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Hampshire retain the same eleven that drew with Middlesex at Southgate, for their Second Division clash against Durham at The Hampshire Rose Bowl, starting on Wednesday (20th June).The eleven: Derek Kenway, Giles White, Will Kendall, Robin Smith (captain), Neil Johnson, Lawrence Prittipaul, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Adi Aymes (wicket-keeper), Shaun Udal, Alex Morris, Chris Tremlett.Durham chose from 12 for the long journey South, hoping to turn the tables on the Southern County to whom they lost two championship matches, two Norwich Union League matches and the NatWest Trophy in the 2000 season.The twelve: Jonathan Lewis (captain), Michael Gough, Martin Love, Martin Speight, Nicky Peng, Danny Law, Andrew Pratt (wicket-keeper), Ian Hunter, Nikky Phillips, Stephen Harmison, Simon Brown and Nicholas Hatch

Players in the third edition of the BPL will be allocated to participating franchises through a lottery-based transfer system called “players-by-choice”. Used once for the 2012-13 Dhaka Premier League, it will replace the players’ auction of the BPL’s first two editions.The system was formulated first in 2013 after many of the Dhaka clubs demanded a level-playing field, faced with exorbitant salary demands from players. It is styled after the draft in American sports, except for a few details. In the following season, the BCB reverted to the traditional open players’ transfer, which lasts two to three days.BCB president Nazmul Hassan said that the system will ensure balance among the BPL teams. A team can pick a maximum of four overseas players from the list provided by the BPL governing council. They can select from outside the list as well but those players will not be given payment guarantees from the BCB.”We have discussed making quotas for local and foreign players,” Hassan said. “We have to go for players-by-choice. They will make a list of local cricketers and divide them into different categories. We want to ensure one team is not too strong and another not too weak. We will have a long list of foreign cricketers. Every team can take four cricketers from here.”The BPL governing council will make categories A, B and C where the prices will be fixed. We won’t stop anyone from taking players from outside the list. If they pick from the list, they can make a good team worth Tk 7 crore (approx. USD 900,000). If anyone wants to bring more foreign players, the franchise will pay the players, not the BCB.”The players-by-choice was first used to determine the player transfers for the 2012-13 Dhaka Premier League season. It took the Dhaka clubs a while to understand the system despite being given a demo a few days before it was first put to use.Under the system, the franchises will pick their choice of players from different categories. In 2013, there were seven categories, each of which had a fixed payment ranging from Tk 1 lakh (approx. USD 1,300) to 22 lakh (approx. USD 28,300).The teams will first have to take part in a lottery to determine their calling number in each of the rounds for every category. In each round, the team that drew first in the lottery will have first choice of players. Each round will have a separate lottery.

Decision of the dayWhen Daniel Vettori won the toss and chose to bowl first, opinion was divided as to the wisdom of his decision. Michael Vaughan claimed he would have done likewise, but by the time he and Alastair Cook had taken England to 79 for 0 at lunch, it’s fair to say he was revising his opinion. And then, out of the blue, but in that manner so familiar to England this series, their momentum shuddered to a halt. A hint of a cloud rolled across the Basin, and New Zealand’s seamers made the ball talk to the tune of five wickets in the session. And Vettori, quietly content by this stage, was happy to leave himself out of the attack until the 65th over.Innings of the dayWithout Ambrose’s initiative, England would have been deep – and possibly terminally – in the mire. They were in tatters at 136 for 5 when he came to the crease, and any more of that negative Hamilton mentality would have been an invitation for further disaster. Instead he fronted up with the fearlessness that had eluded his senior colleagues, never better exemplified than by the sizzling pull for six off Kyle Mills that carried him into the nineties.Over of the dayThere had been just ten balls of the day remaining when he played that shot, and most players in sight of a maiden hundred would have shut up shop for the night. Not a bit of it. A pull for three carried Ambrose to within a single blow, and he was desperate to go for it as well. Jacob Oram, more of whom later, was having none of it, however. Five jagging deliveries in a row kept the batsmen, fielders and spectators on tenterhooks right up to the bitter end, but Ambrose survived to carry his fight to another dayDouble act of the day 1Ambrose’s effort was magnificent, but it couldn’t have been achieved without the steadfast Paul Collingwood playing a vital anchor role. His doughtiness had been to England’s detriment at Hamilton, but this time he enabled his junior partner to carry the attack straight back to New Zealand. The pair performed a similar role in the first innings at Hamilton, where they added 90 for the sixth wicket, but without anything approaching the same intent. This time they brought up their 150 partnership from just 229 balls, at almost exactly twice the scoring rate.Miser of the dayEngland’s funereal run-rate at Hamilton was the root cause of all their problems, and no-one contributed more stingily to New Zealand’s cause than Oram, whose 25 overs cost a meagre 29 runs. Today, it was Oram who once again instigated the slide, in an incredible 14-over onslaught either side of lunch. By the time he took a blow with England reeling at 109 for 3, his cumulative series stats were an incredible 39-18-37-4.Shots of the dayOram positively leaked runs in his second spell, however – 13 of them in six overs, including the first boundary he’d conceded all day (and only his second of the entire series). And it was a superb strike too, a full stride to the pitch of the ball from Tim Ambrose, and a sweet drive through the line. One over later, and Ambrose was on the attack again, using his diminutive stature to carve a short ball from Oram up and over the slip cordon and away to the third-man rope. It was a perfectly safe shot, perfectly executed, and it took him to an invaluable half-century from a counterattacking 68 balls.Diminishing return of the dayOn the eve of the series, Daniel Vettori made a great song and dance about the fact that all of England’s top six averaged in excess of 40. That, however, is no longer the case. After falling for 8 during England’s post-lunch collapse, Andrew Strauss’s average has now dipped to 39.95, the lowest mark of his 45-Test career. And all the while, he’s extended that search for an 11th Test century to 28 innings and counting …Double act of the day 2What must Matthew Hoggard and Jeetan Patel have been thinking as they lugged the drinks out to their respective players at each and every interval? Only last week, both men were integral members of their teams, Hoggard the senior seamer and Patel the invaluable second spinner. Now they’ve both been cast out of the reckoning, although they bore the indignity with great resilience as they laughed and joked their way to the middle and back. Being dumped for no good reason is a great ice-breaker between rival 12th men.

