Joanne Cook has retained her place on the Essex Academy. Cook, 17, was the third female player to be invited on to Essex’s Academy when she was drafted in last year, following in the footsteps of Alexis Mannion and Beth Wild.Allrounder Cook is a top-order batsman as well as a medium pacer. She made great progress during the 2007 season, scoring two centuries for the Essex women’s team and was also in the wickets for the London and East Region Under-19 team in the Junior Super Fours competition – a team she also captained.Cook’s development earned her selection for this year’s Super Fours, for Emeralds, and she now has her sights sets on making further progress in the months ahead.”I’ll be training hard this winter at the Essex Academy and with my Under-19 Regional side,” Cook told Cricinfo. “My next aim is to make the England Under-19 Academy, which trains at Loughborough. I feel like I’m close to getting into it because I’ve been given the extra responsibility of captaining my regional side and if I keep working hard it should come.”My long-term goal is to play for England women. I need to keep pushing myself to achieve that and I’m sure being part of the Academy at Essex will benefit that.”Despite being the only female among an intake of nine at the newly-titled Graham Gooch Essex Cricket Academy (Gooch will be providing funds of £30,000 a year to support the Academy) the self-assured Cook does not feel undue responsibility to prove himself among her contemporaries.She explained: “I do in some ways – because the younger girls look up to me – but not in other ways because I’ve been playing cricket with boys from the age of eight so I feel comfortable with them. I was the only girl playing in junior teams at Ilford until the Under-15s before we went our separate ways.”Cook, who plies her club cricket with Ardleigh Green men (2nd XI) and Loughton Ladies, readily acknowledges being part of the Academy has advanced her progress.”It’s benefited me a lot. Training is a lot more intense with the boys so when I come back to women’s cricket it makes a difference. In particular I would say my fielding has improved most of all. Whereas I am always on the ball – thanks to the extra training – some of the girls can be a bit lax. Boys push you more to improve your game.”Academy Director John Childs was suitably impressed by Cook’s efforts last summer to reward her with a second year on the programme.With one Cook – Alastair – having already graduated from the Essex Academy to gain international honours, fingers are crossed that Joanne will soon follow suit.

The Indian team has been awarded a bonus of US$ 3 million by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for their victorious campaign in the ICC World Twenty20. Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, also announced a cash award of Rs 1 crore [US$ 253,000] to Yuvraj Singh for hitting six sixes in an over in the match against England.The team, which will land in Mumbai on Wednesday morning, will go on a victory march to the Wankhede Stadium where they will be received by Pawar and be presented the prize-money. Pawar appealed to the people and former cricketers to join the march to provide a fitting welcome to the team.Each of the team’s support staff will be awarded Rs 15 lakh [US$ 38,000] for their efforts. India beat Pakistan by five runs in a thrilling final in Johannesburg.Meanwhile, a few state governments too have chipped in with cash rewards for its players. Joginder Sharma, who took the wicket of Misbah-ul-Haq to seal the victory, is set to receive a cash reward of Rs 21 lakh [US$ 52,920] from Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh each [US$ 25,250] for Mumbai players Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar. Rohit Sharma was one of the biggest finds for India after playing crucial roles in the victories over South Africa and Pakistan in the final.Air India, the international airline which employs six players in the squad, announced out-of-turn promotions for each of them. Praful Patel, the civil aviation minister, said that all the 15 members of the winning squad and their family members would also be given additional free travel benefits for five years.The team lost just one match, against New Zealand, in the Super Eights. Following the defeat, the side knocked hosts South Africa out of the tournament and Australia in the semi-final.

