Despite his excellent performance in the Sydney Test, Stuart MacGill could find himself out of the squad for the tour to New Zealand. MacGill took 8 for 170 in the game and was named the Man of the Match in Australia’s comprehensive nine-wicket win, but Ricky Ponting indicated in the post-match press conference that MacGill might not find himself on the flight to New Zealand.”Going to New Zealand, the wickets will probably be flatter and won’t turn as much as this one, so the event of playing two legspinners there will probably be unlikely. We’ll probably go back to a more structured sort of line-up over there.”Ponting admitted, though, that MacGill and Shane Warne had shared an excellent rapport during the Test: “They work really closely in the nets leading up to games. They talk a lot out in the middle about how they’re bowling, what they’re trying to do and how they’re trying to get batsmen out. At different times in this game, when they were on together, they were trying to work in a partnership, which is obviously as important with the ball as it is with the bat." Between them, McGill and Warne took 13 of the 20 Pakistani wickets.If MacGill doesn’t make it to New Zealand, he is likely to play an important role for New South Wales, his state team, who have important engagements coming up which coincide with the matches in New Zealand – the Blues, currently second in the table, play a Pura Cup game on March 10, the same day as the first Test begins in Christchurch, while the finals will start on March 18, the same day as the second Test in Wellington. Considering that New Zealand is only a three-hour flight, the selectors may feel that it’s better for MacGill to keep playing state cricket and fly him for the Tests only if necessary.However, MacGill has an excellent chance of making his first Ashes tour, given that the five Tests will be played late in the season in England when the pitches should have dried out and become more conducive to spin.

Following his phenomenal display in the one-day series in South Africa, Kevin Pietersen has been withdrawn from England A’s forthcoming tour of UAE and Sri Lanka. His place has instead gone to the Essex opener and England Under-19 captain, Alistair Cook.Pietersen had not been an original choice for the South Africa one-dayers, but was called into the squad following the withdrawal of Andrew Flintoff, who flew home after the Test series for an operation on his ankle. His response was a haul of three hundreds and a 75 in six innings, for a series total of 454 runs at 151.33.As a consequence, he has shot straight into the reckoning for the Ashes, and with that in mind – plus a slight concern about a hamstring injury that he sustained towards the end of the series – he has been allowed to put his feet up until the beginning of the English season."We believe that this decision is in Kevin’s and England’s best interests," said David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors. "He will now undertake pre-season training with his new county, Hampshire. This break will also ensure that he is able to fully recover from a minor hamstring strain before playing further competitive cricket."He will be replaced in the tour party by Alistair Cook and this will give Alistair valuable experience against high quality opposition in the sub-continent."

Zimbabwe’s selectors have found a new scapegoat for their Test and one-day series defeats in Bangladesh – Phil Simmons, their recently appointed coach.The results confirm that Zimbabwe are now the worst side in the world in both forms of the game – regardless of what the ICC Championships might indicate – but, given the number of major players they have lost in the last two or three years, that is hardly surprising. There were signs of promise. In the one-day series Zimbabwe were 2-0 up before losing the next three games, and in doing so became only the second side to squander a 2-0 lead in a five-match one-day series.As the recriminations started in Harare, Richie Kaschula, a member of the national selection panel and a former national player, told the Herald that the selectors weren’t to blame as they hadn’t had any say in the sides for the last three games.”Actually we are not at all happy about it, and when Simmons arrives at the airport he will head straight for a meeting with us before going home,” Kaschula insisted. “The team is much better than what we have seen of late and something is definitely wrong.”There was a selector – Ethan Dube – with the side, but he returned home early and so left picking the sides to Simmons. Other senior board officials, however, were with the squad.”Phil must be held responsible for what has been happening in Bangladesh,” Kaschula continued. “Phil was left in charge and we, as selectors, are not happy with what has been happening. Phil was in charge of the team and he was doing his own things in selecting the teams that played, ignoring some of the things we told him.”For instance, on the issue of Dion Ebrahim, we told him to drop the player long back but he kept using him and there is also Mluleki Nkala who has been on tour but not playing. He had 16 players to choose a team from, based on the game plan and also the state of the wicket.”When we asked about Nkala on Sunday, Phil said the player was injured but he then phoned back four hours later to say that he was now in the team. Does that mean that he had recovered in those four hours?”Kaschula admitted that the 16-man squad was too heavy and that in future no more than 14 would be picked for one-day series, and also that it was vital that a selector be with the squad at all times.Zimbabwe have a fortnight to regroup before they take on the far more daunting prospect of South Africa.

