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James Hopes, the Australia one-day allrounder, has been included in Queensland’s Pura Cup final side after being cleared of a hamstring injury suffered in yesterday’s draw with Western Australia. The Bulls named the same 12 that claimed first-innings points in the match and will attempt to beat New South Wales for the first time in a final at the Gabba from Friday.Hopes was examined by the Bulls medical staff this morning and was given a positive report on the complaint that caused him to leave the field late in the game yesterday. A Queensland Cricket spokesman said he was expected to train with the team as normal later this week.New South Wales have cut Jason Krejza , the offspinner, for the match on the usually seam-friendly Gabba and recalled the batsman Ed Cowan and the fast bowler Doug Bollinger in an extended 13-man squad. The Blues sealed their place in the final by finishing second after securing an outright victory against Victoria at the SCG yesterday.Queensland Jimmy Maher (capt), Clinton Perren, Martin Love, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds, Craig Philipson, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe (wk), Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Joe Dawes, Mitchell Johnson.New South Wales Phil Jaques, Greg Mail, Matthew Phelps, Dominic Thornely, James Packman, Ed Cowan, Brad Haddin (capt, wk), Doug Bollinger, Grant Lambert, Matthew Nicholson, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Stuart MacGill.

Somerset 282 for 6 (Hildreth 98*, Gazzard 58, Phillips 4-43) beat Essex 278 (Bopara 91) by four wickets
ScorecardRavi Bopara sent the England selectors a timely reminder of his talents with a fine innings of 91 but Essex still fell to a four-wicket defeat to Somerset in the Pro-ARCH Trophy in Abu Dhabi.Bopara hit ten fours and a six during his 104-ball stay at the crease that was ended by a terrific stumping down the leg side by Craig Kieswetter off the bowling of Peter Trego. Essex were 93 for 4 at one stage before James Foster (40), Tim Phillips (41) and James Middlebrook (30) hauled them up to the respectability of 278 on a benign pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.It was Somerset’s debut in the competition, having arrived in the Middle East without Marcus Trescothick on Saturday. But they hit the ground running with the bat and didn’t hesitate during the chase, even after falling to 151 for 5 with the required rate loitering around six per over.Trego (22) and Carl Gazzard (58) opened the innings superbly with an first-wicket partnership of 48 but after Phillips (4 for 43) had smashed through the middle order, Somerset’s aspirations of becoming the first team in the tournament to win a match batting second were only rescued by James Hildreth, whose unbeaten 98 not only clinched the match but will no doubt interest the England selectors as a sign of his growing maturity.Hildreth switched comfortably between nudger and blaster to steer Somerset home, enjoying the strong support of Omari Banks (27) and Steffan Jones (30*) but he was denied the century he so richly deserved when Jones thumped successive boundaries through extra cover off the bowling of Ryan ten Doeschate to seal victory with eight balls to spare.Defeat for Essex was their second in three nights, having also fallen to Lancashire, and they return to Sharjah for their final match in the PRO-Arch Trophy on Thursday, against Sussex.

