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David Collier, the chief executive of the ECB, has branded as “a nonsense” the decision to return Ashes cricket to the government’s list of protected “crown jewel” events, and believes that it opens the door to an era in which Test matches will be “cherrypicked” by broadcasters according to their popular appeal.”If you took last year for example, where West Indies visited prior to the Ashes, all of the ethos of that series was of England’s side preparation for Australia,” Collier told Cricinfo. “What incentive would there be for any other broadcaster to broadcast the West Indies series?”Such a scenario occurred last month during the World Cup football qualifiers, when England’s final dead-rubber fixture against Ukraine ended up being shown on an internet pay-per-view site, because there was no interest from other broadcasters following the collapse of the Setanta network.”The satellite broadcasters said: ‘I’m sorry but if we can’t have all of the matches, it’s out of context, we’re not going to broadcast’, which is what happened in the last round of matches,” said Collier. “If it ever happened in cricket, what it could lead to would be the cherrypicking of England’s Test matches, and if that happened, I think that matches involving Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh probably wouldn’t be broadcast at all. Imagine the impact that would have on Test cricket worldwide.”Collier predicted an equally gloomy future for England’s domestic cricket set-up. “If these plans were to come into place, our first level of precedence would be to look after the major matches and the stadiums in which they are staged, for the simple reason that the remainder of our income is largely media and broadcasting income.”All of our remaining costs would get squeezed,” he said. “Contracts for England players would get squeezed, there’d be a massive reduction in the number of professional players in England, a massive reduction in the thousands of grants we gave to clubs last year. The whole of our disabilities and women’s programmes would have a huge question mark over them, and the national academy at Loughborough would also have a huge question mark.”But the real irony is that what this move would do is increase the volume of our cricket, because there would be massive pressure to increase any revenue-making opportunities. Our belief is that we want to reduce the volume of cricket, not increase it, but this would have the exact opposite effect.”There are several hurdles that still need to be overcome before the plans are put into practice, and Collier is adamant that the government will see sense once the economic impact study is commissioned ahead of the 12-week consultation period.”The last time the Ashes were on terrestrial TV it was a tremendous series in 2005, but it still went off air on terrestrial for a horse race,” he said. “You just can’t do that and retain any credibility. Why does the report believe that the competitor broadcasters will bid competitive rates for the 2016 series, when they had the opportunity in the last two rounds of bidding [in 2004 and 2008], and they failed to put in a bid?””The objective evidence is overwhelming. The overwhelming evidence says this is a nonsense and that is what we’ll be presenting to the secretary of state. It would be disastrous if this implementation went through, as it would cut cricket’s income by 50%. We’ve been very clear from the outset that they must take account of economic evidence, and that has not changed one iota.”

The ICC says it has reviewed and enhanced the security apparatus at the grounds hosting the Champions Trophy following the pitch invasion at the conclusion of the India-Pakistan match on Saturday. It also said any such acts in the future would lead to arrests and prosecution.”A number of arrests were made and those people have been prosecuted,” anICC spokesperson told the Hindustan Times. “Any spectator who invades the pitch can expect to be arrested, prosecuted and if found guilty, fined under current South African legislation.”After the final wicket fell, Pakistani fans crossed the advertising board separating the ground from the stands to celebrate the win before the last few were tackled by security guards. South African grounds allow spectators relatively easy access to the playing area, with an advertising board typically presenting the only hurdle.

