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Pakistan will be aiming to seal their first home series win in five years when they take on Bangladesh in the second Test, which starts on Wednesday in the north-western border city of Peshawar.Once invincible in their own backyard, Pakistan have not won a series onhome turf since whitewashing West Indies in 1997-98. “We are heading in the right direction,” Rashid Latif, Pakistan’s captain, said today. “What happened in the past is past, and now the young team is progressing well as we aim to build for the future.”Pakistan have lost four successive home series, to Australia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and England. Their first-round exit from this year’s World Cup prompted the selectors to induct fresh blood into the team, and one of those young players made a glorious debut in the first Test against Bangladesh at Karachi.Latif pinned the team’s hopes on new batting star Yasir Hameed, who marked his debut last week with a century in each innings. Latif said: “We have found a good batsman in Yasir Hameed to supplement the middle-order batting.”Hameed’s twin centuries led Pakistan to a seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh. Peshawar will present more of a problem for both sides, however. Both teams will have to battle oppressive monsoon heat and humidity, at a venue where Pakistan have lost two of their past three Tests.”Conditions are tough, but they should bring out the best from the tough,”Latif said. “Bowling long spells will be difficult. We hope to put up a big total and dictate the terms.” Latif also hinted that the 11 players from the first Test would be retained for the second Test.Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh’s coach, saw signs of improvement within his team’s loss in Karachi. “I hope the boys build further on that,” said Whatmore. Bangladesh, Test cricket’s 10th and newest nation, have lost 21 of their 22Tests, with one rained-off draw against Zimbabwe.Bangladesh are likely to bring in Mohammad Ashraful and Manjurul Islam in place of Sanwar Hossain and Tapash Baisya.Teams (from)Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umer, Yasir Hameed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Misbah-ul-Haq, Rashid Latif (capt, wk), Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Danish Kaneria, Umer Gul, Shoaib Malik.Bangladesh Hannan Sarkar, Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Sanwar Hossain, Razin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Khaled Mashud (wk), Khaled Mahmud (capt), Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Manjurul Islam, Alamgir Kabir, Tapash Baisya.Umpires Steve Bucknor (WI) and Russell Tiffin (Zim)TV umpire Asad Rauf (Pak)Match referee Mike Procter (SA)

Somerset duo Andy Caddick and Rob Turner are among a host of stars backing SportsAid’s Sporting Celebrity Online Auction – hoping to raise funds for young and disabled sporting talent.Members of the public can bid for training sessions with the England paceman and his county colleague, with the auction live from Monday 19 May. The auction runs for just over one month with bidders accessing the site via www.thesportsball.co.uk/auctionGuests at the 20th Sports Ball, to be held at The Royal Lancaster Hotel on Thursday 12 June, will have the opportunity to out bid the online auction in the presence of the sporting celebrities on the night. The Charity hopes to raise at least £30,000 from the auction.Funds raised from the auction will go towards supporting talented youngsters identified by SportsAid for their partnership with health and fitness group LA Fitness. The agreement has seen over 100 youngsters around the country chosen for their sporting talent to receive funds raised in the LA Fitness clubs and from other national activities organised by SportsAid such as a Californian bike ride in October.Among the other stars taking part from across the sporting world are Ryder Cup golfer Colin Montgomerie, European 100m Champion Dwain Chambers, Olympic swimmer Mark Foster, Olympic athlete Mark Richardson, GB tennis player Arvind Parmar, and the Great Britain rowing coxless four, Rick Dunn, Toby Garbett, Steve Williams and Josh West.

Zimbabwe have confirmed that their tour of England this summer will goahead, including their clash with England in the second npower Test match atthe Riverside, Chester-le-Street.On Saturday, Zimbabwe Cricket Union Chairman Peter Chingok said a meeting ofthe board had agreed to fulfil tour commitments from May to July regardlessof England’s boycott of their World Cup fixture in Harare last month.Ticket sales for the Riverside’s first ever Test Match are going well, withthe first two days expected to be sold out by the end of April.Durham County Cricket Club Chairman Bill Midgley said: “Despite all theuncertainty surrounding this game, ticket sales have been steady andexceeded the targets we set ourselves. Zimbabwe’s confirmation offulfilling the fixture means we can progress with our marketing activity andhopefully look forward to our first Test Match being a sell out.”Tickets for the North East’s first npower Test Match are on sale now.Tickets are priced at £25 for adults for the first four days and £10 forU16s for the first three days and £5 for the Sunday. Call the TicketHotline on 0191 387 5151 (office hours) or Ticketmaster on 0870 90 90 190(24 hours) www.CricketTickets.net.The countdown to the North East’s first ever Test Match has begun, 5 – 9June 2003. Be part of history, call 0191 387 5151. To find out how longleft click here: www.durhamccc.co.uk

Somerset Coach Kevin Shine was back at the County Ground this morning after undergoing a hernia operation in the Somerset Nuffield Hospital ten days ago.During his time in the Somerset Nuffield a mysterious bouquet of pansies was delivered which have been a considerable source of debate around the club.Earlier today Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson told me: “Kevin Shine appreciated the boquet of pansies but not so much the pink ribbon which was tied around them.”He wants to make it clear that the surgeon who carried out the operation blunted three scalpels cutting through his stomach muscles.”Kevin Shine exclaimed: “Is that hard or is that hard!”Welcome back coach, and glad to see that you are feeling better and back at the ground.