Gujaratis are expert at constructing order out of chaos. What could have more tumult than the trading floor of a stock exchange, for example? There you will find, making sense of the thousands of transactions that take place in a sea of noise, the Gujarati, calm and precise. Or watch him at work in any market where Gujarati traders sit, and you will be assailed by confusion, by a sense of frenetic desperate activity, but there too, the Gujarati will be in command. Heck, India’s freedom movement was guided by a shrewd Gujarati, and though his methods of operating were different from his merchant brethren, he, too, had that ability to not be intimidated by turmoil, to cut to the chase and see the bigger picture clearly while not losing sight of details.And so it is that as I sit here, at around 7am, at the press box of the Motera Stadium, and noise just swells around me, of people clapping and talking and blowing trumpets or similar wind instruments, of the songs that fill what is left of the air through the loudspeakers.. When I took that long walk to the stadium from where the cops don’t allow autorickshaws to proceed, the street was full of people, so many of them, in colourful clothes, holding signs that said “4” on one side and “6” on the other, as if to define the extent of Virender Sehwag’s unpredictability. Until I reached the particular gate of the stadium where I entered, no one checked my pass. The people so vastly outnumbered the police; is the security here really taken care of, I wondered.But the chaos, of course, is deceptive. As I hung around to watch the cops at work, you could make out that they were right on top of things. There was none of the officiousness that marks so many other venues in India, and the security is focussed at all the places where they are needed, like the entry of the stands. They are not on edge because of the bigness of the occasion, nor are they filled with a sense of the power they have. This needs pointing out because it is so different elsewhere. These cops are friendly and courteous, and when they tell me to take that bottle of water out of my bag, and that I’ll get water inside, they are gently firm, not typical-Indian-cop boorish.It’s 7.30 as I type this, and the stands are almost full. People here, Gujaratis mostly, are sticking intently on their purpose of coming to this game, which is to have a good time. The administration is sticking intently to their purpose, of enabling the people here to have a good time while ensuring things don’t go out of hand. All is well in the world – though a group of people near a Pepsi machine does worry that India may lose the toss. And, despite the fact that their local boy, Parthiv Patel, has been displaced by better contenders, they are waiting to see Mahendra Dhoni bat. “Six maru chhe,” says one little boy, and raises his sign. It says, “6”. Cut to the chase.

The England selectors today announced their one-day squads to tour Zimbabwe and South Africa this winter. Andrew Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick were both rested for the Zimbabwe leg of the trip, and while Ashley Giles was given the option to rest too, he chose to make himself available.The squad includes four players new to one-day internationals: Ian Bell, Simon Jones, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior. Flintoff, Giles, Trescothick and Steve Harmison (who opted out of the Zimbabwe trip on moral grounds last week) have all been included in the 15-man squad for the one-dayers in South Africa in the New Year, along with Worcestershire’s Kabir Ali.Darren Gough, written off by many after some lacklustre performances in the recent Champions Trophy, gets another chance to prolong his dream of playing in the 2007 World Cup. David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, explained that Gough had a lot to offer the younger bowlers, and would be keen to show that his recent dip in form wasn’t terminal.The South African-born Pietersen, 24, only becomes eligible for full England selection at the end of October, so has been rushed into the side at the first opportunity following several productive seasons with Nottinghamshire. Prior, 22, who was also born in South Africa, impressed on tour with England A last winter, and has had another good season with the bat for Sussex, for whom he also keeps wicket.The concessions made by the ECB management regarding Flintoff and Trescothick had a trade-off, and that was that Michael Vaughan led the side. “As the ECB is a member of the global cricket family, we have a duty to protect the integrity of the international game and ensure that the level of competition on any England tour is not diluted by the wholesale resting of players without good reason,” said David Morgan, the ECB’s chairman. “After carefully considering the matter, Michael has chosen to lead the team in Zimbabwe mindful of his responsibilities both to his fellow players and to the long-term future of cricket in this country. He deserves great credit for doing so.”Neither the ECB nor the captain condones the situation in Zimbabwe and I would like to re-emphasise that the team will not be involved in state functions during this tour.””Under normal circumstances, I would have welcomed an extended break after a long international season,” Vaughan explained. “But the England team and the game as a whole are faced with an extraordinary situation in undertaking this tour to Zimbabwe. I am proud to be captain of my country and I feel that I have a duty to my team-mates to lead the team on this tour. It has taken me considerable time and effort to come to this decision, but ultimately it was my choice and one that I stand by.”While I certainly do not condone what is happening in Zimbabwe, I do not want to shirk my responsibilities as England captain and would not want to let the burden of captaincy fall onto another player’s shoulders.”England will play two warm-up matches in Namibia ahead of the Zimbabwe series.England squad to tour Zimbabwe
Michael Vaughan (capt), Vikram Solanki, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Matthew Prior, Geraint Jones (wk), Gareth Batty, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Alex Wharf, Darren Gough, James Anderson.England one-day squad for South Africa
Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Vikram Solanki, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones (wk), Gareth Batty, Kabir Ali, Ashley Giles, Alex Wharf, Darren Gough, Steve Harmison, James Anderson.

