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The chances of this year’s Ashes series in England being seen live on Australian terrestrial television have receded with the news that the ABC is not considering a bid for the rights.The Brisbane Courier-Mail quoted Ian Knight, ABC’s head of television, as saying: “The ABC has to consider the needs of the whole ABC audience. We have to consider regular viewers would be deprived of some shows they have been watching for long periods. Also, we are not a rich organisation and it has been some time since we made a bid for commercial rights on a major sporting event.”Channel 9, who devote a lot of air-time to Australia’s home series, say that the timing of this year’s series is awkward for them: “We have Wimbledon, the AFL and the rugby league to fit in as well, so it is very hard to do justice to it all.”That leaves Channel 7, who broadcast the 2001 Ashes series from England, as the only realistic free-to-air contender – and with pay-TV channel Fox Sports having already purchased the rights and planning to broadcast every ball of the Tests and one-day internationals, it seems unlikely that 7 will make a bid.

Graham Thorpe, the former England middle-order batsman, is unlikely to play for New South Wales (NSW) in the 2005-06 season.Trevor Bayliss, the NSW coach, said that keeping in mind the objective of developing players for the national team, Thorpe would be considered for selection only after the fringe players were given opportunities to play. “We are hoping he doesn’t play as I have said before,” Bayliss was quoted as saying by AFP “and he is aware of that but we will have to see how the season pans out”.Brad Haddin, the NSW wicketkeeper-captain, added that the prospect of Thorpe playing was remote. “He is there if we need him but if the players are doing the job they are meant to do, I don’t think there will be any need to pick him,” Haddin said.Thorpe will play for UTS Balmain, a Sydney club, and Bayliss felt that his experience would be valuable for the team. “It is very difficult these days to get blokes like Mark and Steve Waugh, and Mark Taylor, who have played 100 Tests, it is very difficult to get guys like that around practice, other than one or two times a year. So to have someone there full-time after Christmas will be a benefit to our young guys.”Thorpe retired from international cricket after he was left out of the England squad for the Ashes series in July. Thorpe is said to be considering Australia as a permanent residence option.

ScorecardQueensland raced to the top of the table with a 168-run victory over Tasmania at Bellerive Oval. Tasmania required 340 for victory but could manage only 171. James Hopes starred with the ball, claiming 4 for 39 to supplement his first-innings 97 off 81 balls.David Dawson stood out with his 38, the highest score of Queensland’s innings. The bowlers struck regularly, allowing no batsman to build on his start. But the building blocks of Queensland’s success had been constructed a day earlier, when Jimmy Maher struck 170 out of 271, setting Tasmania a target of 340.

Sunil Gavaskar will host a conclave being held by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in June, in which the captains of domestic sides that play in the Ranji Trophy will meet and discuss cricketing matters. A similar conclave held last year received enthusiastic participation, and the BCCI clearly hopes to institutionalise the event.The Press Trust of India reported that as a preliminary preparation for the conclave, the BCCI has solicited reports and observations about the last domestic season from the captains, umpires and match referees involved.Mumbai, which had hosted last year’s conclave, is a likely venue for next month’s meet. The last time, it had been a grand success, with Gavaskar stating that he was delighted with the levels of interactivity that were displayed by the stakeholders of the domestic game.

