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Division One

Points TableHampshire’s excellent season ended on a disappointing note as they lost to Nottinghamshire and, in the process, were relegated to Division Two. Notts batted confidently to reach 248 for 5, with David Hussey striking a particularly savage 75 from just 53 balls. Rain forced a revised target of 165 to win, in 20 overs, but Hampshire were skittled out for 127. Despite an enterprising 36 from Jono McLean, Hampshire’s fate was sealed. Notts’ win also ensured their Division One status for another year.Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan in a high-scoring match at Bristol, but their win was in vain as they were relegated to Division Two for 2006. Set 263 to win, Craig Spearman got the home side on track with 81 from just 71 balls as Gloucestershire won by three wicketsDivision One champions Essex cruised to a seven-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Northampton. Northants posted 208, with fifties for Martin Love and Damien Wright. But a career-best 94 from Alastair Cook saw Essex home with more than four overs to spare.Lancashire brushed aside relegation fears with a 75-run win over Worcestershire at New Road. In a rain-affected match, Worcestershire were set 187 in 33 overs but were dismissed for 111 in the 29th over. James Anderson was remarkably economical in taking 3 for 12 from 5.1 overs. Lancashire’s 186 for 8 was built around Stuart Law’s 86. This defeat for Worcestershire relegates them to Division Two for 2006.

Division Two

Points TableLeicestershire beat Kent by 40 runs at Leicester, largely thanks to HD Ackerman’s knock of 78. The home side reached 280 for 5, and rain forced a revised Duckworth-Lewis target of 269 from 43 overs. But with the score on 170 for 6, rain once again intervened – this time for good – allowing Leicestershire through to a 40-run win.Somerset thrashed Derbyshire by 135 runs at Taunton to end a thoroughly forgettable season for Derbyshire. Ian Blackwell and Keith Parsons both hit 75 as Somerset hit 300 in their 45 overs. And, despite a brisk 62 from Hassan Adnan, Derbyshire crumbled to 165 all-out, with Blackwell turning in a superb performance in taking 5-26.Sussex romped to victory over Yorkshire at Hove, thanks to a woeful batting performance from the visitors. Put into bat, Yorkshire were blown away for 99 with Luke Wright taking 3 for 20. Derbyshire knocked off the required runs with consummate ease, and in the process took the Division Two title.Durham knocked a revised target of 154 to beat Warwickshire by 8 wickets – but both teams were promoted to Division One. Warwickshire were indebted to Dougie Brown’s 48 in their 187 for 8. Rain intervened for Durham’s innings, but they cruised to victory with more than four overs to spare, with Paul Collingwood unbeaten on 67.Surrey eased to an eight-wicket win over Scotland at The Oval. Craig White dug the Scots a score of respectability with 88 from 85 balls, as the visitors made 212 from their 45 overs. A rain interruption altered Surrey’s eventual target, which was reduced to 203 from 43 overs. They managed it without serious alarm, with Jon Batty hitting 51 and Scott Newman 80.

Ricky Ponting has admitted that Australia have little interest in playing against a below-strength Zimbabwe. Unlikely to be competitive against Australia even with everyone available, the Zimbabweans have 15 white players currently boycotting the side in a potentially disastrous dispute with authorities.Australia’s tour next month is shaping up as a complete farce unless a resolution is found. “It would be disappointing for the player group to go there and play a second or third string side,” Ponting said while promoting his charity dinners for the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia. “We’ll keep a close eye on it.”Asked if sub-standard opposition would be grounds for Australia to withdraw, Ponting replied: “That would be a decision that would be made by Cricket Australia. I think that will be left out of our hands. When you look ahead and think about it, there probably are some tough decisions that need to be made there.”Australia will definitely tour because the International Cricket Council decrees that security concerns are the only legitimate reason for the abandonment of any tour.Ponting said Australia would show no mercy if it ended up playing a Zimbabwean team full of unproven youngsters. “All we can do is play the side that’s put out on the park and the Australian team is not really noted for going easy on any opposition. As we saw with the Bangladesh Test matches here last year, we try to win the games and win them as well as we can. That’s every Test match we play in. That will be exactly the same when we go to Zimbabwe.”The troubles in Zimbabwean cricket began when captain Heath Streak stood down because members of the selection panel had no first-class experience.He also believed the side was being selected to satisfy a racial quota system rather than form.The rebel players are demanding selection on merit, Streak’s reinstatement as captain, changes to the selection panel and apologies for the Zimbabwean board’s “transgressions”. They have been given until May 8 to withdraw their requests and make themselves available for future tours. If they fail to comply they will be either suspended or dismissed, with the Australians scheduled to play their first match against Zimbabwe A on May 17.”We’ve still got nearly a month before we leave to tour there,” Ponting added.”I’d like to think they can get things sorted out over there, get things resolved before we tour. It is a little bit of a worry at the moment, but hopefully things will be resolved and we can go to Zimbabwe and play a full-strength team.”Streak has said Zimbabwe are heading for some of the biggest hidings in Test history if authorities refuse to back down and his country’s best players are not on the field against Sri Lanka and Australia.

