Aaron Nye will make his ING Cup debut for Queensland, missing four players on national duty in India, in the opening match of the domestic season against New South Wales at the Gabba on Sunday.Nye, 25, is expected to fill a middle-order role and will be hoping his domestic limited-overs career follows a similar path to his initial first-class experience.In 2003-04 Nye became the third Queensland batsman to score a century on Pura Cup debut when he made 102 against New South Wales at the SCG, an innings that helped Queensland snatch a spot in the final.The Bulls will be without the Test squad representatives Matthew Hayden, Michael Kasprowicz, Nathan Hauritz and Shane Watson, but Andrew Symonds and Wade Seccombe will return after missing the final loss to Western Warriors at the Gabba in February.New South Wales will depart for a training camp on the Sunshine Coast tomorrow and play warm-up matches against Victoria and Tasmania.Queensland Jimmy Maher (c), Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Clinton Perren, Aaron Nye, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Chris Simpson, Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Shane Jurgensen, Craig Philipson. (12th man to be named).New South Wales Brad Haddin (c),Nathan Bracken, Shawn Bradstreet, Stuart Clark, Phil Jaques, Jason Krejza, Greg Mail, Stuart MacGill, Don Nash, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron O’Brien, Matthew Phelps, Dominic Thornely (one to be omitted).

Dennis Lillee, one of Australia’s meanest and greatest fast bowlers, will begin a career in the Western Australian Cricket Association’s boardroom after he was elected president last night.Lillee, who took 355 wickets in 70 Tests before becoming a global coach, succeeded Brian Rakich and his two-year term will begin next month.The former Australian Test players Graeme Wood and Sam Gannon were nominated as vice-presidents, replacing Bill Bryant and Cricket Australia director Bob Paulsen.Lillee said his first duties would be to implement a membership drive and address staff concerns.”I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be walk in and swan around. It’s get the glove on and get dirty,” Lillee told ABC online.”I’d like to be able to help convince people to join the WACA and become members of a new WACA, which will be heading forward.”

Surrey are confident that they will get the go ahead from the Indian board for them to sign Harbhajan Singh for the 2005 English season.”We are currently at an advanced stage of negotiation with Harbhajan,” a club spokesman told the BBC. “We are hoping to secure his services and are waiting to hear.”Surrey have been looking for a replacement for Saqlain Mushtaq for several months. Saqlain, whose season was cut short by injury, was generally regarded to have been a disappointment and Surrey are in need of a cutting edge.Harbhajan has not played county cricket before. Although he was signed by Lancashire as their overseas player in 2003, injury meant that he had to withdraw from the contract.

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Bermuda virtually guaranteed themselves a place in the ICC Intercontinental Cup semi-finals when they wrapped up an innings-and-105-run victory over Cayman Islands in Toronto.Canada need to score more than 575 inside 90 overs against Cayman Islands later this week and then bowl them out twice if Bermuda are to be denied. But weather forecasters expect heavy rains in the Toronto area from Hurricane Katrina, and if correct that match could be a complete washout.It took Bermuda a little over an hour to polish of Caymans. Resuming on 50 for 4, they had little answer to Dwayne Leverock who took five of the six wickets to fall, finishing with 6 for 16 and match figures of 11 for 72. Despite that, Clay Smith was named Man of the Match for his first-innings hundred.Bermuda, barring miracles from Canada, will meet Kenya in Namibia in October. The other semi-final will be between Ireland and United Arab Emirates.

