Lancashire’s head groundsman Peter Marron has been granted a benefit by the county for his long-serving commitment.The club have already granted Andrew Flintoff a benefit this year – he is projected to earn £3million, tax-free – but the England star has said that he doesn’t mind Marron being given one as well. Indeed, Flintoff has even pledged to support the groundsman at events where he can and, given that he was as good as his word in turning up to events for last year’s beneficiary, Gary Yates, then Marron could be in for a boost.There will be several fundraising events, including a dinner, and a statement on the club’s website said that it was nothing less than Marron deserved. “Peter has produced some of the best wickets in International and domestic cricket in recent years and in the process has become one of the most popular and well known figures at Old Trafford and this testimonial represents an excellent opportunity for Lancashire members to show their appreciation.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Fortunes ebbed and flowed on an intriguing second day at Mumbai, at the close of which the match was superbly poised, with England perhaps marginally in front. Despite a powerful hand by debutant Owais Shah, who fell just 12 short of a hundred on debut, England collapsed to 400, before hitting back strongly with the ball. India were reduced to 28 for 3 – the casualties included Sachin Tendulkar – before Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid revived the innings with a fluent 61-run stand, leaving India 311 adrift at close of play.After only three wickets fell on the opening day, there was plenty more excitement on the second. Sreesanth and Munaf Patel led India’s fightback with the ball, ensuring that seven wickets fell for 74 to limit England to a manageable total, but then the Indian batsmen themselves struggled against a hostile and incisive England attack, till Yuvraj and Dravid pulled the innings back on track.The Wankhede Stadium pitch was still a fine one for batting, with even pace and carry, but it has afforded the bowlers encouragement by way of bounce, and Matthew Hoggard and co. exploited that to the hilt when India came out to bat just before tea. Sehwag’s position as Hoggard’s bunny was further reinforced, as was his shortcoming against the short ball. Hoggard has now nailed him six times – more than any other bowler – but more than that, it was the manner of dismissal – gloving a bouncer to slip – that will cause the Indian think-tank plenty of concern.Wasim Jaffer was quickly consumed by a short ball as well, and when Tendulkar, the other home boy, pottered 20 balls and then reached out and nicked a wide ball, India had managed all of 28 runs in 18 overs, with three top-order batsmen in the hutch.England’s strategy was superb, and the implementation even better. Hoggard, Flintoff and even James Anderson – the least threatening of the three bowlers – gave the batsmen little to drive on the front foot. The good-length balls were mixed with a generous dose of short deliveries, keeping the batsmen pinned back. And despite taking early wickets, Flintoff refrained from over-attacking and over-crowding the slip cordon, ensuring there were enough fielders in the ring to cut off the singles.The advent of Yuvraj, though, shifted the momentum completely, with 61 coming off the next 18.5. The sublime form he has been in over the last few months showed immediately, as he launched into sumptuous drives and flicks – one extra-cover drive off Anderson, early in his innings, was especially glorious. His first 30 runs came off 27 balls, and with Dravid playing his anchor’s part to perfection, Flintoff was suddenly forced to post fielders on the boundary. England’s second spin option, Shaun Udal, was a liability too, and England quickly switched back to pace to keep a lid on the runs as India ended the day breathing far easier.If the third-wicket stand would have pleased Dravid, then so would have the team’s performance with the ball, after an ordinary first day. Despite reprieving Flintoff thrice off Munaf Patel – including drops off successive balls – the bowlers fought back superbly, with Sreesanth in the forefront. He got rid of Paul Collingwood, ending an 84-run stand for the fourth wicket, which started the slide, and then quickly got rid of Geraint Jones as well, paving the way for the other bowlers to make their mark.And Munaf did, with two wickets in two balls to further dent England’s hopes of a total in the vicinity of 450. Any bowler might have felt that the force wasn’t with him after his run of bad luck, but Munaf bowled with heart and courage, and ultimately deserved more than just the two wickets in his bowling analysis.Through the mayhem at the other end, Shah stood his ground. Resuming on 50 after an attack of cramps the previous day, he played with skill, flair, and plenty of common sense. His strokeplay was sumptuous, the defence solid, and his batting with the tail extremely purposeful. Unbeaten on 65 when the eighth wicket fell, Shah assumed the role of senior batsman, nurdling the singles towards the end of the over to keep strike, but also not missing out on opportunities to crunch a couple of powerful boundaries despite a well spread-out field. Just 12 short of becoming the 17th centurion on debut for England – and second in this series – Shah fell, caught quite brilliantly at slip by Dravid. Harbhajan then wrapped up the innings to finish with three – a rich haul given his poor form – though by close of play England had struck back to leave the match perfectly poised.How they were out
IndiaVirender Sehwag c Shah b Hoggard 6 (9 for 1)
Wasim Jaffer c Jones b Hoggard 11 (24 for 2)
Sachin Tendulkar c Jones b Anderson 1 (28 for 3)
England
Paul Collingwood c Dhoni b Sreesanth 31 (326 for 4)
Andrew Flintoff c Tendulkar b Kumble 50 (328 for 5)
Geraint Jones c Kumble b Sreesanth 1 (333 for 6)
Shaun Udal lbw b Munaf 9 (356 for 7)
Matthew Hoggard b Munaf 0 (356 for 8)
Owais Shah c Dravid b Harbhajan 88 (385 for 9)
James Anderson c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 15 (400 all out)

