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Mithali Raj will spearhead India’s World Cup campaign as she continues in the captaincy role for the tournament in South Africa which starts in March.The eight teams will face each other in a round-robin basis ahead of the semi-final stages. Australia are the favourites, while India, New Zealand and England are expected to make the semi-finals at least. India have never won the World Cup, although they made the semi-finals of the last tournament where they lost to the eventual winners, the hosts New Zealand.India squad
Mithali Raj (captain), Jaya Sharma, Hemalata Kala, Neetu David, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Amita Sharma, Deepa Marathe, Rumali Dhar, Arundhati Kirkire, Anju Jain, Jhulan Goswami, Anjum Chopra, Karuna Jain, Reema Malhotra.

Anyone arriving in the UK this morning could be forgiven for thinking that cricket was the nation’s obsession and football was a mere afterthought to fill in the gap between seasons. But then again, the Ashes aren’t won every day (or even every decade).While the broadsheets attempted to retain some sense of restraint – if only in appearance as opposed to their writing – the tabloids had no such worries. “FantASHtic” boomed the front page of The Sun, while its back page was devoted entirely to a picture of Michael Vaughan and the words of William Blake’s Jerusalem. The Mirror also put aside its front and pack pages to the cricket, and chose a different pun to lead with – “URNcredible”. And inside, just to put football finally in its place, the headline – “They think its all Oval … it is now”.The broadsheets also went into overdrive, with pages devoted to the match, and in some instances special pull-outs as well. But it was Kevin Pietersen’s performance which attracted the column inches. “When sport and drama can reach no higher plane and spectators are watching through the gaps between their fingers, even the greatest athletes can have performance strangled from within them. Pietersen’ s colleagues from higher up the order yesterday bore witness to that,” wrote Owen Slot in The Times. “Those who survive, we tend to associate with steely mentality: Jonny Wilkinson, Nick Faldo, Bjorn Borg. But to come equipped with soaring self-belief clearly helps, too. Arguably, Pietersen had no right to be “the man who did it”, but when your mentality is as cocksure as his is, who is there to stop you? “

In The Daily Telegraph , Geoff Boycott said Pietersen was “a belligerent individual. He is cocky and confident; there is a touch of arrogance about him. I love it, so long as he produces runs. All the great players have had self-confidence and self-belief. They have all been full of themselves. But the point is that they have delivered. Up until this point, Pietersen has had the persona but he hasn’t had the runs. All we want now is for him to take a catch, and then he has cracked Test cricket.”In the same paper, Martin Johnson carried on the theme with his tongue firmly in his cheek. “A grateful nation woke up this morning with the unshakeable conviction that Kevin Pietersen was wonderful, and if this was a view which happily corresponded with his own, what the heck. He even has an autobiography in the pipeline, no doubt with a diamond-encrusted front cover and the modest working title, KP Superstar … many batsmen take to wearing lucky charms, like a rabbit’s foot, but while they generally wait until the rabbit is dead, Pietersen became the first cricketer in Ashes history to bat with a live animal as a mascot. Wearing a skunk underneath your helmet may not meet the approval of the RSPCA, but in England’s hour of crisis, it certainly got the job done.””Play Pietersen, they said before this series began,” wote Mike Selvey in The Guardian. “Tolerate his lip and his ego, the bling, bullshit and 50-grand ear stud. And forgive him his batting peccadilloes – of which there would be many from such a free spirit with a confidence level on red alert – because somewhere along the line he will deliver an innings that matters. Yesterday was his, the day this brash fellow, with the skunk-chic haircut and more front than Durban, channelled it all into one remarkable innings that saved the day for his team and won them back the Ashes.”In The Independent, James Lawton caught his breath. “England won the Ashes, but long after this is a detail of cricket history assigned amid a thousand others, this day, this summer, will surely live at least as long as all who saw it and felt it and were carried, for a small but totally absorbing fraction of their lives, into a world where men, however young and green, however steeped in gritty experience, kept digging down and finding new dimensions to both their will and their talent.”Also in The Independent, Peter Roebuck said that the England had won the Ashes fair and square. “They looked the Australians in the eye and exchanged blows until the weaker side fell.. He concluded: “Perhaps, though, the last word belongs to a cheerful crowd’s lone trumpeter, a splendid gentleman who reminded all and sundry that it is only a game by routinely greeting Langer with his rendition of ” hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work we go”.Back to The Times , where Christopher Martin-Jenkins touched on the massive interest in the match across the country. “There has never been a series followed at close quarters by so many as this,” wrote Christopher Martin-Jenkins. “When Radio 4’s computer was switched on in the Test Match Special commentary box yesterday morning there were 18,543 e-mail messages unread.”