Queensland Cricket today announced the re-appointment of XXXX QueenslandBulls coach Terry Oliver for a further two years.Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Officer Graham Dixon said Oliver hadaccepted the offer of an extended term following the recent meeting ofthe Queensland Board of Directors.Oliver, 40, took the Bulls to the Pura Cup Final and to third spot inthe ING Cup in his first season, which also saw Queensland achieve itsequal highest representation in the national team with five players inthe victorious World Cup squad.Dixon said the Board had been pleased to offer a longer-term deal to thecoach following his initial appointment for one season.”Terry has impressed with his willingness to work with the Bulls and hisoverall dedication to Queensland Cricket," he said.”We believe he has a lot to offer Australian Cricket and are delightedhe will have the opportunity to further his development as aprofessional coach with the Bulls," Dixon said.”Our charter has been to develop more players for the Australian teamand with five players in the World Cup and also the West Indies touringside, plus three in the Australia ‘A’ team at present, we are startingto see the results from the work put in by John Buchanan, Bennett Kingand now Terry," he said.The selection of Jimmy Maher this week to join the West Indian touringsquad as back-up wicket-keeper to Adam Gilchrist brings Queensland’srepresentation in the touring squad to five, including Matthew Hayden,Andy Bichel, Martin Love and Ashley Noffke.Clinton Perren made his Australia ‘A’ debut this week in the seriesagainst South Africa ‘A’ alongside Bulls teammates Nathan Hauritz andAndrew Symonds.Meanwhile recently retired Queensland and Australian bowler Adam Dalecould bring down the curtain with one final honour with the announcementtomorrow night of the 2002-03 Peter Burge Medal winner for the best andfairest player in Brisbane XXXX First Grade.Dale, the only two-time winner of the award, is expected to feature inthe finalists, with other contenders likely to include Wests captainAaron Nye, scorer of 916 runs this season, University of Queenslandoff-spinner Scott O’Leary, the leading wicket-taker with 41, formerQueensland fast bowler and last year’s winner Greg Rowell, Gold Coastallrounder Chris Swan and Wynnum-Manly allrounder Chris Simpson.Tomorrow’s Grade Cricket Presentation night will also feature theunveiling of a new award, the Kath Smith Medal, which will be presentedto the best and fairest Konica women’s first grade player.The award is named in honour of the late Kath Smith, the Queenslandallrounder who played six Tests for Australia in the 1930s and wasvice-captain of the Australian team that played the first Women’s Testagainst England in Brisbane in 1934.

