Plays of the day from the first day of Bangladesh v England, 1st Test, Chittagong

Andrew Miller in Chittagong12-Mar-2010Decision of the day
Six years ago in Chittagong, Bangladesh won the toss against England, with a pair of classy spinners in their ranks and against an opposition bowling attack featuring a hotch-potch of debutants, stand-ins and the recently injured. Everything about the situation demanded that they bat first, overcome their concerns about the moisture in the wicket on the first morning, and give their spinners last use on a surface that was sure to deteriorate. Instead, they bowled, and were duly thumped by 329 runs. Six years, and 39 Tests later, and Shakib Al Hasan suggested that he had learned nothing from Khaled Mahmud’s defeatist approach, as he meekly followed suit.Smokescreen of the day
The England management have developed a self-gratifying obsession with team secrecy. Every question pertaining to selection in the week leading up to the match was greeted with a stonewaller’s grin from either Andy Flower or Alastair Cook, and no matter how convoluted the delivery, the result was invariably a dead bat and a soft-handed poke back down the pitch. Two days ago, the travelling journalists thought they had cracked their defences, when Cook inadvertently used the word “they” when referring to the anticipated workload of England’s spinners, and James Tredwell was duly inked into most starting line-ups. This morning, however, through a smoky haze, two new players were handed their caps in the England team huddle, but the men who stepped forward were Michael Carberry and Steven Finn.Six-hitter of the day
Cook is not renowned for taking the aerial route. In the whole of his 53-match Test career, he had only cleared the ropes on two occasions until today, and the first of those was a streaky top-edge that caught the breeze at Wellington, two years ago this week. But today, he doubled that tally en route to becoming the fifth England captain to make a hundred in his first Test in charge. That fact that he reached the mark with a hefty hoist over midwicket will have been doubly satisfying to a man who only last week was deemed surplus to requirements for England’s World Twenty20 squad.Hoodoo of the day
Kevin Pietersen could never have imagined that a Test in sleepy Chittagong could prove so personally crucial. But after a sketchy tour of South Africa and a measly tally of 69 runs in seven innings in Bangladesh, the time was nigh to silence his critics in the only way that really matters. And for 134 balls and 99 runs he produced a superb riposte, an innings of smouldering authority that seemed to have established an unequivocal return to form. But then it happened – a defensive aberration against the left-arm spin of Abdur Razzak, the man who claimed his wicket in each of the last two ODIs. It’s hard to recall KP looking so utterly gutted as he left the field. So near to ending that debate about left-armers. So near, yet so aggravatingly far.Debut of the day
The beanpole Finn will have to wait for his chance to impress, but Carberry’s initial foray has been and already gone. And just like his 35 from 28 balls in the three-day warm-up, the initial impressions were a touch inconclusive. He started with a flood of confidence, as he lurched into the 20s with five fours in 12 balls, and during that period some of his drives were reminiscent of Mark Butcher in his pomp. But then, against the spinners, his momentum all but vanished, as he chiselled a further 7 from 33 before Mahmudullah nailed him on the sweep.Atmospherics of the day
Even at 20 Taka (20p) a ticket, it was hard to persuade the locals through the gates for this one, and doubly so once word got around that Bangladesh were bowling and Tamim Iqbal’s fireworks would be shelved for another day. The few who did drift in were lively enough in the circumstances, and suitably amused by the glut of Barmy Army beer-guts that briefly appeared in the stands at midwicket. But in real terms, there had been greater interest in the low-key one-day warm-up at the rural outpost of Fatullah, another sad indictment of Test cricket on the subcontinent. Especially one-sided Test cricket.

