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Nottinghamshire held their nerve to secure a two-wicket against Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge. They began the day needing 105 with six wickets in hand, but soon lost nightwatchman Andy Harris for 6. Samit Patel reached 50, before Nicky Boje removed him to haul the visitors back in the match. Boje bowled Mark Ealham then Chris Read fell to Jason Brown. However, Nottinghamshire’s batting went a long way down with Andre Adams, the New Zealand allrounder, coming in at No. 10. He played positively alongside Graeme Swann to guide their side across the line.Nottinghamshire’s win means that despite pulling off a 114-run at Colchester, Essex are still well adrift in third place. Leicestershire were set 291 after 14 overs of joke bowling, but it was for the greater good. Andy Bichel struck in his first over and Leicestershire never formed a solid base. Jim Allenby battled to 59 as Danish Kaneria struck against the middle order. The lower order went down swinging rather than blocking and Marc Rosenberg was unable to bat.Gloucestershire survived a potentially tricky couple of sessions at Lord’s against Middlesex after Ed Smith had done his best to find a positive finish. When Gloucestershire were 148 for 8 in their first innings the follow-on was a possibility, but after Chris Taylor (62 not out) had erased that issue time became severely limited. Smith hit a 55-ball 56 as Middlesex scored at six-an-over for 20 overs, leaving the visitors 264 in 60. They began aggressively, but when Alan Richardson removed both openers in the space of three runs put their minds to a draw. Hamish Marshall’s 59 ensured against any late alarms.

Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa, has emphasised the board needs to be reasonable while trying to adhere to its transformation policy.”Our transformation policy has not changed. It’s about targets, we aspire to reach certain targets,” Majola told . “But we also believe we need to be reasonable and look at what we have.”We understand that there are specialist positions in cricket and if we need four or five black players and they are mostly bowlers, then we will have issues of balance within the team,” he said. “That is why it is a target.”The selection of South Africa’s national sides have been in the headlines of late, with the latest episode seeing Charl Langeveldt opt out of the tour to India, as he was upset by the controversy surrounding his selection ahead of Andre Nel, a decision many felt was taken by the selectors to fulfil the requirements of the transformation policy, which stipulates that a 15-man touring squad must have at least seven players of colour.Prior to that, the selection of South Africa’s national team for the recent tour of Bangladesh caused a public spat between coach Mickey Arthur and CSA president Norman Arendse, who was unhappy the 14-man squad didn’t have enough players of colour. However, it’s believed the team originally selected was finally sent for the tour.Majola said that all selection matters, including the one-off decision of Monde Zondeki replacing Langeveldt, had to go through the CSA president. “The process is that the selectors sit down and choose a team and then take it to the president. Even if they are choosing just one player, they must always go back to the president.”He has a right of veto, in terms of ensuring that CSA’s policies are met.”Majola, though, admitted the recent incidents had overshadowed the performance of the team. “I think all this drama is a concern to all cricket lovers, cricket is making headlines for reasons other than the magnificent performance of the team.”It must be very frustrating for the players when things like 400 partnerships are overshadowed by players withdrawing from teams because of other issues. That’s not where we want to be.”

Andrew Flintoff is heading to India with Lancashire’s academy in late-February, as he steps up his rehabilitation from ankle surgery, and hopes to join his county colleagues in a tournament in the UAE in March if he manages to prove his fitness.Flintoff hasn’t played for England since the World Twenty20 in South Africa last September, having undergone his fourth ankle operation over the winter. He was originally earmarked for the England Lions tour to India, which gets underway on Thursday, but an ECB spokesman said his absence from that trip was not a cause for concern.”It was never definitely decided that Andrew was going to join up with the Lions squad, it was only ever a possibility,” the spokesman told BBC Sport. “The medical team have decided that it would be in his best interests to continue his progress, which is going very well, with Lancashire.”Lancashire’s cricket manager, Mike Watkinson, reiterated the ECB’s faith in Flintoff’s progress. “Lancashire’s pre-season training camp is in Dubai in mid-March, and if everything continues as planned Freddie will be part of that,” he told BBC Sport.The 14-man Lions squad has undergone several changes since it was originally picked last month. Essex’s wicketkeeper James Foster, Gloucestershire’s fast bowler Steve Kirby and the Nottinghamshire seamer Charlie Shreck were called up on Tuesday because of injuries to the Worcestershire pairing of Steven Davies and Kabir Ali. The squad also includes Monty Panesar, who will link up with the senior squad at the end of February for the Tests in New Zealand.

