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Australia will ditch their light-hearted Twenty20 outlook as they prepare to treat the inaugural World Championship as seriously as the successful Caribbean campaign earlier in the year. In its previous five matches the team has looked at the game as entertainment, but Ricky Ponting outlined the changes as he chases a hat-trick of global limited-overs trophies in South Africa next month.When asked if Australia would tackle the tournament with the same intensity as the 2007 World Cup Ponting said: “We will, definitely. It’s cricket for us, and we’ve got to prepare as best as we can. We’re preparing trying to win the Twenty20 World Championship.”The mood change since the first international in 2005 is significant and Ponting seemed disappointed the status had been upgraded from exhibition to must-win contests. In New Zealand the opening game was a retro tribute with the players sporting big hair and sweaty headbands, and since then matches were played as a warm-up to the main one-day internationals.In South Africa, Australia’s first match is against Zimbabwe on September 12 and Ponting expects some of the smiles to disappear. “One of the best things about the game was it was fun and you play your best cricket when you are getting out there and having fun,” he said. “Now we’re playing a World Cup the players will be worried about stats and that might lose a bit of the beauty about the game.”Australia, who also hold the Champions Trophy, have won three of their Twenty20 matches and the fringe players in the squad will be in a better position than their senior team-mates. “It’s a young game for us, especially for the international guys who only played a few games,” Ponting said. “The guys in the states and the counties have played more than we have.”Being tactically unaware is a strange position for the squad and it will be working on methods to conquer the condensed game during its week-long camp in Queensland. In an unusual pre-season training move Ponting’s batting over the next week will involve “hitting every ball as hard as I can, as far as I can”.The 25 contracted players arrived at the Sunshine Coast town of Coolum on Sunday and will be involved in detailed planning sessions during the week before practice matches in Brisbane at the weekend. While the Twenty20 tournament is the immediate high-profile priority, the squad will also be building for a one-day tour to India, Test series against Sri Lanka and India and an Australia A trip to Pakistan.The six home Tests form part of a rescheduled summer for Australia – Sri Lanka play two games in November and India open the four-match series in Melbourne on Boxing Day – and Ponting felt India would form the greater challenge. “Sri Lanka probably rely on Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene with the bat and Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas with the ball,” he said. “India probably have more depth than Sri Lanka in Test cricket, but India have historically been very poor travellers.”Ponting said India’s series win over England earlier this month would give them confidence but he expected his team to prevail even without the retired Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer. “With both those sides, if we perform at our best, we should be able to win pretty easily in Australia.”

Brad Hogg has no intention of giving up the mantle of Australia’s leading one-day spinner to Dan Cullen, the rookie offspinner, before next year’s World Cup. However, he believes Cullen is the man to take over the role of leading Australian spinner in the future.Hogg, 35, said that the hunger to compete in the World Cup was greater than it had ever been for him. “As things get closer I think it was halfway through last year [it became] one of those goals where I wanted to defend something that I have done before,” he told the . “It is good that Dan has got a crack and he has a little taste of international cricket. He is probably going to be our main spinner once Warne and MacGill go in the Test arena and hopefully he can play a big part in the one-dayers as well from now on.”Following Shane Warne’s retirement from one-day cricket, Hogg has carved out a handy role for himself and picked up his 100th wicket during the first match against Bangladesh at Chittagong on Sunday. His tally rests at 101 wickets at 28.88 – with an economy rate of 4.52 – in 83 one-day matches, and he averages just over 20 with his late-order hitting. Cullen conceded just 36 from his ten overs on debut, but it was Hogg, with 3 for 37, who was the stand-out bowler on a spin-friendly pitch in Chittagong.Hogg believed he was in the form of his career and expected himself and Cullen to both make the squad for the World Cup in the Caribbean. “They took two spinners to the last World Cup and I can’t see why they won’t this time,” he said. “It looks like it is going to be Dan or myself or either one of us, but we have to keep performing to keep our spots. As they say you don’t give a sucker an even chance.”Both bowlers are set for another crack at Bangladesh at Fatullah tomorrow with Australia naming an unchanged side for the second game of the three-match series.

