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Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, and Andrew Symonds, the allrounder, are on the list of top five must-have players of at least three franchises in the Indian Premier League, Cricinfo has learned, belying fears in the fallout of the Sydney Test that public sentiment would jeopardise their involvement in the big-money tournament.The IPL commissioner, Lalit Modi, had voiced those fears, saying there would “definitely be some casualties” of the controversy.However, one week before the players’ auction, representatives of the IPL’s Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi franchises – who say “public memory is short” and “everybody has moved on” from Sydney – are working their budgets around Ponting and Symonds and the other top draw, Adam Gilchrist. Each of the eight IPL teams can recruit up to eight overseas international players and field four of them in the playing XI.”Any Australian player would figure high on our list, just for the sheer professionalism and commitment they bring to the field,” says the former India international VB Chandrasekhar, now a key operations man in the Chennai franchise, owned by India Cements. “I don’t thinkthere will be any negative impact here on the Sydney incident.””There is a different kind of passion involved here. We are looking atinter-city rivalries here, not between countries. In fact, I think having Ponting and Symonds play here will only alleviate whatever tensionthere might have been following the Sydney incident.”The former India fast bowler, T A Sekar, who is the vice-president of sports administration for the Delhi team, says he would be “very keen” on Symonds as he is looking out for multi-skilled players. “More than Ponting, I would go for Gilchrist and Symonds because they fit the bill. In this format, our eyes will be on multi-skilled players.”Charu Sharma, CEO-designate of the Bangalore franchise, believes public memory is short. “Once Symonds and Ponting are part of your team, and they walk out in thefield, you will hear their names chanted from the stands. The backlash in India and Australia was to a particular incident, in a particular match. Everybody has moved on.”Sharma, a television commentator, explained why Symonds and Ponting were so sought after. “Cricket-wise, Symonds brings an enormous batting ability in a Twenty20 situation, gives you a bowling option and a fantastic fielding option. In Twenty20 you need a player who can change the game in two or three overs. Symonds clearly has that ability.”Ponting, he said, might take an over or two to get going. “But he can then hit the ball as hard as anybody else. He’s got great eye, great feet, brings a lot of experience, and a sound cricketingbackground with him.”There is still some doubt over the participation of current Australian players in the inaugural IPL, given that the team is scheduled to tour Pakistan around the time the IPL begins. However, Sharma said the IPL had informed franchise owners that the status of these Australian players would be confirmed before the auction, on February 20.

Worcestershire have signed Nadeem Malik, the former England Under-19 bowler. He has signed a two-year deal after requesting to leave Nottinghamshire due to a lack of opportunity.Malik nearly moved to Worcestershire last season, but chose to stay on at Notts in the hope of playing in the first team. However, after making just two appearances last year, he decided to make the switch second time around.”The signing of Nadeem is a real coup for Worcestershire,” Tom Moody, Worcestershire’s coach, said. “There were a number of counties after him and we are delighted he is joining us at New Road. He has already demonstrated his enormous potential in first-class cricket and I am confident we can help him build on that and become a top-class performer.”Malik was equally as pleased himself. He said: “My opportunities were limited at Notts and this move gives me a chance to break into the Worcestershire team and, if all goes well, stay there. I want to go all the way to the top and play for England. There’s a lot of work to do before I get there, but I think this move will give me a chance to do that.He continued: “Something’s working right here at New Road. You only have to look the transformation off Gareth Batty — he’s out in Sri Lanka with England. You look at the progress Kabir Ali and Vikram Solanki have made and you know that Tom Moody is making a massive difference. He’s a big reason why I came here and hopefully I can go along the same lines as those players.”Malik, 21, has toured India and New Zealand with the England Under 19s, and has played 14 first-class matches for Notts, taking 35 wickets.

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.

