Nottinghamshire 191 and 68 for 3 (Gallian 40*, W Smith 1*) lead MCC 168 (Sidebottom 4-42) by 91 runs
Scorecard

Wickets continued to tumble at Lord’s on the second day of the season-opener between MCC and Nottinghamshire. After being reduced to 191 all out, yesterday, Nottinghamshire fought back by dismissing MCC for 168 and gaining a 23-run lead. However, the procession of batsmen wasn’t finished as Nottinghamshire struggled a second time, losing three top-order scalps before rain brought an early close.Ryan Sidebottom started the second day of ball dominating bat by removingMonty Panesar, the nightwatchman, early to join to his dismissal ofAlastair Cook on the first evening. He added Alex Loudon and Ed Joyce in quick succession and after seven overs – six of which were maidens, he had 4 for 3. Mark Ealham chipped in with Ravinder Bopara, but from 43 for 5 Rikki Clarke and Luke Parker, a young Warwickshire batsman, staged a fightback.The pair added 57 and hit nine boundaries between them before falling within the space of seven runs to Ealham. Steven Davies, the wicketkeeper, who held four catches on the first day, then launched another counterattack. He cracked eight boundaries in his 37-ball 42 and continued to mark himself down as one to watch this summer. His fun was ended when Greg Smith claimed his first wicket by jagging a ball sharply back into him.The end of the innings came swiftly but was notable for a brilliantpiece of glovework from Chris Read, who flung himself in front of first slip to grab an outstanding catch off a flying edge from Tim Bresnan. John Stephenson didn’t last long, slashing a sharp catch to gully and the Nottinghamshire seam attack had laid down a marker for early season.Bresnan, though, struck back for MCC as the ball continued to swing under overcast skies. He bowled Darren Bicknell in the opening over and then had Russell Warren – who completed a poor match with the bat – caught behind for 4. David Hussey and Jason Gallian added 44, finding the boundary with regularity, until Bopara claimed Hussey for the second time in the match.With the match interestingly poised the rain, which delayed the start yesterday by three hours, descended over Lord’s and play was unable to restart after tea. But the rush of wickets means unless there is more bad weather tomorrow, or the batsmen dominate for the first time, this match could be over inside three days.

Division One

Lancashire will be scenting a final-day victory after Stuart Law put Durham to the sword with a fine century. Law’s unbeaten 111 allowed Mark Chilton, who joined him with 57 in a stand of 101, to set Durham 401. Two late wickets – one for Sajid Mahmood and one for Gary Keedy – have made that highly unlikely, especially as Keedy removed the in-form Gordon Muchall, and now the question is whether Durham can hang on for a draw.Impressive centuries for Nick Knight and Jonathan Trott have left Warwickshire with plenty of time to force a win against Yorkshire. The pair extended their partnership to 249 before Knight was caught off Jason Gillespie. Trott ploughed on and Heath Steak delayed his declaration until the Yorkshire were left facing the daunting prospect of 500. Early strikes by Streak and James Anyon put Warwickshire on their way but Anthony McGrath’s unbeaten 73 kept Yorkshire afloat, if only just, heading into the final day.Mushtaq Ahmed bowled Sussex to a handsome 94-run win over Hampshire at the Rose Bowl with a seven-wicket haul. Mushtaq didn’t need a second invitation to twirl away on a pitch that offered encouragement for all bowlers. His dismissal of Michael Carberry, bowled for 39, left Hampshire 144 for 4 and he then raced through the lower order by himself. All his victims were either bowled or lbw. Robin Martin-Jenkins lifted the target beyond 300 with a powerful 91 off 97 balls after Sussex and formed a vital 60-run stand with Luke Wright. In the end his innings was the difference.Middlesex v Kent at Lord’s. For a full report by Andrew McGlashan click here.

Division Two

Somerset powered to a 227-run victory against Worcestershire to make up for their opening round defeat to Durban. Worcestershire collapsed dramatically for the second time in the match as Andrew Caddick to his match haul to nine wickets, including Ben Smith first ball. Charl Willoughby helped himself to three, continuing a useful start to his Somerset career, as Worcestershire never threatened to take the match into a fourth day. Zaheer Khan had earlier finished with 6 for 40, and a ten-wicket haul for his Championship debut, but it was only a prelude of what was to come.Essex are on course for a thumping win over Glamorgan after making them follow-on at Cardiff and grabbing four second-innings scalps. The wickets were shared around in the first innings as numerous Glamorgan batsmen failed to build on promising starts. James Middlebrook, the offspinner, and Tim Phillips, the left-armer, took four between them and were in the wickets again second time around. Michael Powell is unbeaten overnight but it is asking a lot of him and the tail to battle through the final day and a track now taking turn.Surrey have set Leicestershire a tough 414 to win after Mark Butcher found some form with an unbeaten 85. Scott Newman launched Surrey’s second innings in style with an aggressive 75 but another middle-order collapse stunted their progress. However, Butcher and Tim Murtagh put them back on course with a 100-run stand. Azhar Mahmood claimed an early with before HD Ackerman replied with a flurry of boundaries, but Surrey remain clear favourites.

