Nadeem Malik, 22, has signed a three year contract with Worcestershire which will keep him at the county until 2008. Malik joined Worcestershire in 2004 from Nottinghamshire, and in his first season he took 24 wickets and has so far taken 36 this season.Head coach of Worcestershire and former England wicketkeeper, Steve Rhodes, was delighted to secure Malik’s services: “Nadeem is a talented young bowler with the ability to be selected for the National Academy. To secure the services of such a young talent shows how committed the club is to developing young English players.”Malik himself was delighted to be staying with Worcestershire. “I have really enjoyed the last two years at the club and have been pleased with my progress so far. Over the next three years I want to help the club be successful.”

Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan and Sussex legspinner, has done his chances of being selected for the Test team to face England no harm by finding a place in the Rest of Pakistan side set to play a Pakistan XI beginning October 26.Mushtaq, 35, has not played a Test for Pakistan in over two years, but has been a prolific wicket-taker for Sussex over the past three seasons. He finished the current season with 80 first class wickets, and speculation is rife that Mushtaq may have a key role against England with their historic susceptibility to quality legspin. Just looking at Shane Warne’s 40 wickets in this summer’s Ashes highlights the fact that the English have been found wanting against legspin and it is with such statistics in mind that the Pakistan think tank surely ticked off Mushtaq’s name.However, with first-choice Danish Kaneria taking wickets on a regular basis at the international level, it is possible the Pakistan selectors will stick to him, with Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi being used as backup options.The Pakistan Cricket Board has arranged three practice matches, all four-day affairs and adjudged first-class, to prepare the national players for the England team’s forthcoming tour of Pakistan. Inzamam-ul-Haq, who has supported a Mushtaq recall, is set to captain the Pakistan XI side.

Matthew Maynard, England’s assistant coach, refused to get carried away after England’s second top-order collapse of the match, and instead put England’s struggles down to a touch of early-tour rustiness.”The guys have had five or six weeks off, and only they could tell you how switched on or off they are at the moment,” Maynard told reporters after England had slumped to 39 for 6 in their second innings. “Losing the wickets was a disappointment, but I wouldn’t read too much into it. I can’t fault the commitment from the lads. They’ve worked hard in training and in the nets.”Improbably, given all the pre-tour hype about the trial by spin that awaits England, the damage in both innings has been done by seamers. But Maynard pointed out that the same had been true on England’s last tour in 2000-01. “Apparently the same happened five years ago,” he said. “The practice wickets have been totally different to the centre wickets, which will be totally different to the Test wicket in two weeks’ time. Today it was a bit like English county conditions, and we haven’t adapted that well.”Anyone back home examining England’s scorecard might accuse the team of a touch of complacency, but Maynard insisted this was not the case. “I wouldn’t have thought so at all,” he said. “The team has been talked to by the captain, and they all know that to win in the subcontinent is the next big challenge. They are definitely all up for it.”Amid the chaos, some early indicators for the Test have been popping up, not least Paul Collingwood’s apparent headstart over Ian Bell. “It’s still early stages,” said Maynard. “The management team and selectors have got their ideas, but if Belly scores a hundred tomorrow his name is sure to be in the frame. That’s the beauty of this squad, everyone is competing for a place.””The bowlers impressed,” Maynard added of England’s one bright spot of the day. “They were rusty at the start, but once they had got overs in their legs they began to hit good areas. There was some great reward for Liam Plunkett in his first match, a nice comeback for Jimmy Anderson, and Shaun Udal got some turn.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Test cricket reveals character, and the first day of the Ahmedabad Test had ample displays of it. First, Sri Lanka shrugged off an indifferent start to reduce India to 97 for 5 – this, after theirfirst-choice new-ball bowlers had opted out of the game due to illness. But despite some sharp and committed bowling, India clambered back, led to respectability, at 247 for 6, by VVS Laxman’s 71 not out, and his partnerships of 86 with MS Dhoni and an unbroken 64 with IrfanPathan. It was a gripping day of cricket.It began with a notification of absence. Rahul Dravid had backed out earlier due to gastroenteritis – Sehwag captained in his place, as Kaif came into the XI – and Sri Lanka found themselves without Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and Avishka Gunawardene. After Sehwag won the toss and opted to bat, Sri Lanka’s bowling did, initially, appear inadequate.Malinga, his steady run-up a contrast to the slingshotty flamboyance of his action, was wayward, and kept straying down the leg side. Maharoof was steady, moved the ball both ways off the seam, and mixed it up well. But the batsmen – Gautam Gambhir had been preferred toWasim Jaffer — negotiated him comfortably, the only exception being when Sehwag got a thin inside-edge of an incoming ball, which fell short of Kumar Sangakkara, the wicketkeeper.It was eventually Malinga who struck. He kept testing the batsmen with short balls, and Gambhir, fiesty and undaunted by the precarious state of his Test-match career, pulled him a couple of times. But valour got him nowhere. Having made 19, he tried to hook a short ball that waswell outside the off stump, from outside the line, and the ball ballooned up in the air limply. Upul Tharanga, making his Test debut, took an easy catch at midwicket (31 for 1).Sehwag and Laxman took India to lunch, which came after just an hour of play because overnight dew caused a late start, after which Sri Lanka lifted their game. Malinga’s action makes it just that bit harder to pick up the ball early, and perhaps that caused Sehwag to stay rooted to the crease to a ball he should have gone forward to, and playing down the wrong line. The ball clipped his pads and bowled him for 20 (52 for 2).Malinga kept running in hard, testing the batsmen with a lot of short deliveries, while Maharoof stuck superbly to a tight line just outside off. There was some reverse swing in the air, and the runs slowed. Malinga tested Tendulkar by shifting round the wicket and pepperinghim with bouncers directed, from wide of the leg stump, at his body. But Tendulkar was unfazed.Tendulkar greeted Muttiah Muralitharan’s advent into the attack with a lofted four to long-on, but was otherwise a picture of caution. He was on the back foot more often than not, playing as late as he could, generally turning the ball, with the spin, onto the leg side. It wasn’t with spin that Murali beat him, though, but with bounce, as Tendulkar was surprised by one that snorted off the pitch and took an edge onto the pads. Jehan Mubarak completed the dismissal, with a well-timed dive at forward short leg (88 for 3).

