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There is not a bowler on the planet who has more international wickets this year than Mitchell Starc. His tally of 75 puts him well in front of the second-placed Yasir Shah. Extend it to the combined first-class, List A and T20 formats, and Starc is even further in front: his 138 wickets across those forms have come at the remarkable average of 16.07, and John Hastings is next with 108 wickets.In short, Starc is in the form of his life. Player of the Tournament in the World Cup, he last month annihilated almost every team in the Matador Cup with 26 wickets at 8.11, then topped off his Test preparation with eight wickets with the pink ball in last week’s Sheffield Shield round. Now it is back to the red ball to see if that recent form translates.It has not always. In fact, with Starc, something has always seemed to get lost in translation between the white ball and the red. It meant that the first three years of his Test career resembled the hokey-pokey: Australia put their left-armer in, they put their left-armer out, they put their left-armer in. Now it’s time for him to shake it all about.He made a good start to a red-ball resurgence during the Ashes, when he was Australia’s leading wicket taker, and now the challenge is to sustain that same form over a six-Test home summer against New Zealand and West Indies. It was against New Zealand at the Gabba that Starc made his Test debut four years ago, but it is only now that he is starting to make himself a consistent Test bowler.”The last 12 to 18 months, to play a lot of cricket I think has been the best thing for me,” Starc said. “There’s only so much you can learn and work on in the nets. I guess I’ve had a bit of an extended run with the white ball and whether it be through form or through injury I haven’t had that with the red ball. To have a bit of that in the last six months has been nice and I think that’s probably shown in getting better with the red ball.”Starc played every Test during this year’s Ashes in England and was his country’s leading wicket taker, an achievement that encouraged not only Starc but the Australian coaching staff as well. Coach Darren Lehmann said that although there were times in England that Starc lacked consistency, he expected a big summer from him back home.”He’ll be fine, I think it’s just experience and confidence,” Lehmann said. “He’s had some really good spells for us over the last 12 months with the red ball. It’s probably about being really consistent with what he wants to achieve, getting the lengths and lines right. He was very good at stages in England and then sometimes he leaked too many runs. I expect him to bowl really well with the red ball [at home].”Starc’s form is so impressive at the moment – particularly his mastery of the fast, inswinging yorker – that plenty of Matador Cup batsmen must have wished the Bangladesh Test tour had gone ahead last month and he had not been let loose on them in Sydney. Cricket Australia insisted he rest from one of the matches, against Queensland, but he told them that he otherwise just wanted to keep bowling.”I had a bit of input, so I wanted to play a lot,” Starc said. “I didn’t want to rest that Queensland game but they got that one over the line – resting’s not going to do anything for my body. I just want to be available for every game, as long as I’m fit enough and bowling well enough.”Australia will hope that New Zealand still carry some of the scars from the World Cup final in March, when Starc’s inswinging yorker rattled the stumps of Brendon McCullum in the first over of the match, setting the tone for Australia’s win. Starc took 2 for 20 in that game, as well as 6 for 28 in the earlier group match against New Zealand in Auckland, and he hopes they remember.”We’ll definitely be reminding them that we’ve bowled them out for 150 and 180 on very good wickets,” he said. “It’s one-day cricket, it’s something we can look back on and take a bit of confidence from but it’s a different challenge and nice to be playing in Australia and taking on guys that probably haven’t played too much cricket in these conditions.”New Zealand opener Martin Guptill said it was important he and his team-mates prepared for Starc’s yorker, but did not let it dominate their thoughts.”He’s got a very quick yorker and it does swing, but you don’t want to just be preparing for that,” Guptill said. “He’s got other balls in his arsenal as well. You’ve just got to watch the ball and play each ball as well as you can. I’m just trying to go out there and do my processes, and if I get a yorker I try and clamp down on it.”