It should have been the dodo among dead rubbers. On Saturday West Indies, who havealready qualified for the semifinals of the Champions Trophy, take onEngland, who have no chance of qualifying to the next round. The onlything to consider was what position West Indies would qualify in, but nowthe game, which will be played at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium inMotera has piqued interest, as there’s a chancethe Andrew Flintoff will bowl for the first time since he suffered anankle injury.”There is a possibility, yes,” said Flintoff at a pre-match pressconference after a practice session, when asked whether he intended tobowl in the forthcoming match. “I have bowled in the nets over the pasttwo weeks or so, and the ankle has responded well to it. I have just done15-20 minutes, and if I don’t react to anything and I am fine, the chancesare I will bowl.”Flintoff the bowler has been one of the most imaginative and powerfulbowlers in the world in recent times. His deceptively quick deliveries,rearing into the rib-cage have posed problems for all sorts of batsmen,including the Australians. And so, whentalk of him returning to bowling does the rounds the excitement isunderstandable, and perhaps it got to one journalist, who asked ifFlintoff would go the whole hog and bowl ten overs if he picked up fivewickets in his first few overs. “I have no intentions of bowling my fullquota,” came the speedy reply, “under any circumstances.”Often, in recent times, you’ve heard the word pride being bandied aboutwhenever the West Indies come to town. For once, though, it was theopposition who had to think along those lines, as West Indies come intothe game with not just solid wins under their belt, but virtually everyplayer in good form. “We know this is a team that can fight back. AgainstPakistan in the summer in England, we came back from 2-0 down to draw2-2,” said Flintoff. “So the team does fight and has got lot of character.They also have a lot of pride and we will trying our damndest to win thegame, and take a win out of this tournament.”We obviously want to finish the tournament with a win,” Flintoffcontinued. “We have been beaten twice and we are playing for pride, andpride is a strong thing to play for. We want to win a game of cricket inIndia. The West Indies may be through and we may be going home, but westill want to put up a good show. We want to perform and want to go homewith a win.”When they do go home, though, don’t expect the English public to burneffigies of Flintoff and Duncan Fletcher and tar their homes just becausethey failed completely in a one-day tournament. That sort of thing happensonly in India and Pakistan. For most of England, little matters but theAshes, and naturally, that came up for discussion. “We have got a gameagainst the West Indies, which we are taking as an important game for usin our development,” said Flintoff, pausing for a moment at the presentbefore turning his attention back to the future. “Then we will make surewe go home and spend time with our families. Then when we get on the plane[to Australia], then obviously my attention will be focused on Australia.”The talk then shifted from England to West Indies, and inevitably it wentto Brian Lara. “He is up there, isn’t he? He is a fantastic player. Wehave been at the wrong end of Lara a couple of times,” said Flintoff. “Hedoes things that us mortals can’t. When he gets 400 at Antigua, makes mewish I could actually bat like him. He is one of the greats that the gamehas produced along with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh andobviously going back to the days gone by. He is someone we respect becausehe is a fine player.”Who knows, with his back still nowhere near 100% strong, Lara might justchoose to sit out the game against England. If he does, it will be adisappointment for the fans, but England won’t mind at all. The last timethese two teams played each other in a one-dayer, it was in the final ofthis very tournament, two years ago at The Oval, and in the dying light ona gloomy September evening, the horns of Brixton trilled in unbridled joyas Courtney Brown and Ian Bradshaw steered West Indies to a stunning win.And now here we go again, on a lesser stage, almost certainly without thesame ambience, but it’s the same two teams, and who knows, we could be infor another cracker.

Western Province 217 and 260 for 6 (Duminy 89*, Henderson 53*) lead KwaZulu-Natal 187 by 290 runs
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At Newlands, Western Province extended their lead to 290 with foursecond-innings wickets in hand as Jean-Paul Duminy, with a mature five-and-a-half-hour knock, and Claude Henderson, playing his last first-class game in South Africa, put on 126 for the sixth wicket.Starting the day at 62 for 1, Province lost two quick wickets, both on 84,and then found themselves struggling at 126 for 5 when Henderson joined Duminy at the crease. When they finished, 210 minutes later, they had taken the score to 252 and out of KwaZulu-Natal’s reach.With two more days to go, their will be no thoughts of a declaration and Natal face an uphill struggle to get back into the game.

Morne van Wyk, the 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Free State, will join the injury hit South African squad in Pakistan. South Africa have been plagued by a number of fitness worries early on the tour: Herschelle Gibbs missed the first one-day international due to muscle soreness, Neil McKenzie suffered from back spasms, while Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar were clearly bothered by the heat and humidity in that match.Explaining the decision to opt for a reinforcement, Eric Simons, the South African coach, said: "We do have a few injury worries with Herschelle and Neil, and the severe heat and humidity also took its toll on Friday when Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar suffered from cramps. Morne will give us more flexibility if we have further injury problems or if we decide to rotate players in the rest of the games." van Wyk will join the South African team on Monday.South Africa have a busy schedule ahead of them in Pakistan, playing four ODIs in a week’s time before being faced with back-to-back Tests. Simons added that the packed itinerary was also a reason why the team management decided to ask for cover. "It takes nearly 24 hours to travel from South Africa, so we would rather have him here than back home should problems arise next week."van Wyk made his international debut in the NatWest Series final against England earlier this year, and has been in terrific batting form for the A side, scoring 52, 56 and 118 in three one-day matches against the Sri Lankan A team last week.