Marcus Trescothick will fly to India next month as part of Somerset’s squad for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, after appearing to have overcome his concerns about overseas travel that brought a premature end to his international career.Trescothick was today named in Somerset’s 15-man squad for the competition that gets underway on October 8, and he could even become the county’s next captain, after Justin Langer revealed on Test Match Special on Sunday that he is unlikely to be returning to Taunton next season.A Somerset press release confirmed that “ways are [being] sought to enable the former England opener to overcome the problems with travelling abroad to play cricket he has experienced as a result of his stress-related illness.” According to a report in The Times, this could involve combining the trip around a family holiday, with the player commuting in and out of the UAE.Last month, Trescothick declared that he did not want to be chosen for a one-off appearance for England in the Ashes decider at The Oval, having not played international cricket for three seasons following a high-profile battle with depression. His last overseas cricket tour was the 2006-07 Ashes, from which he flew home without playing a Test after breaking down during a warm-up match against New South Wales.In April 2008 Trescothick pulled out of Somerset’s pre-season tour to Dubai after the squad had already checked their bags in at Heathrow airport, and described in his 2008 autobiography, Coming Back to Me, how he had been “hunched up, sobbing, distraught” at the prospect of boarding the plane.”I was in no physical, mental or earthly state to take it,” he wrote, having just said farewell to his family. “Until the eve of our departure, I never seriously thought I would have a problem.”Langer said there were no guarantees that Trescothick would be making the trip to India. “I’m hopeful he will, we have it in place that he will be playing, but only time will tell,” Langer told . “It’s a big step for him. Hopefully he’s feeling well enough in himself and the measures are in place for him to belt the other teams around the park. Hopefully it works out because he is a fantastic player. It was breathtaking to watch him bat this year. But his health is more important than cricket.”Trescothick is continuing to receive treatment for his condition, but with a £3.6 million prize at stake in the 16-day competition, Somerset are understandably keen to do all they can to make sure he is fit to take on the likes of Deccan Chargers and Trinidad & Tobago, the sides against whom Somerset have been drawn in the initial stages of the competition.

Australia suffered more bad news on the morning after their Ashes defeat with Brad Haddin, their senior wicketkeeper, sent home with a broken finger. Haddin is almost certain to miss the ODI and Twenty20 series in England in the hope of recuperating in time for the Champions Trophy, although team management have yet to rule out the possibility of him returning to the UK later in the tour.Haddin suffered the fracture to his left ring finger moments after the coin toss at Edgbaston, and while he missed that match, he played the final two Tests at Headingley and The Oval with the assistance of pain-killing injections. He underwent further scans on Monday morning, after Australia’s 197-run defeat at The Oval, and will return home to allow the finger time to heal.”It has now been decided Brad will return to Australia to allow him further recovery time and consultation with specialists to determine the best possible management of the injury,” Australia’s physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said. “His participation in any of the one-day and Twenty20 components of Australia’s VB Tour of England and the ICC Champions Trophy will be decided after consultation with these specialists.”Australia had already flown Tasmania’s Tim Paine to England as cover for the back-up keeper, Graham Manou, for the Oval Test. Manou is not in Australia’s ODI squad, leaving Paine to slot in, if needed, for Friday’s one-day game against Scotland in Edinburgh, the ensuing two Twenty20 matches at Old Trafford and the seven ODIs against England.Australia have yet to name a reserve wicketkeeper, although 27-year-old Chris Hartley, the incumbent Queensland glovesman who is playing in the Northern League near Manchester, deputised for Manou and Haddin during Australia’s two-day warm-up match in between the fourth and fifth Tests.

West Indies’ leading players may have ended their strike but their board has confirmed that there will be no changes to the weakened 30-man pool it had named for the Champions Trophy earlier in the week.”The executive committee of the West Indies Cricket Board [WICB] wishes to confirm the initial squad of 30 players announced earlier this month for the ICC’s Champions Trophy in South Africa,” a board statement said. “This squad was chosen from among those players who declared themselves available for selection for the tournament within the deadline date for finalisation of the 30.”Chris Gayle and the other players who had boycotted the Tests against Bangladesh had made themselves available for international duty on Tuesday, but are yet to be picked by the selectors. Besides being excluded from the Champions Trophy, they were left out of the squad for the first two one-dayers against Bangladesh which starts on Sunday.The WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), which is negotiating on the cricketers’ behalf, agreed to resolve their dispute by mediation on Tuesday, after meeting with Guyana president Bharat Jagdeo, who is also chairman of the 15-nation trading bloc Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). Both sides agreed to the appointment of former Commonwealth secretary general Shridath Ramphal as arbitrator.

