George Dawkes, who was a stalwart of the Derbyshire side immediately after WW2, has died at the age of 86.A specialist wicketkeeper who grew in competence as a batsman, Dawkes made his first-class debut for Leicestershire in 1937 at the age of 17 and almost immediately established himself in a county side that was languishing at the foot of the Championship. He was an ever-present in 1938 and 1939 but his progress was then curtailed by the war.After being demobbed in 1947, Dawkes switched to Derbyshire and was a permanent member of the side until 1960. Although he never scored 1000 runs in a season, he regularly topped 700 and three times passed 900. His one first-class hundred came against Hampshire at Burton-on-Trent in 1954, when he came in at 72 for 6 and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 191 with John Kelly.He toured India with a Commonwealth XI in 1949-50 and twice represented the Players. In all, he made 1042 dismissals (894 catches and 148 stumpings) and scored 11,411 runs at 18.08.

Division One

Mark Ealham struck a typically bullish 92 for Nottinghamshire on the second day against Kent at Trent Bridge, as the home side were dismissed for 496. After losing David Hussey, who added just eight to his overnight 156, Ealham took command of proceedings, crunching eight fours and lofting two over the boundary. In reply, Ryan Sidebottom nipped out Rob Key, the Kent captain, and Martin van Jaarsveld as the visitors trail Nottinghamshire by 381 runs.Despite being bowled out 30 runs adrift of Warwickshire first innings, Durham’s bowlers hit back before the close reducing the visitors to 65 for 4 on the second day at Chester-le-Street. Durham’s day began poorly when Gary Scott fell for 34, but Dale Benkenstein (79) and Ben Harmison (65) – the younger brother of Steve – starred in a fifth wicket partnership worth 118. Durham’s tail soon folded, largely due to Paul Harris who ended with impressive figures of 6 for 94 as Warwickshire gained a slender first-innings lead. However, Mick Lewis grabbed three quick wickets to leave Warwickshire struggling albeit with a lead of 95.

Division Two

The gloomy skies and interruptions in play couldn’t stop HD Ackerman notching his second double-hundred of the season as Leicestershire took command of the second day at Leicester against Northamptonshire. Ackerman, who made a brilliant 309 earlier in the summer, was finally dismissed for 216 ending a superb 211-run partnership with Paul Nixon who remained unbeaten on risk-laden 144. When play was cut short for the day, Leicestershire finished on 525 for 8.A mere 29 overs were possible at a very wet and gloomy Taunton between Somerset and Gloucestershire, but it allowed enough time for Wes Durston to bring up his sixth Championship fifty of the season. Torrential rain forced the players back into the pavilion at 11.50, and they didn’t return until well into the afternoon. Somerset’s tail soon folded – they lost their last four wickets for 18 runs – before bad light forced the players off the field for the final time.

Canada’s selectors have named a 13-man squad for the trip to visit South Africa which gets underway next month. After a warm-up game, Canada play ODIs with The Netherlands and Bermuda, and then meet the Netherlands in a four-day Intercontinental Cup match starting on December 5.Eleven of the squad are from Ontario, including George Codrington, named captain. Quaiser Ali (Quebec) is vice-captain. A number of players were not available for various reasons, including the overseas-based John Davison, Geoff Barnett and Ian Billcliff. This will put extra pressure on the remaining batsmen. Codrington, Ali, Sandeep Jyoti, Ashih Bagai and Abdool Samad each made promising scores during some of this summer’s matches.The regular opening bowling duo of Umar Bhatti and Henry Osinde, rated the best bowlers among the Associate Members, are supported by veteran seamer Sanjay Thuraisingham. Codrington, Kevin Sandher and Sunil Dhaniram head the spin attack.Sandher, Dhaniram, Samad and Bagai are currently in South Africa attending the ICC High Performance Winter Training Camp.Canada squad Qaiser Ali, Ashish Bagai, Umar Bhatti, George Codrington, Desmond Chumney, Sunil Dhaniram, Sandeep Jyoti, Don Maxwell, Asif Mulla, Henry Osinde, Abdool Samad, Kevin Sandher, Sanjay Thuraissingham.

