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The confusion over the telecast rights for the India-Australia Test series shows no signs of ending. Just a day after the Indian board announced that Sony would telecast the series live, Zee Telefilms moved the Supreme Court and asked it to stop this from happening, reported NDTV. To complicate matters further, Prasar Bharati, the national broadcaster, stated that it would go to court as well to challenge the decision.”Prasar Bharati had bid higher than Sony in the initial bids invited by the BCCI for telecast rights,” KS Sarma, the chief executive of Prasar Bharati, told Press Trust of India. “However, the BCCI favoured Sony. We will challenge the issue in [the] Supreme Court.” Prasar Bharati’s bid amount was Rs704crore (approx US$153million), compared to Sony’s Rs600crore (US$130million).Another reason why Prasar Bharati, the parent company of Doordarshan, decided to take the board to court, Sarma said, was because the BCCI had earlier suggested that Doordarshan would telecast the feed, which would be produced by the board itself. “And now what we hear is a totally different thing.”If Zee does manage to get a stay from the Supreme Court, it will seriously jeopardise the chances of a live telecast of the first Test, which starts on Wednesday, October 6.

Chris Simpson, the 23-year-old allrounder, has been rewarded for his off-season performances with places in the opening Queensland ING and Pura Cup teams. Queensland open the summer with a one-day match against New South Wales at the Gabba on Friday and then host Tasmania in a four-day game starting on Monday.One of the three fittest players in the Bulls squad, Simpson missed more than half of last season with a wrist injury, but he impressed the selectors when captaining the Queensland Academy of Sport during the State Institute Challenge in August. An offspinner, Simpson has already collected 15 grade wickets for Wynnum-Manly.The Australian players Andrew Symonds and James Hopes will return from international duty for the fixtures while Michael Kasprowicz’s fitness is being monitored after suffering a minor hamstring problem two weeks ago. New South Wales, who are in camp on the Sunshine Coast this week, will also have Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken on duty.Jimmy Maher and Brad Haddin, the two captains, will be able to use power plays and super subs for the first time as the domestic competition adapts the new ICC one-day rules.Queensland ING Cup squad1 Jimmy Maher (capt), 2 James Hopes, 3 Andrew Symonds, 4 Clinton Perren, 5 Craig Philipson, 6 Chris Simpson, 7 Chris Hartley (wk), 8 Andy Bichel, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Michael Kasprowicz, 12 Brendan Nash.New South Wales
1 Phil Jaques, 2 Matthew Phelps, 3 Dominic Thornely, 4 Corey Richards, 5 Ed Cowan, 6 James Packman, 7 Brad Haddin (capt, wk), 8 Aaron O’Brien, 9 Matthew Nicholson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Doug Bollinger, 12 Stuart Clark.Queensland Pura Cup squad
1 Jimmy Maher (capt), 2 Clinton Perren, 3 Martin Love, 4 Andrew Symonds, 5 Craig Philipson, 6 James Hopes, 7 Chris Simpson, 8 Lachlan Stevens, 9 Chris Hartley (wk), 10 Andy Bichel, 11 Michael Kasprowicz, 12 Mitchell Johnson.

As more rain swept the country only the matches at Cardiff and Headingley started promptly, but eventually three more games got under way as well – only Surrey’s match against Hampshire was completely abandoned, although Essex and Warwickshire could only squeeze in a 10-over thrash.Glamorgan took advantage of Hampshire’s inactivity to go top of Division One after their third win in three outings, while in Division Two Leicestershire also lead the way with a 100% record after three matches. The batting star of the day was Matthew Elliott, who stroked 112 not out from 116 balls – and put on 169 with Matthew Maynard – as Glamorgan overhauled Northamptonshire’s handy total with 5.1 overs to spare.

National League Division One

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ScorecardSurrey v Hampshire at the Brit Oval – match abandoned
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National League Division Two

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Injury worries plagued both North Zone and Sri Lanka A ahead of their clash in the Duleep Trophy final at Kolkata tomorrow. VRV Singh, the Punjab fast bowler, has been ruled out with a viral fever while Malinda Warnapura, Sri Lanka A’s star batsman, and Upul Chandana, their legspinner, are unlikely starters.Warnapura, the only Sri Lankan batsman to score a hundred in the tournament, injured his shoulder during a fielding drill, while Chandana pulled a hamstring. Neither Warnapura or Chandana have been ruled out of the match and a decision will be taken tomorrow, according to the medical staff. The back-up options for both players are Jeewan Mendis, a left-handed batsman, and Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner with international experience. Ishara Amerasinghe and Kosela Kulasekara, both right-arm medium pace bowlers, are the other bowling options.The two captains, Mithun Manhas and Thilan Samaraweera, reckoned it was a good pitch to bat on after inspecting it during practice. “Its firm and should not break in five days,” said Manhas. “Gautam [Gambhir] and [Ashish] Nehra didn’t practice because they were yet to arrive, but we have no worries.”Sri Lanka A, in their Duleep Trophy debut, brushed aside West Zone by 195 runs before staging an improbable comeback, thanks to a battling lower order, against South Zone at this same venue. Samaraweera felt his side had the advantage. “We’ve been here [in Kolkata] longer than North Zone have, and we’ve played here before,” he said. “We’ve got contributions from everybody yet not many big scores from the top order. On such a pitch like the one here, it’s a case of getting runs on the board.”Sri Lanka A are the first foreign team to compete with the Indian zonal sides – after England A, Bangladesh Academy XI and Zimbabwe A had been completely outclassed. But they will need something special if they’re to upstage North Zone, a team with a record 16 Duleep Trophy titles.

