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Jamie Dalrymple enhanced his prospects of a maiden Test call-up as England A overcame a freak injury to Matthew Hoggard on the third day of their warm-up match against the Pakistanis at Canterbury.Hoggard was trodden on by his team-mate, Tim Bresnan, during a knockabout game of rugby, and was forced to sit out the day’s play after having six stitches inserted in his bowling hand. He was not missed, however, as Dalrymple combined with his spin partner, Alex Loudon, to bowl Pakistan out for just 242. By the close, England had opted not to enforce the follow-on, with Rob Key the only casualty as they closed on 35 for 1.It was an impressive day’s work from Dalrymple, who demonstrated his aptitude for international cricket during the one-day series against Sri Lanka. Once again, he bowled with guile and skill to claim 4 for 61 in 24 overs. Loudon mopped up the tail with three of the last four wickets to fall, although the last man, Mohammad Asif, did not bat after suffering an elbow injury on the second morning of the match.The mainstays of Pakistan’s innings were Salman Butt and Faisal Iqbal, who each contributed a timely half-century, but their middle-order stalwarts, Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq, both missed the opportunity for some useful middle practice. They were dismissed for ducks, as Yousuf hooked loosely at Stuart Broad to be caught in the deep, and Inzamam top-edged a pull off Dalrymple and was caught by Loudon, running round from slip.It might have been even worse for Pakistan, had Faisal not been dropped by Ian Bell at slip when he had made just 2. Of the last seven batsmen, only Abdul Razzaq (37) and Mohammad Sami (28 not out) reached double figures. The rest managed just one run between them, as Dalrymple and Loudon spun their web.England’s successful day began in the first hour, as Chris Read and Broad resumed their overnight stand, eventually adding 127 unbeaten runs for the tenth wicket. Read swept Danish Kaneria for six to reach 150 not out, while Broad registered his maiden first-class fifty. England declared on 595 for 9, whereupon Bresnan atoned for his nobbling of Hoggard by taking the first wicket to fall, that of Imran Farhat for 16.Farhat had his vengeance late in the day when he came on for a three-over spell and picked up the wicket of Key, but with just one day remaining, this match seems sure to end as a draw. It has not been without incident, however, with Key, Read and Dalrymple all advancing their Test claims for England, and injuries to Hoggard, Asif and Kamran Akmal providing moments of concern for the respective team managements.

The Ashes are looming once again for Ian Bell, but this time he is ready to look his opponents in the eye, as he continues his remarkable resurgence as an international batsman. As the final Test of the English summer approaches, and thoughts begin to drift towards the rematch in Australia in three months’ time, Bell, it would seem, is one big innings away from guaranteeing himself a place in the line-up for the first Test at Brisbane in November.It’s quite a turnaround from the situation he faced on his last visit to The Oval, the Ashes decider last September, when an overawed Bell recorded a pair to complete a traumatic personal series. “Looking back now,” he recalled, “it’s something I wouldn’t change. Obviously I’d have loved a hundred or some runs personally, but I’d still rather have won the Ashes and got a pair. To be involved at such a young age was something special.”One year on and Bell has got no such worries now. He in in the midst of a golden run of form that has earned him three centuries in as many Tests, and the subtle but unmistakeable change of approach has forced even those who doubted his mental fortitude to reassess their man. Among the doubters, it seems, was Bell himself.”I’ve always enjoyed my cricket, but I don’t know whether I believed I was good enough at this level,” he explained. “Now I believe I am. [In the past] I was a young player in the presence of world-class players and I wasn’t looking them in the eye. Now I’ve worked on my body language, and I’ve got a bit more presence out there. It’s about walking out there with your chest out and believing in yourself.””I’m feeling more positive and I’m feeling as if I belong,” Bell added, as he sized up the prospect of scoring a hundred in four consecutive matches – a feat that has only ever been achieved by ten other batsmen, and only one other Englishman, Ken Barrington (who managed it twice, in 1961-62 and 1967-68).”In the past my consistency has been lacking,” he said. “I’ve scored some runs and then made some low scores, but this series I’ve backed that up with real consistency. I’m very pleased with what I’ve achieved in three Tests, but if I start changing the way I’ve been preparing and start thinking of another hundred, it’s not going to happen. I’ll just prepare like I have been all along and not expect it. If it happens, then great.”The turning point of Bell’s summer – and maybe even his career – came at Lord’s in May, when he was omitted from the starting line-up for the first Test against Sri Lanka. “Being left out and driving away that morning was quite hard,” he admitted. “I don’t want to be doing that again, but it was a real chance to look at things and work out areas that I could do better. I definitely think that set-back has helped me.”If the experience really has made him stronger ahead of the winter’s campaigns, then so much the better for England’s prospects. “I just need to keep scoring the runs,” he said. “It’s a big match for us all, our last before Australia, and so it’s an important one personally for everyone. There is competition for places, which is good, but I believe I’m a lot more experienced now. I’ve had a winter in the subcontinent, and I’ll have 18-19 Test matches under my belt [when we get to Australia], instead of three.”As for being back at The Oval, Bell admitted that the memories were still fresh from last September. “That series was something we’ll never forget,” he said. “It was great to be involved and when you walk into the dressing-room, you do remember. Given the highs we were on that time, if we can finish this series 3-0, that would complete a great 12 months.”