Scorecard

Praveen Kumar and Shalabh Srivastava shared seven wickets between them to rock Mumbai as Uttar Pradesh shot out the 36-times champions for a paltry 199 before playing out the two overs without any damage to take the honours at the end of the opening day in the semi-final clash at the Wankhede stadium. The last time the two teams met in a semi-final clash was in 1997-98 and UP – powered by Ashish Zaidi- had shot out Mumbai for a shocking 98 on the first day. Seven years later at the same venue, it appeared the story would repeat itself but a valiant effort from the tail – involving Avishkar Salvi and Swapnil Hazare – lifted Mumbai, one stage tottering at 153 for 9 in 63.1 overs, to a fighting total. However UP – which had bounced back under Mohammad Kaif’s leadership after a lackluster start to the season – will be quite happy with their day’s work.The Mumbai batting had been brittle all summer and especially with the absence of Wasim Jaffer- away on national duty – it would have been a slightly vulnerable Mumbai team that entered the Wankhede stadium today. “We look unsettled because the guys have not scored. We have failed to put a big score. It’s time people such as Nishit Shetty converted those 30s into something big. They have to take more responsibility,” Kharsan Ghavri, Mumbai’s coach, had said on the eve of the game. The events on the field would have left him disappointed as UP bowlers created a stranglehold on the opening day.The Mumbai innings was a crawl – the first fifty came in 27.5 overs at the cost of three wickets, the second took 17 overs but Mumbai lost two wickets and bled three more for the third fifty which came in 16 overs. Only Sahil Kukreja, the opener, offered any resistance with a 142-ball 49. But he once again failed to capitalise on his good start- the story of his season so far, averaging 30 with two fifties in 11 innings. The other batsmen however didn’t quite get even a start with only Ramesh Powar and Aavishkar Salvi going past the 20-mark.For UP, everything went according to their script. The young Kumar, who has scalped 27 wickets at 26.88 this season, combined well with Srivastava, eight wickets from three games, and hustled the batsmen. Piyush Chawla, the young legspinner who had castled Sachin Tendulkar with a googly in the Challenger series held a few months back, followed the good work, mopping up the tail.The onus is now on the UP batsmen, led by Kaif and Suresh Raina, to follow up on the good work of the bowlers and post a big first-innings score to establish a firm grip on the game. But they would be the last team to underestimate Mumbai – It took UP 40 years to register their first and only win against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. A fascinating battle is on cards on the second day