Division One

Points TableHampshire completed a comprehensive victory over Nottinghamshire. The champions fared slightly better in their second innings, but once Darren Bicknell fell for a patient 97, Notts’ spirit seemed to wane. Shaun Udal capped his season in great style by grabbing four wickets, to see the champions fall by an innings and 188 runs.In a rain-interrupted day at The Oval, Mark Ramprakash continued where he left off yesterday, as did Surrey who reached 607 without losing any further wickets against Middlesex. 203 further runs were added with Azhar Mahmood scoring the bulk of the runs. He remained not-out on 167, and Ramprakash reached 242. Surrey hold a lead of 203 runs, in a match which is almost certainly heading for a draw.Sussex wrapped up a comprehensive victory over Kent by 8 wickets at Hove. Kent could only manage 238 in their second innings, collapsing from their overnight score of 144 for 3. Naved-ul-Hasan and James Kirtley each took four wickets, which left Sussex with the straightforward task of knocking off 148 runs. They lost two wickets, but Mike Yardy saw them home with 55.Gloucestershire are struggling in their match against Warwickshire, and face an uphill battle to avoid defeat. Set 411 to win, they closed the third day on 97 for 2 with Naqqash Tahir picking up both wickets. Earlier, Warwickshire had amassed 320 with Nick Knight making 94 and Jim Troughton 57.

Division Two

Points TableLeicestershire scraped past Lancashire by just four runs in low-scoring game at Old Trafford. James Anderson mopped up Leicestershire’s tail to restrict them to 200, and set Lancashire a target of 175 runs. But Lancashire lost wickets regularly, with three wickets for Charl Willoughby and Stuart Broad.Monty Panesar took his ninth wicket of the match as Yorkshire stumbled to 101 for 4 in their second innings against Northamptonshire. On a rain-affected day at Northampton, Michael Lumb was left not-out on 31, as Yorkshire trail the hosts by 198 runs.Luke Sutton made the remarkable decision of declaring Derbyshire’s innings, midway through the 171st over, with Graeme Welch left stranded on 99. Sutton declared on an imposing 707 for 7, and quickly grabbed two wickets to leave Somerset on 173 for 2, trailing by 275 runs.Rain also affected play at Worcester, but there was enough play possible to ensure Worcestershire hauled their way up to Essex’s first innings score of 574. Stephen Moore, not-out overnight on 124, fell nine short of 200, and Ben Smith reached 154. Worcestershire closed on 424 for 3, and trail by 150 runs.

Alan Border, the former Australian great, has questioned the decision to award official Test and ODI status to the Super Series matches and considers it a “slap in the face” of all former cricketers.Border wrote in his column in : “I firmly believe that this status should be restricted to matches between national sides. Test cricket is an institution that has been built up over a period of 128 years, and it should not be tampered with. In my view, the elevation of the six-day game to `Test match’ status is like a slap in the face of all the former cricketers who have contributed to making Test cricket the ultimate form of the game since 1877. Granting `first-class’ status is fine, as was done in the case of the Bicentenary game in 1987. But anything more than that is simply not on.”He also raised doubts about the possible commitment levels of the World XI players in the Super Series matches. Acknowledging that the players from different countries have “gelled very well” during practice, he nevertheless remained sceptical: “The Australians will be passionate as they will be representing their country. The talent of the World XI players cannot be doubted, but will they be able to feel as much for their team as they do for their respective countries on the field of play?”

Gloucestershire have admitted they are interested in bringing New Zealand’s batsman Hamish Marshall to the county next season.Marshall has recently established himself in the Kiwis side and averages 48.58 in Tests. “He’s someone we’re interested in,” Tom Richardson, Gloucestershire’s chief executive, told Cricinfo. “We wanted to bring him in last season as an overseas replacement and he was very keen but it didn’t quite fit his schedule with New Zealand.”Gloucestershire were relegated from the top tier of the County Championship last year, and they are keen to add strength to their batting as they look to bounce straight back. “We’re looking for a top-order batsmen who can bring real quality to the county,” said Richardson. “We believe someone like Marshall would be a huge benefit on and off the field and is the kind of man who can enthuse our younger players.”

