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Phase one of David Hussey’s plan to regain his one-day place has been achieved with his first ODI hundred, but he knows more will be needed before he wins another promotion. Hussey spent most of the 2007-08 season as a fixture in the side without demanding a regular spot and was omitted for the England and Champions Trophy 50-over campaigns.What he still has is a Twenty20 position and because Australia were using the one-dayer against Scotland as preparation for Sunday’s match against England, he was given a go. After 87 balls he had 111, having boomed five sixes and 10 fours in the type of innings which got him noticed originally with Victoria.”I haven’t really set any targets, I’m just taking every opportunity I can now,” Hussey said. “I missed a little bit with one-day international cricket, I haven’t grabbed it with both hands. For me any opportunity I get the aim is to take full toll.”In 22 ODIs before the game in Edinburgh he had four half-centuries but no certainty and was unsure of the reasons for his troubles. “I kept getting out, unfortunately,” he said. “Hopefully I get another chance and will be a bit better prepared and the results will be a lot different. The first [hundred] against Scotland, great wicket, great ground, one I’ll remember.”Hussey, who was wearing four layers to counter the cold, took out his frustration on the offspinner Majid Haq, launching him for four sixes in three overs. The next goal is to back up at Old Trafford on Sunday, when England hope to build on their Ashes success in the shortest form of the game.”We put a good statement on how we want to play, so far so good,” Hussey said. “We’ve won one, hopefully we can win one on Sunday.”Hussey will be in England for only 10 days before going back to Victoria and gearing up for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India. “It’s not ideal,” he said of the schedule, “but you’ve got to adapt to different situations”.While Australia won by 189 runs, Scotland were not disappointed in their display. As Hussey was accelerating the tourists were heading for a lot more than their 345 all out. Gordon Goudie helped stop a late burst by taking four wickets in his final two overs to finish with 5 for 73.”I’m very happy with the way we handled ourselves in the last 10 overs of their innings because they could have gone on to get 400,” the captain Gavin Hamilton said. “For Gordon to pick up five wickets against Australia is second to none. We came hard at them with the bat because that’s the way we want to play, and we found out a lot about the character of a few personnel.”

ScorecardMichael Di Venuto picks off another boundary as his double century led a remorseless display from Durham•Getty Images

For Nottinghamshire, one of two outside challengers to Durham for the title, it was one of those days where everything goes wrong from start to finish. First, they were unable to play Andre Adams through illness. Then they lost the toss and had to take the field on a fine batting wicket under a largely blue sky on a mild day. For Durham, it was a day where they moved inextricably towards the retaining the main prize. Their opening batsmen, led by Michael Di Venuto’s outstanding double century, added 314 and put the Nottinghamshire bowlers to the sword, while the visitors also lost two of their top players through injury.Durham for their part were without Callum Thorp, due to a back injury, but they do have Steve Harmison in their side. Kyle Coetzer, newly promoted to opening batsman, went in first with the regular, Di Venuto and was the only man to fall – for the small matter of 107. At the start, Charlie Shreck and Darrin Pattinson bowled well for Nottinghamshire, and they began with three maiden overs. When runs did come, they came painfully for a while until Coetzer broke the shackles with a fine off-drive for four off Pattinson, and then he took two off-side boundaries from drives off Shreck.Di Venuto was so long settling in that he scored just 3 off his first 32 balls, but then began to open up. Coetzer still favoured the covers, but Nottinghamshire eventually wised up and changed their line and length to him. Di Venuto caught and overtook him in the thirties, and at lunch the score was 90, both batsmen in the forties. By now the visitors had lost their captain and wicketkeeper, Chris Read, who dislocated a thumb. Mark Ealham had to take over the leadership, while Bilal Shafayat went behind the stumps.Di Venuto went to his 50 fifteen minutes after the break off 96 balls and then hammered a ball through the covers to bring up the team and partnership hundred. His favourite stroke was the slash off the back foot through the covers, and he had plenty of opportunity to play it, as the Nottinghamshire bowling began to crumble. It took Coetzer 115 balls and until 45 minutes after lunch to reach his own 50, which included as many as 11 fours.Nottinghamshire began to wilt under the onslaught; there were some lapses in the field and Shreck injured his leg while chasing a ball and had to limp off the ground. Luke Fletcher looked rusty after a long lay-off through injury, and Di Venuto hit him out of the attack with three fours in an over. Pattinson, economical early on, was very expensive in his second spell, while Samit Patel, although finding some turn at times, was far from thrifty. The one man able to contain the flow of runs to any extent was Ealham with his accurate medium-pacers, and he occasionally beat the batsmen but without luck.A cover drive off Pattinson took Di Venuto to his century off 140 balls, and the team’s 200 came up in the fiftieth over. The pair now overtook the county’s previous highest opening partnership in Championship cricket, and kept going. The first chance of the day came when Di Venuto edged a ball from Patel to slip, who was either asleep or else just did not see it until too late, as he failed to get a hand to it. At tea the total was 263, the batsmen 149 and 94 respectively.After the break a cut from Coetzer off Patel brought up his century, which took him 215 balls and contained 20 fours, a tribute to his ability to dispatch the bad ball with brutal efficiency. The 300 came up with a similar shot from Di Venuto off the occasional bowler Alex Hales. Then the old saying about the only way a wicket could fall would be through a run-out came true. At 314, Di Venuto drove firmly to mid-off, where Ealham made a fine stop. Coetzer incorrectly anticipated a run, but Di Venuto sent him back. However, he was just unable to make his ground and was run out for 107.For the captain Will Smith it was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show. He struggled for 28 balls before getting off the mark with a risky single – which brought him another four runs thanks to an overthrow – and he had already been dropped off a simple leg-side catch to the keeper off Pattinson. But Di Venuto powered relentlessly on, reaching 200 off 258 balls, and Smith battled his way onward with a little more confidence.Both were still there at the close, the players walking off the field to the unusual accompaniment of bright sunshine. On 219, Di Venuto must be entertaining visions of a maiden triple-century; his highest score is currently 254 not out. More importantly, though, for Durham is that the title is getting ever closer.