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ScorecardDarren Berry, Victoria’s captain, strongly defended his team’s strategy as their Pura Cup match against Western Australia headed for a draw. WA were 0 for 100 in their second innings at stumps, an overall lead of 18 runs, after Victoria’s post-tea declaration on 9 for 355.Wayne Clark, Victoria’s coach, said the game “just may peter out into a very, very tame draw”, but Berry contended that was entirely up to WA. “We lost four or five wickets more than what we wanted to, which made it look poor,” Berry said. “Now it looks bad and I can understand that and I’m prepared to cop that, but for me I still think the game is very much alive.”They’ve said all along they want to play for six points, we want to play for six and we were going to go with dominating the game because I felt we deserved that right after bowling them out and being 2 for 200. The facts are we stuffed up with the bat, which then swung it around … 6 for 80 dropped us in the poo.”Berry pointed to WA’s first-innings collapse on day one, when they lost 7 wickets for 58 runs to be all out for 273, and his side’s slide of 6 wickets for only 83 in 15 overs before tea, as signs that this was a result wicket. He contended WA could bat for 50 or 60 overs tomorrow, with a minimum of 112, and then set Victoria a target.Victoria resumed on 1 for 78 after yesterday’s long rain delay, with an extra hour’s play today and tomorrow as compensation for the time lost. Matthew Elliott made 71, the third time in as many innings he has let a century go begging, before Brad Hodge and Jon Moss looked to take control.But Hodge’s dismissal for 100 with the score on 3 for 235 and Moss’s fall for 52 18 runs later sparked a middle-order collapse. Berry originally planned for Victoria to reach 500 and then try to bowl out WA tomorrow. Cameron White scored a quickfire 58 not out either side of tea to close the innings. John Taylor took 4 for 70 and was on a hat-trick when he bowled Berry for a golden duck.Clark said it was entirely up to Victoria to plan their tactics, but made WA’s disappointment clear. “We might have expected it a little bit earlier, to open the game up, but obviously that’s the way they see it, the best way they can win the game,” Clark said. “All I can say is we would have played it a little bit differently. We needed an opportunity to win the game and have time to bowl them out as well. It’s easy to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk.”Justin Langer was 53 not out at the close, including a straight six off White which went out of the ground, and Mike Hussey reached 45 not out. Mike Hussey bowled to David Hussey today, the first time since Greg and Trevor Chappell in the 1983-84 season that a batsman had faced his brother in Australian first-class cricket.

David Hussey is the latest Australian batsman to be added to the list of potential signings to fill Nottinghamshire’s second overseas player slot this summer.The 26-year-old batsman, younger brother of former Northants skipper Mike Hussey, is currently leading the 2003-04 Pura Cup averages and his eye-catching performances have helped his state side, Victoria, to the top of the standings.Hussey is now being tipped for a place in Australia’s squad for the forthcoming tour to Sri Lanka, especially following his recent 212 not out in Victoria’s remarkable victory over New South Wales, when they scored 455 for 7 in the fourth innings.Hussey punished Stuart MacGill’s spin severely in that match but with MacGill already confirmed as one Notts overseas player for this summer, they may yet end up as team-mates. Nottinghamshire are looking for a second overseas player following the decision not to offer a new contract to last year’s one-day captain Chris Cairns.Other Australians in the frame include former Test players Matthew Elliott, Greg Blewett, who had a spell at Trent Bridge in 2001, and Michael Bevan.

Unbeaten pair Lymington and Old Tauntonians & Romsey are battling it out for supremacy at the top of Southern Electric Premier League, Division 2.The duo both extended their winning starts against newly promoted opponents – Lymington beating Gosport Borough by 64 runs and OT’s trimming last season’s Division 3 champions, Purbrook by a 46-run margin.Lymington simply out-batted Gosport on a Sports Ground shirtfront – all of the top order getting amongst the runs as the New Forest side posted a formidable 271-7 to plunge Gosport to a third successive defeat.Martin Hunt (42) was prominent in early partnerships with Glyn Treagus (29) and Dan Peacock (34), but it was Ben Craft’s 69, aided by an unbeaten 37 from Tom Peacock, which powered Lymington into a near invincible position.Gosport dipped to 65-5 (Andrew Watkins 31) before Pete Robson (61) gave their eventual 207 an air of respectability.A second second-wicket stand between Max Smith (86) and Raj Niak(54) powered OTR into the driving seat at Purbrook, where last year’s Division 3 champs were left chasing 262-7 (Jeremy Ord 38).Will Prozesky (78) launched Purbrook’s reply in style, but with Nick Wood taking 5-60, the ask was too great and they closed at 216 all out.Hampshire’s John Francis spanked 113 not out and shared a near double-century stand with Steve Shaw (106) as St Cross Symondians piled up a massive 285-2 at Hursley Park.Paul Edwards (65) and Sandeep Halder (35) gave Hursley token hope, but it was all too much as the Park slipped to 213 all out.Dave Birch continued his rich vein of form with an unbeaten 88 as Easton & Martyr Worthy cruised past Sparsholt’s 195-5 to win by nine wickets.Tim Richings (43), Nick Boxall (41) and Ollie Kelly (39) top scored for Sparsholt, but once Birch and Ashley Spencer (40) had established an 82-run start the writing was on the wall for the visitors.Birch and Shaun Green added an unbroken 114 for the second wicket.Neil Cunningham’s 68 got Burridge home by three wickets after United Services had posted 183-8 (Gary Hounsome 50) at Burnaby Road.Burridge wobbled at 143-6, but Phil Ransley’s 22 not out got them home.