New Zealand teams in the domestic one-day cricket competition still do not know if they will have the incentive of a trip to Australia for the Champions Cup tournament as their prize this summer.The first tournament was held in Perth at the end of the last season, involving Central Districts from New Zealand, Western Australia, KwaZulu-Natal from South Africa and Mumbai from India.However, no tournament has been allocated for this year.Western Australia Cricket Association chief executive Rod Lillis told CricInfo today: “We have not been able to commit to the event at this stage. The primary reason for this is that the ACB allocated us the tournament on a one-year basis as we were the reigning champions of one-day domestic cricket in Australia.”While the ACB own the rights to the event, Western Australia feel they have some ownership of it, given that it was their idea. However, WACA hold no legal rights and any future event would need ACB approval and sanction because of the involvement of international teams.New South Wales won the Australian one-day series last summer and they have first rights to it this year.However, Lillis said Western Australia understood that NSW don’t see the tournament as a priority.If they decided not to stage the event, but were interested in playing in it, it would then be offered to Perth to stage.”Without the Warriors playing it makes it difficult for us. Nonetheless, we are committed to the concept and are currently investigating ways that it can still happen in the future,” Lillis said.”Even if it isn’t held next year, we would certainly like to run it again.”The major issue for whoever runs it will be television. Obtaining a host broadcaster and international TV deals are integral to making the tournament work financially. If you can’t get a commitment for TV, the event needs another revenue source which is not realistic for domestic cricket,” he said.The inaugural tournament had received a good reaction from players and the cricket community overall. Spectator numbers were not expected to be high, and they weren’t.”I thought the tournament went very well – the teams played good competitive cricket and I believe the standard was high,” he said.But, in hindsight, he said the time of year had been wrong as in Perth the tournament was competing with the start of AFL football which reduced the chance to raise profile of the event.”Time was also against us. We only had six weeks to prepare after getting the TV deals finalised, and this is far, far too short a time frame,” he said.Financially, the tournament hurt WACA a little but that was offset against the investment in the event.Lillis said it would be fair to say that while money was lost, it wasn’t enough to put the WACA off running it again.And television feedback, despite the fact that it was a pay-tv product, had been good and the host broadcaster, Channel Seven, had been positive and very supportive of the event, he said.

IPL season to begin on April 9

• IPL 9 will start on April 9, six days after the World Twenty20 final in Kolkata, and end on May 26

• Mumbai will host the IPL season-opener and final

• According to BCCI president Shashank Manohar, the player auction will be held in Bangalore on February 6

• He also said the franchises will take part in a two-day workshop in Srinagar, on January 13 and 14