ScorecardNorthamptonshire survived an awkward second innings to claim a draw against Nottinghamshire after a three-wicket burst from AJ Harris threatened to open up a final-afternoon result. Facing a deficit of 160, Northamptonshire slumped to 18 for 3 before Chris Rogers and Rob White added 134.Nottinghamshire batted aggressively during the morning session, Mark Wagh taking his century to 152 until being caught behind of Johann van der Wath. The middle order all contributed useful runs at a decent pace, but Mark Ealham was forced to retire hurt for 25.Harris then struck with the new ball, having Stephen Peters edging to Chris Read and both David Sales and Alex Wakely taken at slip by Stephen Fleming. However, Rogers found his touch after a lean run and White struck 12 boundaries before everyone shuck hands on a draw.

After lasting 205 balls and not having played a shot in anger, S Badrinathdanced down the pitch to Rahul Sanghvi and hit him straight back over hishead, clean as anything, and the ball thudded into the sightscreen,signalling the only six on a day where the scoring rate was just in excessof two runs per over. It was an amazing moment not because Badrinath isincapable of the big hits, but simply because it was a startling shot on aday when batsmen had to shelve their shots.Indian cricket these days is full of cricketers who want to make aninstant impact – and the best way to do that is to be a strokemaker. ButBadrinath is different, and is proud of the fact that he began as a grafterand from that solid base has grown into something more. “I started off asa grafter,” he told Cricinfo at the end of the day’s play. “My range of strokes hasincreased over time, has become broader. Now I think I’ve got all theshots. It’s basically a question of shot selection – which shots to playon which wickets, that’s important.”Badrinath has made eight first-class centuries, and some of them have beeninvaluable to Tamil Nadu’s cause, but this was perhaps the most critical,and he acknowledged that. “Given the circumstances I went out to bat in,11 for 2, and the fact that this was not the easiest wicket to bat on, Iwould rate this innings among the best I’ve played,” he said. “Perhapsthis isn’t my best-ever, but I’d rate it very highly.”There was another grafter on display on the day, in M Vijay, the debutant,who played almost five hours for his 59 and shared in a critical 127-runpartnership for the third wicket after an early wobble. “He looks a goodplayer, and has made plenty of runs in league cricket in Chennai,” saidBadrinath of Vijay. “He’s a bit inexperienced in that he’s playing hisfirst Ranji match, but he’s definitely a player for the future.”There is plenty of experience the team, though, with the likes of SSharath and Ashish Kapoor having played domestic cricket for years, andBadrinath is not ignorant of this. “There are times when I can talk tothese guys and get some inputs,” he said. “I’ve played a bit of cricketmyself, but you must remember this is just my third match as captain. Soit certainly helps to have the right blend of guys, like we do.”Badrinath was also not especially concerned that his team had only managed184 after winning the toss and choosing to bat. “The wicket was reallyslow and the ball was just not coming onto the bat,” he said. “Consideringthat you had to be patient and look to play long. The runs will eventuallycome. Losing only three wickets in the whole day was a good effort, evenif we only made 184 runs.”With the bounce not being consistent, it was hard work for the batsmen allround, and it’s only going to get tougher as the pitch wears down. “It washard to play both the spinners and the fast bowlers,” he said, refusing tobe drawn out on what was the easiest type of bowling to make runs againston this pitch. “The bounce isn’t true, so the horizontal bat shots arecompletely ruled out. This makes it hard to get boundaries. In suchsituations you just have to work, work, work and try and pick up the onesand twos wherever you can.”The hundred was a timely one for Badrinath, with Dilip Vengsarkar, thechairman of selectors, watching the game from near the players’ enclosure.When asked if Vengasarkar’s presence put any added pressure on him,Badrinath laughed off the suggestion. “It wasn’t a distraction,” he said”I’m just going to go out there and play my game, whoever is watching orisn’t. It wasn’t any added pressure on me.”