Click here for readers’ feedbackThe decision of the ECB to throw in its lot with satellite broadcaster BskyB, granting it exclusive coverage of live cricket for four years from 2006, has attracted considerable media comment, and little of it favourable.Most analysis was critical of the ECB for putting money before the good of the game. "For all the crowing of delight in St John’s Wood yesterday, by awarding all live cricket coverage to satellite television English cricket has opted for short-term financial survival ahead of enlightened promotion of the game," wrote David Hopps in The Guardian. "This was a day that English cricket will rue. It was the day when the game abandoned its claim to be part of the fabric of English society. It was the day when it became just another sport scrabbling for a fat pay cheque."In The Daily Telegraph, Derek Pringle was not against the deal as such, but he nevertheless struck a note of caution. "Time will prove the better judge and it might be that in five years Andrew Flintoff’s heroics have persuaded most households to have Sky Sports," he explained. "Either that, or Wayne Rooney clones will have overrun the playground, leaving cricket to be the domain of public schoolboys and economic migrants from former Commonwealth countries. Let us hope it is the first one that comes to pass."In The Daily Mail, Peter Chayney described the deal as "desperately disappointing, remarkably short-sighted and totally unsurprising." He added: "Little more could be expected from the organisation (is it oxymoronic to call the ECB an organisation?) that presided over the recent, and completely precedented, debacle over England’s tour to Zimbabwe."A number of writers commented on the ECB’s insistence that awarding highlights to Five, terrestrial TV’s junior channel, circumvented objections to accessibility, pointing out that it is not available in one home in five, and that the timing of the package is misguided. "Better, certainly, for an impressionable young boy to have the chance to watch the day’s events at 7.15pm than to have no chance at all at about midnight," agreed Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times, "but what if, in a home where football is the staple sporting diet, a father or grandfather wants to watch EastEnders or Coronation Street?Martin-Jenkins also questioned Sky’s potential audience. "The live coverage will be exclusively in the expert hands of a satellite broadcaster that has done much to promote the game, especially in the winter, but which could boast an audience of only a million last March even when Stephen Harmison was producing the most sensational piece of fast bowling by an Englishman since Frank Tyson against against Australia 50 years previously. By contrast, Channel 4, losing money and, to judge from the time they put on the highlights, also losing faith, raised 5.2 million viewers during the Lord’s Test between England and West Indies in 2000 and three million on the Saturday of the Edgbaston Test last summer."In The Independent, Angus Fraser warned that the county chairmen, who forced this deal through, act responsibly. "It is to be hoped this money is not wasted by counties on expensive overseas signings and players who have little interest in the future of the game in England," he said. Time will tell.Let us know what you think

Scorecard

Mohammad Kaif guided the run chase, Suresh Raina charged it with a cameo performance, and Rizwan Shamshad and Jyoti Prasad Yadav chipped in with vital contributions that saw Uttar Pradesh, having resumed the day needing 175 runs to win, achieve the target with five wickets in hand to beat Mumbai on the way to their third Ranji Trophy final.In bitter-sweet irony the match winning shot – a square cut by the veteran Gyanendra Pandey – crashed against the Sunil Gavaskar pavilion at the Wankhede stadium. That said it all; Mumbai had been vanquished and in a manner that signalled as much Mumbai’s capitulation as it exhibited UP’s domination.In a setting which screamed that it was a domestic game – a handful of spectators, the unused main scoreboard, the desperate appeals echoing around an empty stadium, the blue cylindrical plastic drum which carried the drinking water – Kaif was a man on a mission. “A great chance to probably win a Ranji trophy,” he had said on the eve of the game and the onus was on him today to lead his side into the final.He held fort at one end, spending over three hours at the crease and facing 162 balls, while steering his partners on an assured march to the target. Kaif used his feet to the spinners, driving Ramesh Powar to distraction and cutting, sweeping and tapping Nilesh Kulkarni to vacant areas on the field. “Partnerships are the key when you chase a fourth-innings target,” he said at the end of the match, and in the middle he had done exactly that. A 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Raina, 43 with Shamshad for the fifth and 25 – that settled the nerves and killed any potential Mumbai fightback – with Yadav before falling 16 runs short of the target.Mumbai would be left ruing the reprieve for Kaif, when he was on 17, a simple chance grassed by Vinit Indulkar. “The guys who said, `Catches win matches’ are not stupid,” a disgruntled Kulkarni, the Mumbai captain, said at the end of the game. While UP had hustled the Mumbai team with brilliant fielding, the hosts proved a hospitable lot. “We lost because we didn’t have the overall package, we lacked the ability to deliver when it matters. Players should not be content just playing for Mumbai, they should aim higher and then the results will come,” a angry Kulkarni reflected later. – KaifWhile Kaif held firm, it was Suresh Raina who accelerated the run chase with calculated aggression in a fine breezy cameo of 44. Raina, who averages 72.40 this season with one hundred and a couple of fifties, continued with his rich vein of form, and caressed five hits to the fence and rotated the strike intelligently. The fifty of the partnership came in 45 minutes off 65 balls before Raina fell to Kulkarni at the score on 130.Shamshad entered the game at a critical phase – the 36-times champions had smelt a faint scent of blood at the fall of Raina’s wicket and also due to a mini-drama that a ball-change had brought about. The `new’ ball appeared to turn, spin and bounce more and an infuriated Kaif had a lengthy talk with the umpires, demanding a change which led to a brief halt in the play. Shamshad tackled the spinning cherry well – a wicket at that stage could have opened the doors to Mumbai – and he stroked his way to a valuable knock, a 33-ball 29, which tilted the chase in favour of the visitors before he fell to Powar.With no option but to attack, Mumbai crowded the next man in Yadav, the left-hand bat, with two slips, a silly point and a forward short leg. Powar kicked one up from a good length and saw the ball beat an attempted cut from Yadav but the edge flew over slip. Yadav decided to counter-attack; he slog swept Powar to the midwicket fence and square cut Kulkarni past point. Kaif caught the Yadav spirit but not its impact as he jumped down the track to Powar but was beaten by the flight and the direction – it was a floater, drifting away from the right-hand bat, and the nick was smartly caught by Vinayak Samant who also decided to whip off the bails, just to be safe.But by then the damage had been done by Kaif. Only 16 runs were required and Yadav and Gyanendra Pandey, a veteran of 114 first-class games, hastened the end with a dash of bravado. Pandey went down on his knees to hoick Kulkarni over midwicket while Yadav leant back and cut him to the square point fence before Pandey cut him to the cover fence to propel UP into the finals. The entire UP squad rushed to congratulate the batsmen and soak in the moment.Kaif was to gush on the bowling effort later – “taking 20 wickets on this track was special” – and said the bowling was the biggest plus that they would take into the final. It had been a great turnaround for UP ever since Kaif took over the reins. A rough start – two straight losses, two drawn games – had left UP wallowing before Kaif joined the squad to charge them to a place in the semi-final. He was part of the 1997-98 team that beat Mumbai in the semi-final before running into Karnataka led by Rahul Dravid, who bled them with a double-century. Twenty years before that too, they had been vanquished by Karnataka in a final. Will they be third time lucky this time? On form, you have to say yes but then …

