John Buchanan believes his Ashes opponents have improved as a team unit since Andrew Flintoff’s injury-enforced absence. Buchanan has been impressed with the way England’s players have not sat back and looked to their stars to perform in consecutive Test wins over Pakistan.”I think what we have seen from them is a gradual build-up in terms of the way they’re playing, their teamwork, and responsibility being shared around the team, which I think has been a real plus for them,” Buchanan said in The Age. “It hasn’t been a case of turning to Freddie Flintoff all the time to take a wicket or turning to [Steve] Harmison or [Kevin] Pietersen to deliver something. They’ve actually had the ability to share it around … the likes of Cook, Bell, Panesar and now [Chris] Read’s come in.”Buchanan said England would be “very pleased” with their progress, especially with players such as Flintoff due to return before the Ashes in November. “I think we understand the English game and how they want to play it, and they ours,” he said. “It really will be a case of keeping your own mind, thoughts and plans clear so that you can actually deliver your skill. That’s hopefully one of the things we will gain from our time at the camp.”Buchanan has devised a bush training exercise in Queensland for the team later this month, which will be attended by the entire 25-man contracted squad. “The underlying philosophy is about taking all of us outside our comfort zone and then seeing how we respond to that, individually and collectively,” he said. “The means to get there is secretive and that’s where it remains.” After the camp the players will spend a couple of days at a luxury Sunshine Coast resort as they plan for the Champions Trophy, The Ashes and the World Cup.

If Michael Hussey was a mountain climber he would have spent years sprinting up lower-level peaks before getting a chance at Everest and reaching the summit without oxygen masks or sherpas. Hussey’s opening season in Test cricket was so dizzying that he enters an era-defining campaign with a sportsman’s form of vertigo.Second-season syndrome might be ranked next to the Discworld’s foaming sheep sickness among manufactured diseases, but if athletes don’t swear by the affliction they are definitely aware of its dangers. Hussey was the master of most situations in 2005-06, finishing with career averages in the 70s for both Tests and one-day internationals, and the threat of slipping towards mortal status pushed him to form a guidebook for success.”I have actually thought about it [the second-season blues] and I’m a little anxious about the summer,” he said. “Last year went so well, better than I could have ever dreamed of, so it’s natural that I think how can I back that up? How can I average 75 in Test cricket again?”The plan involves following the same routine to prepare for each innings, which is a regime he has perfected through the past five years of dominance in England, Australia and with the national team. “I know and I trust it,” he said during the squad’s camp at Coolum. “If I stick to my plan and stick to my processes, maybe I won’t go as well, maybe I’ll go better, but I know in my heart that hopefully I can be pretty consistent and have strong performances.”Hussey’s second full international campaign begins as vice-captain in place of Adam Gilchrist for the Champions Trophy warm-up in Malaysia in two weeks. The ascent to the team’s leadership ranks has been almost as swift as his batting rise. Hussey is comfortable in charge and holds leadership ambitions, but is not in a hurry to accept full-time authority.After his first off-season in five years Hussey’s priority is releasing the nervous energy of the winter by playing. A compulsive trainer, he has been running, netting and shadow batting and is “sick of all the preparation”. “I’m not used to having such a long break,” he said, “and I’m craving cricket and time in the middle.”Reading Steve Waugh’s autobiography has helped fill in some of his recent spare time, but most has been devoted to his wife and two young children. “The kids were a bit sick in the winter and I really wanted a cricket tour when I was getting two hours’ sleep a night,” he said as he chuckled. He is about to get his wish.The Champions Trophy starts in October, the Ashes in November and then there is a rash of one-day matches before the World Cup concludes in April. With plenty of spaces for pitfalls, Hussey is ready if he slips off the path. “The game does have a great way of bringing you back down to earth,” he said. “I am prepared if things don’t go according to plan.”He is also willing to trade his mountainous figures for those of a regular batsman if it means securing team success. “I would be happy if I averaged 45 and Australia won the Ashes, the Champions Trophy, the World Cup and every other tournament we set our minds to,” he said. “Actually, I’d be happy averaging 35 if we did that.”

