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Stuart Clark was surprisingly under-used by RickyPonting after he had England limping in the firstsession with two early blows. Having taken sevenwickets in the first Test, Clark followed up withanother strong performance that began with himremoving the openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.While Brett Lee struggled for penetration and GlennMcGrath battled with his left-heel injury, Clarkprovided some zip on a slow Adelaide pitch and wasrewarded during an opening spell of 2 for 15 off eightovers. Clark forced Strauss to pop to Damien Martyn,who took a sharp catch at mid-on, and then capturedCook’s edge as he tried a push to cover.Despite Clark’s early dominance, he was sent to theoutfield for much of the rest of the day as ShaneWarne was heavily relied on and Lee and McGrath werepreferred. Clark came back for a 12-ball spell tofinish the day and ended with 2 for 25 from 15.”You’re very disappointed when you’re not bowling,” hesaid. “You can’t bowl them out when you’re standing atfine leg and it does get a bit boring down there attimes. Ricky went down a different path and he had afew ideas in mind and I’m sure I’ll get anotherchance.”McGrath passed a fitness test this morning and trottedout one of his favourite lines to Clark. “He said hewas 100% and never felt better, so you can only takehis word and go for it,” he said. After watching histeam-mate return 0 for 51, Clark said McGrath’s footwas fine and his fitness was not an issue.Australia eased off after lunch as Ian Bell, KevinPietersen and Paul Collingwood added half-centuriesthat squeezed England to 3 for 266. “If they got 350we would have had a bad day,” Clark said. “We kept itnice and tight but they probably got away from us abit in the last session. If you stick two wicketsearly on that score and bowl them out for 250 or 270we’re right back in the game and almost on top.”Collingwood can expect some extra attention when heresumes on 98. Clark said the batsman would”definitely” be targeted, especially after his nearmiss at the Gabba. “Batters get tense around thatfigure,” he said. “He got a bit tense in Brisbane.Hopefully we’ll go there in the morning and keep himout there for a couple of overs and get him out.”

Trinidad and Tobago are looking to maintain their reputation as the leading team in the West Indies when they travel to Grenada for this weekend’s Grenada Cricket Festival.The Trinidad and Tobago squad have a lot to live up to as they contest the triangular Twenty20 tournament featuring Grenada and Antigua, but Omar Khan, the team manager, is confident, even though they will be without Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Rampaul.While this was not high on the priority list for the national team, as they prepare for the KFC Cup regional limited overs competition in Guyana later this month, Khan was adamant they will give a good account of themselves, saying: “We are going there to win and I believe that we have enough talent in the squad to come out on top.”It is a full-strength squad and it will be an opportunity for the guys that are going to continue their preparation for the KFC Cup, which is our top priority,” Khan said.Trinidad and Tobago, the defending KFC Cup champions, had reached the final of the Stanford Twenty20 Tournament last year but stumbled against Guyana. They will be using the Grenada Cricket Festival as a starting point for building their line-up for the 2008 Stanford Tournament, scheduled for January.”The KFC Cup squad still has to be cut down to 14 so these guys will have a further opportunity to impress the selectors,” Khan said. “The coach and training staff will also get a chance to do some extra work with the team in Grenada because it is all about performing in a different environment and conditions and the extra work there will pay off in the KFC Cup.”The squad leave today and play their first game tomorrow against Grenada at the National Stadium and take on Antigua at the same venue on Monday.Trinidad and Tobago Twenty20 squad:
Daren Ganga (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Rayad Emrit, Richard Kelly, Amit Jaggernauth, Nicholas Ramjass, William Perkins, Mario Belcon, Keiron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Sherwin Ganga, Andre Browne
Coach: David Williams
Manager: Omar Khan
Physical Trainer: Gerald Garcia

Last season, there was just one century in the entire Twenty20 competition, as made by Gloucestershire’s Ian Harvey. Today, Graeme Hick and Ian Thomas took the 2004 tally to three hundreds in as many days of action. The government may be campaigning to outlaw spanking, but on this evidence, they are fighting a losing battle.The match of the day was down at Taunton, where Thomas bludgeoned a phenomenal 116 not out from just 57 balls, as Glamorgan chased down Somerset’s stiff target of 194. Thomas cracked 11 fours and seven sixes – and a pavilion window – as Somerset’s bowlers were clobbered to all corners of the ground.Somerset had been favourites at the halfway mark, as James Hildreth took advantage of a lax fielding effort to make 66 from 33 balls. But Thomas was in the mood to chase down any total, and he was aided and abetted by David Hemp, who finished unbeaten on 31, as Glamorgan won with three balls to spare.Thomas’s effort equalled the Twenty20 record, as set by Hick at Luton a few hours earlier. His unbeaten 116 came from eight more deliveries – and featured one fewer six – but it was yet another example of the devastating power that used to be a feature of his one-day batting with England. Rain interrupted Northamptonshire’s reply, but they never came close to a revised target of 102, falling 22 runs short in their 11 overs.The other match took place at Maidstone, where Andrew Symonds was back in action after his 34-ball hundred on the opening day. This time, however, he was unable to reproduce the performance, as Essex limited Kent to 125, before bowling them out in the final over. Scott Brant was the star, with 4 for 20 in 3.2 overs, and after that it was over to Ronnie Irani. He slapped 64 not out from 52 balls, to wrap up the match with more than four overs to spare.

