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Lydia Greenway, the left-hander, has been recalled by England for the World Series to be held in India in February .Greenway, who enjoyed fine domestic summer in 2006, is joined by Ebony Rainford-Brent, who has been working hard to recover from a back injury. She is currently on the Surrey Academy working alongside Gareth Townsend and has been involved with the England winter training squad since October. The tour will also be the first for Holly Colvin, still only 16, and Sarah Taylor, one year Colvin’s senior.”This is a really important series for us,” Richard Bates, the England coach, said, “as it will give us a great indication of where we stand against the other top teams and will be great practice with the World Cup just two years away.”One-day cricket is the most important format in the women’s game as it is what we are ranked on, so we have picked a squad geared towards that format. We’ve got great strength and depth in all departments, so we’re in a positive mood and feeling confident after our recent 4-0 win over India.”We have selected a young and talented squad, with the majority of players having toured the sub-continent before,” Bates said. “Ebony Rainford-Brent has been added to the squad as a genuine allrounder and Holly Colvin and Sarah Taylor add further depth to the bowling and batting departments. The squad is preparing well and look in good shape for a successful series.”Charlotte Edwards, the captain, spoke of her excitement at the number of “great youngsters coming through” while adding: “Ebony has worked especially hard over the last two years; she has been a bright prospect for a number of years and I’m delighted she’s got her call-up.”It’s also great to see Lydia Greenway back in the squad. She is a very valuable member, not just as a batsman, but she also has the potential to be one of the best fielders in the world.”I’m really excited about the series,” she said. “It’s a great chance to show where we’re at at the moment and to see how we rank against the other top sides in the world. We go into the competition on the back of a very successful home series and as captain I am really looking forward to it.”

Shoaib Malik refuses to underestimate Bangladesh, despite marshalling a152-run thumping win in the opening game of the five-match ODI series againstthe visitors in Lahore. A century from Mohammad Yousuf and 85 from thecaptain himself set Pakistan up before Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar Anjum andShahid Afridi wrapped up a comfortable win over a strangely insipidBangladesh.Malik, however, insisted that it was dangerous to draw too manyconclusions from the game. “You can’t judge a team on one match alone.This is cricket where you can’t take any team lightly,” he said. “We setthem a big target and sometimes if you get a good start, you can push thechase close. But our bowlers did really well to take early wickets to putthe pressure on.”Pakistan also plans to give opportunities to players who have impressed inthe domestic ABN AMRO cup, though the first target, Malik insisted, was towrap up the series. “This is not a time-pass series for us. We are takingit seriously and we want to improve our fielding and fitness during it.”Our first priority is to win the series. After that we will look at someof the guys who have done well in the domestic tournaments and give them achance.”As has been the recent trend, Pakistan used a combination of Malik andAfridi for the fifth bowler duties and though both have done well againstadmittedly limited opposition, the ploy will need reworking in tougherenvironments.”We should have a sixth bowling option,” Malik admitted. “We tried thissame line-up in Jaipur against India last year, except we had Fawad Alamin place of Afridi. But we need options for example if one of the bowlersbecomes unfit during a match. This is still an experimental combinationthat we are playing.”The series moves on to Faisalabad for the second game, on April 11.

ScorecardA fighting but fluent 95-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Rizwan Ahmed and Test discard Asim Kamal carried Patron’s XI to safety after a mid-innings wobble and ensured the tour match against the South Africans ended in a draw at tea on the final day.Kamal and Rizwan came together after Patron’s XI lost their overnight batsmen to the pace of Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel. Kamal shrugged aside his omission yet again from the Test squad, mixing some delightful drives with a couple of slog sweeps. His timing, particularly square of the wicket, was exceptional but his scoring was curbed by a heavy outfield.He batted with ease, driving the seamers and cutting the spinners, Paul Harris and Graeme Smith, and fell against the run of play. Chasing a wide delivery from Smith, Kamal top-edged a cut to backward point where Hashim Amla took a low catch. He lingered at the crease, his disappointment at another missed opportunity evident.Rizwan, with a first-class average of over 36, punctuated his defensive game with a few classy cover-drives in his 56. He was especially severe on Harris, pulling him to the midwicket boundary and on one occasion smashing him out of the ground.Two wickets in three balls – including that of Rizwan – from Harris caused a brief panic but Sarfraz Ahmed (29*) counterattacked with two boundaries in the following over to ease the pressure.Harris was the pick of the South African attack with Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn going wicketless. Morkel picked up a foot injury earlier in the day and bowled two overs, putting his participation in the first Test in serious doubt.Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, was satisfied with his team’sperformance and said the team was in good shape for the Test. “Ourpreparation was outstanding, we got what we wanted – bowlers having twospells each and batsmen spending time in the middle.”He reserved special praise for Harris who finished with figures of 3 for75. “Harris started off slowly yesterday but improved as the matchprogressed. He varied his pace well and will add a new dimension to theattack that we have not had for the last couple of years.”