Yuvraj Singh, who wasn’t completely comfortable against Murali in the last Test, didn’t last long, stepping forward and edging a good-length ball (88 for 4). Mohammad Kaif went soon after, pulling Malinga Bandara uppishly to midwicket. (97 for 5).It is rare for the advent of a No. 7 batsman to excite the crowds and worry the bowlers. It happens with Adam Gilchrist, and it may well happen with Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the years go by. He strode out without a trace of fear, played out the overs until tea, and changed the tempo of the game afterwards.Every movement of Dhoni at the crease signalled intent: whether going forward or back, he was decisive in his movement. Whenever bat met ball, it was emphatic, whether in defence or attack. He used his feet but kept his head; he was aggressive but did not take any risks. Sometimes he smashed the ball through empty spaces in the field; at other times, he used the empty space in the air, lofting without inhibition or fear of human intervention.Laxman had been 23 not out when Dhoni walked out to bat. Soon, Laxman was 50 not out and Dhoni on 49. But, with his second consecutive Test half-century in sight, Dhoni went back to a full offspinner from Murali, and was trapped plumb in front. (183 for 6).Laxman had a lucky escape just after that, when a bat-pad catch off Bandara was negated because the umpire didn’t notice the edge. But apart from that, he was a picture of solidity, as wall-like, to reprise a familiar cliché, as the man who normally bats at No. 3 forIndia. He battled on, immensely watchful, but throwing in the occasional delectable stroke to remind us of his art.Pathan struck some lusty blows, and India reached the end of the day having recovered much of the ground they had lost earlier. The pitch was likely to slow down as the match went on, and the odd ball was already keeping low. And the players headed for the pavilion in the knowledge that that the game was precariously poised and, like the last Test, could swing in the course of a session. Fun seemed certain to come on the second day.How they were outIndiaGautam Gambhir c Tharanga b Malinga 19 (31 for 1)
Virender Sehwag b Malinga 20 (52 for 2)
Sachin Tendulkar c Mubarak b Muralitharan 23 (88 for 3)
Yuvraj Singh c Samaraweera b Muralitharan 0 (88 for 4)
Mohammad Kaif c Atapattu b Bandara 4 (97 for 5)
MS Dhoni lbw Muralitharan 49 (183 for 6)

