Dear Mr Braithwaite,I refer to your letter of invitation dated March 19, 2005, and would like to express my gratitude for your kind invitation which permits me the opportunity, again, to join the West Indies team.As you are aware, I have devoted my whole life to all aspects of West Indies cricket. It is in these circumstances that I am bound to say that I have found extreme difficulty in formulating an appropriate response to your invitation.On the one hand, if I were to accept the invitation, then I would feel that I have abandoned part of the core of players who have represented the West Indies with me over recent years and all of whom are teammates.On the other hand, if I were to decline, then I feel I would be repudiating my deep feelings for the West Indian supporters and the furtherance of the game.What I would like to see is the best team selected to compete in the forthcoming series.I would also like to see an amicable resolution to the outstanding issues in an atmosphere of mutual compromise and respect, which would all redound to uplifting the morale and pride of the West Indian people who are so passionate about the sport.I do not wish to be put in a position where I consider that my response to your invitation would be indicative of a selection of one option and the rejection of another.In circumstances where neither my loyalty to the players nor my loyalty to West Indies cricket can be denied, I confirm that I am ready, willing and able to continue participating in West Indies cricket, provided that, even at this late stage, the best team will be selected with an assurance from all of the parties that the outstanding issues would be brought to the table and discussed.I wish to state unequivocally that it is my intention to ensure the survival of West Indies cricket. That is my primary consideration.Sincerely,Brian Charles Lara

Division One

Hampshire amassed their highest ever National League score against Middlesex as Kevin Pietersen put the disappointment of missing out on a place in the Test squad behind him with 80 off 50 balls. Pietersen cleared the ropes six times but wasn’t the only Hampshire batsman to race along. Simon Katich sped to 85 from 63 and Dimitri Mascarenhas smashed 50 from 26 balls to round off the innings. Middlesex were never in the hunt, despite flaying the bat, and finished 105 runs short.Lancashire cruised past Northants by seven wickets thanks to a powerful display from their top order. Stuart Law hit 54 from 37 balls to launch Lancashire’s pursuit of 216. Mal Loye anchored the innings with 94 from 108 balls with three sixes while Andrew Flintoff chipped in with a rapid 40. Northants had started positively but only David Sales (57) reached a half-century.Worcestershire sealed a hard fought 16-run win over Nottinghamshire at New Road. Ray Price took 4 for 21 to strangle the Notts batting, while Chaminda Vaas chipped in with three wickets, as the required rate climbed. Zander de Bruyn (62) boosted Worcestershire’s total to 190 with help from Gareth Batty (44). Andy Harris cleaned up the tail to finish with 4 for 41 despite suffering a hand injury in the field.A career-best 96 from Ravinder Bopara guided Essex to a five-wicket win over defending champions Glamorgan. A stand of 122 with James Middlebrook (46) rescued Essex from 31 for 4. Glamorgan were given a good start by Robert Croft and Ian Thomas, who added 72 for the first wicket, but the middle-order struggled and it was left to David Hemp (62 not out) to boost the total to 216.