With the sun shining and the smell of new mown grass in the air preparations for the new season at the County Ground are well in hand.One of the busiest places was the office where membership secretary Jo Arnold and several of her colleagues were dealing with the large pile of applications that had been received in the post.In the front office personal callers who required membership were being looked after and having their photographs taken as well as telephone applications being dealt with.By lunchtime more than £12,000 had been taken in membership income, and by the end of the day this had risen to £20,000, all of which bodes very well for the new season ahead.Jo Arnold told me: "Memberships have just been flooding in today which is what we would expect at this time of the year but this has to be one of the busiest days that we have ever had in the office. In the final week of the discounted period last year over one thousand members joined, and if this keeps up for the rest of the week we will be well up on that figure, all of which is very pleasing."Members are joining in all categories, and following the Somerset Junior Sabres link up with Bristol City Football Club and Bristol Shoguns Rugby Club there has been a marked increase in the junior membership category.This year Junior Sabres are able to gain free entry to Bristol Shoguns matches and the youngsters also have the chance to go along and see Bristol City play Peterborough on March 15th free of charge, to which there has been a big response.Recruiting Ian Botham one of the Cidermen’s greatest heroes to spearhead the 2003 membership campaign, Giles Clarke the new chairman has played a major part in setting the scene for what is promising to be a very exciting season ahead at the County Ground.

Carl Anderson will lead the Canterbury A team in this year’s A team competition.The side was announced this week by the Canterbury selectors.It is: Carl Anderson (captain), Robbie Frew (vice-captain), Robbie Miller, Marcel McKenzie, Harley James, Peter Fulton, Darron Reekers, Mark Hastings, Ben Yock, Andrew Ellis, Brendon Donkers, James Ward.

Australia resoundingly, if expectedly, beat England at Hagley Oval in the ICC Under-19 World Cup Super League today.Their 281/5 was far too many for England to chase, and at the finish the margin of victory was a huge 116 runs.Australia move on to the semi-finals with a 100% winning record, which has been the only one remaining in the tournament since early last week.England was reliant on New Zealand losing to South Africa, and even then, due to their poor net run rate, probably need a bonus point from Friday’s match against South Africa to stay in the tournament.George Bailey (69 not out) put the game beyond England when he and man of the match Adam Crosthwaite added 85 off the last six overs of the Australian innings. They hit six sixes and four fours in that time, after England had hauled themselves back into the game.Bailey made 69 off 55 balls and Crosthwaite 48 of 26 balls.”Adam’s performance today was most impressive,” Australia coach Wayne Phillips told CricInfo. “He’s a tremendously skilful young man.””That’s basically the first step covered,” he continued.As for the impending semi-final, the diplomatic Phillips said, “It’s not that we’re not bothered who are opposition is, but whoever our opposition is we’ll be as best prepared as we can be.”Soon to be famous sons of once famous fathers abounded. Denis Compton’s son Richard was here to watch his son Nick play for England, while Australia’s Geoff Marsh looked over his son, Shaun. Both had ordinary matches, although three dropped catches by Compton were particularly unfortunate and costly.He missed Jarrad Burke (30) off Kyle Hogg in the 11th over of the Australian innings and later put down both Bailey and Crosthwaite before the fireworks really began.Burke and Craig Simmons (67 off 86 balls) added 98 for the first wicket in 24 overs, but then four wickets fell for 57 runs in 13 overs, three of whom were dismissed by new wicket-keeper Bilal Shafayat.Shafayat was a last minute replacement for injured wicket-keeper Stephen Pope, who hurt his wrist when batting against New Zealand in England’s last game, when Shafayat, topping England’s averages, was mysteriously dropped.England manager James Whitaker said, “The irony is that if these guys beat Australia and we get a bonus point against against South Africa, we go through.””We’ll have to raise our game considerably for that to happen, because South Africa are a good side. We will have to improve our game in all areas,” said the Leicestershire CEO.”I expected a little more resilience,” he continued. “It was a shame that we dropped three vital catches and three different players all got established.””I’d have liked to have seen a little bit more fight with the middle-order and lower-order,” he told CricInfo.A spell of three wickets for no runs in 11 balls by slow left-arm chinaman bowler Beau Casson (four for 33), allied to Burke’s three for 13 ensured England’s last seven wickets fell for 53 runs.”We have a number of spinners we have confidence in,” said Phillips, who could afford to leave out the impressive Tasmanian slow left-armer Xavier Doherty.In contrast, a more flustered Whitaker could only say, “We’ll have to sit down and think quite hard about the personnel who play in the next match. We’re looking for the best 11 fighters. We’ll let the dust settle then look for the most disciplined eleven.”