It is still not certain whether Justin Langer will bat on the final day of the Johannesburg Test, even though the match itself looks like going down to the wire. At the close of the fourth day Australia still needed 44 runs to complete a clean sweep with four wickets in hand.But whether Langer, who was poleaxed by Makhaya Ntini in Australia’s first innings, will bat if needed remained a doubt.”He (Langer) wasn’t going to bat tonight if it came down to that,” said Mike Hussey. “I’m not sure how he will pull up tomorrow. As we all know he’s a pretty tough sort of character but at the end of the day it is just a game of cricket, and he’s got a lovely wife and four children at home.He will be monitored again in the morning but we will have to see how we go and see how he feels about it.”Philip Pope, the Australians’ media manager, was less optimistic, telling reporters that Langer was “more unlikely than likely to bat”.And Mark Boucher upped the already heated atmosphere by stating that if Langer was needed, he would be shown no mercy. “We’ve got a Test match to win … so if that means bowling short balls at him, so be it,” he said. “We can’t lay off, and I don’t think he’d expect us to lay off.”If I get hit on the head and expect half-volleys after that then I shouldn’t be playing the game. If there’s a Test match up for grabs, we’ve got to win it.”

Sri Lanka have strengthened their pace attack for the ODI series against England by calling up Dilhara Fernando and Ruchira Perera into a 14-man squad. The five-match series begins at Lord’s on June 17. The two replace Nuwan Zoysa and Nuwan Kulasekera in the squad.Perera, who did well during the series against Australia and South Africa earlier in the year, returns after being sidelined with a hamstring injury. He was reported for an illegal action during the 2002 tour to England. Fernando is back after being given time to work on a no-balling problem that has plagued him, most recently in the Test series against Pakistan in April. He will add some pace to the attack, given his status as arguably the fastest bowler in the country.He also has a good one-day record against England, having taken 15 wickets in six games at a cost of only 19 runs each.Russel Arnold, now considered a one-day specialist, has also been drafted into the squad. Thilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak and Michael Vandort all return home after the Test series which ended 1-1.England have delayed announcing their squad until later this week because of Andrew Flintoff’s injured ankle.Squad: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Russel Arnold, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Ruchira Perera, Malinga Bandara.