An ICC lawyer will meet BCCI officials in Mumbai on Sunday to address concerns expressed by Indian players on the new anti-doping code and to remind the Indian board that it sees no further reason to delay its implementation, Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said.The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code, which was put in place by the ICC from January, requires players in the testing pool to inform the governing body through an online form about their whereabouts in advance. Lorgat revealed that an “overwhelming majority” of players in the pool from all countries have done so during the trial period, within the ICC’s July 31 deadline, except India.Indian players in the ICC’s testing pool have raised various concerns about these ‘whereabouts’ forms and one of them told Cricinfo that it would be impossible to provide accurate information in advance, given their “fluctuating and hectic” professional and personal schedules. They are also worried about disclosing what they believe is confidential information and have raised queries about the security aspect. Similar “practicality issues” have already been voiced by the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) , which also believes that such norms infringe on players’ privacy.Lorgat said he understood these concerns but added that the anti-doping measures were “absolutely necessary, quite like the security checks that are done at all airports these days” to ensure that cricket remains a clean sport. He also said that the ICC was looking for the “most pragmatic solution” and that if changes needed to be made to the system, it would revert to WADA by the end of this year.”During the trial period, the overwhelming majority of players from all countries, except India, submitted whereabouts information,” Lorgat told Cricinfo. “I understand and appreciate that there will be some concerns and reservations from all players and I am sure they feel that those concerns are genuine. However, the ICC has spent the past few months addressing all of those concerns, and, having taken great care to do so, we see no further reason to delay the full implementation of the requirements specified by the WADA Code. WADA’s whereabouts system was developed after months of consultation and by adopting the same, we hope to ensure that our sport remains fair and clean. We will seek to remind the BCCI of this point when we meet with it on Sunday.”Lorgat admitted that revealing details of whereabouts in advance is “not something everyone would want to do” but added that it was necessary to maintain an effective out-of-competition testing programme and prevent abuse of the system. He also said that the ICC and BCCI, which has called for a meeting of its working committee on Sunday to discuss the issue, were in agreement that the game needs to remain “clean and honest”.”I understand that submitting details of your whereabouts in advance is not something everyone would want to do and I understand the concerns of players and their associations who may consider such a move an infringement of their private space,” Lorgat said. “But it is absolutely necessary, quite like the security checks that are done at all airports these days, if we are to manage an effective out-of-competition testing programme in support of our wider aim, which is to prevent abuse of the system. We are confident that the overwhelming majority of cricketers worldwide are clean but we have to take into account the tiny majority who may be incentivised to cheat their fellow participants. We need to ensure that those players who play by the rules are not penalised for doing so.”The ICC will be represented by Iain Higgins, its company lawyer, at Sunday’s meeting, which Lorgat hoped would clear any remaining concerns of Indian players.”If we think that there are things that need to change in the system, we will provide feedback to WADA in the course of our wider review of the IRTP (International Registered Testing Pool) at the end of the year,” he said. “There are a number of ways of ensuring compliance with the requirements. For instance, the players need not necessarily submit all of the information themselves. The national board can appoint an administrative official who can help to manage the process. All that the ICC is striving for is the most pragmatic solution.”