Bruce Aanensen, the former manager of Trinidad and Tobago’s football team, has been appointed CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).Aanensen, who spent eight years as HR director of the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, effectively replaces Roger Braithwaite who resigned in March 2006. The WICB had found, and appointed, a replacement for Braithwaite – Roland Toppin – but he pulled out of the role just two weeks before he was due to start.”This is a challenge but one which I welcome,” Aanensen said. “I am dedicated to the region and to all the sports that we play. However, cricket remains my first love and I have always wanted to help the West Indies regain its place at the pinnacle of world cricket.”I believe that I can add value to the plans and policies of the present board to have the kind of organisation in place which could achieve and maintain this objective. I look forward to, and would welcome, the views of all stakeholders on this and all other issues affecting West Indies Cricket.”Aanensen starts his new role on April 16.

Islamabad Leopards and Lahore Lions were declared joint-winners of the Silver League in the ABN-AMRO Cup, as overnight showers prevented the final scheduled to be played at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad on Sunday.Akbar Khan and Rasheed Bhatti, the umpires, and Khatib Rizwan, the match referee, inspected the pitch several times and waited till 2:00 pm before announcing that play was not possible. The ground staff did their best but the water had made the track a little spongy, and thus unplayable.Islamabad’s Ashar Zaidi and Lahore’s Taufeeq Umar received the trophy from the chief guest, Syed Anwar Mehmood. The best batsman award went to Adnan Raza of Lahore while the best bowler award went to Mohammad Hussain, also of Lahore Lions.Shakeel Shaikh, President of the Islamabad Cricket Association (ICA), gave away to Raja Kashif of Islamabad Leopards won the the best wicketkeeper award and the joint best fielder award went to Zaidi of Islamabad and Hameedullah Khan of Quetta Bears.Asad Ali, the paceman, snapped up four crucial wickets to bowl Faisalabad Wolves into the finals of the ABN-AMRO Cup Gold League, beating Sialkot Stallions by six wickets at Karachi.Faisalabad reached the modest target of 215 for the loss of four wickets in 46.2 overs with opener Mohammad Hafeez striking 10 boundaries in his 58. Faisalabad have thus maintained their top slot in the seven-team Gold League with 20 points with five straight victories.Sent in to bat, Sialkot were dismissed for 214 with Asad Ali returning with figures of 4 for 42 and Saeed Ajmal, the off-break bowler taking 3 for 30 in nine overs. The talented Shahid Yousuf, who made a superb hundred in the previous match, again emerged as Sialkot’s top scorer with 62. They made a great recovery after Asad Ali removed Atiq-ur-Rehman (1), Tahir Mughal (4) and Sarfraz Ahmed (4) in his opening burst.Peshawar Panthers beat Rawalpindi Rams by 17 runs in an ABN-AMRO Cup league match, at Karachi on Sunday.Peshawar scored 278 for 7 and later bowled out Rawalpindi for 261 in 49.2 overs. The latter lost six wickets with only 121 runs on the board after 23 overs before the lower-order batsmen started the recovery, but eventually, the target proved to be elusive. Sajid Mahmood top-scored with 62. Three Peshawar batsmen contributed half-centuries. Mohammad Fayyaz scored 53, newcomer Mahfooz Sabri hammered 66 off 64 balls and Taimur Khan took only 47 deliveries for his unbeaten 55 that included five fours.Lahore Eagles beat Multan Tigers by six wickets at Karachi on Sunday, and now have a chance of meeting Faisalabad Wolves in next Thursday’s Gold League final.They have their last match coming up in the seventh round against bottom-placed Karachi Zebras at the National Stadium on Tuesday. At the same time, they would be hoping that Sialkot Stallions are beaten by Multan Tigers on the same day. The Eagles and Stallions currently have a points tally of 12 each with one match in hand. Peshawar Panthers have completed all their six and ended up with the same total.Sent in to bat, Multan were bowled out for 179 to which the Eagles replied with 180 for 4 in a mere 35.3 overs. Multan had earlier crashed to 28 for 5 in 14 overs before being lifted by Kamran Hussain (82), and later by Mohammad Irshad, who hit 32 runs off 28 balls at number 10. Mohammad Khalil, the left-arm fast-medium bowler was responsible for Multan’s early debacle, as he took three of the first five wickets. He eventually finished with figures of 4 for 29 off 9.2 overs.Lahore too lost some early wickets. The fifth-wicket pair, however, put on 94 and took their team to a comfortable win. Aamer Sajjad hit 43 not out while Sohail Ahmed remained unbeaten with 46.

