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After the dramatic scenes in Moscow on Wednesday night there will be only one sporting occasion being talked about in the days to come, even on the cricket side of Old Trafford. Manchester United and Chelsea couldn’t be split until sudden-death penalties, but 500 yards down the road from where the Champions League trophy will sit, another contest is about to begin between two other sides who are also neck-to-neck, albeit involving far less tension and a little less financial value.The atmosphere over the next five days won’t come near to matching Luzhniki Stadium or, for that matter, Manchester city centre. Not even a Kevin Pietersen classic, or the high-fiving celebrations of Monty Panesar, will register on the same level, although Michael Vaughan would gladly take a dose of both.England need to kick-start their summer if they are to back-up Vaughan’s belief that this team are more advanced that the Ashes-winning unit was the summer before their success in 2005. Even taking into account the disruptive nature of the weather, their performance at Lord’s didn’t include much of the high-octane, initiative-seizing cricket that became a hallmark of their game from early 2004 for that golden 18-month period.If any ground is likely to inspire them it is Old Trafford. They have won three of the last four Tests here (the other being the thrilling draw against Australia). “It’s probably the best cricket wicket in the country,” Vaughan said. “We feel very comfortable here as a team, the wicket is always a very good one. It usually has plenty of pace and offers a lot for Monty Panesar as well.”With the captain having found form, the batting pressure shifts to Paul Collingwood who is having a dire early season and has now gone 10 Tests without a century. England’s line-up is still failing to deliver as a unit. Their second-innings performance in Napier bought them some time, but not much. The last occasion they reached 400 in the first innings was the same Test as Collingwood’s last century, against West Indies at Chester-le-Street last June. Everyone knows the top six all average over 40, yet as a collective their output over the last 18 months has only been heading one way and the feeling persists they don’t feel pressure for their places.”I certainly don’t think it’s cosy,” said Vaughan. “I don’t think anyone’s place is guaranteed. I’ve been involved in an England team a few years ago that was consistent in who we picked for a long period and that achieved great results. As much as we want those 400 scores, it’s about winning as a team. They feel very comfortable in each other’s company.”Going into the Sunday [at Lord’s] we knew we had to get 400-450 to put New Zealand under pressure on that last day,” he said. “We lost wickets and changed the way we went about our game. They are all good players, you talk about form all the time but I fully expect all the guys this week to go in on a good wicket and get a score. We are still better than the form we have shown over the last year.”I think this wicket is a perfect opportunity for us to get those first-innings runs. We are all playing well at times, but not as a collective unit. The most important thing is winning games of cricket and to do that you have to get 400 on the board consistently. That’s our aim throughout the summer, both against New Zealand and later South Africa.”If anything, it was New Zealand who ended with their noses in front at Lord’s after Jacob Oram’s final-day century and Brendon McCullum’s insistence that he would come back out to bat after that crunching blow on his forearm from Stuart Broad. England may have thought they’d knocked the stuffing out of McCullum and scored a psychological point, but this New Zealand side are giving as good as they get.However, England’s short-pitched attack on McCullum was a clear policy and if the Old Trafford pitch lives up to its pacey reputation then all the New Zealanders can expect to be hovering on the back foot. “We don’t come across too many fast and bouncy wickets around the world these days,” said Daniel Vettori.”Even Perth has lost some of its reputation so it will be a new experience for us, but I suppose for a lot of our new guys every situation is a new experience to adapt to. I played here in 1999 and would probably have called it a low, slow turner so it’s going to be completely different. As in any situation it’s about which teams adapts the best.”When Pakistan played here in 2006 they prepared by using a marble slab to try and replicate the wicket conditions. They promptly folded inside three days, being bowled out for 119 and 222. New Zealand haven’t opted for any special preparation, although Vettori did say the batting coach, Mark O’Neill, has used his experience of being brought up in Perth.”A lot of the new guys have talked about it with him,” said Vettori. “But some of the time bowlers get carried away with the extra pace and bounce so it’s almost them who have to adapt more. That’s what we’ll be stressing, that it’s the same lengths on a bouncy wicket as it was at Lord’s.”Vaughan, though, was more into laying down the challenge to his quick bowlers, making the point that they will have to bend their backs to get rewards. “Pace is crucial,” he said. “You know you have to bowl with a decent amount of gas and if you do that you will create opportunities with both conventional and reverse swing.”I am excited about the young seam attack, but they will have to be at top pace to get rewards at Old Trafford. As a bowler you can see the ball carry, but you have to be up there with your pace in every spell you bowl. If you trundle out here and bowl at 80-81mph you can see yourself going around the park.”Vaughan added he liked the “chin music” that Old Trafford Tests can produce and New Zealand won’t mind if expectations remain low despite their performance at Lord’s. After the victory in Hamilton the players didn’t appear quite so comfortable when being talked-up thereafter, and key moments were lost during the last two Tests. However, there may come a time when even the New Zealanders might have to admit they are a bit better than they think, and if that happens, England will realise they aren’t as good as they believe they are.

