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It has already been a winter of hard work for England’s cricketers, and that was just to get past the easy bit. But now, with Bangladesh successfully put to one side, and the West Indies tour still a dot on the horizon, it is time to get stuck into arguably the toughest six weeks of England’s three-pronged campaign.The heat and humidity of Dhaka and Chittagong might have seemed oppressive, but it is as nothing compared to the furnace that awaits England at Dambulla tomorrow, where their tour of Sri Lanka will begin in earnest. Up till now, England’s gravest threat has come from the elements (and their own fears of an upset). Tomorrow, however, they face a side that is brimful of talent, and more importantly, one that is gunning for vengeance after the last, fractious, tour early in 2001.On that occasion, England had already wrapped up an historic 2-1 Test series win by the time the one-day circus came to town, and they treated the three matches as something of an afterthought. Nasser Hussain had already flown home early to reap the plaudits of back-to-back series victories in the subcontinent, and in his absence, England were led to a 3-0 defeat by Graham Thorpe. But the current England squad takes its one-day cricket far more seriously than it did back then. A repeat performance would be a massive disappointment.England were the opponents in Dambulla’s inaugural fixture, on March 23, 2001, and for the second time in two tours they will be facing an unknown quantity at the venue. A belated decision was taken this month to install floodlights at the ground – they only received the OK on Thursday – and, after Sri Lanka had tested the conditions in a warm-up game on Saturday, their captain Marvan Atapattu gave them a guarded thumbs-up.”The floodlights were OK,” said Atapattu. “But personally, I did not feel they were as bright as the ones at the Premadasa [in Colombo]. There was also a bit of dew later on, which will be a factor. My feeling is that the ball will move around a bit more in the early evening.” The toss, in other words, will be crucial. The match starts at 0830 GMT.With the onus on seam bowling, Sri Lanka have already indicated that they will be giving a debut to their 21-year-old quickie, Nuwan Kulasekara, as back-up to the established new-ball pairing of Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa. England, on the other hand, are unlikely to jeopardise the balance of their batting by including James Kirtley at the expense of one of the spinners, but one change that is highly likely is a new opening partner for Marcus Trescothick.Vikram Solanki looked to have cracked international cricket when he laced a wonderful century at The Oval last summer, but he was all at sea against Bangladesh last week, scoring only 11 runs in his three innings. He followed that up with a fifth-ball duck in Saturday’s warm-up game, and it cannot be long before Andrew Strauss is given an opportunity to prove his mettle. By his own admission, Strauss will never be a big hitter in the mould of Trescothick or Andrew Flintoff, but his 83 from 88 balls on Saturday was not the effort of a sluggard.No series against Sri Lanka, however, can be contemplated without due deference to Muttiah Muralitharan. “He is the best spinner in the world today,” said Trescothick, one of a posse of left-handers who got the better of him last time around. “We have our game-plans for combatting him, and without giving too much away, it’s about countering his spin, not nullifying him completely.”That is just as well, because Flintoff, England’s man of the moment, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “nullify”. Flintoff and Murali are two good friends from their days at Lancashire, and when they come across each other in the middle, it promises to be a contest to savour. It might even be the defining contest. For years, Sri Lanka have been accused of being a one-man side. In Bangladesh last week, so were England. If one or other gets the upper hand in the coming days, it will serve as a potent marker for the rest of the tour.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Kumar Sangakkara, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara.England (probable): 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Gareth Batty, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 James Anderson.

Frizzell County Championship Division OneKent 362 and 418 for 3 dec v Nottinghamshire 156 and 29 for 2 at Maidstone
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Kent took complete charge of their match at Mote Park, setting Notts an unlikely victory target of 625 and removing two batsmen by the close. As on the first day, Kent’s heroes were Ed Smith and Mohammad Sami. Smith hit 113, his third century in successive innings and his fourth in five knocks (the one in the middle was a duck, as were his three innings before the first hundred), and put on 233 with Rob Key, who put England rejection behind him to slap 140. Andrew Symonds rounded it off with an 81-ball century, with 15 fours and a six, before Kent declared. The Mohammad Sami, who had polished off Nottinghamshire’s first innings by taking the last fiive wickets to finish with 8 for 64, the best figures of the season so far, chimed in again by trapping Guy Welton lbw and bowling Darren Bicknell.