ScorecardJerome Taylor and Nikita Miller triggered an astonishing Leeward Island collapse in which 8 wickets fell for only 51 runs. At 99 for 2, Leeward Island were in a strong position, and all set to take the first-innings lead over Jamaica, but were bundled out for 150, still 38 short of Jamaica’s total. However, Wilden Cornwall struck back for Leeward with two wickets, and had Jamaica in some bother at 39 for 3 as the second day ended.Taylor claimed 5 for 23 and Miller took 4 for 47 on the uneven track, which assisted the bowlers, but not as much as on the first day. Leeward were 2 for 2, but a 97-run counter-attack between Runako Morton (50) and Sylvester Joseph (35) ensued before Jamaica ran through. Soon Leeward were 116 for 8, but were helped along by two stubborn innings by Carl Simon (15) and Kerry Jeremy (19).Jamaica then lost both openers and Lorenzo Ingram for 32 to restrict Jamaica’s lead to 77, with two days to achieve a result.The two other matches – between Barbados and Windward Island, and Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago – were both rained off.

Simon Jones could face disciplinary action from the International Cricket Council after an excited celebration when dismissing Ramnaresh Sarwan during the afternoon session of the second Test at Port-of-Spain.The outburst occurred when Jones won a leg-before decision against Sarwan to leave West Indies teetering on 56 for 3, still 55 behind England. Jones, whose follow-through took him to within inches of Sarwan, screamed in his face and had to be firmly ushered away by team-mates. “I didn’t say anything to him,” Jones insisted. “I just shouted.”Billy Bowden, the umpire, had a word with Jones shortly afterwards, and it is now up to Mike Procter, the match referee, whether he wants to take any further action under the ICC’s Code of Conduct.Jones admitted after the close of play: “The umpires had a couple of words and I apologised for what happened. Obviously I got a little over-excited, but there was nothing malicious there. I didn’t say anything to him. There’s no hard feelings with Sarwan. I was very annoyed with myself for the first ball I bowled him, a rank half-volley, and was just excited to get his wicket.”Jones went on: “Today was the first time on tour that I have felt really good. I tried to relax and that helped a lot. I was way too tense in the first Test. I think we [the bowlers] are working really well as a unit. We are all confident, and you can see that from the way we batted tonight. It would have been nice to knock them off tonight, but we just need another 30 or so and hopefully we can celebrate tomorrow.”

The Barmy Army have rubbished suggestions that hoards of thugs will travel with them to Australia for the Ashes.”To suggest that football hooligans will travel halfway round the world at great expense in the middle of the football season, just months after spending fortunes following England at the World Cup is quite extraordinary,” said Barmy Army co-founder Dave Peacock.He was reacting to news that Morris Iemma, the New South Wales premier, had sought intelligence from British police on known troublemakers to assist in their policing of the Sydney Test. He wrote: “I am sure you would agree that the ugly stain of poor crowd behaviour can adversely impact [on] the enjoyment of thousands of families who love cricket and reflect poorly on national reputations.”And the state’s police minister, Carl Scully, had a warning of his own. “If any didn’t [behave] then we’ll have the sort of response that we had to some of the rugby league games – very strong, very stern, very quick.”Paul Burnham, one of the founders of the Barmy Army, warned that any problems would be exacerbated by Cricket Australia’s handling of ticket allocations. “We’re not saying that there is never any trouble at cricket grounds – there are always a few idiots on both sides – but Cricket Australia’s arrangements haven’t helped the situation.”Victoria Police superintendent Mick Williams, who is in charge of security during Melbourne’s Boxing Day Test, said he was more concerned about the behaviour of Australian supporters.”[The Barmy Army] are very well-organised and actually control a lot of their own people. In fact, we tend to have more problems with our own local spectators than visiting spectators,” he told The Age.

