Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting and Mahela Jayawardene have been nominated in four categories for the annual ICC awards. The three Test captains from India, Australia and Sri Lanka dominated the nominations, including the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for the cricketer of the year.Andrew Flintoff and Shane Warne, the men-of-the-series in the Ashes, and Muttiah Muralitharan were the other prominent players in the running for the top award, which included a surprise nominee in Monty Panesar, the England spinner. Dravid, Ponting and Jayawardene were also in contention for three other awards – Test Player of the Year, Captain of the Year and one-day Player of the Year.The awards, covering performances from August 1 2005 to August 8 2006 will be presented on October 23 in Mumbai during the Champions Trophy. The nominations were compiled by five former Test stars led by Sunil Gavaskar of India, who is also the chairman of ICC’s Cricket Committee.The other selectors were Allan Donald of South Africa, Ian Healy of Australia, Arjuna Ranatunga of Sri Lanka and Waqar Younis of Pakistan. The final selection will be voted by a 56-member ICC academy comprising the 10 Test captains, 18 members of the umpires and match referees panel and 28 legends of the game and members of the media.Dravid will be in with a strong chance of the captain’s award as since he took over in October of last year, India have enjoyed Test and one-day wins at home over Sri Lanka, one-day wins over Pakistan and England and a historic Test series win in the West Indies, the first since 1970-71.Dravid had won the inaugural award for the Test Player of the Year and the Player of the Year two years ago. However, the likes of Jayawardene – who has led Sri Lanka outstandingly in England – and Ricky Ponting who guided Australia to 11 wins in 12 Tests since the Ashes will offer a stiff challenge.The Captain of the Year and Women’s Cricketer of the Year awards have been introduced this year. “Cricket is not just about runs, wickets and catches,” said Malcolm Speed, ICC chief executive, at the announcement in Mumbai. “It is also about tactics and the way a side conducts itself and the captain plays a pivotal role in those aspects of the game.”The Captain of the Year Award is designed to recognise the leader’s contribution to the game and to the spirit of cricket we all value so highly. The Award for Women’s Cricketer of the Year is a welcome and very appropriate addition to this year’s ceremony.It will serve to showcase the very best women’s cricketers, something that is vital as the ICC seeks to ensure the continued growth of the game at all levels.”Cricketer of the Year
Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Michael Hussey, Andrew Flintoff, Mohammed Yousuf, Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Younis Khan, Monty Panesar, Brett Lee, Makhaya Ntini, Adam Gilchrist.Test Player of the Year
Hussey, Ponting, Yousuf, Flintoff, Warne, Muralitharan, Dravid, Jayawardene, Younis, Hayden, Ntini, Kumar Sangakarra, Kevin PietersenOne-day Player of the Year
Hussey, Ponting, Flintoff, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Dravid, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pietersen, Yousuf, Lee, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul Haq, Adam Gilchrist, Yuvraj Singh, Shane Bond, Irfan Pathan,Emerging Player of the Year
Panesar, Alastair Cook, Denesh Ramdin, Malinga Bandara, Mohammed Asif, Upul Tharanga, Ian Bell, Shahriar Nafees.Captain of the Year
Dravid, Ponting, Jayawardene, Michael VaughanUmpire of the Year
Simon Taufel, Aleem Dar, Rudi Koertzen.Women’s Cricketer of the Year
Karen Rolton, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Anjum Chopra, Neetu David, Claire Taylor, Katherine Brunt, Emily Drumm

Cricket Australia have announced that Ford Australia will be the new partner for the domestic one-day competition for the 2006-07 season. The tournament, formerly called the ING Cup, will be named The Ford Ranger One Day Cup.”Ford has been a category partner of Cricket Australia since 2002-03 and we’re thrilled they will be the naming rights sponsor of our prestigious domestic one-day competition,” said James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia. “We are about to embark on one of the most hotly anticipated periods in Australian cricket history and the Ford Ranger Cup and Pura Cup will provide the future stars of Australian cricket a chance shine.”The one-day tournament kicks off on October 11 and Fox Sports will televise the first of 27 matches when Queensland take on Tasmania at the Gabba. Fox Sports will also telecast some of the KFC Twenty20 games as well as the Pura Cup Final.Cricket Australia also confirmed that Pura would continue their eight year association with the domestic first-class tournament which starts on October 13.

