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Craig McMillan failed a late fitness test on the little finger he broke for the second time on this tour during the otherwise-comfortable weekend victory over Leicestershire, and will miss the second Test at Headingley which starts this morning. New Zealand are also sweating on their captain Stephen Fleming, who is battling to recover from an ear infection, but he is expcted to play.Their other injury worry, the giant allrounder Jacob Oram, will play only as a specialist batsman after picking up a side strain. So, with Shane Bond still not fit, New Zealand have brought in Michael Papps at the top of the order. If Fleming doesn’t recover by 11am, then late draft Mathew Sinclair will step in.Michael Vaughan, the England captain, has confirmed that he will bat at No. 4 in the match – unless his wife goes into labour while he’s padded up. Nichola Vaughan is due to give birth to their first child soon, and Vaughan said: “It’s due around the time of the Test match. If I get a call, I’ll be leaving the ground. If I’m out in the middle batting it’s just unlucky. I’ll be batting at four unless I get the call. We’ll just make sure she drops it before 11am!”Vaughan has decided to drop down the order after the success of Andrew Strauss at Lord’s, where he scored 112 and 83 on his debut after stepping in as a late replacement – for Vaughan, who injured his knee in the nets a few days before the match. Vaughan has scored 10 of his 11 Test centuries from the top of the order, but admitted: “It has been in our thoughts for a while for me to drop down. We have discussed it over the past year and we have found a really good replacement for me in Andrew Strauss.”Vaughan slots in to the position vacated by Nasser Hussain after his emotional Lord’s farewell. Further down the order the only decision the selectors are likely to lose any sleep over is whether to play the spinner – Ashley Giles – or to bring in an extra batsman, Paul Collingwood. In the interests of variety Giles is likely to keep his place alongside England’s impressive four-prong pace battery. There will be no changes there, after Jimmy Anderson dropped out with a bruised heel. Kent’s Martin Saggers has been called up as cover, but is unlikely to add to his one Test cap in Bangladesh last winter unless the nets claim another victim.England have fond memories of Headingley after their astonishing two-day victory over West Indies in 2000 and the Mark Butcher-inspired comeback against Australia the following year. But since then England have not been Leeds leaders: in 2002, on what seemed to be a perfect track for their seamers, England were demolished by an innings by India, while last year they lost by 191 runs, despite reducing South Africa to 21 for 4 on the first morning (an anchoring 130 from Gary Kirsten stopped the rot).But England have only lost once to New Zealand at Headingley – in 1983, in what was their first Test victory on English soil, with Chris Cairns’s dad Lance taking 10 of the 20 wickets to fall. Mind you, England have only beaten them there once, too – in 1965, when John Edrich’s 310 not out set up an innings victory. The other three games there between these two sides have been draws (in 1949, 1958 and 1973).Whoever misses out for England will return to their counties for the current round of Championship matches. And as Yorkshire have got a game and Durham haven’t, two Durham youngsters have been called up to share the 12th-man duties – Nicky Peng and Gary Pratt.England (probable): 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Michael Vaughan (capt), 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Stephen Harmison, 11 Simon Jones.New Zealand 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Michael Papps, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt) or Mathew Sinclair, 4 Nathan Astle, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Chris Cairns, 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Chris Martin.

Surrey’s captain Jonathan Batty equalled the world record of eight catches in a first-class innings in the County Championship match against Kent at The Oval.Batty, who made 129 in Surrey’s first innings, took five catches on Wednesday and then added three more on the third morning of the game as Kent were bowled out for 239 and forced to follow on.Batty is the third Englishman and fourth keeper overall (the other being Australia’s Wally Grout) to achieve the feat. He now shares the Championship record set by Essex’s David East in 1985 and equalled by Kent’s Steve Marsh in 1991.The record for most catches taken in a first-class innings by an outfielder is seven, held jointly by Micky Stewart for Surrey against Northamptonshire in 1957 and Tony Brown for Gloucestershire against Nottinghamshire in 1966.

