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Pedro Collins, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Narsingh Deonarine have come back into the West Indies squad for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa next month. Collins, the left-arm bowler, said his return was “long overdue” while Sarwan was named captain after leaving the tour of England early with a shoulder injury.Collins, who has played 32 Tests and 30 ODIs, said he had a “point to prove” after not being picked for West Indies since July 2006. “I think my recall was long overdue,” he told Reuters. “I was being overlooked and I was wondering why. I was waiting my turn to play for the West Indies again and now my turn has come. I’m delighted to be back in the team.”Deonarine, the 23-year-old Guyana batsman, was selected for the first time in two years. He has played four Tests and four ODIs and will push for a long stay in the side during the two-week tournament starting on September 11.”We saw performances in the last Stanford 20/20 tournament but performances in that tournament was not really a big consideration because we do not think that anything much has been done for the those players after that competition in terms of remedial and developmental work,” Gordon Greenidge, the chairman of selectors said. “There were recommendations but very little is being done for player development which is a critical area if the players are to be successful at the highest level.”The format was taken into consideration and we tried to get a blend of youth and experience since the game is fast-paced and requires a bowler bowling no more than four overs,” he said. “We believe that we have arrived at a reasonable balance.”West Indies squad Ramnaresh Sarwan (capt), Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Narsingh Deonarine, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Runako Morton, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul.

Venkatapathy Raju, the former Indian left-arm spinner, is most likely to be South Zone’s representative in the National Selection Committee as a replacement for VB Chandrasekhar. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will announce the members of the new selection panel when it meets in Mumbai on September 27 and 28 for its Annual General Meeting.Raju, a Hyderabad stalwart who retired from first-class cricket in 2004, has the strong backing of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) as its representative from the South Zone, based on the rotation policy followed by the zone’s three major associations – the HCA, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). One candidate from each association is nominated for a two-year period. Brijesh Patel of the KSCA held the post before Chandrasekhar of Tamil Nadu. The other zones do not follow the same rotation system.”He is our choice for the post and there is no doubt about that,” Shivlal Yadav, the HCA secretary and former Indian offspinner, told . Raju is also the chairman of the HCA’s senior selection committee.Of the five-man selection panel only two slots are vacant – from the south and west zones. The names of Dilip Vengsarkar, the former Indian captain, Dhiraj Parsana and Karsan Ghavri are doing the rounds for the West Zone slot.Sanjay Jagdale (Central Zone), Ranjib Biswal (East Zone) and Bhupinder Singh Sr. (North Zone) are the other three members of the current selection panel but whose tenure continues. Once the two new members join the panel the senior-most among all five will take over as chairman of selectors.

Division Two

Points TableIan Bell struck a record-breaking 137, the highest score in the National League by a Warwickshire player, to help his side beat Yorkshire by a commanding 102 runs. Bell, not known for his powerful strokeplay, struck seven sixes and 11 fours in an 84-ball hundred, as Warwickshire rattled up 309 for 3 in their 45 overs. Jonathan Trott was also in the runs, hitting 94 in a stand worth 216 with Bell. Yorkshire’s target was inevitably too daunting, and they crumbled to 209 for 9, with England’s new promising spinner Alex Loudon taking 3 for 26. This convincing win makes Warwickshire near certainties for promotion to Division One, subject to Derbyshire winning by a substantial margin to increase their net run-rate.

The police had to be called to the first Test between England and West Indies at Lord’s a fortnight ago after a Marylebone Cricket Club member threatened another with a knife for using a mobile phone in the members’ stand.The Sunday Telegraph reported that the incident happened on July 23, the opening day of the Test match. According to the paper, the mobile-phone user is believed to have said that he was playing a computer game, only to be confronted with the sharp edge of a knife.The MCC displays signs around the ground requesting spectators not to use mobile phones, and after the intervention of several members, the knife-wielder is said to have fled the ground. The MCC has launched an investigation, and a police spokesperson gave some more details. “We were called to the Upper Tavern, a stand at Lord’s cricket ground, on July 23 after a man aged 37 allegedly drew a knife on another man, aged 46,” he said. “When police arrived the suspect had left. No weapons have been recovered.”

