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John Buchanan’s desire for innovation will result in the Australian players preparing for the Champions Trophy and the Ashes with a challenging three-day camp in the Queensland bush. According to the exercise is designed by the coach, whose contract expires after the World Cup in April, as a back-to-basics experience and it is expected to be approved by Cricket Australia’s Board on Friday.”Buchanan wants to keep it all a bit close to his chest because he wants it all to be a bit of a surprise for them and a challenge when it happens,” the paper quoted an unidentified Cricket Australia director as saying. After the outback camp the Australians are expected to reconvene on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for more pre-Ashes training.Throughout his seven-year tenure Buchanan has pushed the players to think outside the game and his experiments have included trips to French and Turkish battlefields, writing poetry, introducing the players to by Sun Tzu and hiring a baseball coach. The Champions Trophy in October begins a hectic summer for the team, which also has the five-Test series against England, the VB and Chappell-Hadlee series and the World Cup in the West Indies.

Yuvraj Singh says his century against Zimbabwe is all thanks to the hard work he has put in recently, under the watchful eye of India’s coach Greg Chappell and his assistant Ian Frazer.”I was short of confidence when I went to Sri Lanka,” he told PTI, “and Greg (Chappell) and Frazer worked very hard on me. My footwork improved greatly,” he added, after his 120 bailed India out of a tricky situation against Zimbabwe in a tri-series game on Sunday.”I worked very hard on my first 50 runs but once I got set I chose my bowlers to attack. It never crossed my mind that we could lose the game. I knew that if I could bat till the end, we cannot lose the game.”He said the pressure was definitely on India after an early flurry of wickets. “If you lose four early wickets, whatever is the attack, the pressure is on the opposition,” he added. “Our top order is one of the best in the world and if they were out, they must have bowled good balls.”

Heath Streak has lauded Stuart MacGill’s decision to withdraw from Australia’s tour of Zimbabwe. He told The Melbourne Age “I respect Stuart for the decision he’s made.” MacGill recently pulled out of the tour saying he could not tour Zimbabwe with a clear conscience.”That’s his (MacGill’s) view on what he feels is morally and principally right,” said Streak. “With our stand-off now with the ZCU that’s basically what we feel. Morally and principally we are standing up for what we believe is the right thing.”At the same time Streak warned that the protest of 15 Zimbabwean cricketers should not be misconstrued. “We’ve got to be careful people don’t think we’re trying to encourage Australia and England not to come because that isn’t the case, but we want our issues resolved in a fair and transparent manner… If that doesn’t happen then I’m sure friends of ours that we’ve made during our international careers from all countries, not just Australia and England, will want to know more about what’s going on and how it’s being dealt with.”While newspapers have reported that several other Australian cricketers also have second thoughts about touring Zimbabwe, James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, has said that such a development is unlikely.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming raised the stakes ahead of Friday’s must-win World Cup clash against India by reminding his rivals of the drubbing they received three months ago.Sourav Ganguly’s men were thrashed 2-0 in the Tests and 5-2 in the one-dayers on the tour of New Zealand in December-January amidst complaints of poor wickets heavily tilted in favour of the bowlers.But the Indians put aside the disappointment of that tour to win seven of their eight World Cup matches so far and book a place in the semi-finals alongside Australia and Kenya.The Kiwis, meanwhile, allowed Australia to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Port Elizabeth and must now beat India at the Centurion on Friday to grab the fourth spot.Fleming, however, was unconcerned about the terrific form shown by the Indians at the tournament.”They’ll be confident but sometimes that can be a weakness. Hopefully we can open up some of the wounds we opened in New Zealand,” Fleming said.His Indian counterpart, Sourav Ganguly, however, refused to worry about the past.”History does not interest me, that’s over, it’s behind us,” he said.Ganguly stressed it was important to win to keep the momentum flowing.”We can’t take it lightly, it’s a World Cup game after all,” he said.”Moreover it would be great to go into the semi-finals with eight wins in nine matches.”India’s New Zealand coach John Wright continued the mind games, saying Kiwi pace bowling sensation Shane Bond will not pose any problems for Sachin Tendulkar.”Sachin can take care of anything,” Wright said.Tendulkar, one-day cricket’s leading batsman, has scored a record 571 runs in this tournament, while Bond scared the living daylights out of the Australians on Tuesday with a fiery burst of 6-23 at Port Elizabeth.”There is no grudge, we just have to play as well as we have been doing in the tournament and get through this game,” Wright said.”From 14 teams, we have made it to the top four because we have played very good cricket.”But we need to concentrate hard because no win is easy.”Ganguly said it was too early to think of the final.”We have to take it one match at a time. For that matter so have Australia. Even they have not qualified for the final yet,” he said.Teams (from):New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Lou Vincent, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond, Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Craig McMillan, Andre Adams, Kyle Mills, Matthew Sinclair, Scott StyrisIndia: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Javagal Srinath, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Sanjay Bangar, Ajit Agarkar

