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Andrew Flintoff has been made available for Lancashire’s Twenty20 squad for the finals day at Edgbaston this weekend.Flintoff, who returned to action after ankle surgery this week, batted and bowled during the County Championship fixture against Sussex at Liverpool, and has been included in a 16-man Lancashire squad.Lancashire’s first match will be against Gloucestershire in the first of the semi-finals, and their captain, Mark Chilton, was excited at the prospect of taking part in the day.”Everyone at Lancashire is looking forward to the chance of winning a trophy, particularly the Twenty20 Cup which is so popular with both players and spectators.”Andrew Flintoff looks like he is back after bowling some overs in our Championship match this week, and could be a key player for us on Saturday.”James Anderson has also been released from England duty and will turn out for Lancashire before returning to the national squad ahead of the third Test against India at The Oval.

Martyn Ball has shocked Gloucestershire by announcing his retirement from professional cricket after 19 years with the club. Despite signing a new one-year deal last summer he as opted to take up a role with the US-based property development company Ginn Europe.Ball, 36, admits it was a huge decision to leave the sport behind but felt the time was right. “I’ve had 19 fantastic years playing first-class cricket and Gloucestershire has become a major part of my life,” he told .”But this marvellous opportunity has come along and I have had to make a decision. There has been a lot of soul searching but, in my mind, I know this is the right time for me to announce my retirement.”I’ve seen people stay too long and end their careers full of bitterness and resentment and I didn’t want that for myself. This way, I’m going out on my own terms and with my reputation intact.”Tom Richardson, the chief executive, praised Ball’s efforts with the club. “He has made a significant contribution, especially during the past eight seasons when our team has collected nine trophies.”His efforts in these one-day competitions cannot be underestimated although the statistics will not always show the depth of Martyn’s contribution.”Ball is also set to leave his position as Professional Cricketers’ Association chairman but still hopes to put something back into the game. “I want to be able to come back in the future and help out Gloucestershire in any way I can.”In a career spanning 193 first-class matches he took 389 wickets at 37.74 and scored 4633 runs at 19.22. However, it was in the one-day game where he really shone and his 288 wickets came at 30.47 while he was a brilliant slip fielder. He’d also adapted well to Twenty20, playing 29 matches and taking 27 scalps at 24.48.His highest honour came when he was called up to England’s tour of India in 2001-02 after Robert Croft’s withdrawal from the trip following the 9/11 attacks. He didn’t make the Test team, but did line-up in a warm-up fixture and came as a sub in the second Test, at Ahmedabad, catching Sourav Ganguly off Andrew Flintoff.

Polly Umrigar, the former Indian captain who played 59 Tests between 1948 and 1962, has died in Mumbai. He was suffering from lymph cancer and lost the battle at 8:30 this evening at his residence.Umrigar, who will be remembered as one of the heroic figures in Indian cricket, was an early pillar of India’s middle order in the ’50s and ’60s. He scored 3,631 runs at an average of 42.22 with 12 centuries and led India in eight Tests, winning two and losing two with four draws. Having learnt his trade in the competitive in Mumbai, where the emphasis was on technique and application, he went on to break several Indian records, including the most Tests, highest batting aggregate and most hundreds. A burly six-footer, Umrigar was a domineering figure at the crease – whether batting, bowling, or leading the side. He was renowned for his full-blooded drives but, as he showed in the memorable summer in the Caribbean in 1961-62, he could also hook and pull powerfully.More significant, perhaps, than his achievements at the crease was the fact that he helped shape the few Indian triumphs in his time. His vital 130, coming in at No. 7, helped India achieve their first-ever Test win, against England at Madras in 1952. His hundreds also paved the way for two more Test wins, against Pakistan at Mumbai in 1952 and New Zealand at Madras in 1956.He was the first Indian to hit a Test double-century, a feat he achieved against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1955. He led India in eight Tests, winning two and losing two before he resigned the captaincy at Madras against West Indies in 1959 following a misunderstanding with the selectors. He is only one of two Indian cricketers (Vinoo Mankad being the other) to score a century and take five wickets in an innings – a feat he achieved against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1962. After retirement, he continued to serve Indian cricket as chairman of the selection committee, tour manager and BCCI executive secretary.After retiring from the game, Umrigar served in various administrative roles, including chairman of the selection committee, manager of the Indian side, executive secretary of the Indian board and chief curator of the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.He is survived by two sons and a daughter.