Scorecard

South Africa continued their string of emphatic victories in the warm-up games ahead of the Champions Tophy with a 125-run win against MCA President’s XI in Mumbai. Graeme Smith scored his third consecutive half-century since his return from injury and Jacques Kallis smashed 71 off 57 balls to take South Africa to 303 for 6, their third consecutive 300-plus score. They used as many as eight bowlers in their defence and restricted MCA to 178 for 8 with only Amol Muzumdar offering resistance during his 67.Smith had scored 73 against a local side and 90 off 54 balls against Saurashtra and today he needed just 68 balls to score 76. He added 52 for the first wicket with Herschelle Gibbs and 86 for the second with Boeta Dippenaar. South Africa then lost four wickets for 22 runs and when Mark Boucher departed for 49, they were on an unconvincing 215 for 6.However Kallis, who batted at No 7, launched a fierce counter attack with Andrew Hall during the slog overs. Kallis smashed five sixes in his innings and the 88-run partnership for the eighth wicket came off just 8.3 overs.Charl Langeveldt led the bowling effort with an incisive opening spell that reaped two wickets. Ntini bowled a tight line and length but went wicketless during his eight-over spell that cost just 16 runs. Justin Kemp chipped in with two wickets although his continuing poor form with the bat will be a concern for the management. Andrew Hall and Andre Nel also bowled miserly spells as MCA were kept under wraps.

Canterbury have announced that Chris Harris will be their captain for the 2004-05 season.”Chris Cairns had told us that he was unavailable for consideration for the captaincy during the upcoming season and Chris Harris was the obvious choice to take over,” Craig Thiele, Canterbury’s chairman of selectors, explained.Harris stood in for Cairns, the named captain, for much of last season. “He did an outstanding job,” Thiele added, “and we are delighted to appoint him.”

Inzamam-ul Haq, the Pakistan captain, termed Pakistan’s overall performance in England as “unsatisfactory”, saying that the team needed to improve its fielding in one-day cricket.”Our overall performance was unsatisfactory and we should have performed better than we did,” Inzamam said on returning from the two-and-a-half month tour. Pakistan lost their last one-day international at Birmingham on Sunday, which left the five-match series level at 2-2 after the first game at Cardiff was hit by rain. Earlier, Pakistan lost the four-match Test series 3-0, which included an unprecedented result after they forfeited The Oval Test following a ball-tampering row. It was Pakistan’s first loss in a Test series in England since 1982.The only positive outcome from the tour was experience gained by the youngsters in Pakistan team, Inzamam said. “Several youngsters toured England for the first time and the tour provided them with a wealth of experience and I hope they build on this experience in future.” Inzamam singled out fielding as his team’s main weakness. “If we need to progress we must improve our fielding, which plays a crucial part in one-day cricket.”Bob Woolmer, the coach, was also unhappy with the result. “It was disappointing not to do as well as we hoped. Probably it was the toughest tour of my career for many reasons,” Woolmer told AFP from Cape Town. “Some positives did come out of the tour and they were Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Younis Khan – who all did well on the tour but overall it was a disappointing tour.”Pakistan’s next international assignment is the Champions Trophy in India next month.

