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England’s selectors have named a 15-man squad for the Stanford Super Series and the seven-match one-day tour of India that gets underway in November, with Ryan Sidebottom earning a recall after an injury disrupted season. He comes in to replace Tim Bresnan, although will have to pass a fitness test, in a squad that is otherwise unchanged from the team that defeated South Africa 4-0 in the recent NatWest Series.The fact that England have named the same squad for both the Stanford Series and the one-dayers is clearly in the interests of team unity, even though a player like Alastair Cook, who rarely clears the ropes in any form of the game, can hardly expect to feature in the big-money match.Only players who are in the final eleven will be given a shot at winning a personal fortune of US$1 million, but the remaining four squad members will share another US$1 million between them, while the backroom staff will be well paid as well. The weakening pound is currently making it an even more enticing prospect. In the three months since the match was announced, the potential prize has gone up by more than £50,000.”The selectors would like to congratulate the team on an outstanding performance in beating such a talented one-day side as South Africa so comprehensively,” said national selector Geoff Miller. “It bodes extremely well for the tough challenges that lie ahead this winter and is reflected in our decision to retain the bulk of the squad from this summer’s NatWest Series for both the Stanford Super Series and the tour of India.”Steve Harmison, who only came out of ODI retirement last month, is now widely expected to feature in the match. Miller confirmed that Harmison had originally said he didn’t want to be considered for the Stanford match – for fear of being seen hunting riches – but said the final selection was based purely on picking the best squad. “We picked the side on cricketing factors, there were no financial implications at all,” he said.The 15-man squad is also a clear shift away from the Twenty20 specialists who were chosen for the ICC World Twenty20 last September. On that occasion the likes of Darren Maddy, Jeremy Snape, James Kirtley and Chris Schofield made the side but were predictably out of their depth. This time around there was a clamour from some quarters to include Graham Napier, who hit 152 against Sussex in the Twenty20 Cup this season, but England have stuck with the tried and tested.”We talked about it in another long meeting, as they always are,” said Miller. “The side that we’ve picked has got Twenty20 specialists as well. It’s not a matter of picking specialists, we have a side that can compete in ODIs and Twenty20.”In a separate announcement, England have unveiled their list of 12 centrally contracted players for the 2008-09 season, as well as a new seven-man Increment Contract list, tailored for those players who are regular squad members, if not guaranteed first-team players.As widely anticipated, Matthew Hoggard – who has not played for England since the tour of New Zealand in March – is the most notable absentee from the senior contracts list. Stuart Broad, who replaced Hoggard in the team for the second Test of that series in Wellington and has been a notable performer with bat and ball ever since, has been rewarded for his efforts with his first full contract.There are few surprises in the contracts list, although one man who will be relieved to feature is the former England captain, Michael Vaughan. He has not played limited-overs cricket for more than a year and has been struggling for form in the first-class game as well. Nevertheless his retention is a reward for his diligent service as captain, and will be a significant boost to his morale ahead of next summer’s Ashes.”The award of an England central contract to Michael Vaughan reflects the selectors’ view that Michael still has a role to play in the England Test squad over the next 12 months,” said Miller.Vaughan now hopes to find some form during the last few weeks of the season. “I am delighted to get a new central contract which shows me that I still have an international future,” he told the Yorkshire website. “I hope to score some runs and help my county to safety in Division One and secure a place in England’s touring side.”Miller added that he was delighted that Broad had earned a full contract for the first time in his career. “Stuart has made rapid progress over the past year and adapted extremely well to the challenges of both Test and one-day international cricket.”Players awarded an Increment Contract will receive an additional one-off payment from ECB on top of the salary they receive from their county. These contracts have been awarded, for the most part, to England’s one-day specialists, although the announcement of such contracts for both wicketkeepers, Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose, undermines the suspicion that Prior had begun to nudge ahead in his race to cement his place in the team for both Test and one-day cricket.Squad for Stanford and India ODIs Kevin Pietersen (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Samit Patel, Matt Prior (wk), Owais Shah, Graeme Swann, Ryan Sidebottom, Luke WrightCentral contracts James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan.Increment contracts Tim Ambrose, Ravi Bopara, Samit Patel, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.

