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At a time when many things in cricket are changing – central contracts, more and more international cricket, the newfangled Twenty20 Cup – you could always rely on MCC to remain the same. Until now, that is. For the first time in its 216-year history, MCC has entered into a joint commercial venture.The other half of this enterprise is the Australian company Albion, the leading manufacturer of cricket headgear. By teaming up with Albion, MCC will become the exclusive distributor of caps, hats and helmets across England and Europe. And according to MCC, the joint venture reflects its commitment to increasing commercial income which can be ploughed back into the game.Albion’s products include the Baggy Green caps worn by the Australian Test team, the popular “Greg Chappell” wide-brimmed sunhat used by many club and Test players, and the special caps made to mark the Centenary of Federation during Australia’s Test against West Indies at Sydney in January 2001. Albion also produced the distinctive skull cap worn by the Australians to mark the first Test of the 21st century. As well as caps, they supply international players from all round the world with helmets and sunhats.Roger Knight, MCC’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to be joining forces with a company of Albion’s calibre. Its Baggy Green is the most famous cricket cap in the world; we believe that its helmets are the world’s best; and its sunhats have led the way in providing players, around the world, with excellent protection from the sun. This venture is an exciting new development for everyone involved.” The commercial venture will be formally launched at Lord’s on Friday October 3.

Limited overs champions KwaZulu-Natal built on three successive victories on the road with a three-wicket win over Easterns at home in their Standard Bank Cup match at Kingsmead on Friday night. In other games, the Eastern Province Jumbos added to the Highveld Strikers’ miseries with a five-wicket win at St George’s Park while in Kimberley Griquas accounted for Free State by four wickets.KZN’s triumph was set up by a blistering 57 off 51 balls from Gulam Bodi as the home team chased Easterns 154 for eight. Despite the start given the Dolphins by Bodi, the home team wobbled in mid-innings before getting home with more than eight overs to spare. Andrew Hall, with 67, provided the substance of the Easterns innings.In Port Elizabeth the Strikers collapsed after Adam Bacher (70) and Daryll Cullinan (30) had put on 73 for the first wicket. Garnett Kruger at one point took four wickets in 11 balls before finishing with five 29 as the Strikers were bowled out for 158 and with Dave Callaghan making 53, the Jumbos were able to get home in some comfort.In Kimberley, Warwickshire’s Mike Powell hit an unbeaten 62 to guide Griquas to a four-wicket win over Free State. Jimmy Adams’ 60 had enabled Free State to reach 186 for seven and at one point the Diamonds were creaking on 99 for five before Powell and Wendell Bossenger (31) added 68 for the sixth wicket to stabilise the innings.

Haryana with just 3 points have no chance of qualifying for the knockout phase. Perhaps this explained their lacklustre batting effortagainst Orissa at Cuttack. What would have hurt more is the fact thatHaryana won the toss and elected to bat.A combination of some effective bowling by leg spinner Jagannath Dasand a couple of run outs at the top of the innings stunned the Haryanainnings. Only Padamjeet Singh (51) and Parender Sharma (40) were up tothe task. The rest of the batting did not make scores worthy ofmention. Being knocked out for just 206, Das was easily the pick ofthe bowlers with 4/62 off his 19.5 overs.However, the drama was not over just then. After bowling Haryana outfor a small score, it would have taken only a steady battingperformance on Orissa’s part to put them in command on the firstday. However, they failed to do just that.Orissa were required to play out just eight overs, and in that shortperiod they suffered three causalities. Captain Shiv Sunder Das whohas had a good season with the bat succumbed to Jain after he had madejust 4 runs. P Das failed before he reached double figures and Orissawere in serious trouble at 12 for 2. In an attempt to stem the rot,Debashish Mohanty was sent as a nightwatchman. After surviving 15balls without scoring, Mohanty was trapped LBW by Sonu Sharma addingto Orissa’s woes. At the close of play Orissa were 17/3, not aposition they would have envisaged after bowling the opposition outfor 206.

Newcastle United are interested in signing Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips in the summer transfer window, according to a fresh transfer rumour.

