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Glenn McGrath believes India’s upcoming tour of Australia will be a major test for Sreesanth, who he says needs to start backing up his aggression with more consistent bowling. Sreesanth took nine wickets from four ODI outings in this month’s home series but he was expensive and his efforts were overshadowed by his frequent clashes with members of the Australia team.”I’ve had a chat to him a few times and it doesn’t seem to be in his character,” McGrath told the . “He’s trying to be aggressive and it’s a little bit unusual. You want your fast bowler to be aggressive.”Giving blokes send-offs or sledging when you talk back I don’t agree with but that’s up to the officials to sort out. At the end of the day you’ve got to be able to back it up. You can talk the talk but if you can’t go out there and perform then you’re not going to be around for very long.”Sreesanth was rested for three of the recent ODIs but he will be a key factor in India’s Test and one-day tour of Australia starting in December. Stuart MacGill said Sreesanth and his team-mates would find it difficult to maintain their fiery approach in Australia.”It’s always easier when you’ve got a lot of support at home to ride your emotions,” MacGill said in the . “They only need to look around and know they’ve got a billion countrymen supporting them. I think you’ll find it doesn’t work for them if they’re pretending.”Ricky Ponting said a seven-match ODI series was a completely different scenario to four Tests and the tri-series, which would test India’s resolve. “They made it pretty clear right at the start of the series they were going to fight fire with fire,” Ponting said on returning home from the trip.”We know that’s generally not the way they play their cricket. We’ve got a lot of cricket against them in the next few months, so it will be interesting to see just how long that aggressive-natured cricket does last from them.”

Yorkshire 144 and 44 for 1 trail Lancashire 517 (Law 206, Horton 149) by 329 runs
Scorecard

This was a day of records at Headingley, none of them favourable to Yorkshire. The most notable were the highest partnership for Lancashire in first-class matches against Yorkshire, and the highest individual innings for Lancashire in Roses matches.Perhaps in the end Yorkshire did rather well to dismiss Lancashire for 517, after they were 383 for two at one stage. The batsmen chiefly responsible for Lancashire’s position of virtually overwhelming strength were the two Australian-born players, opener Paul Horton (149) and the former international Stuart Law (206). Their contributions enabled Lancashire to pass 500 and finish the day 329 runs ahead, with one already Yorkshire wicket down.Horton and Law began the day in possession of the crease, and stayed in control until well into the afternoon session. They used the well-tried method of laying a firm foundation before attempting to build. Horton, 82 not out overnight, took 48 minutes to reach his second first-class century, and was stuck on 99 for quite a while, but he refused to be flustered and finally turned a ball from Jason Gillespie towards long leg to reach three figures; it took him 186 balls.Horton continued to play the anchor role while Law now began to play his strokes. He reached his century off 139 balls shortly after lunch, and altogether scored 125 runs during the afternoon session as he thrashed an innocuous attack. He overtook Horton in the 140s, and their partnership was worth 258 runs, beating the previous Lancashire best against Yorkshire for the seventh wicket of 247 by Graham Lloyd and Ian Austin in 1997.The stand was finally broken when Younis Khan took a fine diving catch at slip off Tim Bresnan to remove Horton for 149, his highest first-class score. Andrew Flintoff played an innings of mixed quality, 24 off 37 balls, while Law reached 201 at tea. He had now beaten Reggie Spooner’s best of 200 not out for Lancashire against Yorkshire. He failed, however, to reach Maurice Leyland’s record of 211 for this fixture, being run out for 206 in a mix-up with his partner.Lancashire’s tail had little to offer, and the last eight wickets went down for 134 runs. The top Yorkshire bowler was Adil Rashid, with three expensive wickets. Yorkshire lost the wicket of Craig White before the close and face a major task even to avoid a three-day innings defeat.