On a seamer-friendly surface at New Road, Worcestershire Royals must fancy their chances of extending their lead in Division One of the Norwich Union League after posting 202 in their 45 overs against Glamorgan Dragons.After recent rain had given the ground staff scant time to prepare the wicket, Steve James was happy to send the Royals in on winning the toss. Although ten runs came off Andrew Davies in the first over, pickings were never easy on a track that offered constant encouragement to the Dragons’ pace attack.Vikram Solanki, after two attractive boundaries, was caught in the gully cutting at Davies, and Graeme Hick also took a brace of fours before he was taken at first slip driving at Owen Parkin. Mark Wallace then held a skier from Stephen Peters, attempting an horrible paddle to leg.That heralded the best partnership of the innings, between the Norwich Union’s batting star of the season so far, Ben Smith, and Shane Lee, playing his first match since arriving from Australia to replace Andy Bichel as the Royals’ overseas player. Lee (41 off 50 balls) was particularly severe on Robert Croft, the Dragons’ most expensive bowler.It ended when Smith was yorked by Davies for 25 to start a flurry of wickets. Lee was lbw walking across a straight ball from Dale, who took his third wicket when Rhodes failed to clear short fine leg. Batty did well to touch a ball that seamed and bounced, and Mike Powell brilliantly caught Leatherdale at mid-wicket, two-handed diving to his left.At 155 for seven the Dragons were hardly fired up, but Kabir Ali managed 17, including six as Croft toppled into an advertising hoarding while holding a brilliant catch at long-off. Ali was run out, slow to answer a call for a second from Stuart Lampitt, who also made a handy contribution as the Royals eventually squeezed past 200.

BRISBANE, Oct 19 AAP – Queensland stole valuable first innings points from NSW during a hard-fought Pura Cup match at the Gabba today.The Blues were dismissed shortly after lunch on the final day for 443 in reply to the Bulls’ 5-507 declared, losing 6-76 on a hot Brisbane morning.NSW was on track when it reached 5-405 before rookie right-armer Damien MacKenzie (3-98) took three wickets in 19 balls, removing Brad Haddin (23), Simon Katich (43) and Stuart MacGill.Michael Kasprowicz (2-86) and Andrew Symonds (1-54) finished the Blues’ gritty challenge when they removed Nathan Bracken (eight) and Doug Bollinger (three) in 32 balls after the lunch break.Ashley Noffke (2-90) and Joe Dawes (2-54) also claimed wickets for the Bulls, who were left with more than half of the day for batting practice in their second innings.Matthew Phelps (147), who was caught behind off Noffke today after a knock of almost nine hours, and Michael Clarke (134) were the pick of the NSW batsmen.

Somerset Seconds enjoyed three full days play in the north west of England but eventually went down by two wickets in their championship match against Lancashire at Blackpool, that ended with a day to spare after the extra half hour was taken on the third day.Resuming on their overnight score of 56 for 3, Somerset reached 254 for 9, with Joe Tucker being unable to bat because of a back injury. Pete Trego top scored for Somerset with 61, whilst Wes Durston made 49.Requiring 215 to win, Lancashire just managed to pass the Somerset total, scoring 218 for 8 to win by two wickets.Somerset Seconds play three matches in the 2nd XI Trophy next week. On Monday they entertain Worcestershire at the County ground, on Tuesday they travel to Bristol to play Gloucestershire and on Wednesday they return to Taunton to take on Glamorgan.Having reached the final of the 2nd XI Trophy last season before losing out to Surrey Somerset Seconds will be keen to try and go one stage further this year.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) has cautioned MuttiahMuralitharan after comments made during a live television chat show.During the programme the outspoken off-spinner had criticised the selectors,the role of businessmen in the cricket administration and the domesticcricket structure.Muralitharan met with the BCCSL chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya, the chiefexecutive Anura Tennekoon and other members of the interim administration onTuesday.A BCCSL media release stated: “The committee, whilst expressing theirdisappointment with the comments made by Mr. Muralitharan, cautioned andadvised him to refrain from making such comments, and informed him thatdisciplinary action will be taken against him if he acted in this manner inthe future.”The BCCSL had given permission for Muralitharan to appear on the show, butthey had expected him to talk only about cricket and his recovery from ashoulder injury.His comments prompted the sports minister, Johnston Fernando, to ban allindependent media interviews with players and team officials until the 2003ICC World Cup.Muralitharan, who has taken 430 Test wickets at 23.33, has been rested fromthe ongoing Second Test match against Bangladesh.