The Duleep Trophy, Indian domestic cricket’s inter-zonal tournament, begins on Thursday with two four-day matches: South Zone take on West Zone in Indore, while Central Zone do battle with East Zone in Gwalior.Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, will lead East Zone. After his failure in the recent Challenger Trophy, the tournament is another opportunity for Ganguly to prove his form for a return to the national side. Meanwhile, VVS Laxman, who missed the Challenger Trophy due to a hamstring injury, has been appointed captain of South Zone. Wasim Jaffer, the Test opener, will lead West Zone.Zaheer Khan, the left-arm fast bowler, has also targetted the Duleep Trophy for a comeback. India tour South Africa for five one-day internationals and three Tests from November, and thus the tournament provides ample opportunities to impress.The Duleep Trophy tournament consists of six teams, divided into two pools, which play each other in four-day matches. Five of the competing teams are Indian, while the sixth is an overseas side. This season, Sri Lanka A has been included after conflicting playing schedules forced the Nashua Dolphins to pull out.The 2005-06 competition was won by West Zone after they beat East Zone by five wickets in the final.For the full schedule of the 2006 Duleep Trophy, click here.Squads
East Zone: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Lakshmi Shukla, Deep Dasgupta (wk), Subhomoy Das, Shib Shankar Das, Ranadeb Basu, Debasish Mohanty, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Sourashish Lahiri, Ashis Sinha, Pravanjan Das, S S Rao, D Mohan, S Saigal, P Mallick and Ashoke Dinda.South Zone: VVS Laxman (capt), Venugopal Rao, Anil Kumble, S Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Sreesanth, L Balaji, Pragyan Ojha, Gnaneshwar Rao, Arjun Yadav, Ibrahim Khaleel, Swapnil Asnodkar, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh.West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (wk), Dhiraj Jadhav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Amol Muzumdar, Kiran Powar, Sairaj Bahutule, Vinit Indulkar, Rajesh Pawar, Zaheer Khan, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravindra Jadeja, Suyash Burkul and Sanjay Maniar.North Zone: Mithun Manhas (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Akash Chopra, Ravneet Ricky, Sachin Rana, Yashpal Singh, Mahesh Rawat (wk), M Bisla, Ashish Nehra, VRV Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Joginder Sharma, Rajesh Sharma, Virat Kohli, Vishal Bhatia.Sri Lanka A: Thilan Samaraweera (Capt.), Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort, Mahela Udawatte, Jeevan Mendis, Malintha Warnapura, Kaushal Silva (wk), Upul Chandana, Rangana Herath, Chamara Silva, Dhammika Prasad, Tharanga Lakshitha, Akalanga Ganegama, Ishara Amarasinghe, Kosala Kulasekara.

A Pakistan legends side will play their Indian counterparts at the Rogers Centre, Toronto on March 3, 2007. The match comes one week before of the start of the World Cup in the Caribbean.Wasim Akram will captain the Pakistan side, and Mohammad Azharuddin India in the 50-overs-a-side game. The organisers and the Canadian Cricket Association President, Mr Ben Sennik, hope for a capacity crowd of 60,000.Canada holds the record attendance for a cricket match in North America, when around 43,000 watched a game at the same venue in 1989 (when it was called the Skydome).This new event, which is billed as an attempt to bring “community togetherness through sports and entertainment”, is being presented by M+D Community Corporation in partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cricket Association.

An outstanding showing in the Champions Trophy has seen Chris Gayle move up to the second place in the latest ICC player rankings for ODI batsmen.He was the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 474 runs at an average of 79.00 and a strike-rate of 92.94. He hit three hundreds and took eight wickets to end up as the Player of the Tournament.Gayle’s current tally of 804 rating points is the highest he has ever reached. He is now 17 points behind Mike Hussey, who retained his position as the highest-ranked ODI batsman in the world.Kevin Pietersen is another big mover in the player rankings for batsmen. Despite England not getting through to the knockout stages of the tournament, Pietersen did enough to move up three places to a personal best of third.Gayle has also overtaken Shaun Pollock as the top one-day all-rounder. These two are well clear of Sanath Jayasuriya in third and Andrew Flintoff one place further down. Another man who has moved up the order was Daniel Vettori of New Zealand, who is now 10th on the ODI allrounders list, his personal best.Among bowlers, Glenn McGrath has moved up four places to number two and now has another warhorse, Pollock, in his sights. McGrath has taken over from Brett Lee as the highest-ranked Australian ODI bowler. With Nathan Bracken also making moves, the Aussies now have three bowlers in the top five as well as four batsmen in the top seven.Australia’s position at the top of the ICC ODI championship got a further boost with their maiden Champions Trophy triumph. They are now nine points clear of South Africa in second place, who are in turn nine points ahead of New Zealand in third. South Africa and New Zealand were both beaten semi-finalists at the Champions Trophy. Runners-up West Indies are currently placed seventh in the world but only seven ratings points separate New Zealand and West Indies. Pakistan are fourth, India fifth, and Sri Lanka sixth.