Scorecard

Justin Langer became Western Australia’s highest run-scorer as he and Chris Rogers reached unbeaten fifties to leave the Warriors strongly placed against Tasmania heading into the final day.Dan Marsh pummelled his way to 117 not out, and although George Bailey and Michael Di Venuto contributed half-centuries, Adam Voges still had the option of forcing the follow-on.Instead, he watched as Langer nudged past his friend Tom Moody’s 8853 career runs in a forthright opening stand with Rogers which left them 314 ahead and set for the push for outright points.The pair wasted no time laying into Tasmania’s attack as they brought up their hundred stand in the 25th over.Steve Magoffin added three wickets to pick up his third five-wicket haul in first-class matches as Tasmania were dismissed for 343.Marsh batted well with the tail to help put up some resistance and his century included ten fours and a six.

Owais Shah has insisted England can replicate their series win in Sri Lanka last year and overcome New Zealand, in spite of a six-wicket hammering in the first of five one-dayers on Saturday.England were dismissed for a paltry 130 on a slow and low surface in Wellington, a total New Zealand took just 30 overs to knock off. But Shah maintains that like in Sri Lanka, last December, when England were comprehensively beaten in the first one-dayer, they can bounce back to win the series.”We haven’t quite adapted to the conditions out here – the outfield and the pitches,” he said. “But we’ve been working hard in the nets and getting used to the conditions [more] as every day goes on. [It’s] similar to what we did in Sri Lanka a few months ago when we adapted to the conditions after the first game when we got a hammering. We came back strong, adapted and went on to win the series.”And in spite of England’s two comfortable wins in the preceding Twenty20s, Shah wasn’t surprised by how strongly New Zealand fought back.”They’re third in the world and there is a reason why they are up there and we expected them to come out and fight,” he said. “They’ve had a bit of criticism after the Twenty20 matches so we knew they would be working hard and trying to get back, which is what they did, and it’s now up to us to do the same.”The second one-dayer gets underway on Tuesday in Hamilton.

First Division

Alfonso Thomas took a timely five-wicket haul to give the Championship pacemakers, Somerset, an outside chance of victory against Yorkshire at Taunton. Having been up against it since the first innings of the match, in which Yorkshire racked up 372, Somerset took complete control of the third day, first by extending their overnight 220 for 9 to a competitive 258, thanks largely to Craig Kieswetter’s unbeaten 67, then by dismissing Yorkshire for 208 in their second innings. Charl Willoughby and Andrew Caddick gave Somerset a dream start by claiming both openers for ducks, then Thomas got stuck into the middle order. Andrew Gale was the lone survivor in the top-order with 58, while Rich Pyrah made 51 from No. 8 to rescue Yorkshire from 104 for 6, but Somerset’s eventual target of 323 is by no means unobtainable – with ten wickets in hand and with Marcus Trescothick at the crease, unbeaten on 11 at the close.Dimitri Mascarenhas produced a captain’s innings of 74 to lift Hampshire into the ascendancy against Durham at Chester-le-Street. The game had been finely balanced on the third morning, not least when Sean Ervine fell for the addition of only three runs to his overnight 46, to leave Hampshire leading by 226 with three wickets standing. But then Mascarenhas got into his stride, striking 13 fours and a six in a 110-ball innings, to add 67 priceless runs. Durham, in reply, stuttered just as they had done in their first innings. Chasing a sizeable 294, they lost wickets at regular intervals, with Shane Bond and Chris Tremlett among the wickets, to close on 186 for 6. Neil McKenzie made 48 and Dale Benkenstein was still there on 46 not out, but with only the tail for company, defeat is looming on Monday.Justin Kemp put to one side the frustrations of two rain-affected days at Canterbury, and struck his first first-class century of the season to boost Kent’s morale against the champions, Sussex. Kemp made 102, having had to strap his pads on in a hurry following three wickets in seven balls for Ragheb Aga. Robert Key fell for 30, then Martin van Jaarsveld and Darren Stevens followed for ducks to reduce Kent to 76 for 4, but James Tredwell continued his allround form with 68, as the pair added 167 for the fifth wicket. They were eventually all out for a healthy 350, with Aga finishing with 4 for 63, and by the close Sussex were well placed for the draw on 57 for 1.Click here to read John Ward’s report on the third day between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford.

