The decision by Heath Streak to resume playing for Zimbabwe is likely to be followed by similar announcements from most of the remaining rebels. But some are believed to prefer waiting to see if the assurances they are thought to have been given by Zimbabwe Cricket materialise before making such a commitment.Although the conditions which led to Streak’s decision have not been discussed publicly, it is generally accepted that ZC must have made concessions, particularly in the matter of who is eligible to be a selector. Neither side wants to lose face, and it is thought that the ending of the strike would be followed by a subtle change of tack by the board in the coming months.The key person is Max Ebrahim, currently head of the selectors and one of the individuals most disliked by the rebels. Their main objection was that he has no cricketing credentials, either as a player or coach, and the requirement that any future selectors have a decent degree of experience is reported to be at the heart of the settlement.While most will resume playing, those with contracts to play in England are expected to honour their commitments and wait and see what happens in the coming months – these include Richard Sims, Travis Friend and Ray Price. A spokesman for Interactive, the sports agency representing Sims and Friend, said that the players would be “keeping their options open”.New contracts were sent to the rebels by ZC today. A source said that there were certain aspects about which they were unhappy, and these were being run past their lawyers.

England’s men pulled off a shock defeat against Australia in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy last September. It will take a similar upset for England’s women to achieve the same in the World Cup at Sedgar’s Park, Potchefstroom on Tuesday, as both sides bid for a place in the final, alongside either India or New Zealand. England are ranked second, but the undoubted favourites Australia are a class act: they have won the last 16 encounters between the two sides, and their current form is not to be sniffed at, either.Australia remain unbeaten after the group stage, where they won all of their completed matches at a canter. And when they met England on the opening day washout they bowled themselves into a commanding position, restricting England to 169 for 7. Their coach, Steven Jenkin, says there is no doubt the Australians can now pick up where they left off.”We are confident going into the match,” Jenkin said, “based on our form and preparation to date. England is one of the improved sides around at the moment, but we are keen to test them over the full course of a match and we haven’t had that opportunity in this tournament.”But Clare Connor, England’s captain, was in typically bullish mood: “Our minimum expectation was to reach the semi-finals,” she said, “and we know we’ll have to beat Australia at some stage to win this tournament. When we played them in the opening group match, we played some good cricket with very positive intent and, in particular, our openers played their new-ball bowlers exceptionally well.”The opening pair is likely to be Laura Newton and Charlotte Edwards – if fit: she is to undergo a fitness test on her thigh. Both will need to be on their mettle to combat the pace threat of Cathryn Fitzpatrick and Emma Liddell. But England’s own pace weapon, Lucy Pearson, may be missing, which would be a severe blow – like Edwards she, too, will face a late fitness test.England will also look to Claire Taylor – who is averaging 66 – to bolster the top order and Arran Brindle, with an average of 77, to boost their run-rate from No 5. They will need something special.Australia Women (probable)1 Belinda Clark (capt), 2 Lisa Keightley, 3 Karen Rolton, 4 Lisa Sthalekar, 5 Mel Jones, 6 Alex Blackwell, 7 Cathryn Fitzpatrick, 8 Julia Price (wk), 9 Julie Hayes, 10 Shelley Nitschke, 11 Emma Liddell.England Women (probable)1 Charlotte Edwards, 2 Laura Newton, 3 Claire Taylor, 4 Clare Connor (capt), 5 Arran Brindle, 6 Jenny Gunn, 7 Isa Guha, 8 Rosalie Birch, 9 Jane Smit (wk), 10 Lucy Pearson, 11 Clare Taylor.