BCCI nominates 4 former players as Development OfficersThe Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated fourformer Test players for the post of Development Officers of the AsianCricket Foundation (ACF). National selectors Ashok Malhotra and MadanLal, allrounder Roger Binny and left handed batsman Woorkheri Ramanwere the four BCCI nominees, according to ACF chairman JagmohanDalmiya.The ACF will meet in Kolkata on July 31 and August 1 to finalise thepanel of development officers. The two-day meeting will also discussvarious other issues pertaining to development of cricket in theregion.Pakistan and Sri Lanka had already sent their nominations for the postof Development Officers. While Pakistan’s list comprised formerskippers Mushtaq Mohammed and Zaheer Abbas and medium pacer IqbalSikander, Sri Lanka recommended stylish batsman Roy Dias, former pacerRumesh Ratnayeke and wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon Kuruppu.* CBFS wins defamation caseThe London High Court has passed a judgement in favour of theCricketers’ Benefit Fund Series, Sharjah (CBFS) with regard to theirdefamation case against the “Asian Age” daily newspaper for publishingcertain “libellous statements”, a CBFS release said on Saturday.”The judgement allowed for damages for an amount to be assessed at alater date as well as legal costs for the plaintiff. An injunction nowprevents the Asian Age from publishing similar libels in future. TheAsian Age did not defend the case against it,” the CBFS said in thepress release.The court heard the CBFS case on July 12 regarding the publication ofthe alleged offending matter on February 14, and passed its judgement.When contacted, MJ Akbar, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director ofAsian Age, said they have not received any notice in this regard.

Toby Bailey saved face for Northamptonshire with a career-best 85 not out against promotion-chasing Worcestershire at New Road.The Second Division champions were deep in trouble at 96 for seven until their 24-year-old reserve wicketkeeper delayed the home county’s march towards their first target of maximum bowling points.Bailey shared in half century partnerships with acting captain Tony Penberthy (48) and Paul Taylor (14) before tea was taken early with the visitors in much better shape at 231 for nine.Needing victory to have a chance of joining Northants in the top-flight next year, Worcestershire gambled that Glenn McGrath would profit from bowling first on a cloudy first day.The Australian fast bowler claimed his 65th Championship wicket of the season with only his second ball and eventually took his total to 68 with figures of four for 69 in 24 overs.Medium-pacers Stuart Lampitt and David Leatherdale added to the morning demolition with four lbw victims, all given by umpire John Steele, but Bailey transformed the situation with 14 fours from 117 balls.

ScorecardJacques Rudolph still hopes to catch a fifth successive win [file picture]•Gallo Images

Glamorgan’s push for what would be a record-breaking victory was held up by a combination of determined batting and rain on the third day of the Division Two match against Derbyshire at Chesterfield.When the weather closed in with 23 overs still to bowl, Derbyshire were 37 without loss following-on, still 121 runs away from avoiding an innings defeat and with a lot of batting ahead of them to deny Glamorgan five consecutive championship victories for the first time in their history.The home side fell nine short of the follow-on target when they were bowled out for 252 with opener Billy Godleman the only batsmen to pass 50 while seamer Ruaidhri Smith returned career-best figures of three for 23 in 11 overs.The leaden skies at the start of play made conditions good for bowling and Derbyshire were soon in trouble as the ball swung for Graham Wagg and Michael Hogan.Derbyshire needed a substantial stand between Godleman and skipper Wayne Madsen but that was ended in the fourth over of the morning when Hogan found some late movement to have Madsen caught at third slip for 24.Godleman’s resistance ended when Wagg swung one back in and when Wes Durston was squared up in the former Derbyshire all-rounder’s next over, the home side had lost three wickets for seven runs in 17 balls.Shiv Thakor and Alex Hughes added 44 in 17 overs but David Lloyd had Hughes taken at second slip and Thakor should have gone on 17 in the next over from Craig Meschede but Hogan spilled a low chance at third slip.Smith accounted for Harvey Hosein and Tony Palladino and when Thakor skied a sweep at Andrew Salter, Tom Taylor tore into Hogan, pulling and driving him for three sixes before the Australian bowled him on the stroke of tea.With conditions unsettled and still favourable for bowling, Glamorgan immediately enforced the follow on but Godleman and Hamish Rutherford were largely untroubled in the 18 overs before bad light resulted in the sixth and final stoppage of the day.It was a frustrating end for Glamorgan, but skipper Jacques Rudolph said: “I thought the way we bowled in those last 17 overs we deserved one or two wickets. They played really well but I still think the game is wide open and if we start well in the morning we can put them under some real pressure.”Madsen said: “I think with the forecast being fair tomorrow we are going to have to bat most of the day which is possible. We batted for 80 odd overs in the first innings and we will probably have to bat for over 110 and get ahead so the realistic objective for us is to try and bat through the day.”