It’s uncanny how some people can steal all the limelight even when they’re trying their best not to. While Sri Lanka and West Indies went through their paces at the main stadium in Motera, the spotlight turned slowly but surely to the B ground adjoining the main area, where the Indians had arrived to practice. And it was practice with a difference – not just the routine throwdowns and fielding – as they added some Gujarat Cricket Association cricketers to the mix and split into a couple of teams to play a 25-overs-a-side match.If the batsmen thought they had an easy chance to boost the sagging confidence – India lost as many as six wickets chasing a low England score at Jaipur – they had another thing coming for them. Wickets were falling aplenty as there was just a little juice in the pitch, and the fast bowlers extracted some lateral movement. Of course, this did not stop Mahendra Singh Dhoni from clobbering 38, the highest for Team A, as they made 111, batting first. Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh all batted twice each, and one of these was good enough to admit he should have been out a third time, had it not been for some umpiring largesse.The highlight of that innings, though, was not the batting. Sachin Tendulkar rolled his arm over, sending down three overs, conceding eight runs without picking up a wicket. Interestingly, he was bowling seam-up, rather than his usual mix of offbreaks and legbreaks. “He has been bowling in the nets off and on,” a team member told Cricinfo. “The doctors had advised him to take it a bit easy, so he has just been easing himself back into bowling. Who knows. If all goes well he might even be in a position to have a bowl by the time the final of this tournament comes around. The main thing is that we’d all like it if he was able to bowl during the World Cup.” But this isn’t the first time he is bowling since he suffered his shoulder injury during the home series against England early this year. He was ruled out of the squad during the final Test against England at Mumbai which India lost, and the series was squared 1-1. When turning out for Lashings in England he did send down the odd over.When it was Tendulkar’s team’s turn to bat, though, there was certainly no sign of any injury or discomfort. Tendulkar led the scoring with an unbeaten 43 and retired to the tiny dressingroom having just hit Yuvraj for a six. Rahul Dravid was among the runs as well, making 42 before retiring. Team B cantered along to 137 for 1 in 25 overs and as dusk settled on Ahmedabad, the team was shepherded into the bus to be taken back to their hotel, leaving the groundsman to give the pitch a watering. The B ground of the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium had never received so much attention.Brief scores Team A 111 in 25 overs (Dhoni 38, Agarkar 26*, Munaf 3-18, Harbhajan 2-23, Raina 2-18) v Team B 137 for 1 in 25 overs (Dravid 42 retd., Tendulkar 43 retd., Mongia 29)

Michael Hussey said hard work early in his innings would be the key to halting Andrew Flintoff’s dominance against left-hand batsmen. Hussey, who was not part of the Australia team that lost the Ashes last year, said Flintoff’s 2005 form against Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Simon Katich was a concern.”He does seem to bowl particularly well to lefties, we know that,” Hussey told the . “You’ve just got to work hard every single ball against him. He’s such a quality bowler, I think you’ve got to just try to wear him down. That’s what the game is all about, facing players like him.”It’s a true test of everything you’ve got: your mental ability, your skills, handling all the pressures that go with playing Test cricket, surviving and then slowly getting on top. It can be a very, very rewarding feeling to win that kind of battle.” Flintoff’s 24 wickets in the 2005 Ashes series included Gilchrist, Hayden and Katich four times each and Langer twice.Hussey said he hoped his experience against Flintoff would help. “I’ve faced him a few times in county games and that was a huge challenge,” Hussey said. “I’m sure he goes up another notch again in a Test match. I think you probably have to get through him initially and then try to get some runs later. My plans are something I’d probably prefer not to speak about, I’ll be keeping most of that to myself.”I like to spend a lot of time out there and try to be around as long as I can and develop partnerships with the guy at the other end and just try to wear the bowlers down that way. That’s the nature of Test cricket. You try to survive long enough until the ball gets a bit older and the pitch is hopefully flattening out a bit and the bowlers are getting more tired and then the runs can come. That’s why you do the hard work early on. Wear them down.”

