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Rod Tucker, the former Tasmania and New South Wales player, has become the first umpire to be promoted from Cricket Australia’s project group to the international panel. While Tucker’s appointment is in the smaller role of a television official, it is a big step for the former allrounder, who is part of a production line of retired first-class performers who have switched from whites to black-and-whites.There is no place on the national panel for Dave Orchard, the former South African official, who stood in 44 Tests and 107 one-day internationals. Last season Orchard, whose final Test was in 2004, was used as a mentor for younger umpires, but he has been dropped and his only duties will be with Queensland Cricket. Orchard has told the state’s officials he is not retired and wants to keep going, and they say he rated highly in the end-of-season appraisals.A Cricket Australia spokesman said there were umpires with better claims to a position than Orchard. “The selectors assessed that the panel had sufficient experience to assist in the development of the less experienced umpires and that the new additions deserved their opportunity,” he said. “It’s also the ICC’s intention for Cricket Australia to have more access to the Australians on the ICC elite panel over the summer to help out the younger umpires.”Tucker’s place was created by Steve Davis’ rise in April to the ICC’s expanded elite group, which also includes Simon Taufel, Daryl Harper and Darrell Hair. “Rod’s nomination to the international umpires’ panel and the promotion of Mick Martell and Tony Ward to the national panel illustrates the successes of Cricket Australia’s umpiring pathway,” Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s general manager of cricket, said.Martell and Ward are joined on the national list by fellow newcomer Andrew Craig while Tim Laycock has been cut alongside Orchard. Laycock has been given an assignment during the Emerging Players’ Tournament in Queensland next month, but Orchard, who stood in the series last year, has missed out on that too.Australians on the ICC’s elite panel
Steve Davis (SA), Darrell Hair (NSW), Daryl Harper (SA), Simon Taufel (NSW).Cricket Australia’s international panel
Peter Parker (Qld), Bruce Oxenford (Qld), Rod Tucker (TV umpire, NSW).National umpires’ panel
Jeff Brookes (WA), Andrew Craig (WA), Simon Fry (SA), Ian Lock (WA), Mick Martell (WA), Bruce Oxenford (Qld), Peter Parker (Qld), Bob Parry (Vic), Paul Reiffel (Vic), Rod Tucker (NSW), John Ward (VIC), Tony Ward (Vic).

Sri Lanka’s national radio broadcaster resumed its ball-by-ball commentaryof the ICC Champions Trophy on Friday after intervention from the Supreme Court.The International Cricket Council (ICC) is trying to stop Sri LankaBroadcasting Corporation (SLBC) from producing audio commentary withoutbroadcasting rights.SLBC were offered official radio rights by the rights holder, a companycalled Freschia that has acquired Sri Lankan and Pakistan radio rights forthe ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC World Cup.But instead SLBC produced an “off-tube” broadcast, creating the commentaryfrom a television feed in their studio and refusing to purchase officialrights, claiming they were acting in the public’s interest.ICC lawyers, flown out from England and India, argued that SLBC was makingillegal profits from the live commentaries and demanded US $ 70,000 ascompensation.The ICC sought and won an injunction in the Commercial High Court onThursday afternoon, forcing the SLBC to halt the commentary mid-way throughAustralia-Bangladesh game.However, SLBC took the issue up with the Supreme Court, which suspended theearlier injunction pending a full inquiry on September 23. SLBC were forcedto lodge a USD $ 10,000 bond with the court.SLBC Director General Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi immediately informed themedia that the commentaries would resume during South Africa’s clash againstKenya on Friday.In the 2000 European Championships the BBC, the official rights holder, wereunable to obtain an injunction against TalkSport who produced a similaroff-tube broadcast.The matter was settled out of court before a full trial. Press reports atthe time suggested that TalkSport had agreed to label all future off-tubebroadcasts as such, producing disclaimers at specified intervals in theaction.