Sri Lanka 245 (Jayasuriya 55, Atapattu 47, Clarke 5-35) beat Australia 244 for 5 (Hayden 93, Ponting 69, Vaas 3-48) by one run
Scorecard

Chaminda Vaas grabbed three wickets, and kept his cool during anerve-jangling final over, as Sri Lanka snatched a thrilling one-run victoryagainst Australia at Dambulla. Needing just eight to win from the last six balls with five wickets in hand, Australia looked set for victory, but Vaas conceded only six runs to level the series at 1-1.For most of the afternoon, it had seemed as if Sri Lanka would pay for aspectacular late batting collapse. Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden added148 for the second wicket, and Australia were cruising – but the dismissal ofPonting precipitated a slump from 148 for 1 to 192 for 5.Andrew Symonds – the beneficiary of a bizarre and sportingrecall, after being adjudged lbw by Peter Manuel on 10 – and Michael Bevan carried Australia to the brink of victory, adding 52 in 58balls, but could not finish the job because of Vaas’s heroics.Sri Lanka’s top order had batted their team into a commanding positionin the morning with partnerships of 121 for the first wicket – between Sanath Jayasuriya (55) and Marvan Atapattu (47) – and 70 for the third between Mahela Jaywardene (38) and Kumar Sangakkara (39). But some reckless batting by the middle and lower order against Michael Clarke’s innocuous-looking left-arm spin squandered the initiative as the last sevenwickets fell for just 29. Sri Lanka, gliding along at 192 for 2 at one stage, were bowled out with one ball remaining.Nevertheless, the target was competitive on a dry, worn surface – the same pitch that was used on Friday – that offered plenty of assistance for Sri Lanka’s six spinners. Ironically, though, it was Vaas who grabbed the first wicket as Clarke, promoted from the middle order to counter the spinners, shelled the third ball of the innings straight to Upul Chandana at backward point (0 for 1).Ponting and Hayden took a couple of overs to settle. However, in the fifthover, Ponting cut loose, pulling a short one from Vaas over square leg for six, and then cracking a square cut to the point fence. Thereafter, Australia started to tick along smoothly with both batsmen mixing sharp singles and twos with calculated aggression.Atapattu rotated his bowlers with increasing desperation. Seven had been used by the 22nd over, and not one of them looked remotely threatening. Even Muttiah Muralitharan, who might have expected to be a major handful on this pitch, was unable to conjure up a breakthrough.But Sri Lanka finally broke through in the 32nd over as Ponting top-edged asweep to be caught at deep square leg. Vaas was recalled for a second spell, and he deceived Damien Martyn with a slower ball to put Sri Lanka right back inthe match (170 for 3).Australia started the final ten overs needing a modest 56 to win, but suffered amassive blow when Hayden miscued a lofted drive to be caught at wide long-off.In the same over, Dharmasena won an lbw decision against Symonds that was later overruled following discussions between Gilchrist, the non-striker, the umpires and Atapattu – after it became clear that Symonds had edged the ball on to his pads.Although Vaas clung on to a tumbling caught-and-bowled chance off Gilchristin the next over to leave Australia 192 for 5, Atapattu’s sportsmanship looked to have cost Sri Lanka victory as Symonds and Bevan steadily chipped away at the target. When Bevan smashed Muralitharan for six over midwicketin the 49th over, it looked all over.

