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Brad Hodge has been passed fit to return for Victoria in their Sheffield Shield match against Queensland starting at the MCG on Friday. Hodge missed the previous match with hamstring tightness and has been included in the 12-man squad at the expense of Lloyd Mash.He is expected to replace Rob Quiney in the starting line-up with no other changes to the squad that beat Western Australia. Nick Jewell, the Victoria opener, said the state’s depth had been tested due to a string of injuries, especially to the fast bowlers, and the players were making their mark.”We’ve been challenged with injuries recently but the guys have stood up really well and we’ve had a good spread of contributors,” Jewell said. “Hodge is obviously a great inclusion but hopefully once again there’s a number of other blokes who stick their hands up and take their opportunities. Queensland have got a few young guys coming through who are performing well so it promises to be a cracking game.”Victoria squad Nick Jewell, Chris Rogers, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Rob Quiney, Matthew Wade (wk), John Hastings, Clint McKay, Darren Pattinson, Bryce McGain.Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Nick Kruger, Lee Carseldine, Wade Townsend, Nathan Reardon, Chris Simpson (capt), Chris Hartley (wk), Ben Cutting, Daniel Doran, Luke Feldman, Nathan Rimmington, Scott Walter.

Brad Haddin is looking forward to the first Test against West Indies, confident that his position as Australia’s No. 1 wicketkeeper hasn’t been threatened. Haddin made his return to cricket during the week after having surgery on the finger that he broke during the Ashes tour.In his absence, Tim Paine and Graham Manou have both been used in one-day internationals and Paine especially was a standout until breaking his finger in India. Paine has averaged 31.92 in his 15 ODIs and his highlight was 111 opening the batting against England at Trent Bridge, but Haddin knows he remains the main man.”I can see why people might have thought things had changed,” Haddin told the . “That sort of talk doesn’t worry me. All I can do is make sure when I get back in, I’m not playing injured like I was the last two Tests in England. Not that I regret it.”Ask me now if I would’ve played with my broken hand, knowing I could do more damage to it, and I still would have done the exact same thing. It was a massive series. I wanted to be a part of it, and I have no regrets at all about playing and making the finger worse.”Tim and Graham, I’d never begrudge them going well. I’ve never been one to think like that. It probably comes from me being behind ‘Gilly’ [Adam Gilchrist] for so long. I can’t control what the other guys are doing … I’m not sitting back and getting my Tim Paine and Graham Manou voodoo dolls out and sticking pins in them every night.”Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch gave Haddin a call when Paine was being sent home from India, to see if Haddin was a chance to join the squad. But he had yet to make his state return, which came during the week in the Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia, and he wasn’t keen to take the risk.”I wasn’t right to go to India to start with, and my whole build-up, after talking to the physio and the selectors, had been to get right for the first Test,” Haddin said. “If I’d gone over to India and my hand wasn’t right, I’d be looking like an idiot. But if I was fit to go on that India tour, I would have gone.”Haddin has one more Sheffield Shield game and an FR Cup match to confirm his fitness before the West Indies series. The first Test starts at the Gabba on November 26.

The allegations of match-fixing by the head of Pakistan’s national parliamentary committee on sports, Jamshed Khan Dasti, has prompted strong reactions from the team’s captain Younis Khan and coach Intikhab Alam. Both have strongly denied that the ICC Champions Trophy matches against Australia and New Zealand were fixed and expressed disappointment that these accusations were made without solid proof.”It came as a shock to me that such allegations have been made without any evidence or concrete proof to back them up,” Younis was quoted as saying in the . “I have struggled all my life, so I am not bothered about losing the captaincy or not being able to play for the team. I am always prepared to face any situation.”I don’t know how anyone can make such baseless allegations without realising how much it affects the players and their fans.”Pakistan, who had already qualified for the semi-finals, lost to Australia off the final ball of the match after setting them a target of 206. They lost a closely-fought semi-final to New Zealand after setting them a target of 234.Dasti had said that he would summon Younis and the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt before the parliament on October 13. Intikhab said he had not been among those summoned. “So far I have not received the invitation, but I have absolutely no problems in appearing before the committee,” Intikhab said.Despite the semi-final exit, Pakistan have had a successful year at world events, winning the World Twenty20 in England in June.