It’s funny how some small things can make a huge difference. What would have been a quiet affair that attracted little attention – a Ranji Trophy match between Karnataka and Saurashtra, both of whom who are safe in the Elite Division – but through a mixture of circumstances the situation is anything but. Rahul Dravid, captain of the Indian team, is turning out for Karnataka in the home ground of the increasingly high profile BCCI secretary, Niranjan Shah. The day before the game, the Madhavrao Scindia Ground in Rajkot was buzzing with anticipation.The Karnataka team were out in the nets early in the day, albeit without Dravid, who was in Mumbai still trying to locate his baggage, which had somehow gone missing when the team returned from South Africa. Dravid was scheduled to arrive in Rajkot on the Tuesday evening, and one thing was certain – he would play. The Karnataka team management confirmed that Dravid would certainly play. Raghuram Bhat, the former India left-arm spinner and currently both a state selector and team manager, said, “Dravid is definitely playing. He was stranded in Mumbai as his kit had not arrived with him from South Africa.”There was just the briefest of flutters as the Karnataka State Cricket Association had not actually listed Dravid as one of its probables when the season began, probably assuming he would be away on national duty and therefore unable to play in domestic cricket. While this was not a serious matter, it was a minor procedural glitch. The BCCI takes a probables list from each state association at the start of the season for purposes of sorting out insurance cover for all domestic players.The Karnataka team management wanted to clear this up at the earliest, and a member of the thinktank was overheard clarifying the matter with Shah, who was quick to dismiss the matter – as was only right – saying, “Dravid was a contracted player with the Board and will have no problem in playing the game.” It was also understood that Dravid would not be leading Karnataka in the match, leaving the reins with Yere Goud, who has led the side all season.Even in his absence, Dravid was hogging the limelight, but there was another Karnataka cricket keeping everyone on their toes. In the nets Robin Uthappa held nothing back, belting the ball around the park, scattering those who stood and watched. With Virender Sehwag showing little form in either form of the game of late, Uthappa has a chance to regain a spot in the Indian squad, especially with Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, due to arrive in Rajkot on Friday to pick the 30 probables for the forthcoming World Cup and the home one-day series against West Indies.Away from the glare, though, Saurashtra went about their business quietly. There’s plenty of joy in that camp, though, as they have already ensured that they will spend another year in the Elite Division. Crucial outright wins against Delhi and Haryana have left Saurashtra with nine points, and though they are not in with a chance to make the knock-out phase of the competition, there’s much to cheer about. Sitanshu Kotak, that veteran run-getter, has already amassed more than 500 runs this season, and equally Cheteshwar Pujara, the exciting young batsman, has chalked up more than 500 runs.”As secretary of the Saurashtra Cricket Association I’m very happy,” said Shah. “Playing against top teams in the Elite Division has been very beneficial for us.” And now, with Rajkot being the cynosure of all eyes as the league phase of the domestic competition winds to a close, you can see why Shah is a happy man.SaurashtraJaydev Shah (capt), Sagar Jogiyani, Prashant Joshi, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sitanshu Kotak, Kanaiya Vaghela, Pratip Mehta, Sandeep Jobanputra, Sandeep Maniar, Kamlesh Makvana, Rakesh Dhruv, Ashok Kamalia, Feroz Bambaniya, Sadil Natkan.Karnataka Yere Goud (capt), Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Barrington Rowland, Thilak Naidu, Deepak Chougule, Sunil Joshi, Bharat Chipli, R Vinay Kumar, B Akhil, Udit Patel, Raju Bhatkal, Devraj Patil, Gaurav Dhiman, C Raghu.