Marcus Trescothick, Ian Blackwell and a whole host of Somerset stars will be turning out to play in the Harry Burden Memorial Cricket match that is taking place at the new Taunton Cricket Club Ground in Gipsy Lane at Staplegrove on the outskirts of Taunton on Sunday afternoon.The match is the highlight of a festival of cricket that is taking place to mark the opening of the club’s new ground, and follows the official opening that will be performed by England star bowler Andy Caddick at 4.15pm.The Harry Burden Memorial Match will start at 4.30pm and will be played between a Taunton XI and a Somerset Celebrity XI, who in addition to Blackwell and Trescothick will include Jamie Cox, Peter Bowler, Mike Burns, Keith Parsons, Nixon McLean and Rob Turner as well as former player Andre Van Troost and the Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson.The Harry Burden Match will be umpired by Headley Thorne and former first class umpire Ray Julian who lived locally in Taunton for many years, who is returning to the town especially for this occasion.The Harry Burden Memorial Match first took place in 1996, in memory of seven year old Harry who was a keen cricketer and played for Taunton Under 11’s but sadly died of leukaemia just before his eighth birthday.As a result of his death a Memorial Fund was set up at Taunton CC by his friends and members of the club with the intention of benefiting young cricketers in the area. When the Tony Coles Charitable Trust was set up by Somerset CCC in 1998 with the same objectives it was decided to incorporate the Harry Burden Memorial Fund within it.Activities get underway at Taunton Cricket Club at noon with a display of basic skills from the club’s colt section that is followed at 1.30pm with a twenty overs match between a Taunton CC XI and Somerset CCC Academy XI.The festival of cricket will be a real family occasion with plenty of food, a licensed bar will be open all day, an ice cream van, prize raffle, `bowl at a star’, face painting and live music afterwards and a chance to meet the Somerset players.Entry on Sunday will be £2 for adults and £1 for children with all the funds raised going towards the Harry Burden Memorial Fund which is part of the Tony Coles Trust that helps young cricketers across the south west, a very worthy cause.Meanwhile Somerset Second XI lost their 3 day championship match against Gloucestershire by 54 runs at the County Ground in Bristol on Friday afternoon.In their first innings the hosts scored 318 for 8 declared with two wickets each for Michael Parsons and James Hildreth.Somerset replied with 340 for 8 declared, with Wes Durston making an unbeaten 104, which came from 83 balls and included five sixes and eleven fours, Piran Holloway made 43 and Aaron Laraman 42.Batting for a second time Gloucestershire scored 380 for 4 declared leaving Somerset requiring 359 for victory off 72 overs.The Cidermen put up a brave effort, but despite a century from Holloway who made 133 and 48 from Hildreth the visitors were al out for 305, to give their Gloucestershire counterparts victory by 54 runs

The first cricket Test between New Zealand and Pakistan is expected tobe shifted from Peshawar in the wake of a likely US attack onAfghanistan.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) refused to speculate on the change invenue, but a decision on the issue would be finalized in the next 48hours or maybe next week.Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium has been put on as stand-bye venue for thefirst Test which is to be played between Oct 2 and 6.The Kabul border is little over 50km drive from Peshawar and has beenan attractive tourists spot for all the visiting teams because of thehistoric Khyber Pass. The security aware Australians had spent a dayon the Kabul border when they last toured in 1998.However, the visit had ended in stern warnings by the AustralianCricket Board (PCB) to two of its players and manager Steve Bernardafter a foreign news agency released photographs showing thecricketers using sophisticated, modern and automatic guns on ashooting range.The drawn second Test of that tour in Peshawar is remembered for MarkTaylor’s 334 not out and also for the banner headline a localnewspaper gave on the day of the first Test. “Australian begin Testunder the shadow of gun” read the caption of match’s curtain raiser.Unconfirmed reports claim that the PCB officials discussed about thechange of first Test venue with New Zealand officials and assured themthat their demands would be accommodated if alarm bells rang inAfghanistan.United Nations and US have already started evacuating its people fromKabul but leading print and electronic news agencies have begundeploying its people to cover the anticipated attack. However it islearnt that the PCB were mentally prepared for the cancellation of thetour because of security fears.In the last 17 years, two tours have ended prematurely. In 1984-85,India had aborted the tour after Indra Gandhi was assassinated whilein 1990-91, England A returned without playing a match after Gulf Warbroke.Needless to say that New Zealand have already delayed their arrival inPakistan for at least 48 hours as they are said to be monitoringsituation.Meanwhile, Pakistan’s former Test cricketers urged New Zealand to goahead with the tour during which the tourists will play three Testsand as many one-day internationals.Former chairman of selectors Salahuddin Ahmad said: “Pakistan has avery safe history as far as cricketers are concerned. Never ever aforeign player or the team has been threatened in this part of theworld.”He said Pakistan had nothing to do with whatever happened in UnitedStates. “If New Zealand cricketers didn’t show any concerns in SriLanka when Colombo airport was attacked by Tamil Tigers, they have noreason to be scared about playing here.”Former captain Intikhab Alam felt after Pakistan has assured fullsecurity for the tourists, New Zealand should trust the hosts. “I amsure New Zealand cricketers are aware of the hospitality, respect,protocol and security they have got on their previous tours. This timeit will certainly be no different,” he said.”Cricket shouldn’t suffer because of something which has nothing to dowith either Pakistan or New Zealand,” he added.