Pakistan have planned four ODIs and two Twenty20s against New Zealand in UAE next month after Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan board chairman, finalised on a neutral venue option for the limited-overs leg of the series which will be followed by Tests in New Zealand in November. The schedule will be confirmed once New Zealand Cricket approve the plans.Butt visited UAE earlier this month to discuss hosting fees for the matches. “We have held successful discussions with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials and have planned four one-day matches in Abu Dhabi and two Twenty20 matches in Dubai,” Butt said. Abu Dhabi will host the one-dayers and Dubai will host the Twenty20s.All tours to Pakistan were put on hold following security concerns in the country. New Zealand agreed to allow Pakistan to be the ‘home’ team for the three-Test series starting November 24 in Dunedin.Pakistan also hosted Australia for five ODIs and Twenty20 in UAE in May this year.

Headingley and the Ashes will forever be synonymous with remarkable turnarounds, but England will require a comeback to rival that of Ian Botham and pals in 1981 if they are to recover from a devastating first day of the fourth Test. But at least their wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, has shown the way to a revival – he bounced back from a pre-toss back spasm that put his participation in severe doubt to top-score for England with a spirited 37 not out from 43 balls, and in his estimation, this match is far from over.”We can get out of this,” said Prior, after England had been rolled over for 102 in their first innings, the sixth lowest total in Headingley’s 69-Test history. “It’s not been a good day, and we’re behind the eight-ball, but this game turns around so quickly and there’s still enough in this wicket. It’s still moving around, still swinging, and we’ve got four days to come back which is good for us. We’re annoyed with today, but we’re raring to go for tomorrow to put things right.”All the while that Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson were compiling a second-wicket stand of 119, England’s hopes of fighting back looked as derelict as the spanking new pavilion that Yorkshire had hoped to be able to unveil for this contest. But by claiming three wickets in three overs in the final session, England reminded themselves that they have the ability to rattle Australia’s batting line-up.When Steve Harmison tore into Michael Clarke in a thrilling final spell, cracking him on the helmet and glove from consecutive deliveries, England believed they had a sniff of an opening. “The way Steve has come in has been brilliant,” said Prior. “He’s been fired up and he wants to stamp his mark on this game, and the way he charged in at the end there is always very exciting when you’re on his team. We were a bit gutted not to get a couple more [wickets], but that’s for tomorrow. We’ll come back hard tomorrow.”For all the fire that they showed in that final session, England already trail by 94 runs with six Australian wickets standing, and Prior admitted that James Anderson may have tweaked his hamstring while stretching for the quick single that extended his run of 53 innings without a duck. But nevertheless, he remained confident in the abilities of England’s five-man bowling attack.”Early wickets tomorrow morning will be important, but we believe we’ve got the bowlers in the dressing room that can turn this game around,” he said. “And when we get our chance to bat again, there are going to be some very, very determined batsmen. If we can get a couple of early wickets, bowl them out cheaply tomorrow morning, have a solid start with the bat and claw away at their lead, the game can turn around very quickly.”Prior was at a bit of a loss to explain England’s flaccid start to the day, although he insisted that he had nothing to do with either the 5am fire alarm at the team hotel, or the absence of the talismanic Andrew Flintoff. “We’re a very very tight unit, very tight in the changing room, and we know that every single player in that squad is as important as any other,” he said. “Whoever is spoken about most is irrelevant to what goes on in the changing room. Each member of the squad is a matchwinner in our eyes.”Right now, however, the matchwinners look to be all Australian, not least Stuart Clark, whose return to the starting XI galvanised their bowling attack. “First and foremost the Aussies bowled well,” said Prior. “They put the ball in the right areas enough times, and you know as a player if the opposition are doing that, it’s always going to be tricky. The guys will hold their hands up and admit there were some dismissals that they could have not had, but that’s cricket.”Clark, for his part, took his England record to a remarkable 29 wickets at 15 in less than six full Tests, but admitted his surprise that his three-wicket haul today had been so easy to come by. “Whenever a side gets bowled out for 100 you’re a little bit surprised. That doesn’t happen a helluva lot,” he said. “I just wasn’t quite sure what was going on. Maybe we bowled pretty well, maybe they had one of those days where they nicked them and we missed them.”The match situation has left the destination of the Ashes on a knife-edge. Australia trail 1-0, but with this match tilted so far in their favour, they seem sure to head to The Oval at the end of the month needing a draw to retain the urn. Clark, however, was adamant that no such thoughts would dare to creep into the Australian dressing-room.”I don’t think we’ve even talked about retaining the Ashes at this point,” he said. “We’ve talked about getting well in front in this game, because we’re in a good position, given that we bat well tomorrow. So that’s probably the furthest thing from our mind. It’s more if we have a good day tomorrow, it’s another step on the way to the end prize.”