Division Two

A brilliant allround performance from Dinesh Mongia propelled Leicestershire to a 60-run win against Surrey. Mongia marshalled the Leicestershire innings with 67 from 86 balls then snapped up 4 for 15, with his left-arm spin, including Mark Ramprakash who top-scored with 34.Durham completed a comfortable 51-run win against Yorkshire after a consistent effort from their top-order. Mike Hussey (66) and Nicky Peng (60) provided the base and Phil Mustard rounded off the innings by striking 53 from 26 balls – his first limited overs half-century. Yorkshire struggled from the start of their innings and when Michael Vaughan fell for 31, Paul Collingwood and Gareth Breese mopped up the tail.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Marcus Trescothick celebrated his 100th one-day international appearance with an effortless 76-ball century, and Andrew Strauss marked his return to the top of the order with a composed 82, as England cantered to a ten-wicket victory inside 25 overs in the first match of the NatWest Series. The result was England’s second ten-wicket victory in one-day international history, and Trescothick has been involved in both – the first, against West Indies in 2000, came in his debut series.By the end of the game, England were in such control that the pair were more concerned with engineering a three-figure score for Trescothick than winning in haste. He and Strauss exchanged singles in the final over to bring up his hundred, then Strauss followed up with a eased drive for four to complete the formalities.Towards the end, Trescothick had been in showboater mode, and pulled off two cheeky ramped fours over the wicketkeeper’s head to further dent Khaled Mahmud’s figures, whose first over had gone for 21. Trescothick’s hundred was his ninth in one-day matches for England, and took him clear of Graham Gooch as England’s leading centurymaker.It was a consummate performance from England, and for Trescothick it took his summer’s tally against Bangladesh to a monstrous 445 runs in three innings. The team’s only wobble came with the ball when, having reduced Bangladesh to 76 for 6, Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Rafique came out all guns blazing, to exactly double the total in a spirited seventh-wicket stand. The tenth-wicket pair of Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Hossain then added 31 in similar fashion to set England a respectable target of 190, but in the event they were never remotely stretched.The day began as it finished, with England in total control. Last week, Jon Lewis vowed not to have his hair cut until the dream start to his England career had come to an end. By the time he had picked up the first three Bangladeshi wickets to fall, it seemed he would soon be sporting a mullet to rival Jason Gillespie’s. Steve Harmison then weighed in with a trio of his own, and another mismatch appeared to be taking shape.Rafique and Aftab had other ideas and after the second break for rain, they began to tee off. Each has demonstrated this ability before in their careers – Rafique with a thrilling century against West Indies last year, and Aftab with his 82 not out at Durham in this month’s second Test – and they were at their improvisatory best as England’s eagerness to wrap up a quick finish backfired on them. The usually economical Andrew Flintoff proved particularly expensive, as his nine wicketless overs went for 46, and it required a tight run-out call to end Aftab’s knock, as he finished on 51 from 58 balls with four fours and two sixes.Darren Gough eventually ended the stand, as Rafique connected well with a slower ball but picked out Harmison on the fine leg boundary, and Harmison returned to take his fourth wicket, when Mahmud shovelled his first delivery to leg gully. But Bangladesh were unbowed, and Mashrafe and Nazmul carried on the carefree attitude to ensure that England, with a crunch match approaching on Sunday, couldn’t start thinking too far ahead of themselves just then.But if Bangladesh’s best efforts restored their pride with the bat, Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss were more than capable of bettering them. The first stumbling-block of the NatWest Series had been negotiated with barely a stubbed toe, and England now travel to Bristol for the showdown against Australia with their spirits as high as can possibly be.

Shane Warne has been given permission to sit out the rest of Hampshire’s Twenty20 group matches, to allow him to rest ahead of the Ashes series. The request came from Cricket Australia and Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, granted Warne a two-week break.Bransgrove told the Press Association: “Cricket Australia have asked before for him to take a break but he choose not to. He has bowled more than we expected him to. I’m happy for him to take a break. I have no problem with it at all.”Warne has been suffered with a slight problem to his spinning finger, which was picked up during the Championship game against Kent at Canterbury in May. However, Warne will still be available for Hampshire’s next Championship game, against Middlesex at Southgate, starting on July 8. This will be his last match for the county before the Ashes, but he will return in mid-September, after the final Test.Warne has bowled 299.4 overs in eight Championship matches this season, taking 37 wickets at 22.75 apiece. He is aiming to take his 600th Test wicket during the Ashes series and currently stands on 583.

