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Surrey have announced that fast bowler Alex Tudor has rejoined the club on a one-year deal.Tudor began his career at The Oval and was there between 1995 and 2004 before being released after several seasons where he was more often injured than available. He moved to Essex, initially on a pay-as-you-play basis, before establishing himself as a regular in the first team, although he did not regain the form which saw him win 10 Test caps as well as the 1999 Young Cricketer of the Year award.He returned to Surrey in August and made three Championship appearances, taking five wickets at 39.00.”I’m absolutely chuffed to be back at Surrey,” Tudor said. “I’ve spent nine years at the club in the past and it’s good to be back home and fighting fit again. Last season an opportunity to play some first team cricket came up at The Oval and I’m really pleased that my performances then have now earned me a new contract for 2009. I’m looking forward to trying to win a place in Surrey’s first XI and then push on and do as well as I possibly can for the team.”

The new chief of Pakistan cricket has voiced serious concerns about thepoor financial health the PCB has been left in by the previousadministration.Ijaz Butt was appointed chairman of the board two weeks ago and in hisfirst press conference made a number of remarkable revelations. Among themore serious and relevant to Pakistan cricket were the financial problems.”Since assuming charge, I have gone through the PCB’s budget but couldonly find that there is no income and only expenditures,” Butt said.”The PCB could receive only 5% of the revenues it had estimatedin the annual budget. However, it has spent out more than 90% ofthe estimated expenditures account,” Butt said.Butt avoided disclosing details of what reserves are left with the boardbut claimed that only a third of the amount claimed by the outgoingchief was in the bank.”Though it is a fact that due to security reasons, Australia’s tour andICC Champions Trophy could not be held and, under such circumstances, anorganisation is forced to review the estimated budget, but in PCB theprevious management did not follow the principle and continued to makehuge expenses,” he said.Butt went on to cast doubt over claims by his predecessor Nasim Ashrafthat he had insured the Australian tour of Pakistan scheduled earlier thisyear. At the time there was considerable ambiguity over whether the serieshad been insured.”Soon after taking charge, I read out the related documents of theinsurance but there is nothing concrete and it all looks like a fraud,”Butt said.The allegations didn’t stop there. The recent agreement signed between the PCB and Dubai Sports City also came in for questioning. “Imet the authorities in Dubai and they reminded me about the contractsigned by the previous management. But when I asked them to show me thewritten agreement they could not and it was, apparently, done verballywhich is no good,” Butt said.”The PCB and the BCCI have also agreed to ask the Sports City authoritiesin Dubai to double the amount if India and Pakistan feature in the contestin any of three years,” he said.

Somerset 160 for 3 (Suppiah 58*, Langer 55) v Yorkshire
ScorecardIt was a dull grey day in Scarborough; not a drop of proper rain fell during playing hours, but due to bad light only 44 overs were permitted by the umpires. There was much interesting cricket in this time, however, as Yorkshire bowled very well, only to be met with determined Somerset batting, with the balance of luck falling perhaps more on the side of the visitors.A damp outfield meant that the start of play was delayed by half an hour. This was umpire Barrie Leadbeater’s final match on home soil before his retirement, and a report stated that he was only 15 lbw victims short of the record for any umpire in top-class cricket. If this influenced Darren Gough’s decision to bowl first on winning the toss, it backfired, as Leadbeater was not very co-operative with his index finger on this occasion.Somerset seem to have acquired the habit of entertaining from the first ball of the match. Two matches ago, at Nottingham, Justin Langer was lbw to the first ball; last week at Taunton he survived a similar appeal by the narrowest of margins. This time, with Arul Suppiah in the side, he decided to go in at No. 3, but still had to face the second ball of the innings. Marcus Trescothick took strike, attempted a footwork-free swing at Matthew Hoggard’s first ball, well outside the off stump, and edged it to the keeper, a remarkable lapse from a batsman of his quality.The Yorkshire seamers did a fine job in fairly helpful conditions, but luck was on the side of the batsmen, although nobody could begrudge it to them as they fought their way through. Hoggard troubled Langer, who nevertheless struck him twice through the covers for four. His policy seemed to be to hammer the loose ball to the boundary and block the rest, as evidenced by the statistic that his fifty contained no fewer than 12 fours in 71 balls.Langer hit one crisp four after another and reached his landmark in the course of hammering Darren Gough for five boundaries in six balls. With 55 to his credit, though, he tried to slog Adil Rashid before having a look at him, and lobbed a catch into the covers.At the other end Suppiah hung on like a limpet, but was not as slow as he appeared, simply because he did not have much of the strike. He did a good holding job for his team, while Zander de Bruyn (0) fell lbw, sweeping, to Rashid as umpire Leadbeater finally answered one of numerous close appeals in the affirmative.The afternoon session was marred by bad light and poor Yorkshire fielding. Richard Pyrah, usually reserved for one-day cricket, missed Suppiah on 34 at third slip off Deon Kruis, and in the same over survived a much harder chance offered by James Hildreth, then on 13. Later on, with 26 to his account, Hildreth survived as Gerard Brophy fluffed a simple stumping, this time off Rashid. In the meantime the score progressed from 103 to 160 with three wickets down, despite two breaks for bad light. Suppiah was gradually opening up, playing some good shots through the covers, and reached his 50 off 112 balls.Tea was taken early after the second stoppage, and play never resumed afterwards. The natives grew restless, as is only to be expected in Yorkshire, and there were visions of such headlines as “Umpire lynched in final home match.” It did seem as if the umpires were unduly pernickity for at least part of the time when play was not taking place, and one would have thought that the players themselves, with their teams so desperate for points at this stage of the season, would have wanted to get on with the game.But such is the caution of professional cricket, and they tend to give the impression they would rather play with a football on the outfield (as Somerset did) than get on with the real game. With the match unseasonably late for Scarborough, they only had about half as many spectators as usual for this championship match, although still well over a thousand. Most of them as they trailed home today would probably have described themselves as dissatisfied customers.

