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A 14-man England Under-19 squad has been named for the two Test matches against Sri Lanka later this month with three new players included in the set-up.Nottinghamshire’s Jacob Ball, Daniel Bell-Drummond from Kent and Lewis Gregory of Somerset get their first taste of U-19 action alongside more established names like Azeem Rafiq, the Yorkshire offspinner, and Gloucestershire pace bowler David Payne.”I feel we have selected a balanced squad for this Test series against Sri Lanka, bringing in three new faces alongside a core of players who have played for England U19s over the past year,” said John Abrahams, the ECB elite player development manager.”A number of players still eligible to play at this level are now regularly playing first-class cricket and we are delighted with their progress and feel that they should remain with their counties. This gives us an excellent opportunity to test less experienced players in what will be a demanding series.”A captain has yet to be named and will be chosen when the squad meets up on July 16 ahead of the series. Rafiq, who is a regular for Yorkshire in one-day cricket, will be one of the favourites for the position. Following the Test series there are two Twenty20 matches and five ODIs.Squad Adam Ball (Kent), Jacob Ball (Nottinghamshire), Michael Bates (Hampshire), Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent), Paul Best (Warwickshire), Matthew Dunn (Surrey), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Ateeq Javid (Warwickshire), Jack Manuel (Worcestershire), David Payne (Gloucestershire), Azeem Rafiq (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Atif Sheikh (Derbyshire), Luke Wells (Sussex)

ScorecardSean Ervine claimed four wickets for 12 runs as Hampshire skittled Gloucestershire for their lowest Twenty20 Cup score in a one-sided game at Bristol.The Gladiators were shot out for just 68 in 17.5 overs after winning the toss, with only two players reaching double figures. Dominic Cork took 2 for 9 and Chris Wood 2 for 12.That total was never likely to prove a problem for the Royals, who skated to victory by seven wickets with a massive 12.3 overs to spare. James Vince top-scored with 26, while man-of-the-match Ervine finished unbeaten on 14.Hampshire had gone into the game bottom of the South Division, but their third win in the competition lifted them above their hapless opponents. Gloucestershire never recovered from being reduced to 11 for three as Will Porterfield sacrificed his wicket to a needless run out and Wood dismissed Hamish Marshall and James Franklin in the same over.Ervine then destroyed the middle order, sending back Chris Taylor, Alex Gidman, Steve Snell and Kadeer Ali for a combined total of 24 runs. Vince took two good boundary catches at midwicket as Hampshire backed up their bowlers with some sharp fielding.Jon Lewis top-scored with 19 and hit the only six of the innings in a rare moment of defiance. But Cork returned to polish off the tail and it was a sorry procession for the home side, who have now lost five of their seven Friends Provident t20 games.Hampshire openers Michael Lumb and Jimmy Adams had no intention of hanging around and took 17 off the first two overs of the powerplay. It looked a pretty good batting pitch, which made Gloucestershire’s failings all the more inexcusable. But Kirby struck twice in the third over as Lumb pulled a catch to Vikram Banerjee at fine leg and Adams edged a catch to Porterfield at second slip.Home supporters had precious little else to cheer as Ervine and Vince continued to be positive in seeing Hampshire to a facile victory. They added 47 in less than five overs before Vince was bowled by Banerjee with the match already won.