South African captain Graeme Smith capped a highly successful year as a batsman and captain by being named the SA Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year at the 2009 SA Cricket Awards on Tuesday. Batsman AB de Villiers was named the One-Day International Cricketer of the Year while JP Duminy picked up the Pro20 Cricketer of the Year award.The allrounder Roelof van der Merwe edged out Wayne Parnell and Lonwabo Tsotsobe to bag the SA Newcomer of the Year award. Since making his international debut against Australia this year, van der Merwe has established himself as an effective left-arm spinner. He has picked up 11 wickets in seven Twenty20 internationals, maintaining an impressive economy rate of 5.89. His initial Twenty20 success earned him an IPL contract and he was a regular in the Royal Challengers Bangalore side.In the last 12 months, Smith has led South Africa to historic series wins in England and Australia. In 11 Tests in that period, he has scored 950 runs at 63.33 with four centuries, the most crucial being the one at Perth which set up the chase of 414. He also led the team to the semi-finals of the ICC World Twenty20, which included a five-match winning streak.Duminy made a stirring comeback to the side with a match-winning half-century in the Perth Test and was one of the most valuable players during the tour of Australia. He was bought by Mumbai Indians for US$950,000 and was one of the key overseas players for the franchise during the IPL. In 19 ODIs over the last 12 months, Duminy has made 476 runs at 36.61. He also scored two half-centuries in the Twenty20 games in Australia.de Villiers has also had an excellent year with the bat, making 987 runs in 12 matches at 61.68. He averaged 43.85 in 18 ODIs in that period and his Twenty20 exploits include an IPL hundred for the Delhi Daredevils. He was also in fine touch during the World Twenty20.”It is most fitting that the SA Cricketer of the Year award goes to Graeme Smith, who led the Proteas to their best season ever,” Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa’s chief executive, said. “The awards also take note of an impressive crop of young stars whose outstanding achievements on the international stage have ensured the continued success of the Proteas.”Full list of awardsSouth Africa teamSA Cricketer of the Year: Graeme Smith
SA Newcomer of the Year: Roelof van der Merwe
Standard Bank One-Day International Cricketer of the Year: AB de Villiers
Standard Bank International Pro20 Cricketer of the Year: JP Duminy
Castle Test Cricketer of the Year: Graeme Smith
KFC Taste the Action Performance: JP Duminy
SA Players’ Player of the Year: JP Duminy
SuperSport Fans’ Cricketer of the Year: AB de Villiers
DomesticMTN Domestic Championship Cricketer of the Year: Roelof van der Merwe
Standard Bank Pro20 Cricketer of the Year: Charl Langeveldt
SuperSport Series Cricketer of the Year: Imraan Khan
Domestic Newcomer of the Year: Dane Vilas
SACA Most Valuable Player: Claude Henderson
Domestic Players’ Player of the Year: Claude HendersonOperationsCoach of the Year: Richard Pybus
Groundsman of the Year: Louis Kruger
Scorers’ Association of the Year: Gauteng
Umpire of the Year: Marais Erasmus

Pakistan has put forward two options as it strives to retrieve what benefits it still can from the 2011 World Cup. In a meeting with Sri Lanka board counterparts, Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan board chairman, suggested a swap for World Cups or for the subcontinent boards to jointly ask the ICC to allow Pakistan to present alternate solutions.The first option – swapping the 2011 World Cup, which is to be jointly hosted now by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, for the 2015 edition to be held in Australia and New Zealand – was put forth by former ICC president Ehsan Mani, who is advising the PCB on the World Cup. The ICC had stripped Pakistan of its rights to co-host the 2011 World Cup following the terrorist attack in Lahore when gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan team bus. The PCB responded by serving a legal notice to the ICC for its decision to move the World Cup headquarters from Lahore to Mumbai.DS de Silva, the SLC chairman, said he would stand by any decision made at the ICC meeting in Dubai though he would discuss the PCB’s options with the rest of the interim committee members and get back to the PCB accordingly. The SLC will also wait for feedback from India and Bangladesh, with whom Butt will also meet on this diplomatic tour before taking a final decision on the World Cup options.Butt put forward the same argument that forms the basis of the PCB’s legal notice to the ICC; that the uncertain security situation in the entire subcontinent, following the terror attacks in Mumbai and Lahore, poor political relations between India and Pakistan and the slow pace of preparations for the World Cup indicated the subcontinent was not prepared to host the tournament in another two years. It is believed that this is option is unlikely to win backing among the co-hosts.In the event of that option failing, Pakistan wants the Asian bloc to ask the ICC to provide them with an opportunity to provide alternate solutions on their internal security problems. This may, as some in the PCB have already suggested, mean shifting Pakistan’s matches to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The ICC has not ruled out the option, saying only that Pakistan had yet to make such a proposal.Butt also argued that Pakistan should be allowed to retain the right to have the central secretariat of the World Cup because it was on this premise that the PCB agreed to host a lesser number of matches than it did in the 1996 World Cup.