Matt King produced his best competitive bowling figures as Bashley (Rydal) threw a massive spoke in Havant’s bid to retain the ECB Southern Electric Premier League championship crown.The Bashley captain took 6-41 in 12.5 overs as the defending champions were rolled over for a modest 167 – a target Bashley polished off with six wickets in hand.The result has made BAT Sports – nine-wicket winners at Portsmouth – firm favourites to recapture the trophy they won two seasons ago.Havant were undone in the opening overs at the BCG with John Whiting (3-52) and King ripping out Dom Carson, Richard Hindley and Simon Barnard for only 15.Andy Perry (78) held things together and was ninth out – caught behind by Andy Sexton to give King a fifth victim – at 167.But Bashley’s four-pronged pace attack called the tune, with Paul Gover (32) offering the only meaningful support as Havant keeled over against the rampant King, who grabbed the last four wickets.Fresh from three victims behind the stumps, Sexton piloted Bashley towards a notable six-wicket victory.He shared half-century stands with Neil Thurgood (26) and Brad Thompson (24) before becoming the second scalp for Middlesex Academy trainee Chris Wright (3-64).But by then Bashley were 131-3 … and within just four points of Havant in second place.Western Australia’s Adam Voges was the star of Bournemouth’s seven-wicket win over South Wilts at Chapel Gate.The Western Warrior took 4-45 before cracking a boundary-strewn 92 as Bournemouth romped home.South Wilts faded after a promising beginnings – Paul Draper (45) and Jamie Glasson (23) sharing a 61-run start before both fell to the guile of Jo Wilson.Russell Rowe’s 48 held things together as the combined left-arm spin of Voges (4-45) and Shaun Walbridge (2-49) cut through the middle-order.The heavyweight Wiltshire captain was eventually seventh out – a third victim for Martin Miller – at 164, after which Wilson (4-45) returned to mop up the tail and leave South Wilts 178 all out.Bournemouth lost Nick Park cheaply, but Tom Webley (54) and Voges soon pointed the Dorset club towards a sixth win in nine SPL outings.It was Voges, with 15 boundaries in a classy 92 not out, who stole the show, getting support from Charlie Holcomb (26) as Bournemouth cruised home.

Lord MacLaurin, the chairman of the England & Wales Cricket Board until earlier this year, has warned that cricket in England risks becoming “a former sport of the summer … like croquet” unless a major overhaul of the way the game is run is undertaken.In an interview on BBC Radio’s Today programme, MacLaurin pulled no punches about what he sees as a game at the crossroads. His most radical proposal was for a reduction in the number of first-class county sides from 18 to 12, with the resultant loss of around 100 players. That would be just part of a widespread streamlining of the entire structure of the game.”I think the 18 first-class counties that we have at the moment we cannot sustain over a period of time,” he said. “Is 2nd XI cricket sustainable? Probably not. And certainly we can’t afford over 450 professional paid cricketers. We cannot sustain the amount of professional cricketers we have at the moment in the county game. It isn’t as professional and competitive as it should be.”This is going to cause havoc when the county chairmen hear what I’m saying. They have to sit down and have to talk about it, the structure of the whole game, if it’s going to survive in the environment in which we live.”MacLaurin explained that the critical issue which made a revamp necessary was the end of the current television deal in 2005. Despite reassuring noises from the ECB, MacLaurin – and many others – feel that the next deal will provide far less money for the game – possibly as much a 25% reduction on the £65million currently generated. “Each county receives a fee of £1.5million a year,” MacLaurin explained. “If the ECB income were to be reduced in any way, then their income would not be as much.”For obvious reasons MacLaurin’s views are unlikely to go down well around the counties. Giles Clarke, Somerset’s chairman, told the Daily Telegraph: “Any change of structure would be fiercely resisted in every area. If football hasn’t had to do it, I don’t see why cricket should.”

