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Worcestershire’s seamers put in an impressive performance as they took control on a rain-shortened day at New Road. Lancashire were indebted to a feisty innings from their former skipper Warren Hegg, after Andrew Flintoff’s first-class comeback resulted in a fifth-ball duck as he edged Kabir Ali to Graeme Hick at second slip, as Lancashire slumped to 81 for 4. That became 130 for 8 before a ninth-wicket stand of 66 between Hegg and James Anderson gave the score some respectability. Hegg smashed ten fours and a six from 64 balls, but Lancashire fell just short of a batting point. Ali, Matt Mason and Chaminda Vaas picked up three wickets apiece. Dominic Cork hit back immediately with the wicket of Stephen Moore for a duck, but Hick and Stephen Peters took Worcestershire through to the close with any further mishaps.
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Bilal Shafayat struck an unbeaten career-best 156 as the Northamptonshire openers made hay while the lights shone at Derby. On an overcast day, the County Ground became the first English ground to use floodlights during a first-class match when the umpires signalled for them to be switched on just after 4pm. But they did nothing to brighten the Derbyshire bowling attack. After putting Northants in to bat they were made to chase leather for the 83 overs’ play that was possible. Shafayat, after his winter move from Nottinghamshire and in a new role as opener, hit 20 fours and two sixes, while Martin Love hit his second century of the season. None of Derbyshire’s five seamers or the left-arm spin of Ant Botha could make an impression as their tough start to the summer continued.Scorecard
Essex made good use of the 38 overs possible at Taunton as Somerset’s batting struggled once again. After the innings defeat against Yorkshire, Sanath Jayasuriya dropped down the order to accommodate the return of Marcus Trescothick, but he fell early to Alex Tudor, who struck again in an impressive spell to dismiss Michael Burns. Simon Francis (35) was trapped lbw by Darren Gough. then Graham Napier struck two huge blows in the same over. After his double failure against Yorkshire, Jayasuriya managed to get a start this time before he was caught behind, and two balls later Ian Blackwell was trapped lbw as Somerset slipped to 90 for 5. James Hildreth, one of most promising young batsmen on the circuit, held firm to the close and it will be down to him and the lower order to boost the total tomorrow.

Glamorgan have turned to Australia to help ease their middle-order problems.They have signed Nick Selman, a 20-year-old from Brisbane with a dual passport, on a one-year contract ahead of the 2016 season.Selman represented Queensland in both cricket and Australian Rules football at age grade levels before choosing cricket as his first choice sport.Following spells with Kent and Gloucestershire 2nd XIs in 2015, Selman has joined Glamorgan after impressing in two late-season 2nd XI matches.”I’m very excited to be joining Glamorgan, coming to Wales and helping the county to build on their performances of 2015,” said Selman. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of helping the club push for promotion into Division One.”Glamorgan began the season well in Division Two but fell away badly and they were also one of the counties unable to surf the trend of rising attendances in Twenty20.Glamorgan chief executive and director of cricket Hugh Morris said: “We identified we needed more depth to our batting department and Nick is a talented young player who will have an opportunity to score runs for the county as he has done in grade cricket in Australia and in Second XI cricket over here.”Nick has played through the age groups for Queensland and has spent some time in county cricket already, so knows what to expect. I’m sure he will have a big future with Glamorgan.”

Alex Loudon has signed for Warwickshire after spending three years on the staff at Kent. Loudon, 24, has been brought in as cover for Ian Bell, who is expected to be unavailable through England commitments next season.An allrounder who bowls offspin, he showed considerable promise for Kent during 2004 in both the Championship and the one-day competitions.His 21 wickets were claimed at just over 31 apiece, and his best bowling figures were 6 for 47 in the last Championship match of the season when he bowled Kent to victory against Middlesex. And he averaged 35.11 with the bat, with a top score of 92 against Warwickshire in August, batting at No. 3.”Warwickshire have been very impressed with Alex Loudon and are delighted to sign him,” Warwickshire’s chief executive Dennis Amiss said. “We feel he has a very promising future in the game.”In a statement, Warwickshire said Loudon, an Old Etonian, has been preferred to the Australian Brad Hogg, who struck more than 600 runs in 11 Championship matches at 66.20 and took 16 wickets at 62.92 apiece.The news of Loudon’s signing may surprise Kent, as Loudon had been seen as the future Kent captain.