Brett Lee returned to international cricket for Australia against Pakistan at Sophia Gardens today in a secretive operation that would have made the CIA proud.Australian captain Steve Waugh handed Pakistan’s Waqar Younis the official team sheet as they walked out for the toss and Younis’s eyes would have widened when he saw the name listed at No.10 – B Lee.Setting up an all-pace showdown, Pakistan had already selected the Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar, to replace injured former captain Wasim Akram (shoulder).The ground was abuzz when the teams were announced over the loud speaker, and even the blowing of trumpets by the many Pakistanis in the crowd stopped, albeit briefly.Lee had not played since undergoing an elbow reconstruction in February following a limited overs match against Zimbabwe in Perth, and he was in England as a Test-squad member only.The plan was for the fastest bowler in the world to train with the Australians for the next few weeks, gradually building pace and fitness leading into the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston on July 5.But injuries to Jason Gillespie (hamstring), Damien Fleming (calf) and Nathan Bracken (shoulder) forced the Australian selectors – Waugh and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist – to give Lee a run.They had given no hint, guarding their decision until only 15 minutes before play began.”Ladies and gentlemen, Brett Lee,” said the ground announcer before Lee ambled in with a loosener, timed at 75.3mph.His second ball hit 80.6 and his third, pitched short at the same pace, was pulled to the mid-wicket fence by Shahid Afridi.He was above 80mph for the rest of the over – with another boundary flying over slips – about 20mph shy of what he hopes will be top pace during the Ashes.He eventually took a wicket in his second over, dismissing Afridi, caught brilliantly by Mark Waugh.

Andy Caddick has been cleared to play for England in the First Test against Australia at Edgbaston a week on Thursday.Caddick had previously sustained a hairline fracture of the knuckle on the little finger of his left hand after being hit by a delivery from Brett Lee at The AMP Oval last week. Although the injury has not entirely healed it will not inconvenience his bowling and he will wear extra protection when batting.Caddick’s return will be a major boost to the England team after the disappointments of the NatWest Series. His new ball partnership with Darren Gough is predicted to be a crucial ingredient in England’s attempts to win back the Ashes.

Keen to overcome an opponent that has grossly frustrated it in each of the last two Finals of this competition, Victoria only encountered more annoyance on the second day of the Pura Cup match against Queensland at Punt Road in Melbourne today. On another day of variable weather, the Bushrangers made heavy weather of their ambitions, struggling to restrict two of the Bulls’ tailenders before being forced to turn their pursuit of first innings points into something less than a speedy one.By stumps on a day extended by 22 minutes to compensate for time lost to the elements yesterday, the Victorians were placed at 3/160 as they responded to Queensland’s 417.That the Bushrangers were not in a more favourable position owed much to the batting of Ashley Noffke (73) and Nathan Hauritz (41), each of whom registered their highest first-class scores in the course of adding a thoroughly unexpected 105 runs for the Bulls’ ninth wicket.Admittedly, it was Hauritz’s debut at this level and Noffke is no veteran either, having played just ten matches prior to this one. But it is hard to imagine either exceeding these new individual watermarks in a hurry.Their stand, fashioned from the ruin of a potentially crucial early blow as Matthew Hayden (147) was defeated by a Mathew Inness (2/71) inswinger, was as significant for its intelligent punishment of the loose ball as it was in inducing annoyance for the home team.Noffke was particularly severe on anything erring in length or width, even thumping Test off spinner Colin Miller (1/108) high over the leg side for two boundaries and a six from consecutive deliveries at one stage. More importantly, he also discovered the right balance between attacking and defending.Hauritz lost little by comparison. He played watchfully through the early stages of his innings, accumulating most of his runs from subtle pushes into the off side and glances off his legs, but became more expansive as his stay at the crease wore on to strike several drives and cuts off the back foot with commanding intent.The home side’s cause, all the while, was not being helped by the sight of catches being dropped: Matthew Elliott missing a chance to dismiss Hauritz at mid wicket at 11 and Shane Warne grassing an opportunity to catch Noffke (then on 34) at slip.As it began the reply, Victoria made sufficiently steady progress.There was a setback as Jason Arnberger (20) failed to fully capitalise on Jimmy Maher’s mistake in grassing a waist-high chance to his left at second slip, only adding another ten runs to his score before slogging an off break to mid on and handing Hauritz (1/35) his maiden first-class wicket.Yet the total reached 1/84 at one stage nonetheless, and the Bushrangers’ upper order batsmen looked to be finding life as comfortable on the pitch as their rivals had done yesterday.But once Andy Bichel (1/36) found the thin outside edge of the bat of Elliott (56), Queensland was successfully able to take the home team back to the trenches. Victoria’s scoring rate was reduced to little more than a trickle at various stages of the afternoon, as few as 39 runs coming from 22 overs during one period. Nearly half of the overs bowled to this stage of the innings have been maidens.Notwithstanding this, Brad Hodge (39*) enhanced his already lofty reputation with several beautifully crafted strokes amid gradually fading light. On his shoulders, there will rest hopes of better things for Victoria tomorrow.