On the plan when he walked out to bat this morning
It was to get as much of a lead as possible. It was a bonus that Gillespie batted so long – three or four hours was fantastic. It would have been nice to set them 250-plus but history shows that it’ll be tough to chase on the last day here, and hopefully that’ll come true tomorrow for us.On whether the target of 229 is enough
I think so. We always want more. I think it’s about 200 that they need now, and it’ll be a great day of Test cricket tomorrow, which is what it’s all about. We’ve had plans when it comes to our bowling and hopefully they’ll come off tomorrow. We’ve got a great spin bowler in our ranks as well, and they’re going to have to bat very well.On whether he rated this innings better than the two centuries in Sri Lanka last March, and on what changes he had made to his technique for the subcontinent
It’s up there with my best hundreds in the sense that you had two world-class spinners bowling on the fourth day. It’s always satisfying as a batsman to test your skills against the best. Not much has changed [technique-wise]. We’ve played a lot of one-day cricket in India and Sri Lanka and all the batsmen over the last four or five years have had a chance to play on these pitches. That’s definitely helped us.On whether the pitch was less conducive to bounce when compared to the opening day
Yeah, but it varied a lot out of the footmarks. The centre of the pitch was playing well, but the natural variation out of the footmarks is getting all the wickets. If we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow and throw the ball to Shane Warne, hopefully he can do well.On who out of Harbhajan and Kumble was more difficult to face
For the right-hander there were the left-arm bowlers’ footmarks for him [Harbhajan]. He doesn’t give you many scoring opportunities and you had to be patient out there.On whether Warne’s world record had been a source of solace on a rough day yesterday
It’s great that he broke the record but we were a long way behind on the first-innings score. I think it was a great fightback by us. We’d shown in Sri Lanka that we could come from behind, and we’ve done it again.On whether reverse-swing will be a factor tomorrow
It always happens over here when the shine goes off the ball after four or five overs.On the fielding lapses made by Australia earlier in the game
We had chances which were put down, but only a couple that you could say were easy. There were a lot of half-chances and we usually pride ourselves on taking those.On whether his Sydney experience of 1993-94 has had any influence on his batting in crunch situations
I don’t think Sydney has had an influence. I think it’s more about getting to know your game and being around international cricket for a long time. Look at someone like Michael Clarke who’s played one-day cricket for two years now, and been comfortable coming into Test cricket. The amount of cricket we play and the touring we do in different conditions helps you a lot.On whether he and Gillespie both being dismissed in the same over prevented a bigger total being scored
It’s disappointing, for sure. You have no trouble for almost four hours, and then ten minutes before tea, you lose two in four balls. But it’s part of the game.

Pool A: Border 278 for 8 dec and 240 for 7 (Bradfield 52, Smith 70, Tshbalala 3-46) lead Free State 138 (Hinkel 4-25) by 380 runsFree State were bowled out for 138 by Border after Warwick Hinkel took 4 for 25 and engineered a collapse. Two scores in the thirties from Corne Linde and Christo Feris saved the Free State team from total embarrassment.Batting for a second time Border raced to 240 for 7 at the close with Carl Bradfield (52) and Michael Smith (70) setting a 123-run platform for the rest to launch from. Michael Matika, the hero of the first innings was still at the crease on 49 when time was called. As in the first innings Thandi Tshabalala was the main wicket taker with 3 for 46.Eastern Province came back strongly in Port Elizabeth as they took a 100-run lead over Western Province with Bob Homani scoring an undefeated 72 in the second innings. Earlier Western Province had been bowled out for 228 with Ryan Canning and Farhaan Behardien both scoring fifties. Lyall Meyer took 4 for 52, and helped keep the Western province lead to 50 in the first innings.Pool B: Griqualand West 414 for 5 dec (Brooker 115, McLaren 69,Bossenger 88*) and 81 for 1 lead North West 350 for 8 dec (Khan 78, leRoux 58, Coetsee 65, Arthur 3-104) by 145 runsGriqualand West continued on their merry way scoring a massive 414 for 5 when the declaration came after 85 overs in Potchefstroom. Wendell Bossenger took his score from 64 to 88 to maximise the bonus points on offer. North West emphasized what a good batting pitch Sedgars Park had produced by also participating in the run-fest in totalling 350 for 8 in the 85 overs. Alarm bells rang at the start of the innings, when they lost two wickets, but soon Imraan Khan (78), Werner Coetsee (65) restored order. Juan le Roux (58) made sure that North West finished only 61 runs behind on the first innings.In a bid to make a game of it Griquas raced to 81 for 1 off 18 overs to extend the lead to 145 runs when bad light once again stopped play.