North Division

Andrew Flintoff smacked 27 from 23 balls to take Lancashire to a thumping eight-wicket win over Scotland in Edinburgh. Scotland, inserted by Lancashire, slumped to 21 for 5 with James Anderson and Glen Chapple nipping out the top-order. Scotland didn’t help themselves, however, with three farcical run-outs, though Majid Haq at least managed to lift their total to something resembling respectability, with 23 from 64 balls. Tom Smith trapped him lbw to pick up 3 for 14 from 10 overs. A target of 74 was never going to trouble Lancashire, though they did lose Mal Loye and Gareth Cross. Flintoff, however, was in no mood to hang around, cracking four fours and lifting a six to take his side home in the 12th over.Derbyshire were bowled out for just 94 on a wet day at Headingley as Yorkshire romped home by 25 runs. In a match reduced to 24 overs due to rain, Yorkshire themselves slipped to 47 for 4 and it was only Adil Rashid’s 36-ball 41 which gave them a total that was vaguely competitive. Set 120 from 24 overs, Derbyshire crashed to 27 for 4 with Tim Bresnan grabbing two early wickets, but it was Anthony McGrath who shone with the ball, taking 3 for 16 in four overs as Derbyshire were dismissed in the 23rd over.

South East Division

A fine allround performance from Essex earned them a 14-run win over Sussex in another rain-interrupted match at Chelmsford. Essex piled up 291 for 8 from 50 overs, with Grant Flower cracking 75 from 90 balls; Ravi Bopara 59 from 71 and Ryan ten Doeschate a blistering 61 from 53. Sussex were set a revised 156 from 24 overs and Matt Prior looked to be taking them close with a brisk 50, before falling to ten Doeschate. Murray Goodwin smacked 29 from 18 but it was too little, too late.Tim Murtagh continued his excellent form for Middlesex who beat Kent by a slender six runs at Lord’s. That Middlesex reached 177 for 8 was largely thanks to Billy Godleman’s 43 from 69 balls, and he received good support from Andrew Strauss (33) and Eoin Morgan (29). With rain interrupting proceedings Kent were set a revised target of 173 from 33 overs, and were going nicely with Martin van Jaarsveld (58) at the crease. But Murtagh tore into the lower order to leave Kent requiring 12 from the last five, and they were bowled out off the last ball of the match.

Midlands Division

A slick 111 at close to a run-a-ball from Robert White anchored Northamptonshire’s chase against Warwickshire at Northampton, before Lance Klusener’s brisk 26 took the home side to a four-wicket win. Warwickshire set Northamptonshire a challenging 294 after Darren Maddy (77), Ian Westwood (65) and Jonathan Trott (60*) formed a powerful trio in the middle-order. Northamptonshire were soon in trouble too, slipping to 60 for 3 before White – who reached his hundred from 107 balls – turned the match around, and the hosts ran home with seven balls to spare.Ireland promised much but failed to play with enough conviction, falling to a 56-run defeat to Nottinghamshire at the picturesque Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin. Kevin O’Brien led Ireland’s new-ball attack very impressively, picking up career-best figures of 4 for 31 from his 10 overs and troubling most of Nottinghamshire’s top-order. Indeed, the visitors were 6 for 2 when Mark Wagh shouldered arms to a sharp off-cutter. However, Adam Voges – who also had an excellent day in the field – struck 60 from 83 balls to guide Nottinghamshire to 217 for 9. Ireland never got going in reply, stumbling to 60 for 5 as Mark Ealham showed the benefits of bowling stump-to-stump with 4 for 39. Andrew White carved 30 from 40 and Kyle McCallan was unbeaten on 20, but there was little else for the home crowd to cheer.

South / West Division

Fifties from Matthew Wood (91*) and David Hemp (50) lifted Glamorgan to 174 for 4 before rain forced a draw against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Wood and Hemp put on 119 for the first wicket, both hitting nine fours, but Marcus North (3 for 32) nipped out Mike Powell for a duck, Tom Maynard for 1 and Jamie Dalrymple for just 8 to prompt a mini-collapse before the rains came tumbling.Daryl Mitchell struck an unbeaten 48 for Worcestershire whose match against Somerset dribbled into a draw at a rainy New Road. Mitchell hit four fours in his 70-ball innings to rescue Worcestershire from a disappointing 55 for 5 and lift their total to 154 for 8 before the rain ended proceedings. Worcestershire were again without Simon Jones who failed a fitness test on the stiff neck which has kept him out of their last three matches.