ScorecardNoor Ali laid the platform for Afghanistan’s chase with a determined 56•Getty Images

The rise of Afghanistan’s cricketing fortunes continues unabated. Four months after they qualified for ODI status in South Africa, they have won their maiden first-class match as an international country by stunning Netherlands, a side far more experienced, with an extremely tense one-wicket win in Amstelveen.The rain-affected match was so dominated by the ball that it was some surprise the match lasted as long as it did. But not even Edgar Schiferli’s five-wicket haul was enough to prevent a gripping, successful run-chase by Afghanistan.Afghanistan are a country still at war, and are continually reliant on benevolence by charities and organisations such as MCC, who have helped provide equipment, training and pitches to schools in rural communities. They remain highly inexperienced, raw and rusty. But as their barnstorming performance in the World Cup Qualifiers earlier this year suggested, they are never to be underestimated.The day commenced with Afghanistan requiring 168 runs to win, with eight wickets to spare, on a pitch that had troubled all the batsmen, but Noor Ali and Nowroz Mangal set about the task well. They added 23 to the over-night total, before Mangal (19) was caught by Wesley Barresi while having a go at a wide delivery from Mark Jonkman. The wicket brought Asghar Stanikzai to the crease, who began to build another sturdy partnership with Noor, as Afghanistan began to take control.The pair put on 49 for the fourth wicket, edging within a hundred of the target, before Schiferli – Man-of-the-Series in April’s World Cup Qualifiers tournament – managed to find the edge of Ali’s bat, caught behind for a well earned 56.Stanikzai soon followed – late onto a delivery from Pieter Seelaar which kept low and shot on to hit the base of his middle stump for 26. Mohammed Nabi didn’t make much of an impact either, as he miscued a drive off Peter Borren, providing Schiferli with an easy catch. By lunch, the match was hanging in the balance with Afghanistan needing a further 64 with four wickets remaining, having battled back into contention.With prospects of an exciting afternoon ahead for the crowd in Amstelveen, the visitors restarted by adding a further 18 runs before they lost Raees Ahmadzai, an agriculturally-effective free-swinging batsman, for 26. He edged to Barresi in the slips, who took an outstanding catch to maintain the pressure on Afghanistan.Netherlands tight bowling attack pinned down Mirwais Ashraf and Samiullah Shenwari, making runs very hard to come by, but they stuck in there, scoring in ones and twos.With Afghanistan edging nearer their target, Netherlands found the breakthrough they were after, as Ashraf was finally removed by a diving catch by Mudassar Bukhari off Schiferli for 31. This left Shenwari and Shapoor Zadran with the nerve-wracking task of scoring the remaining ten runs, facing the aggressive bowling of a pumped-up Schiferli.By this stage, even defensive strokes were being cheered by the Afghanistan contingent from the sidelines. And with only six runs required, Zadran (1) failed to offer a shot as Schiferli wrapped him on his back pad to claim his fifth wicket, leaving the match on a knife-edge.But, in the next over, Shenwari threw his hands at a Bukhari delivery, the ball slashing over the slips for four as Afghanistan snatched an unlikely victory, their first in the Intercontinental Cup, and another significant achievement for a country so new to the international fold.