ScorecardGujarat, struggling at 155 for 9, managed to reach 228 and then reduce Assam to 56 for 4 at stumps on day one in Ahmedabad, with two former Tamil Nadu batsmen – S Ramesh and S Sharath – in the middle.Put in, Gujarat made a cautious start, but didn’t get a partnership going until the very end. Parthiv Patel, who had scored five centuries in his last five first-class innings, upped the scoring, but fell one short of 50, after which the rest of the line-up folded easily. Digant Popat, the No. 6 batsman, found a good partner in No. 11 Siddharth Trivedi, and the two put on 73 runs in 12 overs. Popat top scored with a 72-ball 63. Trivedi carried the confidence from his batting through, and as if out of inertia got Assam opener Sauran Bhagawati to edge one in the first over.
ScorecardJammu & Kashmir denied Railways a wicket for the first 37.5 overs and 104 runs, but thereafter collapsed to 194 all out. Madan Yadav, the Railways left-arm spinner, bowled a miserly spell of 22.3-12-22-4. The wicket of Ian Dev Singh, who fell to Yadav for 62, triggered the collapse. Ian’s opening partner Sajjad Shaikh soon followed, caught by Amit Pagnis off Harvinder Singh, for 40.The second-highest partnership came for the seventh wicket: 34 runs between captain Vijay Sharma, who made and unbeaten 34 and Samiullah Beigh. Harvinder, who toiled for more overs than Yadav, had four wickets to show for his efforts.
ScorecardNine of Services’ batsmen failed to reach double figures as they were bowled out for 102 in Agartala. Timir Chanda, Tripura’s captain and right-arm opening bowler, started the slide, reducing Services to 8 for 2 by the sixth over.It could have been worse for Services but for the 32-run stand for the ninth wicket between No. 3 Devendra Israni and left-arm spinner Arun Sharma. Israni was caught and bowled by off-break bowler Jayanta Debnath, who finished with 4 for 13 in 11.4 overs. Sharma stayed unbeaten on 24 and extras, 13, were the third-largest contributor.Manoj Singh and Subal Chowdhury consolidated after Tripura lost a quick wicket, and finished with the lead all but erased and eight wickets still in hand.
ScorecardAfter a delayed start because of overnight rain, scoring was not high on the priority list as Madhya Pradesh crawled to a total of 100 for 4 in 50.3 overs at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur. More than half the runs came from Jatin Saxena’s bat: he was also the quickest batsman with a strike-rate of 46. Opener Mudassar Pasha took 47 deliveries for his 6, and Devendra Bundela, No. 4, took 35 balls to score 1 run. Shankar Rao, the right-arm medium pacer, took two wickets.
ScorecardAn unbeaten half-century down the order by Aditya Angle helped Goa to 258 for 8 against Haryana at Margao. After choosing to bat, the Goa got off to a steady start, with the openers adding 55, but Haryana took the initiative after bagging four wickets within ten overs. Captain J Arunkumar resisted with 55, before legspinner Amit Mishra picked up three middle-order wickets to peg the home side back again. Angle, who finished unbeaten on 54, added 57 for the ninth wicket with Ryan D’Souza as Haryana were unable to wrap up the innings, especially after Goa were struggling at one stage at 159 for 7.

The local knowledge of the Australia squad’s two Tasmanians will be tapped by Mitchell Johnson as he looks to build on his impressive debut. Johnson has risen swiftly to international honours – the Brisbane Test was his 23rd first-class game – and his experience at Bellerive Oval is limited to a handful of domestic contests for Queensland.Fortunately Ricky Ponting will be on hand to offer advice in the lead-up to Friday’s second Test and Ben Hilfenhaus, the swing bowler, is also in the squad. “He’s a good one to speak too, playing there all the time, so I’ll have a chat with him,” Johnson said as he prepared to leave Brisbane. “The bowling group will also probably get together and ask him a few questions.”The ball did not swing when Ponting played a Pura Cup match there two weeks ago, but there is hope from the fast men of obtaining some reverse late in the innings. Johnson remembers getting early movement in the air and off the surface, which will be analysed closely over the next couple of days.Bellerive Oval has regularly been referred to as a “road” over the past decade, but the production of the pitch has changed since the curator Cameron Hodgkins took over. Following discussions with the Tasmania team management, Hodgkins began cultivating surfaces that did not result in regular bowling mutilation and they helped the Tigers record enough outright victories to host – and win – the 2006-07 Pura Cup final.Hilfenhaus also benefited, picking up 60 wickets in last season’s competition, but he will need an injury to a fast-bowling team-mate to match Johnson’s debut. Australia have no plans to change the starting XI following the comprehensive innings-and-40-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Gabba on Monday.Johnson was pleased with his returns of 2 for 49 and 2 for 47 and rated his first-up dismissal of Thilan Samaraweera as his favourite. “It moved away and got the edge,” he said. “And I nearly got him in the second innings the same way.”At the end of the match the bowlers put their arms around each other and collected a stump to remember the strong team performance. “It was a pretty proud moment for us all,” he said. Now Johnson is aiming to improve his consistency for Hobart.”At times I was too short and a bit wide [in Brisbane],” he said. “But it was my first game and I’m pretty happy with the way things went.”Johnson opened the bowling on Friday but it looks as though he will share the new-ball duties with Stuart Clark. Ponting gave Clark, who also earned four wickets for the match, first use of the second one with Lee on Monday morning as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 300.”Whoever gets the new ball deserves it at that time,” Johnson said. “I probably wasn’t swinging the ball as much as Ricky would have liked and I would have liked. Stuart was the man for the job at that stage.”Stuart gets the ball to move around a little bit and he was even swinging the ball yesterday, which was a good sign. I’d love to get the new ball when I can, but it’s not a bad thing if we share it around.”Sri Lanka are desperate for Kumar Sangakkara to return in Hobart from a hamstring tear and Johnson expects the batsman’s inclusion to strengthen the side. However, the tourists will have to lift as a group if they are to have any chance of levelling the two-game series.”We want to try to beat them again convincingly and comprehensively, and drive it into them,” Johnson said. “We’re on a high at the moment so we’re going to keep going strong.”

