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While the cricket world concentrated on the first Test at Lord’s, a few miles to the south, one of domestic cricket’s oldest rivalries was attracting an unforeseen outbreak of handbags at two paces.Middlesex against Surrey does not come close to being in the top flight of sporting rivalries. Often spectators have to pinch themselves to remember that what they are watching is an all-London battle rather than just another county game.Fred Titmus’s move from Lord’s to The Oval at the end of the 1976 season was greeted with a few tuts and general surprise (he redeemed himself by returning home in 1979). But Mark Ramprakash’s defection at the end of 2000 was far more acrimonious, and on his return to Lord’s he was booed to the wicket. The rancour persists. When he reached his fifty at Lord’s earlier this month one member turned to another and asked if Ramprakash had been forgiven. A cry of “bastard” aimed in Ramprakash’s direction from nearby in the pavilion seconds later answered that.After that match – which Surrey lost – Middlesex reported what they viewed as suspicious treatment of the ball by Surrey’s bowlers to the ECB. The authorities ruled that there was no evidence to support the claim, but the ill-feeling was there for all to see when they meet last week at The Oval.Tempers spilt over in public on Friday. Play had been delayed by a combination of heavy overnight rain, a broken water super-sopper, and then in the penultimate over of the day words were exchanged between Jon Batty, Surrey’s captain, and David Nash, the Middlesex wicketkeeper. As the pair squared up, the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation was ended by the swift intervention of Jeff Evans, the umpire, who zoomed in from square leg.The match ended in a draw, and the ramifications of the standoff will no doubt become clear in due course. But there will be an added element of spice when the two sides meet again in front of around 15,000 at Lord’s in July 15 in the Twenty20 Cup.

Surrey County Cricket Club is delighted to announce that the first team squad will be joining the Surrey Cricket Trade Fair at the Surrey County Cricket Centre in Guildford.The players will train between 5pm – 7pm and the session can be watched from the public gallery.Between 7pm – 8pm those at the Trade Fair will be able to meet the players and have their photograph taken with the Frizzell County Championship Trophy.The Trade Fair starts at 4pm today and will offer a 20% discount on all merchandise purchased on the night from exhibitors including Slazenger, Gunn & Moore, Gray Nicolls, Kookaburra, Newbury, Readers, Hunts County, Woodworm and Nike Eye Wear.Paul Sheldon, Chief Executive, stated:”This is a fantastic opportunity to meet the players and buy cricket equipment for the forthcoming season at a heavily discounted rate. The players always enjoy the chance to meet their young fans and take Surrey Cricket outside the AMP Oval.”

• It was the 1739th ODI in cricket history.
• It was India’s 472nd and New Zealand’s 383rd match.
• It was the 60th match between these two sides. The record nowreads : New Zealand 27, India 30, abandoned 3.
• Umpires Peter Manuel and Gamini Silva were officiating in their34th and ninth match respectively.
• Ganguly’s figures (3-32) was the second best by an Indian captainagainst New Zealand. The best still remains with Kapil Dev who hadreturned the figures of 3 for 26 at Perth on January 18,1986 and atLaunceston on February 2, 1986.
• Adam Parore was getting dismissed without scoring for the 16thtime in his career.The duck was Parore’s 13th as wicketkeeper. He hasnow equalled Pakistan’s Moin Khan’s tally of ducks. Now only SriLankan Romesh Kaluwitharana has aggregated more ducks in a career thanthese two as a keeper- 21 in 162 matches.
• The duck was also Parore’s second against India. He has now joinedfive other New Zealanders – Richard Hadlee, Mat Horne,Ian Smith,Daniel Vettori and Bryan Young – to aggregate two ducks against India.
• The eighth wicket partnership of 43 runs between Dion Nash andDaniel Vettori was New Zealand’s best for this wicket position againstIndia. This obliterated the previous highest of 39 (unbeaten) atBrisbane on December 21, 1980.
• Dion Nash just failed to beat Scott Styris’ record of playinghighest innings for New Zealand against India at number eight. Styrishad made 43 at Hyderabad on November 8,1999. Chris Harris had alsomade unbeaten 42 against India at Auckland on January 16,1999.
• The catch of Yuvraj off Chris Harris was the 100th for Adam Parorein his 167th match. His tally includes the five catches taken in thefield. Parore became first New Zealander and 20th player in the worldto do so.
• Dion Nash was winning his maiden award in his 75th match.