Habits of a lifetime are difficult to change for Andrew Strauss, who despite England’s strong Ashes position believes it’s too dangerous to glance ahead. In past years, series involving these teams hadn’t started before the predictions of convincing victories occurred, although those were usually made by players named Warne, McGrath or Waugh. Those Ashes heroes have left and England find themselves 1-0 ahead against Australia’s weakest team in more than 20 years.It is now the hosts with the momentum after their history-breaking win at Lord’s, but not the faith to say in public what they privately believe. Australia are vulnerable, particularly with their mis-firing bowling, and despite losing Kevin Pietersen, the hosts will be boosted by the sort of crowd support not received since 2005. These strong feelings and omens have not moved Strauss, who would not allow himself to show the self-belief of England’s former conquerors.”I’m never confident enough to predict anything,” he said. “It’s a dangerous route to go down.” When on top, some sides see further opportunities to gain an advantage, others see risk. Strauss’s main aim in the lead-up to Thursday’s third Test is to ward off complacency.He said the Lord’s Test was one of the best team performances he had been involved in with England. “You gain a huge amount of confidence winning an Ashes Test,” he said. “I’m looking forward to this week, there will be a nice feeling in the camp. We can’t let that feeling become a sense of complacency, it’s something we’ve got to be very guarded against. We have three Tests to go, if we play three good Tests we’ve got the potential to win an Ashes series.”It all sounded very pleasant, just what an Australian would expect at an English sponsorship announcement. For the next four years Brit Insurance will appear on the team’s shirts, but there is no assurance of further success. Not even from the captain.”We are expecting an Aussie backlash and we expect this Test to be harder than the other two we’ve played,” Strauss said. “We’re excited about that, and we’re excited to be ahead in an Ashes series, but we know that that can change quickly. If we’re not right on, then there can problems.”He did tell his men not to take the foot off the pedal at Edgbaston and believed they had strong form in that department. “In the past five or six months there have been some good performances and we’ve been quite clinical when we’ve got on top,” he said. “I was very confident we could get over the line [at Lord’s], the key now is to go right back to first principles and how we set up the game.”Problems exist in the absence of Kevin Pietersen with an Achilles injury and the limping caused by Andrew Flintoff’s right knee. Flintoff will bowl in the nets on Tuesday, when England will know whether his fitness will be an issue for the back-to-back Tests in Birmingham and Leeds. “At this stage we’re very confident,” Strauss said.Ian Bell will take Pietersen’s place at No. 4 to limit the disruptions to a team that will consider bringing in Steve Harmison on a pitch threatening to be underprepared. A report has suggested Harmison will join Flintoff in retirement at the end of the series, but he currently has not played a match and his best chance will occur if Flintoff is injured. Strauss had heard nothing about Harmison walking away and is not concerned about the pitch.He is more worried about Australia’s attack, which is wobbling more than a toddler. After years spent facing Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, England’s batsmen have their easiest task for two decades. “It’s dangerous to make those assumptions after two Tests,” Strauss said. “We’ve played on two very flat pitches and things this week might be completely different. Whenever you play an Australian side they are always strong. They may not have Warne or McGrath, but they look pretty good.” Danger lurks everywhere, apparently.

Match facts

Thursday, July 9, 2009
Start time 10.00am (14.00 GMT)

The Big Picture

Dale Richards will be the key if West Indies are to post competitive totals•The Nation

Tumultuous events have led to West Indies playing a second-string team but it gives Bangladesh a great opportunity to win an away series for the first time. Will they seize the moment? It won’t be easy – Bangladesh aren’t a great Test team and West Indies, however depleted they may be, are playing at home. It could, however, turn out to be an interesting – and closely fought – Test series.The visitors have a new captain in Mashrafe Mortaza and it would be interesting to see if his predecessor Mohammad Ashraful flourishes as a batsman without the responsibility of leading the side. Ashraful’s career has mirrored that of Bangladesh cricket: very talented but ultimately disappointing. They have had some splendid, though sporadic, results in ODIs but as Mortaza himself put it, “Our performance in Tests has been nothing to write home about.” This series against a depleted West Indies team offers a great chance to reorganise and start getting consistent.On the other hand, West Indies have nine uncapped players in the squad and a captain who last played for West Indies nearly ten years ago. Not many are going to criticise this team if it loses the series. In that sense, the pressure is off them and it’s an opportunity for the likes of Kraigg Braithwaite, a prolific 16-year old batsman, and the 32-year old opener Dale Richards to showcase their talent.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)
West Indies– LLDDDBangladesh – LLLLD