South Africa 302 for 1 (Smith 139, Gibbs 139*) v West Indies
Scorecard

Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs powered their way to a record opening stand for South Africa at Centurion Park on a shortened opening day of the fourth Test. After Brian Lara won the toss and put South Africa in, Smith and Gibbs both scored centuries and made West Indies pay for some more wayward bowling and shoddy fielding. South Africa closed at a dominating 302 for 1 when bad light stopped play.What has gone before in a one-sided series was nothing to compare with the level of the slaughter today. The bowling was toothless, the fielding tired, but the batting was almost faultless. After a morning seeing off the new ball on a damp track, Smith and Gibbs cut loose, smashing the hapless attack to all parts of the sparsely populated ground, and keeping the run rate up to five an over.Smith was the more aggressive of the two, racing to his sixth Test century from 125 balls, including 17 fours and a six. He played a host of sublime shots, most of which pierced the leg-side field. He had only one blemish, when, on 23, he should have been run out by Ramnaresh Sarwan, but was reprieved by bad fielding. Gibbs, meanwhile, opened up after a subdued start, and he reached his 13th Test hundred on the way to an unbeaten 139.Play was delayed by half an hour after heavy overnight rain, and the tone of the day was set with the first ball of the match – a wide long-hop from Merv Dillon, which Smith slashed over the slips for four. Gibbs was temporarily in a spot of bother when Dillon managed to apply some pressure for all of an over, but Gibbs soon helped himself to some erratic bowling from Fidel Edwards at the other end.Smith signalled the fifty partnership with a handsome cover-drive off Dillon, and 10 fours had come in the first 11 overs – not exactly what Lara would have hoped for after he won the toss. The Smith run-out chance, which happened shortly before the lunch break, was in fact the only time West Indies came close to making a breakthrough, but that was wasted – and in comical fashion.Smith pushed Vasbert Drakes to Sarwan at point and set off for a suicidal run, but Gibbs sent him back. Smith was halfway down the track and Sarwan had all the time in the world to take aim and fire. Instead, he chose to pick the ball up and get closer to the stumps. After a few strides, though, he belly-flopped forward and looped the ball way over the target. Smith couldn’t believe his luck – and he made the most of it.Just as West Indies were beginning to assert some control, Smith bulldozed Drakes for three fours in same over, all on the leg side, to put South Africa back on track to domination. And it didn’t stop there. Corey Collymore was next in Smith’s firing line. He was peppered to different parts of the leg-side boundary, and Lara was forced to turn to Chris Gayle for a wind of change. Gayle promptly served up a floating full-toss, which Smith smacked away with disdain on the way to his hundred.

Gibbs, meanwhile, was more watchful. He took 116 balls to reach his half-century, but he did it in style with a back-foot thump through the covers off another Edwards short ball. He then smeared Gayle over midwicket, later pulled Dillon for a huge six over deep mid-on, and eased to his hundred off a gentle Sarwan full-toss.Smith and Gibbs carried on the charge, continuing to punish anything short in particular, and they soon had their sights on beating their own record stand of 368 against Pakistan at Cape Town last year. However, Collymore spared West Indies that embarrassment when Smith edged him behind to Ridley Jacobs for an outstanding 139, including 21 fours and two sixes (301 for 1).Not long after Smith’s wicket, at 5.05pm local time, the umpires offered Gibbs and Jacques Rudolph the light with 22.5 overs to go – and, rather surprisingly, they accepted with South Africa in total control of a completely one-sided contest.

Terry Jenner, who played nine Tests for Australia but is better known as Shane Warne’s mentor, has criticised Australia’s selectors for omitting Stuart MacGill from the squad to tour India next month. Jenner questioned the idea of going with Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White to back up Warne, saying that India was hardly the right place to groom youngsters.Speaking to the newspaper, Jenner said, “It’s very sad that a bloke who has taken 150-odd wickets at Test level has been passed over for two guys who haven’t even been successful at first-class level. I would have thought that if you were to pick the best two spinners in Australia you’d have to pick MacGill as the second spinner.”You have to blood young bowlers for the future, but Hauritz has had no success and for someone like that to go to the most difficult place in the world for spinners – a place where Shane and Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] have averaged 40 or 50 – what hope does Nathan have?”Jenner reckoned that both Hauritz and White were picked with containment roles in mind. “But, in that case, they may as well have picked someone like Andrew Symonds to keep it tight because he bats and fields well, too,” he said. “Put it this way, I can’t imagine Hauritz keeping [Sachin] Tendulkar down for too long. My thinking is that if you don’t have one who’s good enough, you don’t take one at all.”Jenner’s views found support from two offspinners who had a fair degree of success in Indian conditions. Greg Matthews was instrumental in the Tied Test of 1986, and he said, “I find it amazing that, for the place where you have the most difficult conditions, a place where we haven’t been successful for 35 years, they’re taking one guy who struggles to make a first-class team and another whose stats don’t rate. Hauritz is a lovely young man but he played eight games last year for two wickets a game at 63 and they’re putting him up against the best in the world.”Gavin Robertson, who was the foil for Warne on the ill-fated tour of 1998, believed that Hauritz’s style was better suited for the one-day game. “You can’t bowl slow on subcontinental wickets, you’ve got to rip the hell out of the ball and make it drop quickly,” he said. “If you don’t, you’ll be in trouble. Nathan needs to spin the ball more. When you play a lot of one-day cricket you tend to underspin it. You really have to dig it into the dust and try to get bounce and spin, otherwise you’ll be in trouble.”