Habibul Bashar, Shahriar Nafees and Enamul Haque are being added to New Zealand’s squad for the two-Test series starting January 4. The three players will depart on December 28 while four cricketers from the ODI squad will return home after the completion of the ongoing series.As expected, veteran wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud along with ace left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique were ignored for the New Zealand tour with the selectors showing faith in the young wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim and allowing him to continue on tour. The Rafiqul Alam-led selection panel opted for Bashar, Bangladesh’s former captain, Nafees, left-handed opener, and Haque, the left-arm spinner, got the nod over Rafique for technical reason.”We had conditions in mind rather than going for only experience while taking the decision of leaving out two of our most important performers,” Rafiqul said. “Mushfiq is already accustomed to the conditions and his last Test performance in Sri Lanka was also not bad. That’s why we didn’t find any reason to send Mashud despite his good form in the national league and in addition we have yet to get a full fitness report on him.”In Rafique’s case, what we felt was that a spinner like Enamul who can bowl a little slower would be more effective than him. Enamul has already proved his worth as a longer-version bowler and his performance in the national league was also noteworthy.”On the other hand we still believe that Rafique has been completely out of sorts since the last home series against India and his performance in the domestic competition and attitude towards the competition also forced us to take the decision.”The former national player also explained the reason behind the selection of Bashar and Nafees, who got the nod because of his late comeback in the National Cricket League.”The time has yet to come to think about the Test fate of Bashar because we don’t want to forget his contribution as a Test batsman. On the other hand we always believe that Nafees is a very important player for us. We dropped Nafees from the one-day squad because of his woeful performances but he has returned among the runs lately to get back his place.”The second and final Test, also the last match of the tour, starts in Wellington on January 12.

Victoria will push for a home Pura Cup final without their regular wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who has been dropped at the business end of the season. Adam Crosthwaite returns to the four-day team for the first time this season for their match against Queensland at the MCG starting on Friday.The Bushrangers have already secured their place in the decider but they must take at least first-innings points to have any chance of avoiding a trip to Sydney for the final. New South Wales and Victoria are equal on points but the Blues have the edge as they are ahead on quotient.The MCG has this season provided slow and low drop-in pitches that have been difficult to score on and Victoria’s captain Cameron White said it would be an advantage to play for the title in familiar conditions. “In four-day games we’ve got results here,” White said. “We’ve won both ways, batting first and batting last.”It’s home conditions for us so it’s a bit of an advantage. [But] we’ve got a pretty good record up in Sydney so we’re not too fussed about where we play. Obviously we’d like it here because that gives a bit of advantage given you don’t have to win the game to win the Pura Cup.”Victoria have almost a full-strength line-up to choose from, with only Gerard Denton (ankle) and Peter Siddle (shoulder) unavailable. Dirk Nannes returns to a 13-man squad after recovering from a foot injury, Darren Pattinson is back from an ankle problem and the injury-prone Shane Harwood is being rested ahead of the final.The big surprise was their decision to axe Wade, who has played all nine Pura Cup games this summer after switching from Tasmania during the off-season. He is the competition’s leading wicketkeeper in 2007-08 with 38 dismissals and he has averaged 27.91 with the bat.Although Wade, 20, has struggled for big runs lately he has still out-performed his replacement Crosthwaite, who is the state’s preferred limited-overs gloveman, in Melbourne’s club competition. Wade’s grade season has brought 587 runs at 48.91 compared to Crosthwaite’s 316 runs at 45.14.Queensland announced their squad on Monday but have made three changes due to health concerns with several players. Martin Love has been forced out due to a sudden attack of Bell’s palsy, which causes paralysis in the facial muscles, Chris Swan has a groin injury, and Greg Moller is still recovering from concussion following a blow to the head while fielding in close in the Bulls’ previous match.Nathan Reardon and Ben Laughlin will make their first-class debuts, while the opener Nick Kruger has also been added to the squad along with Clinton Perren. Laughlin, a right-arm seam bowler, is the son of the former Australia Test allrounder Trevor Laughlin and will put his day-job as a carpenter on hold to play in the Pura Cup match.Reardon, a regular member of the Queensland Twenty20 and FR Cup sides, is coming off excellent club form with scores of 160 and 135 not out from his past two games. The Bulls will be led by Chris Simpson, who has been temporarily handed the captaincy following the retirement of Jimmy Maher.Victoria squad Nick Jewell, Lloyd Mash, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Rob Quiney, Andrew McDonald, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Clint McKay, Bryce McGain, Darren Pattinson, Allan Wise, Dirk Nannes.Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Nick Kruger, Nathan Reardon, Clinton Perren, Shane Watson, Chris Simpson (capt), Aaron Nye, Ashley Noffke, Chris Hartley (wk), Daniel Doran, Ben Laughlin, Scott Brant.

