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Nathan Bracken’s left-arm swing bowling has earned him a recall after he replaced Brad Hodge in the 12-man squad for the first Test against West Indies at Brisbane. Bracken, who played the last of his three Tests for Australia in 2004, was picked ahead of state rival Stuart Clark as Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, insisted on more options for a wicket that traditionally suits the fast men.”We felt it was prudent to introduce another paceman to the squad in place of an extra batsman,” Hohns said. Stuart MacGill was retained and the decision means Shane Watson will almost certainly be given a short-term run at sealing the allrounder’s spot.Hohns said a decision on whether MacGill and Shane Warne would again be used in tandem depended on the pitch and weather conditions in the lead-up to the start on Thursday. “Since the end of the Super Test in Sydney there has been a lot of speculation about the option of playing the two spinners,” he said. “With both Shane and Stuart in the squad we still have that option.”The announcement was another setback for Hodge, who has been the reserve batsman on the tours to India, New Zealand and England without playing a match, and was 12th man for the Super Test. “It’s disappointing to miss out on a place, but following our solid start to the season I’m looking forward to playing for Victoria,” he said. “Hopefully I can put together some solid performances and put my name up before the selectors again.”Australia squad 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Shane Watson, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Glenn McGrath, 12 Stuart MacGill.

Zee Network, which was awarded the four-year telecast rights for international matches in India, will decide by September 14 whether it will submit fresh bids. The Mumbai High Court subsequently adjourned its hearing of the case till September 16.The court had earlier suggested that ESPN-Star Sports (ESS) and Zee Network submit fresh bids. The rights, which will concern international matches played in India between October 2004 and September 2008, were granted to Zee by the BCCI. ESS had gone to court as a result, asserting that Zee was not eligible to bid in the process, as per the conditions outlined in the tender.The court’s suggestion came after BCCI argued that ESS and Zee were equally eligible to take part in the bidding process. Zee’s counsel asked if he could be allowed to respond in the afternoon session of the court, after a lunch break.The two contentious issues are: whether or not Zee is eligible to bid; and whether the BCCI acted unfairly towards ESS by not allowing them to match the amount negotiated with Zee. The court’s move towards making the sides bid again may resolve the second of these problems, but it has yet to rule on the first.

New Zealand Cricket has called a press conference for 9am tomorrow in which to announce their coach and manager for the next two years.Since incumbent coach Denis Aberhart withdrew from the selection process earlier this week speculation has been that former New Zealand off-spinner John Bracewell, who has a coaching position with Gloucestershire, would be the choice.The position of manager was foreshadowed more than a week ago when Auckland Cricket chief executive Lindsay Crocker resigned his position. It is anticipated he will take over from Jeff Crowe, who was unavailable.The national selectors are to be announced at a later date.

Sri Lanka are likely to start their third match in tri-series in Sharjahwithout fast bowling spearhead Dilhara Fernando who is suffering from a soreback.Fernando was forced to leave the field for treatment on Saturday night aftera three-wicket burst in seven overs that sent the Pakistan innings into atailspin. He did not return to the field afterwards.Team manager Ajit Jayasekera told reporters Monday that Fernando’s injurywas not serious but confirmed that he has been advised to take three daysrest before his next game.Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya will be desperately keen for Fernandoto play against Pakistan on Friday and he is not expected to take theunnecessary risk of playing him today.Fernando’s injury may provide a welcome opportunity for Dulip Liyanage, 29,who has been patiently waiting since being brought into the one-day squad inJuly.Newcomer Prabath Nissanka is expected to be replaced by Charitha BuddikaFernando as the management continues with their rotation plan for the rookiepacemen.With the Zimabwean batsmen noticeably uncomfortable against spin, KumarDharmasena is also likely to play, probably in place of a batsman.

Heavy rain washed out the sixth day of play in the World Cricket League in Jersey.Although it would have been possible to reschedule the games to Thursday, the designated rest day, the event technical committee decided to stage the three Group A matches then but not the Group B games. Only the Japan-Singapore fixture, which was washed out on Monday and was re-arranged for Thursday anyway, will go ahead, ensuring that all sides in Group B will have played four matches.All teams in Group B, as a result of the matches abandoned, were awarded one point each. That will be a relief to Jersey, who as a result go through to the semi-finals, but will be a blow to Afghanistan, who needed to beat Jersey today to guarantee their own place in the last four. They now need Japan, without a win so far, to defeat Singapore, or at least not allow then to win well enough to take their own Net Run Rate past Afghanistan’s.The Group A matches have no major consequence as USA and Nepal, who are pitted against each other, have both already qualified.