Saleem Malik’s appeal against a life ban for match-fixing was adjourned after the civil court judge hearing the case in Lahore did not turn up. Malik, the former Pakistan captain, was banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board in 2001 on the recommendation of an inquiry commission led by Justice Quyyum.”The judge was busy elsewhere and the hearing could not be held. But we have prepared a strong case against the life ban,” Shahid Karim, Malik’s lawyer, told PTI.After his initial appeal to the Lahore High Court was rejected in 2001, Malik approached the Supreme Court, a process which took seven years. The apex court agreed to hear the appeal recently and, on May 22, decided it should be heard before a lower court.

Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, could be one of the contenders to replace John Bracewell, whose term as New Zealand coach ends in April 2009. Shipperd apparently has the backing of the New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who was impressed by the Australian during their stint with the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.”I’ll certainly think about it, yes,” Shipperd told the Wellington-based . “Any national coaching job is very prestigious and a great challenge and you’ve got a terrific emerging team I think, so from a coaching point of view it would be a great challenge and another level above where I currently coach.”Shipperd coached Tasmania for 11 seasons after quitting first-class cricket in 1990-91, guiding the state to its first Sheffield Shield final in 1993-94, then again in 1997-98 and 2001-02. He took charge of Victoria after David Hookes’ death in January 2004 and in the same season, the team celebrated its first Pura Cup title since 1990-91. In the IPL, Delhi made good progress at the start of the tournament, but narrowly made it to the semi-finals, where they lost to champions Rajasthan Royals.Shipperd has until August 4 to make a formal application. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) haven’t disclosed the names of any applicants yet. However, Justin Vaughan, NZC’s chief executive, had stated John Wright, the former New Zealand captain and India coach, is one of the favourites for the job.Of the state associations in the country, the paper reported that Andy Moles (Northern Districts) and Anthony Stuart (Wellington) have attracted a lot of positive feedback. Tom Moody, the former Australian allrounder and coach of Sri Lanka, has indicated his preference to stay on Perth with Western Australia, and hence will not apply.

The speculation about Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s availability for the Test series in Sri Lanka has been laid to rest with the BCCI making it official that he has requested for a break. Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI’s chief administrative officer, said Dhoni, India’s limited-overs’ captain, had personally conveyed the message. “Yes, he (Dhoni) has told the board that he would like to rest for the Test series against Sri Lanka”, Shetty said.Till late on Monday night there was a question mark over Dhoni’s participation in the tour after his own public statements did not clear the air. Mid-way through the recent Asia Cup in Pakistan recently, Dhoni spoke about fatigue as a result of back-to-back-matches. On Monday, he welcomed the BCCI’s policy for allowing players the choice to sit out if they wanted some rest. “The board has done a good thing by saying that if someone needs rest, he can opt out”, Dhoni said.Gary Kirsten, India’s coach, had also expressed concern about packed schedules and how important it was for key players like Dhoni to take a break. Since 2007, Dhoni has played 14 Tests, 56 ODIs and eight Twenty20 internationals – 134 days of international cricket in a span of less than 20 months. He also captained Chennai Super Kings to the final of the Indian Premier League, and featured in all their 16 matches.In Dhoni’s absence, Dinesh Karthik is likely to take over wicketkeeping duties ahead of Parthiv Patel. Karthik last played in the Bangalore Test against Pakistan last December, which Dhoni had to skip due to an ankle injury. Karthik had played as a specialist opener in Test series in Bangladesh and England last year, and in the home Tests against Pakistan. He was picked in the squad for the Australia tour, but didn’t play any of the Tests.