Ricky Ponting is confident Australia are in the best possible shape to regain the Ashes later this year

Brydon Coverdale in Hamilton31-Mar-2010Ricky Ponting is confident Australia are in the best possible shape to regain the Ashes later this year, after a summer in which they won seven out of eight Tests. Series victories against West Indies and Pakistan were followed by a 2-0 triumph in New Zealand and all that is left before the battle for the urn is a two-match series against Pakistan in England.Ponting said after the final home Test in January that there were no boxes left to tick before the Ashes, although the return to form of Marcus North and the emergence of Ryan Harris over the past two weeks have given him extra reason to believe. The Test squad features no passengers and such is the depth that if everyone is fit, the challenge will be deciding who to leave out.”We can’t be any better placed at the moment, we have two Tests to play in England then it’s straight into it,” Ponting said. “There will be no excuses from where we are sitting. We’ve done everything we would have liked for us to have achieved throughout the summer, there’s never been a game that has dragged on. When there’s been big moments, we’ve stepped in and got the job done. That’s what I expect from these players and they know that.”We have got great depth at the moment, which every good team needs and every good team wants. You look at Doug Bollinger, he came into the side when a few guys were injured in India and he hasn’t looked back and the same for Ryan Harris, he’s stepped up to the plate and become a very good international cricketer.”Harris ended his first Test series with nine wickets at an average of 23, while Bollinger has firmly established himself alongside Mitchell Johnson as a frontline fast bowler. It leaves questions over Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, who began the summer as the first-choice new-ball bowlers before succumbing to injury.Hilfenhaus was the Man of the Match in his only Test of the summer before being sidelined by a knee problem, while Siddle struggled for most of the season and then suffered a back stress fracture that should keep him out of the series against Pakistan. If both men are fit by Ashes time, the make-up of Australia’s attack will be a difficult selection issue.”It’s a tough question. I’m not sure what the right answer is,” Ponting said. “A lot of it might be based on conditions when we get to Brisbane as well, knowing what the ball will do up there. Looking at someone like Doug, he’ll swing the new ball. Hilfenhaus got five I think up there and Man of the Match against the West Indies in the first game of the summer last year. Being a quality swing bowler like he is, if he’s fit then he’ll come into calculations.”It’s a good problem to have. Knowing someone like Pete Siddle as well, who can run in and bowl at good pace and unsettle batters and be a good guy to have around the group. To have those guys all fully fit will make the job tough for the selectors. I’m not sure who has got their noses in front at the moment.”What is certain is that Australia’s summer couldn’t have been much better, the only Test blemish being when West Indies drew in Adelaide. By the time was belted out at 5.20pm on March 31 at Seddon Park, it signalled the end of an excellent season, with the players dispersing either home or to the IPL before their next challenges, which will culminate with the Ashes opener in November.”There were probably some question-marks over our Test cricket before the summer started, being a little bit inconsistent through the Ashes series,” Ponting said. “I’m really proud of what the group has been able to do, especially when you consider all the cricket that we’ve had to play. Generally when you get a bit tired teams can fade away but I think if anything we’ve got better and stronger as a group as the year has gone on. I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved.”

England Under-19 international Jos Buttler’s maiden first-class century pushed
Somerset to within 71 runs of Hampshire’s first-innings total but the County
Championship clash at the Rose Bowl looks to be heading to a stalemate

12-May-2010
Scorecard
James Hildreth made an important hundred as Somerset fought back•Getty Images

England Under-19 international Jos Buttler’s maiden first-class century pushed
Somerset to within 71 runs of Hampshire’s first-innings total but the County
Championship clash at the Rose Bowl looks to be heading to a stalemate.Buttler finished the day unbeaten on 105 after sharing a fifth-wicket stand of
105 with James Hildreth (106) to hold together the Somerset middle order as
Hampshire smelt a collapse and the possibility of a first win of the season.The dismissals of Marcus Trescothick and Arul Suppiah in the final session of
yesterday’s play appeared to give Hampshire the momentum to make their way
through the Somerset order.But Zander de Bruyn was the only wicket to fall before lunch as his off stump
was uprooted by David Griffiths, the pick of the Hampshire attack ending the day
on four for 94.Hildreth needed only 63 balls to reach his half-century on a very playable Rose
Bowl track which made for some delicate shot selection by the 25-year-old. Liam Dawson, in bowling his first overs in the County Championship this season, was aghast after lunch as Neil McKenzie dropped Hildreth while fielding at first slip with the batsman on a relatively modest 57.The following over though Hampshire had signs of a breakthrough in bizarre
circumstances as Nick Compton (49) was run out chasing a second single. Griffiths’ direct hit failed to knock over the bails on the first attempt but as the ball ricocheted to Dawson the two batsmen were indecisive and the young Hampshire all-rounder’s throw to Rangana Herath made sure of the dismissal.Despite that setback Hildreth progressed to his highest score of the season,
eclipsing his 99 against Lancashire last week, by pulling Sean Ervine for the
12th four of his innings. Hildreth lasted until the third over after tea as he was removed cutting a short Griffiths’ delivery to James Tomlinson on the boundary.But teenager Buttler took on the mantle to keep the runs flowing and after
losing partner Peter Trego (35) to Griffiths, claimed his hundred off 188 balls
with 11 fours and one six. Buttler’s previous highest score was just 36 with the 19-year-old deputising for England’s Craig Kieswetter in the Somerset line-up.