What a difference a competitive team makes!While the TelstraClear Black Caps and White Ferns have achieved a much greater level of competitiveness on the field, the administration have been backing their efforts.New Zealand Cricket (NZC) achieved a $3,088,236 turnaround last summer to end their financial year with a surplus of $1,347,265, after grants and distributions to associations had been completed.Its net operating surplus was $6,987,873 according to the annual report released over the weekend.The volume of business cricket’s administrative body now does was obvious from the $3,599,446 increase in its total operating revenue which now stands at $22,777,215.Significant areas of cost to NZC were in its administration and marketing which was up by $1,103,918 and in coaching and development which increased by $120,633 to $2,104,760.These were offset by costs involving international teams being down by $2,187,427 from $8,597,185.Grants and distributions to Associations were up by $851,119 to $5,190,608 while special grants to Associations were $1,347,265.Also on the way up are player participation numbers, although this was partly due to a change in the method of census. In order to fall in with Australian practice, players who take part in business house and social league games were also included.However, the greatest area of growth was in the junior playing numbers. These increased by 7092 to 69,748.Adult playing numbers increased by 4172 to 24,819 while male adult numbers increased by 3893 to 23,250 which means 94,000 people participate in cricket.The emphasis on marketing was reflected in the results achieved. The season was described as a “landmark season” in the annual report.Attendances at the National Bank One-Day International games this year were up 18% on expectation and nearly 100,000 watched the five-match series against England.This resulted in a six-year high in average attendances at ODIs.The highlight was the sell-out crowd achieved at Eden Park for the fourth match in the series.The touring England team also had an effect in the three-Test National Bank series with 62,000 people watching. This figure was boosted by English touring groups.The game’s popularity with the public continued to rise steadily. The National Business Review Sports’ Survey reported that interest in cricket was at its highest level since the survey began in 1993, with 70%.The hunt is still on for better conditions for participants below the international level.NZC acknowledged that pitch standards had improved at the highest levels but there was much work to be done at lower levels.”The consistency of pitches for the first-class men’s and women’s game and Provincial ‘A’ is still not at a satisfactory level. This is a target area for NZC, along with the need for an increase in the number, quality and consistency of practice facilities nationwide.”At club and junior level it has become clear that the use of artificial surfaces must become a greater part of the game.”Many sports have gone through the transition from natural turf to artificial surfaces and cricket needs to realise the advantages of good artificial surfaces at many levels of the game.”The more consistent pace and bounce of these surfaces will provide a much better learning environment for young cricketers than the rather inconsistent and low bouncing turf facilities provided to many of these grades,” the report said.An area of concern highlighted in the report is the problem being suffered in the recruitment and retention of umpires.Over the last two years the number of umpires officiating has dropped by 10% in each year.”Development of a strategy to recruit and retain umpires is a key task for the coming year. A key strand of that strategy will include providing encouragement and enticement to former first-class players to take up an officiating role,” the report said.The report is available online at nzcricket.co.nz.