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Sri Lanka’s batsmen missed a crucial opportunity to adjust to the Queensland conditions ahead of next week’s Test and were knocked down on the first day of the tour game by Ashley Noffke. The tourists received an early taste of what the Gabba would be like next week and their top order failed to cope with the tricky bounce and early movement from an attack led by Noffke’s 5 for 36 and supported by Mitchell Johnson, Andy Bichel and Michael Kasprowicz.However, there was encouragement with the performance of the bowlers as they reduced Queensland to 4 for 60 when bad light stopped play 5.4 overs early. Lasith Malinga was a difficult prospect under dark clouds and he captured Jimmy Maher and Chris Simpson while Farveez Maharoof removed Ryan Broad and Andrew Symonds. Symonds’ Test warm-up ended on 22, an innings which included three consecutive boundaries off Malinga and finished with an edge to Prasanna Jayawardene.Jayawardene, the batsman-wicketkeeper who will play in Brisbane after Kumar Sangakkara’s hamstring injury, and Marvan Atapattu were the only members of the top seven who made an impression as the Sri Lankans reached 9 for 210 before declaring to allow their bowlers an opportunity in the sultry conditions. It was a worrying performance and the batsmen have only one more innings to fine tune for the first Test.Sanath Jayasuriya (0), Michael Vandort (4) and Mahela Jayawardene fell in the morning to Noffke and Chamara Silva (0) was run-out chasing an unnecessary second. While Jayasuriya dusted off with a century in the previous match in Adelaide, Jayawardene has looked unconvincing since arriving in Australia and picked up a second zero.Jayawardene lasted only six balls before Noffke had him lbw playing from the crease, which left the Sri Lankans at 3 for 14 after Jayasuriya pushed to gully and Vandort edged to first slip. Noffke was particularly impressive in his first spell, taking 3 for 7 off 11 overs, and he kick-started the opening session, which finished when Atapattu was out cutting on 48, leaving the Sri Lankans at 6 for 81.”It was a bit of hard work in the morning,” Atapattu said. “We were taken by surprise more than anything by the sideways movement. We expected the wicket to be harder and bouncier. But you shouldn’t have any doubts about our talent and ability going into a Test.”Noffke was again heavily involved after lunch, collecting Maharoof and Chaminda Vaas, who fell to a sharp caught-and-bowled, and he took his third five-wicket haul of a fine season to justify his elevation to the new ball ahead of Bichel and Kasprowicz. “It’s never been done before and it’s strange,” he said.”They’re two guys who I’ve learnt a lot from in the past, standing at mid-off and watching them. It’s a good learning experience and it’s just the evolution of cricket, we’re all going to retire or step down and let the younger guy through.”Fortunately for the Sri Lankans, Prasanna Jayawardene was able to push them towards respectability with the help of Maharoof (20) and Malinga Bandara, who struck eight fours and a six off Daniel Doran’s legspin in his 43. Jayawardene’s responsibilities have increased with Sangakkara’s injury and he showed his capabilities during his half-century. Like Atapattu, Jayawardene cut well and hit nine boundaries in his unbeaten 58, which came from 130 balls.

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Australia put themselves in a strong position after two days of the one-off Adelaide Test, forcing India to follow on and then reducing them to 3 for 51 in their second innings. Dismissed for 93 in their first innings in reply to Australia’s 250, India lost the key wickets of Mithali Raj and Anjum Chopra in the final session to Lisa Sthalekar’s offbreaks.India were in trouble as soon as their innings started and were unable to cope with some aggressive bowling. Sarah Andrews, on debut, prised out Monica Sumra – caught by the captain Karen Rolton – in the fourth over before triggering a dramatic collapse.From 1 for 41, India fell to 6 for 51 at lunch with Andrews trapping Karu Jain – India’s highest scorer with 21 – and Cathryn Fitzpatrick removing Raj (16) and Rumeli Dhar (4). Nooshin Al Khader stuck around for 41 minutes for 16, but Julie Hayes removed her as India were bowled out in 61.4 overs. Fitzpatrick was the most successful bowler with 3 for 24.Rolton had little hesitation in enforcing the follow on and gave her side the breakthrough with Jain’s wicket. If India enjoyed a reasonably good day with the ball yesterday, then today it was Australia’s turn to show their abilities.Resuming on 8 for 230, Australia lost Hayes and Andrews early and were bowled out for 250, with Jodie Purves remaining unbeaten on 43. Jhulan Goswami was the pick for India with 4 for 43 off 24 overs.

Jonty Rhodes, the former South African batsman, has slammed South Africa’s selection policy and asked the selectors to take the blame for South Africa’s downslide in the world rankings due to the flawed process.Rhodes, currently in India for promotional campaigns, told , "The development of South African cricket is a concern. Unlike in Australia where the focus is on excellence, our focus is still on transformation. You cannot become the world’s best if your focus is on transformation alone.""Our selection policy too has to change a lot if our team wants to be the best in the world. Chopping and changing the players very frequently has not helped the cause." In the recently-concluded Test series against England, South Africa used 18 players.Rhodes remarked that talented players like Lance Klusener and Kevin Pietersen, who migrated to England now, had a love-hate relationship with the South African selectors despite performing very well.

Scotland 360 (Watson 167, Smith 70, Snyman 5-96) beat Namibia 168 and 127 (Hoffmann 5-14) by an innings and 65 runs
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Scotland completed an innings-and-65 run rout of Namibia with more than a day of their Intercontinental Cup tie at Aberdeen to spare. Given that the match has been dogged by poor weather – today was another stop-start affair – Scotland actually took a little over two days to polish off a below-par opposition.Scotland lost both their overnight batsmen in quick succession but Craig Wright and Dewald Nel, who had been expected to push for quick runs, ground down the Namibians with a patient seventh-wicket stand of 78. Gerrie Snyman brought the innings to a rapid conclusion with four wickets in as many overs.Namibia faced a tough ask with a first-innings deficit of 192, and they were all at sea on a seamer’s paradise, with Paul Hoffmann causing havoc by taking the first five wickets, three of them bowled, and breaking two stumps in the process. At 35 for 5 it was game over, and it took some big hitting from the tail to enable Namibia to reach three figures. Kola Burger enlivened things with three big sixes off one Ross Lyons over before he holed out to Ian Stanger attempting a fourth.Namibia now travel to Ireland to play the holders, and again are likely to struggle with the alien conditions which prevail at this time of year. They have to win to stay in the competition.

