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Australia’s usually impeccable preparation ahead of big tournaments has taken a hit after they were troubled by the amount of swing fast bowlers achieved in the warm-up matches for the ICC World Twenty20. However Tim Nielsen, the coach, said Australia’s loss to South Africa and narrow win against New Zealand in the practice games had been valuable learning experiences.”The fact that the ball has swung quite a bit has caught us off guard,” Nielsen said after Sunday’s defeat. “It was good for the batsmen to get out in the middle and there might be some benefits in the fact that the lower order did get a bat because if we need them later in the tournament, they’ve had a bit of a chance to have a hit.”The movement in the air was a positive for Australia in the New Zealand game, when Ben Hilfenhaus’ outswing brought him 3 for 11 from three overs. Against South Africa, however, Australia’s attack failed to have the same impact.AB de Villiers, who blasted 65 from 35 balls in South Africa’s win, said their performance would give them confidence leading into the tournament. “Victory is always important, especially against Australia because they’re a well-drilled side,” de Villiers said. “It wasn’t just a warm-up game. It’s a bit of a psychological advantage to beat the Aussies.”New Zealand’s confidence took a blow after their practice games brought convincing losses to Australia and West Indies. Daniel Vettori, the captain, said it was reasonable to expect his side would take a while to warm up.”We have come out of a winter with two months of not much action and being indoors all the time,” Vettori said. “It’s been good to get some action and whilst we are getting some things right we need to get our game all together to challenge in this tournament.”In New Zealand’s loss to West Indies it was Daren Powell who troubled them the most, finishing with an incredible 3 for 4 from his four overs. Powell said even though Twenty20 was a batsman’s game the early season conditions in South Africa might help the fast bowlers.”Never in your dreams you can think of bowling a dream spell like that,” Powell said. “Basically I went out there to bowl line and length and pick up wickets, the pitch was assisting me with the areas I was bowling but what I also tried to do was vary my length.”

The County Ground at Taunton was today unveiled as the new home of women’s cricket in England.This initiative, the first ever of its kind for women’s cricket, gives the sport a permanent base. One of the key reasons behind the scheme is to assist with the fixtures in the women’s game, for both domestic and international matches. The ECB will endeavour to have domestic finals and key matches at Taunton every season with a view to bringing major domestic tournaments, such as the Challenge Cup and Junior Super 4s to Taunton in the future.At least one women’s international match is guaranteed at the ground every year. Crowds at Taunton have been the best away from Lord’s for women’s internationals ever since it first hosted a match in 1997. Promotion of women’s cricket will be an integral part of Somerset’s advertising and promotional campaign for cricket.Regional events, such as training camps and in particular the South Region winter training sessions, will be held at the cricket school on site at the ground. The regional women’s forums, which take place in October, will also now be hosted there.The new ground development which is planned by Somerset will incorporate suitable facilities for female athletes and the players will have access to all the services on a regular basis. Additionally, the South Women’s Regional Cricket Manager (WRCM) will have an office on site as part of the redevelopment.”Once again England is leading the way with new developments for women’s cricket,” explained Gill McConway, ECB executive director for women’s cricket. “We organised the first cricket World Cup for women and the first ever international Twenty20. We also instigated Super 4s, a competition which other nations are really keen to integrate into their domestic game.”For me this is a huge step for the women’s game – to have a first-class county ground wanting women’s cricket to be an integral part of their future is a definite boost. It’s an especially exciting time as there are stunning new development plans for the ground and to be associated with one of England’s most progressive county schemes can only benefit the game.”It will be the first time the women’s game will have continuity in the grounds where they play as Somerset have guaranteed us an international every year.”Charlotte Edwards, England’s captain, was equally excited. “I’m delighted with the choice of venue,” she told the BBC. “Taunton has always been a favourite ground, both personally and for the team: historically we have always done very well there, so hopefully we can continue that tradition!”I’m really excited about the development of the ground and what that also means for women’s cricket. It’s destined to become a great venue with brilliant facilities and it’s exciting that we’ll be a part of that vision and long-term development.”

A number of Zimbabwe players have signed a petition calling on Peter Chingoka, the board’s chairman, and Ozias Bvute, the managing director, to resign, Cricinfo has reliably learnt.It is said to contain a number of demands and was signed by 30 players, including captain Tatenda Taibu, who was reportedly the first to sign it. The move came as a result of ZC’s announcement last Thursday that it was introducing performance-related contracts.”The players signed a petition with a number of demands, chief among those demands was that Chingoka and Bvute must step down because they are the greatest failures in Zimbabwe cricket,” one of the players said. “Thirty players signed it but it has not been handed over to Chingoka and Bvute as some of them are now worried about some of the things in the petition.”Chingoka and Bvute need to act swiftly and wisely if they are to defuse a rapidly deteriorating situation before next week’s opening Test against India.

