Stuart Law, who played one Test for Australia and who earlier this year became a British citizen, has praised the standard of county cricket in England, and believes the county system has been the fundamental reason for England’s success.County cricket has long been lamented; indeed, in the 1990s, it was said to be the primary cause of England’s poorly-performing Test side, contrasting starkly with Australia’s fiercely competitive domestic system. A decade later and things are changing, according to Law.Speaking to , he said: “The gap is definitely closing. It has certainly become more and more professional. I think a big move was sacking those guys who just wanted to pay off their mortgages and replacing them with players who want to improve themselves and, one day, play for England.”Law is in the unique position of having played in significant seasons in both Australia’s and England’s domestic game. He captained Queensland to their first Pura Cup title, spent time with Essex and, most recently, has continued his prolific run-scoring for Lancashire.”The standard of cricket in England has improved dramatically since I first came here. It’s that competitiveness that comes from the overseas influences and the hard grind of it all. You have to know how to fight, and that is being bred into the English system these days. It all adds up to hard-nosed cricket.””In England these days there’s so much cricket that it really plays on the body and the mind but there’s no chance to let up,” he added. “You might have just finished a game, driven across the country and woken up to be facing Shoaib Akhtar or Shane Warne the next day. You have to be on your game every day of the week. If you’re not, some of these guys will make fools of you.”As much as England’s domestic system has improved, Law concluded with a note of caution: “I wouldn’t say that England are on the verge of controlling world cricket for the next 10 years just yet. But there are some very promising guys in the county ranks that, in a couple of years from now, could be very good.”

Ed Cowan, the New South Wales batsman, has been ruled out of the ING Cup and Pura Cup matches against Western Australia at Perth this week. Cowan hurt his toe in grade cricket and could be out for four to six weeks after doctors ruled that he needed surgery. He has been replaced in the one-day squad by Craig Simmons, a 22-year-old left-handed opener, while Greg Mail has been named as Cowan’s replacement in the Pura Cup squad.Simmons was with Western Australia till last season, but moved to Sydney in the hope of furthering his first-class career. The match against his former state will be his first one for New South Wales.Meanwhile, Aaron O’Brien has also been picked in the Pura Cup squad after scoring an unbeaten 227 in a second XI game against Victoria. O’Brien, an allrounder, has been a member of the one-day squad this season.

The board of Zimbabwe Cricket should finally meet on Saturday in Harare to discuss a number of issues which might culminate in the appointment of a new captain and new selection panel.The board, headed by beleaguered chairman Peter Chingoka, has not met since September 12 when it briefly convened in Bulawayo following the annual general meeting held earlier in the day. That meeting has since been declared null and void as only seven out of the 12 members attended and therefore did not constitute a quorum in terms of the organisation’s constitution.It is not yet clear whether all the members will turn up this time as a number of them have refused to attend meetings called by Chingoka as part of the ongoing row blighting the game.A new captain is expected to be announced following the retirement of Tatenda Taibu last week. Allrounder Andy Blignaut, currently playing franchise cricket for Highveld Lions in South Africa, is favourite, although he blotted his copybook somewhat when he joined the strike in 2004, and top-order batsman Hamilton Masakadza is also in the frame.A fresh selection panel should also be unveiled. A new panel was named at the illegal September 12 meeting, comprising Bruce Makovah (convener), Ethan Dube, Macsood Ebrahim and Robin Brown, but they never assumed their duties and the old panel, led by Ebrahim with Dube and Richard Kaschula, selected the squads for the two Tests against India. As things stand, the selectors won’t have too much to do as almost all the country’s players have said they will refuse to play while Chingoka remains.The board is also expected to clarify the status of former national coach Phil Simmons who was sacked in August following Zimbabwe’s dismal showing in the two Tests against New Zealand. It subsequently emerged that Simmons’s dismissal was probably unconstitutional as it was made by senior board officials rather than the board as a whole. That led to Simmons taking ZC to court for unfair dismissal.Whatever happens, the meeting will be overshadowed by the escalating crisis engulfing the game, and the ongoing investigations by the Sports and Recreation Commission and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