Shoaib Malik’s appeal against the punishment handed out to him by the PCB earlier this year has been “partially accepted” by an independent arbitration tribunal, which has overturned his one-year ban and halved his Rs 2 million fine.”The board’s legal advisor has reported to me that after monitoring Malik in the last three months they feel he has improved his behavior and attitude,” Irfan Qadir, the arbitrator, said. “I have decided to uphold his appeal and lift the ban as the purpose of disciplinary action against players was to make them rethink about their careers.”Malik was relieved after the decision and said the purpose behind his appeal was to “clear this stigma” against his name.”His appeal has been partially accepted,” the PCB’s legal advocate Talib Rizvi told Cricinfo. “The ban has been lifted and his fine has been halved. The board has the right to review the decision but as of now he is eligible to play for Pakistan again.””I am very happy that with the blessings of Allah my stand has been vindicated and all the baseless charges and allegations have been quashed,” Malik, 28, said in a statement. “It’s a sort of new life for me and I am very happy.”The charge against Malik was never clearly explained by the inquiry committee that decided on the punishment but it was widely thought to be for what a number of management officials and players called his negative influence on the side. This was confirmed in a subsequently leaked video of the inquiry committee meetings, in which Malik’s role within the squad was blasted by a number of players including Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf.Qadir, a retired judge, will now send a report to the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, who will put the decisions in front of the board of governors. “We’re going according to our constitution which says an appeal can be filed in such cases,” Butt told Cricinfo. “I will now receive the report from the arbitrator and then put it up in front of the board of governors for their approval.”Though Butt refused to say so, it is expected he will approve the findings and that the board of governors will ratify it as well, thus removing legal obstacles from the way of Malik’s potential return. Malik was named in the list of 35 probables for Pakistan’s next two assignments, in Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup and then a long summer tour to England, but it is unlikely he will make the cut for the first task. The 15-man squad for the Asia Cup is to be picked in the first week of June and the governing board’s next meeting is likely to be after that.The decision also paves the way for some of the other players’ punishments to be reduced or removed. The board has eased its stance in recent days against the punished players. Butt first told a national assembly meeting that he would review the punishments again before lavishly praising Younis Khan – another player punished by his board. Younis’ hearing, which was due to take place immediately after Malik’s, was adjourned to June 5.Malik’s relief, Cricinfo understands, is part of an agreement the board has reached already with at least three other players. According to board sources, like Malik, Afridi and the Akmal brothers will also see their monetary fines cut by half. Of the other players punished, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan’s next hearing is scheduled for June 19, while no dates have yet been set for Afridi and the Akmal brothers.When and if players such as Malik and Younis return – and if Mohammad Yousuf comes back from retirement – questions are likely to be asked about how cordial Pakistan’s dressing room will be, given the startling levels of mistrust and disunity in the side. The PCB says they have given the team’s manager Yawar Saeed and other officials greater authority in clamping down against any future incidents.”I have instructed the team manager and other officials including the captain that any act of indiscipline, any such problem, and they have my full backing in immediately sending a player back,” Butt said. “They need not even refer the case to me, they can send the player back immediately as they will have full authority to do so.”

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Teenager Chesney Hughes scored a gutsy 41 on his first-class debut to saveDerbyshire from total collapse against Middlesex in their CountyChampionship Second Division match at Lord’s. England quick Steven Finn led an impressive Middlesex attack as they reduced the visitors to 190 for 9 when bad light forced an end to the day with 82.5 overs bowled.Hughes, a 19-year-old allrounder from Anguilla, came in at No. 7 andimmediately saw his team lose their sixth wicket at the same score of 105 to be in deep trouble. But after eight overs on 0 he began to dig Derbyshire out of trouble with some powerful cover drives.First with Lee Goddard, and then in a 51-run eighth wicket stand with TomLungley, he ensured Derbyshire some sort of respectability at the end of anopening day which began at 12 noon due to the visiting team’s overnight travel from Leeds – where they had played a Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture the previous day – and ended early due to bad light.Finn struck the first and most telling blow of the day when he had ChrisRogers, the Derbyshire captain and prolific Australian, caught at first slip by Andrew Strauss with a magnificent delivery that bounced and left the left-hander.Wayne Madsen and Paul Borrington did well to negotiate the remainder of Finn and Tim Murtagh’s new-ball spells and, at 64 for 1, it looked as if Derbyshire – having won the toss and decided to bat – had weathered the worst and sailed into more serene waters.But then Murtagh and Finn returned for their second spells, and Madsen wasbeaten by a ball angled in from wider on the crease and lbw for 29. Garry Park was almost immediately adjudged lbw to a similar delivery fromMurtagh, and Derbyshire’s collapse continued apace when Finn won an lbw decision against Greg Smith even though it seemed a little high.John Sadler was the next to go, flashing irresponsibly at a widish ball from medium pacer Gareth Berg, and when Borrington’s gritty 46 was ended by an unlucky leg-glance to wicketkeeper John Simpson it was left to Hughes and the tail to pick up the pieces as best they could.Hughes is only the third Anguillan to play county cricket behind Omari Banks and former Hampshire favourite Cardigan Connor, who recommended the teen to Derbyshire head of cricket John Morris last summer when the teenager was playing for Fleetwood in the North Lancashire League.He repaid some of that faith with an 88-ball innings that included seven fours before thick-edging an attempted square cut and being superbly held above his head by Strauss at first slip. Finn, armed with the second new ball, then removed Tim Groenewald just before the premature close, to give himself figures of 3 for 45 from 19 classyovers.Lungley hung on with 19 not out to leave Derbyshire hoping for at least onebatting bonus point.