Tamil Nadu were holding the upper hand in a keenly fought KSCAUnder-25 Trophy battle against Kerala at Bangalore’s MaharajaJayachamarajendra Wodayar Sports Complex today. Despite a braveunbeaten century by opener C Sanju, Kerala at 169/3 were still 277runs behind Tamil Nadu’s first innings score of 446.Resuming at 297/4, TN lost overnight centurion Lokesh who added justfour more runs before falling for 124 (177 balls, 15 fours). It wasthe start of a streak of four consecutive wickets to opening bowlerPrasanth Chandran. The other overnight batsman Surendra Doss belted alusty 88 off 86 balls inclusive of 13 fours and a six before beingseventh out at 366.Padmaraju and Veeranan propped up the innings with a last wicket standof 58 before the latter was caught and bowled by leg spinner CM Shyamfor a breezy 25 off 27 balls. Padmaraju remained undefeated on 42 (52balls, 7 fours) as TN closed at 446 in the 117th over. Chandran tookthe bowling honours with figures of 5/118.Kerala got off to a bright start as Sanju and N Bijumon added 55 forthe first wicket before off spinner C Dhandapani saw the back of thelatter for 18 with a return catch. Dhandapani, who took all threewickets to fall for 46 runs, continued to torment the batsmen,removing CM Deepak and skipper KPK Nambiar cheaply as Kerala stutteredto 73/3. But Sanju and S Ramakrishnan (25) steadied the ship with anunbroken 96-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Karachi, Nov 13: Karachi Whites overwhelmed Sheikhupura by an inningsand 13 runs to record their fifth victory in the Quaid-i-Azam TrophyNational Grade-I Cricket Championship at the UBL Sports Complex hereon Monday.Sheikhupura, who needed to bat throughout the fourth and final day,were bowled out for 218 in their second innings in the 11th mandatoryover.Earlier, Karachi Whites had declared their first innings at theirovernight score of 543 for four. The highlight being the mammothunfinished record fifth-wicket partnership of 361 between skipper AsifMujtaba (202) and Mohammad Masroor (171).Mujtaba’s timely declaration proved decisive in the end as the KarachiWhites bowlers stuck to their task to condemn Sheikhupura to theirfifth defeat in six matches.The only resistance offered was a stubborn stand of 78 in 103 minutesby the third-wicket pair of Mohammad Javed and Usman Akram.The left-handed Javed made exactly 50 off 129 balls in 134 minuteswith the help of 10 boundaries. His partner, Usman contributed 38 in103 minutes off 104 deliveries with four hits to the fence.At one stage, Sheikhupura looked like saving the match when they were137 for four in mid-afternoon. However, fine bowling by pace bowlerAthar Laeeq and the young spin duo of Tahir Khan and Adnan Malik putpaid to that notion.Athar drew the first blood when he clean bowled Majid Majeed, who made88 in the first innings, for a duck in the third over of the innings.Later he claimed two more wickets at crucial moments.Off-spinner Tahir Khan got rid of the other opener, Tahir Usman, withthe very first ball of his opening over.Adnan Malik, the slow left-armer, then dismissed Javed and Usman Akramin quick successions after lunch. The latter was out to a magnificentreturn catch.The last four wickets crashed in the final session after tea was takenwith Sheikhupura on 156 for six. Tahir was was responsible for abrilliant direct hit at the bowler’s end from square leg to run outMohammad Islam.In between, Tahir removed Asif Raza for 35, caught at backward shortleg by Athar Laeeq.The final wicket fell to Adnan Malik who had Sheikhupura captainJaffer Nazir caught behind for the innings’ third duck.Athar Laeeq finished with impressive analysis of three for 28 in 16overs while Tahir claimed three for 67 in 32 overs for a match haul ofseven for 160 in 69 overs.Adnan was at last rewarded for some excellent bowling with figures ofthree for 63 in 26.4 overs.The unbeaten Karachi Whites move out of the city for two matchesbefore the six-week Ramazan and Eid-ul-Fitr break with a tally of 63points. They face Lahore Blues in Lahore from Thursday (Nov 16) andthen take on Sargodha from Nov 22.

