Paul Collingwood has been unveiled as England’s new one-day captain, at the head of a new-look squad that contains two uncapped players in Warwickshire’s Jonathan Trott and the Hampshire allrounder, Dimitri Mascarenhas.Collingwood, who was widely tipped for the role after Michael Vaughan announced he would be standing down, has had limited captaincy experience but is the veteran of 121 ODIs over a six-year career, and confirmed his importance to the team with his crucial centuries in England’s CB Series victory in Australia in February.”The selectors believe that Paul Collingwood’s experience and performances in the one-day game make him the ideal candidate to lead the side,” said England’s chairman of selectors, David Graveney. “He has been a key member of the one-day team for a while and we believe he is ready to take on theadditional responsibility of captaincy.”Vaughan, whose performances in one-day cricket have been mystifyingly poor throughout his career, was not named in the 14-man squad. By his own admission, he will not be around to contest the World Cup in Asia in four years’ time, and his absence will give Collingwood a better chance to bed down in the role and exert his own authority. “Overall, we were keen to identify the best way for the team to play in the one-day game,” added Graveney, “pick players who can perform certain roles and keepone eye on the need to build towards the World Cup in 2011.”Two such players are Trott and Mascarenhas, who have been consistent county performers over the last few seasons and are due their opportunity to impress on a bigger stage. “Jonathan will give us options in the top three of the order,” said Graveney. “He has been in prolific form for Warwickshire in the Friends Provident Trophy this season.”Trott, who was born in South Africa but has qualified for England over the five years, has scored 353 runs in seven Friends Provident matches, including two centuries, as Warwickshire reached the semi-finals. “I got the call this morning, and it was a bit of a shock,” he told Sky Sports. “I thought someone was playing a prank on me, because it’s something you dream about. I felt I’d been playing good one-day cricket, but I wasn’t suspecting this. I’ve got to take the chance with both hands.”Mascarenhas is also in fine form in domestic one-day cricket. He has made two important half-centuries during Hampshire’s march to the final of the Friends Provident Trophy, and has taken seven wickets at 21.71, while conceding his runs at just three an over. “Dimitri enjoys an excellent recordin the shorter form of the game,” added Graveney. “He has shown that he can take wickets ondifferent types of surfaces and is also an effective hitter in the lower order.”One notable omission from the squad is Andrew Strauss, who this time last year was England’s one-day captain but has since suffered a dramatic loss of form. ” Strauss will be disappointed not to have been selected,” said Graveney, “but weremain confident that he can recapture his best form in the one-day game and come back as a stronger player.In his absence, England have given a recall to his fellow Test opener, Alastair Cook, who could find himself opening with England’s new wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, who has seen off the challenge from Paul Nixon – one of the few players to emerge with credit from the World Cup. Owais Shah has also been given a chance to atone for his disappointing display in his one-odd Test appearance at Lord’s earlier in the season.With several familiar faces unavailable through injury and illness – among them Andrew Flintoff, Sajid Mahmood, Marcus Trescothick and Ravi Bopara – England have recalled the Sussex left-arm spinner and handy batsman Mike Yardy, who captained England A under Peter Moores’ tutelage in Bangladesh this winter. Meanwhile Ryan Sidebottom is included in his first England one-day squad since the tour of Zimbabwe in October 2001, as a reward for his excellent performances in the recent Test series.Sidebottom, Trott and Mascarenhas have also been added to the England Performance Squad which was announced earlier in the year, and has now swelled to 28 players. The first of two Twenty20 fixtures gets underway at The Oval on Thursday, June 28, followed by three one-day internationals at Lord’s, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge.England one-day squad 1 Paul Collingwood (Durham, capt), 2 James Anderson (Lancashire), 3 Ian Bell (Warwickshire), 4 Stuart Broad (Leicestershire), 5 Alastair Cook (Essex), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), 7 Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), 8 Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), 9 Liam Plunkett (Durham), 10 Matt Prior (Sussex), 11 Owais Shah (Middlesex), 12 Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), 13 Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), 14 Michael Yardy (Sussex)

