Canada women will feature five matches in Trinidad and Tobago. The team leaves on April 10 for their two-week trip including two matches against Trinidad & Tobago Under-21. They also have two games against a Development XI and one against Tobago with the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Couva, Trinidad their main base.Mona Persaud is to captain Canada for the first time on this trip. Speaking after a practice session at Etobicoke’s Qasra Sports, she said: “It is a very young team. Not all the girls have got much experience but we are looking forward to this first Canadian team tour. It is going to be tough but we have been working hard.”The players had been through fitness exercises and fielding drills in addition to batting and bowling in the nets. “Hopefully we will get more exposure so we can attract people to the game.”Sheryl Tittlemier, who is based in Ottawa but was born in Selkirk, Manitoba said: “I am absolutely looking forward to the trip” but was “not looking forward to the weather.” It has been a snowy winter in the GTA and Ottawa but the trip will bring a major contrast in temperature.”This will be my third full season, after attending practices about four years ago.”Her family has about 25 years’ involvement in baseball. “A good friend of mine, who comes from Trinidad, Greg Tony, was responsible for me getting into cricket.” Tittlemier plays with the men’s club New Edinburgh in the Ottawa Valley Cricket Council as a right-handed batsman. “I can’t say enough good things about the guys at the club that I play with.”This trip comes before the season has begun in Canada, so the heat is unlikely to be the only challenge, although the schedule was adjusted to ensure the players have a day or so to practice before the first match which, in reality, is not a lot of time.Canada beat Bermuda and Argentina to win the first ICC Americas Regional Women’s Championship in August 2007, but lost to the Trinidad & Tobago Under-17s. But it was useful experience albeit experience gained eight or nine months ago.ScheduleApril 13 v Development XI (National Cricket Centre, Couva)
April 15 v Tobago (Tobago)
April 17 v Trinidad & Tobago Under 21 (UWI, St Augustine)
April 19 v Development XI (NCC)
April 20 v Trinidad & Tobago Under-21 (NCC)

Dropped for the ongoing CB Series in Australia, Indian batsman Sourav Ganguly has revealed that he had planned to continue playing one-dayers for another seven to eight months before taking a call on his future. He also considered the fact that he didn’t see himself realistically continuing till the 2011 World Cup.”They (the selectors) just asked me whether I wanted to continue one-day cricket,” Ganguly told Times Now, an Indian news channel. “I said, ‘yes definitely, at least for the next 7-8 months.'”So I wanted to play till September, then probably take a call because at some stage you would not have gone on to play the 2011 World Cup.”There is not much of one-day cricket this year. There is the Australia series, then India go to Sri Lanka for Tests and one-dayers. So there are five one-dayers there and then the Champions Trophy in September and rest of the year is full of Test cricket.Ganguly and another former captain Rahul Dravid were omitted for the one-dayers in Australia after the national selectors opted for the core of India’s ICC World Twenty20 winning squad, with several players lacking in experience at the international level.Since his return to the one-day squad in early 2007, Ganguly has scored 1240 runs in 32 matches at an average of 44.28, and he celebrated his return with the Man-of-the-Series prize in the one-day series against Sri Lanka before the World Cup. However, his performances in the last ten matches saw the average dipping to 25.66. The team management in Australia had reasoned that Ganguly was overlooked for the sake of blooding youth, with the added emphasis on fielding abilities.”I was a bit surprised because I didn’t expect it,” he said. “But, all I can say for sure is that it is not on the basis of form.”

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) believes it has come closer to sorting out a record television rights deal with Nimbus Sports International. A core negotiation delegation of the BCB has put forward some adjustments to the initial contract and if all goes well, the deal should be finalised soon, said the head of the negotiation committee.Nimbus, a Singapore-based television company, had paid US$57million for live coverage rights for all matches in Bangladesh until 2012. However, the government stalled its approval of the record deal in late 2006, stating that the deal lacked transparency. The new BCB management decided to investigate the sensitive financial deal, which was supposed to be finalised by the end of last year.”I am hopeful about a positive end of it especially after the way the discussion has progressed in the last three days. We put forward our observations on the legal and financial aspects of the agreement and the Nimbus delegation agreed to place those issues on their board,” MA Momen told the , a Dhaka-based daily. “What we felt is that we have to make some adjustments in the agreement to protect our interests. If we fail to make those adjustments then ultimately we will be a loser in the long-term agreement.”Momen did not rule out the possibility of a new deal if the Nimbus authorities chose to deny the BCB’s desired adjustments. “I am hopeful about a good solution because we discussed in a very friendly atmosphere and I think nothing is better for both sides than reaching an agreement if we are a little bit more compromising,” he said.”Minimum guaranteed clause made totally based on the series that included India and we found that we will be the loser in seven series where India would not be taking part. And it was evident when Zimbabwe toured here last year. That’s why we wanted the adjustments in this regard.”According to Momen, there were some observations on the allowable production expenses where the BCB specified areas that needed to be solved. The BCB also had problems with the manner in which insurance was described were there to be a no-show.