The Lowdown: Phillips indispensable at Leeds

The 26-year-old has arguably been the most important player at Elland Road over the past five years, maturing into a truly formidable footballer.

Not only has Phillips shone for Leeds, making 226 appearances for the club, he has also become a key figure for England, scooping his country’s Player of the Year award in 2021.

However, it could be that the midfielder looks for a fresh challenge this summer, despite his love for his boyhood club.

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The Latest: Newcastle eye up move for Phillips

According to The Daily Mail, Newcastle have emerged as potential suitors for Phillips’ signature, with their big-money takeover allowing them vast sums of money to spend on new signings.

Aston Villa are also mentioned in the report, with the Leeds hero ‘prepared to assess his options’ once this season reaches its conclusion.

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The Verdict: Survival paramount for Whites

It could be that Phillips decides to leave Leeds whatever happens this season, but there is no denying that relegation back to the Championship would almost certainly lead to his departure.

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An England regular simply isn’t going to be content with playing in the second tier, regardless of his love for the Whites, so that makes it all the more crucial for Jesse Marsch’s team to retain their top-flight status over the coming weeks.

The hope is that Phillips stay at Elland Road for the rest of his career – Tony Adams has hailed him as ‘fantastic’ – but it would be hard to begrudge the 26-year-old a move elsewhere considering the service he has given to Leeds, especially if a Champions League club were to come in for him.

In other news, Andrea Radrizzani has made a key claim regarding his future as Leeds owner. Read more here.

Daren Ganga, West Indies’ opening batsman, will be given his first outing on their South Africa tour in the four-day warm-up match against South Africa A at East London.Ganga will open the batting alongside Devon Smith with Chris Gayle still sitting out as he recovers from the hamstring injury he picked up in Zimbabwe. Ganga is coming off a lean run in Tests, having failed to reach double figure in his last six innings after making 25 runs in the final three matches against England in May and June.Dwayne Bravo continues to lead the team, which won the Twenty20 international at Port Elizabeth by five wickets, while Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor who impressed in that match also sit out against South Africa A. Rawl Lewis, the legspinner, is given a chance to put his name in the equation for Test selection as is left-arm quick Pedro Collins.The four-day match is the only warm-up match before the Test series starts on Boxing Day at Port Elizabeth with two more games at Cape Town and Durban.West Indies Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Runako Morton, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Rawl Lewis, Darren Sammy, Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards

Inzamam-ul-Haq in the nets at Karachi on the eve of the match © AFP

When Pakistan and the West Indies meet next, after the final ODI at Karachi tomorrow, it will be for the opening game of the 2007 World Cup in Jamaica in just under three months time. Signs emerged at Multan during the last ODI that cricket’s premier tournament is looming on the minds of both sides, as line-ups were changed, experiments made and players tested.Pakistan went about the experiments with greater zeal, though ultimatelypaying the price for them and it is unlikely, injuries permitting, that theywill do so again with the same gusto. “We experimented in Multan and wefelt that it was right to do it then as opposed to in the final game,”said Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, at the National Stadium.Their batting struggled in Multan, though they were, for various reasons,without their immense middle order trio of Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq andMohammad Yousuf for the first time since 2004. The captain is “98%certain” to play tomorrow, having almost fully recovered from a fingerinjury. Yousuf is in Karachi and also likely to play, as is Abdur Rahman,who has been so impressive in the two games that he has played so far.Woolmer insisted that there were still some positives to be drawn.”We were without our middle three in Multan and the loss was disappointingbut we can take positives from that in Yasir Hameed’s batting and MohammadSami as well,” Woolmer explained. “We have learnt a lot from that game andwill be coming out in Karachi firing on all cylinders.”His opposite number, Bennett King, will no doubt hope his side does thesame and a drawn series here will nicely bookend a long, arduousthree-month road trip from which some light has emerged.”We made the final of two big competitions and onlylost to a high-quality side on each occasion. So as far as ODIs areconcerned, the results are very encouraging,” King told reporters.And the medium-term implications of a good finish are not lost on him. “Itis important that we finish the series on a good note with Pakistan beingin our World Cup pool. From our perspective, when we played Pakistan athome to where we are now, there has been a lot of improvement. We area dangerous force in ODI cricket. We found some good form the other night inMultan and we’re looking forward to this match.”Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose return to the top of the order proved socrucial then, is fit to play despite struggling at various points throughhis innings but Jerome Taylor’s inclusion, after being rested at Multan,is not as certain as might be expected from a bowler who has made such animpression. “We’ll see how Jerome pulls up in the morning. In thesubcontinent, with illnesses and injuries, it’s a day-to-day thing. We’repretty sure of what side will play but we’ll see. The wicket looks prettyflat and there isn’t as much moisture to help the fast bowlers. We’relooking forward to it and will pick the best side for the match.”Much of the talk of both men though was geared towards forthcomingchallenges. Pakistan head off to South Africa for a full series in Januaryand the West Indies to India for a series of one-day internationals in thesame month. Soon after that comes the face-off at Sabina Park. In whichcase, tomorrow becomes the first of numerous dress rehearsals for the realthing.