The batsman Callum Ferguson has been drafted into South Australia’s Ford Ranger Cup squad for their day-nighter with New South Wales in Adelaide on Wednesday. He replaces injured fast bowler Shaun Tait, whose absence will be a blow to the struggling Redbacks who are yet to earn a point.Tait, who may have been on Test duty anyway, will now definitely not play because of his troublesome elbow which also forced him to drop out of Australia’s 13 against Sri Lanka. He will also miss the Pura Cup match following cortisone injections which could rule him out of both Tests against Sri Lanka.Ferguson joins a Redbacks squad which has lost their first two matches, but their opponents haven’t fared too well either. The Blues have lost two of three, with the third abandoned to the rain.The visitors maintain the same 12-player squad who lost to Tasmania on Sunday despite Brad Haddin’s century. It’s Doug Bollinger’s second trip to Adelaide in two weeks following his appearance for the Chairman’s XI draw in the first warm-up match for the touring Sri Lankans.South Australia squad Daniel Harris, Matt Elliott, Mark Cosgrove, Nathan Adcock (capt), Darren Lehmann, Graham Manou (wk), Andy Delmont, Ryan Harris, Jason Gillespie, Callum Ferguson, Mark Cleary, Dan Cullen.New South Wales squad Grant Lambert, Ed Cowan, Brad Haddin (wk), Dominic Thornely, Simon Katich (capt), Peter Forrest, Nathan Hauritz, Matthew Nicholson, Mark Cameron, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Bracken, Stephen O’Keefe.

Hosts South Africa have named a 30-man provisional squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship to be held in September. The squad will be trimmed down to 15 and sent to the ICC as per its regulations.Graeme Smith returns as captain of the team after missing the trip to Ireland due to injury while Jacques Kallis, who stood in as captain during Smith’s absence, will serve as his deputy.There has been no surprise omissions with prolific hard-hitting batsmen such as Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Johan van der Wath and Justin Kemp, who captained an Africa XI against Asia XI, being named in the squad. Gulam Bodi and Neil McKenzie are are selected on strength of domestic Pro20 matches.According to Steve Elworthy, tournament director, “the results and individual performances of the various players were taken into account by the selectors and they have put together a competitive, exciting squad that will add to the hype already created around the tournament.”All 30 provisional squad members have contributed to their teams’ results on the international and domestic fronts.”Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Loots Bosman, Gulam Bodi, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB De Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Neil McKenzie, Albie Morkel, Mornè Morkel, Andrè Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Roger Telemachus, Alfonso Thomas, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath, Mornè van Wyk

David Smith will take over from Paul Maylard-Mason as Leicestershire’s chief executive in January.Smith, who played for Warwickshire, said: “This is a great opportunity to build on the good work undertaken by the club. In Tim Boon, we have an outstanding cricket coach – he and I share a vision for the club to establish a sustainable development pathway which gives young Leicestershire cricketers the best opportunity to represent their county at first-class level.””David brings a rare set of credentials to the post,” Neil Davidson, the chairman, said: “A successful playing career at first-class level, experience of cricket administration and a successful business career in a highly relevant industry.”

