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Mark Cleary, the South Australia seamer, has been denied a work permit to join Glamorgan because he hasn’t played enough first-class cricket over the past two years.The Home Office view was supported by the ECB after Glamorgan wanted to sign Cleary, 27, to bolster an injury-hit bowling attack. It is the third time they have missed out on an overseas player after West Indies paceman Daren Powell opted for Hampshire and Ravi Rampaul picked up a groin injury.Cleary has had previous stints with Yorkshire and Leicestershire, but during the past Australian domestic season was restricted to Ford Ranger Cup one-day outings for his state.Glamorgan have struggled to field a frontline attack all season with David Harrison ruled out for the whole campaign with a back injury and Simon Jones making tentative steps in his recovery. Jones played in a recent Pro40 match, sending down two overs in a rain-reduced match, but Glamorgan are also expecting to lose 17-year-old James Harris to England Under-19 duty next month.

England are considering arranging more matches to allow their injured players, and Andrew Flintoff in particular, to get match-fit before the winter’s Ashes series.Already without captain Michael Vaughan, who is hoping to make his return from knee surgery in January, England fear the comeback of Flintoff could be delayed by a lack of available action. Flintoff is due to have a second operation on his troublesome left ankle this week which will sideline him for three months, ruling him out of the Pakistan Test and one-day series and establishing him as a major doubt for October’s Champions Trophy tournament in India.But without playing in the Champions Trophy, Flintoff will be desperately short of match action before England arrive in Australia for a one-day match and two three-day games prior to the opening Test in Brisbane on November 23.David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, has admitted to being “mischievous” when he suggested Cricket Australia may want to help arrange practice matches, but it is an avenue England may consider anyway. “I was being a little mischievous when I said that, but there are a couple of areas we may look at,” he explained. “We know [former Hampshire batsman] Paul Terry has a set-up in Perth and we could look at setting up matches in India, so there are a couple of places we could go to if we felt it would help.”Flintoff remains a priority for England because of his importance to the side, but the same could apply to injured duo Ashley Giles (hip) and Simon Jones (knee), although both of them remain major doubts for the Ashes because they are yet to play this season. England do not want a repetition of the last Ashes tour, when Flintoff and Darren Gough were picked while still recovering from injuries and had to be sent home without playing any part in the series.”The last trip to Australia was shambolic,” stressed Graveney. “Freddie arrived at the Academy in Adelaide and he could hardly walk, let alone bowl. “Regrettably we may be heading for the same situation to a degree. We might have a number of guys going there that are physically fit, but not match fit.”I believe Flintoff will be physically fit. What we have to do with Freddie and Ashley, because he’s making positive noises as well, we’ve got to arrange enough cricket for them so they are running when they actually get there for the first Test on November 23.”

Scotland and Canada qualified for the semi-finals from Group B, leaving Netherlands and Naimbia to join the scramble for the final World Cup place.Scotland went into their final group match against Holland as the only unbeaten side in Group B. Holland had to win the match to stand a chance of qualifying while Scotland would be through if they could come close to matching Holland’s run-rate.These circumstances made for a tense opening spell after Scotland were put into bat by Holland and when light rain disrupted play they were struggling at 138 for 5. When the game resumed, Scotland’s middle order all chipped in with valuable runs to lift the total to 221 all out. Scotland’s seam attack found the damp conditions to their liking and made early inroads into the Dutch batting line-up. A series of batsmen made steady starts but only Ryan ten Doeschate was able to pass 20 as the wickets continued to fall. Holland crumbled to 123 all out with Ryan Watson the chief destroyer with four wickets.Canada knew that net-run-rate could be a determining factor in Group B ahead of their match against Papua New Guinea. So after losing the toss and being put in to bat, openers John Davison and Desmond Chumney wasted no time in hitting out. They raced to a century partnership before Davison was out for 62. Though Romero soon followed for 50 the momentum was maintained by Zubin Surkari (45) and Ian Billcliff, who hit an unbeaten 102, to lift Canada to 319 for 3 in 50 overs.With the Scotland against Holland match at that stage still in the balance, Canada knew it could be crucial to their chances of a top two finish for them to bowl out Papua New Guinea cheaply and Umar Bhatti and Don Maxwell made important early breakthroughs. Mahuru Dai held out for 52 runs as Papua New Guinea edged past the 100 mark. They were all out for 159 but, with Holland losing to Scotland, net run-rate was no longer an issue and Canada had sealed a place at a second consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup.In the other Group B game, Oman recovered from 12 for 3 to post 170 for 9 in 50 overs. Captain Azhar Ali led the fightback, top scoring with 60 runs. It was not enough to trouble Namibia’s batsmen who reached the target in 41.2 overs for the loss of four wickets.Naimbia will now play UAE on Saturday, with the winners of that tie meeting the winners of the game between Denmark and Holland. That final tie will decide which country earns the right to play in the 2007 World Cup.