The Sanjeev Goenka-owned New Rising consortium and mobile phone manufacturer Intex have won ownership rights of the two new franchises in the IPL. New Rising have picked Pune as their home base, while Intex have opted for Rajkot.New Rising bid Rs minus 16 crore while Intex quoted minus 10 crore in the reverse bidding process through which the new franchises were chosen.In a short media briefing, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said a total of five bidders had entered the fray to bid for the ownership rights of the two new franchises that would replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who were both suspended for two years by the RM Lodha panel investigation the 2013 IPL corruption scandal. Harsh Goenka’s RPG group, Chennai-based cement major Chettinad Group and Axis Chemicals were the other three bidders.Under reverse bidding investors were encouraged to bid for lower than the base price of Rs 40 crore set by the IPL. This meant the BCCI would pay a maximum of Rs 40 crore from its central revenue pool to the new owner. The investor who bid the lowest price would eventually bag the ownership rights. Having bid in the negative, New Rising will now pay Rs 16 crore while Intex will pay Rs 10 crore to the BCCI per year of their contracts.Goenka has business interests spread across different domains such as power, information technology and media and entertainment. Goenka is also a part of the Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt.Ltd consortium that owns the football franchise Atletico de Kolkata in the Indian Super LeagueThe Delhi-based Intex Technologies specialises in manufacturing smartphones and consumer electronics durables, “I am personally a great sports enthusiast and a cricket lover. We have a great synergy with cricket,” Keshav Bansal, the director of Intex, said. “Nothing bigger than the IPL to connect with the youth, which is our target audience. Gujarat is a great cricket-loving state.”According to BCCI president Shashank Manohar the BCCI stood to earn profits of more than Rs 300 crore with the two new franchises declining to accept money from the central revenue pool.”What we had calculated was that BCCI pays them [franchises] approximate 70 crores first year out of the central revenue and next year it would be 75 crores. So that makes it 145 crore for one team. Now that 145 crore is going to be safe because they are not accepting that central revenue. Plus they are paying us 25 crore so 50 crores [across two years] more. That is the simple calculation,” Manohar said at the media conference.But purely financially this doesn’t seem very beneficial for the new franchisees. They look set to suffer losses and will likely relinquish any goodwill generated through two years of their existence as a team. After the two suspended franchises serve their time, they will come back into the IPL fold. Even if the BCCI raises the number of teams to 10 after two years, the new franchises will have to be won through a fresh auction.Bansal estimated Intex group will have to spend around or more than Rs. 100 crore per year on the players, stadiums, security, logistics, travel, the bid amount etc.Intex bid in minus for Rajkot while their other two bids for Visakhapatnam and Kanpur were in positive. “We knew the competition was going to be intense,” Bansal explained. “So we had a negative bid. We chose Rajkot for a negative bid because Gujarat is a cricket-loving state with a higher spending power. And more importantly Intex is the No. 1 selling Indian handset brand over there.”We just wanted to be associated with cricket. The window happens to be for just two years. After this if the BCCI wants to continue or raise new teams, why not? The first step was to get into this.”Manohar though, made it clear that the new teams can come in only through a fresh bid at the end of the two years, which will mark the end of the original 10-year franchisee agreements.Intex said that even if they got just two years they considered this a good investment and Bansal said he looked at entering the IPL as just an extension of his company’s association with cricket and the BCCI. “You have to see the synergy from the product and the brand,” Bansal said. “We are the official on-air sponsors for 2015. In India cricket is the biggest thing. The idea is to get the best out of that.”Asked whether New Rising was willing to suffer losses and look at entering the IPL as an investment, Subhashish Mitra, the executive director and group company secretary at New Rising, said the owners were looking at serving the sport.”We love the game of cricket. This is our humble way of getting associated under the great banner of BCCI. We will do our humble bit to support the game of the cricket in India. And this is the endeavour which has driven us to this humble initiative. We love the game of cricket as we love the game of football. This is a small gesture from our side to get involved with the great game of cricket.”The next step for both new franchises will be taking part in a player draft on December 15, where both teams will pick five players each from a pool of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals players. Having finished as the lowest bidder, New Rising will get to pick the first player from the 10-player pool. Intex will pick the second player and both teams will alternate thereafter.For the ten Super Kings and Royals players chosen, the BCCI has applied the same money brackets it put in place two years ago when the other six franchises were allowed to retain five players. The first player gets Rs 12.5 crore, the second Rs 9.5 crore, the third Rs 7.5 crore, the fourth Rs 5.5 crore and the fifth Rs 4 crore. An uncapped player stands to earn Rs 4 crore if he is picked. Irrespective of the IPL fee agreed between the franchise and the retained player, a fixed amount will be deducted from the franchise’s salary cap per player retained.Incidentally, at the franchise auction, all five bidders opted for more than one city from the nine available. The four bidders other than Intex all had Pune on their roster. New Rising bid Rs minus 11 crore for Nagpur. Intex also bid for Nagpur and Visakhapatnam, but quoted Rs 10 crore for each of the two cities. Chettinad, meanwhile, quoted Rs 27 crore for both Pune and Chennai. RPG bid Rs 17.88 crore for Pune and Rs 20.88 crore for Rajkot. Intex bid Rs 10 crore for both Kanpur and Visakhapatnam. Axis, meanwhile, quoted Rs 15 crore for both Nagpur and Kanpur and Rs 10 crore for Pune,The bidding process lasted for about an hour and was a two-part exercise: the first half involved determining the mandatory technical eligibility of the five bidders followed by a check on the the financial eligibility of the five bidders.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to restrain the Indian board from “claiming to the public that they represent India”.The ICL has also contended that the BCCI cannot “threaten” players and deny the pensions of former cricketers who have joined the league, or prevent the unofficial league to use cricket stadiums across the country. It has also stated that the BCCI cannot prevent the ICL from using the name of the country or from using the national flag.A day after the ICL announced its list of players, the BCCI barred the Indian players on the ICL’s roster from playing any BCCI-recognised tournaments. Previously the board had clarified its stand on current and former players joining the ICL when it issued a statement saying: “Every individual has a right to choose whether he wishes to associate himself with the BCCI or any other organisation. However, if he associates himself with any other organisation, he will not derive any benefit or be connected to any of our activities in any way.”The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Monday.The board’s reaction was cautious. “What you say is news to me”, vice-president Shashank Manohar told PTI. “If they (ICL) have gone to court and if we are sent a notice, then in that case we will attend the court and say what we want to.”