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Shivnarine Chanderpaul warmed up for Thursday’s first Test at Lord’s with an unbeaten hundred, as West Indies took the chance for some useful batting practice on the final day of their three-day match against Sri Lanka A at Shenley.By stumps, Chanderpaul was unbeaten on 104 from 146 balls, which represented a welcome return to form seeing as he had not topped 32 since the beginning of the NatWest Series. Sylvester Joseph also gave the selectors a nudge with his 68, to follow on from a first-innings 114, although he is less likely to feature at Lord’s.Omari Banks produced his second assured innings of the match, an unbeaten 29, as West Indies closed on a healthy 283 for 5. Earlier they had decided against enforcing the follow-on, despite securing a first-innings lead of 188, after bowling Sri Lanka out for 346. That effort owed much to Tino Best, who ripped out the tail to finish with 4 for 47 in his 11 overs.Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper, Prasanna Jayawardene, was left stranded on 48 not out, as West Indies took control. But, on the plus side for the Sri Lankans, they at least preserved their unbeaten record, after sweeping to seven wins out of seven in the one-day leg of the tour. They now have two matches of their stop-over remaining, against Glamorgan and Somerset.

New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond could be facing a long lay-off as a result of a back injury he picked up during Sunday’s ODI against Pakistan.Bond limped out of the match after bowling five overs, and there are fears that he may have a stress fracture in his lower back. “He’s got a terrible lower back strain," explained Jeff Crowe, New Zealand’s team manager. "We’re going to get a scan on Shane’s back when we get to Colombo.”Bond will almost certainly miss Tuesday’s one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Dambulla, and Stephen Fleming admitted that his absence had already been discussed. “You can’t replace Shane easily," he said, "but if he doesn’t play we’ll bring in Kyle Mills or Andre Adams.”Crowe added that Paul Wiseman had been asked to stay with the squad in case Bond’s injury does turn out to be serious. Wiseman was originally brought in as cover for Daniel Vettori.

Surrey have not found it easy in their effort for quick wickets in Yorkshire’s second innings with Michael Vaughan and Anthony McGrath battling it out with an unbroken century-stand for the third wicket at the AMP Oval.Their half-centuries, similar in style with Vaughan reaching his from 68 balls with the help of seven boundaries and McGrath taking 63 balls, hitting eight fours, have been a barrier that Surrey were unable to overcome for nearly an hour and a half.Before that Yorkshire had lost both their opening batsmen for 65 after 20 overs, having enjoyed a first-wicket stand of 57.For the second successive day bad light interrupted play with six overs deducted for stoppage late in the day. When play resumed, eight overs were bowled to stumps with Yorkshire taking their second innings total to 171 for two and reducing Surrey’s first innings lead to 110.This situation sets up an interesting final day’s play with Surrey striving for victory and having already achieved maximum batting and bowling points, an outright win, giving them 20 points will lessen their relegation fears as they go into their final match of the season next week.Earlier, in a little over an hour’s batting, following lunch, Surrey hit 79 with the help of Martin Bicknell’s 36 runs to increase their total to a massive 516 for nine before declaring. Bicknell had struck five boundaries and a six before having his off stump uprooted by Matthew Hoggard.But the significant wicket to fall during that brief period was that of Ben Hollioake who, upon reaching 118, fell lbw offering no stroke to a ball from McGrath who had been brought on for the first time in the day and he obliged with his first-ball wicket.The most successful Yorkshire bowler, however, was Andy Gray who finished with four of the nine wickets to fall for 128 runs from 39 overs in his second Championship match for the county.The declaration came with Surrey holding a substantial first innings lead of 281 which was reduced to 231 after Yorkshire were 51 without loss from 16 overs at tea.This morning a highly productive sixth-wicket stand between Mark Ramprakash and Ben Hollioake had put Surrey in a position of strength in this Cricinfo Championship match with a huge first innings lead of 202 with four wickets remaining at the dismissal of Ramprakash.They had extended their unbroken overnight partnership of 69 to 215 by lunch, taking the total to 437 when Ramprakash was bowled by Gray in the last over of the morning session for a superb 131, which he scored at the rate of a run every two balls and hit 17 boundaries.During the course of this magnificent stand, both batsmen reached centuries. Ramprakash, having batted for nearly four and a half hours, reached his third first-class hundred for Surrey and his fourth of the summer, having hit one in the last Ashes Test at The Oval.Ben Hollioake’s 150-ball century was his first for Surrey and the third of his career, the previous two coming on tour of Sri Lanka with the England A team in 1997-98.