Delaying the declarationSui Northern may have bossed the game, but an experienced captain like Mohammad Hafeez will regret not declaring earlier for so long. Batting first, they out on 511 in 150.1 overs against Habib Bank before being dismissed. Azhar Ali and Khurram Shehzad scored centuries – 118 and 133 respectively as they ground HBL’s bowlers down. Amad Butt did come away with a six-wicket haul, but not before bowling 38 overs and conceding 106 runs.In response, HBL were dismissed for 202 and asked to follow on. However, with bad light meaning several overs were lost, only 19 overs could be bowled in the second innings, with Ahmed Shehzad’s side at 67 for one when the match was called off. Given the extent of HBL’s dominance, they will be disappointed to kick off the Super Eight stage with a win.The two-day gameHave you ever heard of a contest where 167 runs were enough to secure an innings victory? Well, here’s one. On a pitch that seemed to have laid a particularly potent curse on all who batted upon it, WAPDA beat Khan Research Laboratories by an innings and seven runs in a game that lasted merely 120 overs. KRL were skittled out for 95 in their first innings, 40 of them coming from one man, Junaid Ali. WAPDA’s Waqas Maqsood registered the best figures of the tournament, taking nine wickets for 32.WAPDA appeared to have let KRL back into the contest with a fairly ordinary batting display of their own, getting dismissed for 167. More than half of those runs – 86 – came off the bat of No. 8 Khalid Usman as they opened up a 72-run lead. As it turned out, KRL’s second innings was even more listless than the first as they meekly surrendered for 65. Mohammad Asif took six wickets as WAPDA wrapped up a comfortable win.The Lahore DerbyLahore Whites and Lahore Blues played in the final of the recently concluded National T20 Cup, with the Blues coming out on top. They played each other again in the QeA’s Super 8 round, with the same outcome, the Blues sealing a 9-wicket win.They began sharply, bowling out Lahore Whites for 141, Aizaz Cheema and Bilawal Iqbal sharing 8 wickets between them. Their batsmen followed that up with a solid 281, with opener Tayyab Tahir and captain Saad Nasim scoring 83 runs each. Having opened up a 140 run lead, they proceed to clean up the Whites for 207, Cheema’s 7 wickets securing him an 11-wicket haul for the match. That left the Blues with the straightforward task of chasing 68 runs for a win, which they did in under 10 overs for the loss of just one wicket.Fawad watchFawad Alam stormed back to form, scoring 124 for Sui Southern. It was, albeit, an innings in vain as a second-innings collapse saw them slump to 149 runs.United Bank captained by Younis Khan, scored 252 in the first innings, with Shan Masood top scoring with 75. Saad Ali, who has been far and away the highest scorer in the tournament, also scored 52, while Ahmed Jamal’s 6 for 52 ensured UBL weren’t allowed to bat SSGC out of the game.While Alam’s century secured his side a 27-run lead, the innings of the round belonged to Umar Akmal, who once again demonstrated his seemingly boundless ability with the bat – if he is motivated enough. He smashed 148 in 166 deliveries, effectively batting SSGC out of the game as they declared at 328, setting SSGC a target of 302. SSGC never looked like escaping with a draw, let alone clinching victory, with no batsman scoring more than 27 (Alam managed 26) as they were bundled out for 152.