Scoreboard
Sri Lanka A held the advantage going into the final day of the second four-day match against Bangladesh A at the Colombo Cricket Club. Chasing a target of 341, Bangladesh A finished on 16 for no loss at stumps, 325 runs away from victory.Bangladesh A resumed on the third day on 201 for 7, trailing by 194 runs. Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, ran through the tail to restrict Bangladesh A to 239 and give Sri Lanka A by 156 runs. Herath finished with impressive figures of 5 for 45 in 25.2 overs.Sri Lanka A sought to build on their lead and their openers, Kanchana Gunawardene and Mahela Udawatte, gave them a solid start by adding 86 for the first wicket. Udawatte added 43 and Gunawardene 51 before Mosharraf Hossain dismissed both of them in quick succession. Hossain checked Sri Lanka A’s momentum by taking wickets at regular intervals. None of their middle-order batsmen, with the exception of Jehan Mubarak who was unbeaten on 51, got going and Sri Lanka A declared on 184 for 6. Hossain ended with 5 for 69 in 27 overs.Chasing 341 is a daunting task but Bangladesh A managed to reach stumps on 16 for no loss and gave themselves a strong chance of drawing the game.

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club are ready to proceed with an £8.2million redevelopment project at Trent Bridge this autumn, thanks to funding from East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and three local authorities: Rushcliffe Borough Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council.The scheme will involve the creation of a new stand on the Bridgford Road side of the ground, which will replace West Wing and Parr Stand and increase the ground capacity to more than 17,000. The county also plans to install permanent floodlights and create a new office and administration block, which will be the base for match officials and will incorporate a replay screen and electronic scoreboard.Derek Brewer, Nottinghamshire’s chief executive, said, “As a sporting venue of world renown, it [Trent Bridge] is hugely important to the local economy and our partners recognise the need to help us do all we can to retain Test-match status in the face of stiff competition from other parts of the country.”With the funding package in place and planning permission confirmed, we are delighted that we are now able to go ahead as planned, starting on August 28,” Brewer added. It is planned that the redevelopment will be completed in time for next year’s Trent Bridge Test against New Zealand.Jeff Moore, the chief executive of emda – who are investing £2.5million in the project, said, ” It is estimated that every time a Test Match is played at the ground an additional £1million is generated for the Nottingham economy. Our investment will ensure that Trent Bridge remains in a position to compete for high profile tournaments, and help maintain the East Midlands as a region with a strong sporting heritage.”The support from the three councils amounts to £3.7million, split equally. It is provided in the form of a loan at a discounted rate of interest in recognition of community benefits from the club. Leaders of Nottingham City Council, Coun Jon Collins, Nottinghamshire County Council, Coun David Kirkham and Rushcliffe Borough Council, Coun Neil Clarke said: “We are all delighted to be able to support the ambitions of the cricket club.”They said the redevelopment would keep Nottingham and Nottinghamshire on the world map and help the club to expand its community and youth development work across the region.

Brian Lara once again cited Greg Chappell’s comments – that West Indies’poor run of form had made it difficult for them to win close games – as the spur for athrilling three-wicket triumph at the Motera Stadium. The victory not onlytook West Indies into the semi-finals as they seek to defend the trophythey won two years ago in England, but it also ensured that eitherAustralia or India, two of the pre-tournament favourites, will be missingfrom the climactic week of action.Addressing the media after his batsmen had chased down 223 with two ballsremaining, Lara said: “Going back to that statement that Greg [Chappell]made in Jamaica, the guys are really determined each time they get out onto the field against India. We’ve done that in the Caribbean, and inMalaysia we had a win and a loss. Here again, most importantly, playingIndia at home, the guys knew the enormous task it was.”Yes, we were winning against them, but in foreign conditions to them.Playing here in Ahmedabad, they definitely had the advantage, with thecrowd and knowing the pitch. We wanted to win, and we planned to win, andthe guys executed well.”Despite a worrying wobble at the end, Lara was more than satisfied withthe manner in which the top order went about the task, propelled byanother blistering cameo from Chris Gayle. “I thought it was very wellcalculated by all the batsmen,” he said. “Partnerships were veryimportant, and it was a lot of mature batting from the likes of ChrisGayle and right through. Dwayne Bravo, batting for the first time at No. 3,had a 50-run partnership with Chanderpaul, the man of the match, whoguided it.”Sarwan seems to be gaining more and more with experience, showing theclass and determination that he has. It was a good victory, but notcomprehensive. It came down to the last. Someone was saying: ‘West Indieswill always give you excitement’. We gave you this match and we gave you ado-or-die in Mohali on Sunday (laughs).”Though he didn’t focus too much on individuals, Lara was delighted withthe form shown by Runako Morton, who followed up a superb 90 againstAustralia with a vital 45 in this game. “We’ve been working on getting himto play a lot of shots and manoeuvring the ball around the field,” hesaid. “He knew he had to work on it, and was willing to do it. What weknow about Morton is that he doesn’t give up his wicket very cheaply, andhe’s someone that done very well in Test matches in recent times. Now’s headapting to the one-day game, and he’s definitely someone we like havingaround. The last two games, he’s shown that he wants to be in the team.Consistency is now what’s expected.”