Middlesex 620 for 7 dec v Leicestershire 221 for 3 at Southgate
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An exciting innings from Virender Sehwag, who cracked 130 from 111 balls, with 20 fours and four sixes, brought Leicestershire back into the match after they had conceded a huge total at the Walker Ground. Sehwag piled on 197 for the first wicket with ex-Middlesex man John Maunders, who made 55, but then three quick wickets from Chad Keegan, including Sehwag caught by Sven Koenig, restored Middlesex’s advantage. Earlier Ed Joyce and David Nash had joined Andy Strauss in the ton-up club before Middlesex declared at an imposing 620 for 7.Essex 340 v Sussex 282 for 8 at Arundel
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On a slow pitch at picturesque Arundel Park Sussex crept towards parity with Essex, who were all out early in the morning for 340. Tony Cottey then scored 107 in four-and-a-half hours for Sussex, adding 178 bfor the fourth wicket with Tim Ambrose (88). But three late wickets for Paul Grayson, to make up for his first-over duck yesterday, gave Essex late hope.Surrey 355 and 282 for 3 v Warwickshire 245 at Edgbaston
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Surrey, with a nap hand of 11 Test players in their side, unsurprisingly hold the upper hand after two days in Birmingham, leading by 392 already. Today Azhar Mahmood led the way with four wickets as Warwickshire were shot out for 245, 110 behind, then the Marks Butcher and Ramprakash both scored centuries to put Surrey firmly in charge. Butcher’s 118 came from only 116 ball,s with 20 fours and two sixes, while Ramps was almost as attacking – he cracked 18 fours and a six as well. Surrey have so far scored at more than six an over throughout their second innings.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoDerbyshire 89 and 226 for 4 v Gloucestershire 277 at Derby
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Michael Di Venuto’s third century of the season hauled Derbyshire back into the game after Gloucestershire had claimed a lead of 188. But Di Venuto was twice pardoned by Stephen Pope, Gloucester’s wicketkeeper, who put him down at 35 and 39. He survived to put on 106 with Dominic Hewson (39) and an unbeaten 81 with Luke Sutton (38*) before bad light brought an early close. At the start of the day Dominic Cork took two quick wickets to finish with 4 for 75 as Gloucester’s tail addded 63 runs.Durham 327 v Northamptonshire 320 for 8 at Chester-le-Street
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It’s all square and all to play for at the Riverside, where Northants finished up seven runs behind Durham with just two wickets standing. Durham added only two runs in the morning, then Phil Jaques cracked another cetury for Northants. His 109 included 14 juicy fours, and he put on 92 for the second wicket with Mike Hussey (43). Solid contributions down the order took Northants to within sight of Durham’s total.Glamorgan 349 and 113 for 3 v Somerset 233 at Cardiff
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Glamorgan grabbed the upper hand at Sophia Gardens, bowling Somerset out for 233 to claim a lead of 116 – Mike Kasprowicz finished with 4 for 53 – then increasing that by 113. Jimmy Maher is still there with 42 not out, while Matthew Maynard spanked a brisk 32 not out towards the close. The main Somerset resistance came from their captain Mike Burns , who made 50, and England’s forgotten one-day man, Ian Blackwell, who smacked 82 from 96 balls, with ten fours and a six. They put on 61, but the next-highest score was Jamie Cox’s 24.

Somerset Seconds went down by the narrowest of margins against their Worcestershire counterparts in the 2nd XI Trophy at North Perrott earlier this week.Batting first the hosts scored 300 for 5 from their fifty overs, thanks to a fine opening partnership of 146 between Matt Wood (85) and Carl Gazzard (75) and 54 from all rounder Wes Durston.In reply Worcestershire reached 303 for 9 in the final over with Steve Adshead making 141 and Kadeer Ali 60. For Somerset there were two wickets each for Gareth Andrew and Neil Edwards.The Seconds travel to Southampton to play against Hampshire on Monday and then return to the County Ground on Wednesday next week when they entertain Gloucestershire in the Trophy.