Lord MacLaurin, the former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has called for a major review of the ICC in the wake of the murder of Bob Woolmer last Sunday.”When you have a terrible situation like we are now facing, one’s got to look at the whole of the operation: the directorship; the way it’s run; the calibre of people that are doing it,” he said. “We’ve got to have the very best people running world cricket, otherwise we will continue to have problems.”Although police do not, as yet, have any proof that corruption and match-fixing are the heartbeat of the whole investigation, the smoke signals are there. Rumours abound that Woolmer’s forthcoming book was to reveal the true extent of the game’s rotten core and have invited reactions from across cricket’s community, with Michael Vaughan, the England captain, conceding corruption is, in his “gut instinct,” still part of the game.”When you’ve got something like this happening, which has really besmirched this World Cup, we’ve got to look at absolutely everything in cricket and make sure no stone is left unturned to make sure we do the very, very best for cricket around the world,” MacLaurin said.It was during MacLaurin’s tenure as ECB chairman, in 2000, that the first thorough investigation into cricket’s match-fixing was undertaken. MacLaurin employed Sir Paul Condon, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner who, although now retired, is on standby to assist. In his 2001 report Condon recommended a permanent Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) be installed which, since 2003, has been in West Indies preparing for the World Cup and identifying suspect gangs and syndicates.”The only way I can suggest you stop it – or try to stop it – is to make sure you have the finest people running world cricket that you can possibly have,” MacLaurin said. “But you will always have a problem, whether it be cricket or soccer or even in business.”

Titans regained the top spot in the Standard Bank Cup after a win in a highscoring match against Warriors on a good batting strip at StGeorge’s Park, Port Elizabeth.Batting first the Warriors started off cautiously but at the fall of the first wicket Robin Peterson came to the crease and raced away to 90 off 82 balls. The third wicket also produced a partnership of 97 as Peterson and Arno Jacobs took control. Jacobs and Tyron Henderson then put on 42 in the final five overs for the Warriors to finish on 246 for 3.The Titans fired on all cylinders as the top four all scored half-centuries. Alviro Peterson and Goolam Bodi scored 51 each, Martin van Jaarsveld, the Man of the Match, scored 62 and Johan Myburgh finished on 56 not out as they passed the target with an over to spare.It was hard work for the bowlers, but that is how it should be for a limited overs match and credit must go to the ground staff for the preparation of a spectator pleasing pitch.Cape Cobras played themselves right out of the Standard Bank Cupsemi-finals after being blown away by the Lions at Newlands, Cape Town.Set a meagre target of 161 the Cobras were bowled out for 121 in what must rate as their worst performance of the season. A top score of 24 from Renier Munnik was all the Cobras could muster as Saurab Chatterjee picked up a career best of 4 for 27 in 6.3 overs.The Lions had also struggled to put an innings together with Matthew Harris propping up the middle of the innings scoring 56 and easily winning the Man-of-the-Match award. With Charl Willoughby taking 3 for 19 in his nine overs and the Lions reaching 160 for 9 in the 45 oversthe Cobras looked to be in with a chance of their first win of the season, but by handing the Lions the bonus point the Cobras now have no chance of reaching the semi-final stages.

Scotland are waiting for ICC developments over Zimbabwe’s possible inclusion in the Intercontinental Cup before deciding what stance to take over a potential visit to the country.The ICC Cricket Committee recently recommended that Zimbabwe play more four-day matches to enhance their chances of a return to the Test scene and earmarked the Associate competition as a route they could take.However, that would throw up the issue of more teams needing to tour the country because, if Zimbabwe were handed the same rights as the Associate countries, they would be permitted to play every second match on home soil.Roddy Smith, the Scotland chief executive, told : “It would not be an issue for me, it would be an issue for our board, in consultation with the Scottish Executive and the Foreign Office. It’s all hypothetical at this stage but if it became a reality, we would have to look at it and make a decision based on all the relevant factors at the time.”However, he added that it was unlikely Zimbabwe would join because the Associates are already stretched with the amount of cricket they play. “If the ICC wanted us to play another match that would involved foreign travel, we would have to find the time and money to do it,” he said. “Also, we wouldn’t make any money out of playing Zimbabwe. So it wouldn’t be a commercially attractive proposition for us.”Zimbabwe have been suspended from Tests since September 2005 although they have continued to play ODIs. However, their performances during the World Cup – where they tied with Ireland and lost to Pakistan and West Indies – highlighted ongoing concerns about their ability.Last month Australia’s proposed tour of Zimbabwe was called off after intervention from the government.