Marlon Samuels: a perfect start to the tour; now all he needs to do is replicate his tour-game form in the first Test © Getty Images

A West Indies-Australia Test at the Gabba is always a special occasion tomark the start of summer. It doesn’t matter that the last contest wasdramatically one-sided, an upturn of the thrashings delivered by thetourists in the 1980s, or that the current squad is still searching forbatsmen to support Brian Lara consistently and bowlers to putty over theAmbrose and Walsh gaps. In Australia the West Indians turn heads and raiseexpectations.The tourist’s second Test at the ground flamed their reputation and began amagical season that ended in a street parade through Melbourne to farewellFrank Worrell’s side. Forty-five years ago the game’s most famous tieoccurred at a venue as unrecognisable today as the squad for the three-Testseries is to its world-beating predecessors. Despite their dramatic decline, the West Indians retain their enticing charm and their arrival inBrisbane two weeks ago was covered in the news pages of , which sent a reporter to follow them shopping.During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s West Indian teams felt likeextended family to Australians, arriving most years before Christmas andstaying for summers that didn’t want to end. They battered Australia and ithurt fingers, chests and pride, but their brilliant batting and fearsomebowling was respected and privately enjoyed. These memories linger and willburden Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s side over the next month. It is not his onlyworry.Since West Indies inflicted Australia’s last home series defeat in 1992-93they have won only two Tests on two tours. The last trip in 2000-01 was a5-0 disaster, beginning with a total of 82 in Brisbane and finishing withthe end of the captain Jimmy Adams’s career. Australia can be a crueldestination for leaders and the scheduling has made Chanderpaul the firstsustained target of Australia’s Ashes-loss backlash. A disparate World XIwere flattened last month and nothing acts as a better wedge for Caribbeanplayers of proud nations than a series of demoralising losses.A battery of fast bowlers, shorter than West Indies have traditionally had, has been employed toupset Australia this time, but with most of them relatively inexperienced it is notknown whether they will be positively or negatively charged. Corey Collymoreis the senior man and is jostling for positions with Fidel Edwards, JermaineLawson, Daren Powell, Tino Best and the allrounder Dwayne Bravo.The batting is more settled following Wavell Hinds’s finger injury and MarlonSamuels’s double-century against Queensland, but Brian Lara, who is 316 runsfrom Allan Border’s world record, is again the marked man. How and when hesnaps his out-of-form streak will almost certainly determine West Indies’competitiveness against a team still holding world-champion status.For Australia the series is a chance to re-assert dominance and they arealso using it to tinker for the future. Shane Watson is set for an extendedrun as allrounder despite struggling for influence in both disciplinesduring his two previous Tests, and a new opening combination has been forcedby Justin Langer’s withdrawal with a fractured rib. Michael Hussey will makehis debut but with Michael Clarke, the new No. 4, being followed by Simon Katich,Watson and Adam Gilchrist, the batting order carries rare uncertainty. Both sidessense a contest of opportunity.Australia haven’t lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988, when Curtly Ambroseintroduced himself with a six-wicket, Man-of-the-Match performance alongsideMalcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh. Viv Richards, batting in his 100th Testbehind Greenidge, Haynes, Richardson and Hooper, was bounced three times bya young upstart named Steve Waugh.West Indies ruled the world during that decade and the regular defeatssteeled Australia as their long-term replacement. England unveiled some softspots during the winter and West Indies must rain regular and strategicfollow-up punches if they are to turn an empire’s one-series stumble into aCaribbean-style crumble.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 RickyPonting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Shane Watson, 7 AdamGilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 GlennMcGrath.West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 RamnareshSarwan, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul (capt), 6 Marlon Samuels, 7Dwayne Bravo, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Jermaine Lawson, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11Corey Collymore.