DD coverage has been totally appalling and it doesn’t have professionalism to match the private channels. There should be accountability on the part of DD employees. They think nobody can question them as they are working in a government organization. They can be stripped of their work for the way they are doing this coverage. Sivakumar VeeramaniDoordarshan has been depriving the Indian cricket fan of the pleasure of watching cricket in a proper manner for decades. The ads start even before the commentator has barely finished announcing the score at the end of an over. If there was a good shot played on the last ball of an over, they don’t even bother to wait till the replay is shown. It is really a shame. There should be some strong legislation in place to stop this greed. Yashodhan GuneThe worst bit is the first ball of the day. They show us the fielding team walking on the ground and immediately, the next second, the bowler is at the bowling crease, bowling the first ball of the day. There is no organized and structured telecast. Ravi KiranTrue, the quality of coverage is poor, but still there is some cricket on view for the ordinary people. If you were in the U.K., there is none from 2006 onwards for the common public — you need to subscribe to expensive Sky Sports. I am somewhat sympathetic towards Doordarshan. Parimal BagIt is a shame that Doordarshan was finally awarded the rights to telecast the home cricket matches. Your article reminded me of the four and five ball overs. I remember commercials ran till just in time to show the bowler releasing the second ball of the over. People may argue it is free. Watching cricket on Doordarshan is a pain. Ranganatha GonuguntaI totally agree with the issue regarding Doordarshan’s way of broadcasting .The post-match shows make no sense to a person with any knowledge of cricket. In this age of modern daycricket what the people want is some serious cricket stuff and not the stupid smiles and funny banter. Let God drive some sense into the heads of the BCCI administrators. It is for them to see that the people of India are not taken for a ride. ViswanathanI am a member of the Bharat Army in the UK, we follow Indian cricket with real passion but as fans we feel let down by the last minute TV rights farce as well as incompetent coverage. Last year sky sports managed to get rights for the India v Pakistani series. It was superb coverage as we got to even see what it meant to India to win as we could see the post-match celebrations and interviews. With other broadcasters we pay money and we are not returned with the proper level of service we deserve. As soon as a session is over, it’s straight to commercials and songs with Sony TV. We get to see no real analysis of each of the sessions and it’s a real shame. The successful bidder should be chosen on how well they will provide the coverage, not on how much they are willing to bid. Harminder DuhraI honestly and truly agree with the article on Doordarshan. I believe cricket is being absolutely stripped of its pride and honor when money and profits take priority over the game itself. I would have loved to hear what Dravid had to say about his artistic innings that day. I would have loved to hear what Inzaman had to say at the end of his patient and hard fought innings. A series between India and Pakistan is indeed worth more than any amount of money to the millions watching, it carries so much history, pride and spirit. I really do not care if Sachin likes his new bike. I do however care about how he would review his own innings or the team’s performance. Gaurav SokhiDoordarshan should be disqualified from telecasting anything live. KarthikIn fact their telecast is so grossly incompetent that one is left full of disgust and in deep despair when such important occasions are missed. Events like close calls, replays, and so many other interesting scenes are just not shown. TilakI wish these Indian organizations and many others could reach some level of professionalism. ButI guess that would be too much to ask for. Foreign channels like ESPN-Star are no saints. But at least they deliver what they charge the people for: a broadcast that is full of quality and that complements the sport. Bruce DePenhaDoordharshan survives because it is the only channel that is available to everyone in India. Chandrabhas NarayanaIf Doordarshan wants to telecast matches in the national interest, then why are they in a money-making frenzy? Can there be a solution to this, because just the thought of the same thing happening during the nail biting one-day series that is going to follow just gives me nightmares. Girish RajIt is embarrassing to see a national network, my national network, to be so horribly amateur. I’ve seen high school productions with better skills than Doordarshan. They claim to show cricket for the people! I cannot imagine anybody actually enjoying the coverage. Ritesh RathiLet us know what you think

Jason Gillespie has kicked off Australia’s pre-Ashes training by saying England’s two Tests against Bangladesh are good only for their statistics. Gillespie, who arrived early for the camp in Brisbane with Shaun Tait yesterday, said England’s innings victory at Lord’s wouldn’t hurt the bowlers’ confidence.”But they know that it’s not really competition compared to what we’re going to give them,” he told the Courier-Mail. “As a player, you don’t take a lot from those games except for good stats. You can look at it from the point of view that time in the middle is good for batters against any opposition.”Gillespie has been training hard in Adelaide, but said being involved in the camp made him realise how close the tour was. “We’ve had a good break since New Zealand,” he told the paper. “Towards the end of that tour, I was thinking ‘let’s knock these guys over and get out of here’. It was purely a mental thing and it was one of the more challenging tours I had been on. But I feel great physically.”Australia leave for the two one-day series and the five Tests on Saturday. The first match of the tour is against Leicestershire at Grace Road on June 11.

Shane Warne has been axed by the Australian broadcaster Channel Nine – a contract worth $300,000 per year – due to his off-field conduct. Warne had been an employee of Nine for more than a decade, but the company’s management inserted a clause in his last contract allowing them to terminate it if his behaviour was unsatisfactory.Following the break-up of his marriage over the past month and the attention he drew to the UK’s tabloid press, the station owner Kerry Packer made the decision amid fears of tarnishing the station’s image. Warne showed great promise commentating for Nine during his 12-month drugs ban throughout 2003, an experience he was said to enjoy immensely.Jason Warne, Warne’s manager and brother, told the the move was extremely disappointing given the length of the relationship. “It [commentating] was something Shane was looking forward to doing in retirement,” he said. The Nine spokesman Lynton Taylor refused to comment.