Kenyan cricket was boosted with the news that the Mombasa Sports Club ground has been granted official ODI status following an inspection by Mike Procter, the ICC match referee. Until now, all international cricket has had to be played in Nairobi.”The ground in Mombasa is lovely,” Procter said. “Since the last inspection in 2000 the playing area has been extended and now meets the minimum requirements as laid down by ICC.”Mombasa has been at the heart of Kenyan cricket since its earliest days, and while the ground fulfilled almost all the criteria, it was just too narrow. It has hosted many major matches, but only following major renovations which have seen about 10 yards added to the width of the outfield has it been able to meet all the ICC’s requirements.There were concerns that a large mango tree just inside the long-on boundary would be problematical, but ICC officials confirmed that it was covered and allowable under the Laws of the game. Procter added that it “added to the character of the field”.”I am particularly pleased with the approval of Mombasa Sports Club as an ODI venue and I thank the management and staff of the club for their hard work and support in ensuring that the ground and the facilities were in pristine condition when inspected,” beamed Samir Inamdar, the Cricket Kenya chairman whose home ground it is. ” This is a tremendous boost for cricket in Mombasa and a source of great pride to Cricket Kenya. I look forward to the MSC hosting its first ODI in the near future.”

Sachin Tendulkar, who is recovering from an elbow injury, says he does not know if he will be fit for next month’s Test series against Zimbabwe. “I can’t say for sure whether I will be able to play against Zimbabwe but am recovering well and hope to take the field soon.”India will start a month-long tour of Zimbabwe next week during which they will play a tri-series also featuring New Zealand, to be followed by two Tests against Zimbabwe from September 13. Tendulkar has not been picked for the ODIs because of the injury but has been named in a 15-member Test squad subject to fitness.”I have started practising a little and the next step is to increase the load,” said Tendulkar. “A long-term plan is more important so I will not be worried if it takes a couple of weeks more.” Tendulkar underwent surgery in London in May after being troubled by ‘tennis elbow’ over the past year, forcing him to miss several one-dayers and two home Tests against Australia.Tendulkar is the fourth-highest scorer in Test cricket with 10,134 runs in 123 matches and has the highest aggregate in one-dayers with 13,642 runs in 348 matches, including a record 38 centuries. He is also on the verge of overtaking Sunil Gavaskar’s record of Test centuries with both players having 34 tons against their names.