A few fitness reports could be the difference between a “largely unchanged side” and a “slightly different one” when the selectors meet in Bangalore on Monday to pick India’s squad for the first two Tests against South Africa.India’s heartening performance in the recent Test series in Australia would normally have resulted in a status quo, but the long tour took its toll on several players, some of whom could miss out on the three-Test series against South Africa, starting in Chennai on March 26.According to a report submitted by outgoing team physio John Gloster at the end of the Australia tour, Sachin Tendulkar needed a minimum of two weeks’ rest. However, Tendulkar quashed the notion of missing the series by declaring he was fit. Rahul Dravid has also recovered from the finger injury he sustained in the Adelaide Test while VVS Laxman, who recently suffered a cut in the webbing between his fingers, is also expected to be available for selection.It means the core of the batting is expected to be the same [Virender Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Sourav Ganguly] but the selectors will still have some key issues to address. The five-member national selection committee, led by Dilip Vengsarkar, will consult Anil Kumble, the Test captain, and Gary Kirsten, the newly appointed coach, during the meeting.Pace puzzle
Ishant Sharma, who made a fine impression in Australia, is a doubtful starter after being advised complete rest for three weeks by Gloster. He has a problem in the big toe of his landing foot as well as an inflammation in the right forefinger. He was examined indoors during a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy, the results of which will be sent to the board, who in turn will intimate the selectors.Zaheer Khan has already been ruled out, which means RP Singh – recently back from a hamstring injury – will be expected to lead the attack, with Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan supporting him. Pathan, not a regular in Tests, would be expected to make the cut after his impressive all-round efforts during India’s win in Perth. Munaf Patel remains an option in case India are looking for a fourth seamer. However, with the series expected to be played on tracks favouring spin, he’s more likely to be a back-up alternative.Batting back-up
Wasim Jaffer is likely to retain his spot in the squad, despite a poor series in Australia where he was dropped for the final Test, but the selectors will have to take a call on a third opener. There is a view that there is no need for a third opener for a home series – with the selectors in a position to call up reinforcements at any point – but there is a thinking that another opener could also act as a back-up in case of a middle-order requirement.Dinesh Karthik, till recently a first-choice opener, remains a contender – his wicketkeeping skills bolster his chances – but Gautam Gambhir’s recent one-day heroics put him in the fray too. Both can bat in the middle order if needed and it will be interesting to see which of them, if any, make the cut.The Yuvraj question
The selectors are also expected to dwell on the issue of Yuvraj Singh. The Gloster report advised him an ideal period of three weeks’ rest, which may automatically rule him out of the first two Tests. There was a suggestion that he could undergo a fitness test at the NCA on Monday but it’s still not certain that he will be there.There is also a growing concern about Yuvraj’s attitude and Vengsarkar recently came down hard on him. “I am disappointed as I always had expectations from him,” he told a weekly magazine. “Yuvraj needs to be more consistent. He is a great talent but he has to perform to his potential.”His exclusion – because of either fitness or form – will open up a slot for a middle-order batsman. A third opener, if picked, could double up for this role but there is also a chance of a specialist middle-order batsman being chosen. Rohit Sharma has done his chances no harm with some composed knocks in the recent CB Series and a few other domestic performers could be in the reckoning as well.Spin variables
Harbhajan Singh may miss out because of a hamstring injury, for which he was advised two weeks’ rest. Murali Kartik is expected to get a call-up, especially if the selectors decide to trust in spin. The pitches for the series are likely to favour spinners, given South Africa’s vulnerability against them. Harbhajan’s absence might open up another slot – one that might be filled up by legspinner Piyush Chawla or even Amit Mishra, another loopy legspinner who’s second on the domestic wicket charts this season, with 46 wickets in 11 first-class games.Probable 14-man squad: Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble (capt), Sreesanth, RP Singh, Murali Kartik, Yuvraj Singh/Gautam Gambhir/Dinesh Karthik/Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh/Piyush Chawla/Amit Mishra.