Darren Berry, the Rajasthan Royals team manager, says there is a “real option” three of the team’s highest profile players will not return to Jaipur following a series of bombs that killed about 80 people in the city on Tuesday. Berry is having a four-day break in Goa with Shane Warne, Shane Watson and Graeme Smith and said the group had considered “getting on the plane and getting out of here”.”We are not comfortable at all,” Berry told the Sydney Morning Herald from Goa. “This is an extremely uncomfortable situation. Cricket has been good to me, but I have a wife and three kids back in Melbourne and they are less than impressed with the part of the world I am in.”Berry said there had been discussions with Warne over the seriousness of the situation. “I was talking to Warney this morning and asked: ‘If this blast had occurred a day before we were due to fly over here, would we still have come?’ He said there was no way we would have come.”It is terrifying. To think I was standing in the exact location the bombs went off only two days ago … it was a couple of kilometres from the team hotel. The whole country has gone into lockdown.”The IPL has refused to move Saturday’s match against Bangalore from Jaipur, but there will be an increased security prescence. “That is the part that scares me,” Berry said. “These games are getting big crowds.”People over here tell me this has nothing to do with cricket, it is political … but if some people are prepared to cause this type of damage, detonating bombs in peak hour to harm the most number of people possible … 50,000 people come to the stadium to watch the games.”

South Africa A 307 and 168 for 3 (de Villiers 84) beat Zimbabwe A 186 and 286 (Vermeulen 77, Matsikenyeri 66, Taylor 57, Adams 4-99) by 7 wickets
ScorecardSouth Africa A needed just over 12 overs to knock off the 55 runs they needed for victory on the fourth day of their match against Zimbabwe A. Abraham de Villiers, 64 not out overnight, added 20 runs to his score before giving a return catch to Waddington Mwayenga.Ashwell Prince (39 not out) and Neil McKenzie (10) motored on to complete an efficient victory, putting South Africa A 1-0 in the two-match series. The second four-day game begins on August 17, and will be followed by three one-day matches.

Lancashire 311 and 99 for 3 drew with Gloucestershire 311 for 8 dec and 289 (Keedy 7-132)
ScorecardGary Keedy, Lancashire’s left-arm spinner, picked up 7 for 132 on the final day at Old Trafford, but Gloucestershire, helped by a century from Chris Taylor, still made 289 to set Lancashire an improbable 290 to win. Keedy’s second innings haul, after his 7 for 95 in the first, took his match tally to 14 for 227 – a career best.Gloucestershire lost Craig Spearman, caught by Mark Chilton off the bowling of Sajid Mahmood, with only 10 on the board this morning. After that, wickets fell regularly as, Apart from Taylor, no batsman made more than Mike Hussey’s 45. This was Hussey’s last match for Gloucestershire, as he takes over as Durham’s new captain next season.After Keedy had wrapped up Gloucestershire’s innings by having Ian Fisher caught behind by Warren Hegg, Lancashire found themselves in some trouble at 12 for 3 in reply, with Iain Sutcliffe and Andrew Cook both out for ducks. But Mal Loye (45) and Carl Hooper (43) made sure that was as bad as it got for Lancashire with an unbeaten 87-run stand, although the match was overshadowed by the confirmation of Lancashire’s relegation.