The nomination of John Howard, the former Australian Prime Minister, for the ICC’s vice-presidency has taken another hit with Sri Lanka saying it would not support his candidature

Cricinfo staff28-May-2010The controversy over the nomination of John Howard for the role of ICC’s president-designate has taken an interesting turn with Sharad Pawar, the president-in-waiting, throwing his weight behind the process that chose the former Australian prime minister. Pawar’s stand, which also received backing from ICC president David Morgan, comes in the wake of opposition, led by the Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sri Lanka boards, to Howard’s nomination.The ICC statement, released following a meeting between Morgan and Pawar in London, did not mention Howard by name and made it clear that the final decision on his candidature will be taken by the ICC board.”The ICC had decided that the next vice-president would be nominated by Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket. Those two boards have been through a very thorough and robust selection process to suggest a candidate,” the statement said, “and now the ICC Board has to consider and decide on this nomination.”As it stands, the ICC board is divided on the issue, with Cricket South Africa and Zimbabwe Cricket leading the move to prevent Howard’s nomination. On Thursday, Sri Lanka expressed their support to the African bloc. Howard needs seven of the ten votes in his favour, and with three countries already against him, one more negative vote will rule him out. India is expected to play a crucial role in the final result.”I am sure we can reach a decision which will be unanimously supported by the ICC Board,” the statement quoted Pawar as saying.”The board of the ICC debated and approved, some two years ago, a nomination process for the presidency and the vice-presidency,” read the joint statement issued by Morgan and Pawar. “The unanimous decision of the Board at the time was that the presidency and the vice-presidency should be decided on a rotational basis.”All the previous nominations to the ICC presidency have been unanimous.

An unbroken stand of 65 between Jim Troughton and 18-year-old Ateeq Javid carried Warwickshire to 111 for 3, 243 short of victory, at the close of the third day at Chester-le-Street

30-Jun-2010

ScorecardAn unbroken stand of 65 between Jim Troughton and 18-year-old Ateeq Javid carried Warwickshire to 111 for 3, 243 short of victory, at the close of the third day at Chester-le-Street. Playing his first County Championship game since his debut at the same ground last season, the diminutive Javid went to the crease with his side in some trouble at 46 for 3.He was lucky on 24 when Durham brought back Steve Harmison and a mistimed pull lobbed between two fielders. Otherwise Javid looked secure in reaching 30 alongside Troughton (38) to keep their side in with a shout of victory.Earlier legspinner Imran Tahir followed up his eight-wicket haul against Durham at Edgbaston by taking 6 for 69 as the hosts were dismissed for 289. Durham had 38 overs to bowl and might have fancied a three-day win when Harmison struck with the second ball of the innings, Warwickshire captain Ian Westwood edging low to third slip’s left, where Dale Benkenstein dived to hold a fine catch.But the pitch had eased after favouring the seamers for the first five sessions and makeshift No. 3 Ant Botha settled comfortably, making 33 in a stand of 39 with the struggling Darren Maddy.A lively burst from Mitch Claydon saw off both. Extra bounce had Botha caught behind, then Maddy, who had made six in 20 overs, shuffled across his stumps and was lbw. With rain forecast for today Durham went for their shots from the start when they resumed on 78 without loss, leading by 142.Michael Di Venuto was at his fluent best as he added 61 runs in 55 balls to his overnight 31 against a seam attack robbed off Andrew Miller by a foot injury. Mark Stoneman was 15 ahead of his partner on 46, but when he was out for 60 Di Venuto was on 88.Both fell to Tahir, who took most of his wickets with googlies. He bowled the first over of the day to permit a change of ends and on his return he had Stoneman lbw with his first ball, then Di Venuto was taken at short leg for 92.When Benkenstein played across a ball of almost yorker length from Rikki Clarke and lost his off stump three wickets had gone down for eight runs. Gordon Muchall and Ian Blackwell put on 35 but wickets then fell regularly, with Tahir taking four of the last five as well as holding a a sensational one-handed running catch at deep square leg to get rid of Ben Stokes.