England’s cricketers had their first glimpse of the blanket security arrangements for their 48-hour stop-over in Karachi, as they practised at the National Stadium ahead of Thursday’s day-night match against Pakistan. With up to 3000 policemen drafted in to exercise crowd control, and the elite paramilitary Rangers on hand to protect the players as well, authorities on both sides are optimistic that the match will pass without a glitch.In the midst of it all, there is an intriguing tussle developing on the pitch. With three matches to come, the sides are locked at 1-1 after the Lahore leg of the series, although it is Pakistan who have the momentum, having seen off a sluggish opposition by seven wickets in the most recent fixture on Monday. On that occasion, England could justifiably claim to have been hampered by a late night of BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, but since then they’ve had two days to recover, and prepare for a final surge of effort before the Christmas break.England, however, will have to bounce back without the services of their most destructive one-day batsman. Kevin Pietersen has flown home early, after aggravating a rib injury while batting in the second match, and his absence will be sorely felt by an England batting line-up that gelled impressively in the opening fixture, where Pietersen himself slammed a 35-ball half-century.”Pietersen is a big blow to England because he is a very dangerous player,” said Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, as he spoke to the press at the National Stadium. “But we can’t underestimate England at all and we’ve still got to beat them to win the series.”Pietersen’s absence will be compounded by the presence in Pakistan’s starting line-up of Shahid Afridi, who missed the Lahore Test plus the first two one-day internationals while serving a ban for tampering with the state of the pitch at Faisalabad. “He will certainly play,” confirmed Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, “because he gives strength to our batting and bowling.”Woolmer added that Pakistan had a full squad to choose from, and though he refused to speculate who would make way for Afridi’s return, the likely fall guy is his fellow legspinner, Danish Kaneria, who suffered a nasty-looking shoulder injury while fielding during the second match. Shoaib Akhtar, who bowled with heavy strapping on his leg during his five-wicket blitz on Monday, is geared up for a further onslaught on England’s batting.England, meanwhile, are in a state of mild disarray. They are already lacking the services of Michael Vaughan in the middle-order, but Pietersen’s absence is a huge blow to the balance of the side. It is expected that the Supersub, Vikram Solanki, who came to the rescue with a finely crafted 39 not out, will step into the breach, with Ian Bell or Kabir Ali likely to fill the final space on the 12-man teamsheet.After a week in which the nebulous issue of Supersubs has come under increasing scrutiny, even the softly-spoken Inzamam decided enough was enough. “The rule should be scrapped from limited-overs cricket,” he said, before conceding that it could still be workable if the substitute is named after the toss.Talking of the toss, it is likely to be the least critical of the five in this series, given that Karachi has fewer issues of dew in the evening, and longer daylight hours as well. It has plenty other issues to compensate, mind you, although Inzamam was confident that the game would pass peacefully.”There are no security fears for sportsmen in this city,” he said. “I think more and more international matches should be organised here.” If everything goes to plan tomorrow, Inzamam should have his wish.Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Mohammad Yousuf, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Shoaib Malik, 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9 Rana Naved, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Mohammad Sami, 12 Arshad Khan.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick (capt), 2 Matt Prior, 3 Andrew Strauss, 4 Vikram Solanki, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ian Blackwell, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steve Harmison, 12 Ian Bell.

Zimbabwe’s players have described as “shocking” the decision by the government-appointed Zimbabwe Cricket interim board to suspend itself from Test cricket. The players said they were not informed about the decision prior to being announced.Blessing Mahwire, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers Association, said the pull-out was a major setback. “It’s a huge disappointment,” he said. “I know that we don’t have the numbers to play Test cricket at the moment, but I don’t think we are better off not playing Tests.”Douglas Hondo, one of the older players in a relatively young team, said he felt sad, but added that he had made up his mind about his future in Zimbabwe cricket. “I was shocked. I only head about it on the internet. Test cricket is the highest level we can play, and right now guys are really don’t know what to do.”Meanwhile, the players were not in mood to talk about anything but their money when they had a short meeting with their representative Clive Field today. “Nothing else was discussed,” Field said. “The position was that we have to resolve the money issue first. The guys didn’t was to talk about anything else. The feeling is that nothing can proceed unless things are resolved. That’s what is critical at the moment.”

Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh stadium has emerged as a leading contender to host the ICC Champions Trophy matches following commercial glitches at the venues originally selected for the tournament. Maqbul Dudhia, the ICC representative, and Rick Jamieson, a Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) official, inspected the venue which hosted a one-dayer between India and Sri Lanka in October 2005.According to the host nation agreement of the ICC, the venues chosen must be free from ground signages and other sponsorship obligations. Nagpur, Mohali and Hyderabad are the other centres in the running to host the matches. Subhash Joshi, secretary of the Rajasthan Cricket Association and former Ranji cricketers Taposh Chatterjee and Shamsher Singh met with the ICC and GCC officials.”We shall submit our report to the ICC and the final decision will be taken. We will be visiting Nagpur, Mohali, Kolkata and Hyderabad to look at alternative venues,” said Dudhia. Joshi said Jaipur had a better chance of being awarded matches as neither the association nor the venue had any kind of sponsorship contract.New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata were the venues originally identified by the ICC, but all these cities have pre-existing contracts with various corporates, which goes against the ICC’s sponsorship policies.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A total of 288 for 9 – thanks to fluent innings from Nathan Astle, Jamie How and Stephen Fleming – proved more than enough for New Zealand as they completed an 81- run win over West Indies at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.Winning the toss and choosing to bat on a good pitch, New Zealand were given a fine 136-run partnership as Astle and How tore into an indifferent opening spell from West Indies. Cashing in on the wayward bowling, both veteran and rookie cut, drove and pulled their way to fifties by the half-way stage of their innings. At the top of his game today, Astle played the senior role to perfection in his 90, showing How the way to handle matters and seize the initiative when the opposition is down.Upping the tempo with some glorious pull shots, How overtook Astle quite early and raised New Zealand’s fifty in the 11th over with a ferocious pull over midwicket for four before bringing up his second one-day international fifty in the 21st over. Growing in confidence, he had reached 66 from 91 deliveries when he was bowled by Chris Gayle. Making room to loft a fast yorker-length delivery pitched on middle and leg, How completely missed the line and became the first casualty of the day. Fleming, off the mark with a glorious cover drive for four, was then the dominant partner in an 88-run stand for the second wicket with Astle. Looking at ease at the No.3 position, Fleming worked the ball around the fielders and lent solidity to the innings to carry on the platform laid down by the openers. Unfazed and uncomplicated, he raced to fifty with some crashing shots either side of the wicket.At one stage it looked as if the hosts would get well over 300, but West Indies hit back with the wickets of Fleming and Astle and allowing just 67 runs and two – yes, just two – fours while seizing six wickets in the last ten overs. If the bowling attack was pedestrian in the early stages of the game then in the latter half it was instrumental in stemming the run flow. Gayle, sending down his innocuous offbreaks, was the key man in controlling Astle and turning the heat on the home side. Cool, calm and collected as only Gayle can be, he wound up one end while Dwayne Smith bowled his slow medium pacers at the other, and the combination proved vital. Fidel Edwards, who took a beating early on, bowled with venom at the death and his figures of 10-0-65-1 did little justice to the efforts he put in. Ian Bradshaw too came back from a poor opening spell to bowl an accurate line, while Rawl Lewis, the Supersub, proved competent on his first international appearance in seven years, picking up the wicket of Brendon McCullum.This stirring fightback from the bowlers wrested the impetus from New Zealand, but ultimately, the total would suffice as West Indies were similarly choked in their own reply. Their inability to chase down targets has been a major issue for West Indies, and today’s performance was a glaring reminder. Shane Bond, getting good lateral movement, struck the first blow when he forced Gayle to hit over the top and hole out to Daniel Vettori at deep cover (10 for 1). Impetuosity has long been the bane of Gayle’s batting, and today he flattered to deceive again. After crunching James Franklin’s first ball through the covers with an air of disdain, his nothing shot to Bond opened up the gates for further trouble. Runako Morton, another batsman making a comeback to the side, was beaten all ends up by Franklin going for an expansive drive off the back foot the first ball he faced.Daren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan had their moments of nerves to begin with, but overcame the initial pressure to add 88 for the third wicket in good time. Ganga, returning to the one-day scene after more than three years, struck two sweet boundaries in the 14th over – a firm pull and a sumptuous cover drive off Franklin – as he set about shouldering the run chase. Settling into his groove with a couple of good drives square of the wicket, Sarwan began rotating the strike, and with Ganga going hard at the other end their partnership looked good for more before Scott Styris struck. Having just glanced Styris down to fine leg for four, Ganga was forced to check a loose drive and the ball bobbed straight to