Michael Vaughan has underlined that England will be leaving nothing to chance as they attempt to inflict a 24th defeat in 25 Tests on Bangladesh, at the Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday.Speaking during a press conference at the team hotel today, Vaughan confirmed his side’s readiness for the task in hand, adding that the fitness levels of his squad were at an all-time high. “Over the years we probably haven’t been as fit as we probably could be,” he admitted, “but this winter, it is something we have all bought into. We’ve trained harder for this Test match than any other on tour. We made a pact to give it a good go, and we intend to carry our fitness for the whole winter.”When England arrived on Oct 8, Bangladesh was being battered by torrential rainstorms, so there can be no complaints about the amount of practice the team has managed to fit in. “We’ve had enough preparation,” Vaughan confirmed, after two drawn warm-up matches in the past week. “A few of us would have liked longer in the middle – myself included – so I guess we are going in a little undercooked. But Test matches are a totally different game mentally. We will be fully ready to go on Tuesday.”England did enjoy the better of both those games, but the balance of the side is still causing the selectors one or two headaches. “When Freddie [Flintoff] was coming out here, the team picked itself,” said Vaughan: “Two spinners, two quicks and the allrounder at No. 6.” Ashley Giles and Gareth Batty have both staked eloquent claims for the primary spinner’s role, but it remains to be seen whether Martin Saggers or Richard Johnson will edge one or the other out of the starting XI.In Flintoff’s absence, the allrounder’s duties have passed to Rikki Clarke, who – barring a late change of heart – will be taking over from his Surrey team-mate, Alec Stewart, as England’s new No. 6. “Clarke has been picked because we feel he’s ready,” said Vaughan. “He is an immense talent with the bat, and he’s outstanding in the field.”Vaughan admitted that there were still one or two reservations about Clarke’s bowling at Test level, but added that he was precisely the type of player England need to persevere with. “He’s only 21. The more opportunities we give him, and the more he comes to places like this, it will hold us in good stead for the future.”England have been finalising their preparations by studying videos of the Bangladeshis in action, especially during their recent series in Australia where they earned the hard-won respect of their opponents. There is no complacency in this squad, which makes a stark contrast to the last time England played an inaugural series – against Zimbabwe in 1996-97, where they drew the Tests 0-0, and were whitewashed in the three-match one-day series.But Vaughan is unequivocal about England’s aims in the next few weeks. “We have come out here expecting to win,” he said bullishly. “But we won’t win anything without hard work. You’ve seen the heat and humidity out here. We’ve got to be prepared to spend a long time in the middle, whether batting or bowling.” As England discovered in both warm-ups, the weather in these parts can fluctuate at the drop of a thundercloud. “That’s an aspect we can’t control,” said Vaughan. “First and foremost, we have to assume the match will go five days, and put them under some pressure.”Steve Harmison seems a certain starter, despite the tendency for the pitches to be slow and low. “A guy with that type of pace and height always has a good chance,” confirmed Vaughan. “But it takes a lot of effort, being a tall bowler in these parts. Whoever plays, will be tough going out there.”There won’t be many that bounce and fly past the nostril. More often they hit you on the shin or the middle of the pad,” he added wryly, after being trapped lbw for 1 by a low-bouncing delivery in his final warm-up match. It was a dismissal that meant Vaughan had managed just one fifty in 19 innings since assuming the Test captaincy, and he knows only too well that the spotlight will be on his form come Tuesday.”I’m only four games into the job,” he pointed out. &”Of course I’d like a few more runs, but come Tuesday, I’m only one innings away from a big hundred. I’m sure that when I get that big score, a lot of the opinions will quieten down. Runs are hard enough to come by when you’re in good nick, it’s even more difficult when you’ve had a run of low scores. I’m sure it’ll be a battling innings, but I’m hoping for a bit of the rub of the green.”Meanwhile, Mark Butcher has recovered from a throat infection and been passed fit for the Test. Butcher missed the warm-up match against Bangladesh A, but he played a full part in a training session on Monday, and will definitely make the starting XI.”One of the things about this side and the players coming through is that you don’t want to miss a game,” Butcher said. “Regardless of how many runs you have scored over the last year there are people waiting their turn to get in.”England team (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Gareth Batty, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