Half-centuries from Mohammad Shahzad and Asghar Stanikzai helped Afghanistan secure a comfortable five-wicket victory in the third-place play-off against Netherlands in Rotterdam

Cricinfo staff10-Jul-2010Half-centuries from Mohammad Shahzad and Asghar Stanikzai helped Afghanistan secure a comfortable five-wicket victory in the third-place play-off against Netherlands in Rotterdam. Their bowlers restricted Netherlands to 218 for 5, a target that was achieved with four overs to spare.Afghanistan’s bowlers kept the hosts’ batsmen in check after Peter Borren chose to bat, with Mirwais Ashraf inducing edges from both openers. Netherlands were unsteady at 27 for 2 but the innings recovered through a partnership of 78 between Top Cooper and Borren. While Netherlands did not lose wickets, they did not raise the tempo either with Borren consuming 71 balls for his 28.Cooper also took 135 deliveries and was bowled on 96 when he played around a delivery from Aftab Alam. The much-needed momentum for Netherlands was provided by Wesley Barresi, who made an unbeaten 51 off 40 balls. His half-century included three clean sixes, two down the ground and one over midwicket.Afghanistan also lost their openers early to Mudassar Bukhari, who had Shabir Noori caught behind and Javed Ahmadi caught at point. Like in Netherlands’ innings, it was the third-wicket stand that put Afghanistan on course: Nowroz Mangal and Shahzad added 78.Stanikzai joined Shahzad after Mangal was caught at first slip with the score on 83 and they shut Netherlands out of the game. Shahzad compiled a steady 82 while Stanikzai provided impetus with a brisk 64. Both batsmen were eventually caught by Bernard Loots at mid off and long on but the job was almost done. Karim Sadiq ensured Afghanistan got over the line in the 46th over.Canada secured fifth place by completing a three-wicket win with four balls to spare against Kenya in Schiedam. Kenya were shot out for 190 after they were put in, with Canada’s new-ball bowlers, Harvir Baidwan and Umar Bhatti, taking two wickets apiece. Rizwan Cheema was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 39 in ten overs. Thomas Odoyo top-scored with 39 and there were similar nuggety contributions from others. What the innings lacked, however, was a performance of substance.Canada’s chase also suffered from the lack of a substantial score and, at 81 for 5, Kenya had a chance. Zubin Surkari, however, made a middle-order contribution of 49 and it was enough to steer Canada to victory in the 50th over.