Scorecard

An irritating malaise that threatened to do Middlesex in cheaply was stemmed by two contrasting innings on day two against the South Africans at Uxbridge. Dawid Malan overcame a bout of nerves to score a polished 154-ball 67, but it was Eoin Morgan’s bustling unbeaten 108 from 118 balls deliveries that really sparked life into what had been an innings of fits and starts. Middlesex’s predominantly left-handed batting line-up had all got decently settled but three of them failed to carry on before Morgan and Malan helped them to 311 at stumps, 48 runs behind the visitors.Ed Joyce’s dismissal for 20 to make it 126 for 3, bowled through the gate trying to drive Paul Harris through the covers, brought Morgan together with Malan. Malan had poked and prodded his way into the 30s till now, like his top-order team-mates. He was well held at second slip off a Morne Morkel no-ball when on 39, early into the pacer’s second spell, and took the chance to actually press on.Morgan’s presence at the other end seemingly enthused some confidence and Malan took three fours off Jacques Kallis’ last over before tea, driving two full deliveries and flashing one over the slips, and raised his fifty from 113 balls. He threatened to up the ante with further aggressive shots, but fell to Ashwell Prince’s part-time slow stuff for a well-made 67. The Morgan-Malan stand was worth 94, but much more in terms of boosting Middlesex’s spirits.His dismissal brought the first right-hand batsman, Nick Compton, to the crease. Compton was a patient onlooker as the left-handed Morgan, turned the complexion of the innings with a bright innings. Adept against pace and confident against spin, he flashed his way past fifty without playing a false shot. Suddenly the run rate was healthy and Middlesex were in control. Morgan’s footwork was assured and he threw his bat at anything off-line. South African shoulders were soon drooping.Three clean sixes were the highlight of his counter-attack, and his hundred was raised off 103 balls with a spanking cut off Hashim Amla’s harmless part-time spin.Compton pulled a stunning six off Makhaya Ntini shortly before the close, only to fall to Prince for 27. But the note Middlesex ended on was in stark contrast to how they had started.The South Africans added 20 runs to their overnight 339 and declared after overnight centurion Prince was snapped up at gully, cutting the width from Danny Evans three balls into the 99th over.It wasn’t as warm as the first day and there was a steady breeze blowing across the ground when the South Africans took the field: conditions were ideal for batting. The South African pace quartet wasn’t entirely menacing on a flat track, but Morkel did produce enough lift to give Andrew Strauss another disappointing innings going into the Tests. Dale Steyn’s first over went for 15, Strauss crashing a square-cut and clipping off his pads, in between four leg-byes booming past Mark Boucher. Strauss was looking to be aggressive – one cracking pull off Ntini struck the square-leg umpire before he had time to duck – but he fell after getting a start.With Steyn trying too much too soon and Ntini not having any effect, it took the first change to produce a wicket. Strauss was forced to play at one from Morne Morkel, after being peppered, and got a faint tickle down the leg side to Boucher for 29. Morkel’s second match after an injury curtailed his stint with Yorkshire was restrained, but he hit the right areas and used his height to trouble the batsmen.Unlike his senior partner, 19-year-old Billy Godleman found Steyn a little on the sharp side. Steyn had him hopping, swaying and ducking and he was stuck on 1 for an eternity, only getting down the other end with a fortuitous inside-edge to fine leg. Three fours in Ntini’s first over after lunch hinted at more, but Godleman edged Kallis to second slip for 29.Graeme Smith turned to Harris’ left-arm spin for the 26th over and it wasn’t long before Joyce skipped down and flicked him over mid-on for six and then four. Joyce’s on-drives off Harris remained crisp, and allowed him to keep adding singles to Middlesex’s score, until he was defeated in flight.From there on Morgan and Malan batted sensibly and gave the South Africans some discomfort in the field. It was a heartening display for a side missing some key players.