Scorecard
Queensland have taken first-innings points in an evenly-poised match after Andy Bichel and James Hopes turned the game on its head and sparked a Victoria middle-order collapse. Needing 273 to take the lead, the Bushrangers squandered a solid start until Andrew McDonald gave his side hope with 62, only to be run out 20 short of the target.McDonald, with help from Jon Moss (14), Shane Harwood (7) and Clinton McKay, led the Victoria recovery from 6 for 152 to 8 for 250 until a direct hit from Clinton Perren had McKay run out for 16. In the next over McDonald was also caught short and the Bushrangers were all out for 253. At stumps, Queensland were 1 for 51 having lost Jimmy Maher for 7.Batsmen again struggled enough to confirm there were demons in the pitch and again bowlers were rewarded for aiming at the stumps. On day one, Queensland lost 6 for 45 during one spell in the first session. On day two, Victoria lost 6 for 43. The only difference was Victoria’s collapse occurred either side of the lunch break and came after a strong opening stand of 109 between Nick Jewell and Lloyd Mash.The problems started when Mash padded up to a Daniel Doran leg-break and was lbw for 53. Then with just seven minutes until lunch, Jewell (59) failed to move his feet and played a loose shot outside off-stump, edging to a juggling Maher at second slip to give Ashley Noffke his first Pura Cup wicket for the season.Victoria were 2 for 130 at the break and still looked in control, with Brad Hodge and David Hussey at the crease. But the Bushrangers skidded to a halt, losing three wickets in the first two overs of the second session. Hopes trapped Hussey lbw for 0 before Bichel snared the huge wickets of Brad Hodge and Cameron White within three balls.Bichel found the gap between Hodge’s bat and pad and bowled him for 14. White (0) was adjudged to have edged a short ball to the wicketkeeper, a decision the Victoria captain was clearly unhappy about. Hopes then clean-bowled Adam Crosthwaite for 8, with a delivery that appeared to hit a crack in the pitch, before the Bushrangers began their ill-fated recovery.Noffke’s match went from good to better. After making 81 not out and claiming Jewell’s wicket, he took a sharp chance in the gully to dismiss Harwood and then had Moss trapped lbw. Just minutes earlier, Noffke’s wife Michelle had given birth to their second baby.

The last time Ricky Ponting faced the media at the end of an Ashes series, the first question he received came from a hard-talking TV news reporter who demanded his on-the-spot resignation for the “humiliation” of losing the closest and greatest Ashes contest in history. This afternoon, it was Andrew Flintoff who was coming to terms with the true definition of the word, after his England side had been served up on a platter by their ruthlessly focussed opposition.”Australia have raised the bar in this series,” admitted Flintoff, whose crest has fallen so far already that he seemed immune to further disappointment. “In patches we’ve competed with them, but whenever we’ve put a foot in the door it’s been closed on us. From our point of view, it’s not for a lack of trying or character. We’ve just been beaten by a better team.”The latter part of that statement certainly could not be quibbled with. Australia have been magnificent all series long. Every single one of their seven batsmen made centuries; each and every member of the bowling attack topped 20 wickets for the series. “I couldn’t be any more satisfied than I am at the moment,” said a beaming Ponting at his press call. He was a man at peace with the world after the indignities he suffered in 2005.As for the rest of Flintoff’s statement, however – something was undoubtedly amiss. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more from the lads,” he insisted for the fifth match out of five. “Their efforts throughout the series – they’ve kept coming back, kept working, and kept their intensity. They’ve tried to improve and perform, and you just can’t fault that.”Well, frankly, you can. England on this final day were a shower. They lost their two overnight batsmen without an extra run on the board, and they would have lost even more humiliatingly had it not been for the improbable intervention of Steve Harmison, who top-scored for the day with 16 not out and then launched into a futile assault with the new ball that had Justin Langer admitting afterwards that it was the best he had faced all series. What a strange moment to come to the party.England have been rudderless and directionless on this tour, and sadly the lack of drive has to derive from the attitude of the captain. In fairness to Flintoff, he is still finding his feet in the role. Each of his immediate predecessors, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan, endured torrid times before they defined their style – and only last week, Duncan Fletcher cited Vaughan’s first Test in charge, at Lord’s against South Africa in 2003, as the worst defeat of his career.But it is not unfair to criticise Flintoff’s unthinking support for his men. “It’s not through a lack of practice or wanting to do well,” he reiterated. “We wanted to string together performances for full five days at a time. We wanted to stay with them and nick a result at the end, but unfortunately that’s not been the case.”If that approach sounds familiar, that is because it is exactly the approach that Flintoff first encountered under Hussain – an emotional, attritional leader who was also the captain of a young side in times of adversity. His single rule of thumb, however, was the polar opposite to Flintoff’s nice-guy approach to the leadership. He would stand at mid-on throughout England’s tours of the subcontinent, cajoling and haranguing, and demanding extra effort even when there was nothing extra to give.