ScorecardTom Westley confirmed his rich promise by guiding Essex out of trouble in theirCounty Championship clash against Hampshire at Chelmsford.Although they only trailed by nine runs on the first innings, the home countylost Billy Godleman and John Maunders in the first couple of overs before thearrears were cleared. But 21-year-old Westley played the leading role with captain Mark Pettini to start a recovery which ended with Essex reaching the close on 131 for four. Hewill resume the final day on 69.Westley laced his innings with nine boundaries, many of them well-struck driveseither side of the wicket. While he was prepared to attack, Pettini adopted a cautious approach and needed 60 deliveries to move into double figures. Pettini went on to contribute just 19 from 83 deliveries before he cut David Griffiths into the hands of Mike Carberry in the gully.His dismissal brought to an end a stand of 80 in 28 overs, after which Westleybecame subdued. After his entertaining progress that carried him to his half-century from 68deliveries, he took a further 88 to add another 19. The value of his effort, however, was further highlighted when James Foster, in the final over of the day, pulled a delivery from Griffiths into the waiting hands of Chris Benham at square leg.Essex will go into the final day with a lead of 122 and with Hampshire hopingto make quick inroads to inspire hopes of victory. But given that the pitch is still very friendly, the odds are on the match ending in a draw.Earlier in the day, Hampshire were bowled out for 354 after resuming on 234 forfive in response to an Essex total of 345 all out. Nearly half their runs came from Jimmy Adams who, resuming on 113, went on to make 169 before he was ninth man out.Fast bowler David Masters finally ended his resistance by bowling him to bringthe curtain down on an innings which spanned eight hours. During that time hefaced 356 balls and collected 23 fours. Masters went on to return figures of four for 67 in 36.4 overs.

Bangladesh’s captain, Shakib Al Hasan, believes his team is gelling well in the build-up to the 2011 World Cup in exactly 12 months’ time, and regards the final ODI against England in Chittagong as an opportunity to lay down a significant marker at a venue where the two teams are set to meet again in the group stages of the tournament.On March 11 next year, England will return to Chittagong for their fifth match of the World Cup, and the showdown could potentially prove crucial to their prospects of reaching the quarter-final knock-out stages, given that India and South Africa are among their early opponents. And, having been pushed to the brink in the decisive second ODI in Mirpur on Tuesday, England can expect another trial by spin on Friday, with Bangladesh set to name an unchanged side on a ground that has offered appreciable turn in the past.”Hopefully by the World Cup we will be a very good team,” Shakib told Cricinfo. “We understand our game very well now, and we know what kind of shots we can play and what type of game we have to play. Our mindset is good because there’s no fear, every time a guy goes out he is thinking he has to step up for the team. It’s not about one person standing up, it’s about a team effort.”Although the series has now gone, Bangladesh’s quest for a maiden victory over England continues, despite Shakib’s suggestion on Tuesday that he is more interested in closing the gap on the “bigger” teams in the 50-over game. “We believe we can beat any side if we play to our ability,” he said. “We’ll definitely try to win the game, but we’ll have to keep our processes right. We just need to perform well and keep doing our jobs.”The speed with which Bangladesh learned from their errors in the first ODI, in which Tamim Iqbal scored a brilliant century but found himself completely unsupported, has impressed an England team that has not had a close look at their opponents since a one-sided series back in 2005. With Imrul Kayes and Mushfiqur Rahim knuckling down to produce a pair of crease-occupying fifties, the team was able to bat through its 50 overs, and use the final Powerplay to post a competitive total of 260.”For the last 15-16 months, we’ve been scoring consistently well,” said Shakib. “Imrul and Mushy are playing superbly, and I need to bat well too, but we have some good hitters at the end of the team too. Hopefully we’ll put our big total on the board again, and continue our good performance with the bat.”Unfortunately for Bangladesh, they still made a clutch of critical errors in the second match, most notably in the field, where three catches went down – two of which, off Paul Collingwood and Alastair Cook, proved particularly costly. In addition, England’s matchwinner, Eoin Morgan, survived a brace of lbw appeals from Mahmudullah that might on another day have been upheld. The net result was another case of so near, yet so far.”We stuck to our batting plan, because the boys know the rules and they try to do it every game,” said Bangladesh’s coach, Jamie Siddons. “I thought 260 gave us a good chance if we took our catches, which we didn’t, and if decisions had gone our way, which they didn’t. England would have been in a whole heap of trouble if Morgan had been given out.”But he wasn’t, and even though wickets continued to slip away at the other end, Morgan’s calm demeanour and his uncanny recognition of a scoring opportunity allowed England to sneak home by two wickets in the penultimate over. “I know how big he can hit it, so I always thought he’d be a sticking point in the Powerplay,” admitted Siddons. “Taking on our medium pacers and spinners against the short boundaries was always going to be a problem.”Ultimately, Bangladesh’s decision to revert to the seam of Shafiul Islam proved costly. Having been made to bide his time against the spinners, Morgan used the extra pace to crack 23 match-winning runs in 11 deliveries, but Siddons refused to pin the blame on a rookie in only his second month of international cricket.”It’s always easy in hindsight, but the Powerplay overs have always been a problem for us,” he said. “In the past, we’ve tried Abdur Razzak and he’s gone for 25 in the last over, and we’ve tried Rubel [Hossain] and he’s gone for 20. Shafiul bowls good yorkers in practice, and he’s our Powerplay go-to man, but he just didn’t execute, and you can’t do a thing if you don’t execute. The spinners might have done the same thing.”