In the space of little over a week, West Indies have prevailed over bothAustralia and India, and Lara, who played his part in the first triumphwith a dazzling 71, refused to rate one above the other. “We spoke aboutthese two games, playing against the No. 1 team in the world and playingagainst the hosts, and I don’t think any one gave us more satisfaction,”he said. “If we get past the first round in the World Cup, Australia andIndia are two teams we’re going to meet in the second round. Getting thatadvantage, playing away from home and beating them, is good. But we’ve gotto move on. This is just the build-up to it [the World Cup], and I’m veryhappy with the way we’re approaching it.”The upswing in West Indies’ one-day fortunes has coincided with Lara’sthird stint at the helm, and he attributed recent impressive victories tomore thorough preparation off the field. “I think regrouping and findingout exactly where we’ve been going wrong,” he said, when asked if he couldpinpoint a factor or two for the reversal of fortune. “It’s never been asituation where we’re short in confidence, or on talent. It’s aboutgetting it together, and doing a lot of background work. The guys talk alot of cricket off the field, that’s where you learn the game. It’s verygood to see the younger players make a contribution and that’s where we’rewinning the game – off the field.”There was some sympathy for an Indian line-up that will face intensecriticism if they exit their own party on Sunday. “The conditions arepretty difficult, the pitches are not batting paradises,” he said. “Indiaalso have a lot of their experienced batsmen up in the top five. So if youkeep them tight, contain and take wickets, it’s a little vulnerable in themiddle. But the likes of [Suresh] Raina and [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni haveless than 100 one-day matches. They’re going to learn the game as they goon, and you expect India in their conditions to excel. In a tournamentlike the World Cup in the Caribbean, where the pitches are similar toIndian ones, I think India are going to be a force to be reckoned with.”His own participation in the game was in doubt till the very last, butLara suggested that pulling out had never really been an option, givenwhat was at stake. “I wasn’t a hundred percent, but I thought we’d leaveit as late as possible,” he said. “This morning, I did some work with thephysiotherapist and felt a lot better. I thought it was a very importantgame for us. We didn’t want to come back on Saturday and have to winagainst England.”The fact that he made only five didn’t bother him, with Marlon Samuels’slash to third man ensuring that there would be no fatal twist in thetale. “It was a short ball, but I didn’t pick up the slower ball,” he saidwhen asked of his dismissal. “I had to try to change the shot midway. Itwas unfortunate to drag it back onto the stumps. But we knew exactly whatwe had to do. We kept wickets in hand, and won at the end of the day.”And after an outing where nearly everyone impressed, it’s going to be abrave man who ridicules their chances of going all the way again.

Faisalabad were left with only 76 runs to win the opening match of the 2005-06 Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship, when they bowled out Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for 283 in their second innings at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.After having dismissed PIA for a pathetic 69 runs on the opening day, Faisalabad had gone on to make 277 in their reply, which gave them a first innings advantage of 208 runs. Although PIA did considerably better in the second innings, with two full days to go, their effort has not been enough.The depleted PIA team once again faltered against the relentless medium-fast attack of Samiullah Niazi and Asad Ali. Samiullah captured 4 for 74, taking his match haul to 8 for 105. Asad Ali’s 3 for 71 gave him an analysis of 7 for 90.Following his first innings duck, Agha Sabir made a worthy 44 off 93 balls for PIA with eight fours. Captain Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan discard, hit 10 boundaries in his 55 off 90 balls. Veteran Mahmood Hamid (47), young allrounder Jannisar Khan (44 not out) following his bowling figures of 5 for 63, and offspinner Tahir Khan (34) contributed substantially but PIA, batting one man short due to an injury to Aizaz Cheema, were all out before the day’s close.The season’s Patron’s Trophy champions National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ran up an impressive total of 357 for 6 on the opening day of their match against national champions Sialkot at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Captain Naumanullah scored his eighth first-class hundred, as he compiled the day’s top score of 142. He stayed at the crease for five hours 24 minutes, facing 213 deliveries and hit 25 fours.With Hyderabad’s Faisal Athar, his second-wicket partnership was worth 112 runs. Faisal scored 72 that came off only 94 balls with 15 boundaries. Later, allrounder Mansoor Amjad capped off a satisfying day with an unbeaten 62, having faced 110 balls with eight fours.Incidentally, three Sialkot players are assisting National Bank in this match. Imran Nazir, Shahid Yousuf and Mansoor Amjad are on the Bank’s rolls and thus unavailable for their home region’s cricket team.