Vendors made full use of a meeting on the World Cup to vent anger about their treatment generally and to call for a better deal.After more than two hours of talks at St Mary’s Primary School in Bridgetown on Sunday, the estimated 60 vendors came away with assurances that the cup would offer more opportunities for selling inside the new-look Kensington Oval than the old cricketing arena, and that there would be fairness in the allocation of positions.Against a backdrop of repeated applause, vendors’ spokespersons Keith Corbin and Ireka Jalani raised concerns about the alleged disregard by the authorities of sellers’ views on matters, including the construction of markets, a reported lack of state marketing of those venues, and a crackdown on vending in city areas.Corbin wanted to know if the vending opportunities available at the ground would be set aside for “just a select few” or if vendors would get a chance to be involved. Chief operations officer with World Cup Barbados, Vancourt Rouse, said “a couple of dozen” opportunities for vending would be available inside Kensington, but distribution would be based on a tendering system. He urged vendors’ groups, including the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs, and the Kensington Vendors’ Association, to get together to ensure their members got a good deal.Manager of Legacy Barbados, David Reeves, told the meeting efforts were being made to ensure the tendering process was fair to vendors, to the point of making provision to help them fill out the relevant forms. He said vendors would have greater opportunities and fewer restrictions outside Kensington Oval, a venue where the ICC was involved in the rules. Planning for 60 days of activities surrounding the tournament offered “a tremendous amount of vending opportunities”, he said.The high level of security surrounding the events was also raised by Reeves, who said Barbados was talking to people who had gone to Germany for the football World Cup with a view to comparing developments there with the local plans. He said matches in Germany were played under the same security arrangement the Caribbean would have in place for next year, based on the much-talked-about “sunset legislation”.The meeting was called by Legacy Barbados to explain its mandate and get the views of vendors on a number of matters.

As the ball soared into the sky and landed with a thud onto the concretestands behind long-on, you braced yourself for the explosion of noise thatusually accompanies any Mahendra Singh Dhoni big hit. Instead, there waseerie near silence. With only a few reporters and a sprinkling of othersin attendance, there was no danger to eardrums from the Indian team’spractice match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.You’ve grown so accustomed to the hype and hoopla that follows these boysaround that the idea of them playing in front of the proverbial three menand dog seemed out of the realms of fantasy. They seemed to enjoy itthough, especially Dhoni, who smacked 32 from 30 balls before one loft toomany against the offspin of Ramesh Powar. The match billed as Rahul[Dravid] XI against [Ajit] Agarkar XI was more a straight contest betweenbat and ball, though Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh enacted both rolesbefore the 40 overs were completed.Both sides had been given targets by the team management. The bowlers wereasked to choke off the runs, and look to concede less than 35 in 10 overs,whereas the batsmen were to rattle along at 75 runs in the same period.With Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in fine fettle, that certainlyappeared a possibility. Tendulkar’s ability to throw from the deep may bea subject of debate, but there’s nothing whatsoever inhibiting hisshotmaking ability. He drove and cut with élan during a cameo of 26 (24balls) and it ended only with an outstanding catch on the run from DineshMongia at deep midwicket.Not to be outdone, Dravid stroked 10 fours before retiring to make way forYuvraj Singh, and Virender Sehwag thumped 28 in even time before Sreesanthgot one to keep low and trap him in front. Yuvraj, whose form in theone-day game was one of the features of India’s resurgence last season,crafted an elegant 41, and while he and Dhoni were in the middle, the bigshots were never too far away. Yuvraj played one superb sweep offHarbhajan and then spanked one straight down the ground, but an attempt torepeat the stroke ended up at long-on. Harbhajan, having won that littlebattle of the Punjab, couldn’t restrain his laughter.With Ian Frazer and Greg King umpiring, and Greg Chappell watching fromthe stands, Suresh Raina and Pathan didn’t stay too long, leaving MohammadKaif, very much the mid-innings anchor, and Harbhajan to see it through tothe close of play. By the time the players retreated to the shade andlunch inside the National Cricket Academy premises, 242 runs had come from40 overs, much nearer the batsmen’s target than the bowlers.

SM Yusuf, who has a special place in Indian cricket history for havingno-balled Anil Kumble’s medium-pace – prompting the switch to legspin -had scored the game, and was kind enough to provide a scorecardafterwards. Pathan went for 42 from his five overs, and will be glad thathe won’t have to come up against Tendulkar and Dravid every day, whileDinesh Mongia, who went for 30 from four overs, was reminded that morethan a Persian Gulf separates these guys from those who are lions merelyin county cricket.Ultimately though, it was a good outing for everyone, relaxed and withplenty of banter and enough of an edge to make sure that it didn’t descendinto farce. After lunch and a team meeting, it was back to the hotel and aswim to cool down. Then perhaps, a few might just tune in to watchhighlights of Sri Lanka’s remarkable win at the SSC, confirmation if anywas needed of the sterner tests that lie in wait.