If you are already suffering withdrawal symptoms because the first class cricket season has ended then Rob Turner has got just the right activity for you on Friday evening this week.Reunite yourself with a large number of Somerset supporters who will be gathering together at the County Ground for the `End of Season Dinner’ which is being held on Friday as part of Rob Turner’s Benefit Year.The popular wicket-keeper batsman has received good support for most of the events that he has promoted this year so far, but would be delighted to hear from anybody else who would like to go along for what promises to be another most enjoyable cricketing occasion.Proceedings get underway at 7.30 for 8 pm, and the guest speaker for the evening is James Graham-Brown the former Kent and Derbyshire fast bowler. Tickets are priced at £25 each and are still available from Mary Elworthy who can be contacted on 01823 400679.Earlier in the day Rob took a break from a windswept Weston super Mare Golf Club where he was in the middle of a Golf Day to tell me: "I’ve been very pleased with the way that people have supported my benefit year so far. It’s been hard work, but we are getting there."The next big event for Rob’s Benefit Year will take placeon October 10th at the Institute of Electrical Engineers in London when a musical concert by `Cantabile’ will be followed by a dinner. Details of this and all other events for this year can be obtained by contacting Doreen Barnes 01455 230489.

South Africa 515 for 3 dec (Amla 172, Kallis 160*) and 56 for 1 (McKenzie 37*, Boucher 3*) lead Somerset 249 (Kieswetter 67, Durston 61) by 322 runs
Scorecard

Morne Morkel made light of a turgid pitch and led South Africa’s attack with three wickets, as Somerset were bowled out for 249 inside 60 overs to concede a whopping first-innings deficit of 266 on the second day at Taunton. By the close, South Africa had reached 56 for 1, with Neil McKenzie picking up his first runs of the tour after his first-ball duck on Sunday, and Mark Boucher unbeaten on 3. The only wicket to fall was JP Duminy, whose dismissal had a distinctly South African ring to it, caught Craig Kieswetter bowled Zander de Bruyn for 15.Kieswetter, who was born in Johannesburg but has held a British passport since birth, was one of two Somerset players who rose to the occasion against their classy opponents. The other was Wes Durston, who was last week playing minor county cricket for Wiltshire, but now found himself repelling a bowling attack that, with the exception of the absent Dale Steyn, is the same that will turn out against England at Lord’s next week.Kieswetter and Durston made 67 and 61 respectively, and rescued Somerset from potential humiliation after Morkel and Andre Nel, armed with the new ball, had instilled panic in the top order. Neither man, however, was able to emulate the South African batsmen, and translate his start into substance. Durston played round a straight ball to give Morkel his third wicket, and Morkel was involved again, this time on the midwicket boundary, when Kieswetter hoisted a short ball from Makhaya Ntini straight into his hands.Somerset’s tail did hang around gamely, with Steffan Jones and Andrew Caddick contributing a pair of hard-hitting 20s before the spinner, Paul Harris, picked off the final two wickets, but their innings was fatally undermined by two run-outs at the top of the order. The first occurred right on the stroke of lunch, when Durston ran the ball down to McKenzie at fine leg, and settled immediately for two runs. de Bruyn, however, had his heart set on a third, and was sent on his way without facing a ball as Harris whipped off the bails with both batsman at the opposite end of the pitch.Durston responded with great self-confidence, middling two pulls for four off Makhaya Ntini to bring up Somerset’s hundred in only 22 overs. But then, the run-out jinx struck again, as Durston cut Andre Nel for two, and it was Peter Trego this time who paid the price for over-optimistic running as the substitute, Robin Peterson, pinged the shy back to the bowler’s end.At 104 for 5, embarrassment loomed, but Durston and Kieswetter did at least salvage some pride, with Durston bringing up his fifty from 63 balls in fine style with a six over long-on off Harris. He was instrumental in denting Morkel’s figures in an expensive post-lunch spell, but eventually got carried away as he attempted to flick a full ball through midwicket. Morkel’s other two wickets had come in the morning session, the first with a beautiful yorker that burst through Arul Suppiah’s defences for 16, and the second one over later, when James Hildreth played forward outside off, and was bowled off the inside edge for 0.South Africa’s other victim was the opener Neil Edwards, who was surplus to Somerset’s requirements during the Twenty20s, but appeared to be auditioning for next year’s event as he crashed five fours and a pulled six in a frenzied 17-ball 28. His aggressiveness eventually proved his downfall, however, as he pushed hard outside off at Nel, for Prince at third slip to cling onto a comfortable chest-high edge (35 for 1).For South Africa, the day was slightly overshadowed by concerns surrounding Jacques Kallis’s elbow injury, but his absence was not felt by his team-mates. After resuming on their overnight 455 for 3, they added 60 more runs in the first hour before the mandatory declaration at the 100-over mark. Prince batted with particular fluency, and had enough time to become the fourth South Africa to pass fifty in the innings, from 69 balls with seven fours, while AB de Villiers finished not out on 47.

