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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.

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.

The Sir Vivian Richards Foundation was launched in Viv’s native Antigua on Saturday night (April 10), with a gala dinner at the Crystal Palace Ballroom at the Royal Antiguan Hotel.More than 300 guests attended the launch, with the proceeds going to theFoundation. There was also a raffle and a memorabilia auction – with a bat signed by the West Indian and England players from the current series – which helped ensure that the Foundation got off to a healthy start.The Foundation, which is licensed in Antigua & Barbuda, will promote self-awareness among the youth and will help young people, particularly among theunder-privileged, achieve their goals. Sir Vivian said that assistance would not be limited to the youth of Antigua& Barbuda.Sir Vivian, one of cricket’s all-time greats and now the chairman of the West Indies selectors, was on hand at the function, which was billed as "An Evening with Sir Vivian Richards and Other Cricketing Greats". One of the highlights was a question-and-answer session involving Viv and his great friend and former Somerset team-mate Ian Botham.

Aftab Habib, who represented England in two Tests in 1999, has been offered a contract by Leicestershire, whom he played for the last time they won the County Championship in 1998. Last month, Habib expressed his disappointment at not being fixed up with another county after his release by Essex at the end of last season.Habib, 32, had joined Essex in 2002 to re-establish his England career, but this never came about, as he averaged a lukewarm 38 in three summers at Chelmsford.Habib re-joins Leicestershire as they look to strengthen their middle order, after Darren Stevens left for Kent and the overseas player, Brad Hodge, announced he wasn’t returning in 2005.

Bob Woolmer has expressed his disapproval over Javed Miandad’s scathing criticism and termed it as “very disappointing”. Miandad had questioned Woolmer’s coaching methods and said that nothing much had changed since he took over as coach.Speaking to the media on the eve of the first Test, Woolmer was blunt with his reaction. “It’s very disappointing that a senior, very respected cricketer and past coach of the Pakistan cricket team comes out and criticises the team, the coach and everyone involved,” he said. “I find that rather disappointing coming from someone of his caliber.”Woolmer, who was blamed for experimenting too much with the side, found the remark even more confounding because Miandad had been in charge right before he took over. “[They were] harsh words from someone who had the team before I took over. It’s like … criticising yourself. He’s not working with me, he’s not in the dressing-room, he doesn’t understand what I’m doing or what I’m trying to do, so he’s really saying things from outside.”Woolmer then spoke about working together and, refreshingly, didn’t limit it to cricket. “Quite frankly, if Pakistan were to get together and unite the forces and harness all the forces they had, it would be a much better country for 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.

Kyle Mills has been named as cover for Michael Mason in the New Zealand squad for the third ODI against West Indies at Christchurch on Saturday.Mills’s selection is for only for the third ODI because Michael Mason was suffering from a mild lower back strain after the second ODI at Queenstown. Mills was sidelined with a groin strain at the start of the West Indies series and was not considered for selection.A new squad will be selected after the third ODI.TeamLou Vincent, Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Michael Mason.

Haroon Lorgat of Western Province and Border’s Peter Bacela are the two new faces on the six-man South African selection panel chosen by the General Council at the United Cricket Board’s annual meeting on Saturday.They will replace Gerald Majola and Hylton Ackerman who were both ineligible for reappointment. Majola is the UCB chief executive while Ackerman is the director of the national academy.Bacela was not among the original nominations for the selection panel, but was nominated by the General Council because of the lack of black African representation among the selectors.Rushdie Magiet was reappointed convener of the panel.The full panel is: Rushdie Magiet, Morris Garda, Graeme Pollock, Mike Procter, Peter Bacela, Haroon Lorgat.The Executive Committee was also appointed on Saturday.The Exco consists of: Percy Sonn (president), Robbie Kurz (vice-president), John Blair (treasurer), Gerald Majola (CEO), Ray Mali (Border), Tim Khumalo (Free State), Arnold Bloch (WP), Charlie Robinson (Free State).

The Abu Dhabi Cricket Council has announced provisional plans to host a tri-nation one-day series in September or October following what it described as the success of the DLF Cup.”The ICC is happy, both the boards (Pakistan and India) have also given the green signal. We are planning to host a tri-nation tournament, the modalities of which will be worked out soon,” BR Shetty, the ADCC president, told reporters.”We will also be hosting the Euroasia Cup (a six-nation tournament featuring A teams) and another tournament at the start of 2007, so we think we are going along the right track.”Shetty was forced to apologise for over-zealous security during the first match which resulted in several key figures, including BCCI president Sharad Pawar, being subjected to delays and searches. “It is just the beginning, we will make mistakes but we are ready to own up and ensure such things do not happen again,” Shetty explained. “Pawar understood that the problems were due to heightened security, he is not angry. In fact he has promised more India-Pakistan matches here in the future.”Everyone has appreciated and congratulated for hosting this tournament. For cricket to get such prominence in a football playing country, it has been commended.”

The prospect of Michael Vaughan making an England comeback this summer is still unclear following a meeting with experts to discuss his knee injury. The ECB have said he will visit a specialist on Thursday when the next step will be considered.On Monday, Vaughan met with Yorkshire physio Scott McAllister, consultant Wayne Worton and England physio Kirk Russell to discuss where he goes from here. Although he has been playing for Yorkshire for the last month, he is still troubled by the injury. Last week, a team-mate said that Vaughan still had good and bad days.No announcement was made after the meeting, but given that progress is slow at best, there must now be serious doubts as to his fitness for this November’s Ashes. It is possible that Vaughan will need to undergo another operation to clean-up the knee joint. If so, then he would be out of action for almost the remainder of the season. A worst-case scenario would mean him needing major surgery which could sideline him for up to nine months.As if that wasn’t bad enough, earlier it emerged that Ashley Giles has decided to fly to the United States for confirmation that he needs another operation to try to cure his hip problem. He has not played since his first hip surgery in December, and is now considering visiting the same surgeon who last week operated on Simon Jones.Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, told The Guardian: “Vaughan, Giles, Jones and [Andrew] Flintoff are world-class players and their injuries are a concern. I’ve adopted the attitude that it will be a huge bonus if they come back. That’s why we have to go with these other players and get them ready for later on in the winter.”Despite his Ashes-winning side falling to pieces, Fletcher kept his faith in the young replacements called up recently, though their initial display left much to be desired. “We kept it quite simple, but they didn’t bowl to the plan,” he said. “We just wanted them to go in and bowl straight. None of the bowlers seemed able to do that. I still think it is a mental thing. They don’t bowl that badly in the nets. You have to reassure individuals that it just takes one game to turn it around.”