Did an error by the third umpire cost Pakistan the one-day international at Karachi? The News, a Pakistan daily, reports that Moin Khan, and not Naved-ul-Hasan, should have taken strike to the last ball of the penultimate over of the match. The confusion arose after Mohammad Kaif took a magnificent catch in the deep to dismiss Shoaib Malik, at which stage Pakistan required ten runs in seven balls.Quoting a source, the daily says that Simon Taufel, one of the on-field umpires, went by the instruction of Asad Rauf, the third umpire, and allowed Hasan to take strike. “Taufel went by what the third umpire had to say, thinking Moin had not crossed over when Kaif took the catch. But the problem was that Asad Rauf miscalculated the number of balls in that over and thought that the over was complete. But since Moin had crossed over he told Taufel that not Moin but Rana Naveed [ul-Hasan] should take strike,” the paper quoted the source as saying. “Rauf only realised his mistake when he saw Zaheer Khan continuing with his over, but made no attempt to convey to Taufel that he had made a mistake.” Hasan took a single off that ball which meant that he kept strike for the final over.The daily also states that though the Pakistan management had made no formal complaint, Rauf had been pulled up by Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee, for the error.* * *Andy Atkinson, the curator in charge of the pitches for the series, has hit out at the charge that the track for the first ODI was loaded in favour of the batsman. In a report in The Indian Express, Atkinson called the wicket “very fair” and said it was a typical one-day pitch. “For the past decade the wickets in one-day cricket are tailormade to suit batsmen. This is because people come to watch fours and sixes, and nothing else. Pitches are supposed to be like this.”However, Atkinson did promise that the wickets for the Tests would be far more bowler-friendly. “You want a contest, wait till the Tests. It is more of a connoisseur’s delight and the bowlers will have a good time then.”* * *Wasim Bari, Pakistan’s chief selector, has denied that there were any differences between the selectors and Inzamam-ul-Haq over the composition of Pakistan’s team for the first ODI at Karachi. According to The News, Bari made it clear that the selectors had given Inzamam full powers to select the team he wanted.”What we wanted to do was give Inzamam a boost before the first match of the series,” Bari told the daily. “We left it to him to pick the playing eleven. He was confident in going along with five bowlers and we said okay, it is your call. And this move to give him confidence worked and it showed in the way he batted in the match.”Earlier reports in the media had suggested the selectors were disappointed that only five bowlers were picked in the side, and that Shahid Afridi had been omitted. Bari did make it clear, though, that Pakistan would go in with six bowlers for the second match, at Rawalpindi.* * *After the exemplary behaviour of the spectators in Karachi, all eyes are now on the Rawalpindi fans. Press Trust of India reports that the district government of Rawalpindi has brought out an eight-point appeal to the crowd, urging them to “exercise maximum restraint and show the highest norms of hospitality and discipline” during the second ODI. The appeal also requests the fans not to bring in “glass bottles, mobile phones and other metallic substances into the enclosure for your own safety and for that of the players”.

He captains Black Cap World Cup all-rounder Chris Harris and Test player Chris Martin and now he hopes to play with Rahul Dravid in the ICC World Cup League in Nairobi.Who’s he going to play for?Scotland.And where’s he from?England.The complexity of qualification, and the expansion of international and British cricket to include second tier teams is epitomised in the Steven Knox story.Knox heads to Scotland on Sunday to complete his final 183 days qualification before the new ICC World League in Nairobi on September 20.The globetrotting Penicuik (a Scottish Division Two team) professional is taking a risk, he says, by asking Scottish Cricket Ltd to reinstate him as an amateur, “to give myself the best possible chance in the top division,” and impress the Scottish administration, who are in negotiation with Indian World Cup star Dravid for 2003.Knox said the Scottish Asian community has been raising funds to pay for Dravid and possibly another Indian, Ajit Agarkar.Knox, a shaven-headed 29-year-old opener in the Christchurch club competition for one-day title-winner St Albans is a deemed Scottish national after doing four years at Penicuik, and becomes a national after seven years qualification.He hopes to play for Scotland in its first year in the Norwich Union League Division Two this year and to represent his adopted country against the other five teams immediately below Test level in the Nairobi tournament.Meeting World Cup semi-finalists Kenya, and Namibia, Canada, the Netherlands and United Arab Emirates in the place where the Black Caps refused to play “doesn’t worry me,” he said.After almost a decade waiting for the big time, he said he’d play anywhere if it meant he was fulfilling his cricket ambitions.Globetrotting Knox scored four unbeaten centuries in a row late in the last northern hemisphere season, two for Cumberland in a Minor County game against Bedfordshire, one for Penicuik, and one for Cumberland in a Cheltenham and and Gloucester Trophy preliminary round match against Nottinghamshire Cricket Board at Keswick.He’s hit over 700 runs this year for St Albans, including his maiden one-day and two-day centuries.The Pied Piper of Christchurch club cricket is in his first season as captain of St Albans.”It’s been great to lead quality players from first-class and Tests. It’s a big thrill. The social side is important as well,” he said.Knox is trying to persuade the Scottish administration to fast-track his qualification so he can play in Kenya. If not, Scotland are drawn to play Cumberland, captained by Barrow-born Knox’s cousin, Jonathan Lewis, in the end of 2003 season Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy 2004 qualification game. Knox will be torn by his twin loyalties.”I don’t know who I’ll play for that day. But I hope it’s Scotland.”