ScorecardMansoor Amjad, the 19-year-old legspinner, ran through Zimbabwe A on the first day of their match against Pakistan A at the Country Club in Harare. After winning the toss and putting Zimbabwe in, Pakistan bowled them out for 191. Amjad, who took 6 for 69, was simply too good for the Zimbabweans. Only Neil Ferrera and Mark Verrmeulen resisted, scoring half-centuries at the top of the order. Then Pakistan replied with 73 for 3, and ended the first day of this four-day match in control of things.

The ECB has delayed making a decision on whether to tour Zimbabwe next October until the end of February. It had hoped to decide this week, but a lack of any definite instruction from the British government and continuing pressure from the ICC has led to the postponement.Last Wednesday, the board announced that the management meeting this coming Thursday would provide a once-and-for-all ruling. But this was done in the belief that no financial penalties would result from the decision. The ICC, in the form of Ehsan Mani, its president, have been at pains to point out that this is not the case. Mani has repeatedly insisted that the only circumstances under which tours could be cancelled was if a government specifically banned a team from travelling.Speaking on BBC television yesterday, Tim Lamb, the ECB’s chief executive, implied that the government’s letter last Friday was as close to an instruction not to tour as is possible without actually saying so. That does not appear to wash with the ICC, but there will be many discussions in the coming weeks, and ultimately it will come down to the detailed interpretation of the letter.Wisden Comment by Martin Williamson
The ECB’s desire to avoid the last-minute shambles which occurred during the World Cup is admirable, but it reckoned without the intransigence of the ICC. One of the issues is cash, the other is a cultural difference.Many of the powerbrokers in the ICC are from backgrounds where the state and the cricket boards are intertwined. In Pakistan, Mani’s homeland, the board are effectively appointed and operate at the behest of the country’s president. There, and in several other countries, the whims of the government and their boards are one and the same. In England it is not so straightforward.In the kind of democracy operating in Britain, the government does not ban people – sportsmen, businessmen, whoever – from visiting countries. But that appears to be beyond the understanding of the ICC, and will probably lead to stalemate.