Division Two

Andy Bichel’s stunning batting form in England continued as he picked up a career-high 148 against Nottinghamshire as Essex dominated in Chelmsford. Before the break for the Twenty20 competition Bichel posted 102 against Middlesex in his opening first-class outing of the season, and in his second appearance he thumped 18 fours and three sixes from 152 balls to help Essex to an intimidating 700 for 9 declared.Bichel also picked up the first breakthrough as Nottinghamshire reached 191 for 2 in their reply. James Foster’s double-century and a 78-ball hundred from Graham Napier had also contributed heavily to Essex’s strong position as the team scored at more than six an over during the day. Foster and Bichel extended their seventh-wicket stand to 254 and Napier was the heavy hitter as he and Foster added 195 for the eighth wicket in 26 overs.Paul Nixon marked his first game as Leicestershire’s Championship captain with a vital century as he and HD Ackerman led an impressive fightback against Glamorgan at Grace Road. The pair added 213 for the sixth wicket after three early wickets for James Harris put Leicestershire on the back foot at 88 for 5. Ackerman’s second hundred of the summer took 166 balls while Nixon’s first came off 128. Mansoor Amjad continued to extend the advantage and by the close it was 111. Harris was the pick of the attack with four wickets, leading the way ahead of his more experienced colleagues.The Twenty20 fortnight has done nothing to slow Tom Lungley’s Championship form as his fine season continued with 5 for 33 to put Derbyshire on top against Middlesex at Southgate. Lungley broke the opening stand by trapping Billy Godleman lbw then wrapped up the innings with four quick wickets as Derbyshire gained a valuable lead of 82. Ed Joyce offered the main resistance with 81, but he was seventh out as Middlesex slipped from 166 for 3. Andrew Strauss, in need of some runs ahead of the Test series against India, reached 38 with some fluent shots before being caught at midwicket off a mistimed pull. An early finish prevented Derbyshire building on their advantage.Chris Taylor hit an unbeaten 112 to keep Gloucestershire afloat against Northamptonshire at Northampton. The visitors fell to 52 for 5 against the new ball with Johan van der Wath doing the damage before the recovery began. Steve Kirby batted three hours as nightwatchman, but it was a seventh-wicket stand of 102 between Taylor and Steven Adshead which brightened Gloucestershire’s day. Taylor took 148 balls over his hundred, but despite his efforts they still conceded a lead of 60 while Monty Panesar wrapped up the innings with three wickets. Northamptonshire steadily extended their lead to 152 during the final session.

Division One

Events at The Oval continued to move along rapidly as 17 wickets fell on the second day to follow 16 on the first. However, a result is still too close to call as Durham began defending 152 with three early Surrey wickets. Steve Harmison ripped into the top order and removed Jon Batty, Mark Ramprakash – victims of sharp lifters – and Scott Newman before bad light ended play. The vital factor could yet be the 52-run lead Surrey managed during the morning session before reducing Durham to 132 for 7 second time around. Four middle-order wickets went for six runs against Chris Schofield and Neil Saker before stubborn efforts from Will Smith (41) and Liam Plunkett (33) gave Durham’s attack something to bowl at.Thunder showers and hailstorms restricted play at The Rose Bowl to 28.4 overs as Warwickshire built a strong total against Hampshire. Darren Maddy could only add two to his overnight score before being caught off Chris Tremlett, but Alex Loudon and Tim Ambrose put on 60 for the fifth-wicket. Hampshire’s wicketkeeper Nic Pothas has been ruled out of action for up to three weeks after being hit in the eye when a delivery from Michael Carberry bounced off Jonathan Trott’s pad on the first day. His deputy, Tom Burrows, took the catch to remove Maddy.Two heavy showers put paid to any chance of Lancashire and Yorkshire getting their Roses clash started at Old Trafford. Puddles formed on the outfield and the umpires called play off in early afternoon. The lack of cricket made Darren Gough, Yorkshire’s captain, feel he would have Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard available for next week’s game against Warwickshire as they searched for match practice ahead of the first Test against India. “The decision was always dependent on how much part they could play in the game here,” Gough said, “so both of them will probably be available next week, as far as I’m concerned.”It didn’t take long for the inevitable abandonment at New Road as Kent continued to be frustrated by Worcestershire’s decision to play at their headquarters. Any hopes of a start vanished when a heavy shower made the outfield like a mud bath. Kent have lodged an official complaint with the ECB and it will look into it urgently.