Zimbabweans 221 for 8 (Matsikenyeri 49, Hossain 3-34) beat Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI 195 (Chowdhury 42, Brent 3-32) by 26 runs
Scorecard

Zimbabwe got their tour off to a winning start with a 26-run victory over a Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI at the BKSP cricket ground in Dhaka.Zimbabwe won the toss and Stuart Matsikenyeri anchored the innings with 49 from 61 balls, including four fours and three sixes. He was ably supported by Mluleki Nkala (37) who was standing in as captain for the injured Prosper Utseya. Mosharraf Hossain was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 34 and Tapash Baishya weighed in with 3 for 50. The home side never overcame the loss of early wickets, and their hopes were virtually wiped out by a mid-innings wobble.”It was a good test for the guys because most of them had time at the crease,” said Kevin Curran, Zimbabwe’s coach. “The bowlers also got some valuable overs. We batted well, especially Stuart. But a competitive score would have been about 240, so we were short of that.”Our ground fielding also let us down as we let through 20-25 runs. If we had stopped them, we would have bowled the BCB President’s XI out much earlier. It was good that we won in the end but we made the margin much narrower that it should have been.”Zimbabwe now travel to Khulna for a Twenty20 match against Bangladesh on Tuesday, and the first ODI on Thursday.&

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

Kumar Sangakkara dominated the first day of the second Test at the Basin Reserve with an unbeaten century, his second in a row and the 12th of his career, to save Sri Lanka from freefall. Sangakkara’s 156 – which included a 119-run stand with Chamara Silva – secured a modest total of 268 before Lasith Malinga sealed a first-day advantage with a high-class burst of genuinely quick bowling to leave New Zealand struggling on 66 for 4.New Zealand held the initiative when they wrapped up the innings quickly after tea, with Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond snaring two wickets apiece. But Farveez Maharoof bowled Craig Cumming to set up an intense hour of Test cricket to finish the day. Malinga had Jamie Howe trapped lbw and then Stephen Fleming – not a popular man in the Sri Lanka camp after his pre-match comments on the controversial Brendon McCullum-Muttiah Muralitharan run-out in Christchurch – could not evade a fierce lifter.Nathan Astle and Matthew Sinclair battled on for a few overs. Both were peppered with nasty short deliveries from Malinga while Muralitharan, once again attacking the right-handers from around the wicket, created a few nervous moments from the other end. Then, in the final over of a fascinating day, Malinga followed a slower ball with a fast inswinging yorker that cannoned into the base of Astle’s off-stump, sealing the day’s honours for a buoyant Sri Lanka team.Earlier, Sangakkara came to the rescue of his top-order colleagues for the second successive innings after Chris Martin had made deep inroads during the first hour, claiming the wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene to leave Sri Lanka at 41 for 3. Sangakkara steadied the innings with a 40-run stand with Chamara Kapegedera, upped the ante with the fast-scoring partnership with the enterprising Silva and topped it with 37 more with Prasanna Jayawardene.Sri Lanka kept faith with their inexperienced middle order, resisting the temptation to call back Tillakaratne Dilshan after their five-wicket defeat in Christchurch. Mahela Jayawardene also insisted on batting first after winning the toss again. Sri Lanka acknowledged that they were asking a lot of their young batsmen in unfamiliar conditions, but they were convinced that their best chance of winning involved Muralitharan bowling in the last innings.Sangakkara bristled with positive intent and determination from the time he marched in to bat in the second over. He looked at ease against all the bowlers and mercilessly pounced on anything loose. The closest he came to being dismissed was a missed run out chance from Matthew Sinclair in the 90s. Otherwise, he looked as secure as a barn door.

Martin, the pick of the seamers with a morning haul of 3 for 20 from eight testing overs, started Sri Lanka’s problems early with Jayasuriya edging straight to Fleming. Jayasuriya will be 38 when Sri Lanka play their next Test, a couple of months after the World Cup, and his final innings will probably be the end of his Test career. Sadly, in this series, he has not got a start. Tharanga looked promising with one lordly straight drive, but then became Martin’s second victim as he feathered a delivery that jagged away and lifted steeply. The edge was a thin one, but Tharanga walked immediately, saving the umpire from a potentially tricky decision.Jayawardene, like Jayasuriya, had failed to make an impression in the first Test after two soft dismissals. Considering the inexperience of the batsmen to come, his partnership with Sangakkara was going to be crucial to the innings. Once again, though, he was unable to settle before being disconcerted by some extra lift and chopping onto his stumps. Sri Lanka fought back in the second hour first with Kapugedera and then Chamara Silva spending time with Sangakkara. Kapugedera scored just five but he helped add 40. He stayed at the crease for 23 balls and left the ball well before pushing at a wide-ish delivery from Jacob Oram. It was a similar dismissal to the first Test when he was caught at point, the stroke of a player raised on slow, low pitches.Silva came to the crease on a pair and looked understandably anxious to get off the mark. Even after doing so, his batting retained a frenetic air as he attempted some cavalier strokes, most notably a wild slog off Vettori’s first delivery. However, he survived to the break and then blossomed afterwards, revealing just why he is so highly regarded by coach Tom Moody, with some delicious strokes, including a glorious straight six off Vettori and one sumptuous on drive.After the break, with Silva playing a shot a ball, Sangakkara adopted a more watchful approach. Eventually, Silva paid the price for chasing a James Franklin delivery and was caught at slip by Fleming. Prasanna Jayawardene might have been caught at slip on 4, but McCullum was unable to hold on after a full-length dive in front of first slip. Another edge dropped just short of Fleming before Prasanna Jayawardene grew more confident, cover driving Bond for two boundaries and lofting Vettori for a straight six. But then, on the stroke of tea, Vettori got his revenge as he won an lbw appeal.