As I made my way to the Wankhede Stadium this morning, most of my thoughts centered on how Michael Hussey would bat.It was the first time I was going to see him, Ponting and Symonds at a live game, albeit just a practice match. However, a few hours later with Shane Watson hogging the bowling I began to feel drowsy in the comforts of the air-conditioned press box.So I decided to take a stroll and found myself in the middle of around 100 raucous fans (there were only about 500 in all) intent on proving that Indians could sledge too. Their favoured target: Ponting. “Remember 434” they chanted, “Gibbs is back” they roared. Ponting had fallen for 24, a sharp low catch at point. “It wasn’t out, fight with the umpire” quipped the jeer leader, no doubt aware of Ponting’s run-ins with officialdom. Someone even brought up that touchy matter of Ashes defeat last year and they chorused “Flintoff, Flintoff Flintoff”.Most Australians received a curious mixture of jeers and cheers from the crowd. Brad Hogg kindly showed them how to bowl a chinaman and was applauded like he’d hit a hundred. Minutes later he was subjected to cries of “Hoggy is a doggy”. But the moment Adam Gilchrist made an appearance, the crowd adored him. “Gilly, Gilly you are the best. Gilly should be captain, Ponting resign,” they cried. And when Gilchrist accepted the adulation with a casual wave of his hand, the 50-strong crowd went into raptures. After all he was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s idol. When Ponting acknowledged their presence with a smile and a wave, their jovial hostility vanished. Simply recognise their antics and they’d be on your side.The crowd wanted entertainment and when Symonds provided just that by hoisting several into the stands, they began to concentrate on the cricket. Soon there was an invasion of school children, a majority of whom pressed close against the railing, standing on each other’s toes while the rest of the stands remained empty, to get the closest glimpse of the Australian team. One kid went up to Graeme Vimpani, Australia’s media manager who was sitting among the fans and talking about playing with Shane Warne and Paul Reiffel in Victoria, and asked “Where (sic) Matthew Hoggard?” probably meaning Hogg, an innocent mistake from a nine-year old.When the Australians took the field the crowd got after Glenn McGrath in good humour. “Sachin, Sachin, Sachin,” they cheered to which McGrath seemed to mime “Sachin who?” after which he acted out an edge to the wicketkeeper. Come October 29 in Mohali he’ll be aiming to do exactly that.

As former Barbados and West Indies player Vasbert Drakes prepares for his second stint as coach of Trinidad and Tobago’s Queen’s Park Cricket Club, he has called for better facilities throughout the region and for the players to develop their game.The tall allrounder, who played 12 Tests and 34 ODIs, leaves his native Barbados today to resume duties in Port of Spain.”I am excited about what is happening at Queen’s Park and the good work that is being done there. We have excellent facilities and a quality programme,” said Drakes, who played his last match for the West Indies in January 2004. “It is something I would like to see spread across the Caribbean. One of the difficulties across the region is facilities. At Queen’s Park we have better facilities than even some of the teams competing in the Carib Beer Series. West Indies cricket is struggling, we know that. One way to lift the team and see it compete at the highest level again is to start at the club level. The roots must be strong.”In a first-class career which spanned 15 years, 36-year-old Drakes played for four teams in the English County Championship – Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Sussex and Warwickshire – and was Player of the Year twice with Border in the South African SuperSports League. He also represented Scotland last year. Late last year he served as player/coach for the Pickwick Club which he led to their first domestic Division One title in Barbados since 1958.Drakes said the Stanford Twenty20 Tournament, which is due to start in Antigua in August, could be a saviour for West Indies cricket. “In the Caribbean we don’t have the money to pay our players as top professionals so we have to look at programmes where we can get assistance,” Drakes pointed out. “The Stanford Twenty20 has come along and looks capable of bringing a change and bringing back a professional approach to the game. We should embrace it.”

Waqar Younis has been named as part of a five-man panel that will help work with the Pakistan offspinner, Shoaib Malik, who was reported by the umpires Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel, and the match referee Jeff Crowe, for a suspect bowling action in the final of the recently concluded Paktel Cup.Abbas Zaidi, a spokesman for the Pakistan Cricket Board said: “We have formed a five-member committee which will work with Shoaib and submit a report [to the ICC].” Waqar, who was Pakistan’s captain when Shoaib made his Test debut in 2001, is joined on the panel by Bob Woolmer, the national team coach; Khizar Hayat, a former international umpire, and Ijaz Faqih and Bruce Yardley, ex-Test players.The panel have six weeks in which to work with Shoaib, before reporting their findings to the ICC as stage one of the process for assessing bowlers with potentially flawed actions. Malik himself, who is currently playing in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Faisalabad, will undergo corrective measures on his action after the two-match series is concluded. If his action was reported again, he would have his case brought before the ICC’s bowling action review committee.