Pakistan’s Under-19 team completed a 5-0 drubbing of their Australian counterparts with a nine-wicket win – with 160 balls to spare – in the last game of the series in Mirpur. As has been the trend throughout the series, the Pakistanis outplayed Australia in every aspect, bundling them out for 128 in just 30.4 overs, and the knocking off the runs in less than 24 overs for the loss of just one wicket.The only thing that went right for the Australians was the toss, but their innings soon faltered as Pakistan struck repeatedly with the new ball. The first five wickets went down with only 51 on the board, and only Dom O’Brien, the wicketkeeper, offered any resistance, scoring 41. Adil Raza, a right-arm fast bowler, finished with 4 for 36 while Jibran Khan’s left-arm spin fetched him 3 for 10.Pakistan lost an early wicket in reply, when Imad Wasim was trapped in front for 1, but Ahmed Shehzad, the in-form opener, blasted an unbeaten 99 from 97 balls as they swept home with plenty to spare.The fourth game, at the same venue, hadn’t been as one-sided, though ultimately Pakistan prevailed by five wickets. After winning the toss, Australia managed 214, thanks largely to a 58 by opener Jeremy Smith and O’Brien’s 44.Pakistan stumbled in reply, sinking to 79 for 4 and 127 for 5, but were bailed out by an undefeated 89-run stand for the sixth wicket between Usman Salahuddin (55 not out) and Jibran Khan (44 not out). They finally ensured that victory was achieved with 13 balls remaining.

Scorecard
Rohan Gavaskar was the only East Zone batsmen who withstood Jai Prakash Yadav’s outstanding spell of 5 for 94 that helped dismiss East for 245 on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy match at Indore. In reply, Central Zone were 40 for 3 at stumps.East started badly after Sourav Ganguly won the toss and batted. They were reduced to 16 for 3 and kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Ganguly himself making just 16. Gavaskar’s 106 formed the backbone of the innings and only Debasish Mohanty provided him with any sort of support during his 46.East’s seamers inflicted damage on Central Zone by dismissing their openers for just 35 and Ashok Dinda, playing only his fourth first-class match, took Naman Ojha’s wicket at the stroke of stumps.
Scorecard
Half-centuries from Robin Uthappa and Venugopal Rao along with several other nuggety contributions from South Zone’s batsmen helped them reach 281 for 9 on the first day against West Zone at Gwalior.VVS Laxman didn’t cash in on winning the toss – he was out for 15 – but Uthappa and Rao bolstered the innings. S Badrinath also chipped in with 42 as South Zone strung together a succession of useful partnerships. Zaheer Khan was West’s stand-out bowler with three wickets while Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule took two each.

Justin Langer believes the Ashes series has been the best he has played in, but he joined Matthew Hayden in predicting Australia would retain the urn at The Oval. The pair said after the tour match against Essex the pressure was on England and if Australia performed at their best the absorbing contest would be drawn 2-2.”That’s not being arrogant, that’s just a fact,” Langer told . “With the experience and the statistics we’ve got in our change room we’ll win Test matches.”Hayden, who made 150 before retiring against Essex, said if England pushed for a draw in the fifth Test, which starts on Thursday, they would “play into our hands”. “There is no doubt they won’t play any differently, but there are a lot of ways we can play differently,” he said in . “We just have to elevate our mindset and I think we can do it. All the pressure is off us now. We can just play our game. If we play like we can, it will be better than England. No question.”Langer and Hayden were brought together as an opening combination at The Oval four years ago and since then have shared 4718 runs in 51 Tests, and are behind only Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, who scored 6482 runs together in 89 matches. However, the form of Hayden this series threatens to end the relationship at the same ground, and the Ashes could go with him.”If we were to lose this series 3-1, worst-case scenario, I would look back on this and say it’s the best series I’ve ever played in,” Langer said. “I would play this series again and again over perhaps New Zealand at the end of last summer or some of the other series we’ve played over the last few years.”I know some of our guys are enjoying it, and some of them perhaps aren’t because the results aren’t quite there. We’ll be better for it, individually and as a team, there’s no doubt about that. To me it’s a buzz to be in this situation.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