ScorecardThe result didn’t matter – India have already qualified for the Asia Cup final. But their dream run in the Asia Cup continued as they registered their fourth successive win, beating Pakistan by a whopping 103-run margin in the final league match at Jaipur. In an inconsequential match for either team, Pakistan crawled to 141 for 8 in their chase of 245 after being restricted by the Indian spinners.Sunetra Paranjpe and Rumeli Dhar were the main contributors in India’s innings. Paranjpe got the team off to a good start, adding 83 with opener Sulakshana Naik. Paranjpe’s 52 came off 67 balls with ten fours before falling to Sana Mir, who picked up three wickets. Dhar, who scored 42, took control in the middle of the innings while a quickfire 31-ball 30 from Anjum Chopra lifted India to 244.Pakistan struggled in their chase after opener after Urooj Mumtaz was dismissed for 33 with the score on 62. The spinners – Rajeshwari Goel, Nooshin Al Khadeer and Preeti Dimri – came into play and put the brakes on the scoring. Goel was especially hard to get away, conceding just 12 runs off 10 overs, picking up two wickets in the process.India and Sri Lanka have already qualified for the finals, which will be played on the same venue on Thursday.

The ICC has announced that the sale of sponsorship rights for the eight-year period starting after the completion of the World Cup in March will start shortly. It is expected the deal will bring in more than $500 million on top of the $1.1 billion the sale of broadcast rights to ESPN-STAR Sports in December netted.In a statement, the ICC said that it would enter into negotiations with potential sponsors with a view to finalising deals by the end of June. The period up for grabs includes 18 ICC tournaments, with two World Cups and a minimum of three ICC Champions Trophy events. Also included are the first two Twenty20 World Championships, in South Africa (2007) and England (2009).”With those events and a broadcasting agreement to cover them in place, we are now in a position to go to market to obtain the best possible partners for cricket,” Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, said. “For the first time the ICC is able to offer one major event every year and the quality and variety of those events and the fact they span the globe mean they represent exceptional value for sponsors.”With growing media convergence and evolution likely over the next eight years this sponsorship will engage fans via a variety of platforms, including television, internet, mobile, radio, print and at the venues themselves.”It is widely reported that the ICC has initiated negotiations with companies – such as LG, Hero Honda, Hutch, Pepsi, Videocon and Reliance – rather than deal thorough a third party. For the period between 2004 and 2007, its sponsorship rights were being handled by Nimbus Communications.But Speed acknowledged the need to protect against ambush marketing while avoiding the clashes with players and boards which have blighted the current deal. “We will guarantee exclusivity to our global partners, at the same time, relax some conditions for independent player and team sponsors to avoid clashes between sponsors,” he insisted. “By limiting restrictions, we would offer more flexibility to sponsors.”

Worcestershire have signed 25-year-old New South Wales fast bowler Doug Bollinger as their second overseas player for the 2007 season. He has taken 22 wickets at an average of 24.68 in five Pura Cup matches in 2006-07.”We have been looking for a left arm fast bowler to give balance to our attack who is available for the whole season,” said director of cricket, Steve Rhodes. “Doug fulfils all those criteria, has a strong work ethic and is currently enjoying an excellent season with New South Wales. I have personally spoken to both Phil Jaques and Glenn McGrath and they speak very highly of him. Our success last season was a result of our strong team ethic and everything I have heard about Doug leads me to believe he will fit in superbly.””I have heard a lot of good things about Worcestershire and am really looking forward to joining Phil and the rest of the team,” Bollinger said. “This is a great opportunity for me to progress my career and I can assure all the Worcestershire supporters that they will get 100% effort from me.”