The ECB has cleared the fast bowler Robbie Joseph to play for Kent with immediate effect.Joseph, who is 22, was born in Antigua, but came to England in 1997. he finished his schooling at Sutton Valence School in Kent, and is currently completing a degree course at St Mary’s College in Twickenham, in Middlesex.His only previous first-class match was in 2000, when he was called up for a First-Class Counties XI against the touring New Zealand A side at Milton Keynes. He took one wicket (Jacob Oram) for 56 in that match.

Things are looking up for Otago cricket after the senior men’s side claimed a clear third place in the State Championship, the best finish for several years.Backing this result has been the early re-appointment of coach Glenn Turner and the news that former Pakistan international Mohammad Wasim will return to the side next summer.Wasim scored 651 runs at an average of 40.68 to finish in seventh place on the Championship batting aggregates and superbly complemented his fellow opening batsman Craig Cumming, who scored 751 runs.Otago Cricket’s chief executive Graeme Elliott said the side had benefited from having an attack which could bowl opponents out and the successive outright victories to beat Canterbury and Wellington in the last two matches of the season had been especially impressive.”Shayne O’Connor was back and fully fit and was taking wickets while Kerry Walmsley and Warren McSkimming also bowled well.”We had good top-order batting but our middle-order still needs to do better,” he said.Elliott was disappointed the side could not beat competition winners Auckland in their match at Queenstown when they had all day to score 247 for victory.”We just let them get on top of us,” he said.”But it was really good to see a couple of chunky wins at the end.”Elliott confirmed that Wasim would be back next summer. He was going to be working on elements of his batting that he had worked on with Turner during the summer and would also be working on his leg-spin to give the Otago attack another prospective prong.Elliott added that normally when Otago got to the end of season a period of time was wasted while sitting around wondering who might be the coach of the side in the next summer.That had been resolved this year with Turner’s early appointment, a move which allowed him to address issues over the winter.The improved quality of pitches in the Otago region had also been a boost for the side. Apart from Queen’s Park in Invercargill where there was still a need to lift the standard, Otago had pitches that were as good as anywhere in the country, Elliott said.”Carisbrook was a wee bit ordinary before Christmas, but afterwards it, and Queenstown and Molyneux Park in Alexandra were among the best in the country,” he said.The use of the University Oval next summer would continue the quality of pitches available in Otago.Elliott wants to play all of Otago’s four-day cricket in Dunedin, and to take the one-day State Shield matches around the region.”University Oval will have the Kakanui loam soil which is a proven product in our conditions.”What I want to do is play two four-day matches at Carisbrook and three at the University Oval,” he said.

Durham are on the verge of their first ever Championship win over second division leaders Sussex despite some brave resistance from Robin Martin-Jenkins.The tall all-rounder batted for nearly four hours for his unbeaten 84, but his side closed on 238-7, still requiring 99 for the victory that would clinch promotion to Division One.Sussex had launched their run chase in style with Richard Montgomerie and Murray Goodwin putting on 84 in 20 overs before Montgomerie ran a risky single to mid wicket and was run out by Gary Pratt’s brilliant swoop and direct hit.In the next 11 overs Sussex subsided to 114-4. Skipper Chris Adams drove loosely to gully, Bas Zuiderent edged to third slip and Goodwin was caught behind for an entertaining 65.Michael Yardy was dropped twice before he was taken at short leg for 13 and after tea Martin-Jenkins lost Matt Prior (14) and Mark Davis (4) in taking the score to 229-7.Durham turned down the option of claiming the extra half-hour but will fancy their chances of completing victory this morning, especially as the new ball is due in 14 overs.Earlier James Kirtley and Mark Robinson each took five wickets as Durham were bowled out for 199 in their second innings, losing their last five wickets in less than an hour for 20 runs.Kirtley’s 5-47 gave him a season’s best match haul of 10-95 while Robinson took his 200th wicket for the county and has now taken 21 in the last three games after finishing with 5-59.

