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England start favourites for the first npower Test at Lord’s, which starts – weather permitting – at 10.45am today. Anything less than a comprehensive victory – to mirror the one they achieved at Lord’s three years ago, in the first match between these sides in this country – will be seen as a failure, despite the injuries which have reshaped Nasser Hussain’s bowling attack.

In a perfect world Hussain would be tossing the new ball to Darren Gough and Andy Caddick, with Andy Flintoff flexing his muscles as a fourth seamer. But all those three are absent with injuries, and instead Hussain has a promising debutant (Jimmy Anderson), a man feeling his way back into form (Matthew Hoggard), an erratic but speedy tearaway (Steve Harmison) and a fill-in medium-pacer (Anthony McGrath, another debutant). With last year’s runfest against Sri Lanka in mind, Ashley Giles is there too – but the forecast this time is unlikely to produce the hard flat pitch served up last year.England’s batting has a more settled look, at the top of the order anyway. The tail looks flimsy, but then so does Zimbabwe’s bowling attack. Alec Stewart, England’s most-capped player, retains his place at the age of 40 as much for the runs he’s likely to contribute as for his wicketkeeping excellence: if England didn’t have three No. 10s, then Chris Read or James Foster would probably be padding up instead.But Hussain still has less to worry about than his counterpart, Heath Streak. Streak and Grant Flower are the only survivors of the Zimbabwean team that was walloped at Lord’s in 2000, and Flower is the only member of the entire touring party who has scored a Test century. That’s a lot of pressure for someone who managed only 18 runs in four completed Test innings on that tour three years ago.The good news for Streak is that at least some of his batsmen are in form. Stuart Carlisle has started the tour well, and Mark Vermeulen, the opener, spanked a career-best 198 against Sussex last weekend.Teams
England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain (capt), 5 Robert Key, 6 Alec Stewart (wk), 7 Anthony McGrath, 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steve Harmison.Zimbabwe 1 Mark Vermeulen, 2 Dion Ebrahim, 3 Stuart Carlisle, 4 Grant Flower, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Sean Ervine, 7 Heath Streak (capt), 8 Andy Blignaut, 9 Travis Friend, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Douglas Hondo.

Day 3 of 3Dales CC:
Berkshire 222 and 254
Herefordshire 476-7 and 4-0
Herefordshire (24 pts) bt Berkshire (4 pts) by 10 wktsBishops Stortford:
Hertfordshire 201 and 262
Buckinghamshire 234 and 218 (Atkins 95*)
Hertfordshire (21 pts) bt Buckinghamshire (6 pts) by 11 runsWhitchurch:
Shropshire 143 and 364-6 dec
Dorset 151 and 243 (Lamb 98*)
Shropshire (20 pts) bt Dorset (4 pts) by 113 runsRansomes:
Suffolk 266 and 64
Northumberland 192 and 139-3
Northumberland (21 pts) bt Suffolk (6 pts) by 7 wktsSouth Wilts CC:
Cornwall 126 and 281
Wiltshire 133 and 179 (JCJ Stephens 6-38)
Cornwall (20 pts) bt Wiltshire (4 pts) by 95 runsDay 2 of 3Alderley Edge:
Devon 203 and 55-1
Cheshire 252 (RG Hignett 95, P Bryson 75)Netherfield
Cambridgeshire 228 and 173-9 dec (C Jones 75)
Cumberland 144 and 13-2Day 1 of 3Manor Park:
Lincolnshire 300 (JC Harrison 98, MA Fell 69; C Brown 5-111)
Norfolk

Uganda and Argentina have been promoted to Division Two of the World Cricket League following their march into the final of Division Three in Darwin. Division Two, in Namibia, gets underway in November.

1st semi-final

Esteban MacDermott, the Argentina captain, produced a match-winning performance when he captured 4 for 20 to bowl out the Cayman Islands for 102 in the 40th over. Steve Gordon, who scored a century in the opening game against Tanzania, top-scored with 38 but only Saheed Mohamed (29) and Keniel Irving (19) reached double figures. Argentina’s chase began poorly, stumbling to 58 for 4, but Alejandro Ferguson saw them through to the final with a composed 25.”The boys could have easily lost focus or confidence after the one-wicket defeat against Italy,” MacDermott said, “but they remained committed and stayed on track because they trusted their instincts. This is the reward for their dedication and continuous hard work.”The credit for our promotion to Division 2 not only goes to the team but to the entire support staff and all those who backed us all the way. Our performance in the tournament shows how rapidly cricket is growing in our country where soccer remains the first-choice sport.”