BRISBANE, Nov 15 AAP – Test paceman Andy Bichel pulled off the catch of the season at the Gabba and ripped the heart out of Tasmania’s top order today to put Queensland in sight of its first Pura Cup outright win of the summer.Bichel and stand-in captain Michael Kasprowicz, who featured in a vital 50-run eighth-wicket partnership after the Tigers roared briefly late in the first innings, had the visitors reeling at 4-9 in early in their second innings before rained stopped play with Tasmania in deep trouble at 4-42.Queensland made 229 to take first innings points and Tasmania returned to the field 42 runs behind and with showers threatening.It wasn’t the lightning or the approaching storm which had the Tasmanians ducking for cover – Bichel’s thunderbolts zapped the top order claiming opener Michael DiVenuto (0), Ricky Ponting (0) and Daniel Marsh (1) to a woeful shot.Bichel stunned all with his caught-and-bowled to dismiss Ponting three balls after removing DiVenuto.Ponting, who fell cheaply for seven in the first innings, attempted a half-hearted pull shot to a short delivery and skied the ball on the seemingly deserted leg side.Bichel took off like Carl Lewis, sprinting 30 metres and diving full stretch to take a spectacular catch before being almost buried by excited teammates.”They appreciate it, I haven’t run that far to take a catch off my on bowling before,” said Bichel, whose Test rival Brett Lee had taken seven wickets so far for NSW in the match in Sydney.”I hope it’s typical Queensland weather and it’s hot and steamy and the balls swings around and makes it difficult as possible for the batsmen tomorrow.”At one stage Tasmania’s second innings scorecard of 2-0-0-1-1-0 looked more like a telephone number to order a pizza.How the Tigers would have loved the rain to have hit earlier to save them from cyclone Bichel.Kasprowicz’s dismissal of opener Jamie Cox (2) moved him to within one wicket of joining fast bowling great Jeff Thomson (327 wickets) as Queensland’s second most successful four-day domestic bowler.Earlier, Tasmania hauled back in the game when Ponting introduced Scott Kremerskothen into the attack and he claimed the wickets of Stuart Law (18) and Andrew Symonds (0) to have 2-0.At that stage the Bulls slipped to to 4-122 and, when wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe (4) was the victim off a lucky run out as the ball deflected onto the stumps off bowler Shane Jurgensen’s fingers and Bichel went for a duck, they were 7-173 and fighting for first innings points.That’s when Kasprowicz led like a captain, teaming with Perren (41) to steer the Bulls to the two points.Kasprowicz’s 26 — after being twice put on his backside by bouncers from Shane Watson and also struck on the body — equalled the number of runs he had scored for the Bulls last summer.The rain arrived at 4.09pm (local time) with Tasmania at 4-42, but it was too late to put out Queensland’s fire.

You’ve heard of recycling paper, bottles and aluminium cans but family tea merchants Taylors of Harrogate have taken it a stage further, by teaming up with Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the Woodland Trust to recycle old cricket bats. Cricketers across the county are encouraged to donate their unwanted pieces of willow, which will be sent to a school in South Africa and for every one received, Taylors of Harrogate will help plant a tree in Yorkshire, with the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity.The idea came about after Taylors received a plea from Ray Crowther from Baildon West Yorkshire, who spends his winters coaching cricket at Port Alfred High School, just outside Port Elizabeth. Many of the pupils are passionate about cricket, but few can afford their own equipment. According to Jessica Ambler from Taylors of Harrogate, `We were very interested to hear of Ray’s work in South Africa and hope that cricketers all over Yorkshire will rise to the occasion. Recycling old bats will also help the environment in a second way because as a small thank you to everyone who contributes a bat to our appeal, we will help plant a tree in Yorkshire with the Woodland Trust.’No bat is too old or too battered! All you need to do is to bring your old bats to the County Office at Headingley before the end of the current season, in time for them to be flown over 6000 miles for the South African summer.For more information:
Please contact Oliver Mantle from Taylors of Harrogate on 01423 814000 or Simon Hopkinson from the Woodland Trust on 01476 581112

Test venues and practice grounds are scarce in Bangladesh. Due to venue scarcity this baby Test nation might have to face lots of unwelcoming situations in near future. BKSP (Bangladesh Sports Training Institute) seems to be the sole option left for the Bangladeshi cricketers to carry on practice sessions in needful hours. This is the only place where they can make a real cricket campaign.A Test playing squad can’t go along with a static situation – they have to be dynamic all through the year, as cricket is no longer a season-based game. The players here (From all ranks) hardly get any opportunity to evaluate their performance after they are done with a series. Why is the situation like that? Because they aren’t getting the facilities they need to go through post-match champing (Which is vital) owing to field scarcity.Surprisingly true that Bangladesh hasn’t fixed up any ground for cricket only. The renowned BNS, which saw seven Tests staged there (All before 1971) before Bangladesh had entered the longer version, is still allotted for both cricket and football. The government is yet to make a decision on it – whether it would be a completely cricket stadium or a football one. The ground condition, after the football league is over, turn out to be horrendous. The ground is made doable for cricket again (For an upcoming series or league), but it costs a lot of money each year. An unaffordable wastage for a poor country like Bangladesh no doubt!The so-called stadiums, Dhanmondi and BUET, are no better than schoolyards. They are deprived of gallery, pavilion and other very essential services needed to run regular cricket.The only exception could be Fotullah Cricket Stadium, which is ten miles away from Dhaka. It is still under construction (Only 20% work has been done), but has valid possibilities to turn up as a furnished cricket venue. BCB should be more concerned over it. Fotullah offers ample space and another cricket academy can be built there. If they can do that some pressures would be off from BKSP.