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

The controversial history of cricket between these two countries was given another chapter, during an extraordinary fourth day at The Oval, as the spectre of ball tampering reared its ugly head. It started with the umpires calling for a replacement ball midway through the afternoon and ended with the abandonment of the final day. What went on in between will go down in the darker side of cricket history.The day began to unravel when the umpires called for a change of ball at the end of the 56th over, with England 230 for 3. It had started to reverse swing for Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, but Darrell Hair spotted something he wasn’t happy with and was seen pointing at the ball in conversation with Billy Doctrove. The fourth umpire, Trevor Jesty, then ran onto the field with a new box of balls which, under the Laws, the England batsmen were allowed to pick from. Play resumed until tea, but that was only the start of the drama.Bad light had taken the players off before the scheduled interval however, Pakistan had been hurt by the accusations of cheating and wanted to make a protest about the umpires’ actions. They had planned to delay the restart by a few moments, but when the umpires reached the middle and weren’t followed by the Pakistan side they walked off.Inzamam had appeared on the players’ balcony, but on seeing Hair and Doctrove making an about turn headed back in the dressing room and the doors were shut behind him. Then the umpires went back onto the field, followed by Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell. Still, the Pakistan team stayed in their dressing room while Hair and Doctrove removed the bails and left the field.The immediate thoughts were that the match might have been abandoned, the umpires taking Pakistan’s stance as a refusal to take the field and therefore forfeiting the Test. However, with no information coming out of official channels it was all speculation. A series of hastily arranged meetings between board officials, including the ECB Chairman David Morgan and his PCB counterpart Shahrayar Khan, began and Pakistan officials emerged form the dressing room and gave thumbs up to a frustrated crowd.Then came the most farcical moment. Inzamam led his team onto the field, stood for a few moments, before realising the umpires weren’t going to appear. Seemingly they didn’t believe the match was still in play. England’s players and officials stood bemused on their balcony while everyone, including a sell-out crowd, waited for a morsel of information.Finally, Khan made a statement on behalf of the PCB clarifying that Pakistan were ready to play and it was a problem with the umpires. “We have indicated very clearly that we can go out and play, in fact the boys came out and that we want the Test match to continue.”Both teams were informed just after six o’clock that play was abandoned for the day. Nothing came from the ICC, who are actually the body in control of the game, until a very limp statement via the ECB saying that high level discussions were taking place in a hope of securing play on the final day. That didn’t happens, but the action on the field will long be forgotten when this match is recounted.