Plays of the Day from the second day at Headingley

Brydon Coverdale and Nagraj Gollapudi22-Jul-2010Ponting v Tendulkar
When Ricky Ponting guided a boundary to third man off Mohammad Aamer and moved to 40, it made him the second man in Test history to score 12,000 runs. Sachin Tendulkar has enough of a lead to suggest that Ponting might never catch his aggregate but there will always be passionate debate about the respective merits of both men. Incredibly, 12,000 runs couldn’t split them on statistical terms. Tendulkar reached the milestone in his 247th Test innings and how many do you think it took Ponting? Yep, 247.Umar Akmal’s no-brainer
The conditions were dark and gloomy. Pakistan just about held the upper hand. They needed batsmen like Umar Akmal to apply themselves and lengthen their stay at the wicket. Instead, from the fifth ball of the morning Umar, in an unpardonable act that should not go unpunished, went for a wild slog, trying to clear Mitchell Johnson over mid-off. It was an easy catch held nicely by Simon Katich, but the Pakistani was spared as the bowler was penalised for a marginal no-ball. It was a no-brainer from Umar, who had thrown his wicket away in the second innings at Lord’s three balls before lunch. Then, as today, he committed the mistake at a critical moment of the match. The Australians did not curse too much as Johnson worked Umar out easily with a neat outswinger that took a thick outside edge, further exposing Umar’s brittle mindset.Malik follows suit
It was becoming contagious, playing headless shots. After the Pakistan middle-order crumbled without any fight, Shoaib Malik was left to marshal the tail. Sadly, instead of taking charge Malik even took a single to give Danish Kaneria the strike once. Then half an hour after lunch Shane Watson pitched on length and all Malik could do was go for a desperate loft, exposing his indecisiveness, and the catch was held by Tim Paine.Up periscope
While several players in Pakistan’s batting line-up won’t want to see the footage of their dismissals, Umar Amin’s was especially replay-worthy. Amin ducked a Hilfenhaus bouncer but forgot to lower his bat along with his body. The ball hit flush on the blade and lobbed out to square leg, where Marcus North took a straightforward catch. Amin hesitated for a moment, seemingly unable to believe what had just happened, before he trudged off.Lunch crunch
The lunches served up to the players at Headingley must be high quality. What else could explain two wickets falling in the first over after lunch on each of the first two days? On the first day, it was Mohammad Aamer who rattled the stumps of Steven Smith and Johnson, and on the second Shane Watson sent back Kamran Akmal, who edged to slip, and Aamer, who was given lbw padding up. Four men in two days who wanted to get back to the buffet in a hurry.Run-out chaos
As with many things relating to Pakistan, the last ball of their innings was surrounded by utter confusion. Mohammad Asif’s leading edge lobbed to mid-off, where Smith ran in to collect on the bounce and threw down the stumps with Danish Kaneria having taken off for a single. Kaneria dived back in an attempt to make his ground, but then scrambled up and attempted an overthrow when the ball ricocheted off the stumps. Rudi Koertzen at the non-striker’s end ducked to avoid a second throw that went to the wicketkeeper in another run-out attempt, and again Kaneria sprawled to make his ground. But in the meantime, Koertzen had called for a replay on the initial throw from Smith and Kaneria had been caught short.

India’s recovery after a dispiriting defeat at the hands of New Zealand in their opening game was led by their bowlers, who cashed in on a breezy, overcast Dambulla day

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Talya16-Aug-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Virender Sehwag overcame an incisive early spell from Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers to steer India home•AFP

India’s bowlers and Virender Sehwag led the recovery from a dispiriting defeat against New Zealand, helping their team overpower Sri Lanka and secure a bonus point to leave each of the three sides with a win at the end of the first round of matches. MS Dhoni’s luckless run at the toss continued, but Kumar Sangakkara’s decision to bat gave India first use of favourable conditions on a breezy, overcast Dambulla day and their bowlers cashed in. Sehwag then followed up with a steady innings that released the pressure created by early wickets and steered India to what was, in the end, a comfortable win.The ease with which India completed their win was in contrast to the struggle at the start of the innings, when batsmen found it difficult to negotiate the swing and movement their own seamers had troubled the hosts with. Dinesh Karthik’s edginess at the crease gradually developed into visible frustration and the one delivery he could have dispatched with ease, he slashed straight to third man. India’s two competitors for a middle-order slot, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, followed in successive overs and it appeared the Sri Lankan seamers had set up a low-scoring thriller.The wickets falling at the other end prompted Sehwag to restrain himself, except against a couple of free-hits. He reserved punishment for deliveries that were over pitched or wide. Those were a rarity, though, and it was not until the sixth over that he cracked Kulasekara for his first boundary. There was greater reliance on timing and using the pace of the seamers than on raw power: Sehwag’s boundaries down the ground were firm pushes and not flowing drives, and the areas through point and midwicket were pierced with consistency by his favoured cuts and stylish whips.Sehwag’s recovery effort was supported by Suresh Raina in a half-century stand that infused the innings with fluency. Raina nudged the ball around, and gave the more assured Sehwag a fair share of the strike, before a rush of blood drove him to pull straight to deep square leg with the score on 91.A flurry of boundaries from Sehwag’s blade, however, crushed any Sri Lankan hopes. Again, it was the loose deliveries that were punished and the momentum had swung India’s way. Suraj Randiv dropped short and was slashed for successive fours, and Mathews doled out long hops, one of which was smashed over the ropes. India were coasting towards victory and Sehwag towards his century, but the end was not without drama. With Sehwag on 99 and India requiring a run for a win, Randiv overstepped by a massive margin, depriving Sehwag of a century even though he was thumped over the long-off boundary.The ending was as dramatic as the start of the game, when Praveen Kumar castled Upul Tharanga with an outswinger off the first ball of the day. The challenge was thrown at Sri Lanka under cloudy skies and the batsmen struggled against the swing and deviation off the pitch. Mahela Jayawardene showed glimpses of his solidity during his brief stay but was trapped in front by a Praveen delivery that moved back in late. Extra pace accounted for Sangakkara, who top-edged a pull to be caught in the deep. The assurance that featured prominently in his knocks during the Test series was absent during Samaraweera’s stay; the seamers had him hopping around until he almost contrived to spoon a short-of-a-length delivery to short midwicket.Tillakaratne Dilshan was not comfortable at the crease, but countered the swing better than the rest, whipping Praveen’s inswingers through square leg and then latching on anything short, scoring three boundaries off the pull. He settled in and was at greater ease once the left-arm spin of Pragyan Ojha was introduced, making room to cut from the stumps and maintain a steady flow of runs with Angelo Mathews. But Dilshan succumbed to temptation when the ball was tossed up, and top-edged a slog-sweep to scupper a recovery he had initiated.Ravindra Jadeja bowled a nagging line and had Sri Lanka in further trouble, dismissing Mathews and Chamara Kapugedera with straighter ones. Though the tail, led by Randiv, resisted, it proved inadequate in the wake of Sehwag’s response.