Zaheer Khan will miss Mumbai Indians’ next match against Deccan Chargers at Centurion on Wednesday, as he is nursing a shoulder injury which he picked up in the previous game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Zaheer, while attempting to stop a drive from Robin Uthappa, fell on his bowling shoulder and left the field wincing in pain.Luckily, both for Mumbai and India, subsequent scans have revealed nothing serious and the left-arm fast bowler is expected to be back in action pretty soon. “He [Zaheer] had a scan on his injured shoulder today. We had feared the worst but it’s not as bad as we thought it could be originally. There is a little bit of inflammation. We will be taking it day by day. But he will not be playing against Hyderabad (Deccan) and that’s for sure,” Shaun Pollock, Mumbai’s mentor-cum-coach, told the media after the team practice session, which Zaheer did not attend.At the halfway stage, Mumbai are languishing at second place from bottom after registering three wins in their seven games. Pollock agreed Zaheer’s return was imminent and crucial, but he would not like to rush him, keeping in mind that India would like a completely fit Zaheer to defend their crown at the World Twenty20, which begins in England in exactly a month.”We understand that in the bigger picture there is the World Twenty20. We need to understand that so we don’t want him back in action before he is really ready. He has a huge career ahead of him and we don’t want to be stupid,” Pollock said.Asked if that meant Zaheer may be missing in action for few more games after tomorrow Pollock did not want to speculate. “I am sure that at the earliest possibility we will want him back.”Pollock said Zaheer’s replacement tomorrow will be a choice between Dhawal Kulkarni and Rahil Shaikh. Kulkarni has played only one game this season while Shaikh, the left-arm fast bowler, is yet to make his IPL debut.

South Africa are keen to put the disappointment of the women’s World Cup behind them and start afresh for the World Twenty20 in England which starts on June 11. The team is placed in Group A along with World Cup runners-up New Zealand, Australia and West Indies and will hope to improve on their seventh position at last month’s tournament.Former South African batsman and South African Women’s Committee president, Kerri Laing, believed that South Africa’s work was cut out. But she was optimistic that the team would try to build on the lessons learnt from the World Cup. “Although the World Cup results were very disappointing, we have to focus on what went right and try to continue with them and what went wrong and try to improve on them,” said Laing.”There is a short turnaround time between the World Cup and the World Twenty20 tournament and we have to make sure our women are as best prepared as can be for a tournament which could be a launchpad for the team. We have arranged two camps in the build up to this tournament and we will soon be announcing the squad for these camps and the tournament in England.”Cricket South Africa’s (CSA’s) senior amateur cricket manager, Max Jordaan, said the team would need to “ensure a top four finish”. “We need to re-focus our energies and be ready for the World Twenty20,” Jordaan said. “We shall be having a training camp at the University of the Western Cape in a fortnight to prepare well ahead of the tournament. We shall have another one prior to our team leaving for England.”Jordaan said it was necessary that coach Noor Rhode be with the squad before they take on Australia in the two Standard Bank Pro20 international matches.”The outing with the national men’s side was very informative,” Jordaan said. “It gave me a very good insight into the professional setup and the shortcomings in the women’s national side and we need improvement in those areas quickly before we embark on a new challenge of the World Twenty20.”I think we shall be able to prepare better because it is important for the players to know their roles in the team and we need to analyse the opposition better and I hope by the time the tournament comes we shall be able to put that into practice. And I had a good conversation with the support staff and everyone was helpful and prepared to spend time with me.”