Batsman Scott Meuleman has made an amazing recovery from a dislocated shoulder and will play for Western Australia in the ING Cup match against New South Wales at North Sydney Oval on Sunday.The return of Meuleman, who injured his left shoulder in the first over of Western Australia’s opening match on October 15, is a big boost for the side that has missed his tenacious defence and sweet timing at the top of the order. The only change to the team that took on Tasmania was Beau Casson, the left-arm wrist spinner, replacing Aaron Heal, the left-arm orthodox spinner.New South Wales have named an unchanged team to the one that lost to Tasmania on Sunday. The Blues were beaten by three wickets despite an impressive debut from the spinner Jason Krejza, who took 3 for 45. Krejza has been selected alongside the experienced legspinner Stuart MacGill.Western Australia Michael Hussey (c), Murray Goodwin, Beau Casson, Michael Clark, Kade Harvey, Brad Hogg, Steve Magoffin, Scott Meuleman, Marcus North, Luke Ronchi, Adam Voges, Darren Wates.New South Wales Brad Haddin (c), Nathan Bracken, Shawn Bradstreet, Stuart Clark, Phil Jaques, Jason Krejza, Greg Mail, Stuart MacGill, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron O’Brien, Matthew Phelps, Dominic Thornely.

New Zealand’s opening two-day practice match against a Sri Lanka BoardPresident’s XI petered out into a predictable draw as the visitors battedthroughout the second day.The Kiwi’s, replying to the President’s XI 258 yesterday, scored 396 in107.5 overs before the match was abandoned immediately after the fall of thefinal wicket.Opener Matthew Richardson, who added 88 for the first wicket with Matt Horne(48), top scored with a patient 106 from 117 balls, an innings that included18 boundaries.There were also half-centuries from skipper Stephen Fleming, a brisk 69 from91 balls with 13 fours, and allrounder Scot Styris, who was last man out for64 from 81 balls having hit seven fours and two sixes.Seamer Dinusha Fernando was the pick of the nine bowlers used by skipperRomesh Kaluwitharana, claiming three wickets in the afternoon to finish withthree for 66 from 20 overs.New Zealand will play another two-day warm-up match at the same venuestarting Monday before the first Test on April 25.

Brighton Watambwa, it appears, has brought his budding international career to a close. One of Zimbabwe’s fastest bowlers, he expressed dissatisfaction with the contract he was offered, and plans to emigrate to the United States later this year.Another former Zimbabwean pace bowler, Everton Matambanadzo, also took that step last year and is now involved in the business world in San Francisco.

India U-19 215 for 8 (Ravikant Shukla 62, Darwen 3-31) beat Australia U-19 214 for 6 (Henriques 85*, Gledhill 40) by two wickets
ScorecardAustralia’s Under-19 side suffered a two-wicket defeat in the opening ODI of their five-match series against India at Mohali.Chasing 215 for victory in 45 overs, the Indians lost openers Ankit Rawat and Anirudh Srikant cheaply, but Rohit Sharma and the captain Ravikant Shukla steadied the innings and Shahbaz Nadim played a patient knock of 26 to secure the win in the 40th over. Patrick Darwen was the most successful of the Australian bowlers with three wickets from his nine overs.After winning the toss, Australia’s openers were dismissed with the score on 4 and only an unbeaten 85 off 80 balls from Moises Henriques, who came in at No. 5, and 40 by the wicketkeeper Ben Gledhill pushed the total past 200.