National skipper Khaled Masud was optimistic and he was right. Victoria Sporting Club, one of the oldest clubs in Bangladesh, has done more than what we have expected it could do. They have formed a very good side for Premier League 2001-2002 by taking a good number of national Team players in. the club officials were pretty serious in making a quick decision to give their aged club a very good shape in its 100th year, therefore, they started off to get as many good players as they could and they made it with excellence.Think about the big shots of the team – Khaled Masud, Al-Sahariar, Enamul Haque, Manjurul Islam, Jahangir Alam, Sayed Parvej, Sajjad Hossain and Golam Mortuza – all the conspicuous figures in Dhaka cricket. The club, virtually have three wicket keepers – Khaled Masud, Golam Mortuza and Jahangir Alam.Jahangir Alam, after some unsuccessful years in domestic cricket, has pulled off with a lot of runs in the Ispahani Mirzapore National League. He isn’t doing badly in the premier league either. Once he was a reputed wicket keeper who was reliable behind the stumps and aggressive in the front as an opener – came up with both roles in a lot of International matches (The match against Holland in ICC 1994, Jahangir made 118 not out).Sayed Parvej. The opener, did well last summer, carrying out a streak of half-centuries for Mohammedan Sporting Club. But he will have to fight for the opening slot with Nuruzzaman Nayan, the lad from Rajshahi. Nuruzzaman saw remarkable success this year in National League. He carried off with some very good knocks and got the second position in the highest scorer list.The inclusion of Rashed Hanif has bolstered the strong batting line-up. The bowling department is equally balanced as well. Pacer Manjurul Islam is always better and Saiful Islam, the ex-national seamer, put on a brilliant show against Mohammedan. Veteran Enamul Haque leads the spin section. Rashed Hanif and Alok Kapali are excellent with their combination of off and leg-spin to help him. Kapali is making marks with the bat too. In fact he is slowly growing up to be a perfect all rounder.So, Victoria has all the odds in their favor so far. They are really emerging as the giant killers this year (Defeated Abahani Sporting and Mohammedan in successive matches) and we won’t be surprised if we see some big upsets steered by this old Motijhil based club.

Former Sri Lanka cricketer Roshan Mahanama, now a cricket commentator with BBC Test Match Special takes on a new role when he helps to introduce hundreds of children to beach cricket.Mahanama will be part of Channel 4 and the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) innovative beach cricket program at Centenary Square here tomorrow (Saturday).The event which is part of Channel 4’s city cricket initiative takes place on June 1-3 in line with Birmingham’s Jubilee Celebrations and the current second Test match between Sri Lanka and England.The occasion will provide the children to play beach cricket in the centre of the city. The beach is itself made up of 14 tonnes of sand with coconut matting placed as a wicket. Measuring 16 metres by 16 metres there is plenty of room for the children to play eight-a-side matches run by the County Board coaches.West Indies cricket legend Sir Viv Richards is heading the program.

South Africa’s first full tour to the West Indies looks set to break the attendance and gate receipts records of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). Preliminary figures for the recently concluded Cable & Wireless Test series indicate that gate receipts of US$1.6 million are second only to those of the 1999 tour by Australia (US$1.8m) and have exceeded those of the 1998 England tour (US$1.4m).Attendance for the Test series has been superb, with 134 332 tickets sold for the Test series which surpasses the Australia tour in 1999 and is second only to the England Tour in 1998.”Given the strong returns for the Test series and the bumper turn-out for the first One-Day International in Jamaica, we expect that the Test and One-Day International totals combined will break the home-series record set during the 1999 Australia series,” said Darren Millien, the WICB’s marketing manager for events.Growing supportThe WICB’s chief marketing executive Chris Dehring put the results, so far, in perspective.The growth in attendance at international and domestic cricket over the last four years shows there is still tremendous support for West Indies cricket. That it has coincided with the inconsistent performances on the field by the team demonstrates what a well-supported institution it really is and its importance to the people of the region.The marketing official noted that the growing attendance was consistent with the growth being experienced in other areas of WICB commercial activity, underlining the improving financial and corporate strength of West Indies cricket.Media playing role We now have more sponsors paying more in rights fees than ever. These include a new and larger deal with Cable & Wireless, Busta, Red Stripe, Pepsi, Scotiabank, Suzuki and Shell. Television audiences for the annual Test and One-Day series grew 21 per cent between 1995 and 1999, from 57 per cent of the Caribbean television audience to 69 per cent.”Television revenues are also on the rise. With the exception of the Zimbabwe/Pakistan tour in 2000 and the current South Africa tour, where the economically poor television markets in these countries limit sales, television revenues for the next six years are very robust.”The recently-concluded deal with Sky, (valued at US$40 million) which takes effect in 2004, is the largest television rights sale ever in the Caribbean and corroborates the underlying popularity of West Indies cricket,” Dehring said.