Astle at cover (102 for 3).Sarwan kept his cool to carry on to fifty, but by the 30th over the run rate had sneaked its way past 7, and the pressure had begun to show on Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Jeetan Patel, New Zealand’s Supersub, came and dismissed Chanderpaul just when he was beginning to shuffle across his stumps and nudge the ball for quick singles. Giving the ball a tweak from his high-arm action, he ripped one across Chanderpaul’s awkward stance and past his legs to hit the stumps. Dumbfounded, Chanderpaul took a second to figure out what had happened, but by then Patel and his team-mates were whooping it up halfway down the pitch.New Zealand’s best bowler on show, however, was Vettori, who teased and tempted through his spell. Unafraid to flight the ball, Vettori bowled well, varying his line and maintaining impressive control. Dismissing Wavell Hinds by forcing him into a rash slog to Franklin on the cover boundary, Vettori then trained his sights on the dangerous Sarwan, who had progressed to 56. Having already beaten Sarwan in the flight – both in the drive and the cut – Vettori backed his instincts and gave the ball a little more air. Sarwan, prodding a tame drive off the front foot, got a thin edge that popped off McCullum’s shoulder and lobbed up towards point, where Lou Vincent ran forward and held a fine catch.Smith came, whipped three effortless sixes – two off Patel in the 38th over – but ultimately succumbed to the pressure of a mounting run rate. Good field placing added pressure and West Indies were finally bowled out for 207. Patel, who played the Supersub role to perfection with two wickets, a catch and a run-out, provided fine support to Vettori in stifling West Indies. New Zealand lead the five-match series 1-0, and the heat is definitely on West Indies.How they were outWest Indies
Chris Gayle c Vettori b Bond 6 (10 for 1)
Runako Morton b Franklin 0 (14 for 2)
Daren Ganga c Astle b Styris 54 (102 for 3)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul b Patel 18 (137 for 4)
Wavell Hinds c Franklin b Vettori 3 (142 for 5)
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Vincent b Vettori 56 (153 for 6)
Denesh Ramdin c Styris b Mason (184 for 7)
Rawl Lewis run out (Patel) 5 (191 for 8)
Dwayne Smith c Patel b Mason 38 (191 for 9)
Fidel Edwards c Franklin b Patel 3 (207 for 10)
New Zealand
Jamie How b Gayle 66 (136 for 1)
Stephen Fleming c Chanderpaul b Smith 55 (224 for 2)
Nathan Astle c Bradshaw b Smith 90 (234 for 3)
Brendon McCullum b Ramdin b Lewis 2 (240 for 4)
Peter Fulton c Smith b Gayle 7 (255 for 5)
James Franklin c Lewis b 2 (259 for 6)
Hamish Marshall run-out (Smith) 7 (278 for 7)
Scott Styris lbw b Edwards 36 (288 for 8)

On the same night that the official New Zealand Cricket Awards were being presented at a prestigious dinner in Auckland, the Beige Brigade, the country’s official unofficial supporters group, revealed their own less serious annual gongs.The comments appended to each award are those made by the judging panel.Disappointment of the Year
South Africa, for ruining New Zealand’s world record run chase by more than 100 runs.Jerry Collins Trophy
Awarded for the most meritorious tackle by a security guard or policeman at one-day international: Security Guard v Woman Streaker at the Twenty20. Unconsciousness almost Dean Lonergan-style shaking. And she was quite nice looking.Merv Hughes Memorial Trophy
Awarded for the most meritorious effort by a piece of cricket clothing in international cricket: Although Chris Cairns’ beige shirt was hanging on for dear life in the Twenty20, Lou Vincent’s self-downtrou was a winner. The risk factor was brilliant – it was almost an on-field streak. Extra points for partial nudity as well.Bloodbath Cup
Awarded to the crowd with the most arrests at international cricket: Eden Park, Twenty20. The high calibre of security guards in place after the Australian series debauchery in the terraces was no match for this crowd. There were streakers galore, none of whom even came out of the terraces. The ones from the out of the family area were magnificent.The Adolf Medal
Awarded to the ground with the stupidest rule: A hotly contested prize with loads of contenders but the “No sitting in the front three rows” rules at Eden Park, Wellington Stadium and Jade Stadium was the dumbest of the lot. Even our nanas could throw an apple, a bottle or a small child that far if they really wanted to hit a player. Other nominations included Eden Park where spectators were only allowed to buy two beers at a time at the terraces, even if there was no queue; McLean Park, scene of the infamous “No girls kissing” farago; Wellington Stadium where spectators were told not to “yell too loud”; and the runner-up was Eden Park where, it is claimed, men weren’t allowed to buy wine.The Beige Brigade Player of the Year
A pre-eminent award, presented to the player whose performances in New Zealand Cricket have best honoured the “yesterday’s men” of cricket: Disappointing that it goes to an Aussie, but Victorian Mick Lewis should be Adidas’ new poster boy (‘Impossible is Nothing’) for his extraordinary effort to destroy Martin Snedden’s worst bowling figures in an ODI record. Lewis bowled a full two overs less than Sneds and we assume he is now ‘retired’ from all international cricket. Other nominees included Andre Adams for his consistent use of the headband even in domestic cricket and Jeetan Patel, for his sneaky little moustache he grew for the Twenty20 match.“In A Terrible State” Plate
Awarded to the oddest looking person in New Zealand cricket: F Payne. Good bloke, great statistician. Look for him on Sky TV (perhaps even with his own show?)

