Frizzell County Championship Division One
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Essex 77 for 2 v Nottinghamshire 284 at Chelmsford
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Chris Cairns thrashed a rapid 70 from 73 balls, then took a wicket in his first over, as Nottinghamshire and Essex jostled for position on the first day at Chelmsford. Cairns added 98 for the fifth wicket with Jason Gallian, whose 65 spanned three hours and provided the backbone of an erratic innings in which six batsmen failed to reach double figures. Jon Dakin was the main cause of the wobbles, picking up 4 for 53 in 16.5 overs. Cairns then trapped Will Jefferson lbw for 1, but Andy Flower and Mark Pettini added an unbeaten 46 for the third wicket as Essex closed on a high.Warwickshire 342 for 6 v Lancashire at Edgbaston
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Lancashire’s hopes of making a late charge for the title were dealt a blow at Edgbaston, as Jonathan Trott and Dougie Brown added 216 for the sixth wicket to steal the momentum for Warwickshire. The early part of the day had belonged entirely to Lancashire, and to Glen Chapple in particular, who swung and seamed his way to three quick wickets, including Michael Powell in the first over. Kyle Hogg and John Wood joined the fun as Warwickshire were reduced to 101 for 5, but with Peter Martin absent with a back strain, Trott and Brown turned the tables. Trott eventually fell for 126, and on 112, Brown retired hurt with a calf problem. But Lancashire have much ground to make up.Frizzell County Championship Division Two
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Gloucestershire 331 for 5 v Derbyshire at Bristol
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He is better known for his quick scoring, but Jonty Rhodes displayed the adhesive side of his game today, as he batted for the best part of six hours for an unbeaten 121, his third Championship century of the season. Rhodes’ effort further compounded Derbyshire’s woes at the foot of the second division, as Alex Gidman and Matt Windows contributed a pair of well-paced 40s to help Gloucestershire to an imposing 331 for 5 at the close. The recent unknown, Paul Havell, who took four wickets against the South Africans last week, was again Derbyshire’s most successful bowler, picking up 3 for 68 from 22 overs. At one stage, Gloucestershire had been a wobbly 78 for 3, but Rhodes stopped the rot and put his team on top.Worcestershire 364 v Hampshire 4 for 0 at the Rose Bowl
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Worcestershire didn’t have too many positives to take from Saturday’s capitulation in the C&G final, but for their reserve wicketkeeper Jamie Pipe, who stood in for the injured Steve Rhodes, the Lord’s effect was clearly inspirational. He cracked an unbeaten 104, his maiden first-class century, to keep their title hopes alive at the Rose Bowl. Pipe came to the middle at the fall of Stephen Peters for 87, and immediately took the attack to Hampshire’s bowlers, adding 137 for the sixth wicket with Justin Kemp, who made 90. When Tim Tremlett and Laurence Prittipaul ripped through the lower order, however, it seemed that Pipe would be denied his dream. But with Worcestershire’s No. 11 boshing boundaries at the other end, he just edged past the mark.Durham 190 v Northamptonshire 166 for 1 at Wantage Road
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Mike Hussey has announced he wants to take a break from County cricket next season, but it hasn’t broken his concentration for the time being. Nor, indeed, that of his partner-in-crime Phil Jaques, who crashed his way to 102 not out in an unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 165, as Durham were given a lesson in batting and bowling at Northampton. Durham, who won the toss and chose to bat, were bundled out for 190 in 60.3 overs, thanks to a five-wicket haul from Jeff Cook. It didn’t take long for their bowlers to respond, however. Shoaib Akhtar, who has clearly forgotten there’s a Test match taking place back home, dismissed Tim Roberts for a first-ball duck. But that was the high point of Durham’s day. Northants already look set for a crushing victory to boost their prospects of the second division title.Somerset 228 v Yorkshire 86 for 3 at Headingley
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After months on the sidelines with a knee injury, Matthew Hoggard returned to first-class cricket with a huge splash at Headingley, picking up career-best figures of 7 for 49 to leave Somerset in the lurch. Yorkshire’s day, however, was marred by an injury to Steve Kirby, who appeared to be struck on the head in his followthrough by a Nixon McLean straight drive. But for Hoggard it was the sweetest of returns, and a timely reminder of his abilities ahead of England’s winter tours. Somerset were bowled out for 228, with Darren Gough also in the wickets, but they clawed back some lost ground by the close, reducing Yorkshire to 86 for 3 in reply.

The issue of racial discrimination in Zimbabwean cricket has cropped up again, with Murray Goodwin alleging that black cricketers were getting a free ride into the team. Goodwin, who last played for Zimbabwe three years ago before quitting due to pay disputes with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, said: “It sounds really racist but in actual fact it’s the truth and that’s a sad state of affairs because these guys don’t have to perform as well as the European guys to get a game.”You’ve got guys getting promoted because of performance and other guys getting promoted because of their colour. It’s hard because when you’re playing in a team and you’ve got these guys getting a free ride – it’s not their fault at all – the selection [policy] is a bit of an issue. Everyone’s trying to play in a team and you can’t begrudge that … but you’re just wary of how they select you and on what grounds.”Meanwhile, Geoff Marsh, the Zimbabwean coach, has told his players to forget about the political implications of their tour to Australia. Marsh believes that the politics of the Zimbabwean situation has the potential to distract his side at a time when they need to be completely focussed on the cricket. “When the political situation gets involved in the game of cricket in Zimbabwe I try to take it out.”Adam Gilchrist agreed with that approach. Writing a column for Fairfax papers, Gilchrist supported Australia’s decision to play against Zimbabwe in the 2003 World Cup, stating that the decision stood vindicated within ten minutes of their arrival in Bulawayo, when a local woman gave him a hug and said: “Thank you so much for coming, for giving us a ray of brightness in these difficult times.”He strengthened his argument further by talking about the lack of protest over Zimbabwe’s tour to Australia. “Surely if the reasons for not playing are moral ones, why would the same rules not apply when the Zimbabweans are here? Either people have short memories, or perhaps we are realising that participating in sporting events doesn’t mean that we are either supporting or disregarding the policies and regimes of the government of the country we are playing. Although we are well aware of the tragic heartache that has been caused and the issues that remain unresolved, we are simply sportsmen proudly representing our country.”

An unbeaten 99 from opener David Fitzgerald helped South Australia overhaul its first-innings deficit against Tasmania on day three of the Pura Cup cricket match at Bellerive Oval today.The Redbacks were agonisingly slow in their second innings, ending the final session on 1-191 after 80 overs.They managed to erase the Tigers’ 184-run lead, but only just.Fitzgerald was set for a nervous night’s sleep after finishing the day one short of his century, with skipper Greg Blewett not out 60.The pair brought up a 100-run partnership in 133 minutes off 231 balls.Tasmania’s solitary wicket for the day was Shane Deitz, who was caught and bowled by left-arm orthodox spinner Xavier Doherty for 28.Redbacks coach Wayne Phillips conceded it would be difficult for either team to secure an outright result on such a good batting strip.”It is a terrific pitch,” he said.”I’d have to start bowling pineapples or something to make it do something a bit different.”We will try and keep pushing and see what eventuates, but it’s going to be a battle.””I think our prime objective is to ensure that we continue to build partnerships and put a price on our wickets.”If we get a bit of a spurt on at some stage, there’s still another six hours to go in the game, another 100 overs near enough (and) a lot can happen in that time.”We are going to try and drive it as best we can and hope that something might drop out the bottom.”Tigers captain Dan Marsh was also hoping for a “couple of breakthroughs” tomorrow.”It is a flat wicket, but if we persevere long enough you never know,” he said.”If we get a few wickets, you never know. The morning session is going to be fairly important.”Tasmania was dismissed before lunch today for an impressive 420 in reply to South Australia’s day-one offering of 236.The Redbacks’ Mark Cleary finished the innings with a first-class career-best of 5-102.

The length bowlers go to …
India batted first on what was supposed to be a bouncy track, with cloud cover. So what did the bowlers do? They bowled short. The batsmen were hit on the head, the arm, and all over their upper torsoes. Not one wicket fell to intimidatory bowling. And when they did pitch it full, they over-compensated. As many as 84 runs came off the 70 half-volleys that were bowled.

Runs, runs everywhere
Virender Sehwag was not about to let a nagging line outside off stump stifle him. He scored 114 runs on the off side, and anything slightly close to his pads was dispatched to leg. Given the generous number of half-volleys that came his way, it was no surprise that a large number of his runs came in front of the wicket.Sehwag’s wagon wheel

His first false shot was his last
Rahul Dravid missed out on a half-century by one run, playing a loose shot off Steve Waugh straight to the fielder at midwicket, when he could have put the ball anywhere on the leg side. But until then, even by his standards, his control was exemplary.

Opening for India
Could Virender Sehwag and Akash Chopra be the opening pair India long been searching for? Their opening stand of 141 was India’s highest outside the subcontinent since 1990. Since then, India has played 21 openers, with only Ravi Shastri, Manoj Prabhakar and Navjot Sidhu achieving any degree of success. But the current combination has been exceptional, especially when one considers that this tour is their first overseas assignment together. (Note India’s average of their previous tour to Australia)India’s overseas opening performances since 1996

Rahul Bhatia is on the staff of Wisden Cricinfo.

It’s not only in England that the debate on touring Zimbabwe is heating up – now the subject is beginning to focus minds in Australia. And the pressure was increased with a plea from the Movement for Democratic Change (Zimbabwe’s main opposition party) to the Australian team to scrap their proposed trip in May.Speaking on South African radio, Nkanyiso Maqeda, a spokesman for the MDC, said that the tour would hand a propaganda coup to Robert Mugabe’s beleaguered regime. "To come in and endorse that regime is really the tragedy, that’s what the Australian players will have done," he said. "Certainly we’d be very disappointed if they were to come and prop up the regime."Those views were endorsed by Gibson Sibanda,the vice-president of the MDC, who was in Europe requesting the European Union to extend its sanctions against Zimbabwe. He warned that any tour would be a “pat on the back for Mugabe”But Vince Hogg, the Zimbabwe board’s managing director, insisted that the tour should proceed. "It’s certainly not complicated for us," he explained "We’re cricket administrators and we’re just talking about the game of cricket in Zimbabwe, so it’s very simple for us."Cricket Australia (CA) has maintained the official ICC line that tours should not be cancelled on moral grounds. "Our position is pretty well set and has been for a long time," James Sutherland, the chief executive of CA, said. "We’ll make a decision on any tour based on safety and security grounds. We don’t see it as appropriate that we make judgments on those other issues."CA media release

Thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral of David Hookes at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. Hookes, Victoria’s coach, died following an assault outside a Melbourne hotel bar last week.The funeral will be attended by members of the current Australian team, while Darren Lehmann, Hookes’s close friend and former team-mate at South Australia, will be one of the eight pall-bearers.Ian Chappell, a former Australian captain, is due to be one of the speakers at the service, while the Adelaide Oval’s groundsman Les Burdett will put up a set of stumps at one end of the pitch and place a bat on the ground next to them.The grandstands at the ground will be opened to the public for the ceremony, as Hookes’s death has led to an outpouring of grief throughout Australia. Following the funeral, a separate memorial service will be held in Melbourne on February 5.A 21-year-old hotel bouncer, Zdravco Micevic, has been charged with manslaughter and remanded on bail to appear in court on April 13.

West Zone 172 and 92 for 2 (Mane 52*) need another 207 runs to beat North Zone 279 and 191 (Gambhir 111; Powar 3-49, Bahutule 3-50)
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Vinayak Mane led the way with an unbeaten 52 as West Zone made a decent start in pursuit of the 299 needed for victory in their Duleep Trophy match against North Zone in Dharamsala. At close of play on the penultimate day, West were 92 for 2, needing another 207, after Gautam Gambhir’s splendid 111 had propped up North’s second innings of 191.Resuming the day on 17 for 1, Gambhir and Pankaj Dharmani (36) batted most of the morning before Ramesh Powar and Rakesh Patel triggered a collapse. None of the remaining batsmen got into double figures, leaving Gambhir to wage a lone battle against the West bowlers.He batted 203 ball for his unbeaten 111, even as wickets fell in a heap at the other end, with Powar and Sairaj Bahutule both picking up three wickets. West lost two wickets early in their run chase, but Mane and Jacob Martin then added 47 for the third wicket to set up a tense finale.

The Sri Lankan selectors have recalled Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner,in place of Kumar Dharmasena for the second Test against Australia which begins at Kandy on Tuesday.Herath, now 26-years-old, last played for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in June2000. He has played three Test matches, including two Tests against Australia on their 1999 tour to Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka are expected to abandon their one pace bowler strategy on a pitch that is expected to offer greater assistance to the fast bowlers. Nuwan Zoysa is tipped for a return after his impressive performances during the recent one-day series.Sri Lanka have also drafted in Saman Jayantha, the uncapped opening batsman,as a standby for Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilan Samaraweera.Both Jayasuriya, who needed one stitch after splitting the webbing on his righthand, and Samaraweera, who tore a groin muscle in Galle, hope to be fit for the crucial Test and will try to train on Sunday afternoon after the team’s arrival in the hill-country capital.Squad1 Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Sanath Jayasuriya, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 8 Avishka Gunawardene, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara, 12 Muttiah Muralitharan, 13 Rangana Herath, 14 Upul Chandana, 15 Kaushal Lokuarachchi, 16 Saman Jayantha (standby)

Ricky Ponting hopes Muttiah Muralitharan will tour Australian later this month. Murali said he was considering pulling out of the tour following comments about his action reportedly made by John Howard, the Australian prime minister.The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ponting as saying, “I’d love to see him here and I’m sure the Australian public would love to see him here as well. He’s a fantastic player and opponent and he’s a great competitor. He’s the current Test record-holder and it’d be nice to have him and Shane Warne playing in the same Test series against each other again. Let’s hope he tours. It would be a great challenge for us if he does, because he’s a very, very good bowler. I’m looking forward to that showdown once again.”Ponting disagreed with Shane Warne’s comments about Murali being over-sensitive to criticism, and said, “Look, he’s been around for a long time and had a lot of things said about him over a long period of time. I guess any of us put in that situation, it would start to wear you down. There’s no doubt that it’s probably starting to affect him more over the last couple of years than it did before that. I’m not going to tell anyone the way they should react to things. All I can say is hopefully he’ll tour Australia.”

After weeks of speculation, it has been decided that Steve Waugh will be the final Olympic torch-bearer in the Sydney leg of the Athens torch relay. It had been believed that Cathy Freeman, a gold medallist at the Sydney Games four years ago would be given the honour, but instead it has gone to Waugh, who was named Australian of the Year earlier in 2004.Waugh, who will light the cauldron at Homebush Bay, admitted that it would be a momentous occasion. “It’s a huge honour to be part of the Olympic flame torch relay,” he told the Sun-Herald newspaper. “I enjoyed the experience leading into the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and to be doing it again for Athens is equally exciting and another huge honour.”According to the newspaper, the torch relay will begin at the Sydney Opera House on Friday morning, and will include an A-Z of Australia’s sporting heroes, including Kieren Perkins, Dawn Fraser, Raelene Boyle and the wheelchair athlete Louise Sauvage. Speaking about the occasion, John Coates, the Australian Olympic Committee president, said: “Steve Waugh is a great Australian and a champion athlete who typifies our fighting spirit and it is appropriate that he relights the Olympic cauldron.”