James Benning, who was recently released by Surrey, will make his debut for Leicestershire in the Pro40 at Lord’s on Sunday after joining on a loan deal.Benning, 26, is at Leicestershire initially until the end of the season, but has agreed a deal to play next summer as well. His medium-pace bowling will help to replace Jim Allenby, who is now with Glamorgan.”James’s record in both forms of the game is good. He has played 127 one-day games with three one-day hundreds and a top score of 189 not out,” said David Smith, Leicestershire’s chief executive. “He also offers us a good bowling option in both four-day and one-day cricket.”

Jimmy Adams, the former West Indies captain who is now the president of the Federation of International Cricketers Association, has said the ongoing dispute between the West Indies board (WICB) and the local players association (WIPA) can only be solved by strong leaders in the board. Adams, who is also the WIPA secretary, said the board was currently rife with poor leadership.”Can we get leaders who can get beyond whatever reason it is that they are at the table and genuinely say we are looking to do whatever we have to do to carry the cricket forward? I don’t think that we are at that point yet,” Adams told Jamaica’s .On Saturday, the WICB president Julian Hunte promised the problems with the WIPA over player contracts, an issue unresolved for five years now, would be worked out during his term in office.Adams said such issues ended up being manifested on the field. “If there is not good leadership for the 19-year-olds who will travel the world and see what proper sports management involves, by age 24 they will be rich enough to make up their own minds. Those same issues with sponsorship money, injury payments will come up again.”While the board blamed the WIPA for agreeing to discuss contracts just before the start of a series, Adams said it was the board who approached players two weeks before a tour and laid down the terms. “The board’s approach to signing contracts is to approach you two weeks before a tour and say ‘these are the terms’, without any discussion. We say we are supposed to negotiate the contracts and when you look at certain clauses in the contracts it’s unacceptable. They don’t deal with some of the outstanding issues. They then say they came to WIPA and WIPA didn’t agree. That’s not how it goes.”Two days before the start of the first Test against Bangladesh, the WIPA announced a players’ boycott of the match as it claimed they had been playing without contracts for successive series. The board put together a second-string squad for the match and then announced its “unswerving commitment” to the players who had made themselves available for selection. Adams said the original squad for the Test had not boycotted it because the opposition was Bangladesh but because the players were fed up. “In January before the England tour started, it was a split vote by members of WIPA’s executive as to whether or not to play against England. It was decided that we would go ahead with the tour. The players were fed up from then coming out of the tour of New Zealand. If it were left up to me, no cricket would be played from long time. Simple.”When we went down to St Lucia for the one-day internationals against England, the players did not want to play, because outstanding matters were still not resolved. But we said to them, ‘let’s go ahead, as we came out of the negotiations with the board saying it looks like we have something here to work with so let’s go ahead and play’. Subsequently, things have just gotten worse.”

Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, who turned 40 on Tuesday, has said he wants to carry on until the 2011 World Cup. “I would love to. I am taking each series at a time. Hopefully I will get there. Age is not a problem, it is how you stay mentally and physically fit to remain on top of the game, to try out new variations in the bat and ball,” Jayasuriya told AFP.The hard-hitting batsman, who also bowls left-arm spin, made his one-day debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1989 and was impressive as an allrounder during Sri Lanka’s victorious World Cup campaign in 1996. He is the second batsman after India’s Sachin Tendulkar to pass 13,000 runs in ODIs and also holds the record for being the oldest batsman to score a one-day century, at 39 years and 212 days against India in Colombo.”I don’t really worry about records any more these days,” Jayasuriya said. “I focus on putting runs on the board, to help the team win matches.”Jayasuriya retired from Tests in 2007, but continues to shine in the shorter versions of the game. He scored freely during the recent World Twenty20 in England where Sri Lanka finished runners-up, and ended as their joint second-highest run-getter with 177 at 25.28.He said the emergence of talented young players meant he could never take his place for granted in the national team. “Playing with youngsters is extra hard these days,” Jayasuriya said. “There is an abundance of raw talent constantly knocking at the door for a berth in the team. And that puts pressure on me. I have to perform to retain my place.”Jayasuriya, who captained Sri Lanka from 1999 to April 2003, knows that life is not easy for youngsters either. “They also need to live up to expectations, sometimes the pressure on them is much more than what it was when I was starting out.”Jayasuriya announced his retirement in 2006, but made a comeback during Sri Lanka’s tour of England in the same year. His next outing will be the home series against world Twenty20 champions Pakistan, who will play five ODIs and a Twenty20 game after the three-Test series that begins on July 4.”Pakistan has variety in batting and bowling and we are also working on a few things. Let’s see, it should be an interesting contest,” Jayasuriya said.