Lionel Mendis, popularly known as the father figure of cricket coaching in Sri Lanka, died on Friday, at the age of 80, after a long illness.It was on September 15 that Mendis, who was being treated for throat cancer at a private hospital in Colombo, celebrated his 80th birthday. The same month he had retired from coaching, bringing to an end a distinguished 29-year stint at Nondescripts CC where he ran his coaching school.Mendis was a key figure in the Sri Lanka cricket coaching arena and coached several former Sri Lanka cricketers, notably the country’s World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga and Mahela Jayawardene.The hallmark of Mendis’ coaching was the discipline he brought to ensure that each of his products ended up as a complete cricketer not only on the field but off it as well. At a recent felicitation ceremony given by former cricketers, Ranatunga said that Mendis had introduced a new sporting culture with his brand of coaching. “The specialty in him is his attitude to build a complete cricketer,” Ranatunga said. “He taught us how to dress, eat and how to behave in the ground. He respects the tradition and culture of our country and expects his students to follow good manners.”He never thought of earning money but spent his money on poor students. Every time he gave his students very important tips not just on cricket but also on life.”The ICC rewarded Mendis for his outstanding services to Sri Lanka cricket with an award during its centenary in 2009. Mendis’ brother Nelson Mendis is also a renowned cricket coach and at one time they were rival coaches of the two leading Buddhist schools in the country, Ananda College and Nalanda College.

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.

The news that Michael Vaughan will, almost certainly, be unavailable for the Ashes this winter has dented England’s defence of the urn markedly. But before the Ashes, there is the small matter of facing Pakistan for a four-Test series and in the next week the selectors will choose Vaughan’s replacement as captain.Andrew Flintoff filled in for Vaughan during England’s tour of India in the winter, as well as the Sri Lanka Test series. He too, however, was forced out of the current one-day series against Sri Lanka and will almost certainly miss the first Test against Pakistan. Andrew Strauss has had the unenviable job of leading a depleted and confidence-shot England side in the one-dayers, which Sri Lanka lead 4-0 with one to play.”From my point of view I just want the best person for the team and we’ll be deciding that before the first Test,” Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, commented.The other alternative could be Marcus Trescothick, who has filled in on occasions, but he has only just re-established himself back in the side after flying back from India with personal problems. On Wednesday, he flat-batted suggestions that he was the man in waiting but said he has “done it in the past – and if they offer it to me again then I’ll think about it.”We won’t be making any quick decisions about who is going to captain the side in the winter because at the moment we don’t know,” explained David Graveney, chairman of selectors.”Until the situation becomes a little clearer later in the summer we won’t be looking at that issue. We need to get as much information as possible about the injured players before we consider things.”I have been ringing him every day during this period and he has been battling really hard to recover from this injury, working long hours on his own in the gym so we all feel for him.”He is a human being so he’s bound to have got down during this period,” he said. “He is desperate to play for England and has been hearing how England can’t play without Michael Vaughan so you can just imagine how that has made him feel.”

Chris Hartley, Queensland’s reserve wicketkeeper, will captain the Queensland Academy of Sport 2nd XI for the first time against Tasmania, starting on Monday.Hartley, 23, was one of the finds of last summer after scoring a century on debut and playing in the ING Cup and Pura Cup finals when Wade Seccombe was on international duty.Seccombe has returned to the Bulls line-up for Sunday’s opening ING Cup game against NSW at the Gabba.The 2nd XI team for the four-day game includes two leg-spinners in the Norths wrist-spinner Greg Chiesa and Ryan Leloux, who is currently at the Cricket Academy.Queensland Academy of Sport 2nd XI Chris Hartley (c), Ryan Broad, Greg Chiesa, Joe Dawes, Steve Farrell, Ryan Leloux, Damien Mackenzie, Brendan Nash, Steve Paulsen, Daniel Payne, Lachlan Stevens, Chris Swan.