Javed Omar, the Bangladesh opener, and Alok Kapali, the allrounder, have been excluded from Bangladesh’s squad for the three one-day internationals against Kenya beginning on August 12 at Nairobi.”The [Bangladesh] board’s cricket committee has decided to cut the team, that’s why Alok [Kapali] and Javed [Omar] will return home on the next available flight,” Mahmudur Rahman, BCB chief executive, told . “The team management also thought that a 14-member squad was good enough for three games after Tushar Imran left today to join the team.”Omar scored just 24 runs in the first three ODIs against Zimbabwe and was dropped for the last two games while Kapali played only the first and fourth games and contributed 33 runs and no wickets. Faruque Ahmed, the chief selector, said that their poor form was another reason why they were being sent back to Bangladesh.”The cricket committee asked the selectors to cut the team and we chose Alok and Javed as their present performance gave us an impression that there was hardly any necessity of their services in Kenya,” said Faruque. “The authority took the financial matter in their consideration to cut down the side.”

The crisis gripping Pakistan cricket intensified on Monday with the resignation of the PCB’s director of operations, Abbas Zaidi.”Abbas Zaidi has resigned and we have accepted his resignation,” Nasim Ashraf, the newly appointed PCB chief, told reporters after a meeting of the board in Lahore.Zaidi’s departure comes three days after the resignation of the former PCB chairman, Shaharyar Khan, and two days after Mushtaq Ahmed was sacked as assistant coach for the Champions Trophy.Pakistan cricket has been in the spotlight since August’s Oval Test against England when the captain, Inzamam-ul Haq, refused to take his team back on the field after it was accused of ball-tampering.Inzamam was acquitted of tampering but was handed a four-match ban for bringing the game into disrepute, and according to Zaheer Abbas, who was Pakistan’s manager on the tour, he had “lost the confidence” of senior board officials.Inzamam’s replacement, Younis Khan, last week refused to lead the side, saying he did not want to be a “dummy” captain. The refusal prompted Khan to resign, although he was reinstated by Ashraf on Saturday, hours before the team’s departure for India and the Champions Trophy.Ashraf said that Inzamam would captain Pakistan against West Indies, who are set to tour in November and December for three Tests and five one-day internationals.”Inzamam will lead Pakistan in the home series against West Indies,” said Ashraf. “Younis was only appointed for the Champions Trophy.”

If England believed that their Ashes salvation lay in the miraculous pre-Christmas recovery of their injured captain, Michael Vaughan, then today’s events at the South Perth Oval will have dented their optimism just a touch. Playing for the Academy side against Western Australia 2nds – his first competitive fixture since undergoing a third bout of knee surgery in May – Vaughan was dismissed for a seventh-ball duck.News of his comeback had caused a sensation among the travelling English media, with several members making a 1300-mile detour to cover the match at an otherwise unassuming Grade Cricket ground in the suburbs of Perth. It proved an unrewarding trip. Play was held up for an hour by rain and then, after England’s fielding stint got underway, it was interrupted again after 20 overs.Vaughan did at least come through the day with his knee intact and said: “To be honest, today was all about getting back playing cricket, so it is a huge positive for me that I am back on the field.”It is [the] early stages of a comeback, but six months ago I never thought I would get to the stage of playing cricket again and it was a really tough time. For me, it is a good day.”During play he fielded for 11 overs of Western Australia’s innings, mostly at mid-on or in the slips. Western Australia were restricted to 218 in their innings, but that was soon put into context by England’s woeful reply. The Academy side – from whom all further replacements for the Ashes series will be drawn – slumped to a woeful 5 for 12. Vaughan himself was caught behind by Christian Moir off an outswinger from Darren Wates, a man who managed just four wickets in six matches in the Pura Cup last season.”Next week hopefully I’ll get a few runs and spend a little bit more time in the middle,” Vaughan added. “Over the next few weeks we’ll be having plenty of practice, plenty of middle practice and I hope to play a full part in next Wednesday’s [Academy] game.”The real test will be when I have to spend the whole day in the field or bat for five hours, to see how the knee responds to that.”