Steve Harmison was knackered but content at the close of a drainingfirst day at Galle. Although play was restricted to a mere 55 overs,the heat and humidity were as oppressive as he has ever known in his56-Test career. It was not a day for the faint-hearted – which, in thenot-so-distant past, might have included Harmison himself. And yet,for the second innings running, he was the pick of a committed Englandattack. It’s been quite a turnaround in form, fortune and most of all, attitude.”I’ve come to the conclusion I’m going to smile rather than let thingsget on top of me,” said Harmison, as he laughed and joked his waythrough an upbeat press conference. “That’s all I’m going to do. I’ve stopped beating myself up, I’ve tried to staypositive and tried to make the most of it. If it doesn’t happen, itdoesn’t happen. But if you get three wickets on a hot day in Galle,then well done.”Well done indeed. Without Harmison’s hard-earned interventions,England might well have squandered a golden opportunity to level theseries. As it is, they are still not as well placed as the early-morning conditions suggested that they should have been. But Sri Lanka’s coach, Trevor Bayliss, admitted that his team had been intending to bowl first as well, on a Galle track that has been thesubject of so many setbacks that no one really had a clue how itmight play. If the pitch bakes hard for England’s innings beforecrumbling when Sri Lanka’s second turn comes about, then a first-dayscoreline of 147 for 4 might yet prove to be crucial.Even so, Harmison admitted that England had let their advantage slipearly in the day, when they misjudged the tactics needed for successon such a track. “Sometimes when you see the amount of rain we’ve hadhere, and the amount of time that wicket has been under covers, andhow damp it was, and you get three quick bowlers with a brand newKookaburra in their hands after the captain’s won the toss and bowled- you start clapping your hands and thinking wickets.”But sometimes that can go the opposite way, and to be honest it did,”said Harmison. “We bowled full but we floated it. We had a chat atlunchtime, and decided we needed to hit the deck a bit more, or if wedid bowl full, we had to bowl with some purpose. So we came out anddid that, and the rest of the day was a lot better. But that’s whathappens when your captain wins the toss and bowls – sometimes you go50 for 5, sometimes it’s 80 for 1.”

Overall, Harmison felt that the pitch had not quite played toEngland’s expectations. “When it did things this morning it did itbig, so that if the batsman played down the line he was never going tohit it,” he said. “But since then, it’s not done that much. For thelast four overs I bowled cross-seam, and that seemed to skid the ballon a little bit, with the odd one bouncing from round the wicket. Itprobably didn’t do as much as we thought, but they are 140 for 4, sowe’ve got to be happy.”For all his efforts, Harmison did give England a scare at the end ofhis eighth over, when he trudged towards the dressing room, looking as though he’d suffered another back spasm. The truth, however, was rather more mundane. “I was knackered,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe, so I had to go off. That middle session of an hour and a half was real hard work, as tough as it has been in Testcricket.”Harmison declared that England were very happy with the waytheir day had gone, after a build-up to the match that, while full ofemotion and significance, was not exactly ideal for Test cricketers.”We still had a Test match to play, and to win, and I thought we’vebeen very professional so far in doing what we’ve done,” saidHarmison. “What happened three years ago was a horrendous time forthese people, and what’s happened in this last 48 hours probablywasn’t the best preparation for us. But the game had to be playedtoday. It had to be played no matter what, and it’s great for Englandthat we did well and hopefully put on a good spectacle for the SriLankans.”Harmison has now emerged with honours from two of the toughest days ofcricket he’s ever been put through, and with his confidence restored,he was able to look back objectively at his performances in an eventfulyear. “I’ll always do what I have to do, and if it’s good enough, it’sgood enough. It hasn’t been good enough for the last 12 months, butit’s hopefully going to get better and better.”