England will play their first one-day international against Scotland on August 18, 2008 after an agreement between the two boards. Another match is penciled in for 2012 depending on Scotland’s continued ODI status.Cricket Scotland looked at the possibilities for hosting the game in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. The decision to play the match in Edinburgh was based on the capacity of the ground – 6000 – the strength of the capital’s corporate hospitality market and the overall requirements of the board’s spectator base and corporate partners.Also part of the deal is the continued participation of Scotland and Scotland A in the English domestic game and the boards and also agreed to ensure the compatibility of television contracts for the two countries. Earlier this year the ECB had a run-in with the Irish Cricket Union after they arranged the matches against India and South Africa because the ECB felt it impinged on their TV rights.Cricket Scotland will in due course announce venues for Scotland’s other international matches next year, including the ODI against New Zealand, which will be one of a tri-series of three ODIs also involving Ireland.”We are very lucky now in having two international venues capable of hosting big spectator matches, one in Edinburgh and another in Glasgow,” said Scotland’s chief executive Roddy Doyle. “The decision to play the match in Edinburgh was taken after consultation with our partners, sponsors and supporters. It will be a fantastic event, with an anticipated sell-out crowd of 6,000. I am sure the Scottish cricketing public’s appetite for the game will be huge.”The detailed planning for the event is already under way, with tickets on sale early in the new year. But already we have received a significant number of bookings from the corporate sector, and we expect a lot more.”

From the evidence available so far in this series, it would seem God has taken up residence in India. The escape at Lord’s was nothing if not providential and, at Trent Bridge, the breaks have all gone in their way so far proving – not the for the first time – cricket is as much a game of luckas it is of skill and pluck. And, above all, it is a game of fractions.Throughout the first two sessions, India had the fractions running for them. Balls kept evading the edge by the thinnest of margins, catches fell short marginally and all the marginal lbw decisions went in favour of batsmen.India were 149 for 1 at tea, which, if you were not watching, wouldhave pointed to utter dominance by the batsmen or complete ineffectivenessof bowlers, or both. The truth is that it was none. The ball seamed andswung all day and James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Ryan Sidebottom beat thebat repeatedly, sometimes off successive balls. They would have bowled muchworse for far more but today was the kind of day when nothing would stick.Nothing should be taken away from Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik. On paperthe weakest links in the Indian batting line-up, they have managed fourfifties between them in three innings so far on this tour. When journalists in the pressbox wondered about when an Indian opening pair had last put on ahundred outside the subcontinent, it was easy to point them in the direction of Cape Town , where these two ran up 153.And crediting luck doesn’t do justice to their fighting performance here. In conditions such as today’s, even Geoffrey Boycott would haveplayed and missed. Under the circumstances Jaffer and Karthik were gutsy,skilful, and nothing short of heroic. Not only did they survive, they madeuse of every scoring opportunity. You could say that they made their luck.

England nevertheless will rue their lack of fortune. Nothing would illustrateit better than two overs after the lunch break that fetched India 18 runs.Karthik hit two gorgeous fours off Paul Collingwood’s first over, the first aninventive cover drive that was played off a horizontal bat after taking acouple of paces down the wicket; a couple of balls later, he drove downthe wicket. In between, though, an uppish drive landed narrowly short of JamesAnderson at cover and the next ball looped off the leading edge but landed wellshort of mid-on.The next over, two fours were taken off Tremlett. Jaffer drove the first onethrough the covers but the next one was squeezed between gully and second slip.Tremlett induced another edge the following ball but Ian Bell, diving to his leftat gully, couldn’t hold on to it. On another day, England could have had twowickets in those two overs; today they leaked 18 runs.And on another day, Monty Panesar could have had two wickets in his firsttwo overs. With his first ball, he caught Karthik sweeping plumb in frontand, given how progressive umpires have been about lbws in the series so far,the decision seemed only a formality. But Ian Howell, the South Africanumpire who had handed out two leg-befores yesterday, though against pace bowlers,negated it. Jaffer escaped when equally plumb the next over.Not that a lot should be read into this because India have worked hard totake command of this Test. If, however, they don’t go on to win this Test afterhaving all the luck in the match so far, they will know just whom to blame.