Sudip Chatterjee is a patient man and looks like a batsman cut out for first-class cricket. He takes his time to settle in, does not appear flustered if wickets fall in clumps at the other end, keeps his shots on the ground and sets himself up for long innings.It’s a lot like meditation. You need to be patient to get in the zone, not get distracted by what’s happening around you and develop a habit of being in one position for long durations. Both his first-class hundreds have been long innings – 192 off 303 balls and 145 off 247. Chatterjee’s unblemished concentration en route to his second century, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, showed mediation had indeed a role to play in his innings.”I like to meditate a day or two before the match,” Chatterjee said after the day’s play. “I close my eyes, think about myself, my batting, and how to prepare for long innings.”His soft-spoken personality bears likeness to that of VVS Laxman, who had joined the Bengal team as batting consultant during their pre-season camp. On Thursday, it appeared Chatterjee had benefited from the advice he got from the former India batsman. Primarily a back-foot player, Chatterjee played the ball late, used his supple wrists to flick the ball whenever it was offered on his pads, and swept the spinners without much difficulty later on in the day.”He [Laxman] spent a week with us before we came here, so he helped me on my technique, the mentality… these things were covered,” Chatterjee said. “He told me a bit about my front foot. Keeping that in mind I worked on my front-foot game and it helped me in this match.”Chatterjee did it all when the team was in the dumps on their first day of the season. The onus was on the 23-year-old when he came in at 15 for 2 and saw two more wickets fall in the next nine overs. He was joined by Wriddhiman Saha, who has not been part of the action lately. Saha did score a fifty in his last match, against Sri Lanka in a Test, but was ruled out with a hamstring injury and was recovering when most of the other first-class players were playing matches around the country. Chatterjee said Saha’s presence helped him a lot and lifted the mood in the middle during the course of their 173-run stand that lasted nearly 50 overs.”I got great support from him [Saha],” Chatterjee said. “It’s not the first time such a thing happened. He always stays so positive on the field and whenever there’s a partnership with him it feels so good that he’s positive and we joke around in the middle, so it helps us.”We were under a bit of pressure early on since we were 40 [26] for 3, so my job was to take the team out of that position – to build a partnership and place the team in a good position. It’s our first Ranji Trophy match [of the season] and it was a successful day, so it feels good. It’s great to score a hundred in the first match and it will help my confidence.”Chatterjee is neither unfamiliar with the Karnataka attack nor with the role he has to play in his team. Last season, he was Bengal’s highest run-scorer with a tally of 584, and against Karnataka he had scored 57 and 59, albeit in a losing cause at home. His century on Thursday made it his third consecutive 50-plus score against the defending champions, and he hoped his runs would help his team get into a better position this time.”The pitch is good for batting and we still have a wicket left,” Chatterjee said. “If we get another 30-40 runs and score 350 it will be great. After that it’s up to our bowling and fielding. If we do those well, then we can surely defend it.

Shoaib Akhtar has been fined US$5000 by the Pakistan board for two breaches of the players’ code of conduct.According to Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, Shoaib left the fitness and training camp in Karachi early and without permission.”Today also he was asked to appear before the disciplinary committee of the board but he didn’t show up,” Nagmi said. “He has also been docked 1.5 points from the total of 20 points available to the players for discipline in their central contracts.”Akhtar, who left the camp complaining of a stiff neck, was named in Pakistan’s 15-man squad yesterday for the Twenty20 World Championship and will make his long-awaited return to international cricket after being sidelined due to a drugs ban and various injuries.

Charlie Shreck has been rewarded for his productive season with the ball with a new two-year contract at Trent Bridge.Shreck, who stands at 6ft 7ins, had 55 wickets in 10 matches before the start of the current Championship matches. That haul includes last week’s hat-trick against Middlesex at Lord’s and he is currently seventh in the first-class averages.He has battled back from a career-threatening back injury to become a vital member of the Nottinghamshire attack as they fight to avoid relegation one season after winning the Championship. Shreck only began his county career in 2003 after being spotted playing league cricket in his native Cornwall but missed the whole of last season after surgery for a stress fracture.He is now contracted at Trent Bridge until the end of 2008 and said: “This season has gone far better than I could have hoped, because after my injury I knew I had a job to do to earn my place back in the side.”Thankfully Mick Newell [the director of cricket] and Stephen Fleming have shown their faith in me and I’m delighted to have been able to justify that.”I’m really pleased about signing a new deal as there’s no other place I’d want to play. The whole package here is fantastic – the fans, the home ground and my team-mates in the dressing room. It’s top class and I’m aiming to help the team get back up and challenging for the Championship title again, as I believe that’s where we belong.”Shreck was also recently awarded his county cap and Newell added: “Charlie has been making up for lost time this summer and the fact that he’s come back so well from his injury is a great credit to him.”He overcame a lot of frustration missing out on playing last year and has returned as a better bowler. He’s been a consistent performer and I’m sure that he can go on to better things in years to come.”

Warwickshire’s coach John Inverarity will remain at Edgbaston for a third season, after he was persuaded to stay on by the club.Inverarity, 60, was considering a return to education after having retired from a 36-year teaching career which included being Headmaster of Hale School in Perth. His tenure in education had previously been briefly interrupted by a couple of inspirational stints as Kent’s coach, and then in 2003 he announced that he had called time on teaching as he took up the coaching position at Edgbaston.However, after considering his options, he has now agreed to stay on with Warwickshire in a bid to spur them to further success, as they try to repeat this year’s Championship-winning triumph. Inverarity, who played six Tests for Australia, struck up a winning partnership with Warwickshire’s captain, Nick Knight and the club are relieved to have secured his services for another term.”Everybody at the club is delighted with news that John will be back with us again next season,” Dennis Amiss, Warwickshire’s chief executive, told Warwickshire CCC’s official website. “He and Nick Knight work so well together, and now they can keep building.”