West Indies 191 for 6 (Ganga 77*) trail Pakistan 304 (Yousuf 102) by 113 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
West Indies how they were out

A battling unbeaten 77 by Daren Ganga kept West Indies in the game as they closed the second day on 191 for 6, still 113 behind Pakistan’s first-innings total of 304. Ganga fought off an inspired spell of reverse-swing bowling by Umar Gul – who rocked West Indies with three wickets in two overs after smashing a crucial 26 earlier in the day – and the relentless accuracy of Danish Kaneria in an attritional 212-ball innings which ensured that Pakistan didn’t completely take the day’s honours.The lack of pace and bounce in the pitch were deterrents for the bowlers, but they had other factors going in their favour. The track was dry and abrasive, while the outfield was rough, and together they were perfect conditions for reverse-swing, an art in which Pakistan have long excelled. Gul led the way with two outstanding deliveries to get rid of Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan – both for ducks – while Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Nazir consistently asked questions of the batsmen with their ability to move the ball late. Danish Kaneria was hampered by the lack of bounce, but he varied his line and flight, turned the ball appreciably, and ensured that there were few scoring opportunities.In such testing conditions, Ganga’s innings was a gem. It contained few strokes to light up the ground or bring the crowd to their feet – Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul took those honours – but for sheer technical excellence, poise, composure and powers of concentration, it was a top-class effort.Against the late swing from the fast bowlers, he displayed a compact defensive technique, getting a big front-foot stride and playing with bat right beside pad. The lack of pace also allowed him to adjust late, and he rarely committed to his shots early. Kaneria has troubled him in the past, but here even he struggled to breach Ganga’s rock-solid defence. Amid all the doggedness, Ganga also produced a few glorious strokes – when the ball was pitched up he unfurled a couple of copy-book correct off-drives, while a cut shot off Gul, played off the front foot, showed just how well he had adjusted to the surface.While he negotiated the swing and the spin five of his mates fell to a combination of outstanding bowling and bad luck. Gayle started off at a frenetic pace in the morning, driving superbly down the ground and getting to 40 in quick time before mistiming a long hop straight to mid-on. If that was a wicket gifted away, the next two certainly weren’t. Gul, bowling an inspired spell in the afternoon session, first took care of Lara with one that pitched on middle, moved away, beat Lara’s hesitant second-ball prod, and took off. In his next over Sarwan – back in the side after missing out at Multan – was clueless against the perfect inswinging yorker. Fifty-one without loss quickly became 51 for 3, before Shivnarine Chanderpaul produced the second fluent cameo of the day.Timing the ball as sublimely as Mohammad Yousuf had on the first day, Chanderpaul started off with two crisply timed clips off his legs for fours, and raced to 36 from 49 balls before Imran Farhat took the first of two slightly fortuitous catches at short leg as Chanderpaul flicked one from the middle of the bat.Runako Morton’s technique was severely tested by the ball swinging in to him, but he survived and managed to add 39 with Ganga, before Farhat plucked off another one – this time the ball hit Farhat’s shoulder, and perhaps grazed the visor, before lobbing into his hands. There was a moment of controversy too, as the third umpire was called in to check if the ball had indeed touched the helmet, in which case the batsman would have been ruled not out. Replays were inconclusive, and Kaneria had his second wicket of the day.Those wickets buoyed up Kaneria, who wheeled down 28.4 overs with unflagging enthusiasm throughout a long day, and he soon had another dismissal to celebrate, as the out-of-sorts Dwayne Bravo finally ran out of patience and bottom-edged a cut to the wicketkeeper. Ganga kept West Indies afloat, but with 113 in the arrears, West Indies still have plenty of work to do on the third day.