The English cricket team is set to give Australia a fight inthis season’s Ashes series, former West Indies great all-rounder SirGarfield Sobers said today.But the man who skippered the Windies in 39 Tests was not prepared tosay the Englishmen would be able to beat Australia.”England this year will give Australia problems,” he told the NationalPress Club.”I’m not saying they will win.”I have watched them in England and I think they are a different team.”Sir Garfield, who today launched his latest book, said he had noticed adifference in the English team’s approach and attitude.”To me, they seem now to put bat to ball, instead of putting pad toball. I think that is a great improvement,” he said to chuckles from theaudience.”So don’t be too surprised if they really give the Australians a bit ofa fight.”Sir Garfield was clearly impressed with the current Australian team andsaid its 37-year-old Waugh brothers Steve and Mark should not be droppedpurely because of age, but should be judged only on their form.He also believed it was not a problem for the current team to be withouta recognised all-rounder.”Australia over the years have been doing so well without anall-rounder,” he said.”It’s not necessary to pick an all-rounder if you don’t need one.”And I don’t think that Australia needs one at the present moment.”He suspected players had now decided to specialise in either batting orbowling because they were playing a lot more cricket now than in hisday.”That is probably the reason why you don’t have people doing that kindof donkey work we used to do years ago.”Sir Garfield also tossed aside suggestions cricket was waning inpopularity in the Carribean and that young men were taking up basketballand other North American sports.”Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it is a myth,” he said.”Whoever it was who made that statement, really doesn’t know what theywere talking about.”He said that in his native Barbados, there were Under 13, Under 15 andUnder 18 levels, as well as an international boys team which travelsaround the world to play, outside of the West Indies side and WestIndies A.”There’s a lot of cricket being played in the West Indies. The WestIndies cricket team has a lot of players that have a lot of ability.”It just needs to be brought out.”I think that in two or three years you will see a very, very strongWest Indies team again.”

Scorecard

It was a day for bowlers at Mutare Sports Club where Midlands, after losing the toss, bowled out the home side Manicaland for 181, and then finished the day on 161 for 7 themselves. The weather was hot and dry, the ground in good condition and the pitch, usually a featherbed, gave a little help to the seamers, but on the whole there was too much poor batting by both sides.The offspinner Prosper Utseya took his best first-class figures of 5 for 32 when Manicaland batted, the top-scorer being Dion Ebrahim with a fluent 38. Eight batsmen reached double figures, but none went on to play a major innings, so they had only themselves to blame for their inadequacies.Midlands began with 69 for the first wicket, Vusi Sibanda scoring 62, and reached 95 for 1. At that point Ryan Bennett and Blessing Mahwire bowled superbly in tandem to break through the middle order and transform the innings, with only Craig Ervine (40) showing much resistance.

Scorecard
England U19 continued to be the dominant force in this Test series as they cemented a strong position on the second day of the final match at Headingley.After reaching 298 yesterday, they bowled Sri Lanka U19 out for 155, before reaching 203 for 4 in their second innings. This gives them a commanding second-innings lead of 346 with six wickets remaining.The opening attack of Mark Footitt and Tom Smith took five wickets among them to reduce Sri Lanka to 99 for 5. Ben Harmison took the next wicket, then Mooen Ali added to his first-innings fifty by tearing through the tail to take 4 for 29.Varun Chopra and Chris Thompson, who was promoted to opener, gave the home side a strong platform, putting on 94 for the first wicket, with Chopra just missing out on a second fifty this match. He made 46. Thompson went on to strike 60 and there was a half-century, too, for Kevin Latouf.

Division One

Points Table

Kent’s title hopes took another dent at Lord’s as Middlesex extended their first innings to 550 for 9, a lead of 164, in the 65 overs that were bowled before storms brought an end to play at 3.30pm. It seems hard to see how Kent could force a result on the final day, and that could signal an end to their realistic challenge.

Division Two

Points TableYorkshire’s promotion bid was boosted on a stop-start day at Headingley as they bowled Worcestershire out for 211, leaving them a target of 203. Although they lost Matthew Wood and Joe Sayers early, Yorkshire closed on 89 for 2, needing another 114 for victory, with Anthony McGrath, whose superb 173 not out in the first innings put them in charge, unbeaten on 42.India’s Murali Kartik, summoned from Lancashire League cricket at Ramsbottom, had a dream debut for second-placed Lancashire, taking 5 for 93 as Essex were bowled out for 267 at Chelmsford. James Anderson showed the England selectors what they had missed with three early wickets – the third, which clipped the top of James Middlebrook’s off stump, resulted in Warren Hegg being taken to hospital with a fractured thumb. But Lancashire slid to 139 for 4 at the close.At Taunton, Northamptonshire took a firm grip, extending their first innings to 574 thanks to a hundred from David Sales (154) and useful contributions from Steven Crook (91), Damien Wright (71) and Johann Louw (64). Somerset reached 163 for 4, still 15 in arrears.Leicestershire gained the upper hand in the Midlands basement battle, grinding their way to 552 for 6 before reducing Derbyshire to 62 for 3 at the close. HD Ackerman was the star of the Leicestershire innings with a patient 125, while Dinesh Mongia chipped in with 71 and Paul Nixon an unbeaten 50. Derbyshire, however, are on course for their first winless Championship campaign since 1924.

Glamorgan’s captain Robert Croft will lead England in the Hong Kong Sixes.Croft takes over from his former Glamorgan team-mate Matthew Maynard, who led England to victory in last year’s tournament. Only three players are retained from the victorious side – Kabir Ali, Darren Maddy and Dimitri Mascarenhas. Chris Read, who was left out of the senior squad to Pakistan, may not have been placated by a trip to Hong Kong as wicketkeeper. Croft’s Glamorgan team-mate Alex Wharf and Leicestershire’s Darren Maddy complete the seven-man squad.England have been drawn with Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Australia in their pool. The two-day tournament starts on October 22.