Watch out for …

Shakib Al Hasan is arguably the most valuable player in the Bangladesh team. A world-class allrounder, he will be the player West Indies will be most wary of. Shakib’s stellar performance in the Test series against South Africa drew praise from former Australian legspinner Kerry O’Keefe, who said he was the “world’s best finger spinner at the moment”.Dale Richards, the Barbados opening batsman, is the one of the most consistent openers in West Indies domestic cricket. He was slated to make his Test debut against England earlier this year but was sidelined by a foot injury.

Team news

Bangladesh have already announced their XI, with Test debuts to Mahmudullah and fast bowler Rubel Hossain. Both have played ODIs the the country and Rubel has established himself as among the quickest in the pace attack. Mahmudullah, who bowls offspin, can expect a fair bit of bowling and will partner Shakib Al Hasan.Bangladesh Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel HossainWest Indies (from) Omar Phillips, Dale Richards, Floyd Reifer (capt), Travis Dowlin, Chadwick Walton (wk), Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Ryan Austin, Tino Best, Kevin McClean, Nelon Pascal, Andre Creary, Nikita Miller, Kraigg Brathwaite, David Bernard.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh’s average runs-per-wicket of 29.41 in West Indies is theirbest while playing overseas. They drew a Test the lasttime they played a series in the Caribbean, their only such achievementoutside their country.
• West Indies have played six Test series since the start of 2008 and have only wonone, against England earlier this year, and lost three.
• The average age of the Bangladesh squad is 22.
• Shakib Al Hasan has taken more than a quarter – 27.8% – of the wicketsby Bangladesh in the Tests he’s played – 35 out of 126.
• Mohammad Ashraful averaged just 22.58 in his 13 Tests as captain – thelowest for a frontline batsman who has captained hisside in 10 or more Tests since 2005.

Quotes

“We would like to play against Chris Gayle, [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul and others. I know they are world-class players but still we want to play them because we can learn so many things when those guys are batting or bowling.”
“It’s going to be an exciting time. We’ll just have to do our best, won’t we? But this is the way it goes in professional sport these days. We’ve got a new group of players, there’s some exciting players amongst them and it’s going to be an interesting series. Bangladesh are not an easy cricket team. They have played some good cricket in the last 12 months, they are an improving team. So we’ll have our hands full to do well against them.”

Group A

A blistering century from captain Abdul Razzaq gave Lahore Lions their second win as they beat Quetta Bears by 74 runs at the Gaddafi Stadium. Razzaq, who came in at No.3, took a couple of overs to settle in and then opened up, smashing eight fours and as many sixes in his innings of 109. The blitz included 28 runs off an Irfan Ismail over that helped propel Lahore to 214 for 6. Razzaq received excellent support from Salman Butt (31), and Nasir Jamshed (58), with whom he added 162 for the third wicket, as Lahore batted Quetta out of the match.Quetta, in response, were never in a position to scale down such a massive target, struggling to 24 for 3 at one stage. Their captain Taimur Ali resisted with 42, and wicketkeeper Bismillah Khan chipped in with 26 to help them recover somewhat, but a good bowling display saw them finish on a disappointing 140 for 9. As a result, Quetta find themselves at the bottom of the Group A table with two successive defeats.Mohammad Hafeez was the star for Faisalabad Wolves yet again as they beat Rawalpindi Rams by 27 runs at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Hafeez boosted Faisalabad to a challenging score of 170, stroking an unbeaten 79 off 56 balls including 11 fours. Not that Rawalpindi were without a chance. They had restricted the opposition to 21 for 3, but Hafeez was supported ably by Khurram Shehzad, who made a 51-ball 65 to help his team recover. Sohail Tanvir was impressive, taking 3 for 24 but his efforts were in vain.In their reply, Rawalpindi faltered from the outset, losing wickets at frequent intervals. Opener Naved Malik threatened with a quickfire 50, smashing seven fours and two sixes, but was short of support from the other end. Hafeez did the damage once again, taking 3 for 14 to take his team to the top of the Group A table.