Michael Lewis, the fast bowler from Victoria, has been investigated for alleged ball-tampering during the Pura Cup game against Queensland at the Gabba. In what was the first such video review in the history of Australian domestic cricket, Lewis was found to have applied his thumbnail to the ball but the umpires, stating that he hadn’t done anything illegal, let him off with a warning.Lewis was caught in suspicious circumstances on camera on two occasions: first, applying his thumbnail to the ball; and second, in the way he was holding the ball, with both hands over the top. Norm McNamara and Dave Orchard, the on-field umpires, reviewed the footage with Greg Shipperd, Victoria’s coach, and Cameron White, the captain, at the end of the day’s play and decided Lewis had no case to answer, saying the matter had been “dealt with” on the field.However, when Lewis and White were asked to comment by the media, they denied being addressed by the umpires, claiming that their on-field discussions with McNamara and Orchard were in regard to a different incident. Lewis had earlier hurled the ball at Clinton Perren, the Queensland batsman whose second-innings 90 had set his team up for a win, and this forced the umpires to intervene. “We wouldn’t be so stupid as to do something illegal when we know the cameras are on us,” Lewis has been reported as saying by the , a Melbourne-based daily.During the second day’s play, Lewis had requested McNamara and Orchard to clean the ball after it had been soiled by sand and dirt when retrieved from the boundary. Both umpires consented, and Lewis apparently cleaned the ball with his thumb. Later in the day’s proceedings, Lewis was seen to have applied his thumbnail to the ball. After being shown the footage, Graham Dixon, Queensland’s cricket chief executive, brought the matter to the attention of the umpires, adding that he was suspicious over the manner in which Lewis held the ball during delivery. The umpires watched the video and decided Lewis had done nothing illegal, and a warning was issued to Lewis that such instances were not permissable without the umpires’ consent.Despite Victoria’s claims of being scrutinised because of the intense rivalry between both teams, this incident has been taken seriously owing to another case earlier this year. An investigation into a ball-tampering episode involving an assistant coach during a Victorian second XI game was dismissed due to lack of evidence, but the vigilance with which such cases have been approached has put players under pressure. Further, Victoria’s bowlers have a reputation of generating reverse-swing, and Lewis – who maintained that he along with Rodney Hogg, the former Test bowler, had devised a legal method – has been recognised as one of the chief exponents of the craft.

Mathew Dowman and Dominic Cork at last gave Derbyshire supporters a dayto savour when they transformed the match at the County Ground with arecord breaking partnership.The unbroken seventh wicket stand of 225 was the highest for Derbyshireagainst Durham and at the close, Dowman and Cork had taken their sideinto a lead of 369.It was a totally different story shortly after lunch when Durham had thehome side on the ropes at 121-6, only 143 runs in front, and there wasevery chance the game would finish inside two days.But the pitch had by now flattened out, the ball did not swing andDowman and Cork plundered bowling which became increasingly ragged on ahot afternoon.This was Dowman’s best innings for Derbyshire and, after spending 18balls on 99, he reached his eighth first-class century which wasapplauded by all the Durham team.Cork scored his fourth hundred and his unbeaten 105 was his highestscore while Dowman’s 129 not out was his best for Derbyshire.The stand was the highest against Durham this season and has seriouslydamaged their chances of avoiding relegation to the Second Divisionwhile Derbyshire now have an excellent chance of winning their firstgame since late June although they already look doomed to lose theirDivision One status.

Varun Chopra, the Essex opener, has been handed back the England Under-19 captaincy for the Test and one-day series against India. Moeen Ali, the Warwickshire allrounder, was in charge for the Under-19 World Cup, in Sri Lanka, during February but will be unavailable for large chunks of the series due to his commitments with Warwickshire.Chopra, who was captain when England lost every match on their tour of Bangladesh before Christmas, has made a fine start to his first-class career for Essex with a century and a fifty on his Championship debut. He was solid, rather than spectacular, during the World Cup but has shown impressive fluency this season.The core of the squad contains the players who were part of the World Cup squad and a number of them, including Nick James, Graeme White, Mark Nelson and Rory-Hamilton Brown, have been gaining first-team chances for their counties.There are three changes between the one-day and Test squad with Billy Godleman, the talented Middlesex batsman, Michael O’Shea and Adil Rashid coming in for the three-Test series which starts at Canterbury on July 26. The three-match ODI series starts at Derby on June 18.One-day squad Varun Chopra (capt) (Essex), Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), Paul Dixey (wk) (Kent), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey), Nicholas James (Warwickshire), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Andrew Miller (Warwickshire), Steven Mullaney (Lancashire), Mark Nelson (Northamptonshire), Mark Stoneman (Durham), Chris Thompson (Surrey), Huw Waters (Glamorgan), Graeme White (Northamptonshire), Ben Wright (Glamorgan)Test squad Varun Chopra (capt), Moeen Ali, Paul Dixey (wk), Billy Godleman (Middlesex), Rory Hamilton-Brown, Nicholas James, Adam Lyth, Andrew Miller, Steven Mullaney, Mark Nelson, Michael O’Shea (Glamorgan), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Huw Waters, Graeme White, Ben Wright