Adam Gilchrist has predicted Twenty20 will become cricket’s “staple diet” in the next ten years and a window may have to be carved into the programme to fit in the traditional contests. Gilchrist has returned to Australia impressed with the Indian Premier League, which he compared with the excitement of the Olympics, and said the concept would be “a landmark in the history of cricket”.”The great discussion at the moment is whether we carve out a window for the IPL,” Gilchrist said in the Australian. “I envisage that, potentially, within ten years it could be more a case of trying to carve out a window for international cricket as this format becomes more of a staple diet.”Twenty20 is being flooded with cash – Allen Stanford launched a US$20m series at Lord’s on Thursday – and Ricky Ponting, who appeared in the first two weeks of the IPL, is concerned by the huge financial rewards. “I’ve always been a little bit worried that if money keeps growing and growing and growing in that version of the game then all of a sudden young kids who are 14, 15, 16 now and want to make cricket their career may not even consider playing for their countries,” Ponting told the paper.”They might be trying to get a crack at the IPL or a competition somewhere like that and hopefully make a name for themselves and totally turn their back on the international game. That’s what I’m worried about.”David Hussey, the Victoria, Kolkata and Nottinghamshire batsman, told the Age he was “seriously worried” about domestic players chasing the money instead of focusing on first-class contests. “I’m just imploring that the ICC and the IPL all get together and keep a keen interest in Test cricket because that is what this game’s all about,” he said.Hussey, who will join the Australian one-day team in the Caribbean over the next couple of days, was signed by Kolkata for US$625,000, but said he remained a traditionalist. “My priority is still the same,” he said. “I’m a traditionalist and I always had the goal growing up that I wanted to play cricket for Australia. I’ve got a little window of opportunity in the West Indies. Hopefully, I get a chance and if I do I will take it with both hands. I desperately want to play.”Gilchrist has suggested caution on making decisions about the IPL’s future, but he was amazed by the success of the tournament. “It was quite overwhelming to see an event capture the attention and mindset and imagination of a country,” he said. “The only thing I can think of that was comparable was maybe the Olympics when they were in Sydney. But the Olympics was about two weeks, this was 45 days every night.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board does not regret allowing Mohammad Asif to play for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL), despite the latest injury the increasingly fragile pacer sustained in his right hand, which is likely to keep him out of the rest of the tournament. It is also possible that the injury keeps Asif from playing a full part for Pakistan in the tri-series tournament in Bangladesh from June 8.Asif split the webbing on his right hand in a game against the Deccan Chargers and has had stitches put in since. Virender Sehwag, his Delhi captain, said after yesterday’s game, that Asif split the webbing while fielding. “He’s getting fit. He has four stitches on his hand,” Sehwag said. “The doctors told us it would be a week before we could open them. Let’s wait and see.”The latest development is a further setback to Asif who has seen much of the sheen of a prodigious start in cricket taken away by a long-standing elbow injury. He has missed much of the last year, only returning to action against Bangladesh in the recent ODI series, having had surgery on his right elbow in Australia at the beginning of the year. Still, bowling with a protective brace on his right arm, there were concerns that he had returned too quickly, in an effort to be able to participate in the IPL in which he is the second-most expensive – and thus highly-paid – Pakistan player.If the new injury does prevent him from playing for Pakistan in the tri-series, the PCB is likely to bear the brunt of criticism for allowing him to play in India, though an official insisted there was nothing wrong with Asif going to India and that the injury could’ve happened “anytime, anywhere.””We have been in touch with the doctors in India,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told Cricinfo. “He has split the webbing but the stitches are in and will stay there for a week.”Naghmi insisted, however, that the board was fortunate that Asif’s elbow problem hadn’t been aggravated. “We’re lucky in that perspective that the more chronic problem – the elbow injury – hasn’t worsened. His elbow is fine.”He was fit when he went and we thought that the lighter workload of four overs per game would actually be good for him in terms of his comeback. This is just an accidental injury that could’ve happened anywhere, anytime.”The PCB’s approach to allowing their players to participate in the IPL appears to be in contrast to their approach towards county cricket. After a calamitous run of injuries to their fast bowlers last year, the PCB formulated a policy whereby they reserve the right to prevent a contracted player from playing for counties in England. Fast bowlers such as Asif and Umar Gul have not been allowed to take part in county cricket in order to protect them from potential injuries from a greater workload.No such problem exists with the IPL, however, says Naghmi. “The county workload, where you bowl 20 overs a day at times, and the IPL workload, where you bowl just four, is very different. There is not much chance of the workload being high in the IPL, so we don’t see a problem with that. Obviously if a player was injured or there is a real fear of injury, we wouldn’t allow a player to play in the IPL, but we don’t see a problem otherwise.”