This was a day of Test cricket neither New Zealand nor India will want to remember, but tomorrow, around lunchtime, it is a match one team will struggle to forget.After 22 wickets fell in the 105 overs bowled, and a part of all four innings featured, New Zealand were left needing 136 runs with 10 wickets in hand to secure a victory while India know there is still a chance for them to draw the National Bank Series if they can create the mayhem they did today when bowling New Zealand out for 94.New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said yesterday it would be the team that wanted to win the match most that would take it – and that is the challenge ahead of both teams tomorrow.The remarkable first innings which saw India out for 99 and New Zealand for five runs less is the lowest innings total from which the team batting first has secured a first innings lead.Whatever else the record books may say, and the 94 was New Zealand’s lowest score in a Test against India, surpassing the 100 scored at Wellington in 1980/81, a match they went on to win, the day itself is unprecedented in New Zealand cricket history.As disappointing as New Zealand’s failure to build a significant first innings advantage, so too, was India’s inability to score more than 154 in their second innings.Traditionalists might wonder whatever happened to good, old-fashioned technique? It was nowhere in evidence on either side, no matter what the reputations of the players concerned.Conditions were difficult, just as they were for India on the second day, but the New Zealanders knew that.However, that didn’t stop the New Zealanders playing some shots that defied the logic of the situation facing them. India in their second innings capitulated as badly as they have in each of their Test innings in the series.Was New Zealand’s batting in the first innings the result of being 1-0 up in a two-Test series? Or was it a hint that Mark Richardson was more of New Zealand’s saviour in the first Test than was earlier appreciated?The batting is not in good shape, and given a seven-match one-day series is next on the menu, there is plenty of cause for concern.Lou Vincent sent a regulation catch for first slip Rahul Dravid off Zaheer Khan.Richardson was leg before wicket to Khan, although it had to be wondered why, if Richardson was out why Fleming who was even more in line when he was struck an over earlier wasn’t out?Craig McMillan spent 28 minutes over an unconvincing four before going in similar fashion to Vincent.Nathan Astle launched into a cut in the direction of backward point off the second ball he faced but found Harbhajan Singh waiting to accept a not-too-difficult chance.Fleming was upset by movement around the sightscreen for a long period and then once it was sorted offered a straightforward return catch to Khan.Jacob Oram had a rush of blood and failed to apply full power to his attempted drive after going down the wicket to Harbhajan, generally fatal and no different in this case.Styris then fell leg before wicket to Harbhajan, to be followed by Robbie Hart who went leg before wicket to Khan, both of them being reasonable shouts.Daryl Tuffey played some of the best strokes of the innings but wasn’t able to turn quickly enough after being sent back by Daniel Vettori and was run out on the third umpire’s call and he was followed by Vettori who edged Khan to V V S Laxman at second slip.India’s second innings was fortified largely by an innings of hope from Sachin Tendulkar worth 32 and another innings in miniature from Dravid who was out for 39. Tendulkar played on a ball from Tuffey while Dravid opened up to a wider ball from Oram and cut it to substitute fieldsman Michael Mason at point.Virender Sehwag, dropped down the order to allow the opportunity to play more of his shots, confirmed the worth of that theory by lashing 25 runs off 18 balls, being especially severe on fast man Shane Bond. However, Bond had him out in an over in which he had taken 14 runs from Bond, when an off drive was well taken by Tuffey at mid-off diving forward to snare a rocket-like shot.And at the end Harbhajan contained his natural bent long enough to accumulate 18 runs before edging a ball to Hart.But it was controlled spells of bowling from Oram and Tuffey, who each took four for 41 that got New Zealand back in the match, and the opportunity to take a 2-0 scoreline from the series, something few anticipated before the series started.Khan and Harbhajan appeal as the biggest hurdles New Zealand will have to overcome.

Pakistan have won the toss and chosen to bat in the first match of theNatWest Series at Edgbaston amid cacophonous support for both sides.Alec Stewart admitted that England started this series as “third favourites”after the two finalists of the last World Cup; Australia and Pakistan. Thenews that Graham Thorpe has had to pull out of this match injured with acalf problem will do nothing to shorten their odds.For England Hoggard comes in for the injured Caddick and there is a debutfor Paul Collingwood on the ground where he hit his career best score just afew weeks ago. The omens are good for the Durham all-rounder: on hisfirst-class debut he took a wicket with his first ball and then struck 91.England would be grateful for a similar start today.In the absence of White and Flintoff, Ben Hollioake has a fresh chance tofulfil the promise of his international debut four years ago. Ealham andMullally also return for the hosts, while Cork is retained in preference tothe spinner, Croft.Pakistan have planning of their own to do for the 2003 World Cup in SouthAfrica. Sami and Shoaib show immense promise, but are still some way fromamply replacing the ageing Waqar and Wasim. The only change in their teamtoday from the Old Trafford Test is the return of Shahid Afridi at the topof the order for Faisal Iqbal.Hail and heavy rainfall in the morning have done nothing to dampen thespirits of a capacity crowd. A strong wind may keep the rain away, but withdew expected later it was probably a good toss for Waqar to win. The pitchis dry though and thought likely to take spin.

The chances of Australia going to Pakistan next month grow slimmer by the day with the Australian reporting senior players would pull out of the trip if it goes ahead. The visit is dependent on a security inspection, which is currently due to occur after the country’s elections on Monday, but Cricket Australia said in a letter to the Pakistan Cricket Board it has been advised not to travel.”We are aware of the significant concerns that the players have and they are concerns we share,” the Cricket Australia public affairs manager Peter Young told the Australian. “We’re still moving through a process and we have a way to go before that process is finalised.”The paper reported “most of Australia’s senior players have made it privately clear they would pull out of any visit”. The violent situation in Pakistan may force the security visit to be cancelled, but Young said no decision had been made, believing there were “significant obstacles” which need to be worked through. “But that’s not to say the obstacles are locked doors,” Young said.Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan board chairman, raised suggestions of a boycott for the return 2009 tour if Australia did not take part in next month’s series. “We’re obviously keen to see them here and the circumstances of them visiting here have to be considered in isolation at that time,” Young said. “The particular circumstances this time include significant concerns about safety and security that we just can’t ignore.”