Australia suffered an injury scare on the last day of their warm-up matchagainst a Sri Lanka President’s XI as Brett Lee was taken to hospital with a sore left ankle.Scans revealed no structural damage and Australia are hopeful that he mayrecover in time for the first Test which starts on Monday in Galle, but RickyPonting admitted that the injury was a big concern.”It is a big concern, especially the way he bowled in the first inningshere,” Ponting told reporters afterwards. “He bowled quick and swung theball a lot and we had hoped he could do that in the first Test.””He feared the worst straight away but the scans have come up pretty cleartoday. He has a couple of days for rest and treatment over the weekend andwe will hope that everything comes up ok for Monday.”Lee had been a major handful in the first innings, ripping out four toporder wickets during an eight-over burst with the new ball. He also pickedup a wicket in the second innings before hobbling off mid-way through hisfourth over.

Matthew Hoggard has set his sights on an England recall for the third Test against South Africa, which begins at Trent Bridge on August 14.Hoggard, who suffered a torn knee cartilage at the end of May, has missed six weeks of cricket so far this season. But he has been given the all-clear to play for Yorkshire in the next fortnight, and as he told Channel 4, he can’t wait to get back into the England frame.”I’ve been pencilled in for my first game in the next couple of weeks," said Hoggard, "and I’ve already been bowling off a shortened run in the nets. I have had to go back and realign my feet again to stop them crossing over and stop it happening again, but I’m hopeful of playing again soon and I hope to jog the selectors’ minds in the next two or three weeks.”Hoggard was England’s bowler of the season in 2002, when he took 28 wickets in seven Tests against Sri Lanka and India. But his stock fell during a difficult Ashes series, and he was a spectator throughout the subsequent World Cup. Given the start England’s bowlers have made to the current Test, however, Hoggard will fancy his chances of a recall.

Having completed a two-week fitness camp last week, India’s probables will start on the serious business of honing their cricket skills on Monday. The pace bowlers among them will be able to interact with Kapil Dev, who will be present at the camp in Bangalore for the first two days.The six-day cap will focus mainly on batting and bowling. With this in mind, the team management has also drafted in nine medium-pace bowlers, including Tinu Yohannan, who played Test matches against England and New Zealand not so long ago.The 36 probables who participated in the fitness camp will be joined by Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, who have come back after their stint in county cricket. John Wright will be the man in charge, with Andrew Leipus and Gregory King keeping a close eye on the physical well-being and fitness of those involved.

Close Border 68 for 2 trail West Indians 278 (Lara 81, Chanderpaul 98, Henderson 5-57) by 210 runs
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Boundary-studded innings from Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul set up a handy West Indian total at Buffalo Park in East London. Border, for whom Tyron Henderson took five wickets, had reduced the arrears by 68 runs by the close, for the loss of two wickets.Lara, who opened, stroked 16 fours in his attractive 81, which took him 135 balls. And later Chanderpaul outdid his captain with 19 fours in only 121 balls, before he fell for 98 to the former South African Test player Pieter Strydom.The rest of the West Indian batting was disappointing, with Carlton Baugh’s 29 the next-best contribution. Henderson, 29, outbowled his new-ball partner Charl Langeveldt, who has played for South Africa but finished with 0 for 60 today. Henderson, meanwhile, took 5 for 57, including the wickets of Dave Mohammed and Ravi Rampaul in the space of three balls. Those two and Adam Sanford, the newest recruit to this injury-raddled West Indian team, all failed to score in a middling total of 278.Sanford later made partial amends with the wicket of Mark Bruyns for 26 when Border batted. Their only other casualty before stumps were drawn was Michael Smith, in only his third first-class outing, caught by Ramnaresh Sarwan at slip off Mohammed’s left-arm over-the-wrist spin off what turned out to be the last ball of the day for 32.

Manicaland enjoyed a good day against Mashonaland at Harare Sports Club,amassing a total of 397, although only three batsmen made significantcontributions. There was no time for the Mashonaland reply before theclose.Gus Mackay captained the Mashonaland team after the withdrawal of BrianMurphy, still not match-fit. With so many absentees, especially with thenational side in Sharjah, there were many changes and a long tail. Mackaywon the toss and put Manicaland in to bat on a pitch he expected to help theseamers a great deal, which did not prove to be the case.There was a little early movement and Mashonaland took two quick wickets.Manicaland lost debutant Dion de Beer (8) and Richie Sims (0) with only nineon the board, but as usual in Logan Cup cricket Neil Ferreira hung in withhis dogged style. He found an able partner in Guy Croxford, and the pairadded 135 together for the third wicket, with Croxford (80) the mainaggressor. He looked less confident against spin, though, and it wasoff-spinner Trevor Gripper who took his wicket for 80.Gary Brent proved an able replacement, though, and finally his real battingtalent came to life. He and Ferreira added 158 for the fourth wicket beforeFerreira finally fell for 120. This began a minor collapse, Manicalandsliding from the heights of 302 for three to 316 for seven. Alex Taylorsupported Brent while the latter reached his maiden first-class century,punishing the wayward bowling with due discretion, but the second new ballaccounted for both of them.The innings closed for 397, with Mackay taking three for 57. He did notbowl particularly well, especially in his opening spell, but took threevital wickets in the middle order. Amos Maungwa took two for 33 in 14overs, the most economical of the Mashonaland bowlers thanks to hisconsistent line and length. Gripper took three for 83 in 24 overs, the mostused of the bowlers.