Khaled Mahmud, the Bangladesh captain, put on a brave front as his 15-man squad left for a daunting one-month tour of Australia. Claiming that the preparations under Dav Whatmore, the new coach, had been”better and different from what we have had before”, Mahmud said: “Australia will be tough opponents. But we are not scared or nervous as we have already faced some of the world’s best teams, like South Africa.” Bangladesh will reach Australia more than three weeks before their first international match, in an effort to familiarise themselves with the local conditions.Bangladesh haven’t won an international match in four years, a fact that wasn’t lost on their captain. “We hope to show our improvements on the field. We also want to dispel the international criticisms against Bangladesh.” Ehsan Mani, the new president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), had sounded a warning to Bangladesh last week, saying that the country’s international commitments would be reduced.Bangladesh will play two Tests and three one-day internationals, with the first Test starting from July 18 at Darwin.Squad
Khaled Mahmud (capt), Javed Omar, Khaled Mashud (wk), Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Rafique, Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful, Al Shahriar, Manjurul Islam, Alok Kapali, Sanwar Hossain, Tarek Aziz Khan, Mashrafee-bin-Murtaza, Tapash Baishya, Anwar Hossain Monir.

Australian captain Steve Waugh will front match referee Ranjan Madugalle tonight after being charged with misconduct relating to an incident on the third day’s play of the Second Test against South Africa in Melbourne.Waugh, who scored 90 in Australia’s innings of 9/487, faced possible disciplinary sanction over his reaction to umpire Darrell Hair’s decision to uphold a run out appeal against him midway through the day’s final session.Hair chose not to refer the decision to third umpire Bob Parry, though television replays later injected some controversy into the run out in revealing that wicketkeeper Mark Boucher may have been faster than the ball in making contact with the stumps.The Australian captain lingered at the crease after Hair’s ruling, prompting the charge of dissent to be brought against him by Madugalle under the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct.He faces a possible fine and/or suspension for his actions, though he has no past history in Tests of such offences.It is expected that the results of the hearing – which is to be conducted in the presence of Hair, fellow umpire Eddie Nicholls, and Australian team manager Steve Bernard – will be made public shortly before the start of play tomorrow.Ironically, the run out was the result of a direct-hit throw from cover point by Herschelle Gibbs, whose error in dropping a catch off Waugh’s bat at a Super Six match at the 1999 World Cup remains the subject of cricketing legend in Australia.

First division leaders Yorkshire took huge strides towards completing a Roses double by making Lancashire follow on at Old Trafford.The home county were all out for 242 inside 54 overs in reply to Yorkshire’s 467 for nine declared, and then lost captain John Crawley in their second innings.Lancashire will start the last day on 74 for one, still needing another 151runs to make Yorkshire bat again.Darren Lehmann was Yorkshire’s hero yet again, but this time with the ball. The Aussie run machine went in the first over of the day without adding tohis overnight 26 as Yorkshire moved positively from 358 for two with 109runs before declaring before lunch, with Craig White out for 186 and ChrisSilverwood weighing in with an unbeaten 34.But Lehmann then produced figures of three for 13 from 7.3 overs when DavidByas turned to his occasional left-arm spin.Lancashire had made a nightmare start to their first innings with Crawleyand Mark Chilton both going cheaply to Silverwood and Gavin Hamilton.Andy Flintoff responded with his second consecutive Championship halfcentury from only 51 balls but was then deceived by off-spinner RichardDawson in the flight.Lancashire continued to find unusual ways to be dismissed, with Joe Scuderirun out and Graham Lloyd caught behind taking evasive action from a shortball from Paul Hutchison, who also had Chris Schofield caught by Lehmann atshort mid-wicket.Then Lehmann took over with the ball, having Glen Chapple stumped and trapping both John Wood and Mike Smethurst lbw.Warren Hegg continued his consistent season with 78, but missed out on thechance of another century when he drove Silverwood to mid on just after tea.Crawley then fell cheaply for the second time in the day, flickingSilverwood to mid-wicket where Dawson took a good low catch to keepYorkshire on course for yet another win.