While England’s one-day cricketers were being tonked all around the subcontinent in the ICC Champions Trophy, one key member of the Ashes squad that departs for Australia tonight was enjoying a well-earned break from the grind. In three weeks’ time, Matthew Hoggard will be leading England’s attack in the first Test at Brisbane, but for the past month he has been quite content to enjoy his home comforts.Walks across the moors with his dogs, Billy and Molly, home-cooked breakfasts, and best-man duties at Chris Silverwood’s wedding have been some of the pleasures he has had to pass his time. “I’ve actually had quite a few weddings to go to over the past couple of weeks,” he told Cricinfo in the hours before his departure. “It’s that one time of the season when cricketers can get married, so they always seem to ram them in on top of each other.”It’s been an enviably chilled-out time, as his toiling team-mates will doubtless point out as they reconvene this evening. But come Sunday afternoon, when the squad touches down in Sydney, Hoggard knows that he’ll need to warm up quickly. “It’s going to be a massive challenge,” he admitted. “Going over to Australia to take on the best side in the world on their home soil, it’s one of the biggest challenges in any cricketer’s career.”It’s definitely the biggest thing for me,” he added. “The last series [in 2005] was the most exciting series that any of the players on either side had ever played in, and many people say it’s the greatest Test series ever played. It could be very hard to live up to the exciting finishes and the tension of those last five games, but I’m sure it’s going to be a close-run thing.”Test cricket is a test of skill, you’ve got to play well over five days to beat the opposition,” added Hoggard, reiterating his stated preference for the longer version of the game. “In one-day cricket you can have an off-day, the other side can have a good day and get a couple of freak dismissals, and you’ve got yourself an upset. In Test cricket you can pull yourself back into games, even if you can’t go on to win them. In one-day cricket there’s no way of holding on for the draw.”

There was a time, not so long ago, when Hoggard would have been classified as a typical toiling Yorkshire and England seamer; at home at Headingley but at sea when the conditions weren’t in his favour. But some of his greatest personal triumphs, from Christchurch to Nagpur via Johannesburg, have come in overseas Tests, using the same Kookaburra balls that will be used in the forthcoming series.”Everywhere in the world uses Kookaburra balls, every winter we’ve used a Kookaburra, and I’ve spent four seasons in South Africa using Kookaburras. I know what to do and know what to expect. At the end of the day, it’s just a red thing that you wang down the field and hope to land in the right areas.”For Hoggard, there will be mixed emotions as he arrives back in Australia. On the last tour in 2002-03, uncertain of his role in the side, he toiled on the true Australian wickets and failed to take a wicket in the series opener at Brisbane, where Matthew Hayden in particular took a liking to his offerings. “I find it hard to remember what happened last time,” he shrugged. “This time, I’ll be going over there a different bowler and hopefully with different expectations.”Those expectations are certainly different where Hayden is concerned. After his successes in 2002-03, Hayden was a walking wicket for the sharp end of the 2005 campaign, falling cheaply to Hoggard in three of the first four Tests, before grinding his way back to form with a gutsy 138 at The Oval. “He’s a quality batsman, and he’s phenomenal when he’s in form,” said Hoggard with relish. “It’ll be an interesting battle up-front and one I’m quite looking forward to.”Another battle that is eagerly awaited is that between Glenn McGrath and the England top-order. Last summer, Hoggard suggested that McGrath, at 35, was “over the hill” – a comment that came back to haunt him when McGrath sent five wickets scattering in the space of 28 balls at Lord’s. “He’s not a spring chicken, but he’s still a quality bowler,” Hoggard conceded this time around. “But whatever happens, Shane Warne is going have a big influence on the series. He took 40 wickets at 19 [last time], so he must be doing something right.”England’s last visit to Brisbane is remembered mainly for Nasser Hussain’s decision to bowl first on winning the toss, and Hoggard was adamant that the same mistake would not be made again. “I think the grass will have to be three foot high before Andrew [Flintoff] tosses up and wins the toss and elects to bowl,” he laughed. “A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, but I don’t think it matters who’s captain, when you have 15-16 people on tour all pushing for the same outcome.”I’ll be older and wiser, and you can’t replace experience,” he added. “But I think other teams that have gone over to Australia in the past have had had mental scars from being beaten before. They didn’t believe they could come over and win a Test match over there. We’ve got a relatively young squad, everyone has the knowledge that we can beat Australia, and we’ll be going out there to give them a run for their money.”