ScorecardSandeep Singh and Pritam Gandhe grabbed seven wickets between them to bundle out Tripura, chasing a target of 263, for 124 as Vidarbha registered an outright win at Agartala. Subhrajit Roy, the opener, offered the lone resistance with 49 and was the ninth wicket to fall. Singh, the medium pacer, removed two top order wickets before coming back to pick up two in the tail to fold up the Tripura innings. Earlier, Timir Chanda removed the two overnight batsmen – Samir Khare and Vikrant Gonnade – to trigger a mini-collapse and Jayanta Debnath picked up two wickets to finish with a five-wicket haul. With this win, Vidarbha, already comfortably placed at second on the Group A table, enter the semi-finals stage of the tournament.ScorecardPowered by 74 from Ratan Kumar and three 30-plus scores from the middle order Jharkhand, following on, reached 252 for 6, 42 runs ahead, in their second innings by the end of the third day’s play against Kerala at Palakkad. Ratan Kumar was ably assisted by Manoj Joglekar, who hit 49, and 30s from Rajiv Kumar, the captain, and Mohan Jha. Kerala will be looking to remove the last four wickets quickly to set up small target to chase as they have to win by 10 wickets to secure a bonus point which would give them a chance to end up in top two and qualify for the semi-final. Their hopes lie on Somasetty Suresh and Sadgaoppan Ramesh, the two batsmen who shifted from Tamil Nadu.
ScorecardGoa, asked to follow on after Sandip Maniar’s seven-wicket haul blew them away for a paltry 144 in the first innings, rode on an unbeaten half-century from Swapnil Asnodkar to reach 133 for 2, 162 runs in arrears, at stumps on the third day that was completely dominated by Saurashtra at Rajkot. Maniar tore Goa apart and picked five of the six wickets that fell to the bowlers today after Jobanputra had removed the overnight batsman Nikhil Haldipur early in the day.
ScorecardA combined disciplined bowling performance from Rajasthan put them on the brink of victory against Assam at stumps on the third day at Udaipur. Four bowlers picked two wickets apiece to shot out Assam for 110 before Rajasthan, set a target of 70, reached 16 for 0 at close. Earlier 30s from Ajay Jadeja, the captain, and Sanjay Gill lifted Rajasthan, overnight at 172 for 4, to 281 in their first innings, gaining a 41-run lead.
ScorecardA 151-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Monish Mishra (83) and Devendra Bundela (76 not out) lifted Madhya Pradesh from a wobbly 58 for 5 to 221 for 6, 93 runs in arrears, by the end of the second day’s play against Jammu & Kashmir at Indore. Abid Nabi, the medium pacer, rocked the MP top order with a three wicket burst before Bundela and Mishra came together to pull MP out of trouble before the pair were separated by a run-out. Earlier, Dhruv Mahajan extended his score from the overnight 42 to 59 as J&K reached 314 in their first innings. Madhya Pradesh will have to get the first-innings lead to get two points and qualify for the semi-finals.
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Subit Biswal’ maiden first-class century and Pravanjan Mullick’s unbeaten 93 powered Orissa to a commanding 312 for 3, 150 runs ahead, by the end of the second day’s play against Himachal Pradesh at Cuttack. Biswal and Mullick shared a unbroken 198-run stand for the fourth wicket in 63 overs to grind out the Himachal Pradesh attack. Orissa sit pretty on top of the pool having already qualified for the semi-finals.Owing to bad weather and problems in flight connectivity the match between Orissa and HP was postponed by a day.

Central Districts embarked on a long process of trying to overhaul Northern Districts’ first-innings total of 450 at McLean Park with Jamie How, the captain and opener, leading the way. The home side ended the day at 120 for 3 with How, who failed twice in round one against Auckland, not out on 79. Jarrod Engelfield was with him on 13 as the pair went on a rescue mission after Central fell to 72 for 3 with Peter Ingram and Mathew Sinclair dismissed for ducks. All the plaudits went to the Northern pair of Mark Orchard and Joseph Yovich who combined for a sixth-wicket partnership of 322, a New Zealand record. Yovich (144) was first to go, followed by Orchard (175). The in-form Peter McGlashan ended unbeaten on 61. Apart from those three there was just 36 runs scored from the other eight Northern bats as extras totalled 34. Ewen Thompson was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 85.No play was possible between Canterbury and Auckland on the second day at the Village Green because of rain. Canterbury remain on 92 for 3.Wellington was in complete control against Otago after another weather-affected day at University Oval. Chasing Wellington’s 292 for first-innings points, the home side capitulated to be all out for 73. Iain O’Brien, a former national bowler, finished with remarkable figures of 4 for 12 from 11 overs. James Franklin also took four wickets, his at a cost of 30, while Mark Gillespie snared the other two. Following on, Otago was in a much better position at 114 for 1, with Jordan Sheed (57*) and Aaron Redmond battling away.