Queensland’s first real blemish of the match – a missed catch at slip in late afternoon – threatens to undo most of its good work over the first three days of the Pura Cup clash with Western Australia at the WACA ground in Perth. Martin Love’s uncharacteristic error has allowed Damien Martyn (70*) and Simon Katich (39*) to add an unbroken century stand and reduce the Warriors’ overall deficit in the match to ninety-nine runs (with seven second innings wickets in hand) by stumps.Prior to the advent of the grassed chance, the Queenslanders had continued to dominate until almost the point of tea on another fine, sunny day. Indeed, the tale of woe that could have been recounted on the back of Western Australia’s batting performance yesterday soon needed extra paragraphs added to it when play resumed this morning. Following the two best individual performances amid the wreckage of an innings of 195, Adam Gilchrist (59) and Mike Hussey (41) both lost concentration and forced away from their bodies at deliveries cutting off the pitch. Soon, Jo Angel (5) was driving uppishly at a reasonably full outswinger from the ever-accurate Adam Dale (5/41) and lofting a catch straight into the hands of Jimmy Maher at a shortish cover position. And then, on the other side of lunch, Dale continued to capitalise on a similarly excellent effort behind the stumps from Wade Seccombe (who held six catches for the innings) by attaining the opening five-wicket haul at first-class level for the season. The right arm paceman had snared the final two scalps, and allowed captain Stuart Law to enforce the follow-on, when he induced Matthew Nicholson (35) into a top edged cut and then trapped Gavin Swan (0) lbw with an inswinger from the very next delivery.A mere nineteen minutes into the new innings, Hussey (5) suffered the ignominy of being dismissed twice in the one day as he made the mistake of pulling to mid on a delivery far too full in length to encourage such a shot. As if that was not bad enough, Australian number three Justin Langer (0) then encountered the rare horror of being dismissed for a pair as he drove loosely at, and outside edged, a ball swinging away two deliveries into the next Andy Bichel (2/32) over. Ryan Campbell (25) fought bravely for a time but was the next to head back in the direction of the pavilion as he tried to cover drive an Ashley Noffke (1/34) outswinger, only to mistime the shot and watch as Maher completed a fine catch high to his left at backward point.In between some scorching strokes to the boundary from the former, matters were initially no easier for either Martyn or Katich. Both played and missed repeatedly at Noffke and the right hander dodged a large bullet at 12 when Umpire Woolridge ruled in the batsman’s favour upon being subjected to a beseeching lbw appeal from Dale (0/24).But this was all before Love, normally as reliable as slips fieldsmen come, snatched at the opportunity to bring Martyn’s hand to a close in the same general manner as in the first innings – with an interception at first slip following an ill-advised slash at a leg cutter. At the time, the Test aspirant had just 25 alongside his name and the Western Australians were deep in trouble at a mark of 3/61, a scoreline which still left them as many as 186 runs in arrears.Batting has never been the almost impossible task that the Warriors had made it look in their first innings and the early stages of a second that eventually billowed to an overnight mark of 3/148. And, offered the reprieve on the still placid pitch, Martyn joined with Katich to prove the point as they took the sort of toll of a tiring attack that should have been exacted far earlier. The former hit some delightful shots behind point and through the covers, while the latter – playing his first match since returning home from a productive season of county cricket with Durham – concentrated his energies on executing some magnificent drives through the arc between mid on and mid off. Having weathered the series of early scares and been forced to bat against attacking fields for much of the afternoon, both truly earned their runs.Difficulties still loom for the Western Australians tomorrow if they do not show an equivalent level of application. But the extent of the resolve displayed by both Martyn and Katich must surely have served up something in the way of a general morale-boost among their teammates in the dressing room. Together with the accompanying sight of some uncharacteristically wayward bowling and sloppy fielding from the Bulls – one piece of it in particular – the generation of the best Western Australian stand of the match would certainly imply that the connection between Queensland and a eleventh outright victory from its last fourteen first-class encounters is not necessarily automatic.

More women are playing cricket in organised competitions in Australia, research by Cricket Australia has revealed.But the figures also highlight that cricket needs to do more to attract more girls and women into the game, according to Cricket Australia chief executive officer James Sutherland.Census figures illustrate that more than 7,000 women have taken up cricket over the past year, as female participation in cricket has grown from 40,445 participants nationally (8.7%) in 2002-03, to 47,780 (10.1%).”We are delighted with the results from the census,” said Mr Sutherland. “In particular, it is fantastic to see that female participation in the game is growing at a healthy rate. This is an especially pleasing result as Cricket Australia became fully integrated with women’s cricket in July 2003.””The female cricket market in Australia has a lot of potential to grow, and this year’s results help indicate to us that we’re heading in the right direction with the women’s game. It is a result we’re very pleased to see and a trend that we, the state cricket associations and clubs need to keep working on.”For the purpose of the census, the definition of a cricket `participant’ is one who plays in an organised cricket competition or program of more than four games per season.