Shane Warne has hit back at Duncan Fletcher’s claims that the England batsmen played Warne very well in the first Test at the Gabba. Warne said Fletcher was desperately searching for positives to take into the second Test when he said his side was confident they had handled Warne effectively.”I would disagree with that because Kevin [Pietersen] was the only one to play me well – even though I could have had him out twice,” Warne wrote in the . “It’s a real compliment for me and shows just how worried they are about spin. There are no secrets about England – they are searching for positives. Duncan is trying to build up a few players who aren’t convinced and are really worried about me.”I thought I had the better of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood. I got Bell out as planned – I set him up for a slider exactly the same way as last year. I am all over Ian Bell and he still can’t pick my straight one. Collingwood is a fighter but he had some luck.”Warne believed nothing had changed in the England camp since before the series, despite talk about the improvement from several players. But he said Australia were still wary of Pietersen’s ability to quickly turn things in England’s favour.”Pietersen is a danger player if he gets on a roll,” Warne said. “He can smash the quicks like he did and play some outrageous shots off the spin like he did against me. But it doesn’t matter if Kevin slogs me out of the park for six sixes in an over – it’s about winning and nothing else. I don’t care if I get 0 for 80 and we win. Fletcher is missing the point there – it’s all about winning.”

Scorecard

Clinton Perren smashed 82 from 37 deliveries to set up a Queensland victory in the first Twenty20 match of the season. Despite the extraordinary bowling of Tasmania’s Michael Dighton, who claimed 6 for 25, the Bulls’ 202 was enough as a Nathan Rimmington hat-trick ended Tasmania’s hopes.Perren blasted seven sixes and six fours and together with Nathan Reardon, whose 54 came from 31 balls, did the damage before Dighton kept the Tigers in the game. Dighton, a batsman who has not taken a wicket in 49 first-class matches, kept the scoring down in the late overs after the front-line spinners Daniel Marsh and Xavier Doherty proved expensive.But the visitors could not match Queensland’s run-rate and were dismissed for 164 in the 19th over. Rimmington, who finished with 5 for 27, picked up four wickets in five balls to end the fight. George Bailey made 41 from 26 balls and Michael Di Venuto scored 36 from 19 but tight bowling from Rimmington and Ashley Noffke made the chase difficult.

ScorecardSadagoppan Ramesh, the former Indian opener, impressed with 127 as Kerala ended the day at 223 for 6 against Railways at Delhi. Ramesh did the bulk of the scoring and was well supported by Sreekumar Nair, the captain, who contributed 34. Jai Prakash Yadav was yet again the most impressive bowler for Railways, picking up three wickets in his 21 overs.
ScorecardGoa wilted under Sanjay Pandey’s medium pace as his six-wicket haul bundled them out for 223 at Indore. Goa looked set for a big score at 92 for 1, led by Sagun Kamat’s half century, before Pandey struck back with three wickets in quick succession. The middle order failed to consolidate as Pandey and Abbas Ali wrapped up the innings in 78 overs. In reply, Madhya Pradesh lost the early wicket of Muddassar Pasha.
ScorecardAssam crawled to 205 for 8 against Vidarbha at Nagpur, pegged back by the spinners. Alind Naidu and Samir Khare shared five wickets between them, also restricting the scoring, as Khare gave away just 16 runs in his 12 overs. J Arunkumar looked set to score a half century but his dismissal, with the score at 118, triggered a mini collapse. Anand Katti was unbeaten at stumps with 41.
ScorecardShiv Sunder Das, the former Indian opener, made a welcome return to form with an unbeaten century against Jammu and Kashmir at Cuttack. Das’s watchful 126 piloted the innings, as Orissa ended in a good position at 248 for 3. Orissa ensured that they had the partnerships going, as Das added 78 for the third wicket with Subit Biswal, and later an unbeaten 61 with captain Pravanjan Mullick till stumps.
ScorecardRuns were hard to come by for Tripura as they were restricted to 205 for 8 against Jharkhand at Agartala. After being put in to bat, Tripura lost early wickets to seamers Sumit Panda and Rajkumar Yadav, and were at one stage 55 for 4. Subal Chowdury who scored 52, and Timir Chanda added 48 for the fifth wicket. Chanda remained unbeaten with a dogged 60, adding 66 with Rajesh Banik. Shahbaz Nadeem was the most effective bowler with figures of 3 for 48.
ScorecardAn aggressive 67 by Ajay Mannu lifted Himachal Pradesh to 255 for 8 against Services at New Delhi. Seamer Manish Jha and left-arm spinner Arun Sharma made early inroads, reducing Himachal to 100 for 4 before Mannu and Maninder Bisla added 51. Mannu and Mukesh Sharma added 81 for the sixth wicket before seamer Pankaj Kumar struck with three quick wickets towards the close.