National First League champions Mutare Sports Club and runners-up Old Georgians have made it to the final of the league knockout competition, setting up what promises to be an explosive finish to the 2001/02 club cricket season.Despite missing the services of Alistair Campbell, Guy Whittall and reliable all-rounder Richard Simms on national duty, Mutare didn’t look at all vulnerable as they romped to a comfortable seven-wicket home win over Takashinga. The match was more competitive than the league encounter between the two sides at the same venue on January 26 when Mutare won by nine wickets while chasing a target of less than 100.This time Takashinga made 217 for the loss of eight wickets off their allotted 50 overs with Under-19 batsman Elton Chigumbura the top scorer on 63, while opener Ranga Manyande made 47. Veteran Mark Burmester took four wickets for 36 off his 10 overs. The hosts then reached 218 for three in 42.5 overs.At Old Georgians, the hosts made it three out of three with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Universals. It was the third consecutive meeting between the two teams over the past three weeks. Universals, parading probably their strongest team against OGs this season, batted first and could only make 168 for nine off 50 overs with the best score being 38 from number seven batsman Imran Meman. There were two wickets each for Gus Mackay, Craig Evans and Under-19 bowler Simon Seager.In reply Old Georgians reached 170 for the loss of two wickets in 38.5 overs. Opener Andre Neethling finished unbeaten on 70 together with national Under-16 batsman Duncan Bradshaw who made 33 not out. Opener Lance Malloch-Brown had scored 34 while number three batsman Barney Rogers was out for 19.Now OGs have the chance of atoning for their failure to win the league when they face Mutare in the knockout final at Harare Sports Club on 17 March. A net run rate had to be used to determine the winner of the closely fought National First League championship race and Mutare were the victors, leaving Old Georgians disappointed.

The most inconsistent team in the Carib Beer Cricket Series has returned to Barbados with a new lease on life.India "A", badly beaten here inside three days immediately after their late arrival in the Caribbean six weeks ago, would have been on their way home had they not won last weekend against dethroned Cup champions Jamaica.The win lifted them from seventh to sixth in the points table on 33 points and victory against cellar-placed West Indies "B" in their rescheduled first round match at Kensington Oval, starting today, will leapfrog them to third position and into the semifinals of the International Challenge."We know this is do or die for us," team coach Ashok Malhotra told WEEKENDSPORT during a practice session at Weymouth yesterday. "The Jamaica game has given us a new lease on life. We are hoping to get 12 points against West Indies "B"."If we get 12, we are in, otherwise we are going home. The boys know the job is cut out for them."For a team that includes at least six players with international experience, the Indians have not lived up to expectations.They could be excused for the match against Barbados when they would not have been fully acclimatised."It has been a roller-coaster ride. The match which really hurts me is the Windwards one, which we lost outright after beating Trinidad and Tobago outright," Malhotra said. "We all know Windwards is not a great side."Malhotra, who was part of Kapil Dev’s team that played five Tests in the West Indies in 1983, attributes the India "A" team’s inconsistency to his batsmen."The batters we have on this tour, once they pass 30s and 40s back home they score hundreds and big hundreds," he said. "In about 50 (individual) innings we have only one hundred to show for it. The batsmen are getting 20s and 30s and getting out."It has nothing to do with adjusting to conditions, he added."The pitches are more or less like back home. We haven’t seen any bouncy tracks in the Caribbean. When I came here 20 years back, the ball used to bounce much more."Some of their batsmen have done reasonably well, however. Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir has four half-centuries and an aggregate of 508 runs (ave. 46.18), while fellow opener Akash Chopra has 455 runs (ave. 41.36) with a highest of 174.After the match against Jamaica which India "A" won by two wickets with the help of an unbroken ninth wicket half-century stand, they are quietly confident better things are ahead."It was a launching pad for us. We know that if we play one good game, we are playing Guyana, whom we had a good game against. We know what we can do to them," Malhotra said. "I feel if we beat West Indies "B", I think we might go through to the finals."Victory against the youngsters will put them in third place and it will give them a semifinal berth against the defending international champions. The other semi would therefore bring together new Cup champions Barbados and Jamaica at Kensington, starting a week from today.If India "A" fail to win, Barbados will host Trinidad and Tobago in the semis, which will also feature Guyana and Jamaica in Georgetown.India "A" are hoping captain VVS Laxman, who missed the match against Jamaica with a back injury, will be fit to take his place. He batted in the nets yesterday, but the decision will be left to him just prior to the start of the match.The tourists will definitely be without left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who broke his thumb while fielding to his own bowling against Jamaica.