Zimbabwe XI 89 and 246 (Taibu 100, Burger 5-59) beat South Africa Composite XI 186 (Madsen 70, Utseya 5-40) and 98 (Chigumbura 3-55) by 51 runs
Scorecard

Zimbabwe received a boost with a 51-run win over a South Africa Composite XI with more than a day and a half to spare at Paarl.An allround performance from Elton Chigumbura – he made a vital second-innings 49 and then took 5 for 33 in the home side’s second innings – and a classy hundred from Tatenda Taibu underpinned the success. In contrast, only two of the South Africans passed 20 in the match. The pitch, which was poor, also played more than a passing role in proceedings.For almost all the first two days Zimbabwe were on the back foot. Stuck in, they lasted into the mid afternoon in making 89, and 20 minutes from the close the Composite XI were 153 for 5. Zimbabwe struck twice before the close and then polished things off quickly the next morning, only Wayne Madsen with an unbeaten 70 coming to terms with the consitions.With a deficit of 97, Zimbabwe appeared down and out when they slid to 84 for 5, three wickets tumbling in eight balls at one stage, but then Taibu found support from Keith Dabegwa and, most importantly, Chigumbura in a seventh-wicket stand of 86. taibu was particularly severe on Paul Adams who bowled a negative line outside leg stump in a bid to contain him. He brought up a deserved hundred before edging the next ball to slip. Even so, the Composite XI were left chasing a modest target of 150.On a surface getting harder by the hour, Chigumbura and Chris Mpofu put the ball on the spot and some poor batting aidED their cause. They became becalmed, and by the close had crawled to 42 for 4 in 22 overs.The game was decided in the first half hour of the third morning as Chigumbura and Mpofu again took quick wickets as five wickets fell for 28 inside ten overs. Adams and Jandre Coetzee causes a few flutters in a last-wicket stand of 28 before Mpofu returned to mop up Adams.Zimbabwe did all that was asked of them, but the conditions were disappointing and the South African side was relatively weak. Nevertheless, a win is a win and Zimbabwe will head home for Christmas buoyed by their success.

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Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has said the ICC accepts the blame for the database and human errors that played a part in Harbhajan Singh escaping a more severe penalty during his appeal hearing in Adelaide.Harbhajan’s three-Test ban for allegedly calling Andrew Symonds a monkey was reduced to a fine of 50% of his match fees but Justice John Hansen, the appeals commissioner, said he could have imposed a more serious penalty if he was made aware by the ICC of the bowler’s previous transgressions.”It is very unfortunate that human error led to Justice Hansen not having the full history of Harbhajan’s previous Code of Conduct breaches and the ICC accepts responsibility for this mistake,” Speed said, after Hansen revealed that he had been informed of only one of Harbhajan’s previous infractions.Hansen said Harbhajan’s full record of Code of Conduct violations – including the occasion when he was fined 75% of his match fee and handed a suspended sentence of one Test in November 2001 – had not been made available to the assisting counsel at the time of sentencing.The ICC had advised Hansen’s assistant counsel, John Jordan, of only one of Harbhajan’s previous infractions, a Level 2.8 offence in April 2003 when he made an abusive comment to an umpire. However, it was only after his verdict that Hansen was made aware of the three other cases involving Harbhajan.The first, a Level 1 offence in 1998, was overlooked because offences under the old Code of Conduct were not included in the ICC database. The second, a Level 1 offence in November 2005, was not made available because of a “human error”. Hansen said the extent of his punishment wouldn’t have changed even if he knew about the first two but added that knowledge of the third, a Level 2 offence in November 2001, “could have led to a different penalty”.Speed, though, chose to look at the lessons to be taken. “One thing that has come out of this is the need for players to review their on-field behaviour,” he said. “In this case, it is clear that Harbhajan verbally abused an opponent having been provoked to do so by that opponent. This is not acceptable behaviour on the cricket field. I expect all players to use this as a wake-up call that on-field behaviour must improve.”