ScorecardA disciplined bowling effort enabled New Zealand to defeat South Africa by 21 runs in the opening match of the Emerging Players Twenty20 tournament in Brisbane.Chasing a target of 153, the South Africans were in control at 1 for 79 after 12 overs. However, left-arm spinner Luke Woodcock’s dismissal of opener JJ Smuts for 43 triggered a mini-collapse and three wickets fell for seven runs. The pace of scoring slowed down and the innings stuttered to 6 for 131 off 20 overs, with no New Zealand bowler conceding more than seven runs an over.The New Zealand total of 8 for 152 was possible due to Dean Brownlie and Shanan Stewart who shared a 62-run stand for the third wicket in 5.4 overs. Stewart hit three sixes in his 45 off 22 deliveries, while Brownlie hit five fours in 55 off 38. The rest of the batsmen struggled, with six of them dismissed in single digits. South African fast bowler Cornelius de Villiers took 3 for 25 in four overs.
ScorecardIndia’s bowlers kept their nerve in a tense finish as the Australian Institute of Sports finished two runs short of the target of 169 despite two batsmen scoring half-centuries and having five wickets in hand.At 137 for 5, the Australians needed 32 runs off 28 deliveries and had the chase under control. However, they could score only 29 of those 32 runs as Ajinkya Rahane’s over went for just four. Earlier, Jaidev Unadkat had reduced the Australians to 44 for 3 but they recovered through a 72-run stand between Luke Pomersbach and James Faulkner that came in 7.5 overs. Pomersbach was run out by Manish Pandey after making 59 off 36 balls with six fours and three sixes. Faulkner finished on an unbeaten 52 off 42 with four sixes but failed to take his side to victory as they finished on 166 for 5.The Indian innings had a quick start with Shikhar Dhawan and captain Parthiv Patel putting on 90 in 9.2 overs. Dhawan made 58 off 37 balls with five fours and a six while Patel got 39 off 27 with four fours and a six. Allrounder James Pattinson was the best Australian bowler, taking 2 for 30 off his four overs. Pandey hit two sixes in his unbeaten 32 as India scored 168 for 4.

ScorecardJames Porter gave Northamptonshire some tricky moments•Getty Images

The LV=County Championship Division Two clash between Essex and Northamptonshire at Chelmsford ended in a draw after bad light brought a curtailment in play with the visitors 92 for 4 in pursuit of 302 for victory from a minimum of 56 overs.Northamptonshire were soon on the back foot when David Murphy became the first of two wickets for Jamie Porter when he played across the line and was bowled for 7 with only 12 runs on the board.Porter then took his haul of Championship wickets to 46 for the current campaign when bringing a ball back into Alex Wakely who shouldered arms and was bowled for 17 to leave his side 48 for 2 and Essex with hopes of victory.Their hopes were dented by bad light and a vigilant innings by opener Ben Duckett who stood firm to reach the close with an unbeaten 34 having batted for 109 minutes.The first stoppage because of poor light came shortly before tea with Northamptonshire 64 for 2. Seven overs were lost but on the resumption, 18 runs had been added when Rob Keogh was run out.With the light deteriorating and two slow bowlers operating, Keogh had scored 17 and was backing-up when he was left stranded by a direct throw by substitute fielder Aaron Beard at cover and who had just come onto the field for Ravi Bopara.Three runs later, Aron Nijjar breached the defences of Josh Cobb who was bowled without scoring. That left Essex with 25 overs at their disposal in search of the win but the light was to have the final say. Just three more overs had been bowled when umpires Martin Bodenham and Martin Saggers again called a halt to proceedings.This time the suspension of play cut into the final hour and both captains subsequently agreed on the draw.Earlier, Essex added 161 runs with the last 65 coming off nine overs after lunch as Ryan ten Doeschate and Mark Pettini raised the tempo to set up the declaration. The pair posted an unbroken 77 runs for the sixth wicket contributing 43 and 37 respectively with an array of cleanly struck drives on both sides of the wicket before the declaration came on 216 for 5.A series of Essex batsmen had played themselves in before going onto make a significant score. Teenager Dan Lawrence hit 36 and Bopara 25 whilst Tom Westley and Jesse Ryder posted scores of 20 and 29 before both became victims of former Essex pace bowler Maurice Chambers who produced a beauty of a delivery to bowl Westley who played back to a ball of fuller length.Chambers finished with 2 for 47 from 16 overs and Ollie Stone whose consistent line of attack brought him 2 for 55.The visitors started the day with two substitute fielders. One was for Murphy who aggravated a thumb injury towards the close of the third day and had passed the wicketkeeping gauntlets to Duckett. The second substitute fielder stood in for Richard Levi who broke a knuckle when batting on day two.Overall, 106 overs were lost to the elements during the match. Essex collect 12 points and Northamptonshire nine.