Matthew Bell and Iain O’Brien have been handed New Zealand Cricket contracts for the remainder of the season. The pair were given deals that expire on May 31 as they took over the contracts vacated by Shane Bond and Lou Vincent, who joined the Indian Cricket League.Bell bounced back into the Test team in January after an absence of more than six years and he immediately impressed with 107 against Bangladesh. However, his results against England – 19, 0, 0 and 29 – have been less inspiring.O’Brien also enjoyed a strong series against Bangladesh, collecting seven wickets at 16.57, but a toe injury has kept him out of the first two Tests against England. The contract list for the 2008-09 season is likely to be finalised before New Zealand set off for their tour of England in late April.

The Australia opening batsman Matthew Hayden is in doubt for the third Test against India in Perth after injuring his right thigh in Sydney. Alex Kountouris, the team physiotherapist, revealed that it could take Hayden up to five weeks to recover although he wouldn’t rule out him playing the next match.Hayden picked up the injury while turning for a run during his 123 in the second innings, prompting him to call for a runner, and he didn’t take the field during India’s reply. Hayden is set to return home to Brisbane for three days before starting his rehabilitation program.”It could take one week to heal, it could take five weeks,” Kountouris told the . “We are waiting to see how it looks in a few days. He is a chance to play in Perth but we are waiting to see.”Brad Hogg, the wrist spinner, is also in doubt for the Perth Test after sustaining a finger injury while fielding in Sydney. Scans did not reveal a fracture and Hogg is most likely to be replaced by Shaun Tait should Australia opt for four-pronged pace attack.Chris Rogers, the Western Australia opening batsman, is a strong candidate to replace Hayden after scoring 362 runs in five Pura Cup matches this season. He and Phil Jaques were vying for the opener’s spot but an untimely appendix problem ruled Rogers out of contention for the Sri Lanka series in November. Simon Katich, who is seeking a comeback, is another contender as he currently tops the Pura Cup table with 878 runs in six games.The Perth Test is set to get underway on January 16, but the tour is in the balance after the Indian board complained against Harbhajan Singh’s three-Test ban for racial abuse. India were also upset with the umpiring in Sydney and Steve Bucknor has been replaced for the game at the WACA.

Shoaib Malik has admitted Pakistan had been unaware that their match against India would be decided on the basis of a bowl-out in case of a tie. “When the match ended in a tie, only then we came to know that this [bowl out] would happen,” he said at the post-match press conference. “I just told my bowlers not to take pressure and try and hit the wickets but they were not successful”.When Misbah-ul-Haq was run out off the last ball with the scores level, some confusion prevailed among the players with regard to the result of the match. The bowl-out followed, which India won 3-0.”The match ended in a tie, so none of my players should be blamed [for losing],” Malik said. “He also dismissed the notion that Pakistan would have been better served using the big-hitting Shahid Afridi higher up in the order. “We needed one off the last two balls. Anyway he’s more useful to us after 12 overs.”Meanwhile, Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he doesn’t want to see matches ending in a bowl-out though the concept helped him win his first international match as captain.”I won’t want to see a cricket match decided on a bowl out,” Dhoni said. “The team plays so hard to get a result and it should always be decided on the field.”Dhoni wasn’t expecting the match to end with a football scoreline of 3-0. “It really amuses you. Winning a cricket match 3-0, it doesn’t happen every time,” he said. “But it is in the record books now. I can tell my friends, when I was captain my team won 3-0.”The choice of using three slow bowlers for the bowl-out, including two part-timers, Dhoni said, was made based on the players’ performance at bowl-outs during team practice. “Whatever they [the bowlers] did, they were picked for that. They had practised a lot for such an eventuality,” he said. “Actually, Rohit Sharma is the best when it comes to bowl-out, he has a 100% record – but since he was not playing we had to rely on the other specialists.”Asked what advice he gave Sreesanth before the last ball of the match, Dhoni said, “I told him to be free, and control his mind. He’s like a computer, he just has to bowl one ball but he might be thinking of bowling 100 different deliveries.”Dhoni said he was pleased that India kept up their record of never losing to Pakistan in a World Cup match. “We might have to play them again in this tournament but, if we do, we would like to keep that record going.”As for the pressure of a match against arch-rivals Pakistan, he said, “I never take pressure whether it’s India-Pakistan or any other game.” He also had words of praise for his team-mates’ performance in the crunch match. “As for my players they responded well. They were determined. They were focused. The intensity was good.”Dhoni praised his bowlers for defending a low total. “We needed a good start with the ball. The bowlers kept getting wickets at regular intervals. In the end, they managed to push the run-rate up to 12 per over and that is not easy.” He also felt the Indian batsmen should have taken a more circumspect approach as the wicket was helping the Pakistan bowlers initially.India’s next engagement is their Super Eights match against New Zealand on Sunday at Johannesburg. Pakistan play Sri Lanka at the same venue on the following day.