Darren Lehmann scooped his third gold award in eight days to set up Yorkshire for victory by 30 runs over Durham at Headingley in the Benson and Hedges Cup.Both sides left the ground content with their day’s work, however, because both qualified for the quarter-finals, Durham filling second place in their group and Yorkshire scraping through in third place on run-rate.Durham’s reward is a visit to Bristol to take on title-holders Gloucestershire while Yorkshire meet Somerset down the road at Taunton.Lehmann’s dazzling 88 off 77 balls with 11 fours and two sixes was packed with astonishing strokes and it ensured Yorkshire a healthy total of 257 for seven after being put in to bat.Skipper David Byas and Michael Vaughan gave Yorkshire the solid start they needed with an opening stand of 71 but it was Anthony McGrath and Lehmann who piled the pressure on Durham with a 114 partnership for the third wicket.McGrath was then out for 43 but Lehmann continued his spree until he denied himself a century by clipping Danny Law to Paul Collingwood at mid-wicket. The Australian suffered a slight hamstring strain during his innings but should be fit for Wednesday’s CricInfo Championship clash with Somerset at Headingley.Despite Yorkshire’s aggressive approach, 20-year-old Ian Hunter finished with the excellent figures of four for 48 off his ten overs.Durham’s top priority when they batted was not to win the game but to make sure of reaching 193, which would lift them above Yorkshire even if they lost.They went about their work with great confidence, despite opener Jimmy Daley having to hobble off with a hamstring injury when 14, and they were held together for 31 overs by Michael Gough who scored 58 with five fours before falling to a boundary catch off Vaughan, having survived a similar chance earlier on.With 193 safely achieved, Jon Lewis and Law were able to breath more easily and at the close their unbroken fifth wicket stand was worth 101, Law leading the way with 57 from just 43 balls with eight fours and two sixes while Lewis managed 45 from 59 deliveries with six boundaries.

THE BOARD OF CONTROL FOR CRICKET IN INDIAFollowing players have been selected to represent India in the last two one-day internationals (Hyderabad and Guwahati) against the touring Zimbabwe team.Sourav Ganguly (Captain)
Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman
Dinesh Mongia
Mohd Kaif
Yuvraj Singh
Sanjay Bangar
Harbhajan Singh
Murali Kartik
Zaheer Khan
Ajit Agarkar
Ajay Ratra
Vijay Bharadwaj
Tinu Yohannan
Note: Since Anil Kumble is having some sign of weakness on his shoulders and keeping in mind his recent surgery and rehabilitation programme, the selection committee has decided to give him rest and a chance to regain his strength.The selection committee has further decided to pick the Indian Team for the West Indies series after observing the performance in the last one-dayers. The team will be picked on 21 March in Mumbai.Niranjan R ShahHonorary Secretary, BCCI.

Leicestershire look certain to field an unchanged side against Worcestershire in the Norwich Union League match at Oakham on Sunday, despite losing to Glamorgan on Tuesday.Head coach Phil Whitticase described the performance against Glamorgan as the side’s “poorest of the season” but added:”I am sure it was just a blip and the players deserve the chance to put things right at Oakham.”With Charles Dagnall and Rob Cunliffe both unavailable for selection because of injuries, Whitticase seems likely to name an unchanged side with Devon Malcolm once again on the sidelines. The policy this season is to rest Malcolm in one-day cricket so that he can concentrate on the Championship.It means that Matthew Whiley and Jamie Grove will be the new ball attack with support coming from Phil DeFreitas,Vince Wells,Carl Crowe, Darren Maddy and Zimbabwe all-rounder Grant Flower who made his debut against Glamorgan.Flower has taken over from Michael Bevan as the Leicestershire overseas player while the Australian is away on one-day international duty.The likely team for the game at Oakham is: Wells, Ward, Sutcliffe, Stevens, Flower, Maddy, Burns, DeFreitas, Crowe, Grove, Whiley.Meanwhile Cunliffe is to see a specialist on Monday about the damaged finger which has kept him out of the first team in recent weeks.He was able to play for the Second X1 away to Derbyshire this week, scoring 43 a rain affected match which ended in a draw. Derbyshire made 355-7 and Leicestershire were 145-5 when the game was abandoned.