The former Test representatives Tim Zoehrer and Bruce Reid will be the guest players for the Chairman’s XI to play South Africa at Perth’s Lilac Hill on Friday. Daniel Christian, a young New South Wales allrounder, is the only non-Western Australian chosen for the traditional festival match to welcome the tourists.Justin Langer will captain the XI after leading them to victory over Pakistan last season, and he will be joined in the top order by Marcus North, the vice-captain, Chris Rogers and Adam Voges. The bowling attack includes Mathew Inness, Brett Dorey and Darren Wates but Reid will be the star attraction.Reid, who is now a bowling coach, played 27 Tests between 1985-85 and 1992-93, but his brilliant left-arm fast bowling was overshadowed by injuries, usually to his back, and he finished with 113 wickets. A part-time legspinner, Zoehrer was Australia’s reserve wicketkeeper on the 1989 and 1993 Ashes tours behind Ian Healy and was limited to ten Tests and 22 ODIs.Chairman’s XI Justin Langer (capt), Marcus North, Chris Rogers, Adam Voges, Tim Zoehrer, Ryan Campbell, Daniel Christian, Brett Dorey, Peter Worthington, Darren Wates, Bruce Reid, Matthew Inness.

Umar Gul, the fast bowler, celebrated his recall to the Pakistan A line-up for next month’s tour opener against the Indians with a five-wicket haul for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) against Pakistan Customs on the opening day of their Group A fourth-round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex Ground No.1 at Karachi.Umar’s figures of 5 for 64 in 19 overs had Customs bowled out for a modest 199. By the close of play, PIA had reached 46 for 2 after having lost Yasir Hameed and Agha Sabir rather cheaply. Customs were well served by a 130-run fourth-wicket partnership between Kashif Siddiq and Fawad Alam, both left-handers, but the last seven wickets crashed for the addition of a mere 38 after the score at one stage had been an impressive 161 for 3. Fawad, 20, top-scored with a mature 79, made off 114 balls in a little over two hours at the wicket, while Kashif’s 58 came off 126 with six hits to the ropes.Umar was ably supported by Tahir Khan, whose offspinners captured him 4 for 65 in 19.2 overs as three Customs batsmen failed to get off the mark. Both Customs and PIA have played two matches each in the five-team Group A, with six points each to their credit. They are aiming to be in the top two that will qualify for the tournament’s Quadrangular Stage round.Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) did their chances of averting relegation to next season’s Grade-II circuit no good when they spent the entire opening day of their fourth-round Patron’s Trophy match against Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Sports Complex in Karachi struggling to get a poor total of 195 for 8.The new-ball pair of Sajid Ali and Asad Ali plucked five of these wickets as KRL, after having been put in first, had half their side back in the pavilion with only 108 on the board. Saeed Anwar Junior, the left-handed opener, and Mohammad Wasim, who has earned a call-up to the Pakistan A team for the opening warm-up game against the Indians, perished at the same score of 19. The third wicket fell at 31.Mohtashim Ali and Usman Saeed, both youngsters, then retrieved the situation with a 67-run fourth-wicket stand. Mohtashim, 24, made 32 with two fours off 90 balls while Usman, 19, top-scored with 34 off 90 deliveries with two hits to the ropes.The later batsmen all got runs but did not last long. Azhar Ali, the allrounder, was unbeaten on 31 in a patient display having negotiated 111 balls with a solitary boundary.With him is Saeed Ajmal, the offspinner, with an unbeaten 18 in just short of an hours’ batting. The unbroken ninth-wicket stand has so far produced 32 invaluable runs. Sajid Ali, Lahore’s left-arm fast-medium, finished the day with figures of 3 for 33 in his first match of the season. Mohammad Salman, the SNGPL wicketkeeper, held four catches in the innings.KRL have already lost their first three matches in the tournament and are placed at rock bottom in the five-team points table. Another loss here will definitely get them demoted to the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II competition next season. After two matches, SNGPL are currently at second place behind Habib Bank, with a total of nine points. The two top teams from the two groups qualify for the Quadrangular Stage round that gets underway from January 15.In a truncated opening day’s play, Service Industries scored 174 for 6 in their fourth-round Patron’s Trophy match against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) at the Sheikhupura Stadium.Of the 83 overs to be bowled during a day’s play, 68 were actually sent down yesterday after Naved Ashraf put Service Industries in first. The first five wickets fell with only 72 on the board, of which Shaiman Anwar scored 33 off 62 balls with six boundaries.Khurram Shahzad and Mustansar Ali, the middle-order batsmen, then got involved in an invaluable sixth-wicket partnership of 102. While Khurram was dismissed shortly before the match was called off, for 48 off 131 balls in almost three hours with four fours, Mustansar remained unbeaten on 55 with six fours and a six in a little over two and half hours’ batting. For ZTBL, Tanvir Ahmed, the opening bowler, took 2 for 41 while Bilal Asad’s medium fast bowling earned him figures of 3 for 25 from 15 overs.ZTBL, four-time champions of the competition, have collected no points in the ongoing tournament. Service Industries had qualified for the first-class tournament after winning the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II title last season. They appear to be going towards demotion again.Only 7.3 overs of play was possible due to bad weather and poor light on the opening day of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP)’s Group B fourth-round Patron’s Trophy match against Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), here at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) Ground.In the 45 deliveries bowled in the day, WAPDA, who had been asked to bat first, managed just 14 runs. Adil Nisar, the captain, and Ahmed Said, the wicketkeeper, remained unbeaten on 7 and 3 respectively. While WAPDA have been strengthened by the inclusion of Mohammad Yousuf and Mushtaq Ahmed, both players with national experience, the NBP line-up has in its midst Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami, all national representatives.Sami bowled 3.3 overs yesterday and, although he sent down no maidens, he conceded just four. Wasim Khan, his bowling partner, had figures of 0 for 6 off four overs. WAPDA, who were the tournament runners-up in 2003-04, are at second place in the five-team Group B table with 12 points from two matches. NBP have been Patron’s Trophy champions on five occasions and are the third spot with a tally of nine points.

Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s coach, believes that Sri Lanka have the ingredients to win the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean if the senior players step up to it.Speaking to the media after Sri Lanka’s five-wicket loss to South Africa in their crucial VB Series match at Perth yesterday, Moody said: “For us to win the World Cup, which I believe we are capable of doing, we’ve got another year to develop as a team and learn as a team. We need the senior players that are on this tour firing on all cylinders. There’s no question about that.”Moody cited Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu and Chaminda Vaas as key to Sri Lanka’s hopes of success. Jayasuriya, 36, proved his worth to the side since returning from injury, belting 114 against Australia at Sydney last week and hitting 86 from 65 deliveries yesterday. “Jayasuriya … we’ve seen how valuable he is,” Moody said. “Marvan, he’s a valuable player to us anywhere in the order, and Vaas is still quality with the new ball. They’re all very important.”But Moody also said Sri Lanka had a growing store of young talent who would have benefited greatly from the experience of playing in Australia. “We’ve got a lot of young faces here. I think they’ve done pretty well to be honest with you,” he said. “Its a tough introduction to international cricket — the series in Australia. I think (Jehan) Mubarak at the top of the order has played well and he will learn an enormous amount from this experience.””Nuwan Kulasekara is very young as well and he’s only going to get better. He’s just come back from stress fractures six months ago so he’s not bowling the pace hewould normally bowl,” Moody added. “Upul Tharanga, who hasn’t played a lot, has also impressed. He’s got two international hundreds at the age of 20. Its going to be a great experience for these players and hopefully they’ll learn a lot from their time down here.”However, Moody also admitted Sri Lanka would need to rely on Australia to beat South Africa twice in the coming days if his team is to progress to the best-of-three finals. “We need Australia to do the business against South Africa,” he said.Australia play South Africa in Melbourne on Friday and in Sydney next Sunday while Sri Lanka meet South Africa in the final qualifying match in Hobart on February 7.

Victoria have gambled on two debutants for their all-or-nothing Pura Cup match against Western Australia at St Kilda on Friday. Five teams can reach the final against Queensland at the Gabba from March 24, but the Bushrangers have a two-point buffer in second spot and can seal their place with an outright victory.Dirk Nannes, the left-arm quick from the Fitzroy-Doncaster club, has been called up for Allan Wise while Grant Lindsay, an ING Cup Supersub, will replace Shane Warne, who will head to South Africa for the three-Test series with Justin Langer. “It’s fantastic to be selected, especially for a game as huge as this,” Nannes said. “I’ve worked hard at club and Cricket Australia Cup level to create this opportunity, so hopefully I can seize it and help the Bushrangers get through to the final.”While Victoria are in line to field two untested players, the experienced coaching staff of Greg Shipperd and David Saker had their contracts extended by Cricket Victoria last night until the end of the 2006-07 season. Shipperd said the extra time would help develop a squad that won the inaugural Twenty20 domestic tournament in January.Western Australia have picked Clint Heron to fill Langer’s shoes and Marcus North steps in as captain. The Warriors are third and an outright victory would earn their place in the decider for the first time since 1999.Western Australia Marcus North (capt), Clint Heron, Chris Rogers, Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges, David Bandy, Luke Ronchi (wk), Beau Casson, Brett Dorey, Steve Magoffin, Ben Edmondson, Shawn GilliesVictoria Jason Arnberger, Lloyd Mash, Brad Hodge, Nick Jewell, David Hussey, Jon Moss, Cameron White (capt), Grant Lindsay, Nathan Pilon (wk), Dirk Nannes, Gerard Denton, Shane Harwood.