But Vaas conceded just two singles off his first two balls, and then followedup with consecutive dot-balls to leave Australia needing six off two. Symonds could only scamper a single and Bevan was unable to hit a six off the last ball.Atapattu had started the day well, winning what appeared a crucial tossand then leading from the front with the bat. While Jayasuriya was unusuallynervy at the start, labouring for 32 balls before hitting his firstboundary, Atapattu played fluently, puncturing the infield with high-elboweddrives and clips.Both Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee struggled to find rhythm early on, though Gillespie was unlucky to not claim an early lbw against Jayasuriya, when he had made just 10. The arrival of Symonds into the attack finally shook Jayasuriya out of his slumber. His second ball, a medium-pacer, was clubbed over cover and his fourth delivery, an offbreak, was smashed over midwicket. Jayasuriya sprinted to his fifty, the 55th of his one-day career, as Atapattu settled back into a supporting role.It was Ponting who came to his side’s aid. Athletically flinging himself to his left at midwicket, he then broke the stumps at the non-striker’s end with a diving underarm flick. Atapattu had scored 47 from 68 balls. Next over, Symonds trapped Jayasuriya lbw with an offbreak that crept along the floor.The run rate slowed as Jayawardene and Sangakkara, who had added 121together in the first game, played themselves in. The spinners, Symonds and BradHogg, troubled both batsmen, and strokeplay was never easy on apitch that grew increasingly slow. But Jayawardene, who survived a run-out chance on 4 when Symonds’s throwmissed the stumps, settled – and runs started to flow. Sangakkara, who managed just a single boundary in his 58-ball 39, allowed his partner to take theinitiative as 70 were added in 98 balls.Ponting’s decision to replace Lee with Clarke paid dividends as Jayawardene wascaught at cover trying to loft over the infield (192 for 3). Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan then added 24 in 29 balls before the innings lurched into freefall – the last seven wickets fell for 29 courtesy of a rash of ambitiousstrokes. Luckily for Sri Lanka, Australia fluffed their final lines as well in the late-afternoon sunshine.

A record number of tickets have been sold for Tuesday’s NatWest Series match between England and South Africa at Edgbaston. A grand total of 20,260 tickets have been snapped up for the day-night game – the most ever at the ground. It beats the next highest of 19,223 for the England v Pakistan match in 2001, and the 18,319 for England against New Zealand in 1994.Dennis Amiss, Warwickshire’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted that Edgbaston is sold out for the one-day international on Tuesday. It promises to be a great encounter and the atmosphere at a packed Edgbaston is always memorable. We hope that this success will be mirrored for the Test match later in the month and I am sure that all those who buy tickets for that will witness a fantastic sporting encounter.”Stuart Robertson, who has recently been appointed head of marketing at Warwickshire, added: “Edgbaston is second only to Lord’s in terms of capacity and it will be great to see the ground full to the rafters during the NatWest Series match. Although we are not yet sold out for the npower Test match, we expect to see some huge crowds for that match as well. With big crowds at the recent Twenty20 matches cricket in the West Midlands is very much alive and kicking.”The Test match between England and South Africa takes place from July 24 to 28, and although tickets are available for all five days, they are selling out fast. They can be purchased by calling 0121 446 5506. Discounts are available for groups, schools and families, information about which can be found on that number.For further information, call Warwickshire’s marketing department on 0121 446 4777.

Ray Bright, the former Australian left-arm spinner, will conduct a three-day training programme with some of Tasmania’s young slow bowlers. The sessions will commence from Friday, August 1, in the Indoor Centre at Bellerive Oval, Hobart. Among the items on the agenda for Bright is a two-hour session – from 10am to 12 noon on August 1 – spent exclusively with Xavier Doherty, a promising left-arm spinner.Bright’s international career lasted 10 years, during which time he played 25 Tests and 11 one-day internationals. He was also in the Australian team that took part in the first World Series against West Indies and the Rest of the World. Bright played 184 first-class matches for Victoria, taking 471 wickets at 32.08.

West Indies B 97 and 149 beat Kenya 149 and 85 by 12 runs
ScorecardJason Bennett grabbed a hat-trick and Dwight Washington picked up three wickets of his own, as West Indies B pulled off a dramatic 12-run victory over Kenya from an apparently hopeless situation. Set 98 to win, the Kenyans crumbled to 85 all out midway the final session at Edgar Gilbert Park. Bennett removed Collins Obuya (1), Martin Suji (0) and Peter Ongondo (0) with consecutive deliveries to finish with figures of 3 for 23 off 12 overs, and a match haul of 8 for 68.Guyana 108 and 307 for 6 trail Barbados 422 for 7 dec by seven runs
ScorecardKrishna Arjune and Sewnarine Chattergoon both missed out on their second regional first-class hundreds, but they nonetheless led a Guyana fightback against Barbados in their opening round match of the Carib Beer 2004 Cricket Series at Kensington Oval yesterday. Guyana, trailing Barbados by 314 on first innings, were 307 for 6 in their second innings when bad light stopped play three overs early.Trinidad & Tobago 335 and 122 for 4 lead Leeward Islands 324 by 133 runs
ScorecardLeeward Islands conceded first-innings points to Trinidad & Tobago, but captured four wickets late on the third day to claw their way back into contention at Guaracara Park. Trinidad & Tobago led by 11 runs on first innings, and were 122 for 4 in their second innings when rain and bad light stopped play 13 overs early.Jamaica 266 and 238 for 6 lead Windward Islands 273 by 231 runs
ScorecardAfter conceding a slim seven-run first-innings deficit to the Windward Islands, Jamaica were battling back on 238 for 6 at the close of the third day at Beausejour. Tamar Lambert produced another defiant knock to finish unbeaten on 44. The Windwards had owed their position to a 67-run ninth-wicket partnership between Shane Shillingford and Fernix Thomas.