Rajasthan made a confident start to their reply after dismissing Railways for 384 on the second day of their elite group encounter at Jaipur. The hosts were 92-0 with openers Anshu Jain and Vineet Saxena, unbeaten on 38 and 46 respectively.Earlier, overnight not out batsmen Yere Goud (49) and Jacob Martin (27) fell early as the defending Ranji Champions only succeeded in adding 102 runs before being dismissed in their first essay. For Rajasthan, left-arm quick Pudiyangum Krishnakumar and left-arm spinner Mohammad Aslam, who claimed three wickets each, were the most successful bowlers.At Wankhede Stadium,Mumbai, a century from opener Wasim Jaffer (106) and a 69 from all-rounder Ajit Agarkar helped hosts Mumbai gain a 179-run first innings lead. The contributions of the duo ensured that the hosts made 302 all out in reply to Delhi’s modest first innings total of 123. By stumps on the second day, Delhi had managed to reduce the deficit to 127 runs; openers Akash Chopra (33*) and Gautam Gambhir (17*) guiding their team to 52-0 in the second essay.A 118-run seventh wicket partnership between Nayan Mongia (70) and Irfan Pathan (54), meanwhile, helped Baroda reach 381 all out in their first innings against Tamil Nadu at Chennai. Valmik Buch, who made 30, was the other batsman who made a useful contribution for the visitors. When Tamil Nadu replied, Sadagoppan Ramesh (45) and Shridharan Sriram (66*) forged a 97-run second wicket partnership to guide the hosts to 112-2 at stumps.At the famed Eden Gardens ground, hosts Bengal were in deep strife replying to Himachal Pradesh’s first innings total of 290. The Tamil Nadu-born of-spinner Aashish Kapoor, who claimed four wickets for twelve runs, was the man responsible for initiating a collapse that reduced the hosts to 128-7 in their first essay. This after Devang Gandhi (63) and skipper Rohan Gavaskar (39) had put on 79 runs for the third wicket. But once Gandhi fell, wickets began to fall in a hurry. Left-arm quick Ashok Thakur, making his fourth appearance in first-class match provided able support to Kapoor snaring three wickets.In another elite group match played at Secunderabad, Andhra skipper MSK Prasad kept his team in the hunt for the first innings lead against Hyderabad. Prasad made a stroke-filled 91 not out while Y Venugopal Rao and Amit Pathak, weighed in with 59 and 51 respectively, as their team reached 274-5 in reply to Hyderabad’s 353.The Punjab-Orissa elite group match at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, for its part, was poised interestingly at the end of the second day’s play. After the hosts ended their first innings on 301, Punjab made 141-4. Orissa’s Sanjay Raul, who made 72, and Punja opener Ravneet Ricky, who made 51, were thestand-out batsmen of the day.Karnataka on course for an outright win against BiharAll-rounder B Akhil made 68 and claimed four second innings wickets as Karnataka piled on the pressure on Bihar at Ranchi. In the morning, Akhil’s stroke-filled fifty along with an overnight not out batsman Thilak Naidu’s 86 secured the visitors a handy 188-run lead. Faced with the task of avoiding an innings defeat, Bihar were soon in trouble. But captain Rajiv Kumar (31*) and Manish Kumar (13*) ensured that hosts lived to fight another day.At Indore, Abhijit Kale followed in his skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s footsteps, completing a patient hundred to guide Maharashtra to 334 in their first innings against Madhya Pradesh. Leg-spinner Narender Hirwani, who claimed four wickets, was the most successful bowler for the hosts.When Madhya Pradesh replied, it was the turn of their captain Amay Khurasiya to lead the way with an unbeaten 91. Khurasiya’s swashbuckling 112-ball knock, studded with 15 boundaries, ensured that his team were 141-2 at stumps, despite both the openers falling for low scores.Haryana, for their part, were in sight of an outright win in their low-scoring plate group match against Jammu and Kashmir. At the Molana Azad Stadium, Jammu, the visitors were 52-3 in their second essay, chasing 82 to win. Earlier, Haryana, who began the second day on 102-5, reached 168 all out – a lead of 47 runs – thanks in main to a 51 from overnight not out batsman Shafiq Khan. Spinners Jagtar Singh and Ashwani Gupta claimed four and three wickets respectively for the hosts.When Jammu and Kashmir, batted for a second time, middle-order batsman Kanvaljit Singh made 51 to guide his team to 128 all out on a difficult pitch, securing them an overall lead of 81 in the process. With medium-pacer Vijay Sharma claiming three wickets to reduce Haryana to 32-3 in the fourth innings, the hosts suddenly began to nourish hopes of a surprise win. But Haryana skipper Ajay Ratra walked in that stage and made an unbeaten 35-ball 21 to ensure that his team needed just 30 runs with seven second innings wickets remaining to complete their second win in second matches.