This has been a sleepy week for business, so please accept our apologies for a rather brief magazine this week. The main item is an interview with Zimbabwe’s captain in Sri Lanka, Stuart Carlisle, who talks about that tour.Carlisle is also likely to continue as Zimbabwe’s captain in India, as the official captain Brian Murphy’s ill fortune continues. He was recently struck down with appendicitis, and in any case the hand injury that forced his return from Sri Lanka is so serious that it will take another three or four weeks before he can even start bowling again with it – and then he will need to work to regain his bowling form.It was hoped to include a report on the Zimbabwe Board XI’s trip to Benoni to play Easterns B; an interview has been booked with Guy Whittall, who returned to top form with a century in the three-day match, but it was not possible to schedule it before the deadline for this issue, so that will have to wait until next week. Potted scores for those matches are included below, courtesy of the ZCU.A draw in the three-day match will not help our chances of winning the Bowl competition, although the team is still top of the table. The worrying thing is that we are finding difficulty in bowling our opponents out more cheaply than ourselves. The players often point to the flat batting pitches that they seem to encounter everywhere these days, but in that case we should still be seriously outscoring our inexperienced opponents. That has not happened in our matches so far and, as in the one-day games, our successes come through run-chases. The lack of penetrative bowling is a matter for concern.

ZIMBABWE BOARD XI v EASTERNS `B’Three-Day Game 25 – 27 January 02Match DrawnBoard XI 1st Innings 290 all out (93.1 overs)A Campbell 65, R Sims 37, G Whittall 100Easterns `B’ 1st Innings 329 all out (106 overs)R Price 30 – 5 – 100 – 4, R Sims 24 – 3 – 63 – 2Board XI 2nd Innings 289 all out (95 overs)D Ebrahim 93, R Price 71, M Vermeulen 51One Day Match – 28 January 02Board XI won by 3 wicketsEasterns `B’ 223 for 4 wickets in 45 oversR Price 9 – 0 – 33 – 2Board XI 224 for 7 wickets in 44 oversD Ebrahim 31, R Sims 48, G Whittall 43, P Strang 46*

Andrew Penn has never known a day, in a bowling career hampered by injuries and disturbed by very public crises of confidence, like the one he enjoyed at the Basin Reserve today – where Wellington beat Canterbury by 31 runs.Penn surfed the cricket equivalent of the perfect wave on a day filled with many extraordinary and some historic events to achieve career-best figures of eight for 21 and to wreck Canterbury’s chase for a victory total of 152. His return was the fifth-best by a Wellington bowler in all first-class matches.Penn destroyed Canterbury’s innings in one long spell of perfectly-tuned fast bowling with the new ball. He had never bowled a longer spell in his first-class career – his physical condition would often prohibit it.But on this magical day at the Basin Reserve, Penn couldn’t have been separated from the ball with a crowbar. He bowled and he bowled – and all of his overs in that opening upwind, into a stiff northerly breeze.Wicket after wicket fell as he maintained a difficult length, as he found seam movement and irregular bounce.When he was finally rested, reluctantly, after some 17 overs, he had taken seven for 16 and Canterbury was 33/7.When Penn finally retired to the boundary, Canterbury’s innings began to slowly revive. Having survived his onslaught, they crawled from the trenches and launched a counter attack on Wellington.Peter Fulton and Ryan Burson joined in a partnership for the eighth wicket which was troublesome at first and then passed, through degrees, to frustrating, threatening and finally terrifying. Matthew Bell worked his bowlers as Penn rested but could find no way of separating a pair who were steadily playing Canterbury back into the match.The target of 152, which had seemed unusually imposing at the start, had begun to seem achievable and Wellington’s nerves had again come under assault.Finally, with hope abating, they made a crucial breakthrough through Matthew Walker, who trapped Burson lbw. He had made 39 in 96 minutes and in a partnership of 73 with Fulton, had carried Canterbury to 106/8.There were then only 46 runs needed for victory and Fulton, who had batted with enormous determination, remained at the crease. But he was unable to forge a partnership of sufficient strength with Canterbury’s last two men in to achieve what would have been a marvelous fightback victory.Stephen Cunis was run out for 0 by a throw from the boundary by James Franklin and Canterbury was 109/9.No 11 Wade Cornelius stayed with Fulton for 24 minutes, scoring no runs but courageously holding up one end, till Penn was finally recalled to the attack to deliver the coup de grace.He did so at 6.05pm at the end of an extraordinary day when he bowled Cornelius and ended the Canterbury run-chase at 120. Fulton was left 46 not out and had been at the crease in a superb fighting innings for exactly three hours.Penn had his eight for 21 and Wellington had its third outright win in successive games. As with all four of its outrights this season, the win was achieved after Wellington had conceded a first innings lead.In this case that lead was only 11 runs but that was still a considerable advantage in a match of such narrow margins. Wellington had been out for 182 in its first innings and Canterbury for 193 in reply.Wellington managed 162 in its second innings after being 98/6 and Canterbury failed on a deteriorating pitch to achieve its victory target. By the third day of this match the pitch had become shifty and treacherous. The ball still seamed, it still turned but the judgement of line and movement, of pace and bounce, was an impossible science.Penn crashed through the Canterbury innings with relentless accuracy and command of movement.He dismissed Robbie Frew for 0 when Canterbury was one and then struck the critical double blow on which Wellington’s victory was largely built. He removed Michael Papps and Gary Stead – the leading scorers in Canterbury’s first innings – with successive deliveries in his 11th over.Papps made 68 in the first innings, Stead 52 and the pair shared a 107-run fourth wicket stand. Their dismissals today for 13 and 0 dealt a staggering blow to Canterbury’s chances.Penn then had Shanan Stewart for 10 when Canterbury was 25 and Gareth Hopkins for 0 when they were 29. He removed Aaron Redmond and Paul Wiseman and Canterbury were 33/7.Redmond’s dismissal was the most remarkable of the day. He was stumped by Glynn Howell from Penn’s bowling, giving him another first – his first dismissal in first-class matches achieved by that method.”What a day, eh?” Penn said.”It’s not often you’re getting rhythm like that. That was the best rhythm I’ve ever had. When you get that you’re so worried you’re going to lose it. It just takes a couple of bad overs and it’s gone.”Penn could not be talked into bowling downwind. It was by bowling into the breeze that he was able to achieve that perfect physical poise.”I was always confident that 152 would be enough,” he said. “I mean that especially with this team, the way we’re play and because of the number of times we’ve come out of tight situations.”The pitch by this third day was desperately hard to bat on. Wellington knew that after their experience earlier in the day and backed themselves to make Canterbury’s life difficult. They did so but there are now real concerns at the nature of the pitches the Basin Reserve is producing.This was the second pitch, after that used for last week’s match against Otago, to play such a large part in determining outcome of the match.Wellington’s next match is also at the Basin, against Northern Districts starting on Monday.