Scorecard

Barbados gained a first-innings lead of 27, with Ryan Austin, the offbreak bowler, taking 6 for 86 as Leeward Islands were bowled out for 236 on day two of their second-round Carib series match at Crab Hill in Barbados.Resuming at their overnight score of 250 for 9, Barbados tail-enders Tino Best and Corey Collymore added only 13 more before Best was dismissed by Adam Sanford for 22.Austin dismissed both Leewards openers for 41 but then Steve Liburd and Sylvester Joseph added 85 for the third wicket. Liburd was the top-scorer of the Leewards innings with 55 before he was trapped leg-before by Dwayne Smith who ended with figures of 3 for 32 from his 12 overs. No other Leewards batsman got to even 40.The Barbados openers played out an over for one run before stumps were drawn.
Scorecard
Windward Islands managed to reduce Jamaica’s lead to 93 – losing four wickets in the process – and got to 196 on day two of their second-round Carib series match at the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia.Once the Windward bowlers had dismissed the last four Jamaican batsmen for 58 their openers raced to 66 before Devon Smith was run out for 26. Heron Campbell, the other opener, made 48 before he got out lbw to Nikita Miller, Jamaica’s slow left-arm bowler. At stumps Darren Sammy was batting on 69 alongside Hyron Shallow on 27.
No play was possible on day two of the second-round Carib series match between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana after heavy showers overnight as well as in the morning left the outfield of Guaracara Park waterlogged. The umpires called off play at 1.15 pm. Day one of the match was abandoned for the same reason.

Don’t rush to judgment on this Marlon Samuels issue, even if it seems everyone else is. Within three hours of the information being released by Nagpur police on Wednesday afternoon, Indian television news channels were already speculating that the 26-year-old Jamaican’s taped telephone conversations with an alleged bookmaker would not only spell the end of his career, but also prove very damaging for the entire West Indies effort as hosts of the upcoming World Cup.A journalist colleague from that country advised that his information suggested that other West Indian players on that short tour and one or two Indians are also implicated in what he fears is developing into a deepening scandal that will be very, very bad for West Indies cricket. At the other end of the reactionary scale, Samuels’s mother was pleading his innocence, stating emphatically that her son would never be involved in such nefarious activities as passing on confidential team information on the eve of a match to someone with known links to the gambling underworld.So is he guilty or not guilty? Come on, come on, we need an answer now! We’re coming up to deadline and we have to beat the competition! Careful analysis and investigation? We don’t have time for that! What you feel this is – the Geriatric Network!?It’s something like the fog of war. Unless you wait a while for things to clear up, it’s quite likely that guns could be pointed in the wrong direction. And, in any case, these are not the life-or-death circumstances of a real conflict, although in the modern cut-throat media environment, the prospect of a juicy scandal on the eve of a major international sporting event is even more newsworthy than a few dozen worthless lives being lost in the latest bombing in Baghdad.No appeal to reason is going to stop the speculation. That’s just the way of the world. In an environment where everything is either black or white and grey areas are frowned upon, it is quite likely that the majority of West Indians will rally to the defence of their fellow countryman, while at the same time questioning the integrity and intent of the law enforcement personnel in Nagpur. Conspiracy theories have already taken root, and even in this dry season, will flourish in the coming days.Across the “Kala Pani” to India, it would be equally understandable if the prevailing mood there is one of praise for the Nagpur police, who have displayed efficiency and competence in their investigations, so confounding the popular misconception of the Indian constabulary as a motley assortment of bumbling fools, an image fuelled and spread internationally for decades through the medium of Indian movies.Both sides will draw on supporting evidence. No West Indian cricketer has yet been implicated in any match-fixing or bribery-related enquiry.Speculation and investigation, yes. But, so far, no player from these territories has had to endure the humiliation of a Hansie Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin or Salim Malik – all banned for life from the game for their roles in cricketing corruption.At the same time that the motives of the police are being questioned, it will be pointed out that even worse was said of investigators in Delhi when they first levelled match-fixing allegations at Cronje almost exactly seven years ago. In the white Afrikaaner heartland of Free State, the then South African captain’s home province, there were racist overtones to the disdainful dismissal of the accusations, only for the Indian police to be proven dead right.