As expected, Ireland defended their Intercontinental Cup title at a canter at Grace Road, thumping an unprepared and outclassed Canadian side in a little over five sessions. In Windhoek two years ago, an inspired declaration set up a remarkable victory over Kenya. At Leicester, they barely broke sweat.The one-sided final should not, however, disguise the fact that this competition continues to go from strength to strength. The ICC receives no end of brickbats, but this is one thing that is has got right and for that it deserves a pat on the back.There have been teething problems. A skewed points system in the first two years seriously disadvantaged sides who suffered from the weather, but those were amended this time round. There was still a feeling that the group stages were a bit of a lottery and that the strongest sides did not necessarily win through to the final.As a result, the 2007-08 tournament will undergo another major overhaul. Gone are the group stages and the final, and in their place we have a simple league format where each side plays the others once. Critics may argue that it’s not truly reflective of each side’s status unless they all meet on a home-and-away basis, but given tight budgets and the amateur status of most of the players, there have to be limits.The increase in matches from a minimum of three in a year to seven in two years can only be good for the development of the game. Kenya recently sent a side to Zimbabwe to participate in the Logan Cup, the domestic first-class competition. While there was no doubting their ability, they came unstuck by their lack of familiarity with four-day cricket and often failed to press home advantages. The skills required for the longer game differ considerably from the one-day cricket which they almost exclusively play.The Intercontinental Cup gives batsmen the opportunity to build an innings and teaches bowlers that it’s not all about containment and wicket-taking does matter. In short, it allows the cream to rise to the top. It also provides a shop-window for players to try to impress potential employers.The main flaws are financial. Canada would almost certainly have lost to Ireland even if they had all the preparation in the world. But some of their side went into the match not having played for months, and the demands of their full-time jobs meant their acclimatisation to English conditions was almost non existent. Only better funding can address that, and at least one leading Associate aims to go semi, if not fully, professional within the foreseeable future. Some monetary issues will be eased in 2009 when the income from the ICC’s media deal with ESPN kicks in, resulting in a much bigger slice of the pie for all Associates.There is also a worry that eight countries is too many. Four or five are there or thereabouts, but there is not strength in depth and with Bermuda in freefall, one of the up and coming countries appears to have done an abrupt about-turn and are heading south.The 2007-08 competition, which starts in Toronto in five weeks, should sort the wheat from the chaff.

South Africa’s allrounder Jacques Kallis created history when he joined Garry Sobers as the only player to have scored 8000 runs and taken 200 wickets in Tests.Kallis reached the landmark an hour after lunch when Stephen Fleming edged a drive to AB de Villiers at third slip.”It’s a special club, obviously, and it’s an honour to join it,” said Kallis. “It will probably mean more to me after I have finished playing when it begins to sink in and I can look back and see what I have achieved. I’m very proud of joining a man like him.”Kallis is playing in his 102nd Test .Jacques Kallis match-by-match

Scorecard
Namibia secured a first innings lead on the second day of their Intercontinental Cup match in Windhoek. Louis Burger led the way with 87 and was well supported by Gerrie Synman, who made 75.Namibia’s innings was at a vital juncture on 153 for 5 when Burger and Synman joined forces. They added 121 for the sixth wicket, with Synman taking the aggressive role, striking four sixes in his 100-ball innings.But their progress was checked by Lameck Onyango, who went for 15 in his first over yesterday, but came back with three wickets. Martin Suji chipped in with a brace but Deon Kotze was able to declare with a lead of 35.That advantage took on significant proportions when Kenya lost two early wickets, but Kennedy Otieno and Steve Tikolo steadied proceedings and guided Kenya to the close without further loss. Tikolo’s unbeaten 41 continue is impressive form, following his first innings 86 on the opening day.

Sussex 195 and 51 for 0 trail Lancashire 335 (Law 171, Mushtaq 4-88) by 89 runs
Scorecard