Second Division

Derbyshire stormed to an innings-and-95-run victory against a feeble Worcestershire at Chesterfield as Graham Wagg and Rikki Clarke shared seven wickets. The match was over before lunch, with the visitors dispatched for 110 in less than 36 overs. Already one down overnight, it was a procession by Worcestershire from the moment Graham Wagg trapped Steven Moore – who is being chased by Derbyshire – lbw for 9. Wagg continued an outstanding match when he had Graeme Hick caught behind off a flat-footed push, soon followed by Steven Davies. Meanwhile, Clarke, back to bowling action in this match after recovering from a broken thumb, snapped up three cheap wickets, including Vikram Solanki bowled by one that nipped back. The final dismissal of Steve Magoffin, heaving across the line, summed up Worcestershire’s capitulation.Glamorgan were made to follow on at Cardiff after being bowled out for 248 in reply to Warwickshire’s 421, but by the close of the third day they were battling hard for survival on 228 for 4. Their lead was a slender 48, and they might have been better placed had they not lost three wickets for 28 runs after a healthy opening partnership of 71 between Gareth Rees and Matthew Wood. Instead it was left to the captain, David Hemp, and Jamie Dalrymple to rally the rearguard with a fourth-wicket stand of 107. Hemp fell before the close for 56, but Dalrymple remained, unbeaten on 52, to carry the fight into the final day.Stephen Peters guided Northamptonshire past the follow-on at Wantage Road with his first first-class century of the season. He batted for five-and-a-half hours and struck 16 fours in his 122, and without him his team would have been in dire straits. As it is they conceded a sizeable enough first-innings lead of 146, although by the close they had struck back with determination, reducing Gloucestershire to 115 for 4 in their second innings. David Lucas claimed both openers and Johann Louw added Marcus North for a duck, as Gloucs slumped to 58 for 4. But they were bailed out by Hamish Marshall and Chris Taylor, who were unbeaten at stumps in a 57-run stand.Click here for Jamie Alter’s take on the third day at Lord’s between Middlesex and Essex.

Ravi Bopara, the allrounder, insists England need to be at their best if they are to win their Super Eights clash against Ireland. “Ireland have been playing some good cricket,” Bopara, 21, said. “I’ve been watching a few of their games and they look a good side.”The neighbouring countries will play for the second time in less than a year when they walk out in Guyana on Friday. “They’ve already proven they can beat some of the top sides in the world and the main thing for us is to be on top of our game when we face them,” Bopara said. “We may be expected to win, but we all know that cricket doesn’t work like that.”Ireland produced a shock by defeating the former champions Pakistan in the first round and tying with Zimbabwe. England, who like Ireland carry no points from the opening stage, qualified with wins over Kenya and Canada and will appear in the second phase for the first time since 1996.Bopara, who played against Canada when Andrew Flintoff was suspended, said England were targeting a place in the semi-finals. “We played well in the last couple of games in the group stages and we are feeling confident going into the Super Eights,” Bopara said. “It’s always a great feeling to go out and play some games and I am feeling good, I am feeling confident and I am just enjoying myself.” Bopara, who has appeared in three ODIs, scored 29 and picked up 2 for 43 against Canada before bowling only one over against Kenya.