England A 228 for 7 (Solanki 94, Bell 61, Khuram Khan 3-56) beat United Arab Emirates 186 for 9 (Ashgar Ali 42, Khuram Khan 41, Shah 4-40) by 42 runs
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England A recorded a 42-run victory in the first of four matches against the United Arab Emirates. Batting first in a floodlit match at Sharjah, they made 228 for 7, with most of the runs coming in a second-wicket stand of 138 between Vikram Solanki and Ian Bell, the captain.Solanki and Bell came together after Matt Prior was caught and bowled for a duck by Ahmed Nadeem. Solanki smashed five sixes – but only two fours – as he romped to 94. Bell was slightly more circumspect, managing only two sixes and three fours himself, as he scored 61. Both eventually fell to Khuram Khan, the UAE’s 33-year-old captain and left-arm spinner, who finished with 3 for 56.Wickets fell at regular intervals after that, although Alex Gidman (21 not out) and Alastair Cook (20 from 14 balls) played brightly towards the end.The UAE’s innings began badly. They slumped to 23 for 3 after Rashid Khan was run out and David Harrison and Jon Lewis took a wicket apiece. Then Khuram and Asghar Ali shared a handy partnership of 79, before Asghar fell for 42. The wicket came from an unexpected quarter: Owais Shah, who didn’t bowl at all in 21 one-day games for Middlesex at home last season, and who has taken only eight one-day wickets in a ten-year county career, had Asghar caught by Solanki. Shah’s offspin then accounted for the dangerous Khuram for 41, after he had hit two sixes and a four. Shah also removed Ahmed Nadeem and Fahad Usman, to end up with 4 for 40.Shah’s surprise burst left the UAE struggling at 138 for 7, and although Ali Asad (24) and Sameer Zia (22 not out) played sensibly, there was never much danger of an upset.The second of the four floodlit matches will be played tomorrow (Sunday Feb 27) at Sharjah.

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has been in discussions with the rebel players in a bid to end the seven-month dispute which has left Zimbabwean cricket in chaos.A report in the Zimbabwe Independent claims that two board members – Ozias Bvute and Tavengwa Mkuhlani – approached Ray Gripper, one of the leading critics of ZC, at the end of October in a bid to kick-start talks between the two factions. A result was that meetings were held which put forward proposals aimed at reworking the board’s constitution, drafting new contracts and holding fresh elections.”Initially I was approached by Mkuhlani, who brought up the suggestion. I agreed with him and raised the matter with the players who also agreed,” Gripper told the paper. “We later held meetings with Mkuhlani and Bvute and we came up with proposals.”The paper added that it had seen minutes of the meetings, which referred to the rebels being brought back into the fold. “The qualification criteria for selectors as put forward by the players is accepted in total and not only partly,” the minutes stated. “The players who do agree to come back will be valued by [Zimbabwe’s coach] Phil Simmons. The only criteria to be used in this assessment are cricket skills and value, nothing else. Maybe any rejections could be supported by a report from Phil as to how he arrived at his assessment.”There is to be no interference by board members in selection or cricketing matters and their contribution should be largely restricted to the boardroom and committee meetings.”Bvute confirmed to the paper that there had been meetings. “Gripper made some suggestions to Mkuhlani. I met with Gripper, Mkuhlani and Pichanick and agreed that we had to take the suggestions to the board.”But Gripper warned that there was a long way to go, adding that the lack of any feedback or official response from ZC indicated that it might not be willing to agree to the proposals.

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Sri Lanka put a troubled couple of days behind them as their top order finally clicked into gear at the SSC to take them to the Super League play-off final in the Under-19 World Cup. With Angelo Mathews, their captain, unavailable through injury for the rest of the tournament and Sachithra Serasinghe sacked from the side for misconduct, this was a fine example of triumph over adversity.Determined half-centuries from Sameera de Zoysa, the replacement captain,and Dimuth Karunaratne, who combined with an opening stand of 114, laid thefoundations for the middle order to reach a useful target of 257 with 16balls to spare. But when Gary Balance and Keegan Meth were forgingZimbabwe’s major partnership – a stand of 131 for the fourth wicket – theywere on course for a total nearer 275.Whereas in earlier matches Sri Lanka’s top order had been guilty of tryingto tee off too soon, here de Zoysa and Karunaratne initially playedcircumspectly against the new ball. Once their eye was in, both batsmenchanced their arm by lofting over the in field. With the scoring rateincreasing, Sean Williams opted to hold back his second Powerplay, but theSri Lankans were content to milk the singles.Williams also delayed introducing his two of his more effective bowlersuntil the openers were well into their stride. Graeme Cremer and RyanHiggins have troubled most teams in the last two weeks but, confusingly, were the sixth and seventh bowlers used.Cremer forced the first breakthrough for Zimbabwe, as Karunaratne drove back asimple return catch, but progress wasn’t considerably slowed as Ashan Priyanjaralatched onto anything loose. Cremer was then in the action again, thistime throwing the stumps down to remove Priyanjara with a smart piece offielding. When de Zoysa was forced to retire hurt with cramp, Zimbabwe hada sniff with two new batsmen at the crease.However, Dilhan Cooray and Hans Fernando were in no mood for messing aboutand nudging their way to the target. They opened their shoulders, piercingthe off-side, as well as sprinting between the wickets and stealing enoughsingles to cause Williams to pull his hair out. They carried Sri Lanka homewith a string of boundaries and at last gave the host nation something tosmile about.Sumithra Waranakulasuriya, Sri Lanka’s coach, said the recent problems hadbeen a motivation: “The players were upset but we told them they had goneand it was down to the others.” And he added that it was pleasing to seethe batting click: “We have been working on batting in partnerships for along time. Today they did it well and didn’t panic when they saw the bigtotal. The openers gave us the momentum to go for it.”Unlike Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe had made a rocky start to their innings,slipping to 39 for 2 against some wholehearted, if not consistently accurate,new-ball bowling. Balance, though, kept his poise, while Meth launchedinto a robust innings with a string of powerful shots. The fielding was embarrassing at times, as the ball resembled a bar of soap to many of the Sri Lankans. The coach admitted it wasn’t very impressive: “It isn’t that we don’t do enough fielding [practice] because they work hard. It’s just when they are in the field perhaps they don’t anticipate thecatches very well. The ones dropping them are also the good fielders whichis the frustration.”But when Shalika Karunanayake removed Balance the innings stuttered andMeth was trapped lbw by a sharp yorker from Tissara Perera nine short ofdeserved century. Ryan Higgins boosted the total with some sensiblehitting towards and, with an in-form spin attack, 256 was a sizeabletotal. In the end it was made to look well below par as Sri Lanka’sbatting performed to its potential. Better late than never.