That is a great shame because, up until the start of the controversy, it had been a fascinating days play with England fighting hard to save the game with Kevin Pietersen to the fore. Reverse swing had played a major part in the removal of Alastair Cook for a fighting 83, giving Pakistan a vital lift after England had reduced the deficit into double figures. Cook and Pietersen added 103 for the fourth wicket, although Cook survived three let-offs.Danish Kaneria suffered most of the frustration as Cook popped a catch to silly point in the first over of the day, but Doctrove turned down the appeal. Then Cook escaped again, on 40, when he was bowled off a no-ball by the legspinner. That wasn’t the end of his fortune when, on 47, he pulled Mohammad Asif to square leg but Faisal Iqbal couldn’t hang on. However, he survived to reach fifty off 93 balls.Andrew Strauss started the day in fine form, driving and pull crisply in a 69-ball fifty, before being trapped on the back foot by Kaneria, although replays suggested he was outside off stump. It ended a fine series for Strauss which brought 444 runs at 63.Pietersen entered on a king pair but he quickly imposed himself on the bowlers, although he too received a life, on 15, when Kamran Akmal couldn’t gather an outside edge off Kaneria. He dominated the third-wicket stand with a 57-ball fifty, striking meaty blows off the seamers and spinners alike.However, a desire to reach three figures brought his downfall when he bottom-edged a wide ball from Shahid Nazir and Akmal clung onto a sharp, low chance in front of first slip. Pakistan were still well on track for victory and, in normal circumstances, an absorbing contest between to closely matched teams would have filled the column inches. Now it will be consigned to a footnote in history.

How they were out

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ScorecardSurrey have bounced right back into Division One after riding roughshod over Glamorgan to complete a thumping 218-run victory inside three days and with it secure their return to the top flight after just one season.Centuries from Ally Brown and Mark Butcher helped them to course into a second-innings lead of 473 before declaring on 309 for 5. Brown rattled up a quickfire 107 not out from 88 balls and Butcher was in a similar hurry to start the celebrations, blasting 108 from 139 balls, before he became one of David Harrison’s three victims.Surrey then dismissed the visitors Glamorgan for 245, with David Hemp’s century going in vain. Hemp bludgeoned 155 in 177 balls but that was still far from enough to save the visitors as a triumphant Surrey attack kept up a relentless assault.Chris Schofield led them, taking 3 for 2 in 11 balls, and he was joined in his efforts by fellow spinners Nayan Doshi and Ian Salisbury, who each bagged two. Michael Powell’s was the only other innings of note for Glamorgan – he made 43 – but nothing could stop Surrey today and they will be celebrating at The Oval tonight.”This is obviously a great result for us as this was our main aim at the start of the season,” said Alan Butcher, the Surrey coach. “But we still have one more job to do and that is to make sure we finish on top of the table. It’s been a fantastic allround effort by the squad and to win Division Two would be the icing on the cake.” (Click here to listen to the audio).Click here to listen to Mark Butcher’s conversation with Mark Church after Surrey’s memorable win.

Dave Richardson, the ICC general manager cricket, has explained that the Members’ Participation Agreement (MPA) from 2007 to 2015 will provide greater flexibility for players taking part in ICC events.While almost all the other ICC members are ready to sign the MPA, the Indian board announced last week that it would not do so it in its present form because it affected its commercial interests.The MPA is a document which lays down guidelines and restrictions that the players must follow for ICC events, including those that deal with ambush marketing. “The new MPA will be more flexible for players than previous agreements regulating participation in ICC events,” Richardson said. “In drafting the player terms that fall within the MPA we have taken on board the views of players, including views expressed from India, to build a framework of agreements that will provide added benefits to players.”Players will be faced with fewer restrictions regarding their own endorsement deals and will have greater control over the use of their own player attributes before, during and after ICC events,” he continued. “The formal and informal discussions that we have had with players and their representatives indicate widespread support for these developments. The new system will have the added benefit of incorporating clearer guidelines and opportunities for all.”While the ICC is required to deal directly with the Indian board on player issues, I’ve always enjoyed a good relationship with the Indian captain Rahul Dravid and several of their leading players and, should the BCCI permit, I’d welcome an opportunity to answer any queries they may have.”However, the India board has taken a firm stand. “I think we made it very clear that we will not be able to sign the document in its current form,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI treasurer, told . “We differ on basic issues and are clear that certain basic minimum changes are required. We will inform the ICC of this by Monday, the deadline they have set us.”Percy Sonn, the ICC president, had said that if India failed to sign the MPA then it was possible that it could not continue as one of the joint hosts of the 2011 World Cup. However, he added that he hoped that an agreement would be reached and common sense would prevail.