Come tomorrow another new form of hit and giggle game is all set to be unveiled in Australia, the has reported. Cricket Masala – a six-a-side, five-overs format, will involve local players, mostly Sydney first-graders, who will play for teams representing their own cultural heritage such as India, Pakistan or South Africa.Cricket Masala is the creation of Patrick Skene, who has seen the success of similar festivals in cricketing outposts such as Vancouver, Hong Kong, Chiang Mai and Shanghai. “If you want excitement, non-stop entertainment, it’s the way to go. This is going to be the most colourful celebration of cricket and of community that Sydney has ever seen.”Kersi Meher-Homji, a cricket writer, believes the atmosphere at Bankstown Oval will be “like that of a Roman amphitheatre and sub continental bazaar rolled into one”. That hype is not unwarranted as worldwide television deals have been struck, through PanGlobal TV, and have attracted several big-name sponsors, including Commonwealth Bank, Milo, Dilmah Tea and SBS.Lisa Sthalekar, the Australian vice-captain, will lead a Rest of the World team while Subroto Banerjee, the former India Test player, and Aminul Islam, the former Bangladesh Test cricketer, are some of the players involved. Jason Gillespie, before his Test recall, was set to represent the NSW Aboriginal All-Stars and his place has gone to Andrew Gordon, a recipient of the NSW Cricket Indigenous Volunteer of the Year award.”I’ve just started rugby training and one of the guys said to me on one hand we’ve got Jason Gillespie, who has played more than 50 Tests for Australia and taken more than 200 wickets, ” Gordon told the website. “On the other hand we have Andrew Gordon, who would be lucky to have taken 100 wickets for Ballina Bears.”

Virender Sehwag’s form, or lack of it, at the top of the order in the one-day game has been a concern for over a season now, but for the moment, the team management is keeping faith in his hit-and-miss method. With the cushion of a 3-0 series lead, Rahul Dravid was understandably upbeat ahead of the game in Kochi, and he insisted that Sehwag would be given more opportunities to indulge the appetite for destruction that once made him such a feared one-day opener.”At the moment, we want to give him some more opportunities at the top of the order,” said Dravid. “He is having a tough run of late. For us, it is critical to try and get him back into form and we will do whatever it takes. What he does for us when he fires at the top is very destructive, something he has done with a lot of success.”Dravid opened with Sehwag in Goa, but with the exciting Robin Uthappa having been drafted in, that experiment is unlikely to be continued. Sehwag, with a sub-30 average and only four 50s in the last year, struggled in the Tests against England, undone by the short ball directed at the body, and his travails have continued in the one-dayers, despitethere being no Steve Harmison or Matthew Hoggard – yet to feature in the pajama games – to torment him.Sehwag moved down the order against South Africa last November, smacking a game-winning 77 at Bangalore, but was then restored to the top. But from Dravid’s responses today, the middle-order option will be the last one explored. “We have a lot of options, but we will see as the series progresses.”Dravid was aware that victory at Kochi – India have won three of four games at the Nehru Stadium – would seal the series, but he reiterated that proximity to the finishing line wouldn’t distract a side that excelled in dead rubbers against Sri Lanka (a 6-1 romp) and Pakistan (demolished 4-1, after the opening game was lost). “It will be nice to win it,” he said. “But I do not think we will deviate too much from our plans. We will try and play the cricket which we played for the last three games.”Having played three matches in the space of a week, rest and recuperation were high on the agenda for the Indian team, with Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan giving the practice session a miss. ”It’s not that we will forget to bat or bowl in one day,” said Dravid with a hint of cheek when asked if all was well within the side.In his last outing here, Dravid nurdled a century against Pakistan, in conditions so oppressive that he had to be administered a drip afterwards. India triumphed in similar conditions at Goa, and Dravid reckoned that the weather would certainly be a factor on a pitch that he expected to be full of runs. “It gets quite hot and humid here,” he said. “You need a lot of mental strength and ability to cope with it.”Unless England can summon up hitherto unseen reserves of energy and skill, the series will be over by sundown tomorrow, and Dravid will have even more leeway to ease the likes of Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif back into the groove.