The XXXX Queensland Bulls have named rookie right-hand opener DanielPayne to replace Australian One Day player Jimmy Maher for this week’scritical Pura Cup clash against Victoria at the Gabba.Payne, 23, is in his first season with the Queensland Academy of Sportsquad after impressing in the past two seasons for Redlands in theBrisbane club competition.He and left-arm spinner Matthew Anderson come into the Bulls squad forthe Bushrangers match which starts on Wednesday at the Gabba.Queensland need a minimum of first innings points to ensure they hostthe Final, with Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia allvying for a berth in the decider.Payne, who has scored 540 runs for Redlands in the XXXX First Gradepremiership this season, will be the seventh player to make either hisfirst class or one-day debut for the Bulls this season.A Queensland Primary Schools and Secondary Schools representative, hemade his first grade debut for Gold Coast as a teenager before switchingto Redlands Tigers three seasons ago.He turned out for the QAS team that played matches against New Zealandin October, scoring a brace of half centuries against the Kiwis.Anderson, who was 12th man in the Bulls win over South Australia inAdelaide, replaces Nathan Nauritz who will depart along with Maher andthe rest of the Australia One Day squad on Saturday for South Africa.The Bulls will train tomorrow from 9am at the Gabba while Victoria havescheduled a session for 12.15pm at the Gabba. The Bushrangers are yet toname their team.XXXX Queensland Bulls v Victorian Bushrangers, Wed-Sat, The Gabba:Stuart Law (c), Brendan Nash, Daniel Payne, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds,Lee Carseldine, Wade Seccombe, Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, JoeDawes, Scott Brant, Matthew Anderson (12th man to be named).

The organisers behind a professional Twenty20 league in the USA, which is targeted to be launched next summer, are planning to stage matches on artificial wickets.Currently the only ICC-approved ODI standard natural turf wicket in the United States is the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. According to Cricket Holdings America chief executive Neil Maxwell, using artificial pitches will open the door to play matches in a number of cities and markets beyond south Florida.”I think one of the fundamental areas that has held people back historically is the concept of playing cricket on turf pitches,” Maxwell told ESPNcricinfo. “I think from our perspective, we’ve got far greater flexibility because we’re going to play on artificial surfaces predominantly for the Twenty20 game and that gives us a broader spectrum of potential venues and sites that we can use.”With the lack of cricketing infrastructure in the United States, spending money to construct new turf wicket stadiums would require significant investment in an unproven market. The league’s first season is tentatively set to take place over three to four weeks in June and July of 2013 and the cost to maintain a turf facility if left unused for 11 months could also prove to be expensive and inefficient. Maxwell says artificial pitches are a better option to get the league underway.”The biggest hurdle to try and stage major cricket matches is the cost and ongoing maintenance of turf pitches,” Maxwell said. “For the Twenty20 product where really you’re coming to see the ball struck to the boundary as often as possible, the bowlers are given some encouragement, but the main thing is going to be regular bounce and give them player safety and we think that’s going to be the best solution for it. The advancement in technology of these things is phenomenal, even in the last five years.”In June, West Indies made their highest score in Twenty20 Internationals when they posted 209 for 2 against New Zealand on a placid wicket in Florida. The innings featured explosive shot-making from Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, the kind that may be appealing to the casual American sports fan as well as the hardcore cricket fan. However, there are still lingering memories in Lauderhill of the dreadful pitch produced in 2010 which resulted in first innings totals of 120 for 7 and 81 all out when Sri Lanka took on New Zealand. Maxwell says it isn’t worth the risk to invest in turf pitches because if they aren’t prepared and maintained properly, it could have a dramatically negative effect on the on-field product.”I think cricket needs to have a look at itself,” Maxwell said. “We’ve got a 200-year-old product that’s based around something 200 years ago. A lot of major sports have moved to artificial surfaces. I think the beauty of the United States is that we’re starting with a blank canvas pretty much in respect to cricket history and tradition. Yes, we acknowledge the first internationals in 1844, but when you’re looking at a contemporary product of Twenty20 cricket we’re starting with a blank canvas. We have a reasonably well-educated core market, but it’s a small market. What we want to do is broaden this game to mainstream America as quickly as possible.”We can either approach that from a traditionalist’s point of view and invest millions of dollars into turf pitches and then try and guarantee that they’re going to be at the appropriate level for every game. Or we can go with a product that will allow the game to expand and develop within the country quickly because you’ll be able to provide pitches at a fraction of the cost to the market that might want to choose to play cricket. I think artificial pitches will become the norm for Twenty20 cricket in 10-15 years.”Reports have suggested that Cricket Holdings America is looking to have at least two of the league’s original six franchises to be based in New York and San Francisco. With sizeable South Asian and West Indian immigrant populations to tap into, those communities will be key to having good attendance figures at matches but Maxwell hopes to draw in other spectators by creating a vibrant atmosphere inside the stadium beyond the action out in the middle.”This is very much about entertainment,” Maxwell said. “This is about finding a way to appeal to mainstream America which might not be specifically through the game of cricket but through an entertainment product that will be exciting to a broad market segment.”