2nd semi-final

Uganda held its nerve to beat Papua New Guinea by one wicket with only four balls to spare at Tracy Village thanks to a brilliant 43 from Keneth Kamyuka, who added 15 for the last wicket with Charles Waiswa. Chasing 204, Roger Mukasa got Uganda off to a good start with a slick 43 from just 34 balls at the top of the order. But PNG hit back to cause a middle-order slump, Jamie Brazier bowling beautifully to pick up 4 for 17 from his 10 overs, but Kanyuka and Lawrence Sematimba combined to take them closer. And although wickets continued to tumble Kamyuka and Waiswa held their nerve to take Uganda into the final against Argentina.”Obviously now we want to win the final and have immediately set our eyes at Argentina, but for the time being we want to enjoy this achievement because when we left our shores, the target was to qualify for the final and earn a place in Division 2,” Joel Olweny, the Uganda captain, said. “It has been a very tense and pressurised match and the boys have more than one reason to celebrate. The boys really deserve it.”

Plate semi-finals

In the plate semi-finals, Hong Kong registered their first win of the series when they beat Italy by 39 runs. Hong Kong, batting first, scored 195 in 50 overs and then dismissed Italy for 146 in 45 overs with Ilyas Gull, the captain, picking up impressive figures of 3 for 37 and Zaheer Abbas and Najeeb Amar scooping two wickets each. In the plate final on Saturday, Hong Kong will face Tanzania who beat Fiji by three wickets.

Chris Cairns admits that his reputation in cricket has been “scorched” despite being found not guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice at the end of a nine-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London.The verdict, which was delivered at 10.40am on Monday morning, was reached after 10 hours and 17 minutes of deliberation and greeted with a wave of relief from Cairns, who has effectively been cleared of any involvement in match-fixing.He admitted afterwards that he had not initially heard the verdict as relayed to the court by the foreman of the jury, but quickly saw the jubilation on the face of his co-defendant Andrew Fitch-Holland, who was also acquitted of perverting the course of justice.The first count, that of perjury, would have carried a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment and related to his successful 2012 libel action against Lalit Modi, the founder of the IPL, at the High Court in London. That action arose as a result of a tweet sent by Modi in 2010 accusing Cairns of match-fixing in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL).In the course of the libel trial, Cairns stated that he had “never” cheated at cricket, and nor would he contemplate doing so, a statement that attracted the interests of the Crown Prosecution Service in the wake of leaked testimony given by his former team-mates, Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum, to the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU).The nine witnesses called to give evidence by the prosecution included a host of cricket’s most recognisable names – including McCullum, Ricky Ponting and Daniel Vettori. However, Mr Justice Sweeney, the presiding judge, stated that the evidence of two of the three “key” witnesses – Vincent, his ex-wife Eleanor Riley and McCullum – needed to be accepted as true for the perjury charge to be upheld.Of those, the judge had warned the jury to treat Vincent’s evidence with care, given his self-confessed reputation as a match-fixer. Although they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, they required only half an hour this morning to reach their majority decision.Chris Cairns was found not guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice•AFP

Speaking outside court, Cairns said: “My thanks and my family’s thanks go to the jury for reaching the verdict they did. My legal team have been superb, I can’t thank them enough.”It’s been hell for the last five or so years and in particular the last couple of years and now having won the legal case in the Royal Courts and now here … I’ve been through the mill and come out the other side. Just a very happy man.”Reputationally I’m completely scorched … burnt, completely. But it hasn’t stopped me and it won’t stop me. For my dad [former New Zealand cricketer Lance], back in New Zealand, he’s a cricket man through and through – I don’t know what cricket holds for me, I’m just happy for my father and my mother that they can hold their heads high in New Zealand.”Cairns, who choked up when speaking of his wife and children back in New Zealand, also ruled out a return to the world of cricket. “I think it would be a pretty hard environment to go back into, there’s been a lot of damage done and that’s unfortunate and sad,” he said.Asked what he would say to McCullum he just replied: “Why?”Barrister Fitch-Holland had been accused of trying to persuade Vincent, who was last year given a life ban from cricket, to provide a false witness statement in support of Cairns for the 2012 libel case.Fitch-Holland said: “I am enormously pleased that the personal and professional nightmare that began with a dawn raid on my home some 18 months ago has finally ended. I said when this matter was first charged that I had complete faith in the justice system of which I have always been proud to be a part of and which I continue to be proud to be a part of.”Despite the verdict, Cairns tempered his jubilation following a case in which he said there were “no winners”. He is already aware that Modi is contemplating launching a civil claim in the wake of the new evidence that has come to light in the past nine weeks, and admitted afterwards: “I’ll think about Mr Modi maybe next week. I’ll deal with this one at the moment and get through today.”Modi, who was forced to pay £90,000 in damages and £1.4m in legal costs following his 2012 libel defeat, issued a statement shortly after the verdict was announced.”I am aware of the verdict at Southwark Crown Court,” he said on Twitter. “As you know I am limited in what I can say as I am restricted by the injunction put in place following the 2012 libel trial. I will consider how this affects my own civil claim against Mr Cairns in due course.”

Simon Taufel, the Australian umpire, said that he was “very upset” at having wrongly given Sachin Tendulkar out leg-before on the third day of the second Test at Trent Bridge.”I always look at the big screen after giving a decision. And the minute I saw the replay of Sachin’s dismissal, I knew I got it wrong,” Taufel told Sky Sports commentators David Lloyd and David Gower, according to agency reports.Taufel was sorry for mistakenly denying fans the chance to watch their favourites at the crease. “The big disappointment is that people come to watch the top players and I gave him out wrongly. That upset me.”But Taufel, who has won the ICC Best Umpire of the Year award for three successive years, defended his decision to give Sourav Ganguly out caught behind on the leg side.”However, I would have given Ganguly out every time,” he said.David Lloyd told Sky Sports viewers that even VVS Laxman – who was at the non-striker’s end – heard a sound when the ball passed Ganguly’s bat.Taufel had also incorrectly given Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen out in the first Test at Lord’s.

Surrey have awarded Ian Salisbury a benefit for 2007 to mark 10 years with the club. He arrived at Surrey from Sussex in 1997 and was awarded his cap the following year.Salisbury, Surrey’s leading wicket taker so far this season, has taken 833 wickets at an average of 32.44 in first-class cricket and has also scored 6401 runs at 20.64. He played 15 Tests and four one-day internationals for England between 1992 and 2000 and was part of team that won in Pakistan for the first time in 39 years.Paul Sheldon, Surrey’s chief executive, said: “Ian has been a huge asset to Surrey both on and off the field. He played a vital role in the success of the three-time Championship winning side and continues to perform for the club at the highest level. We all wish him the very best for a successful benefit year.”Salisbury added: “It’s a huge honour to be awarded with a benefit in my tenth year with the club. Since I joined in 1997, I have been lucky to play with some extremely talented cricketers, so receiving this honour makes me feel very privileged. I am fortunate to have some great memories since I joined the club and hope that there will be many more to come.”

ICC World XI 8 for 344 (Ponting 115, Cairns 69, Lara 52, Muralitharan 3-59) beat ACC Asian XI 232 (Dravid 75, Sehwag 45, Vettori 3-58) by 112 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A showcase of the world’s best players could not produce a gripping finish, but Ricky Ponting led the list of memorable performances in tribute to the more than 150,000 victims of the Boxing-Day tsunami. The match’s end was less important than the means – more than Au$14.6million was raised by stumps – as the World XI recorded a convincing victory over an Asia XI carrying tales of loved ones’ deaths and near misses.Every run in the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal was worth $1000 and Ponting confirmed his reputation for big-occasion batting with a superb hundred that tallied $115,000. In an order sparkling in every position, Ponting was the captain and king as his one-off team produced an almost unbelievable display of hard-hitting followed by an efficient defence with the ball.Facing a massive total and an A-list attack offering few easy runs, the Asia XI were in an early rush but any realistic hope ended when Yousuf Youhana gave Shane Warne his second wicket (4 for 114). Needing almost seven an over throughout the innings, the openers hurried to stay in sight of the target, but the middle order, with the exception of Rahul Dravid who was unbeaten on 75, failed to match the pace.Virender Sehwag and Sanath Jayasuriya are willing to flay at most deliveries and armed with impatience they buzzed they like the flies around their helmets. Sehwag went down the pitch to Glenn McGrath; Jayasuriya charged at Darren Gough, England’s sole representative, and both had successes.A Sehwag six over mid-on helped them to 15 off Gough’s fourth over and he was quickly replaced by Chris Cairns. Trying to mirror his partner’s treatment, Jayasuriya was deceived by a Cairns slower ball and Stephen Fleming made up for the earlier miss of Sehwag at first slip. (1 for 59)Warne, who stood at second slip, took his bowling cap for the first time in an ODI since dislocating his shoulder at the MCG in 2002 and received a huge welcome from his home crowd. Like Cairns in New Zealand, Warne has been missed after retiring from limited-overs games early in 2003, and he showed his worth in his first over when he prompted a heave from Sehwag that Chris Gayle collected inside the square-leg boundary. (2 for 76)Sehwag’s danger had passed for 45 and the world was breathing more comfortably when Sourav Ganguly, the captain, drove to Gough at mid-off, Warne took care of Youhana and Kumar Sangakkara edged Gough to Adam Gilchrist. (5 for 156) Daniel Vettori finished with three wickets in a fine spell in exalted company after racing to 27 off 17 balls at the close of the World XI innings.Two years ago Ponting launched a fierce assault on India with an unbeaten 140 in the World Cup final, and his attack today was also extreme as he ticked off eight fours and three sixes. After a first-ball scare from Zaheer Khan, Ponting smacked crisp drives and pulls as he adopted an aggressive mood that was copied by his all-conquering teammates. Ponting was not the only one to explode and was joined on the big-hitting list by Chris Cairns, who hulked 69 off 47 balls, while Brian Lara chipped in with a half-century that was initially scratchy.Sharing 122 with Lara, Ponting thrashed 91 for the fourth wicket with Cairns in 8.5 overs to accelerate an already speedy innings. Abdul Razzaq was taken for 20 in the 36th over and Anil Kumble was planted for three sixes in the 39th – each worth a bonus A$50,000 in sponsorship contributions – before Ponting was stumped by Sangakkara (4 for 263), who collected five dismissals.Cairns continued thumping, finishing with two mammoth sixes and six fours in a clever display, until he was stumped chasing another boundary from Muttiah Muralitharan. (6 for 286) Muralitharan, playing his first match since suffering a serious shoulder injury, has done a large amount of aid work in Sri Lanka since the tsunami and was rewarded with turn and three wickets.Flags from across the globe waved in the stands as the crowd reached 70,101, and organisers passed their pre-match target of A$10 million for World Vision by the 36th over. Despite the seriousness of the occasion there was still room for smiles and guest fielding appearances from Sachin Tendulkar, who has an injured left elbow, and Steve Waugh, the World XI coach. However, the status of the match as a full one-day international was devalued by Glenn McGrath’s entry at No. 6, despite the crowd’s appreciation, and he went first ball top-edging a slog-sweep off Muralitharan. (5 for 264)Ponting won the toss and Gilchrist and Gayle opened, but Zaheer brushed Gayle’s edge in the second over and Sangakkara accepted the easy catch. (1 for 1) Joined by Ponting, Gilchrist moved quickly, but became Zaheer’s second wicket when he tried to slog him to midwicket. (2 for 50) As Gilchrist walked off Lara replaced him on a day for the biggest of the game’s superstars, and a flurry of valuable donations.Peter English is Australasian editor of Cricinfo

ESPN-Star Sports, who have virtually lost the bid for Indian cricket television rights, reacted strongly to the announcement that the Board of Control for Cricket in India intended to grant the rights to Zee Network.”I am disappointed to learn that ZEE had been even offered the cricket rights and that the BCCI had changed the entire process of bidding in violation of rules set by BCCI themselves,” said Rik Dovey, managing director of ESPN-Star Sports, in a statement.Several committees of the board met with representatives of both ESPN-Star Sports and Zee Network in Chennai over the last few days. Dovey said ESPN-Star were dissatisfied with several things that occurred in these proceedings. “Yesterday [September 4] we were asked by the BCCI, after they met ZEE, to provide clarifications on our original bid, which we did in light of their statement to us, that such clarifications would be used by the Committee to conclude the process. The Tender Committee had clearly expressed that they wanted the bidding process to stop there.”But, the rights were finally awarded to Zee Networks. “Today we were asked to attend a meeting to provide what was described as further clarification. However, when we met the committee we were informed that the BCCI `Tender Committee’ had changed their position from yesterday. We were informed that BCCI had just given Zee the opportunity to increase their bid and that providing Zee met certain conditions, not all of which were disclosed to ESPN-Star Sports, ZEE would be awarded the rights later this week.”ESPN-Star Sports insisted that they were not given enough opportunity to clarify their bid, review their position, or alter their bid. Further ESPN-Star Sports continued to insist that they were the “highest legitimate eligible” bidder. In conclusion Dovey said: “We feel that today’s proceedings clearly are a denial of natural justice and a violation by the BCCI of its own tendering process.”You can be sure Zee Networks will disagree with most of this. The battle lines have been drawn, and the action is just heating up. Watch this space.

Saturday, April 19, 2003:::
“We understand we are playing against the best team in the world. It’s not going to take mediocre performances to get on top of them. We have to be on top of our game and make sure nothing affects us,” West Indies skipper Brian Lara, ahead of the second Test against Australia
Source: FOX Sports, Australia
“I like that extra bit of responsibility put on my shoulders, knowing that Glenn (McGrath) hasn’t been here for the first and second Tests gives me a bit more of a chance to step up. Roles can always change and what makes a good player is a player who can adapt to his surroundings or what he’s been asked to do,” Australian speedster Brett Lee
Source: Daily Telegraph, Australia
“The crowds over here (in the West Indies) can be distracting for players on the boundaries. Not in a bad way, they just like a chat. Our blokes are pretty friendly towards the spectators and on occasions we drifted off a bit there, so it’s just something to watch. It’s not a bad thing, we’ve just got to be aware of it,” Steve Waugh, after telling his players to be more focused on the game
Source: AAP in the FOX Sports, Australia
“By the look of this pitch (at Trinidad) there will be another result in the next five days and we need to ensure it goes our way so that we can retain the Frank Worrell trophy for the fifth consecutive time,” Australian batsman Justin Langer, ahead of the second Test against the West Indies
Source: BBC, UK
Tuesday, April 15, 2003:::
“Not getting the century does not disturb me. I am quite happy to do the job for my country. You play for the team not for yourself.” Mohammad Kaif, during the TVS Cup at Dhaka
Source: PTI on Rediff.com”At the international level, is it really the captain who should motivate his players? Kepler Wessels was always adamant that if a player needed to be motivated by his captain at this level, then the player was way out of his depth.” Jonty Rhodes, on the specious reasoning behind removing Shaun Pollock from captaincy
Source: News24, South Africa”I don’t think I have written any letter to the Board. I do not see any reason why I need to take permission to start an academy or to do commentary.” Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, on being asked whether he obtained the BCCI’s permission before opening a cricket academy
Source: Sun Network, India”It’s become apparent that he needs a bit of a break. He’s very disappointed with it [but] he doesn’t want to let people down by coming here with an injury.” Lancashire manager Mike Watkinson, on Harbhajan Singh’s unavailability for the county season
Source: The Guardian, UK”You can’t rule out anything in Pakistani cricket. Anything can happen there, so you never know.” Speedster Wasim Akram, on being asked about a comeback to the national team
Source: The Pakistan Tribune, Pakistan

Mark Wagh again showed his liking for the Durham attack as he thrashed 112 and allowed Warwickshire to set their hosts a target of 404 at Chester-le-Street.In seven overs Durham reached 12 without loss and Warwickshire hope Vasbert Drakes will be fit to bowl today after resting the knee injury he suffered on Friday evening.The declaration came just before 6pm on 324 for six with Dougie Brown on 67 not out, made off 64 balls, after Wagh and Dominic Ostler had softened up Durham’s depleted attack.Simon Brown, who also suffered a knee injury while bowling on Friday, took the field only to make two not out in the morning as Durham’s remaining three wickets went down for 23 runs and they were all out for 231.Wagh and Ostler put on 99 in 24 overs for the fourth wicket as Wagh completed his second hundred of the season, both made against Durham.He reached 50 off 99 balls but needed only 57 more deliveries to complete his hundred, racing to the target with a six over mid-wicket in an over from Nicky Phillips off which he took 16 runs.He hit two other sixes plus 16 fours before edging an attempted cut off Michael Gough.Ostler then put on 86 in 15 overs with Brown before falling 14 short of his second century of the match when he sliced a drive to point. He had ten fours and two sixes in his 126-ball knock.Brown completed the onslaught by smashing successive balls from Phillips for four, six, four just before the declaration.