And yet, Hussain also failed his acid test. He succumbed 4-1 on the last Ashes tour and 8-2 in his two series against Australia, which just goes to show that there’s only so much that any team can do when faced with a great opposition with their sights fully set on revenge. “I’ve never mentioned that word once,” insisted Ponting, although he did concede that the victory in this series was all the sweeter for the defeat that had preceded it.”The last time we won the Ashes in Australia was the shortest period of time ever,” he said. “We played a bit harder this time. The cricket we’ve played has been as good as I can ever remember. Lots of so-called experts said England would win when they arrived here, but look at the results. It’s a great feeling right at the moment, and we can’t take that feeling for granted either.”For Flintoff and England, it is time to look to the future. Come 2009, revenge will be the buzzword once again, only this time it’ll be emanating from the England dressing-room. “It can’t be a pointless exercise to be beaten 5-0,” said Flintoff. “We’re a young side, and as long as we’ve learned something from this, we can improve going forward.”Some of the lads have already shown that they can compete with the best team in the world. But after the jubiliation and joy of 2005, we have experienced the other side. But, hearing the Aussies speak about The Oval and using it as a spur, I’m sure that’s something the lads will remember for next time. Conceivably, everyone in that room could be playing in 2009.”

England’s Ashes drubbing appears to have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of their home supporters, certainly not in the North-East. With five months to go until the fourth and final Test against West Indies in June, all tickets for the Saturday of the match at the Riverside have been sold out.”There is undoubtedly a real sense of excitement about the England side returning to the North-East,” said Gordon Hollins, Durham County Cricket Club’s commercial manager. “It will be the biggest sporting event ever staged in the region.”Durham’s ground at Chester-le-Street has been hosting one-day internationals since the 1999 World Cup, and has staged two Tests since 2003, against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. The visit of a marquee team such as West Indies, however, has created another level of interest.”Cricket is always passionately supported in the region and it is no surprise that day two has already sold out,” added Hollins, “especially with the likelihood of three of our players being included in the England squad.” Those players are Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett.Tickets for day one, three and four are still available, with prices starting at £20 for adults and £10 for under 16s. “I would encourage anyone planning to come along to the match to book their tickets as soon as possible,” said Hollins, “to ensure they get the best possible seats.” The match gets underway on June 15.

South Africa and Pakistan are the last two sides to begin their final World Cup preparations as their five-match series gets underway at Centurion Park on Sunday. Both sides have issues to resolve, although it is Pakistan with most questions to answer.Their 10-wicket hammering in the Twenty20 International was a harsh reintroduction to limited overs action and, although too much shouldn’t be read into the defeat, it certainly showed Pakistan at their worst.The fresh faces brought in following the 2-1 Test series defeat hardly inspired. Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman feasted on the bowling and the batting line-up was undone by some fine seam and swing bowling. Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi, two experts at one-day level, appeared short on form and must up their game over the next five matches.Bob Woolmer was less than impressed by his side at the Wanderers: “I was very disappointed with both the batting and the bowling and we have to pull up our socks in both departments.”Mohammad Asif will strengthen the bowling attack after resting for the Twenty20 but the decision to send Danish Kaneria home leaves the spin department exposed. Pakistan are hopeful that Inzamam-ul-Haq will have recovered from his back problem to lead the side and the batting could also do with his guidance. Kamran Akmal played purely as a batsman on Friday and his role could be anyway from opener to No. 7.South Africa, too, have a question mark over the top order. AB de Villiers’ poor Test season has left him under pressure for a place, although his dynamic fielding is a major asset in the one-day team. Bosman showed his clean-hitting ability in the Twenty20 and could slot in alongside Smith as de Villiers slips down the order. Who misses out when Herschelle Gibbs returns from his ban can be left for another day.”There are a couple of different scenarios when it comes to replacing Herschelle,” said Mickey Arthur, “but otherwise we would like to start with the side that finished against India. You can almost consider that our best XI.”On the bowling front South Africa are spoilt for choice and, coming at the end of a packed season, it won’t be a surprise to see Smith and Arthur employ an Australian-style rotation system during the series.South Africa (probable) Graeme Smith (capt), Loots Bosman, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Justin Kemp, Mark Boucher (wk), Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Makhaya Ntini, Andre NelPakistan (from) Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Yousuf, Naved-ul-Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Yasir Hameed, Zulqarnain Haider