Group B

A 118-run opening stand between Babar Ali (58) and Sohaib Maqsood (59) laid the foundation for Multan Tigers‘ successful run-chase against Karachi Zebras at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground.Karachi had posted a competitive score of 158, thanks to half-centuries from Shahzaib Hasan and Fahad Iqbal. They were comfortably placed at 140 for 2, but lost their way a little, losing four wickets for 18 runs. Kashif Naved, the left-arm fast bowler, took 3 for 20, and played an important role in stemming the flow of runs.Babar and Maqsood led the reply with the latter being the more aggressive. Multan’s job was made easier by an 18-ball 30 from Rizwan Haider who struck two sixes and a four to complete the job, and hand Multan their first win. Karachi, on the other hand, have lost two in two.

Group C

Hyderabad Hawks opened their account in the RBS Twenty20 Cup at the Gaddafi Stadium with a comfortable eight-wicket win against Peshawar Panthers, who suffered their second consecutive defeat in as many days. Peshawar fell away after a good start, to post 148, and the target was easily overhauled thanks to Faisal Athar’s unbeaten 55 and Azeem Ghumman’s steady 40.Peshawar were in a good position to post a bigger score when they were at 86 for 1 in the 12th over. The top three, including captain Younis Khan, made starts but couldn’t push on. Hyderabad too got off to a good start, with their openers adding 61 in eight overs. Faisal, walking in at No.3, hit three sixes and six fours in his 37-ball knock. Rizwan Ahmed joined him in an unbeaten stand of 74 to help Hyderabad finish the formalities.

Group D

Half-centuries from captain Khalid Latif and Fawad Alam boosted Karachi Dolphins to a formidable score, one that they were able to defend comfortably against Abbottabad Rhinos – who lost their second consecutive game – at the Gaddafi Stadium. Karachi piled on 209 as Latif blasted a 50-ball 81, and added 106 with Fawad, who was equally ruthless, smashing 11 fours in his knock of 70.Abbottabad were dented early in their innings, Mohammad Sami striking twice in the third over to remove the openers, though captain Adnan Raees and Fawad Khan did stage a recovery with a 61-run stand. However, it proved inadequate as Fawad chipped in with two wickets to remove both of them, and produced a run-out to seal a convincing 52-run win.

That’s the way to dispatch a minnow side. It was sadly in keeping with Scotland’s desperate year that they should be the first team to depart the ICC World Twenty20, but if it is of any consolation to Gavin Hamilton and his men (and it won’t be), the fully focussed South Africans would have inflicted the same fate on both Netherlands, who stunned England on Friday, and Ireland, who have their own golden opportunity against Bangladesh tomorrow.South Africa are among the favourites for this tournament, and today they produced a myriad of reasons why. There was the calm but firm authority of their 87-run opening stand between Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis; the brutality of their lower-order power-hitting, with AB de Villiers hurtling along at more than two runs per ball, and then the pace and variety of a bowling attack, spearheaded by Dale Steyn, that looks as though it has a performer for all occasions.It was, as Smith confirmed after a 130-run victory which stands as the second-heaviest ever inflicted in Twenty20 internationals, a very satisfactory way to warm up for greater challenges. “Our first week of preparation went very well for us,” he said. “We achieved everything out of those early warm-up games that we wanted to, and today was about controlling our early-tournament nerves, setting a platform and playing to our intensity, and to our game. I’m very happy we did that today.”If South Africa had at any stage in the build-up to this match been tempted to let their guard drop, then the sight of the Dutch triumph at Lord’s on Friday, coupled with Scotland’s own spirited batting display in a seven-over slugfest on Saturday, meant they were fully clued up come the start of play.”I think we had a few more nerves after watching the first few days of the tournament, with a few unpredictable results, I guess,” said Smith. “We knew today was important to send a message and we did that.”No mini-period was more emphatic than the final five overs of South Africa’s innings, in which 83 runs were spanked by de Villiers and Albie Morkel, while the ferocity of their subsequent bowling performance meant Scotland lost their first four wickets in 15 deliveries.”The first six and last five overs are crucial scoring areas,” said Smith, “especially if you have AB at the crease and some good finishers to come in you’re always going to get a good total. I thought we set the game up well today, and AB and Albie down the bottom finished it beautifully.”I guess it’s about finding a balance between the touch players and the power players, but The Oval is a fast-scoring ground, so if you can get in here, you can take the game away because the outfield is so quick.”de Villiers, the Man of the Match, agreed with that assessment, having taken a relatively sedate six deliveries to score his first six runs. “I did take a few balls to get in, but the credit goes to the openers for giving us a foundation to go and express ourselves,” he said. “We had good fun out there today, the boundaries are short at one end of the ground, so we took advantage of that.”As Scotland exit the competition, South Africa have confirmed their place in the final eight, alongside New Zealand, whom they play at Lord’s on Tuesday. “We’ve played against New Zealand enough to know they are tough competitors, and on their day they can challenge and beat anybody,” said Smith. “We will respect them as we would any opponent.”Respect is the key in this format, in which any side is capable of mounting a challenge given half a chance. Today, however, Scotland weren’t offered even the slenderest foothold in the contest. “The big focus for us is playing to our intensity, and playing our game,” said Smith. “If we can do that, we can challenge any team in this tournament.”