Hampshire v Glamorgan, Cardiff ScorecardCaptains past and present, Robin Smith and John Crawley, added 123 for thesecond wicket as Hampshire enjoyed the better of the first day at Cardiff.Crawley’s share was 65, and though Smith eventually fell eight runs short ofhis 62nd first-class century, Nic Pothas ensured his good work was notwasted by reaching the close on 81 not out. Alex Wharf was the pick of abeleaguered Glamorgan attack, finishing with two wickets.Northamptonshire v Gloucestershire, Wantage Road ScorecardNorthants survived a trial by spin to close on a creditable 338 for 8 atWantage Road, a considerable improvement on their woeful efforts againstYorkshire last week. Gloucestershire’s pair of Martyn Ball and Ian Fisherbowled a staggering 73 overs between them, and picked up but one of theeight wickets to fall. But they were thwarted by regular contributions alldown the order. Mark Powell and David Paynter put on 126 for the firstwicket, David Sales added a gritty 59, and the ninth-wicket pair of TobyBailey and Andre Nel reached the close unbeaten after a 63-run stand.Somerset v Durham, Taunton ScorecardFifteen wickets fell on the first day at Taunton, as Durham and Somersettraded blow for blow. Jon Lewis scored a composed 78 and Marcus Trescothickresponded in kind with 60 from 81 balls, but overall it was a day for thebowlers. Richard Johnson was the pick for Somerset, with figures of 5 for64, although Vince Wells struck two vital blows in the final over of theday, as five Somerset wickets fell for 35 runs.Kent v Leicestershire, Canterbury ScorecardKent made a stuttering start to their Championship campaign, as they werebundled out for 245 after winning the toss at Canterbury. Greg Blewett andMichael Carberry picked up a brace of fifties, but three wickets for CharlieDagnell made the difference. When their turn came, Leicestershire slumped to48 for 3, with Mark Ealham, the stand-in Kent captain, grabbing two wickets,but Darren Maddy, and the returning Paul Nixon stood firm to the close.Lancashire v Nottinghamshire, Old Trafford ScorecardMal Loye made history as the first batsman to score centuries in each of hisfirst two innings for Lancashire, but Nottinghamshire fought backimpressively in the evening session. Loye, who signed from Northants in thesummer, scored 113 and added 137 for the fifth wicket with Andrew Flintoff(97). With a few overs of the day remaining, Lancashire were cruising at 340for 5, but Steve Elworthy (5 for 71) and Greg Smith (3 for 50) ripped outthe last five wickets for 14 runs.Middlesex v Sussex, Lord’s ScorecardJason Lewry and James Kirtley were Sussex’s heroes with bat and ball, on aday of fluctuating fortunes at Lord’s. Middlesex had the upper hand earlyon, with Joe Dawes and Paul Weekes taking three wickets apiece to reduceSussex to 172 for 9. But Lewry clubbed a run-a-ball 45, and Kirtley kept hisend up for 55 deliveries in a vital last-wicket stand of 67. They followedup by each grabbing an early wicket, as Middlesex closed on 79 for 4.Warwickshire v Essex, Edgbaston ScorecardJim Troughton and Dougie Brown picked up a pair of centuries as Essex weregiven the run-around on a day of high-scoring at Edgbaston. Troughton (107not out) and Brown (120) added 201 for the sixth wicket after Scott Branthad kept the top-order in check with three early wickets. Ronnie Iranigrabbed two wickets as well, including his England team-mate Nick Knight,and though Brown fell before the close, Troughton will resume in themorning.