ScorecardUseful middle-order contributions from Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson boosted Queensland as they made 8 for 302 when bad light brought an early end to play on the opening day of their Pura Cup match against Western Australia at Brisbane. Symonds made 62 and Watson got 60, while James Hopes (41) and Wade Seccombe (35 not out) chipped in handily as well.For Western Australia, Brett Dorey was the most successful bowler, nailing Jimmy Maher and Clinton Perren, the openers, and Watson. He took 3 for 28 before breaking down with a side strain to become the second bowling casualty for the Warriors – Brad Williams had earlier left the field due to stomach cramps, but he returned late in the last session. Dorey, though, has been ruled out of taking further bowling duties in the match, and will only bat if required by the team.Maher, the Queensland captain, was fairly satisfied with the day’s play – his team only needs to secure first-innings points to get the opportunity to host the final, while Western Australia need an outright victory. “Hopefully we can bat for a fair bit longer tomorrow first, score a few more runs and bowl them out reasonably quickly,” Maher said, looking ahead to the action tomorrow. “It’s a pretty even ball game really.”He did, however, express his surprise at Western Australia’s line-up, and the exclusion of Brad Hogg. “I can’t believe that a bloke who plays one-day cricket for Australia can’t play for his state. That’s just amazing.”

Matthew Maynard has confirmed that he will retire from county cricket at the end of the 2005 domestic season – his 21st for Glamorgan. Maynard’s retirement will allow him to focus on coaching duties with England: he took over as assistant coach to England’s one-day squad in September 2004, a position he will continue to undertake this summer.”I’ve fallen out of love with the training,” Maynard admitted. “You’ve got to keep certain standards. I’ve worked hard on fitness over the years, but time has run its course.”Maynard, 39, captained Glamorgan to success in the county championship in 1997, and played for England at Test level in four matches. He also played 14 one-day internationals.His coaching commitments mean that he will be unavailable for his county for some matches this season, which is also his benefit year, as he will take five weeks out to be with the international side.Maynard will miss the Twenty20 competition, a few championship matches and a national league match.Maynard’s stint as England assistant coach got off to a flyer, as England routed Zimbabwe 4-0. But then came a setback, as South Africa romped to a convincing 4-1 victory.

Peter Moores has been appointed as the new director of the ECB’s academy, replacing Rodney Marsh, who is leaving when his contract ends in September.Moores, 42, who is currently the director of cricket at Sussex, will take up the role at the start of October on a three-year contract. A former Sussex wicketkeeper, Moores took over as coach at Hove in 1998 and was widely credited as being instrumental in Sussex winning their first Championship title in 2003.”Peter has a very impressive track record of achievement with Sussex and has made a major contribution to their development as a club,” said Hugh Morris, the ECB’s performance director. “He is an excellent man-manager, a good communicator and has a very clear vision of the direction in which he wants to take the national academy.”Rod Marsh has done a magnificent job in overseeing the development of the academy from scratch into a state-of-the-art, high-performance cricket centre, and Peter’s task will be to take this process to the next level, utilising the full range of resources available in sports science and medicine, coaching and talent identification.”Moores was understandably delighted, although he had some reservations about leaving Hove. “It’s a huge wrench to leave Sussex after all that we have achieved in recent years and I would like to thank the players and everyone within the club for the support they have given me.”My immediate priority this season will, of course, be Sussex, but my long-term vision for the academy will be based around the same ethos that has operated at Hove – one which involves plenty of hard work and careful preparation.”It’s a terrific opportunity for me to work with quality individuals and, hopefully by working together with both the Academy staff and the England management team, to play an important part in the development of the next generation of England players.”Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, also welcomed the appointment. “Our coaching philosophies draw on similar values and I am sure that we will both enjoy working together to the mutual benefit of England cricket.”