Tim Nielsen, Australia’s coach, has expressed surprise at the omission of former England captain Michael Vaughan from the squad to play the first Test against West Indies from May 6.”I was a little surprised to see they didn’t pick either Vaughan or [Ian] Bell to give them a chance to stake their claim for the Ashes series,” Nielsen said. “When you play in the big series it is hard to go beyond the experienced and quality players that have had impact in the past.”Vaughan, Bell and fast bowler Steve Harmison were among the big names missing from the squad announced earlier in the week, the first to be named since Andy Flower was installed as England’s permanent head coach. Other surprise decisions were the inclusion of uncapped medium-pacers Graham Onions and Tim Bresnan.Vaughan has not been in the best of form since resigning from captaincy last summer, but Nielsen said he expected him back in the England side for the Ashes. “I’d be surprised if Vaughan was not facing us in the summer,” Nielsen said. “He’s shown in numerous Ashes series how good a player he can be. He’s got plenty of experience and he’s a world class player.”

Fans who have become accustomed to Twenty20 matches lasting just three hours are in for a surprise during the second season of the IPL – they will now last three-and-a-quarter hours. Part of the appeal of the shortest form of the game is the non-stop action but IPL games will now take longer and there will be no action at all during the added time.The IPL are planning to market the added time as an ‘innovation’ by calling it a tactical ‘time out’ but the fact that each innings will now come to a halt for seven-and-a-half minutes after exactly 10 overs makes it neither tactical nor, indeed, practical.”It is a move that is driven completely and totally by commercial objectives,” a senior production official told Cricinfo. “It is designed purely to make even more money by selling airtime. Nobody could argue that this adds any cricketing value to the tournament or that it can be in the viewers’ interest, either in the stadium or watching at home,” the official said.The seven-and-a-half minute break will see the stadium crowd entertained by a live band while television audiences will watch three, separate two-and-a-half minute segments, two of which will be sold commercially. The third will show the teams taking drinks and discussing ‘tactics’ to add some validity to the argument for the ‘time out.’While one section will be compulsory, mainstream advertising, the other will be set aside for ‘special projects’. Queen Rania of Jordan, well known for her agenda of social reform and progression, will lead the way with a series of short films aimed at African children expounding the importance of education.The IPL can justifiably claim that the project is well intentioned and for a good cause. And at approximately $1million per episode, it’s also very lucrative. There are 118 two-and-half minute slots for sale.Production teams have also been told that they need to fit 2000 seconds (around 33 minutes) of advertising into every match, a task described by a different member of the production team as “virtually impossible.””It means taking about 40 seconds of advertising between every over and close to a minute at the fall of every wicket. It’s OK in theory but it hardly ever works like that. If a team only loses two or three wickets, or the match finishes in 15 overs, we are in trouble,” the same production official said.In March, the IPL signed a fresh US $1.8 billion broadcast-rights deal for 10 years with Multi Screen Media (MSM), which operates under the Sony umbrella, and World Sports Group (WSG). The matches are being telecast by Supersport, the South African broadcaster which holds the tournament rights in that country.

The UAE squad have pulled out of their tour of Sri Lanka following this week’s attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.The side had been scheduled to meet several leading club sides as warm-up games ahead of next month’s ICC World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa.However, the squad contains several Pakistani nationals and there was concern they could face reprisals as a result of the incident in Lahore and the Emirates Cricket Board decided to cancel the trip which was due to start today.