Young Northamptonshire batsman Rob Newton struck his maiden first-class century on a weather-affected first day of the County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire at Wantage Road

13-Sep-2010
ScorecardYoung Northamptonshire batsman Rob Newton struck his maiden first-class century on a weather-affected first day of the County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire at Wantage Road.The 20-year-old smashed 102 off just 116 balls as Northamptonshire recovered from an awful start to post 186 for 6 at the close of play, with stand-in captain Stephen Peters contributing 55.Former England seamer and Leicestershire skipper Matthew Hoggard took 3 for 39 for the visitors, who realistically need a freak set of results to get promoted. The hosts won the toss and chose to bat, with opener Peters captaining them in the absence of the injured Andrew Hall.His opening partner, Mal Loye, was caught behind on his first ball by Leicestershire wicketkeeper Tom New off the bowling of Hoggard with the fourth delivery of the match. Alex Wakely (nine) then threw his wicket away by smashing Nathan Buck straight to James Taylor at point. David Sales (five) also went cheaply by driving Hoggard to Greg Smith at gully to leave the hosts struggling on 23 for three in the ninth over.That brought Newton to the crease in his sixth first-class match and he and Peters together managed to stabilise the Northamptonshire innings with the latter completing his half-century off 114 balls as they reached lunch on 115 for threeIt did not take Newton long to get to 50 – he hit his 54th ball through mid-wicket for four off Jigar Naik. Hoggard then claimed his third victim when he forced Peters to edge to Jacques du Toit at slip to break a fourth-wicket partnership of 99.Rain then stopped play after the ninth over of the afternoon and the delay meant that the teams took an early tea at 1440 and that 15 overs were lost. With the first ball of the fourth over after the restart, Naik trapped James Middlebrook (three) lbw but Newton went on to pass his previous best score of 82, which he made at Derbyshire last month.He completed his magnificent hundred off 111 balls by blasting his 14th four, but he was to add just two more runs before finally departing. In the first ball of Claude Henderson’s spell in the 57th over, he was superbly caught by Taylor diving forward from short leg.Only one more over was possible before play was halted for bad light with 23 overs remaining and the seventh-wicket pairing of David Murphy and David Lucas will resume tomorrow on five and three respectively.