Reports in the weekend newspapers that a group called Keep Cricket Free were going to lobby the government to overturn the ECB’s TV deal with BSkyB have drawn a firm response from Richard Caborn, the sports minister.David Brooks, the former strategy director of Channel 4, set up the group in a bid to get the four-year exclusive contract reviewed, but Caborn made it clear that it was a non starter.”On Friday during the Oval Test this lad stopped me and said he had set up a website for Keep Cricket Free, and would I listen to him,” Caborn told The Daily Telegraph. “I will listen to anyone. But as far as the deal is concerned this is a commercial deal and there is no intention of the Government to intervene.”I am very supportive of cricket and all that the ECB have done. The deal the ECB have done is confidential and we do not know who bid what. But it is clear the terrestrial broadcasters did not bid enough, and the ECB had to do the best deal for cricket.”It was always extremely unlikely that the government would interfere in a private deal which satisfied both the ECB and the broadcaster, and had also been run past media regulator Ofcom before it was completed.

ScorecardHundreds from Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum ensured the New Zealanders’ tour match at Benoni will go into the final day evenly poised. At the close, Rest of South Africa were 132 for 4, a lead of 155.Fleming, 96 not out overnight, completed his hundred in the first over, and made brisk progress along with Peter Fulton, who soon completed his fifty. Although Fulton fell for 73, it was Fleming’s dismissal for 118 which triggered a collapse in which the tourists lost five wickets for 44 runs, Monde Zondeki taking three of those in as many overs.With Shane Bond sidelined with a knee injury, New Zealanders were in deep trouble before McCullum finally found support in Chris Martin, one of the game’s real rabbits, the pair adding 95 for the ninth wicket to steer them to within 23 runs of Rest of South Africa’s total.When Rest of South Africa batted again, James Franklin struck an early blow, removing Alviro Petersen for 5, but Justin Ontong patiently guided them to a strong position before two late wickets gave the visitors renewed hope. Davey Jacobs’ 22 ended when he hit a return catch to Daniel Vettori, and two balls later Jean-Paul Duminy edged Martin to McCullum.