There are fine cricket writers in Australia but their work is rarely to be found in the daily newspapers. The inexhaustible torrent of contentious analysis from Peter Roebuck of the Sydney Morning Herald is the exception not the rule. The newspaper cricket writers have a rich vein of chauvinism in common with their rugby colleagues, and it does grate. They occasionally find fault with their heroes, but they make their run of victories sound like an imperial progress, and they regularly patronise their opponents, perhaps instinctively. To discover that there are flaws in the crystal of Australian cricket, you need to turn to . in Britain and have in common a compulsion to seek out good writing and a preference for controversial, even awkward, opinions. Although our may once have had an establishment flavour, that is now much diluted. was never burdened. The flavour of the sixth edition is richly contrary.The most uncompromising contribution comes, not surprisingly, from Chris Ryan (Warwick Franks’s successor as editor). In a piece titled, “When will we see c Nguyen b Yunupingu”, Ryan berates Australian cricket and cricketers for an uncaring, sometimes contemptuous, attitude towards Aboriginals and immigrants from south-east Asia. One in 10 of top-flight Australian Rules football players is Aboriginal, but less than 1% of first-class cricketers. Jason Gillespie right, whose great grandfather was a Kamilaroi warrior, is the first person of Aboriginal blood to play for Australia, but he is, so it seems, a reluctant role model. (David Frith in his Ashes report remarks that Gillespie looks more like a French aristocrat.)Ryan’s conclusion is stunning: “Unless Australian cricket diversifies in tune with the population it risks becoming ghettoised, irrelevant: an historical anachronism played out by a shrinking number of white men before a dwindling handful of white spectators.”Aboriginal communities – “stifled by joblessness and alcoholism, petrol sniffing and mind-twisting boredom” – have plenty to gain from cricket, but those few who have put a toe in the water have usually been confronted by a barrage of racist sledging. Darren Lehmann’s assault on the Sri Lankans (“black c***s”) gives us the tone of it. Jimmy Maher, of Queensland and Glamorgan, commented that Lehmann calls a spade a spade – “which is not necessarily a bad thing.” You see what Ryan means.Mark Ray doesn’t exactly spring to Shane Warne’s defence, but he does ask if he is not more sinned against than sinning. Ray’s Warne is trapped in a perverse celebrity culture in which film stars and actors get away with 57 varieties of bad behaviour while sportsmen are judged by much narrower social standards. Ray is sympathetic towards Warne, a vain and naïve man, who discovered too late that being the best wrist-spinner in history is no defence against gold-diggers and opportunists. “In the lead up to the 2003-04 season there were rumblings that Warne’s team-mates might prefer to carry on without him,” he says. “Warne’s career, one that had reached the highest peaks while dabbling in farce, was threatening to end as a sporting tragedy.”Gideon Haigh asks what the ICC is for and can’t come up with a satisfactory answer, partly because the ICC itself has not done so. Why are they there? What outcomes are they seeking? How will they decide if they have succeeded? Haigh says that, unless they come up with some answers, they will have their work cut out averting failure. John Benaud is shrewd, informative and admiring of Mark Waugh. does not compete with the yellow Almanack. The focus is on Australian cricketers. Ricky Ponting is Cricketer of the Year. Wade Seccombe, the Queensland keeper, is the Pura Cup’s top man. The 2003 World Cup winning team is judged to be the best of the three Australian teams that have won the World Cup, though to anyone who watched the astonishing recovery of Steve Waugh’s 1999 team which had to win seven straight games to survive and win, that seems harsh.The editor’s notes identify Michael Clarke as the coming man in Australian cricket, and he also found room for the Laws of Cricket, for which, thanks.Rating: 4/5Click here to order a copy at CricShop