Division One

Mark Ealham’s 34 not out gave Nottinghamshire the edge by the end of a manic day at Trent Bridge on which 18 wickets fell. After winning the toss and batting, Surrey were skittled by Greg Smith, who claimed three wickets for four runs, including Rikki Clarke and Jon Batty for ducks. Mark Ramprakash retaliated with a gutsy 42, but Surrey’s total of 136 seemed inadequate, until it came to their turn to bowl. Martin Bicknell bagged his brother Darren for a second-ball duck, and had taken 4 for 42 by the close as Notts limped to 185 for 8.Only 30 overs were possible on the first day of Sussex’s match against Gloucestershire at Hove. Sussex won the toss and batted first, and were indebted to a solid opening knock from Richard Montgomerie, who clung on in difficult conditions as four wickets fell at the other end. Steve Kirby took the notable scalps of Matt Prior and Chris Adams, as Sussex closed on 97 for 4.

Division Two

Darren Gough cemented his side’s advantage with two wickets in his first four overs, as Leicestershire closed on 12 for 2 in reply to Essex’s Ronnie Irani-inspired 297. Irani top-scored with 97, falling three short of his second hundred of the season and the 24th of his career, one of David Masters’ four wickets in the innings. His efforts lifted Essex from an early rut – they had at one stage been 57 for 3 after Andy Flower had become the first of Ryan Cummins’ three wickets. Alistair Cook contributed a solid 62 at the top of the order, while Andre Adams’ hard-hitting 32 from 40 balls lifted them from a dicey 213 for 6. But once Gough had made his mark on the top of Leicestershire’s batting, Essex’s position was looking much healthier.Paul Collingwood chose the ideal moment to stake his claim for an England Test recall, by carting a Somerset attack including Andy Caddick all around the ground at Taunton in front of David Graveney, the chairman of selectors. With speculation surrounding the make-up of England’s second-Test squad, Collingwood finished unbeaten on 181 from 268 balls, with 24 fours and a six, as Durham closed on a hefty 345 for 3. He dominated both of the big stands of which he was a part, 142 for the second wicket with Mike Hussey (63), and 152 for the third with Gordon Muchall (57), to put pressure on the England batting line-up that crumbled so feebly at Lord’s this week. Somerset stuck to their task, with Caddick taking two wickets, but Durham have their sights firmly fixed on first division action.Phil Jaques and Anthony McGrath put Derbyshire’s bowlers to the sword at Headingley, adding 310 for the third wicket to leave Yorkshire on a commanding 419 for 3 at stumps. McGrath made 134 but the star of the show was Jaques, who finished unbeaten on 217, and needs another 27 runs tomorrow to pass his career-best. The pair came together at a wobbly 29 for 2, after Matthew Wood and Joe Sayers had fallen cheaply, but that was as good as Derbyshire’s day got.

Hampshire’s National League match against Worcestershire at The Rose Bowl was abandoned without a ball being bowled, thus denying the home crowd a chance to see Kevin Pietersen in action. Both teams now have 14 points.

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).