Neil McKenzie, the South African Test batsman, has been released by Easterns and will now play for the new Highveld Lions team. McKenzie, 28, has scored 2028 runs in his 41 Tests, with two centuries.McKenzie had not been selected for the Titans in their first two Standard Bank Pro 20 matches, Brandon Foot, Easterns’ chairman, explained that he had been released by the franchise to further his career. He said: “Neil has indicated to me that, as a national player striving to achieve recognition in the limited-overs version of the game, it is important to him that he play as many Pro 20 matches as possible. We have elected not to stand in Neil’s way, but to afford him the opportunity of competing for the Highveld Lions, in the best interests of his career. This is, of course, also in line with the decision of the UCBSA to reduce the number of professional teams competing in South African domestic cricket and to ensure that playing strength is spread evenly amongst all the franchises in the country.”Dave Nosworthy, the Titans’ coach, said it was obviously a blow to lose a player of Neil’s calibre. “Neil has served Northerns well and is a player of quality. We wish him all the very best for his future career.”McKenzie concluded: “I would like to thank Northerns Cricket Union for all that they have done for me. Northerns is a truly professional set-up from their administration right down to the change-room attendant. I believe other unions can take a leaf out of Northerns’ book, who always allow cricket to prevail. I am sad to be leaving the Nashua Titans and will always be grateful to them for having afforded me the opportunities necessary, to allow me to be selected for South Africa. I wish them well in the future.”

Zee Telefilms Limited have won the global media rights to broadcast India’s overseas cricket series on neutral venues, but their success has been overshadowed by an unseemly spat with the Indian board vice-president, Lalit Modi, whom they have accused of indecent behaviour and threatened with legal action.Zee won the tender after quoting a bid of US$219.15 million for five years – from April 1, 2006 to Mar 31, 2011 – during which they will show a minimum of 25 matches. But the alleged incident happened yesterday when Himanshu Modi, the chief executive of Zee Sports, protested against a violation by a competitor, Sahara, in the bidding process.”We are going to file a defamation suit against Lalit Modi for Rs. 50 crore for using filthy and abusive language against our CEO”, said Zee Group executive vice-president and spokesperson, Ashish Kaul. “We are going to send legal notice immediately for use of such language against a top official of Zee Sports.”When contacted Modi told PTI: “I have heard of sour losers and never of sour winners. I only protested against leakage of information to media and did not use any abusive langauage against the Zee official”.The first series Zee will broadcast is for India’s brief one-day trip to Pakistan at Abu Dhabi on April 18 and 19. The neutral venues identified by the BCCI include Dubai, Holland, Singapore, England, Canada, the USA, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.The BCCI are hoping to tap into the Asian expatriates market to increase its revenue. IS Bindra, the former president of the BCCI, played down criticisms of there being a poor response in countries where cricket did not have a strong following.”Soccer had no takers in the US when the (1998) World Cup was held,” he said. “But it has grown in the eight-years’ time since then.”