Essex have confirmed the departure of head coach Paul Grayson, ending weeks of speculation over his position at the club.It brings to an end a 19-year association with the club and follows another season where Essex have failed to secure promotion in the County Championship and went out of both limited-overs competitions at the quarter-final stage.Two weeks ago Grayson had been given the backing of the club until the end of the season – following a recommendation from Ronnie Irani, the new cricket chairman, that he be removed immediately.Defeat to Yorkshire last week in the Royal London Cup quarter-final hastened his departure although a club statement said the decision was by “mutual consent.” It is understood he has not worked with the team since the quarter-final and handed in his resignation on Friday, feeling that his position had become untenableGrayson has left one year into an official three-year plan which made clear that the priority was to secure a one-day trophy and rebuild a young Championship team based on home grown talent. One of those young players, left-armer Reece Topley, recently confirmed a move to Hampshire, but the likes of Tom Westley and Nick Browne have enjoyed productive seasons while seamer Jamie Porter has 42 wickets at 26.11 in the Championship.”I have had 19 wonderful years at Essex, both as a player and as a coach, but I now feel the time is right for a new challenge,” Grayson said.”I would like to thank the cricket committee for their trust and support over the years, in particular John Faragher, Graham Gooch, David Acfield, Keith Fletcher and Nigel Hilliard. A special thank you to Graham Saville, who brought me to Essex and has showed loyal support to me, for which I will always be grateful.”Thank you also to the loyal supporters who understand the vision of the club and the development of Essex’s own players. I have always been a strong supporter of the club’s policy of developing our own players into first-class cricketers and it is a pleasure to see so many doing well in the game. I would like to thank the players for their hard work and dedication, particularly the three captains I have worked with; Mark Pettini, James Foster and Ryan ten Doeschate.”Grayson had supervised consistent displays in limited-overs cricket since taking charge in 2008 with Essex second only to Hampshire in the number of victories in one-day cricket in that time. But while Hampshire have gone on to win trophies, Essex have repeatedly faltered in the final stages, typified by this season’s T20 Blast and Royal London campaignSaville, former chairman of the cricket committee, said: “I’d like to thank Paul Grayson for his loyal service to the club as both a player and as a coach. He has done everything we had asked him to do with our youth policy.”Since taking over in 2007, Paul has helped to develop some outstanding young cricketers, who we hope will go on to represent Essex for a long time in the future. We wish him all the best for the future.”

ScorecardSam Harper’s rapid century and Patrick Page’s 104-ball 99 steered Australia Under-19s to a five-wicket win over New Zealand Under-19s in Dubai.Harper’s 103 came off just 84 balls, during which he slammed 12 fours and one six. Chasing 282, he shared a 183-run, third-wicket stand with Page that ensured Australia reached the target with three overs to spare. Page stroked the same number of boundaries as Harper before he was denied a century by Josh Finnie. After Harper fell in the 42nd over with the score at 246, Clint Hinchliffe steered Australia home with an unbeaten 34. Nathan Smith was the pick of New Zealand’s bowlers, picking up four of the five Australia wickets that fell.Earlier, after opting to bat, New Zealand failed to build on Daniel Stanley and Glenn Phillips’ solid start. The pair shared an opening stand of 148 before Australia’s bowlers, led by offspinner Arjun Nair and pacer Tom O’Donnell (4 for 63), cut through New Zealand’s middle and lower order. New Zealand were eventually restricted to 281 for 9 in their 50 overs, as no batsman after Stanley and Phillips managed to make more than 30 runs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
The Indians dominated the first two days of their warm-up match but Andy Hodd led a stubborn fightback on the third as Sussex, and rain, ensured that the chance of a result was rather unlikely. Hodd scored his maiden first-class century and led Sussex to 300 for 6 before Michael Yardy declared, giving the Indians a lead of 88. After that solid batting effort, James Kirtley and Jason Lewry rattled the Indian batsmen during a short burst before stumps and reduced them to 21 for 2.After two days of sunny weather, it began raining minutes before the scheduled start at 11.00 am and conditions did not improve through the morning. Over four hours of play were lost when the players finally took the field at 3.15pm.Sreesanth continued where he left off last evening and bowled an outstanding opening spell. He consistently hit a good length, extracted sharp bounce and got the ball to swing considerably away from the right-handers. RP Singh wasn’t as controlled though. He tried bowling to a plan, angling the ball across the right-handers from over the wicket, trying to swing it back into them to hit the pad. His execution was poor for he often strayed down leg side. However, he was difficult to play when he got it right and unsettled the batsmen with sharp in-swing and well-directed bouncers. Ranadeb Bose, playing his first game on the tour, was the least impressive of the seamers. He also found swing but his line was too wide outside the off stump to trouble the batsmen. And when he made an effort to bowl straighter, he was unable to generate as much swing.