Barbadian Qyeen’s counsel Elliott Mottley has submitted his report to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) surrounding the matter into whether star batsman Brian Lara took bribes.Mottley conducted the investigation for the WICB after an Indian bookmaker accused Lara of taking$40 000 for playing badly. Lara denies the allegations, which came in a separate report into corruption by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, published in November 2000.President of the WICB, Wes Hall, has reportedly received the report and is said to be studying it and will reveal his findings in the future."I’m currently reading the report, which is quite extensive, and then I shall be making a statement," Hall said. "Before then, I don’t wish to comment on thefindings."Other cricket boards had also commissioned similar investigations after bookmaker Mukesh Gupta made his allegations.

Shoaib Akhtar was ruled out of further participation in the first Test against New Zealand after twisting his ankle on Thursday evening while bowling at express pace. But he was cleared to play in the second Test starting at Karachi Wednesday.Shoaib bowled only eight balls Friday and took successive wickets of Brooke Walker and Chris Martin with trademark yorkers. But didn’t come out to field when New Zealand began their second innings after being forced to follow on.The pace bowler was taken to a local hospital for precautionary X-ray which were clear much to the delight of the player and the team.”I twisted my ankle when I fell on my follow through on Thursday evening. It is swollen and I am using ice,” Shoaib said. “But there is nothing serious to worry about and I will be available for the second Test,” he added. By failing to take the field in the second innings, Shoaib missed an opportunity to attempt his first Test hat trick.

Loughborough UCCE has won the University Centre of Cricketing Excellence(UCCE) Championship for the second year running by three points from OxfordUCCE. It therefore remains the only side to win the two-year oldchampionship.Despite finishing on equal points with Cardiff / Glamorgan UCCE, Oxford tooksecond place by means of scoring the most points in their match together.This means that Loughborough UCCE will play Oxford UCCE in the UCCE One-DayChallenge Final at Lord’s on Tuesday 2 July.The six UCCE teams played one two-day, two-innings match against each other,with points awarded for an outright win, a win on first innings as well asbatting and bowling bonus points.Final UCCE Championship table

1. LOUGHBOROUGH UCCE (Played 5) – Total 54 Points2. OXFORD UCCE (Played 5) – Total 51 Points3. CARDIFF/GLAMORGAN UCCE (Played 5) – Total 51 Points4. DURHAM UCCE (Played 5) – Total 48 Points5. BRADFORD/LEEDS UCCE (Played 5) – Total 30 Points6. CAMBRIDGE UCCE (Played 5) – Total 29 Points

England have admitted that they are worried by an injury to key all-rounder Craig White prior to Thursday’s Lord’s Test against Pakistan.White was forced to sit out part of the England team’s training session with a stiff back.”We’ll be monitoring it overnight and see how he is in the morning,” confirmed physiotherapist Dean Conway. “It’s something that has bothered him for the last few days and he struggled a bit to get through his bowling.”Certainly the loss of White would be a big blow to the England team. His all-round skills provide crucial balance to the side and he is expected to play a prominent role throughout the summer.Alex Tudor is a possible replacement if White is deemed unfit tomorrow, though with Dominic Cork already included in the squad as an all-rounder, England may decide to play both new call-ups: Ian Ward and Ryan Sidebottom.