Some might say it is typical of England that they should finally crack 50-over cricket at precisely the moment that the rest of the world is tiring of the concept. But nevertheless their achievement in Sri Lanka over the past two weeks has been noteworthy in the extreme. Paul Collingwood’s men have just completed England’s first series victory in the subcontinent since 1987, and overturned the Sri Lankans on home soil for the first time ever.This result follows on from England’s impressive 4-3 home victory against India in September, and is further evidence of the steely streak that has been injected into England’s game by Collingwood, their first specialist limited-overs captain since Adam Hollioake (who, coincidentally, was the last man to triumph anywhere in Asia, in Sharjah in 1997-98).More’s the pity, therefore, that England blotted their limited-overs copybook in the World Twenty20 last month. But that side was as experimental as the format itself, with specialist selections such as Darren Maddy and James Kirtley enjoying mixed success on their return to top-level cricket. This squad has brought back men such as Ian Bell, who now exhibits a sense of belonging, and shown the sort of solidity that England’s one-day side have lacked ever since Graham Gooch’s mob failed to win the World Cup in 1992.If that sounds like an exaggeration, remember this – Sri Lanka were World Cup finalists in Barbados six months ago, and deservedly so. No other side in that interminable competition was fit to lace the Australians’ boots, and even in defeat it’s arguable that Sri Lanka contained the best allround bowling attack on show, with the stalwarts Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando allied to the two key impact players, Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan.Murali of course has been missing from this competition, and without him Sri Lanka have struggled for variation on a selection of stodgy wickets. But Malinga has been mastered almost throughout – his spells have been milked at almost a run a ball, and he’s taken no more wickets in the entire series than he managed in four deliveries against South Africa.Set against such shortcomings, however, is Sri Lanka’s formidable record on home soil – which ought to have been worth at least a 2-0 lead. Until the second match at Dambulla, England had not won a single ODI against Sri Lanka at home since 1982, but they were hardly unique in their lack of success. Since 1994, Sri Lanka had lost only two bilateral series out of 11, and dropped only five games in those contests – three to Australia in a hard-fought five-match series in 2003-04, and two to Pakistan in March 2006.It was Pakistan’s superior bowling attack that delivered that last win, and that was the difference between the sides once again. England’s pace attack of Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson and Stuart Broad was insuperable, providing pace, hostility and above all, accuracy. The days of Sajid Mahmood, Liam Plunkett and Steve Harmison, whose guileless scatterguns helped Sri Lanka to a crushing 5-0 victory in 2006, seemed a distant and troubling memory.Between them, Sidebottom, Broad and Anderson kept Sri Lanka’s top four completely under wraps – they mustered just 348 runs between them and two half-centuries, which is barely any more than the 286 that Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga added for the first wicket at Headingley in 2006. Between them they ensured that Andrew Flintoff – the pre-series talking-point – was barely worthy of a footnote.Nor was Flintoff missed for his allround qualities. Graeme Swann’s ice-cool return made Monty Panesar an equally redundant topic of conversation, while Collingwood’s confidence in his own abilities on Sri Lanka’s dead wickets elevated him almost to frontline-seamer status, with five economical wickets at 28.20, more than any of Sri Lanka’s bowlers bar Fernando. Even at the lowest reaches of the order, England brimmed with confidence, with Broad and Sidebottom seeing England home in a tense third game at Dambulla.Sadly for England, their best overseas ODI result in years (leaving aside their astonishing CB Series win against a tired and pre-occupied Australia) comes at precisely the wrong time for anyone to take any interest. The World Cup (50-over or 20-over) is too far over the horizon for any of this to be remembered in the long run, while a World Cup of another kind is currently stealing all column inches back home. But Collingwood and his men will savour this triumph. If 50-over cricket really is in its death throes, then at least they’ve turned up in time for the wake.

Australia and Sri Lanka’s two-Test series will be fought for a trophy named after Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan. Cricket Australia accepted Sri Lanka Cricket’s suggestion that the winner of the contest, which begins in Brisbane on Thursday, should be awarded the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy to commemorate 25 years of Test cricket between the two sides.The trophy is a fitting tribute for two of the world’s best spin bowlers. Muralitharan is just nine wickets away from surpassing Warne’s record of 708 Test wickets. The announcement celebrates the 25th anniversary of Australia-Sri Lanka Test cricket, with the trophy featuring casts of Warne and Muralitharan’s right hands and match-used cricket balls bowled by both players during their careers.Sri Lanka Cricket’s chief executive Duleep Mendis said it was a fitting tribute to two players who have left an indelible mark on world cricket. “We are proud of the rivalry between our nation and Australia,” he said, “and think this trophy will help add to the sense of occasion every time we do battle.”Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland echoed these sentiments: “Both Shane and Muttiah have broken the 700-wicket barrier and inspired young cricketers around the world to try their hands at spin bowling. We see the inception of this trophy as yet another step in celebrating the wonderful history between both nations while continuing to build its stature in the years to come.”Warne said he felt very proud to be sharing the honour with Muralitharan. “We’ve had some great battles in the past and helped raise each other’s game to the heights that we’ve reached,” Warne said. “The rivalry between Australia and Sri Lanka has grown immeasurably over the last decade and I know my former Australian teammates will be super-keen to be the first country to win the trophy when they do battle this November.”Muralitharan said the respect was mutual: “I have enormous respect for Shane Warne,” he said, “and I consider it a great honour to have a trophy named after both of us. The coming Test series is a great opportunity for our team against Australia and I’m looking forward to bowling in Australia again.”The Warne-Murali tharan Trophy becomes the latest series named after famous players.Australia’s matches against India are fought for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy while Australia and New Zealand compete for the Chappell-Hadlee one-day title.