Pakistan have lodged a formal written complaint against umpire Darrell Hair with the ICC and have asked for an inquiry into his conduct during the controversial Oval Test in August.”The letter outlines instances where we feel he violated the Code of Conduct,” said board spokesman Saleem Altaf. “We believe that an inquiry is necessary as it will have a bearing on the compensation claim.”The Pakistan board has rejected a claim for compensation totaling £800,000 lodged by its English counterparts. It maintains that the abandonment of the Oval Test resulted from the actions of the umpires and it should fall on the ICC, which employs all match officials, to cover such a claim.

Gwen Herath, the flag bearer of women’s cricket in Sri Lanka for nearly a decade, is no longer running the show but has silently quit following the merger of the Women’s Cricket Association of Sri Lanka (WCASL) with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).The merger – an ICC requirement in which all women’s associations will merge with their country’s board – means that Herath will have no big role to play. She is reduced to being the head of a five-member women’s cricket committee of the SLC.”I decided to step down gracefully two weeks ago,” she said. “I will make arrangements to dissolve the women’s association for the full merger to take effect.”Herath admitted that she does not like working with interim bodies. “In other countries the women’s cricket associations have merged with elected bodies. With interim bodies you can’t fight injustice.”With an elected body you can take up matters which are irregular. But with interim bodies whom can you complain to? You have to complain to the Sports Minister who is responsible for appointing the interim body.”However she said she welcomed the merger because it means that, in the long run, female players stand to benefit greatly coming under SLC. She revealed that the women’s association were able to give the girls only US$ 100 for an entire tournament or tour in the past but, by merging with SLC, each member of the Asia Cup side will receive US$ 25 per day as pocket money and the officials US$ 40 per day. Even sponsorships will be the responsibility of SLC.During Herath’s tenure as president of WCASL she was able to raise Rs.2million (US$ 18,400) a year for five years through sponsorship from Singer, the sponsors of the national men’s cricket team when they won the World Cup in 1996.Herath was the life-blood of women’s cricket having inaugurated the women’s association in 1996 and seeing the country participate in three World Cup tournaments in 1997, 2000 and 2005.”Right throughout my presidency we were ranked sixth in the world out of 13 countries,” she said.One of Sri Lanka’s versatile cricket administrators, Herath was responsible for making Sri Lanka a member of the International Women’s Cricket Council in 1997 and for bringing Sri Lanka under the aegis of the ICC in 2005. She was also the first woman to hold the post of president of the male-dominated Puttalam District Cricket Association for 15 years.