Hamilton Masakadza: hoping for less of this in Bangladesh© Getty Images

Hamilton Masakadza, who hasn’t played Test cricket for more than two years, has been included in Zimbabwe’s 16-man squad to tour Bangladesh later this month.Masakadza made a hundred on his debut against West Indies in 2001, when aged 18, but stopped playing serious cricket at the end of 2002 when he started at university in South Africa. He was a surprise inclusion in the one-day side which recently played England but, after struggling for any form, he came good in the final match with his maiden one-day half-century.The rest of the squad is fairly predictable, with only Terrence Duffin and Graeme Cremer new to a set-up which is beginning to look more settled after the shake-up earlier in the year. However, the omissions of Vusi Sibanda, Alester Maregwede, Tawanda Mupariwa and Blessing Mahwire might raise a few eyebrows.The Test series in Bangladesh is a real watershed for both sides. For Bangladesh, it represents a chance for them to prove that they have what it takes and end their dismal record of 29 defeats and no wins in 32 Tests. Zimbabwe need success to prove that the new-look side is not a threat to the integrity of Test cricket, as critics have claimed.Zimbabwe squad Dion Ebrahim, Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor, Barney Rogers, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Mark Vermeulen, Tatenda Taibu (capt/wk), Elton Chigumbura, Tinashe Panyangara, Edward Rainsford, Douglas Hondo, Christopher Mpofu, Mluleki Nkala, Graeme Cremer, Prosper Utseya, Terrence Duffin.

Don’t write us off just yet ! That’s the message from Calmore Sports after a crushing 162-run win over Portsmouth, which keeps the club’s prospects of avoiding the drop very much alive.Favourites to go down in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League after only one win all summer, Calmore produced a stunning performance – with Hampshire hopeful James Hibberd leading the way.He wrecked Portsmouth’s top order with a 4-20 blast after top scoring in Calmore’s towering 274-7.Calmore’s win has cut Portsmouth’s advantage at the bottom to ten points – a situation that could be overturned next weekend if Hibberd’s side win at Andover and Portsmouth are beaten by Havant."If only we’d played like that all summer," sighed Calmore captain Tom Pegler. "We brought a couple of the older, more experienced players back like Gregg Lewis and Clive Surry, and it made all the difference."The team spirit was terrific – as was our overall performance," he added.Calmore scored at a rapid rate throughout their innings, with Hibberd (61) and Lewis (33) putting on 90 before Paul Cass (58) and Charlie Freestone (29) took the total on to 185-5.Pete Hayward (3-38) made breakthroughs but had finished his ten-over stint by the time Surry unleashed 43 not out to sweep Calmore to 274-7.Fired up, Hibberd ripped through Portsmouth’s top order, whipping out Ben Thane, Dean Oliffe, Matt Keech (second ball) and Chris Moon to leave the visitors rocking at 20-5.Lee Savident (39) and Hayward (28) provided long overdue resistance, but two wicket spells by Freestone (2-24) and John Wall (2-21) reduced Portsmouth to 112 all out.

The innings held together largely by Chetan Sachdev, Tripura reached atotal of 266/6 by the close of play on Day One of their Ranji Trophyleague match against Bihar at Agartala.Winning the toss, Tripura elected to bat but found themselves reelingat 63/4. A small partnership then developed between Timir Chanda andSachdev before the former departed at 116, having made 44.Sachdev was then joined by Abdul Sattar, and the two put on 134 runsbefore Sattar was dismissed for 63. At the close of play, Sachdev wasunbeaten on 99 off 209 balls, and Rajib Dutta (8*) was also at thecrease.