Both Hodd and Martin-Jenkins were tested by some terrific deliveries in the afternoon but MS Dhoni had an equally torrid time behind the stumps. Sreesanth and RP Singh sent down deliveries that swung prodigiously after passing the batsmen and Dhoni frequently struggled to collect them cleanly. Sreesanth could have had a wicket early on but Dhoni was late in moving towards an outside edge from Martin-Jenkins, on 6, and dropped what would have been a comfortable catch for Yuvraj Singh at first slip.Sussex began the day trailing by 242 runs with just five wickets in hand with Hodd on 21 and Martin-Jenkins yet to score. Hodd was the more aggressive of the two, cutting and driving through cover point whenever offered width outside the off stump. A couple of his boundaries were streaky edges over slips and gully but, in all fairness, he would have had more had the wet outfield not thwarted several well-timed drives through the off side.Martin-Jenkins overcame a nervous start and grew in confidence as the session progressed. His first boundary was a crisp drive through covers off Sreesanth and by the time tea approached he was settled enough to use his feet and loft Anil Kumble over mid-on.The Indians could have had a wicket soon after tea but Kumble, running backwards to catch a top-edged pull from Martin-Jenkins off his own bowling, lost balance when he collided with the stumps at the non-striker’s end and messed up a simple catch. Martin-Jenkins went on to make 42, his highest first-class score of the season. He added 125 for the sixth wicket with Hodd before he was stumped down the leg side off Kumble.Hodd played Kumble confidently, driving him twice to the midwicket boundary. He calmly moved into the nineties before suffering several nervous moments on the verge of his century. Laxman, standing in for Rahul Dravid who was nursing a calf strain, took the second new ball with Hodd on 99 and Sreesanth backed up the decision with an outstanding maiden over, beating Hodd’s outside edge several times. Hodd played out 13 dot balls on 99 before RP Singh offered a loose delivery on the pads that he flicked to the square leg fence and raised his arms in triumph. Sussex declared shortly afterwards, and tested the Indians with a few awkward overs before stumps.Wasim Jaffer never looked comfortable and failed for the second time in the match when he was hit on the pad by one that swung back into him from Lewry. Dhoni, who also failed in the first innings, began aggressively by cutting Lewry twice through point for four. It didn’t last though and Lewry had his second wicket when Dhoni tried to pull a short ball that got big on him and top-edged it to Chris Nash at long leg. Dinesh Karthik and Yuvraj, promoted to No 3, took India through to stumps without further damage.

The hearing over the alleged ball tampering incident that led to the forfeiture of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan Test at The Oval will take place on September 27 and 28. Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, announced this in Mumbai on Thursday at a function to launch the Champions Trophy.Speed, who had earlier addressed a similar function in New Delhi, said that Ranjan Madugalle would be able to chair the hearing at the end of the month. He also clarified that it was not entirely accurate to say that Pakistan would be cleared of charges of tampering simply because there was no evidence on videotape. “If video evidence was the only criteria, taking the analogy of crime, we would not be able to prove a lot of murders and half the jails would be empty,” said Speed. “I cannot say much, except that there are other forms of evidence, and all will unfold at the hearing.”When pressed to explain what he meant by other forms of evidence, Speed said, “There is the ball, [the accounts of] other people who were present, and there’s the umpires’ version, which is the most important.” This means that the testimony of Darrell Hair, the man in the centre of all the controversy, and Billy Doctrove, his colleague, could prove crucial should there be no evidence on tape. Mike Procter, the match referee, will also be a key player in the proceedings.”The whole issue has gotten out of hand a bit,” Speed added. “It should have been dealt with then and there by the match referee.”The pre-launch function for the Champions Trophy, due to be played in India next month, was held at the Cricket Club of India and was attended by several functionaries of the Board of Control for Cricket in India including Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, and Ratnakar Shetty, an executive secretary of the board. Milind Rege and Suru Nayak, former Mumbai cricketers, were also present.