Division One

Warwickshire 320 for 5 (Trott 128) v Gloucestershire 254
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Jonathan Trott made his first hundred of the season and Ian Bell continued his fine form with a classy 79, as Warwickshire eased into a promising position on the second day at Gloucester. By the close they led by 66 runs with five wickets remaining, after cashing in on an attack lacking the services of Jon Lewis, who is away on England duty. The innings didn’t start so promisingly, as both openers, Nick Knight and Michael Powell, fell cheaply, but Trott and Bell made amends with a third-wicket stand of 151. Alex Loudon chipped in with 47 to take Warwickshire into the lead, although their day was spoiled slightly when both he and Trott fell in quick succession late in the day, to the spin pairing of Upul Chandana and Ian Fisher.
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Middlesex batted throughout the final day at Lord’s to draw with Surrey. For a full report see Match of the Day.

Division Two

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Matthew Hoggard struck an unbeaten 64 as Yorkshire clung on for the draw at Headingley. With nearly three hours’ play remaining, Yorkshire had just two wickets left, but they stood firm, losing just one wicket in the process as they snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat. When the final over of the compulsory last 15 finished the Yorkshire players roared with delight … only to realise that as Lancashire had got through their overs so quickly, there was time for one more. When that was safely negotiated, the celebrations started again. Lancashire added 46 in the morning: Mark Chilton allowing Stuart Law to make his fifty before declaring with Yorkshire left to chase an unlikely 382. and nearly three sessions to defend. And they were soon in trouble at 24 for 3, James Anderson striking twice. He finished with 7 for 166. But just as the visitors were turning the screw, Ian Harvey and Craig White set about saving the match for Yorkshire, with a stand of 76. After they fell within four runs of each other, Ian Dawood went soon after and Lancashire were scenting victory. But Phil Jaques and Richard Dawson threatened to ruin Lancashire’s party with a seventh-wicket stand of 68. And another late partnership – of 45 between Dawson and Matthew Hoggard for the ninth wicket – boosted Yorkshire and they clung on, with Deon Kruis also unbeaten on 13.
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Worcestershire made quick work of finishing off matters against Somerset on the final day at Bath. Somerset lost Andrew Caddick early, with just one run added to their overnight total of 151 for 9, and Stephen Moore hunted down the runs in fine style, with an unbeaten 66 from 75 balls. Neither was Ben Smith hanging around – he rattled up 41 not out from 39 balls. Worcestershire did lose two wickets in pursuit of victory – Simon Davies made 1 and Graeme Hick 17, each falling to Caddick – but the result was a formality.Durham 505 beat Essex 106 and 380 (Adams 103, Davies 5-86) by an innings and 19 runs
Essex put up a much better fight than they had shown in their first innings, but they were still powerless to prevent Durham from storming to their fifth victory of the season. Having followed on a massive 399 runs in arrears, Essex resumed on a ropey 12 for 1 overnight, and when Alistair Cook fell for the addition of just two runs, it seemed as though they might struggle to surpass their first-innings 106. Dale Steyn, however, had other plans. Sent in as a nightwatchman, he displayed an unheralded stickability and glued the top-order together with a career-best 82 – had he made just another three runs, he would have doubled his career tally. But he and Andy Flower both fell with the score on 146, whereupon James Foster came in to shore up the remainder of the innings with a deadpan 78. At 202 for 7, Essex were already dead in the water, so Andre Adams decided to have some fun, belting 103 – his second first-class century – from just 78 balls. Essex came close to avoiding an innings defeat, but the gulf between first and second in this division is yawning.