So this is a time to tread carefully, even if everyone is scrambling to be the first to break the latest news. Going on reports that appeared in print yesterday, the officer spearheading the investigation in Nagpur stated that Indian cricket authorities had been notified, although BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said he was unaware of any such formal communication.Quite appropriately, officials in Jamaica and at the level of the West Indies Cricket Board are adopting a wait-and-see approach, advising that, to that time, they had not received any word from the BCCI or ICC, and therefore could not comment on media speculation.That speculation could be ridiculously inflammatory or inferred. The headline-grabbing soundbites from “experts” are obvious enough, but when an AFP report states that Samuels “gave away” 53 runs in his ten-over spell in Nagpur, even Inspector Jacques Clouseau can pick up the hint. That the Jamaican’s effort in an Indian innings of 338 was actually one of the more economical is a contextual fact that robs the inference of its punch, hence the reason for leaving it out.If Samuels is found guilty of knowingly passing on team information prior to a match to a bookie, then he is deserving of whatever punishment stipulated in the ICC Code of Conduct. If he was naive or foolish or not thinking about what he was doing (an apparently inherent occupational hazard with young people), he should still face some form of censure for such irresponsible behaviour.If, however, he is completely innocent, as claimed in the brief comments attributed to him, then he has nothing to worry about and the media can say what they want. He will be vindicated in the end.That end, however, may be some distance away, and it would be better for his sake if he and his minders (of which I’m sure there are many) just shut up, except when the official investigators come a-calling.

Day 4
ScorecardKarachi Urban became the new Quaid-e-Azam Trophy champions as they defeated Sialkot by eight wickets, on the fourth day at the Multan Cricket Stadium.After being asked to follow-on, with a deficit of 220, Sialkot averted an innings defeat as they scored 288 in their second innings. Karachi Urban polished off the required 69 with little fuss, losing just two wickets.Sialkot resumed their overnight 175 for 3, and Tariq Mahmood’s stubborn resistance – he scored 29 off 203 balls in over four hours – kept the opposition bowlers at bay. Shahid Yousuf made amends for his first-ball duck in the first innings with a worthy 70 the second time round. He faced 105 balls and hit nine fours and two sixes. The rest didn’t contribute much as four wickets fell for only 15 runs.Yousuf found an able ally in Kashif Raza (25) as the pair added 78 for the eighth-wicket. The last three wickets fell at the same score of 288. For Karachi, seamer Tanvir Ahmed and offspinner Tahir Khan picked up three wickets each.Karachi Urban then reached their victory target in just 12.3 overs. Hasan Raza, the Karachi Urban captain, was declared the Man of the Match after his unbeaten 161 in the first innings.Babar Naeem (Rawalpindi) was declared the best batsman of the tournament, Tahir Khan (Karachi Urban) was adjudged the best bowler and best fielder while Zulfiqar Jan (Peshawar) bagged the award for the best wicketkeeper.Sialkot won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the first time last season. No Karachi team had qualified for the tournament’s final in the last five years. This is the 18th title by a Karachi team, a record.