Venkatesh Prasad, India’s bowling coach, expressed confidence in the ability of Sreesanth, following the bowler’s woeful performance in the second Test against England at Trent Bridge.”He’s not exactly struggling, it’s probably a phase,” Prasad said on the eve of India’s match against Sri Lanka A at Grace Road.Prasad admitted Sreesanth’s performance was a worry but showed faith in the youngster’s talent. “We’ve seen him bowl well, and win games in South Africa. I would say it’s a bit of a concern but he’s got all the talent to succeed at this level. He has a fantastic body language, his aggression is great – we’ve been talking about not crossing the line -, the approach to the crease is fantastic, and the seam position is great.”He also defended Sreesanth’s two deliveries – a beamer to Kevin Pietersen and a massive front-foot no-ball – that generated controversy during the Trent Bridge Test. “I’m sure that the full toss just slipped out of his hands – he apologised right there. Probably with the no-ball he could not get the right jump.”Prasad, who had performed well during India’s tour of England in 1996, agreed that Sreesanth needed to focus more on his bowling rather than on-field banter. “I think that’s one area that is of concern. I’ve been talking to him as a bowling coach, one-on-one, but he’s young. We need to respect the game, respect the rules. I as a bowling coach wouldn’t advice anyone to cross the line.” Sreesanth had been fined half his match fee for shoulder-barging Michael Vaughan during England’s second innings at Trent Bridge.However, Prasad was thrilled at the progress made by India’s left-armers, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh. “It was very satisfying at Trent Bridge, in terms of bowlers sticking to the lengths we’ve been talking about. Of course, we did bat extremely well but the bowlers did a tremendous job. There was Zaheer but we shouldn’t be forgetting RP Singh here, he took the crucial wickets of [Kevin] Pietersen and [Matt] Prior which were crucial for the team’s victory.”

Canada have finally appointed a new coach, after a five-month search to replace Andy Pick. Pubudu Dassanayake, their temporary coach, has been appointed in the permanent position which will take effect on October 1.Back in May, Pick urged the CCA to move quickly to appoint a coach to give themselves the best chance of qualification for the next World Cup. Pick, who had a year’s sabbatical from his ECB role to take Canada to the 2007 World Cup, warned that missing out would be “a massive step backwards”.Critics may say that CCA, knowing Pick’s contract was to expire, could have acted sooner to replace him. In response, a CCA spokesperson told Cricinfo: “The CCA prefers not to comment on the timelines in the appointment process – elements which are now behind us and in the past. It’s far more important to appoint the right person for the position and to avoid taking hurried, and potentially incorrect, decisions. We believe we have achieved exactly that.”Now it is up to Canada to move forward, and move fast. The good news is that in Dassanayake, they have found both an experienced coach and player. Dassanayake emigrated to Canada from his native Sri Lanka in 2001. He played 108 first-class matches, including 11 Tests and 16 ODIs for Sri Lanka, mainly as a wicketkeeper-batsman. He also represented Canada in 2005 and 2006, captaining the national team in 2005.He brings to the position coaching experience from both Sri Lanka and Canada and has also been a specialist wicketkeeping coach at the Sri Lanka Cricket Academy and a member of the SLCA’s Panel overseeing the development of fast bowlers in the country. He has also served as coach of the Junior Elite Program across Canada.Ben Sennik, the board’s president, said: “We’re very pleased to have arrived at a ‘made-in-Canada’ solution for our next national coach. It’s clear to all involved – both internationally and within Canada – that the game is growing rapidly here.”We need an experienced individual in place to provide the guidance to our seniors and junior cricketers. Pubudu knows the Canadian cricket scene well, and we’re confident that he’ll do an excellent job for cricket in Canada.”Meanwhile, Canada’s search for a new chief executive continues – but there are encouraging signs there, too, as the spokesperson confirmed: “We expect to be able to make an announcement within weeks rather than months.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former captain of the Pakistan team, has announced he will retire from international cricket after the second Test against South Africa at Lahore. Inzamam will be hoping to end his career by breaking Javed Miandad’s Pakistan record of 8832 Test runs. Inzamam currently has 8813 runs, still needing 20 runs to become the highest run-getter for Pakistan in Tests.Inzamam made this announcement at the National Stadium in Karachi where Pakistan are currently playing the first Test against South Africa. A few hours later, the board named Inzamam in a 16-man squad for the second Test. In recent days speculation has mounted over Inzamam’s future, with him declaring himself unavailable for the first Test against South Africa. He is also one of three Pakistani players to sign with the Indian Cricket League.”I spoke to the board and selectors and the first Test was originally offered to me but I wasn’t mentally ready to come back to Test cricket then. It was my idea to play in Lahore and then say ‘Thank you very much’.” he wrote in Bigstarcricket.com. “I am really grateful to the board for their gesture as nobody else has been able to leave the game like this. Not Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar or Javed Miandad, it has not been the tradition. No previous board chairman has shown the kind of respect that Nasim Ashraf is showing to me by allowing me to leave the game in this way.”Inzamam hoped he could end on a high, finishing atop the Pakistani batting mountain. “I need a century against South Africa to have a set of Test hundreds against every country I have played against,” he said, “so it would be a good thing to make a century and beat Javed Miandad’s record but more importantly it would be good for Pakistan to win the game and draw the series.”Apart from Inzamam’s inclusion, the selectors have decided to stick to thesame 15 that were announced for the ongoing Test in Karachi. While Inzamamis almost certain to play, the match could also feature a return ofMohammad Yousuf who opted out ofthe first Test due to lack of match fitness. Thus a brief reunion ofPakistan’s strong middle-order comprising Inzamam, Yousuf and Younis Khanis very much on the cards.Pakistan squad:
Shoaib Malik (capt), Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan,Salman Butt, Taufeeq Umar, Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (wk),Mohammad Hafeez, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul,Misbah-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Anjum