Graeme Smith had to seek refuge in humour when asked about a pitch thathas put his team in an unenviable position heading into the final two daysat Newlands. Smith showed the way with a superb 94, but no other batsmanbuilt on a start to construct a substantial innings, leaving South Africa41 adrift at the end of the first innings. With the pitch affording sharp turn, albeit ofthe slow kind, South Africa will need to bowl out of their skins on dayfour to keep alive slim hopes of victory.”Never ever,” said Smith when asked if he had ever seen a pitch such asthis in South Africa. “Never ever, and hopefully never again,” he addedwith a rueful laugh.But having set such a good example with the bat, Smith was in no mood toconcede victory to the Indians. “It’s not hard to win,” he said. “We justhave to play well. I think the wicket deteriorated a lot more than what weexpected. It took a lot of turn from both ends. There was more turn to theright-handers.”I think the other key to their success was the reverse-swinging ball.They got it to reverse early and that’s going to be the key to our successtoo. There has not been a lot of natural swing around with the dryconditions. We have to come up with a plan and get that. Obviously, howour spinner and part-timers bowl will also be key. But with a 40-odd lead,they have their noses slightly ahead.”India waited till the 116th over before Sreesanth was given the second newball, but Smith admitted that the decision to keep going with the old ballhadn’t surprised him. “We were going well and the ball was reverseswinging a lot,” he said. “The ball was quite soft and it was difficult toscore freely. They were creating pressure with the swinging and turningball.”Though the association between Smith and Hashim Amla realised only 29 moreruns in the morning, vital partnerships between Jacques Kallis and AshwellPrince, and Shaun Pollock and Mark Boucher, got South Africa within rangeof India’s total. And though he regretted not pushing on past 414, Smithpraised his batsmen for the manner in which they had adjusted to achallenging surface.”Talking to the guys who were batting, they were saying that the ball wasquite soft and to create any pace on it was difficult,” he said. “Therewere some soft dismissals today but we shifted into a subcontinental frameof mind. It was also important to keep them under pressure.”Despite his reluctance to make any sort of excuse, there was no hidingSmith’s irritation at his team’s predicament on a pitch that Wasim Jafferadmitted was like a New Year gift to the Indians. “It’s like playing inIndia,” said Smith candidly. “Batting fourth is always going to be thetoughest part of the game and I think this wicket will break up a little.”A lot of the guys got starts, got to 50, but unfortunately no one took iton today. Those were the positives for us going forward. If we can takethe initiative and put India under pressure [with the ball], it will giveus an opportunity. The turning ball is going to be an issue.”Anil Kumble wasn’t at his best on day three, but still finished withfigures of 4 for 117. It would surprise no one if Smith has the oddnightmare contemplating what he might do on a fifth-day pitch.

Ricky Ponting has praised the work of the coach John Buchanan for much of Australia’s recent success and believes his successor has an enormous role to fill. While the retirements of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer dominate Australia’s view of the fifth Test at Sydney from Tuesday, it is also Buchanan’s final Test in charge.Buchanan, 53, will stand down after the World Cup in West Indies in April and a search is underway for his replacement. Ponting’s comments come after Kevin Pietersen claimed the Australian coach was not respected by his own players.Ponting said Buchanan and his support staff had been overlooked for a long time and deserved to share in the side’s achievements. “They have to accept some of the accolades that come the team’s way,” Ponting said at the SCG. “You look at the standard of cricket that we’ve been able to play over a long period of time.”Just before John took over and certainly right through his stint as coach we’ve played some amazing cricket. Even this current run, we’ve won 11 matches on the trot. That doesn’t happen every day either. The coach has got to take a lot of the credit for that.”Langer, who announced his Test retirement today, described Buchanan as “the great visionary”. “I’ve learned so much from John Buchanan,” Langer said. “He’s an outstanding person and an outstanding coach. His vision was monumental in the success we’ve had over the last few years.”Buchanan has the exceptional record of 68 wins in 89 Tests in charge, and having started with 15 consecutive victories in 1999-2001, he could finish with 12 straight successes. “He’s been coaching a very skilled and very talented team,” Ponting said. “What you’ve seen some of those players do has been a lot of the time pretty extraordinary, so he’s got to take a lot of the credit for that.”Tom Moody, the former Test and one-day allrounder who is currently with Sri Lanka, and Tim Nielsen, a previous Australia assistant coach, are the front-runners to replace Buchanan.

Saleem Mukuddem, the Bermuda allrounder, is one of three injured players to be missing from Bermuda’s training week in Trinidad.According to the Mukuddem, the lone highlight of an otherwise forgettable tour of Kenya last year, has suffered a lower-back injury and will stay in the country to undergo a CT scan. The other absentees are Stephen Outerbridge, the opening batsman and Stefan Kelly, Bermuda’s fast bowler, who have foot and thigh injuries respectively. All three players, however, are expected to be fit for the World Cricket League in Nairobi at the end of this month.The squad, now reduced to 14, are training in Trinidad to prepare for key battles later in the month. They return home on January 19 before heading straight back out to Kenya, where they play a warm-up match against Uganda on January 28.