Yuvraj Singh has received the Arjuna Award, an Indian government honour to recognise outstanding achievement in sport, from Indian president Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi. Yuvraj is currently preparing to make a comeback to international cricket after recovering from a rare germ-cell cancer.”It’s a special award for me,” Yuvraj said. “I had been nominated few times but finally I got it this time. It’s a proud moment for me and my family. The award will give me a lot of confidence to make a comeback and perform well.”Yuvraj hasn’t played any top-flight cricket since last November but has been picked for the Twenty20s against New Zealand next month and the World Twenty20 as well. He brushed aside doubts over whether he is fit enough for the rigours of top-flight cricket.”Experts are not watching me. They don’t know about my fitness. It’s me who knows what’s going on. It’s me who is feeling it from inside,” Yuvraj said. “I know myself better and I am confident enough to do well in the World Cup in Sri Lanka.”Following chemotherapy in February and March, Yuvraj began training in June. “I am practising hard at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore,” he said. “The experts over there are watching my fitness level. I know what I am doing and I just want to concentrate on my return and playing cricket.”If you look at the last three months, I am really training hard and peaking well. I am looking forward to play my first game after a year.”Yuvraj also insisted that he had enough practice to be ready for the World Twenty20. “I had played three practice games at NCA. I will get some serious match practice in the two matches against New Zealand scheduled September 8 and 11. Then, I would be playing two more practice matches. So, you see, I will be having seven games before the World Cup. I will be having enough match practice.”

Chasing targets is not really a forte of the Pakistanis. More often than not they are known to stumble even when the target is not all that daunting. The Black Caps batting in fine fettle on Thursday set up a significant 267 to make, at an asking rate of 5.34. But this new-look Pakistan team under a new skipper seemed quite determined to do it right this time round, with Shahid Afridi leading their charge with a blitz of 70 off only 43 deliveries, bludgeoning seven fours and six really huge sixes.This really was explosive stuff even by Afridi’s standards! His innings enthralled the very sizable crowd in this Sharjah Cricket Stadium, but more importantly for his side, his knock was followed by big unconquered displays by Saeed Anwar (81, 95 balls, 10 fours, two sixes) and Inzamam (71, 90 balls, 10 fours) helping maintain their unbeaten run in this three-nation ARY Gold Cup.Right when it seemed that he could coast past the hundred mark and put the issue beyond the Kiwis, all on his own, Afridi perished like he often does – essaying one big shot too many. In the course of this quite eventful innings, he did stroke his way to the fastest 50 of the tournament, off a mere 24 deliveries to be in line for the Shell Helix Fastest 50 Award.The Pakistanis went for the jugular right from the word go, as Saeed was held back and the two young openers sent in with instructions to go for the kill from the word go. The rest was done by Afridi, and such a clean striker of the ball that he is, the way he went about polishing off the target, a normally quicksilver Imran Nazir seemed to look like a ‘strokeless wonder’. And when these two were not striking boundaries, they were gathering singles and twos at such a quick pace that the normally very quick athletic Kiwi fielders too seemed to be slow in comparison.By the time Afridi went, and Nazir followed almost immediately, the result was a foregone conclusion especially because Inzamam seemed to be in his big-scoring mood, hitting boundaries at will to both sides of the ground to the joy of the partisan crowd.Soon Saeed Anwar was matching him stroke for stroke, to the extent that Inzamam and Anwar both reached their fifties one after the other, the latter, however, going for bigger strokes once he got set. The hapless Kiwi bowling had no answer to the stroke-making of these two seasoned campaigners and before long the issue was sealed, early in the 43rd over, with Anwar promptly dispatching a delivery to the extra cover boundary.The Kiwis must have felt desolate. They had not done too bad a job of setting a target, with Mathew Sinclair working his way to a magnificent hundred. But that in the end was not enough for his side. All said and done New Zealand did gain valuable experience for several of their young players have not been exposed to international cricket outside New Zealand.