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United Arab Emirates completed a comfortable five-wicket victory over the United States of America in their World Twenty20 Qualifier warm-up game in Sharjah. A middle-order collapse meant USA could only muster 134 for 8, and after opener Mohammad Iqbal’s brutal 43 the target was chased down with 11 balls to spare.USA had looked set for a large total after Sushil Nadkarni and Carl Wright put on 64 in the first eight overs. Nadkarni, who has a reputation as a prolific batsman in American cricket, blazed his way to a half-century, but his dismissal by Fayyaz Ahmed sparked a disastrous collapse as seven wickets fell for only 25 runs in the second half of the innings.Ahmed grabbed three wickets in four balls – including the captain Steve Massiah and Sudesh Dhaniram for first-ball ducks – while Ahmed Raza and Shadeep Silva ensured there would be no fightback from the lower order. Orlando Baker’s breezy cameo took the score past 130, but USA would have been hoping for 30 to 40 more runs after the bright start to their innings.UAE’s reply got off to a brisk start courtesy of Iqbal. He smashed six boundaries, including three sixes, to take the pressure off his opening partner, Arfan Haider, who played a far more sedate innings before he was dismissed by Imran Awan. Iqbal was run out in the same over, but calm innings from Saqib Ali and captain Khurram Khan ensured there would be no repeat of USA’s collapse.Timroy Allen, the young Jamaican-born fast bowler, struck twice in the 18th over to remove Khan and Ahmed, but by then the result was all but sealed. These two teams meet again at Abu Dhabi in two days time for their second warm-up game before the World Twenty20 Qualifiers begin on February 9.

India need only draw with South Africa in the upcoming two-match series to retain the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings. But if they lose the series, being billed as a world championship bout, they stand to lose the US$175,000 the ICC gives to the team that is on top come April 1.MS Dhoni’s India go into the series with 125 points, five ahead of Graeme Smith’s South Africa, whom they displaced at the top of the pile on December 6 with a 2-0 Test series win over Sri Lanka. A 1-0 win will lift India to 127 points and push South Africa to 118 ratings points; a 2-0 result will drop South Africa to 116 points, for which they will receive $75,000 from the ICC.Having made clear their intentions to recapture the No. 1 ranking when they defeated Australia in a Test series for the first time in 16 years last summer, South Africa need to win 1-0 to do so, which will take them to 123 points and see India drop to 122. If South Africa sweep the series they will rise to 125 points and India fall to 120.They have won just two of their past eight Tests, four of which were against Australia, and their inability to register a series victory over England at home recently kept them from taking the top spot.Australia are ranked third and, though they are touring New Zealand, have no chance of moving to the top.In other ranking opportunities, Smith and Gautam Gambhir, the Indian opener, will battle it out for the No. 1 spot for Test batsmen. Gambhir is in first position, 39 points ahead of Smith, but a lean series could see him lose his place.

VVS Laxman will be returning to India from the tour of Bangladesh after injuring his finger while dropping a catch in the first Test in Chittagong. But MS Dhoni, who missed the first Test due to a back strain, and Harbhajan Singh, who sat out due to a stiff neck, have recovered completely and are fit for the next game in Mirpur on January 24.”Laxman is returning home tomorrow. There will be no replacements,” Arshad Ayub, India’s team manager, said. Laxman dropped Bangladesh top-order batsman Shahriar Nafees on the fourth day and showed signs of pain when he tried to stop an outside edge that fell just short of him a few balls later. Laxman needed ten stitches on his left hand, and with India taking a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series, the decision to send him back home was taken.However, India will be boosted by the recovery of Harbhajan and Dhoni. Harbhajan bowled a long spell to Rahul Dravid on the center pitch immediately after the game ended, and Dhoni, who looks likely to take over the reins from stand-in captain Virender Sehwag, has been batting in the nets from yesterday.Sreesanth, too, sustained an injury on the final day of the Test, straining his hamstring, and was forced to walk off the field in the middle of an over to get some medical attention. “Sreesanth has a light strain on the hamstring. It’s too early to say the damage,” Ayub said.

Colin Gibson is leaving his position as head of corporate communications at the ECB to replace Brian Murgatroyd at the ICC as head of media and communications, after Murgatroyd resigned from the post in September.Gibson was previously sports editor of the and in London and director of communications with the Football Association (FA) in England, after which he joined the ECB in 2005, ahead of the Ashes.”I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the ECB and I am grateful to the senior management, the England team and my communications colleagues for the support they have generously offered in the past five years,” Gibson said. “I am now looking forward to working with some extremely talented people at the ICC as we take on the exciting challenges that lie ahead.”Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said: “The ICC is fortunate to attract an experienced Colin Gibson. I welcome him to the headquarters and look forward to his contributions for the benefit of world cricket.”