Devang Gandhi, the former Indian Test opener and Bengal batsman, has retired from first-class cricket. Gandhi said his motivation levels had gone down and that he was happy to leave a strong team behind, with a number of youngsters making their “presence felt”.Gandhi, 34, played four Tests for India between October and December 1999 before he was dropped from the squad. He continued to grind out hundreds at the first-class level, where he averaged 42 over 12 seasons, and led East Zone to a Deodhar Trophy title in 2004. Poor form, though, kept him out of the Bengal side for most of this season and he didn’t play too much of a role in their revival.He made his debut against New Zealand in Chandigarh and began on an inauspicious note with a first-innings duck. But he made amends in the second with an impressive 75 and followed it up with another composed knock in the next Test at Kanpur, where he contributed 88 in an opening partnership of 126 with Sadagoppan Ramesh.”I will rate the Kanpur innings as the best of my career,” he said while addressing a press conference at Eden Gardens, “as that was a difficult wicket and I was top-scorer for India in that match.” He was picked for India’s Australia tour in December but a double failure in the opening Test at Adelaide, when he made 4 and 0 and looked completely out of sorts, cost him his place. Gandhi, whose opening slot was taken by VVS Laxman, spoke about the harsh initiation. “My preparations for the tour Down Under was not adequate,” he explained. “Also, I think the batsmen in India develop weakness in facing short balls, as the slow domestic wickets do not allow them to get attuned to such stuff.”He revealed that he would continue to play county and club cricket in England. Gandhi is also a qualified Level II coach through a course offered by the England Cricket Board (ECB), but he didn’t have any immediate plans on that front. “I won’t be doing justice to the kids as I will not be able to give them enough time. I will concentrate on coaching only when I give up the game fully.”Gandhi, who played his final first-class game in December last year, said he regretted not being able to lead Bengal to a Ranji Trophy title. He had a chance to lead East Zone to their first Duleep Trophy title in March 2004 but was thwarted by North in a pulsating final at Mohali.’DG’, as he is called in the Maidan circuit, might be remembered in many ways (not least by Ramesh’s famous statement – “given the bowling we get at the domestic level, why Devang Gandhi, even Mahatma Gandhi will score runs”). But the most poignant memory will be the gesture that ended his career, when on the eve of a Ranji match he offered his place to Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, his partner at Sporting Union. Jhunjhunwala had a fine debut season, culminating in a India A spot, as Gandhi quietly rode into the sunset.

Jacob Oram believes his broken finger will not be a hindrance at the World Cup, despite joking he would have it cut off if required. Oram top-scored with 88 in New Zealand’s first warm-up match against Bangladesh and said the innings had given him confidence he was overcoming the injury.Oram struck career-best form during the CB Series in Australia, scoring his first ODI hundred as well as two destructive half-centuries. However, in the first Chappell-Hadlee Trophy match last month he broke the ring finger on his left hand taking a catch in the outfield.The timing of his injury led Oram to quip that he would have the finger amputated if it was going to stop him playing at the World Cup, a comment he now regrets. “There’s probably no need to make light of injuries, especially the amount I’ve had,” he told .”In hindsight, the coverage that that comment got was a little bit silly I thought, so I regret saying that. I thought I had a smile wide enough to show that I was kidding anyway.”Oram’s innings against Bangladesh continued his outstanding season and put to rest any concerns the finger, which is still healing, would make him a less damaging batsman. “Once I started getting the confidence in my hands again I was all go,” he said.”What I did learn is if I actually try to catch the ball and stop the ball properly, my finger’s nowhere near it anyway. So it’s just trying to get that technique right.” Oram said picking up balls on the ground with his left hand remained a problem, but he was gradually improving.New Zealand continue their World Cup warm-up with a game against Sri Lanka on Friday. Their campaign proper opens next Friday when they meet England in St Lucia.

Marcus Trescothick said his hundred against the Patron’s XI on England’s first day of competitive cricket in Pakistan has given him a good platform for the tour.”I am just very hungry to do well after this hundred,” Trescothick said after scoring an unbeaten 124, in a five-and-a-half-hour knock which included 16 boundaries and two sixes.Trescothick’s valiant innings spared England embarrassment in their first outing since winning the Ashes last month. England finish the day at 256 for 9 against a young Pakistani side. Trescothick watched his colleagues fall quickly with England tottering at 60 for 6 at lunch, after winning the toss and deciding to bat, but the left-handed opener kept his composure.”I just wanted to get in and spend as much time at the crease and that was the main objective today – just be there for a long period of time.”PCB Patron’s XI bowler Yasir Arafat, who also played for Scotland in the last English season, chipped in with four wickets for 45 runs, cleaning up the middle order in the process. Trescothick then helped add 177 runs for the next three wickets.”The ball was nipping back a little bit and the Pakistani bowlers got wickets as they bowled wicket to wicket. Arafat just got the ball to seam a little bit both ways. He bowled pretty well and troubled the guys a lot.”