Graham Gooch has described the prospect of Essex playing some of their future home matches at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford as a ‘win-win scenario’, after their involvement in a joint bid with West Ham Football Club and Newham Council was confirmed

Andrew Miller01-Oct-2010Graham Gooch has described the prospect of Essex playing some of their future home matches at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford as a “win-win scenario”, after their involvement in a joint bid with West Ham Football Club and Newham Council was confirmed by the club chairman, David East, following the submission of the application to the Olympic Park Legacy Company on Thursday.Gooch is a lifelong fan of both Essex and West Ham, having been born and brought up in nearby Leytonstone, and believes that the prospect of a high-profile cricket venue in the East End of London can only be good for the county’s future. “For us it makes complete sense,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “We’re obviously developing our ground at Chelmsford, so it’s not intended to be a home for Essex cricket, but as a county that stretches right down to the city of London, it makes sense for us to try and have a base in the boroughs there.”Two London football clubs, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur, are in the running to take up principal residence at the Olympic Stadium in the aftermath of the 2012 games, having both registered their interest with the OPLC ahead of Thursday’s deadline. However, Tottenham’s late application is widely regarded as a back-up plan in the event that their £400million redevelopment of White Hart Lane fails to materialise.West Ham’s bid remains the strongest contender, not least because the club’s current ground, Upton Park, is just a few miles down the road in the same borough of Newham. Their bid received tacit backing from the Government on Thursday when the application was delivered to 10 Downing Street by three of its players, Carlton Cole, Mark Noble and Scott Parker.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, East stressed that Essex’s part in the bid was low-key at present, and would be subject to the overcoming of certain technical constraints – the most significant of which is the OPLC’s current insistence on a running track around the venue’s perimeter, a problem which a West Ham spokesman suggested could be overcome through the use of synthetic grass. Should those obstacles be surmounted, then the venue would in theory be available to Essex during the football off-season between May and August, and would make an attractive base for Twenty20 cricket in particular.”Our plans are at a very early stage,” said East. “We’ve expressed our interest and have formed part of the bidding process for West Ham, who are seeking to demonstrate that they can operate, not just football, but a multi-sport delivery stadium. There’s a good strategic fit for us, in that we have responsibility for five London boroughs in terms of cricket development, and one of those is Newham. But at this stage we are very tentatively dipping our toes in the water.”Essex and West Ham have forged close links over the years, not least through the exploits of Sir Geoff Hurst, who played 23 times for Essex seconds in the early 1960s, and once for the first XI in 1962, before making his name as a centre-forward for West Ham and earning immortality by scoring a hat-trick for England in the 1966 World Cup final.”There’s been a long tradition between the two professional clubs,” said Gooch, who regularly conducted his pre-season training with the football squad at Upton Park. “And for me personally, it’s a fantastic proposal, because as a lifelong supporter of Essex cricket and West Ham football, it seems a natural tie-up. A joint bid would dovetail nicely, because the months we’d want to use the ground for Twenty20 cricket would be midsummer, when the football season is not on.”A further benefit of bringing cricket to the Olympic Stadium would be the focal point it would provide for cricket in East London, not least the sizeable but largely untapped Bangladeshi community in nearby Tower Hamlets. “We’ve got to look to promote the interests of our club,” said Gooch, “and it would be great to have a visible base where we play some professional matches, and tap into the ethnic communities living there. It’s a win-win for us.”Aside from Gooch, many prominent Essex players have come from East London, including Nasser Hussain (Ilford), Ravi Bopara (Forest Gate) and Varun Chopra, who moved on last season (Barking). However, since the loss of the Ilford Festival, for financial reasons, in 2003, there has been no significant Essex cricket played in Greater London, which is something that East is keen to rectify.”We like the idea of the bid,” said East. “The Ilford festival was our foothold in East London in terms of first-class cricket, so if we were able to find a base back in the area, where we could drop in a few Twenty20 matches and capitalise on a community from which we draw a lot of players, it would be fantastic. That was our motivation behind supporting the bid, but it’s still early stages, and we will pick it up with West Ham as and when they get a green light to proceed, or at least a bright amber light.”East added that he had not been aware of any interest from Tottenham until their bid for the stadium had been made public. “I haven’t given it any thought at all,” he said. “The attraction for us was the clear strategic link [through Newham Council]. At the moment we are where we are, we’ve supported the West Ham bid, and we’ll see what the outcome is.”