Thursday was a bad day for English cricket: 398 for 1 wasn’t great, but now we know the real price. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Yet for all Nasser Hussain’s protestations of weariness, you have to feel that there is more to his resignation than meets the eye.Only two months ago he was talking openly about his career goals, chief among them passing Peter May’s record of 20 Test wins as England captain. (Hussain has 17.) So, what’s changed? Hussain says he is tired. He looks tired – but then he has for most of his reign. It is one of his strengths that he always overcame it. To survive all the trials of last winter and to go now is more than a little strange.There are two ways of viewing Hussain’s abdication. The first is that he was his own man to the last, courageously biting the bullet rather than hanging on like the rabid old dictator he has been increasingly portrayed as. The other is that to leave the job at this time, in this way, is thoroughly out of character. Quitting three days before a big game is the sort of thing Kevin Keegan does, not Nasser Hussain. At least Hussain left England with Michael Vaughan and not Howard Wilkinson.Unlike Keegan, Hussain certainly didn’t lose the dressing-room – Darren Gough summed up the mood when he said he would go through a brick wall for Hussain – but maybe he didn’t understand it any more. All this talk of PlayStations and red streaks, of sexed-up photoshoots and lads’ mags – maybe he felt out of place. When even Ashley Giles gets highlights, you know there is revolution in the air.More likely, it will have nagged that, for the first time, he had lost the respect of some of the media. There has been the whiff of a burgeoning agenda, and there is no doubt that attitudes to Hussain have hardened in the past few months, particularly since England’s zesty showing under Vaughan.Hussain, as a result, was depicted by the press as antiquated, a dinosaur. How quickly they forget. In terms of sustained consistency of performance, England are playing as well as at any time for 20 years. Increasingly over the past six months Hussain has pointed out the achievements England have made in his reign – as well as his own form over the last few series. It was nagging at him that his work had not been properly acknowledged, that he and Duncan Fletcher were not getting the respect they deserved.His dismissal in the first innings, padding up to Shaun Pollock, was a case in point. Yes it was a poor leave. Yes it wasn’t the first time he’d gone that way in a big Edgbaston Test. But the fact remains that Hussain should not have been given out: the ball was going over the top and wide of the stumps, but almost universally, the press ignored that. Et tu, Brute?The fact remains that Hussain is still the best captain in England. When he announced his retirement from one-day internationals, he said he still thought England were a better side when he captained them. Has that really changed? England looked like they enjoyed the NatWest Series, sure, but was Vaughan’s captaincy really that good?Hussain also said the split captaincy caused him problems. This is a rare deviation from his adherence to all things Australian. There, it has worked perfectly. For Vaughan read Ricky Ponting, the easy-going star batsman with the swivel-pull to die for; for Hussain read Steve Waugh, the hard-nosed grinder, sweating every last drop from himself and his team. With Hussain, it has always been about the team. Finally he has made a decision with himself in mind – but his team will be a hell of a lot poorer for it.Review: The best England captain since Brearley
News: Hussain resigns