PERTH, March 2 AAP – Neither severe flu nor South Australia’s bowling attack could dislodge Simon Katich as he steered Western Australia to 4-184 at tea on day one of the Pura Cup cricket match at the WACA.Test hopeful Katich, with just three first class matches to play before a side is picked for the Ashes tour in June, has made his way to an unbeaten 73 in tough 37C temperatures.His 90-run partnership with captain Tom Moody put the Warriors in a commanding position after the Redbacks had claimed two quick wickets in the opening overs after the lunch interval.Moody, playing his 300th first class match, smashed nine boundaries on his way to 55 off 67 balls before he was clean bowled by Mike Smith (1-27) to make the score 4-177.The home side won the toss and elected to bat after a prayer and a minute’s silence was offered in memory of Sir Donald Bradman, who passed away in his Adelaide home on Sunday at the age of 92.Openers Marcus North and Michael Hussey opened for WA on a grassy pitch that looks sure to crack as the game wears on with 35C plus days forecast for Perth.They both survived early chances before Hussey was caught for nine by Mike Smith in the gully off Mark Harrity (3-47).North, who was grassed by Redbacks captain Darren Lehmann while on three off the bowling of Brett Swain, added 63 with Katich before he became Harrity’s second victim, caught at slip by Greg Blewett for 35.That brought Murray Goodwin to the crease, but the former Zimbabwe batsman was again unable to carry his one-day form into the first class arena and was clean bowled for four, taking his average for the season to 13.4.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
S Badrinath was Man of the Match for his 47•AFP

Chennai Super Kings were largely untroubled in their final match as they coasted to a four-wicket victory that left Yorkshire winless in the Champions League T20 proper. S Badrinath, often overlooked in a batting line-up of star names, showed once again how important he is to the Super Kings’ middle order, holding together the innings after three of his top-order colleagues holed out attempting to hammer the ball out of Kingsmead.The Yorkshire top-order, too, came up short once again, as they have invariably in this tournament, before Gary Ballance smashed his second half-century of the CLT20 to lead them to a respectable 140.None of the regular top three of Andrew Gale, Adam Lyth and Joe Root have reached 30 in this competition, which repeatedly left Yorkshire three down early. It was no different today as Gale chipped a catch to cover after a brisk 23, before Lyth was dismissed in a carbon-copy manner and Root gloved a leg-side ball to the keeper to leave Yorkshire at 43 for 3.The Yorkshire middle-order had been boosted by the return of David Miller, back after domestic duties with the Dolphins, and he helped the team recover through a big stand with Ballance. They took their time to get going – overs 6-10 only yielded 21 runs – but the introduction of Super Kings’ second-string bowlers helped boost the rate. Suresh Raina, captaining in place of MS Dhoni, was swept for 12 in his first over, and Ravindra Jadeja was thumped for two sixes in his first.Dhoni, playing his first Super Kings match as non-captain, also didn’t keep wickets, bowling some seam-up instead. He bowled a couple of wayward overs, experimenting with back-of-the-hand slower balls, and was whipped by Ballance for two consecutive sixes as Yorkshire’s run-rate finally hit seven.Doug Bollinger, who was the best of the Super Kings’ bowlers, returned to end the stand by dismissing Miller, but Ballance whacked a couple of sixes off Ben Hilfenhaus in the penultimate over to lift Yorkshire towards 140.Super Kings lost both M Vijay and Faf du Plessis in the Powerplay, but Badrinath was involved in two solid partnerships to put them on course for a second consolation victory. First, he paired up with Raina, compiling 48 to stabilise the innings, and then added 43 with Dhoni as Yorkshire struggled to build pressure on the Super Kings.Badrinath missed out on a half-century after he was bowled attempting a scoop, and Iain Wardlaw added a second scalp when Dhoni missed an attempted helicopter shot, though those two wickets were too late to have an impact against a line-up with plenty of depth.