Andrew Miller on the second day of the Trent Bridge Test
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Streaming Audio: Real :: WMALasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan bowled particularly well on a day when Sri Lanka brought themselves back into the series, getting England out for 229 and getting a two-run lead in the process. Andrew Miller, Cricinfo’s UK editor, chats with Ranjit Shinde, and tells him about how this Test is perfectly balanced. Listen in.Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
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Charlie Robertson, one of Zimbabwe’s senior administrators and the head of the group of provincial chairman, has called on the ICC to send in a group of neutral observers to see for themselves what he described as “the complete joke” that cricket has become in Zimbabwe.Robertson has made several approaches to the ICC on behalf of stakeholders opposed to the board run by Peter Chingoka, but to date all have been rebuffed.”We are amazed that no representative of the ICC has been sent here on a fact-finding mission, with a mandate to meet with the cricket stakeholders, both players and administrators,” he told Cricinfo. “The ICC seems hell-bent on dealing only with the current ZC administration – which has in effect been put in place by the government’s Sports and Recreational ministry – to the exclusion of all other stakeholders. The current constitution is null and void in terms of recent developments under the guise of this ministry.”Do we now bypass the ICC? What recourse do we have? Perhaps we need to get some real cricketers here …Barry Richards, Ian Botham, Michael Holding and Sunil Gavaskar to name a few … on a fact finding mission to report back to the whole of the cricket fraternity, and the ICC.”Surely the ICC is answerable to the stakeholders and not a self-imposed hierarchy. We need to muster support from the other Test-playing nations to lobby the ICC and galvanise it into making a principled stand, without political considerations, before all our players and administrators are forever lost to the game here.””The ICC’s procedures mean we deal with one administration for each of our members, hence in this case we are dealing with ZC as they look to resolve ongoing organisational and operational issues,” an ICC spokesman explained. “This position is consistent with our processes in dealing with all our members. Another point of consistency is that we do not seek to become involved in the running of the game within individual members unless invited to do so by that member. We have made offers to go to Zimbabwe in the past, the last of them in January when Ehsan Mani [ the ICC president] wrote to Chingoka, but our policy has always been to let members run their own affairs.”Robertson countered that while the ICC continued to refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and accepted what it was being told by Zimbabwe Cricket, the game was dying.”Our cricket is a complete joke and the standards are shocking,” he shrugged. “The bottom line is we do not have anything that resembles first-class cricket. In the Mashonaland Country Districts, all 24 grounds that we have been using and maintaining are totally derelict, including Harare South, a first-class venue where we have hosted England, South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand.”And unsurprisingly, Robertson, who has publicly rowed with board chairman Peter Chingoka, slammed Zimbabwe Cricket’s leadership and claimed that morale within the board was “at an all time low”. He added: “Most people with cricketing knowledge have either resigned or been pushed out.”

ScorecardAn unbeaten 66 from Samit Patel put Nottinghamshire within touching distance of a lead against West Indies A. However, rain had the final say on the second day and now leaves the match heading for a draw.Trailing by just 100 overnight, Nottinghamshire lost Darren Bicknell in the first over the day without adding to their overnight score. He edged Daren Powell to Patrick Browne, the wicketkeeper, and the same combination then brought the downfall of David Allenye as West Indies pegged back the home side.However, Patel soon hit his straps and added 52 for the fourth wicket with Joshua Mierkalns, a 20-year-old, who is making his first-class debut. Mierkalns fell to Dave Mohammad but Patel had time to pass his half-century before the rain arrived.

Inzamam-ul-Haq’s disciplinary hearing for the Pakistan team’s actions in the Oval Test has again been delayed until the end of September.The hearing was originally scheduled for August 25 but was postponed because Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC chief referee, was unavailable due to an illness in the family. Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan board, told Reuters this morning that the hearing was set for September 15, but the date has again been changed to the end of the month.”When we met with the lawyers for the PCB yesterday – which was a very amicable meeting – we suggested that the hearing happen on the 14th and 15th, bearing in mind that the one-day series finishes the previous Sunday,” Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive said. “That date did not suit them for one reason or another and they asked for it to be put back. We are looking now for a date that suits the key participants … so at this stage we are looking at the last week in September.”Inzamam and his team have been charged with ball tampering and bringing the game into disrepute. If found guilty of both charges, Inzamam could be banned for eight one-day internationals or four Tests.Meanwhile, Shaharyar also confirmed that Pakistan’s tour will go ahead despite all the controversy surrounding it. “I have spoken firmly with the boys and told them we have to fulfill our commitments even if they feel slighted by Hair and believe the hearing should have been held before the one-day series.” Pakistan are scheduled to play a Twenty20 international on Monday, followed by a five-match one-day series which starts on August 30 and ends on September 10.