England are taking the view that they can still win the National Bank Series 3-2 as they head into tomorrow’s vital match at McLean Park in Napier.One man looking to make a difference for the side as it seeks a change of fortune is Ben Hollioake who has recovered from a nagging knee injury and is hopeful of taking his place when the final selection is made.Hollioake, who last week signed for another year with his county Surrey, said the loss in Wellington had been disappointing.”I’m sure the boys will hold their hands up and admit to that. It’s gone now and there’s still three games to play here and I suppose in New Zealand a lot of people will laugh but we think we can win 3-2,” he said.”One-day cricket is strange.”A month ago everyone was saying how brilliant New Zealand are. Two weeks ago they weren’t good at all, now they’re brilliant again.”With us after India everyone was saying we’re on the up and up and now, after two games, we’ve been written off a little bit. Yet I’m sure if we can turn it around,” he said.”We’ve been working very well together, there is a good team spirit, everyone likes each other, that’s not the be all and end all but it does help, everyone helps each other with the work load and gets on and does the business.”Hollioake said it had been an annoying tour for him with injury coming at just the time he felt he was cementing his place in the side.The knee injury had been looked at by specialists and revealed no serious damage but it was suggested he needed 10 days of proper rest, and not the bowling in the nets he had been doing at practice.”It just came on in India and got worse and worse,” he said.During games it had been fine as the adrenalin did its thing but once he cooled down the problems started.”It feels like it’s gone, it feels like it’s finished with now. It was a bit of a strange injury because I could run at a relatively full pace but every time I bowled and stamped my foot down I was getting a hyper-extension in my knee which was causing it to collapse,” he said.Hollioake said he was definitely available for tomorrow and was excited at the prospect of being selected, although that choice was up to the selectors ultimately.The World Cup next year was very much in Hollioake’s thinking and he felt the selectors and team management were 90% along the way in assessing which players they felt would be part of the campaign.”I’m sure if someone performs horrendously in the next three games it will have an effect on their selection in the World Cup. I can’t comment for sure but I’m pretty positive they’ve mainly got their mind made up,” he said.The tri-series in England next summer was another important step for him and it was part of the build-up of games that have greatly increased the number of internationals the English are playing now.”England have been a bit slow catching that up but they’re starting to do it now,” he said of his feeling that around 20-25 matches in a year would be more appropriate for the side.”If I’m selected and do well I want to get myself selected for next summer’s tri-series. If I wasn’t to be selected for that then my hopes of playing in the World Cup would be pretty severely dented,” he said.Hollioake said he had been very close to signing with Warwickshire for the county season but decided to stick with Surrey.

WELLINGTON – New Zealand Cricket will ask Australia to expand theitinerary of its November and December tour in Australia to compensatefor the cancellation of a tour to Pakistan.The cancellation for security reasons of the New Zealand-Pakistan oneday series this month and test series in October has left New Zealandwithout match play before the Australian tour begins.New Zealand Cricket will ask Australia to add at least two four daystate games to their agreed itinerary to give players some match playbefore the first test from Nov. 8-12.New Zealand recalled its team from Singapore, en route to Pakistan, inresponse to the terrorist attacks in the United States on Tuesday. TheNew Zealand A team also returned home early from a tour to India.New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said he wouldapproach Australian authorities on Monday with a proposal for anenlarged tour.Snedden said there was still a faint hope a tour to Pakistan might takeplace in some form next month, if the world security situationstabilised but he doubted such a change could occur in the timeavailable.”We might yet go to Pakistan but it does seem highly unlikely,” he said.”I don’t see much merit in a truncated tour but we will be keeping ouroptions open.”