England stormed to victory in the second Test at Edgbaston, winning by 256 runs after tea on the fourth day to go 2-0 up in the series and thus retain the Wisden Trophy. Ashley Giles was again the hero of the victory charge, picking up 5 for 57 as West Indies were bowled out for 222 in pursuit of an academic 478.Even though England were bowled out quite quickly for 248, with Chris Gayle taking Test-best figures of 5 for 34, it was again their day as the bowlers took control in the final session. Giles picked up three of the six wickets to fall after tea, including Gayle for 82, to take his tally for the match to nine, and become the first English spinner since Tony Lock against New Zealand in 1958 to do so in consecutive Tests.West Indies always faced a daunting task in needing to bat out five sessions for survival, but they didn’t make the best of starts. All the batsmen found Matthew Hoggard’s bounce and Giles’s spin disconcerting, and it was Devon Smith who fell first, edging Hoggard straight to Marcus Trescothick at first slip (15 for 1).Gayle’s torrid time against Hoggard continued when he was struck twice on the body, but he continued to be aggressive against anything loose. Michael Vaughan brought Giles into the attack early on, and in his first over, Andrew Strauss took a stunning catch at silly mid-off to dismiss Ramnaresh Sarwan for 14 (58 for 2).Brian Lara, who came to the crease just 20 short of 10,000 Test runs, played an extravagant drive first up, which he missed, and he was sent packing in the next over. Lara tried to flick a full delivery through the leg side, but the ball took the inside edge and looped to Andrew Flintoff at slip, and Lara was out for 13 (101 for 3). At least that’s what Simon Taufel thought, and replays suggested that there had been two noises as the ball passed the bat and hit the pad.Gayle, meanwhile, reached his half-century from 62 balls by slapping a full-toss from the off-colour Stephen Harmison through mid-off for four, and Gayle was soon back into his stride after tea, smashing a Hoggard slower ball back past the bowler. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, on the other hand, was content to play Giles with the front pad rather than his bat, but attacked when the ball was there to be hit, sweeping Giles for two fours to fine leg, the first of which brought up the fifty partnership.But just as Gayle and Chanderpaul were forming some resistance, Hoggard and Giles switched ends, and with his first ball from the Pavilion End, Hoggard almost had Chanderpaul caught at cover. But it was Giles who made the breakthrough, as Chanderpaul finally paid the price for hiding his bat behind his pad, and was given out lbw by Darrell Hair for 43 (172 for 4).Dwayne Bravo lasted just two balls against Giles before he fell in an identical fashion to the first innings – bowled by one that gripped the surface and turned past the bat to hit off stump (172 for 5). Ridley Jacobs, on a pair, almost became Giles’s third victim of the over, edging the ball onto his pad and into the air back to the bowler, but the caught-and-bowled chance fell just short.The West Indies collapse continued as Giles picked up his fifth wicket, that of Gayle, who had looked set for a century. Another excellent delivery from Giles hit the pad and brushed the bat as Gayle played forward defensively, and Andrew Strauss snapped up the catch at silly mid-off (177 for 6). Jacobs then completed his pair, lofting one from Hoggard that stopped on the pitch to mid-off, where James Anderson leapt into the air to take a well-judged one-handed catch (177 for 7). Pedro Collins didn’t last long, collecting the third duck of West Indies’ innings when he was palpably leg-before to Hoggard (182 for 8).Anderson came back on after a poor spell earlier in the day, and with his second ball bowled Corey Collymore for 10 to take England to the brink of victory (210 for 9). He then completed the rout two overs later by bowling Jermaine Lawson with a fast yorker to start the celebrations.

It was another sorry ending for West Indies, who crashed to their fifth defeat in six Tests against England. They did, though, salvage some pride by nipping out the remaining seven English wickets in the morning session. However, there was still time for Trescothick to reach his second century of the match – the first man to do so at Edgbaston – and for Graham Thorpe to score a half-century on his 35th birthday. However, both were dismissed shortly after reaching their milestones, and wickets fell regularly thereafter.Trescothick was run out by a direct hit from Sarwan from the boundary for 107 (184 for 4), and Thorpe then charged down the pitch at Gayle and was stumped for 54 (195 for 5). After playing out a few overs, Flintoff unleashed some powerful strokes on Lawson to keep the momentum going, but he top-edged an attempted heave to midwicket off Gayle, and Bravo took a well-judged catch (226 for 7).Before that, Lawson bowled Geraint Jones through the gate with one that swung in through the air and moved off the pitch for his fourth wicket, and Gayle then wrapped things up, bowling Giles for 15 (234 for 8), trapping Harmison lbw and having Hoggard scoop a catch straight to Smith at mid-on. However, it was all academic in the end as England proved they had plenty of runs to spare.