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Howthey were out

It was a statement of sorts from Dinesh Karthik. Left out of the Indian squad to play the series against Pakistan on Saturday after a string of indifferent one-day scores, he produced the innings of the tournament to steer India Blues to the Challenger Trophy title. It was the first century of the series and allowed the Blues to be the only team to hunt down a target successfully. A rather lukewarm tournament ended in electric fashion, with Karthik shining brightly under the lights.The dew finally had an effect on the chase, after three successive games where winning the toss and batting made the difference. India Red shrugged off two mini-collapses to post a healthy 269 but sizzling fifties from Suresh Raina and Niraj Patel provided ideal foils for Karthik’s controlled aggression. Conventional drives were interspersed with punchy slog-sweeps in an effort that overshadowed everything that went before. The national spot was gone but it wasn’t going to douse Karthik’s fire.Though he began with a crunched four through the covers it was Raina making all the noises at the other end: uncorking champagne strokes with flourish. Raina set the tempo for the chase, ripping cover drives of the highest class and juddering pulls off the back foot. His 45-ball fifty came after the Blues were three down and rattled the Reds in a matter of a few overs.Karthik soon got into the act. Spin offered him a chance to take full toll and his crackling sweeps set the innings in motion. S Badrinath, trying his part-time offbreaks, was slog-sweeped confidently over midwicket and Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, was clueless against him.Raina’s dismissal demanded some caution but Niraj proved to be an able ally, milking the bowling with wristy manoeuvres. The India Red bowlers gradually lost rhythm, the heavy dew didn’t help, and their attempts at pitching it short were met with meaty pulls. Karthik received a let-off on 42, with the mid-on fielder grassing a tough, high chance, but his 83-ball century, his maiden hundred in domestic one-dayers, was one of his more memorable efforts.His 168-run stand with Niraj was a Challenger Trophy record for the fifth wicket and the game was headed in only one direction once he brought up his century. Niraj, the left-hand batsman from Gujarat, showed the value of an innings builder in the middle order. His three fours and a six were vital but what really frustrated the Reds was his ability to find the gaps and run hard. It might have been second-fiddle but the target could have proved elusive without his cool.

Another good partnership had set up India Red’s innings earlier in the day. Gautam Gambhir and Badrinath rescued India Red from a shaky start before a cool and calculated knock from Mahesh Rawat down the order boosted them.The Reds needed a sound partnership to bail them out of an early hole. Joginder Sharma nailed two early blows (he could have had three if Ajinkya Rahane had held on to a sharp chance from Mohammad Kaif) and Ranadeb Bose tempted Kaif into a airy drive. Gambhir led the rescue mission, asserting himself from early on. He latched on to anything wide and milked the bowling with minimum fuss.Giving him company was Badrinath. He couldn’t match Gambhir for assuredness but displayed the gumption needed to grind it out on this surface. The outcome was the first century stand of the tournament; ironically between two men competing for the same spot in the national side.But Amit Mishra, in good form with the ball recently, foxed Gambhir with a quicker one and got Virat Kohli, who chipped a leading edge back to the bowler, off the very next ball. Rawat’s street-smart effort pushed the Reds past 250 but Mishra’s spell in the middle made the difference eventually. Had Gambhir stayed on the Reds could have well to 300, sealing the contest at the halfway stage itself. Once given the opportunity, Karthik didn’t need a second invitation to latch on.