Glenn McGrath wants to ease Australia’s fast-bowling problems by taking the new ball and returning to his best for his farewell at the World Cup. McGrath spent most of the CB Series at first change as Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken opened but was given the chance to lead when Lee was ruled out of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy with an ankle injury.Australia are still considering the use of a four-man pace attack and Shaun Tait would shape as a likely replacement for Lee. “With Brett not being here, it will be interesting to see what we do with our bowling line-up and whether I take the new ball again, or whether we think about Mitch [Mitchell Johnson] or Taity taking the new ball,” McGrath told the .”I love taking the new ball, obviously that’s the way I would prefer to go. But I’ll sit down and I’ll have a think about the game and which is best suited to the team as well as talk to Buck [John Buchanan] and Ricky [Ponting] and the other guys.”McGrath, who has 45 World Cup wickets from his previous three tournaments, will be a key if Australia are to regain their ability to strangle the opposition in the final overs and during powerplays. Besides Bracken and Stuart Clark, Australia’s attack is relatively inexperienced and Johnson, Tait and Shane Watson will rely on McGrath to lead by example.”The advice I have been giving to the other guys is as long as you are bowling where you want to bowl the ball, at least you can change if the plans are wrong,” he said. “If the ball is not going where you want it, then you have got no hope.”We will just focus on that, hopefully hit our yorkers a bit better than we have done and mix it up with a slower ball or a short ball. You don’t want to get too predictable on these grounds. These days 80 to 100 runs is pretty much standard [in the last ten overs]. Obviously it’s up to the bowlers to execute things a little bit better.”McGrath said it was sad to be embarking on his last tour with his Australian team-mates after a 14-year international career. “But the other side of it is come the end of this tour I get to spend more time at home and get on with the rest of my life,” he said. “I am really looking forward to that.”

Scorecard

Alex Loudon was the star as England completed a hard-fought five-wicket win against Bangladesh at Mirpur. Loudon collected 5 for 76, to add to his 71 on the third day, leaving England with a target of 130 which they reached in just under 20 overs.England gained an early foothold on the final day when Loudon trapped Mehrab Hossain lbw with just three runs added to the overnight total. Mosharraf Hossain, the nightwatchman, followed 15 runs later when he was run out and England sensed their chance to press for the win.Bangladesh played with a very defensive mindset, meaning that even though it took England a while to dislodge the resistance the lead was never growing at a rapid rate. Graham Onions, the Durham paceman, grabbed two middle-order wickets in two balls. When 183 for 5 soon became 202 for 7, on the back of two Tim Bresnan strikes, England would have fancied their chances of wrapping up the innings in quick time.However, Tushar Imran got his head down and forged a gritty half-century while Mohammad Sharif supported him well with 26 as the eighth wicket added 44, then Dolar Mahmud helped put on another 30 for the ninth. Loudon claimed the final three scalps, a reward for 32 overs hard work, but England were left limited time for their run chase.They played it in one-day style, promoting Matt Prior to open who slammed 50 off 52 balls to put England ahead of the rate. At 78 for 1 everything was under control and, although there were a few late wickets, Loudon completed a fine match by knocking off the final runs.