Championship cricket at its best graced Hove today – and despite encountering Stuart Law in consummate and immoveable touch, Sussex are still in with a shout in this enthralling game. By the close they lay 89 behind with all ten second-innings wickets left.After the gun-metal skies of Wednesday – and the sort of mediocre batting performance that Sussex just didn’t deal in during their golden 2003 – the County Ground wore a far sunnier aspect. A decent crowd had more need of sunhats than balaclavas, the blossom around the ground had burgeoned overnight, and seagulls wheeled noisily on a perfect spring morning. More importantly for the spectators, Sussex claimed an early wicket when Robin Martin-Jenkins found enough awayswing to pass the edge of Mal Loye’s bat and clatter into his off stump.Iain Sutcliffe and Stuart Law had few opportunites to score, but on a pitch without yesterday’s venom – not that there had been that much – they soon settled to the task of acquiring runs. Well though the Sussex seamers bowled, a wicket looked an age away. But then Kevin Innes conjured a fine slower ball to deceive Sutcliffe, give Sussex a toe-hold on the game, and reduce Lancashire to 120 for 3.This brought together the powerhouse of Lancashire batting: between them Carl Hooper and Law have 72 years, a deep mine of experience and approaching 45,000 first-class runs. Of late, Law has developed a taste for the Sussex attack. At Essex, he never managed a hundred against them, but since moving to Manchester, he’s hardly missed out. Coming into this game, he already had three to his name.Over the next couple of hours, he and Hooper – slowly at first, but with increasing fluency – chipped away at the Sussex total. Nine overs after lunch, Lancashire moved into the lead. But Mushtaq Ahmed, fairly pedestrian in his first few overs, began to trouble Hooper, eventually having him caught off bat and pad for 34.The powerhouse had added 109 in 31 overs, and even now, at 229 for 4, a lead of 200-plus looked on. Law was imperious. Nothing unsettled him, not even the regular traipse back to the pavilion of his partners. Glen Chapple held on long enough to share a stand of 57 (his contribution was 10) and help Law to a hundred containing neither alarm nor excursion. He was strong all round the wicket, his driving off the front foot and back was exquisite, his timing majestic, his placement perfect.As an indication of just how easy the county game is for Law, this was his seventh century in 14 Championship innings. Not that he was finished: despite a mid-innings collapse in which four Lancashire batsmen fell for six runs – including yesterday’s hero Dominic Cork first ball – Law moved serenely onwards. An unbeaten 171 (from 246 balls and with 22 fours and a six) took his Sussex spree in just over two years to 847 at an average of 211.David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, was presumably not here to be reminded of Law’s magisterial talent, but he has applied for British nationality. He may be 35, but just now his form is irresistible. Without him, Lancashire would have been facing a deficit, rather than a lead of 140.Keeping the arrears within manageable proportions was something of a moral victory for Sussex, who as so often had Mushtaq to thank. His potent mixture of variations proved too much for a bemused tail. The openers whittled the deficit down – and against all expectations, Sussex are still in this game.Hugh Chevallier is deputy editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has announced that 28-year-old paceman Mark Harrity, has accepted a contract with Worcestershire Country Cricket Club, making him unable to continue playing first-class cricket for South Australia.Harrity, who has been contracted by the SACA since the 1993/94 season, has accepted a two-year contract to play for Worcestershire, and will be classified as a local in England. This classification means that, effective today (January 31), Harrity is unable to continue playing for the West End Redbacks.The SACA’s cricket operations manager, Mr Harvey Jolly, said that Mark has been an enormous talent and asset to cricket in South Australia during the past decade and he will be sadly missed by his team mates and work colleagues.”Mark has been a valuable asset to the Redbacks for a more than a decade now – a length of time which has earned him significant respect from around the world. The Worcestershire contract is testament to his talent.””Mark has been one of the true characters around Adelaide Oval for a long time, and I know that his team mates and the staff at SACA will miss his good humour and friendship, and we wish him all the very best for the next stage of his cricketing career,” said Mr Jolly.Harrity, affectionately known as Hags, has played 73 first-class matches with South Australia, taking 197 wickets at an average of 38.37, with a career best performance of 5 for 65.Harrity made his limited-overs debut for South Australia in 1995 and has taken 64 wickets in that competition at an average of 26.46 with a best bowling performance of 5 for 42.Replacing Harrity in the Redbacks twelve-man ING Cup squad to take on the Western Warriors at Adelaide Oval tomorrow (February 1), will be 19-year-old paceman Shaun Tait.

It was a dream come true for the fast bowling duo from Bangladesh. Theyhad always dreamt of emulating him. But being from Bangladesh, theirchances of realising their dream were limited. However, both ManjuralIslam and Habibul Bashar now consider themselves very lucky to haveinteracted with the legendary Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee.Islam and Bashar, incidentally are the first Bangladeshi cricketers toattend the MRF Pace Foundation at Chennai.Bashar and Islam went back to Dhaka via Kolkata today. On their way,they said that even after playing Test matches, they had not realizedthat they had so much to learn. Islam boasts the best bowlingperformance by a Bangladeshi in a Test match. Today, he said that thecaptain of their team, Naimur Rahman had captured six wickets againstIndia in the inaugural Test that their country played. "However,against Zimbabwe this year, I also took six wickets conceding a lessernumber of runs. So at the moment, the record belongs to me," saidIslam. He also added that both of them had created a record of sortsby being the first to attend the Pace Foundation from Bangladesh.Sitting at a hotel close to the airport, both expressed theirsatisfaction at the way Lillee had helped them. Bashar said, "He wassuch a great bowler. But he was always down to earth. He mixed freelywith us and paid us the same attention that others at the camp got."Of the two, the more Islam added, "We had certain problems in ourfollow through. Lillee was very patient with us and rectified ourfaults. I was not completing my follow through while Bashar was notbringing down his arm properly."While Bashar had played the first Test match against India, Islam hadnot and still regrets missing out on being a part of history. Basharincidentally had dismissed Sadagoppan Ramesh in the Indian firstinnings. Islam said, "He is lucky. However, I plan to make up when weplay in the Asian Test Championship match against India. After that wehave a full series against Zimbabwe consisting of three Test matchesand five one-dayers. Our aim is to remain fit and play in all thethree matches."Both at present, however, want to concentrate on what they have learntfrom Lillee. Islam informed that after returning home they would beunder the wing of former West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts. "He isalso a great bowler. So we plan to pick up useful tips from him also.We have learnt that to fight in the international arena one has tolearn new things every now and then. Otherwise success becomes verydifficult."