Division One

Nottinghamshire became the first side to notch a win in 2008’s Championship with a comprehensive rout of Kent, who were beaten by 10 wickets at Canterbury. Nottinghamshire only needed 22 runs to complete the victory with Will Jefferson (5) and Matthew Wood (17) guiding them home.Hampshire’s match against the champions Sussex ended in a predictable draw, with rain preventing any play on the fourth day at The Rose Bowl.Persistent drizzle in London also called a halt to the game at The Oval, with Surrey drawing their match against Lancashire.

Division Two

Essex eased to their first win of the season, beating Northamptonshire by nine wickets on the final day at Chelmsford. After their poor day yesterday, when they slipped to 38 for 4, Northants’ batsmen fared much better with Lance Klusener cracking 92. But he became David Masters’ fourth victim, Essex dismissing Northants for 237 to leave the home side needing a mere 15 to win. Jason Gallian fell for 1 but Varun Chopra saw them home in the third over.Nadeem Malik took 5 for 51 to spark a mini Middlesex collapse in which they lost their last five wickets for 141 as Leicestershire romped to a six-wicket win at Grace Road. Owais Shah notched his fifty, adding to the fine 116 he made in the first innings, and Shaun Udal also cracked his maiden half-century for his new county, but Middlesex fell away to be dismissed for 258, leaving Leicestershire 166 to win. Chris Silverwood nipped out two early wickets to give Middlesex hope, but Matthew Boyce’s 66 and an unbeaten 69 from Jim Allenby urged Leicestershire to their target.Tony Frost, Ant Botha and drizzly conditions in Birmingham all conspired against Worcestershire, who were denied an opening victory against Warwickshire on the final day at Edgbaston. Resuming on 26 for 3, Warwickshire’s resilience began with the nightwatchman, Lee Daggett, frustrating for nearly an hour before he was bowled by Gareth Batty. Navdeep Poonia followed almost immediately, and when Luke Parker edged to gully, the hosts were 109 for 7. Enter Frost (46*) and Botha (18*) who ground Worcestershire down for an hour-and-a-half, and inclement weather prevented any further action after tea.No play was possible between Gloucestershire and Derbyshire at Bristol, the match dribbling to a damp draw.

Scorecard
Australia, on the basis of a superior average net run-rate through the tournament, have progressed to the final of the fifth place play-off in the Under-19 World Cup, after their match against Bangladesh at the Bayuemas Oval was abandoned due to rain.Chasing 116, Australia’s openers, Kirk Pascoe and Marcus Stoinis, had put on 18 runs in six overs before the players were forced off the field as the skies opened up. Earlier, the Australian bowlers combined well to send Bangladesh crashing from 51 for 1 to 115 all out. Clive Rose, the left-arm spinner, and right-arm seamer David King were the pick of the bowlers, taking two important middle-order wickets apiece. Rose accounted for Bangladesh’s top scorer, Amit Majumder, who made a 79-ball 43, while King bowled their captain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, for 1.

Bill Gordon, the groundsman at The Oval, has won the Groundsman of the Year Award in both the four-day and one-day categories. Steve Birks from Trent Bridge was runner-up for four-day pitches and shared the same position with Philip Frost for his one-day surfaces.Commendations went to Frost, Neil Godrich (Derby), David Measor (The Riverside) and Andy Whiteman (Grace Road) in the four-day pitch category, while Lawrence Gosling (Hove), Sean Williams (Bristol) and Steve Rouse (Edgbaston) were commended in the one-day category.Richard Sula at The Parks took the award for UCCE pitches with Craig Thompson at Durham Racecourse named as runner-up. Micky Stewart and Christian Dunkerley were awarded the outgrounds prize for their work at Scarborough with Mark Wakefield from Kidderminster earning the runner-up award.”We have seen an excellent overall standard of pitches in both four-day cricket and one-day cricket in 2007,” said Alan Fordham, the ECB head of operations. “We are delighted to announce these awards which recognise head groundsmen who have prepared the best pitches this season, and we also give credit to all groundsmen for their work during what was a particularly difficult season with the weather.