Ashley Giles has warned Monty Panesar that Graeme Swann will be breathing down his neck for England’s spinner’s spot. Giles, who is now Warwickshire’s director of cricket after retiring earlier this year because of ongoing hip problems, believes Swann can push Panesar all the way.”Monty has done well,” Giles told the . “But if someone like Swanny bowls well, and gets some runs also, then there’s that niggling thing about ‘what else does Monty offer us?'”That’s not me saying that, that’s just how it is. Whereas last winter it was ‘why is Ashley playing? – Monty should be playing’. It might not be long before we get ‘Monty is playing, why isn’t Swanny playing? He offers us a bit more’. That’s just the natural scheme of things.””Monty is now the man in possession, but now he has the threat of Swann to deal with,” Giles said. “That’s the way it works, you fall off the end of the production line.”Swann is expected to make his debut in the Test series in Sri Lanka, having already impressed in his one-day recall this year. He offers good batting and fielding, which could further enhance his claims.Panesar, who has 20 Tests under his belt, himself only admitted last week that he didn’t see himself as England’s No. 1 spinner, although he gave firm reasons why: “The only reason I say that is because I am still young and need to learn. That number one tag is quite a strong statement.”Nevertheless, he would still be the favourite ahead of Swann should England opt for one spinner. They could, however, opt for two as they did during their 2-1 Test series triumph when they visited Sri Lanka in 2001.England play two three-day warm-up games in Colombo before the first Test starts in Kandy on December 1.

Mohammad Kaif will lead a new-look Uttar Pradesh team in the Ranji Trophy and Suresh Raina will be the vice-captain.UP go into the season without left-arm seamer Shalabh Srivastava, Ali Murtaza and Avinash Yadav, who have all joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Srivastava has been a consistent performer for UP over the last few years. Moreover, the experienced trio of Rizwan Shamshad, Ashish Winston Zaidi and Gyanendra Pandey retired from first-class season last season. Pandey will coach the side this season, and Zaidi will be the team manager.Left-hand batsman Shivakant Shukla, left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta, and wicketkeeper Amir Khan, who were all tipped to join Railways this season, have chosen to stay behind and are all selected.Kaif and Raina, the two most important batsmen in the team, will look for support from youngsters Shukla, Ravikant Shukla, who captained India at the Under-19 World Cup, and Tanmay Srivastava, another India U-19 player.The bowling in the absence of RP Singh and Praveen Kumar, both representing India, and Srivastava, is without a spearhead. For Piyush Chawla, the first few matches will be crucial as he would look to draw his way back to the Indian team.Squad: Mohammad Kaif (capt), Shivakant Shukla, Ravikant Shukla, Tanmay Srivastava, Piyush Chawla, Amir Khan (wk), Rohit Prakash, Rahat Ilahi, Ratnesh Mishra, Praveen Gupta, Suraj Pratap Singh, Sudeep Tyagi, Tahir AbbasReserves: Parvindar Singh, Anshul Kapoor, Raj Singh and Abhishek Tiwari

Matthew Hoggard looks set to miss the third Test against West Indies at Old Trafford, starting on June 7, after aggravating his groin injury in the nets ahead of Yorkshire’s one-day fixture against Derbyshire at Headingley.Hoggard, who withdrew from England’s attack after bowling just 10.1 overs in the first Test at Lord’s, had been optimistic about his rehabilitation. He was hoping to play for his club side Baildon on Saturday, as well as today’s match, but with a long international season ahead of England, he will not now be risked.”It’s extremely disappointing for Matthew, but it’s one of those type of injuries that if you rush back before you’re ready it can turn into a serious problem,” said England’s chairman of selectors, David Graveney. “Caution is a by-word for us and hopefully the extra time will help him recover and be back playing cricket sooner rather than later.”The news is a further setback for England’s new coach Peter Moores, who had hinted in the aftermath of the Headingley Test that Hoggard’s injury was more serious than the medical team had first believed.With Andrew Flintoff set to miss the rest of the West Indies series due to further surgery on his injured left ankle, England’s pace attack is down to the bare bones, with the onus yet again on Steve Harmison to locate his best form.In Hoggard’s absence, Ryan Sidebottom, the left-arm seamer who took eight wickets in the Headingley win, is almost certain to retain his place in the side.