Sanath Jayasuriya, the Sri Lankan opener, has announced that he will retire from Test cricket following the current series against Pakistan. However, he will continue his one-day international career and is available for the World Cup next year.Jayasuriya, 36, has been one of the stars of Sri Lanka’s batting for over a decade. His decision means he won’t tour England this summer, the scene of arguably his finest hour when he made 219 at The Oval in 1998. He is Sri Lanka’s most prolific batsman in both forms of the game.Following the announcement he said: “I thought about it long and hard and decided that’s it. It’s a very emotional moment, but I guess every good thing has to come to an end.”Jayasuriya has been plagued by injury problems in recent times and only made the first Test against Pakistan after a late fitness test. However, he made just six and 13 in Colombo and that performance, along with the development of young batsmen such as Upul Tharanga, probably played a part in his decision.

Bangladesh, who caused one of the biggest upsets in one-day history when they beat Australia at Cardiff last June, may well be looking for a repeat as the three-match one-day series kicks off tomorrow at Chittagong.Following a 2-0 Test series loss, when they came perilously close to beating Australia in the first game, Bangladesh needed a shot in the arm. They have always looked more at home in the shorter version, and would take inspiration from their recent form. In March, Bangladesh completed a 4-0 whitewash over Kenya, and even took one match off Sri Lanka in a three-game series in late February. Both successes secured their place in October’s Champions Trophy in India.On the flip side, Australia’s last one-day match has been well-documented. March 12, 2006 will always be remembered as the day South Africa chased down 434 in arguably one of the greatest one-day internationals ever. Ricky Ponting, though, has urged his side to forget about the Johannesburg epic and transfer their recent Test success – they have not lost a Test since surrendering the Ashes last September – into the one-day format.In the ODI Championship table, Australia sit 13 points clear of their nearest challenger, South Africa, while Bangladesh lie at the 10th spot. An unlikely two wins will see Bangladesh’s rating rise by six points to 30 (Australia will slip to 128) and a miraculous 3-0 success will lift them to 33 rating points (Australia 126).From the side that lost 2-0 in the Tests, Enamul Haque jnr and Abdur Razzak, both left-arm spinners, have made way for Tushar Imran, the middle-order batsman, and Syed Rasel, the young left-arm medium-pacer.Dan Cullen, the offspinner, is set to make his one-day debut. “Dan Cullen will make his debut tomorrow and we get to have another look at Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Bracken is back in the team for us,” Ponting told reporters. He expected the Chittagong pitch to take plenty of turn, but said there should be plenty of runs in it as well for the batsmen. “We’ve got two spinners in [Brad] Hogg and Cullen which we think will suit the conditions.”Australia (probable): 1 Simon Katich, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Brad Hogg, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Nathan Bracken, 10 Dan Cullen, 11 Mitchell Johnson.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Javed Omar, 2 Shahriar Nafees, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Rajin Saleh, 6 Aftab Ahmed, 7 Khaled Mashud (wk), 8 Mohammad Rafique, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Syed Rasel 11, Shahadat Hossain.