North Division

Lancashire eased four points clear at the top with a six-wicket defeat of Durham at Old Trafford. The visitors looked set for a good score when they reached 61 for 2, but Lancashire’s trio of spinners then put a stranglehold on the innings, reducing them to 106 for 6; they finished on a below-par 123. Lancashire’s chase was perfectly-paced, Tom Smith’s 56-ball 57 not out providing the anchor as they eased home with five balls in handAndrew Gale’s 91 helped Yorkshire to an eight-wicket win over Nottinghamshire at Headingley, their third in a row and a result which lfited them into second place in the division. Adam Voges, with 82 from 55 balls, including 26 off one Tim Bresnan over, was the mainstay as Nottinghamshire made 155 for 6, but Gale and Michael Vaughan (41*) added 129 for Yorkshire’s second wicket as they eased home with 12 deliveries in hand.Leicestershire revived their prospects of qualification for the quarter-finals with a timely 14-run victory over Derbyshire at Derby. Matt Boyce (33) and Jim Allenby (31) added 55 for the first wicket as Leicestershire reached 144 for 6 in their 20 overs, although Garry Park picked up 3 for 29 in four overs to prevent that total from getting out of hand. Nevertheless, it was still too stiff a total for the home side. Greg Smith did his best with 43 off 36 balls, but their challenge was always off the pace as Claude Henderson kept things tight with 2 for 21 in four overs.

Mid/West/Wales Division

Somerset closed the gap on leaders Northamptonshire with a 30-run victory over them at Wantage Road, their first loss of the campaign. Charl Willoughby did the damage when Northants batted, taking four of the first five wickets to fall to finish with 4 for 29, while another South African, Zander de Bruyn, thumped a 64-ball 83 as Somerset made 163 for 3.Worcestershire kept up the pressure with a 29-run victory over Glamorgan at Cardiff, a result which all but ends the hosts’ own chances. A good all-round batting display helped Worcestershire to 164 for 6, and while Glamorgan began well, in six balls they lost three wickets to slip to 42 for 3, and despite a fourth-wicket stand of 60 between Ben Wright and Michael Powell, they fell away at the end.Warwickshire’s quarter-final hopes were still alive after a four-wicket win over Gloucestershire at Edgbaston. Tight bowling restricted the visitors to 135 for 7, Keith Barker’s 2 for 16 in four overs the most parsimonious. Warwickshire were wobbling on 59 for 4 when Ian Westwood took charge, and his 37-ball 44 steered them to victory with six balls to spare.

South Division

Michael Yardy manipulated Sussex to a tight Duckworth-Lewis victory over Kent at Hove thanks to a cunningly timed over of off-spin that hauled his side ahead of the asking-rate, before the return of the pace of Robin Martin-Jenkins forced the umpires to take the players from the field in gloomy light. The conditions did not improve with nine overs still to play, leaving Sussex victors by two runs. Yardy’s 11th over of the innings went for only two runs, to deny Kent a probable win, and reinforce his team’s position at the top of the South Division.Hampshire routed Essex at 75 runs at Southampton thanks to Michael Lumb’s fantastic 124 not out from 69 balls. His innings included four sixes and 14 fours, as Hampshire racked up a formidable 219 for 2, with Michael Carberry playing second fiddle with 62 from 42 balls. In reply, Matt Walker made 50 from 33 balls, but Essex were stymied by Dominic Cork with the new ball and Sean Ervine at the death. His figures of 3 for 19 in three overs delivered the victory with an over to spare.

Midlands/Wales/West Division

North Division

South Division

Fast bowler Lasith Malinga has been included in Sri Lanka’s squad for the World Twenty20 which begins on June 5 in England. Sri Lanka have also chosen uncapped allrounder Isuru Udana and 35-year old batsman Indika de Saram in their 15-man squad.Malinga has made only one appearance for Sri Lanka – against India in February 2009 – since the knee injury which ruled him out after the tour of Australia in early 2008. Malinga is currently playing for Mumbai Indians in the IPL and has been in excellent form, taking 11 wickets and conceding only 4.83 runs per over after six games.Udana is a 21-year-old fast bowler who has been training for a couple of years under Anusha Samaranayake , Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling coach, who considers him to be a replacement for Chaminda Vaas.The World Twenty20 will be Kumar Sangakkara’s first assignment as full-time captain after he took over from Mahela Jayawardene at the end of the Pakistan tour in March.Squad: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Lasith Malinga, Isuru Udana, Farveez Maharoof, Jehan Mubarak, Indika de Saram.