BRISBANE – Steve Waugh’s one-day international career is over after theTest captain was left out of the provisional 30-man squad forAustralia’s World Cup defence in Africa from February.The 37-year-old Waugh had held slim hopes of fighting his way back intothe team after he was dropped last February but the message was cleartoday when he was not included not among the top 30 Australian limitedovers players.Waugh’s 10 teammates from yesterday’s Ashes series triumph over Englandwere named in the provisional World Cup squad along with some outsidersin young Victorian legspinner Cameron White, Tasmanian paceman DamienWright, versatile South Australian Mark Higgs and former Test spinnerBrad Hogg.Selectors named three conventional allrounders in Shane Watson, AndrewSymonds and Ian Harvey while West Australian wicketkeeper-batsman RyanCampbell was also included.The squad will be trimmed to 15 players by December 31 according to theguidelines arranged between the World Cup’s 14 participating nations.Players can be brought in from outside the 30-man squad but that wouldbe unlikely in Australia’s case.”This is really the first phase in selecting the squad to attend SouthAfrica for the 2003 World Cup,” chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said.”There are a number of players we need to continue looking at over thecoming month as we move to cut the squad by half.”That will be a challenging task because there are several players thatcould fill a variety of positions for us at the World Cup.”So far we have selected a healthy mix of players – batsmen, bowlers,all-rounders and three wicket-keepers, which gives us a broad range tochoose from when finalising our list.”The Australian side is scheduled to depart for the World Cup on January29 next year following the Allan Border Medal presentation on January28.Australia’s provisional World Cup squad: Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist,Michael Bevan, Andrew Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Matthew Hayden, BrettLee, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, ShaneWatson, Justin Langer, Jimmy Maher, Greg Blewett, Nathan Bracken, StuartClark, Michael Clarke, Ryan Campbell, Nathan Hauritz, Brad Hogg, MichaelHussey, Ashley Noffke, Andrew Symonds, Brad Williams, Brad Haddin, IanHarvey, Cameron White, Mark Higgs, Damien Wright.

BRISBANE – Australian captain Steve Waugh will tell Brett Lee to senddown his quickest deliveries against England at the Gabba on Thursday ifthe fast bowler retains his place in the bowling attack.Lee and Queenslander Andrew Bichel will fight for the last bowling spotif paceman Jason Gillespie proves his fitness with a searching workoutin the Gabba nets today.Gillespie expects his injured calf muscle to be ready for the Ashesseries opener after bowling 10 overs for South Australia against NSW ina one-day match on Saturday.Selectors will have the final say on 12th man duties, weighing up Lee’smodest record in the last two seasons against Bichel’s hometownexperience and his impressive recent statistics.But Lee, who has averaged 38.55 in his 17 Tests since elbow surgery,should not foresake his pace as he tries to improve his controlaccording to Waugh.”Brett is a quick bowler and that’s what he does best and what he shoulddo,” Waugh said.”He’s naturally quick and when he bowls quick, bowls well, he bowls agood line. I’ve always encouraged him to be himself and that’s be aquick bowler.””It’s a tough decision for selectors and you have to get the best fromwhichever combination you go with.”Brett is an explosive bowler so he’s going to be bowling short spellswhile Bich has been used in longer spells.”But I’m not going to get into who is a better bowler or who is bestsuited.”The Australians will train for the first time at the Gabba today, withGillespie expected to complete only a light session before tomorrow’sdemanding workout.The South Australian has been dogged by bad luck in previous seasons andhe has played only one Test at the Gabba, taking three wickets againstNew Zealand last summer.He was a last-minute withdrawal against the West Indies two years ago,enabling Bichel to play in front of his home crowd for the first time.Waugh said Bichel was now a more complete bowler, picking up “a yard ofpace” since last season.England continues its preparations with the final day of its three-daytour match against Queensland at Allan Border Field.The tourists will resume at 1-106 in their first innings in reply toQueensland’s total of 582.