England won the toss and chose to bat

Simon Jones has been omitted from England’s 12-man team to take on Jamaica at Sabina Park, as the tour of the Caribbean begins in earnest. Jones, who arrives in Kingston this evening, was, as expected, rested until the second warm-up match against the Vice-Chancellor’s XI which begins on Friday. In his absence, Rikki Clarke has been given an unexpected opportunity to stake a claim for a second allrounder’s berth.In Jones’s absence, England have entrusted their seam-bowling duties to Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Matthew Hoggard. England’s batsmen, meanwhile, are fully expecting a traditional Caribbean welcome, especially with Jamaica’s young fast bowler Jermaine Lawson looking to regain his Test place.”You expect a bit of chin music when you come to these parts,” said Michael Vaughan. “When you go to Sri Lanka you practise against spin and when you come to these parts you practise the shorter stuff a bit more.”But Vaughan was unconcerned at the prospect of taking on the quicks. “We’re used to this sort of bowling more so than facing Murali on dusty pitches in 100 degrees heat,” he added. “It’s going to be hot out here, but the lads are generally used to facing seam and fast bowling.Lawson is the most high-profile of a below-strength Jamaican team, with many of their bigger names resting after victory in the semi-final of the Carib Beer Cup. He has taken 29 wickets in seven Tests to date, including a matchwinning haul of 7 for 78 against Australia last May. But he has since been sidelined, partly because of a back injury, and partly because of being reported to the ICC for a suspect bowling action.”We don’t know a great deal about Jermaine Lawson,” admitted Vaughan, “but he’s obviously had a bit of a rough time and he’s making his comeback so it will be interesting to see how he goes. I’m sure he will be looking to impress and get into the West Indies squad.”Jones aside, England have named something approaching their first-choice XI, with the first Test due to begin at this very venue on March 11.Jamaica 1 Brenton Parchment (capt), 2 Bevon Brown, 3 Shawn Findlay, 4 Danza Hyatt, 5 Lorenzo Ingram, 6 Dwight Mais, 7 Matthew Sinclair (wk), 8 Evon McInnis, 9 Donovon Pagon, 10 Mario Ventura, 11 Jermaine Lawson.England XII 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Marcus Trescothick, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Rikki Clarke, 8 Chris Read (wk), 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson, 12 Matthew Hoggard.

Division One

Points Table
Hampshire completed two convincing one-day wins in three days in despatching Worcestershire at New Road in the latest round of the National League. The visitors chased down their target of 186 within 34 overs, with Shane Watson and John Crawley leading the charge. Earlier, Dimitri Mascarenhas mixed up his pace successfully, as is his wont, and he took 2 for 34 from 7 overs. Shaun Udal was also among the wickets again, with 2 for 38 from 7, as Hampshire’s bowlers worked as an effective unit once more, taking wickets at regular intervals to break partnerships at key moments.A disappointing three days for Lancashire concluded with defeat at the hands of Gloucestershire at Old Trafford. Andrew Symonds’ century-making form continued – this time he hit 129 from 120 balls, and was well supported by Mark Chilton who hit 59 as Lancashire put on 267. But it wasn’t enough, and although Gloucestershire were in trouble at 47 for 4, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Mark Hardinges each struck unbeaten centuries, putting on 221 between them, to take them home.

The former England captain, Tony Greig, believes that the England & Wales Cricket Board is right to resist calls for its contracted players to be allowed to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League, but has rubbished suggestions from the board’s chairman, Giles Clarke, that there are parallels between the current situation and World Series Cricket.Greig was one of the prime movers in Kerry Packer’s revolution, which changed the face of cricket forever in the late 1970s, and he never played again for England after taking part in the first competition in 1977-78. On Monday, Clarke warned England’s current stars, not least Kevin Pietersen, that a spell in the IPL could have a similar effect on their careers.Clarke told reporters at Lord’s: “Thirty years ago, Tony Greig thought it was important to play in World Series Cricket, and Ian Botham appeared to replace him from pretty much nowhere.” Greig, who played alongside Botham in two Tests of the 1977 summer, as well as the previous year’s one-day series against West Indies, described that version of events as “hogwash”.”I picked Ian Botham to play for England when I was captain and he was always going to replace me as England’s allrounder,” Greig told Cricinfo. “My joining WSC simply gave Ian a permanent position a little sooner than may otherwise have been the case.”Clarke’s attempt to draw a comparison with World Series Cricket is absolutely ridiculous,” added Greig. “We, the England players of the day, were being seriously ripped off by Clarke’s ECB predecessors who didn’t give a damn about the plight of the then-county and Test cricketers, especially where their remuneration was concerned.”Thanks to WSC they were forced to change their attitude,” he continued. “It provided me with the security the Clarkes of the day weren’t prepared to offer. All they gave us was a threat that, if we didn’t stay on, we wouldn’t receive our tax-free benefits. The situation now is very different because players are being well-paid and also have the security of the contract system that the Players Association worked so hard to implement.”Broadly speaking, however, Greig agreed with the ECB’s attitude towards the IPL, not least because he believes that England is in a much stronger position to build a sustainable Twenty20 competition. “Clarke is on the right track,” he said. “All he and his board has to do now is form the England Twenty20 Cricket League and play it sometime during the English summer when all the players from around the world will be available.”Unlike India, England is the perfect venue for an annual Twenty20 festival because, with very few exceptions, teams are out of season or touring England.”The Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans should consider doing the same in the Southern Hemisphere during their summer,” said Greig, “although their tournament will have to be along the lines of the Super 14 rugby tournament because the players from Asia and the Northern Hemisphere will be otherwise occupied.”