Canada have announced squads for their forthcoming ICC Intercontinental match, their first of the competition, against Kenya which gets underway on July 29 in Toronto.The selectors named a 14-man squad for the match against Kenya, the nucleus of which will also play against Bermuda in August; it was confirmed that Pubudu Dassanayaka will be replaced by Ian Billcliff, however.Kenya, whose team is a blend of youth and experience, recently recalled Kennedy Otieno and, after drawing against the Netherlands in their opening encounter in April, need to beat Canada to maintain their hopes in the competition.Canada recently signed a two-year sponsorship deal with the cricket manufacturers Slazenger who will provide their senior team with clothing, as well as supplying seven players’ equipment each season.Canada squad to face Kenya1 John Davison, 2 Qaiser Ali, 3 Ashish Bagai, 4 Geoff Barnett, 5 Umar Bhatti, 6 Ian Billcliff, 7 Pubudu Dassanayaka, 8 Sunil Dhaniram, 9 Haninder Dhillon, 10 Stewart Heaney, 11 Don Maxwell, 12 Henry Osinde, 13 Naresh Patel, 14 Puvendran Ravishankar

Shane Warne’s Ashes career is set to come full circle when the third Test of the series starts at Old Trafford on Thursday. Twelve years ago at Old Trafford Warne’s first delivery in Test cricket against England saw him dismiss Mike Gatting.A vicious turner that pitched outside the batsman’s pads before clipping the top of off-stump, the delivery was latter dubbed ‘the ball of the century’. Now Warne returns to Old Trafford needing just one more wicket to become the first bowler to take 600 in Tests.Warne is in prime form after taking 10 for 162 during England’s thrilling two-run win at Edgbaston that saw them level the five-Test series at 1-1. Warne couldn’t quite believe how his on-field life had panned out. “Old Trafford has been a happy hunting ground for me. It’s one of my special memories in 15 years of international cricket, the Gatting ball was my first one against England.”Whoever writes my scripts over the years, well it’s quite something to be on 599 going back to Old Trafford. My parents are coming over for that Test match which has been planned for a long time. They’ve supported me through a lot of things in my private life.”But Warne, whose gutsy 42 on Sunday helped Australia get close to pulling off a seemingly impossible chase, said individual success would mean little unless it helped his team win a Test. “I feel good about my bowling. But to take 10-for doesn’t mean anything. I took 12 for 128 against South Africa in Sydney in 1994 and we lost the Test by five runs.It means nothing in the context of things. When we all sit around at a barbecue and have a beer it won’t be one I’ll be taking about.”Warne said wickets had been harder to come by in recent years given that so few of Australia’s games were reaching the fifth day when a wearing pitch usually offers the spinner more assistance than at any other time in the match.”Over the last few years especially there haven’t been a lot of five-day Test matches, so you’re not exploiting the conditions late [in the] fourth day and fifth day,” explained Warne, who also took six wickets in Australia’s 239-run first Test win at Lord’s last month.”I’m bowling a lot more on day one, two and three these days so to spin the ball, as I have done at Lord’s, and in this game means I must be doing something pretty right. I’m not a big stats man but my stats over the last couple of years bowling on day one, two and three, stand up to any stage in my career.”Warne found himself upstaged at Edgbaston by Andrew Flintoff’s man-of-the-match winning display with both bat and ball. However Warne, who was the first Australian to congratulate the England all-rounder after bowling him for 73 in England’s second innings, had nothing but admiration for Flintoff, who himself was the first member of the home side to shake Brett Lee’s hand after he finished the Test on 43 not out. “I think he’s a guy anyone would want in their side. It’s always nice to see someone like ‘Freddie’ do well because he’s one of the good guys of cricket.”Asked how long he might continue, Warne, who is 50 wickets ahead of Muttiah Muralitharan in the list of leading Test wicket-takers, replied: “As I’ve probably said 500 times, when the enjoyment stops I’ll stop. At the moment the enjoyment is going pretty well. The way the Lord’s Test match was played, the way England have fought back here, who wouldn’t want to be involved and how can you not enjoy it?”