The Indian Premier League’s governing council has accepted, pending final approval, requests from the Delhi and Hyderabad franchises to name Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman as icon players, which means the two will only turn out for their respective home cities in the BCCI-backed tournament.However, there is a stumbling block to the move. The decision taken by the IPL governing council needs to be approved by all eight franchises ahead of the players’ auction on Wednesday. The IPL’s original tender only had the names of Sachin Tendulkar [Mumbai], Sourav Ganguly [Kolkata], Rahul Dravid [Bangalore] and Yuvraj Singh [Mohali] in the ‘icon players’ category, and thus a move to add any more players to the list needs to be ratified by all the franchise owners.”All the franchises will have to approve this decision as the original IPL tender had only four icon players,” Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, told Cricinfo. “The IPL [governing council] will meet all the franchises just before the auction on Wednesday for a final decision.”At an earlier meeting, the owners of the Delhi (GMR) and Hyderabad (Deccan Chronicle) franchises had made the request for naming Sehwag and Laxman as icon players. If all the franchises agree, then Sehwag and Laxman will not be among the pool of players to be auctioned on Wednesday. As icon players, they stand to earn 15% more than the next-best paid player in their team.The Mohali franchise has already named Yuvraj as their team’s captain, with Australian Tom Moody as coach.Meanwhile, India Cements Limited, the owners of the Chennai franchise, announced that their team will be known as the “Chennai Super Kings” and unveiled their team logo as well.Kris Srikkanth, former India captain, was named the brand ambassador of the team while former Indian batsman VB Chandrasekhar, who used to be a part of the selection committee of the Indian team, will be responsible for picking the players.”Chandrasekar, having been an India player and also a national selector, has the requisite credentials to head our operations in so far as selecting the players for Chennai Super Kings is concerned,” N Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements, said. “We plan to have 23 players in Super Kings.”

Stuart MacGill’s dream first-class return from injury has ended a dark patch that threatened to close his international career. However, after taking 5 for 49 for New South Wales on the opening day of the Pura Cup match against South Australia he is back at the front of the queue and the country’s spin stocks are suddenly much healthier.During MacGill’s absence Brad Hogg was the leading slow man, but when he retired Bryce McGain and Dan Cullen were the main options if MacGill did not recover from the wrist surgery he had late last year. The operation was required after MacGill felt numbness in his bowling arm and he performed poorly in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart. There was doubt about whether he could regain fitness – he was also struggling with a knee injury – but he has overcome the initial hurdle.MacGill started with a wicket first ball and was satisfied with his return during 17.4 overs. “The reason I’m happiest is that it didn’t go completely to plan,” he said in the Australian. “For a long period I wasn’t exactly as I wanted to be playing. Probably at the end when I was going for the most runs was when I thought I could put the most work on the ball.”On an SCG surface sympathetic to the spinners – Cullen picked up 3 for 9 on day one – MacGill captured Daniel Harris with his opening delivery. “There was definitely luck, there was no question of luck being with me,” he said. “You know, first ball, half-tracker, straight to point, that’s probably as lucky as you are going to get. Mind you, I’ve been lucky a number of times in my career if that’s the criteria, but maybe it was straight back into form first ball, I don’t know.”MacGill is 37 but Andrew Hilditch, the national chairman of selectors, is not bothered by age and wants a high-class spinner with the Test squad. “The reality is that we envisage, as we did at the start of the season, that we were really looking to get from Stuart, or perhaps Hoggy, a couple of years of cricket where we get a period of time for the younger spinners around the country to develop and take that next step,” Hilditch told the paper. “Obviously with Stuart’s injuries and now Brad Hogg’s retirement, that plan’s pretty much on hold at the moment.”We’re obviously interested in how Stuart goes in his comeback. I haven’t seen him for a little while. I’m told he’s looking extremely fit and has made a lot of progress over the last couple of months so it will be interesting to see how he goes.” He has started well and will have another opportunity as New South Wales chase hosting rights for the final.