Ireland have named a 15-man squad for the World Cup next march and the World League competition in Kenya which precedes it.Although the squad for the World Cup doesn’t have to be named until February, the selectors felt it would assist the chosen players in arranging their work and training schedules. “The extra time would help them prepare to make the necessary arrangements that the cricketing commitments entail,” a spokesman explained.In addition, five mainline reserves have been named, and they include the former captain, Jason Molins.Ireland squad DT Johnston (Clontarf, capt), A Botha (North County), J Bray (Eglinton), K Carroll (Railway Union), P Gillespie (Strabane), K Mc Callan – Vice Captain (Waringstown), J Mooney (North County), P Mooney (North County), E Morgan (Middlesex), K O’ Brien (Railway Union), N O’ Brien (Kent), W Porterfield (Rush), B Rankin (Bready), D Langford-Smith (Phoenix), A White (Northants).

Zaheer Abbas has denied that he was replaced as Pakistan team manager because of the way he handled the crisis at the Oval, instead blaming internal cricket board politics within the PCB as the reason behind his dismissal.Abbas was criticised for an apparent lack of involvement in the events leading up to Pakistan’s protest and eventual forfeiture. Newspapers repeatedly referred to the image of Abbas speaking on his mobile phone, sitting outside the dressing room while the team devised a course of action to protest the allegations made by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove.Zaheer was replaced by Talat Ali, who was handed the manager’s post for next month’s Champions Trophy. “This came so suddenly, though I knew that change would be there one day because a team manager is only on a tour-by-tour contract,” Zaheer was quoted as saying by the London-based .”The reason my contract was not renewed was nothing to do with what happened at The Oval, it’s because [PCB director of operations] Saleem Altaf was totally against me and for no rhyme or reason. He had wanted to make Talat Ali manager for so long and he saw this as the right time to make the change,” said Abbas, referring to speculation before the tour to England this summer that Altaf wanted Ali as manager.”They try to say that I was on the phone when this ball issue was taking place but that was my job. I was there to help the media and that was what I was doing.”I have and always have had an excellent relationship with the English media and I wanted to cooperate with them, and overseas media. They reported fairly on Pakistan all tour and I hope some of that was because of my role.”When contacted by Cricinfo, Altaf refused to comment on the issue.

When Claire Taylor struck a matchwinning 156 at Lord’s this summer, it was a shame that her feat of eclipsing Viv Richards’s fastest one-day hundred at the ground in the 1979 World Cup final wasn’t to be recognised in the official record books.But Lord’s has taken the onus upon itself to honour Taylor’s achievement and on Thursday the ECB gave her a champagne reception before presenting her with her very own honours board at the ground which is installed by the Compton Stand.Taylor is the first female cricketer to be honoured with such a board at Lord’s which marked her 156 from 151 balls, as England swept to victory against India. She also received a commemorative bat.This step is the latest in a long line of very encouraging news for the women’s game this year. One highlight came over the summer, when Taunton became the official home of women’s cricket, providing a base for international matches and domestic finals for the first time.

Mlukeli Nkala will mark his return to international cricket when he travels with the Zimbabwean cricket team for the one-day series in Bangladesh, the team he last played against. The Zimbabwean side is set to leave on Wednesday (November 22) despite the violent unrest that has hit Bangladesh in the past few days.Zimbabwe will also play a Twenty20 match on November 28 at Khulna, followed by the first ODI two days later at the same venue. After a long lay off due to injury, Nkala returns to a relatively young and inexperienced team, hoping to lay a foundation for a return to Test cricket next year when Zimbabwe are set to resume their ‘Test’ Status.He last played an ODI against Bangladesh on January 31, 2005 at Dhaka, having made his debut against India seven years earlier. He picked up 22 wickets in 47 ODIs and has the distinction of taking the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar with his second ball in international cricket, A medium-pace swing bowler who can bat – he hit a century against England Under-9s in 1998 batting at No. 6 and was the leading wicket taker in the 1998 U-19 World Cup in South Africa, ending the tournament with 15 wickets. He subsequently spent a few weeks at the Australian Cricket Academy, working with Dennis Lillee.The 15-man squad has been dogged by injuries, with opening bowler Ed Rainsford and former captain Terrence Duffin, who has undergone surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left thumb and will not be able to resume training until next month, ruled out.In addition to that Tawanda Mupariwa has been carrying a knee injury since the tour of the Caribbean in May while Tafadzwa Mufambisi was hit by a ball on his left forearm during a practice match at the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy and is in plaster.The emphasis will be on slow bowling. In addition to Prosper Utseya, who retains the captaincy, three other slow bowlers – UK-based Sean Williams, Ryan Higgins and Keith Dabengwa – have been picked to take advantage of the normally spinner-friendly subcontinent conditions. Tino Mawoyo is the only uncapped player in the squad. The former Under-19 captain has been in good form in domestic cricket for Harare Sports Club. Other players who are making a return to international cricket include the lanky medium pacer Christopher Mpofu, and allrounder Blessing Mahwire who both missed out on the Champions Trophy in India.Meanwhile, Bangladesh have named a 13-man squad on Sunday for the first three ODIs and their squad included Tushar Imran, who had been overlooked for the Champions Trophy.Zimbabwe squad Prosper Utseya (capt), Gary Brent, Chamu Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Ryan Higgins, Anthony Ireland, Blessing Mahwire, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Tinotenda Mawoyo, Christopher Mpofu, Mluleki Nkala, Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams.