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Division One

Michael Carberry struck a career-best 192 as Hampshire completed a fantastic run-chase against Warwickshire at The Rose Bowl. They were set 331 after some pleasingly aggressive negotiations between Shane Warne and Darren Maddy following the third day washout. Carberry was dominant throughout, adding 117 with Michael Lumb, to put the chase on course, then a matchwinning 86 with Dimitri Mascarenhas. Carberry plundered 24 boundaries and a six as Hampshire completed a victory, one which closes the gap in a tight division. It was another example of Warne’s positive captaincy paying handsome dividends.Lancashire and Yorkshire completed their battle for bonus points at Old Trafford and the visitors edged ahead as Adil Rashid produced a highly impressive spell of legspin on the final afternoon, extracting sharp, if slow, turn from the surface. He troubled the Lancashire top order and trapped Brad Hodge with an impressive topspinner and had Stuart Law stumped off the final ball of the match to help Yorkshire claim an additional point. James Anderson produced a sustained spell of strong pace bowling as Lancashire claimed a full hand of bowling points. His 5 for 98 was his first five-wicket haul since August 2005.

Division Two

Derbyshire pulled off a thrilling 15-run win against Middlesex at Southgate after the home side lost their last six wickets for 58. Jamie Dalrymple and Alan Richardson added 32 for the last wicket, but Graham Wagg had the final say when he bowled Richardson and handed Derbyshire their second win of the season. When Ed Smith was going well on 65 Middlesex were 208 for 4 and needed 74 more for victory, but Greg Smith trapped his namesake lbw and claimed two more vital wickets. Andrew Strauss fell early in the day for 53 and Ed Joyce failed to build on his promising start.Monty Panesar claimed six wickets as he bowled Northamptonshire to a 138-run victory against Gloucestershire at Northampton. Panesar struck quickly on the final morning as he removed nightwatchman Steve Kirby and Chris Taylor for ducks and it was only a matter of time before the innings folded. Panesar helped himself to his best figures of a productive season before Steven Crook claimed the final wicket.Records continued to tumble in dream batting conditions at Chelmsford as Nottinghamshire amassed their highest first-class total, 791, against Essex. Chris Read made a career-best 240, the first time both wicketkeepers had made double-centuries in the same match after James Foster’s 204, while Graeme Swann fell three runs short of the seventh century in the match. The final session consisted of Nottinghamshire improving their over-rate and Read performed the rare triple of batting, keeping and bowling on the same day.It took Leicestershire only 25 balls to wrap up a 10-wicket win against Glamorgan at Grace Road. Arno Jacobs and Tim New knocked off the runs which carried Leicestershire to their first Championship win of the season.

The weather, which ruined the opening one-day match of the series onNovember 19, is threatening to derail India’s first-ever Pro20 game onFriday evening. Late on Thursday evening, there was a heavy thunderstorm,and though it didn’t rain on Friday morning, the skies above wereominously grey.Some would have said that they reflected the mood in the India camp afterthree heavy defeats that saw South Africa wrap up the one-day series witha game to play. With Rahul Dravid out until the first Test, and MunafPatel struggling with an ankle injury, the Pro20 represents the bestchance for India to salvage some pride before packing away the bluepajamas and bringing out the whites.Apart from Dravid in the Cape Town game where he broke his finger, SachinTendulkar in Durban, and Irfan Pathan in the last game at Port Elizabeth,no batsman has shown signs of having come to grips with the conditions.And though South Africa are resting several keep players for the Pro20game, the replacements are no slouches. The team practised on Fridaymorning – India were pencilled in for an afternoon session – and GraemeSmith was determined to ensure that India didn’t go into the Test serieswith any shred of confidence.The format probably suits the likes of Virender Sehwag and Mahendra SinghDhoni, and with so much attention having been focussed on the selection ofthe Test side over the past few days, India will probably be glad of thisgame, with all the attendant Bollywood trappings that the organisers havepromised. But with the thunder rolling in, and the skies getting everdarker, another disappointing washout was the most likely outcome.

Click here for a list of all events awarded by the ICCEngland have been awarded the rights to host the 2019 World Cup as well as the 2009 Twenty20 World Championships. The announcement was made after the ICC board meeting in Dubai this weekend.”The ECB should be very pleased with the outcome of these negotiations,” said Ehsan Mani, the ICC president. “It produced an excellent submission to host both the World Cup and the Twenty20 World Championship and have earned the right to host both events.”A lot of credit must go to David Morgan for the astute manner in which he handled some very complex discussions. England will be a fitting venue for the Twenty20 World Championships at the climax of our centenary year in 2009.”Morgan, the ECB chairman, was clearly delighted: “We entered into this process with the goal of being awarded a Twenty20 event and a World Cup,” he said. “It’s great news for cricket in England and Wales that these two major events have been secured and we have a wonderful opportunity to build our international calendar around these showpiece occasions.”The full support of the ICC board for the staging of these two important events in England is a clear indication of the prominent role that the ECB continues to hold in international cricket.”England hosted the first three World Cups in 1975, 1979 and 1983 (when Wales also hosted games) as well as the 1999 tournament when matches were also played in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Ashwell Prince was elected president of the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) during its annual general meeting in Johannesburg.”Ashwell has been elected to this position by his fellow players,” Tony Irish, CEO of SACA, said. “Its an indication not only of the level of respect that the guys have for him as a player but also as a man who understands the full ambit of his career as a professional cricketer”.On accepting the two-year post, Prince said: “I’m honoured that the other players have placed this level of confidence in me. Our players association now plays an important role in professional cricket and I will do my very best in the position”. Prince, 29, averaged 60.67 in his last six Tests and completed 2006 as South Africa’s highest run-getter, with 905. He was included in the 15-man squad for the World Cup.”Our executive committee is made up of a mix of very experienced players and recent ex-players. We are well placed to continue to represent the best interests of South Africa’s professional cricketers” Irish added. “A big thanks must go to Errol Stewart who has made an invaluable contribution to SACA and to players over the last five years. We wish him all the best in his new job at the ICC”.Previous SACA presidents include Jonty Rhodes, Mark Boucher and Nicky Boje. Other members of SACA’s executive committee also elected were Shafiek Abrahams (vice-president), Nicky Boje (secretary) and Gerald Dros (treasurer). Irish will continued as CEO.

The ICC appears to have taken a huge step forward in appointing a new chief executive with Haroon Lorgat, the former convenor of Cricket South Africa’s selection committee, accepting an official offer to take up the job. The offer, Cricinfo has learnt, was made on Wednesday evening during a “well-conducted” and “professional” meeting Lorgat had in Cape Town with David Morgan, the ICC’s president-elect.Morgan met Lorgat on behalf of the ICC’s four-man recruitment committee, which includes Ray Mali, the ICC president, Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president and Morgan’s chosen successor, and Creagh O’ Connor, the chairman of Cricket Australia.However, Lorgat’s appointment is still some way away: Morgan will now report to the recruitment committee, which will have to agree on the preferred candidate and then make a recommendation to the ICC executive board to confirm the appointment as early as possible.Lorgat will take over from Malcolm Speed, who steps down from the position after this year’s ICC annual conference, which will take place between June 29 and July 4.The ICC has been looking at an early resolution to the search for its next CEO after its earlier choice Imtiaz Patel, also from South Africa, declared on Sunday that he had withdrawn interest in the job. Lorgat, who figured on the ICC’s original shortlist of six, had told Cricinfo on Monday that he would consider any such offer as “a great honour”.Lorgat, 47, headed CSA’s selection committee for three years till the 2007 World Cup. A qualified chartered accountant – whose roots, like Patel’s, are in India – and formerly a senior partner in Ernst & Young, he is currently on the board of Kapela Investments, a private venture he set up last year with five other associates.Dave Richardson, the former South Africa wicketkeeper and ICC’s general manager, was the other significant candidate for the job after Patel pulled out. IS Bindra, the former BCCI president and a third name of note on the ICC’s shortlist, has already been appointed the ICC’s principal advisor.

Scorecard

Netherlands sneaked past Canada by one wicket in the rain-affected fifth one-dayer at Benoni to take the ICC Tri-Series on Thursday.Set a revised 205 from 42 overs, Netherlands made good progress thanks to a counterattacking partnership between Ryan ten Doeschate (38) and Luuk van Troost (34). And when Daan van Bunge passed fifty from 52 balls, Netherlands appeared to be cruising home before they stumbled from from 142 for 6 to 178 for 9, with Billy Stelling the last of the recognised batsmen. However, he held his nerve – crashing two fours and lofting two sixes – in his 34-ball 39 as Netherlands crept home with just two balls to spare.Earlier Canada’s innings was a stuttering affair with Ashish Bagai (23) and Abdool Samad (44) sharing a promising second-wicket stand of 52. But the innings foundered somewhat, with Tim de Leede picking up two cheap wickets, before a huge thunderstorm during the lunch interval delayed the start of Netherlands’ innings, causing the intervention of Duckworth and Lewis.The final game of the series between Canada and Bermuda will be played on Saturday.

Brendan Nash, the former Queensland batsman who left Australia to restart his career in the Caribbean, has been named in Jamaica’s 17-man squad for this season’s forthcoming KFC Cup.Nash is eligible to play for Jamaica as his father, Paul, is of Jamaican origin, having represented the country as an Olympic swimmer. Nash is joined by two new faces in the squad: Donovan Sinclair and Krishmar Santokie, the left-arm fast bowler.Chris Gayle leads the strong side which includes Daren Powell, JeromeTaylor and Marlon Samuels.David Bernard, Xavier Marshall and Donovan Pagon, who have all played for the West Indies, have been left out, as has Dwight Washington.

Dolphins offspinning allrounder Khaya Zondo’s bowling action has been cleared after an assessment was conducted at an ICC-accredited centre in Pretoria.Zondo, who was reported for a suspect bowling action in the semi-final of the Ram Slam competition between Dolphins and Cape Cobras in Durban on December 9, was required to submit an independent assessment of his bowling action in accordance with CSA regulations.The assessment which was conducted on December 17, revealed that all his deliveries were within the permitted 15-degree limit and therefore will be allowed to continue to bowl in domestic cricket.Zondo, whose primary role for his domestic franchise is with the bat, has taken 35 first-class wickets at an average of 34.11 with a best of 6 for 52, and also has 12 wickets in 64 T20s.

A report in the Royal Gazette claimed that Saleem Mukuddem had been found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute after criticising the Bermuda board (BCB) over the way he was dropped during the World Cup.But it seems that the BCB, who has reportedly dished out a year’s probabtion as punishment, decided to send notification to the player by ordinary mail rather than the more usual email, delaying the official announcement of the decision.”I haven’t had anything official from the board as yet … all I’ve seen is what was reported,” Mukuddem told the newspaper. “I don’t know whether it’s true or not but what I would say is that if it is true, then I’m disappointed it has leaked out before I have been officially informed. That’s not the way it is supposed to work.”Regardless of the decision I will not be making any more public comments on the matter. I had a chance to give my side of the story and the public are now aware of it. That’s all I set out to do. I have done nothing wrong. Anything else I have to say on the matter will be dealt with privately between the board and myself.”In a separate disciplinary hearing, assistant national coach Herbie Bascome was found not guilty on the same charge after he sent a letter criticising the BCB following its decision to cancel his son Oronde’s cricketing scholarship. The board was publicly slammed over the decision, not because it withdrew its financial backing but because it was openly critical of his attitude to the game.

Morne Morkel, Yorkshire’s overseas player, will return home to South Africa after sustaining a hamstring injury.Morkel, who was signed until June 1 as a short-term fill-in for Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, broke down during last week’s Championship match against Nottinghamshire. He was diagnosed as having a grade 2 hamstring tear which usually takes between three and six weeks to heal.”I am really upset that an injury is forcing me to return home,” Morkel said. “Everyone at Yorkshire has made me very welcome and I was desperate to take some wickets and get Yorkshire off to the best possible start.””We are all sad to see Morne depart so soon after his arrival,” Martyn Moxon, the county’s director of cricket, said. “He was fitting in well, provided our bowling attack with some variety as he is a genuinely quick bowler.”We have a strong squad and as Rana Naved will be unable to be registered as a Yorkshire player before May 19, there is now a chance for one of our other seamers to grab an unexpected first-team opportunity.”Morkel will travel with the squad for their Friends Provident Trophy match against Lancashire on Sunday before flying back home. He should be fit again in time to return to England with the South African squad at the end of June.