Scorecard

New Zealand romped to a 216-run win over a South African Invitational XI on the third day at Bloemfontein, with another impressive performance from their bowlers who dismissed the hosts for 91. But on a day which saw 20 wickets fall for 236 runs, their top-order has had little time out in the middle ahead of the first Test on November 8.Impressive though New Zealand bowled, they too suffered an ignominious batting collapse in their second innings. Ethy Mbhalati (3 for 53) and Lonwabo Tsotsobe tore into New Zealand’s top-order to leave them wobbling on 81 for 5. While wickets tumbled around him, Craig Cumming – who made 12 in the first innings – remained firm and stroked 14 fours in a stabilising 67.The introduction of Jon Kent, however, shifted the momentum with 4 for 45 to dismiss New Zealand for 145. This left the Invitational XI chasing a tough 308; perfectly achievable in theory, but not on a green-top and nor against Shane Bond who had his tail up. Bond removed Morne van Wyk, caught at slip, before dismissing Ahmed Amla, and again he bowled well in tandem with Jacob Oram, who picked up 2 for 14 from six overs. The hosts crashed to 68 for 6, and although they found temporary respite in Thami Tsolekile’s 30, it was too little, too late.Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, picked up the final two wickets. His batsmen have one final warm-up game in which to gain some form, against South Africa A in Potchefstroom starting Thursday.Vettori hoped a better pitch would be used in the next tour game. “We came here to win a game, but the conditions weren’t what we expected. It was one of the worst pitches I’ve played on,” Vettori told News24.com. “For us to get runs in the first innings was pleasing, but it was continually hard for the batsmen from both teams to get runs because the ball moved around late into day three. So it wasn’t the ideal workout for us, but we’re happy to get some runs and overs under our belt.”The most important thing about the match was getting out there and playing some cricket,” he said. “It’s a long time since the guys bowled more than ten overs, so that was very important.”We’re hoping for a flatter wicket [in Potchefstroom] so we can get a really good run out,” he said. “I know the bowlers want to bowl 20, 30 overs and get that under their belts, and the same for the batsmen – they want to build long partnerships and trust the bounce and movement on the wicket, because I think that’s what we’re going to get in the Test matches. We’re going to get good wickets there that the batsmen can dominate on, and they need that before they head into the Tests.”

The venue for New Zealand’s Twenty20s against England will be switched, the New Zealand board has announced.The Twenty20 to have been played in Christchurch on February 5 has been switched to Auckland, and the Twenty20 on February 7 originally scheduled for Auckland will now be in Christchurch in a direct switch.”The change to the schedule has been made in response to the scheduling of Classical Sparks in Hagley Park on February 5,” said Peter Dwan, NZC’s commercial manager. We were concerned about the effect on resources of holding two large events in Christchurch on the one night.”By making the switch Christchurch audiences will have the opportunity to both attend Classical Sparks and a Twenty20 match against England. We acknowledge that this change may cause inconvenience to some England supporters which we, of course, regret. We are working to minimise disruption to those affected.”

Gary Kirsten has delayed accepting the position of India’s coach after hearing about alleged “unhappiness” among some senior players about him being offered the job.Kirsten had originally set Monday as the date for signing the contract but reports emanating from India over the weekend have caused him to rethink.”I have heard the rumours about some senior players expressing their concern about my possible appointment and I would prefer to have clarity on that before I commit myself to the job,” Kirsten said.”I’m not sure whether the players do have concerns or not. I only met Anil Kumble on my recent trip to Delhi and he was very supportive. If there are concerns then I would like to find out whether they are about me as an individual or the process by which I was interviewed and then offered the job.”Indian newspapers quoted anonymous senior players as saying that the current management structure was working well and that Kirsten’s appointment was unnecessary.”There is absolutely no need for a coach at this moment,” an unnamed player was quoted as saying in the .Kirsten said he was keen to speak to more players to make sure he understood their feelings.”I’m not going to rush because it’s a very important position in world cricket and the decision needs to be made carefully and in conjunction with all the right people, but mostly the players. You can’t coach any team if you don’t have the players ‘buy in’,” Kirsten said. “I’ve written to the board to explain my feelings.””You can’t afford to start a job like this on the back foot. Everybody needs to understand each other and share the same goals and aspirations, otherwise you’ll spend half your time trying to make sure you’re all on the same wavelength instead of concentrating on playing the best cricket,” Kirsten said.Kirsten had been interviewed by the BCCI selection committee on November 26 and was given a week to make his decision. He later said that though he had a week to give an answer, the decision was “pretty much a reality”.BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said he was yet to “receive any official mail” from Kirsten.