Michael Vaughan hopes Andrew Flintoff can make his Test return during the upcoming series against New Zealand, however he said it was vital that Flintoff not rush back too soon and risk aggravating his ongoing ankle problems. Flintoff has not played a Test since the 2006-07 Ashes loss in Australia and a fourth operation on his left ankle ruled him out of the recent tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand.”He has got three or four four-day games for Lancashire, so hopefully he will come through those with overs under his belt, runs by his name and give himself a good chance because we want him back,” Vaughan told . “An England side with Freddie in is a better team.”He wants to be there. He is the only one who knows what his anklefeels like. He hasn’t bowled 18 to 20 overs in a day yet and had to go out and bowl five or six the next day yet, so hopefully he will get through that.”Flintoff himself was aiming to be ready for the first Test, which starts on May 15, however that will depend on his progress during Lancashire’s initial games. His first big trial will be in a four-day match against Surrey beginning on Wednesday, and Vaughan said there was no point hurrying him into the national side before he was ready.”We just want him right, whether that means he misses the first game, second game and comes back for the third,” Vaughan said. “I just want him back fit and ready; whether it’s first or third, that will do me. It is so important you listen to your body and know yourself.”Flintoff’s fast-bowling colleagues Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard are also desperate for a successful start to the county season following their axing from the Test side during the tour of New Zealand. Vaughan said Hoggard would undoubtedly be working overtime to put his name back in the frame, while Harmison would be fired up and keen to prove a point.”Harmy has been given a harder time and I wouldn’t want to be a county batsman over the next month having to face him because I think he has got a bit of a bee in his bonnet and a point to prove,” Vaughan said. “That is exactly what I want – I certainly don’t think it is the end of their careers yet.”Regardless of how the attack looks, there could be adjustments to England’s top order for the first Test with Vaughan himself keen to drop down the order. He had a poor series personally in New Zealand, scoring 123 runs at 20.50, and a direct swap with the No. 3 Andrew Strauss might be on the cards.”I wouldn’t say I would carry on opening for England, no,” Vaughan said. “We will have to sit down with Peter Moores and the selectors. Straussy is at three at the minute – he likes opening and I am at two and like batting at three – so maybe that will be a little bit of a change.”

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been retained in Pakistan’s 16-member one-day squad for the five-match series against England after recovering sufficiently from his elbow injury. Shahid Yousuf, the 20-year old right-handed batsman from Sialkot, is the only new face in the squad.Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors, said that Yousuf was included based on the merit of his performances with the Pakistan A side in Abu Dhabi and Australia. Akhtar, who has not played for Pakistan since February, was expected to play the final Test at The Oval but was eventually not risked. Bari confirmed that he had now recovered well enough.”We have decided to retain Akhtar for the one-day series as he has recovered well from his ankle injury,” Bari told Reuters. “Yousuf is a fine batting prospect who has done well for the A side in recent months in two major tournaments.”Shoaib Malik, the allrounder, has also been included, after he was cleared to play by the Pakistan Cricket Board’s medical panel. Malik missed the Tests owing to an elbow injury and will join the squad later this week.Faisal Iqbal, the middle-order batsman and pacers Mohammad Sami and Shahid Nazir will return home after the Test series.Squad Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Imran Farhat, Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naved, Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria.