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England have arrived in South Africa for their two-and-a-half month tour with captain Andrew Strauss determined to build on his team’s 2-1 victory in the Ashes during the summer. Strauss is especially keen for his team to stake its claim to the No. 1 Test ranking, an honour that currently belongs to South Africa.”We’ve talked a lot about how winning the Ashes is not the end of the road, it’s almost the starting point for us to improve,” Strauss said. “We’d be lying if we didn’t want to be the number one side in the world. But if you look at how the ranking system works it will take a number of years of solid progression from where we are at the moment and consistency is crucial. Ultimately it’s about not taking our foot off the gas.”England were criticised for seemingly taking their foot off the gas after they won the Ashes in 2005. They had followed up that victory with a 2-0 drubbing in Pakistan.”The perception of the post-2005 period is that we took our eye off the ball quite badly. I’m not comfortable with that myself,” Strauss said. “I remember that Pakistan tour and how hard we worked at it. We had a number of very crucial injuries which didn’t help.”If you look at our performances over the last 12 months we’re far from the genuine article and where we want to be. No one in the squad truly believes we’ve made it, we’ve got a long way to go. I want to see our players hungry and committed.”England are scheduled to play two Twenty20 internationals, five ODIs, and four Tests in South Africa and this will be their first Test series since Andrew Flintoff’s retirement from the format. Flintoff, who is currently undergoing rehabilitation from surgery in Dubai, won’t be available for the limited-overs formats either.In Flintoff’s absence, Stuart Broad, who was Man of the Match in the deciding Ashes Test at The Oval, is expected to perform the allrounder’s role in the side but Strauss sought to play down the attention on the 24-year old. “It’s not a realistic expectation for Broad to fill Flintoff’s shoes in both disciplines in the short term. It would be wrong to heap that expectation on his shoulders,” Strauss said.”Over the years we’ve had to do without Flintoff quite often and what we’ve found is that we’ve done quite well by everyone taking responsibility and playing a bit better. Stuart Broad is not a like for like replacement for Flintoff anyway but he has his own set of skills, some of which are world class and some of which need work. We don’t want him to be the saviour we turn to, we need all 11 to do that.”Stuart has his head screwed on. There has been a lot of media attention on him but he realises that there’s much room for him to improve. We’re excited about him but the last thing I want to do is put a huge amount of expectation on his shoulders. You must give people room to improve and hopefully he’ll continue that development this winter.England begin their tour with a warm-up match against the Eagles on November 6 in Bloemfontein and have two more practice games ahead of the first Twenty20 international against South Africa in Johannesburg on November 13.

Nobody in Australia is more excited about the season starting than Phil Jaques, who is returning from three back operations which stole a year of his career when he was peaking as a Test batsman. Jaques’ misfortune – two bouts of surgery were a “disaster” – came at a time when Matthew Hayden was struggling towards retirement, allowing Phillip Hughes and Shane Watson to pop up in Jaques’ preferred position.Now, softened by a prosthetic disc in the base of his spine, he is bouncing in anticipation, mapping his way into the New South Wales team and hoping to remind people who he is. Typing his name into Google brings up a link that asks “Is phil jaques test career over for Australia?” Most of the respondents confused him for Hughes, who was dropped during the Ashes.In less than 12 months Jaques went from a dependable replacement for Justin Langer, scoring 806 runs at 50.37 in nine consecutive games, to a man on the outer and one without a Cricket Australia contract. He felt a “little bit” forgotten.”It’s hard to be remembered when you’re out injured for a year,” he said. “I’m not one to make a song and dance about what I’m going to do and when I come back I’ll let my bat do the talking. If I score runs I’ll be back in the frame.”A century for Sutherland in the opening grade game of the summer provided more joy than any medical clearance and the happiness at batting through an innings bubbles as he speaks. Being pain-free during a one-day fixture is a cheery achievement and his self-belief, in his body and his batting, has returned.”The outlook was always good,” he said. “I’ve been thinking positive to get back, but there were always doubts, especially with three back operations in a year. But I’ve come back to play and I feel normal.” Now 30, he talks of a new lease of life for the second half of his career.He managed the injury, which is similar to the one haunting Michael Clarke, for three years until succumbing on the 2008 India tour when he could barely get out of a chair. A microdiscectomy shaved some of the disc between L5 and S1 and he returned for two Sheffield Shield games at the end of the season. The pain flared so he missed the final match and the procedure was repeated.”The second bout of micro-surgery didn’t feel right either, it was basically bone on bone,” he said. In June he underwent a disc replacement operation and aimed to be back for the third round of the grade season. After many hours with Pat Farhart, the former New South Wales physiotherapist, he was ready for the first match.He will play a two-day grade contest this weekend before hoping to build up to a New South Wales 2nd XI fixture by the end of October. By then the top team will be home from the Champions League Twenty20 and preparing for their delayed opening Shield and FR Cup contests in the first week of November.The extra time gives Jaques a better chance to prove he is ready to join Hughes, Watson and Simon Katich in an opener-heavy state XI. New South Wales haven’t wiped Jaques from the memory and he is expected to slot in with Hughes at the top, and followed by Katich and Watson, the incumbent Test openers, when the side is at full strength.”Hopefully my record from previous seasons keeps me in good stead,” he said. “Simon and Shane have batted a lot in the middle order and I’ve batted down there. I think it’ll just be getting the best six batters into the team. If you can open you can bat anywhere. If I get a chance, it won’t matter where I bat.”When supporters recall Jaques the international batsman they talk of his 108 in the second innings against West Indies in Barbados in June 2008. “I hope it’s not my last Test,” he said. “People say I got a hundred in my last Test, but I hope I didn’t get a hundred in my last Test. I hope I get 30 or 40 or 50 more Tests than finish with a hundred like that. But first it’s Sutherland, then New South Wales, then hopefully one day back in the Australian side.”

The ICC is confident that the Champions Trophy in South Africa will prove that 50-over cricket remains a relevant format in cricket’s shifting worldscape of greater financial reward and less time.The tournament begins in Johannesburg on September 22, amid increasing questions about its significance in the game. The ECB has scrapped its domestic 50-over tournament and the ongoing ODI series between Australia and England has been widely derided in England as a poor afterthought; South Africa, according to the ICC’s cricket manager Dave Richardson, may be toying with the idea of a four-innings format domestically, where each team bats twice, an idea that has found favour with Sachin Tendulkar, one of 50-over cricket’s greatest batsmen. The ICC itself may look at the idea and some, like Anil Kumble, suggest making it a 40-over game. Others have called for scrapping the format altogether.But the ICC believes a shorter, sharper Champions Trophy can prove that reports of ODI cricket’s death have been exaggerated. “In the context of 50-over cricket this is an important tournament,” Haroon Lorgat, chief executive ICC, said in a teleconference.”It reminds me of a year ago when people were talking about the death of Test cricket, with no crowds being there and so on. Similarly with the ODI, I think we are maybe running ahead of ourselves. Look at England where there is a lot of interest still in the ODI series despite England being so far behind Australia, crowds are still turning up. Similarly in the recent tri-series in Sri Lanka. We will see here, with the Champions Trophy, that there is a place for the ODI format in cricket.”The glut of ODIs, rather than the format itself, is often seen as the real problem. Though there is little the ICC can do about bilateral arrangements for seven-match ODIs and hastily-arranged tri-series, members have been told to keep in mind the problems of excess in the ongoing discussions to shape a new FTP. “These arrangements are made bilaterally by members,” Lorgat said. “But in the current FTP discussions we always talk to members of the importance of a balance [between the formats]. We’re mindful and cognisant of it. The current FTP is a work in progress and we need to be aware of the balance during that.”Lorgat also suggested that there will not be too much tinkering with the format or introduction of innovations until the cricket committee gets together next May. “From an innovations point of view, we’re always looking for new, exciting things. The batting Powerplay is a good example but we do not want to do too many things too quickly. Between the Champions Trophy and the 2011 World Cup, we are more in the mindset of retaining the format. Experts are in place on the cricket committee but I think we can leave it till next May.”The confidence within the ICC about the future of ODIs stems in part from the belief that they may finally, after years of trying, have hit on the right formula for the much-decried Champions Trophy. The event is much more streamlined than past editions, with only eight teams, all based at one venue. “We recognised that the tournament needed a bit of refreshing and relevance to ensure that it is a best of the best. We have made it a destination event where teams and everyone can settle in at one location for the whole event beginning to end and there is no routine of practice, play and fly again.”There is also greater prize money at stake and the lesser number of teams means most games will have something at stake. “There is differentiation in this Champions Trophy,” Lorgat said, “and we are confident that we will see ODI cricket as a relevant format through this.”

ScorecardChris Nash struck a fine century, but his team-mates folded and Sussex were relegated•PA Photos

Despite the best efforts of their leading run-scorer, Chris Nash, Sussex found themselves consigned to relegation at about five to five on day two here, as the denouement of the Championship season continued.As Hampshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire gathered points elsewhere, their outside chance of survival looked more of a lost cause as each hour passed and the disappointment for coach Mark Robinson was that his team failed even in the part of the equation they could influence themselves as they were bowled out for 243, picking up only one batting point where they needed five.In football manager style, Robinson had made the Sussex team aware of his frustrations at tea on the opening day, reasoning that a figurative kick up the backside might remind them that the fight was not over. He stopped short of throwing crockery (so far as is known) but at least provoked an improvement of sorts in the final session.Sadly, the effect did not last. At tea on day two, 165 for 4 from 53 overs, Sussex at least had a theoretical chance of claiming maximum batting points, which was a minimum requirement to keep their chance alive. What followed next, however, was not the assured acceleration needed but a rather feeble collapse.Nash had just completed his fourth hundred of the season, a terrific effort in the circumstances, and the first potentially precious batting point won, when their position was transformed from hopeful (just) to hopeless almost in the blink of an eye as four wickets fell for 16 runs in the space of seven overs.Now 218 for 8, it meant that Sussex, with just four bonus points and little realistic prospect of any more, would be down even if they won, given that their three relegation rivals already had more points than they could achieve. Hampshire, with four batting points, were already assured of 162, while Yorkshire’s three bowling points put them on 159, the same tally as Lancashire were guaranteed after adding two batting points to their three with the ball. Sussex, barring a miraculous recovery by the tail, had limited themselves to 157.They struggled on to 243 before Samit Patel’s third wicket completed their demise but it was all academic. In a season in which batting collapses have been all too regular, they had gone down effectively without a fight, losing their last six wickets for 41 runs as Andre Adams finished with 4 for 63 and Patel 3 for 40.Two years after winning Championship titles back-to-back, it was a fate that hurt Robinson, despite the team’s huge success in winning the Twenty20 Cup, reaching the Friends Provident final and leading the Pro40 title race into the final round on Sunday.”You can’t really say it has been a great season because we have been relegated,” he said. “The first division is very tight, probably because we are in a period when there are few outstanding match-winning bowlers, not who compare with, say, Shane Warne or our own Mushtaq Ahmed.”But the table does not lie and we have not been good enough. It is hard to take but we knew it was coming from last Saturday, when we lost to Yorkshire.”I had a go at the players at tea on the first day because we had made a commitment to give it a real go and play with a smile on our faces and I did not think we were doing that. But we are mentally tired and like a heavyweight boxer on the ropes there are only so many blows you can take. In the end one of them was going to be a knockout.”Nottinghamshire added 34 to their overnight score before, having belatedly taken the new ball, Sussex picked up the last two wickets, Chris Read trapped in front by Corey Collymore for 88 before Charlie Shreck lost two of his stumps to Dwayne Smith.Sussex began their reply impressively, reaching lunch at 61 without loss from 22 overs as Nash and Yardy began impressively. But then Yardy stabbed at one outside off stump to be caught behind off the impressive Luke Fletcher, and 74 for 1 became 104 for 2 when the pacy Fletcher struck again to have Joe Gatting caught at third slip.Murray Goodwin, who has had a generally poor season despite his triple-hundred at Taunton, slapped Shreck straight to point and there was more disappointment when Rory Hamilton-Brown was leg before to Patel’s left-arm spin, a decision the former Surrey batsman clearly felt was unlucky, for him at least.At 165 for 4 at tea, the position was less promising for Sussex, although it was to get worse rapidly after Andrew Hodd lost his middle stump to Adams as the Nottinghamshire swing bowler began an impressive spell.He had Robin Martin-Jenkins caught behind from an expansive drive and, after Nash, who had been dropped on 61 by Read off Mark Ealham, finally departed to Patel, Adams struck again as Smith hit one straight down the throat Akhil Patel at deep midwicket. Suddenly, Sussex were on the ropes.It was bad luck on Nash, who had faced 196 balls and hit 22 fours, thoroughly dominating the innings before, thanks to a brilliant piece of anticipation by Ali Brown, running round from slip, he was caught in leg-slip’s position off a paddle sweep.Collymore and Piyush Chawla nudged the total along to 243 but it was all academic in the end, even though the former delivered an early fillip for Sussex’s hopes of at least finishing with a win by sending back Bilal Shafayat before bad light closed play for the day.

Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistan offspinner, has been fined 15% of his match fee for giving Kumar Sangakkara a send-off after dismissing him in Wednesday’s Twenty20 match. Ajmal was found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct following a hearing in Colombo after the game.Ajmal was charged under Level 1.6 of the code, which refers to “pointing or gesturing towards the pavilion in an aggressive manner by a bowler or other members of the fielding side upon the dismissal of a batsman.”The incident took place in the 14th over of the Sri Lanka innings; the match was evenly balanced at the time, with Sangakkara guiding Sri Lanka at 100 for 3, needing 73 more off 42 balls. Ajmal got the match-turning breakthrough by bowling Sangakkara, and then pointed to the pavilion and spoke aggressively to the Sri Lankan captain.The on-field umpires Asoka de Silva and Tyron Wijewardene immediately had a word with Ajmal and then reported the incident to the match referee Alan Hurst, who slapped Ajmal with a fine.”In coming to my decision I took into account the fact the player immediately recognised his error of judgment and apologised to both umpires,” Hurst said. “He also did so to Kumar Sangakkara after the game. The player had no previous instances of this type of behaviour but it was pointed out to him during the hearing that his actions were a clear breach of the ICC Code of Conduct.”Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed, captain Shahid Afridi and coach Intikhab Alam were also present at the hearing along with Ajmal and the match officials.

The offspinner Jason Krejza believes he’s the best spinner in Australia and has his sights on regaining his Test spot. Krejza had fallen off the radar after his two Test appearances, dumped after the record-breaking loss to South Africa last year and replaced by Nathan Hauritz, whose spot Krejza hopes to take.”I see myself as being the best spinner in Australia, and I’m working to get better so I can get picked again,” Krejza told the . “I saw my getting dropped as an indication that I need to improve, which is not a bad thing. Getting dropped was upsetting but I responded in the best way that I could.”Nathan [Hauritz] got his chance a few months ago and did quite well when he got that opportunity. He was given a job to do, and he did it very well. As for my non-selection, it’s just about taking wickets, and when I get another opportunity, hopefully I can hold on to it for more than two Tests.”Krejza is currently playing the A series against Pakistan, a sign that Australia’s selectors still consider him highly despite not winning a national contract. Krejza performed creditably in the two unofficial Tests, scoring an unbeaten century in the first and taking six wickets to seal victory in the second.After going wicketless for 70 runs in the first 50-over game against Pakistan, Krejza was dropped for the second match. He now has a potential one more one-day game and a Twenty20 to further his chances of an Australia recall.”I’m bowling really well right now,” he said. “I did about a month’s work back at home, and it’s been good to get outside again. The second game [for Australia A] it all came together, and it’s good to be in good form at this early stage of the season.”Krejza, who gained 12 wickets on debut in Nagpur, recalled the brief time he had in the Australian dressing room and believed he came along “in leaps and bounds” during those few weeks. He was made to feel more comfortable by the presence of several New South Wales players – he played for the Blues before switching to Tasmania.”I felt like I fitted in,” he said. “I think I’m a personality that gets along with everyone. In that setting, everyone wants to keep improving, so they create an environment that allows for that to happen. It’s a great environment, and that’s why I want to get back quickly.”Being part of the Australian team group is a completely different atmosphere to any other team you might play for. You’ve got help all around you, and I was doing so much work, taking in so much information that it was hard not to improve. I learnt about myself, my game, I got good feedback about what was going on.”Krejza still wishes well for Hauritz, who was considered a better defensive option, for the Ashes. It was Hauritz who took Krejza’s spot when he was dumped after the Perth loss to South Africa, and he also stepped up when Krejza hurt his ankle ahead of the earlier Adelaide Test against New Zealand.”I’ll still be definitely wishing the best for Nathan,” Krejza said. “I’ll be wishing for Australia to win the series. When Nathan plays, I hope he does his job, gets some poles [wickets] and helps the team win.”

Tasmania have gained three imports from New South Wales and axed three semi-regular members of their side for the 2009-10 season. The Tigers have confirmed their list of contracted players, which does not feature Dane Anderson, Mark Divin or David Dawson, all of whom had deals last summer.Their major signing was the New South Wales opener Ed Cowan, who has 25 first-class games to his name but found himself on the fringes of the Blues outfit last year. Cowan has been joined in heading south by two fellow New South Wales grade cricketers, the fast bowler Adam Maher and the bowling allrounder Matthew Day.Day is one of two new faces on the rookie list, along with the wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt, who played for the Australia Under-19s this year. Jonathan Wells and James Faulkner, both of whom made their Sheffield Shield debuts last summer, have been upgraded from the rookie list to senior deals.The Tigers have lost the fast bowler Chris Duval to his home state of South Australia and couldn’t find room for Anderson, Divin or Dawson. The squad will be captained next season by George Bailey after Daniel Marsh’s decision to step down, although Marsh remains in the squad.Tasmania squad George Bailey (capt), Tim Paine, Travis Birt, Luke Butterworth, Ed Cowan, Gerard Denton, Michael Dighton, Xavier Doherty, Alex Doolan, Brendan Drew, James Faulkner, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith, Ben Hilfenhaus (Cricket Australia contract), Jason Krejza, Rhett Lockyear, Tim Macdonald, Adam Maher, Daniel Marsh, Ricky Ponting (CA), Jonathan Wells.Rookies Matthew Day, Wade Irvine, Brady Jones, John Rogers, Jeremy Smith, Tom Triffitt.

Cheering for West Indies
The large contingent of Indian fans had begun flowing into Trent Bridge well before the start of play. There were sporadic cheers from them as their heroes went through their practice routines but suddenly they roared en masse. The shout was not for anything that had happened at Trent Bridge but for events at the Oval. The scores of the Australia-West Indies match, as it wound to a close, had just been announced over the PA system.Shahadat’s chagrin
Shahadat Hossain had a poor day, finishing with figures of 0 for 31 from three overs, but it could have been so different. Gautam Gambhir slashed at Shahadat’s first ball and hit it in the air towards point where Raqibul Hasan failed to hold a tough catch to his right. The batsmen ran a single and Rohit Sharma flicked the next ball off his pads towards deep backward square leg. Mashrafe Mortaza was the boundary rider but parried another hard chance over the line.The world’s best Twenty20 allrounder …
… is Shakib Al Hasan and he held his own against a powerful Indian batting line-up. He beat Rohit with his first delivery, stranding the batsman yards outside his crease but Mushfiqur Rahim fumbled the stumping opportunity. Shakib spun around, went back to the top of his run-up, bowled a quicker delivery, and hit Rohit’s stumps. He is on his way to becoming Bangladesh’s Daniel Vettori.Ending the drought
A couple of overs of down time during a Twenty20 innings can bring the opposition back strongly into the game. India, after their openers had scored briskly, had gone quiet, hitting no boundaries between overs six and ten. MS Dhoni took charge and deposited the first ball of the 11th over – bowled by Mahmadullah – into the stands beyond the long-on boundary.Just beat it
Yuvraj Singh had scored a sedate run-a-ball seven until he tore into Naeem Islam, hitting the spinner thrice in an over for six over midwicket. He continued the assault against Rubel Hossain, smacking a full toss over long off and clipping two more fours towards fine leg. India were accelerating and the DJ put on Michael Jackson’s hit single and got the crowd imploring Yuvraj to just beat it.A six of two first balls
Irfan Pathan flicked his first ball – bowled by Rubel – over the midwicket boundary and punched fists and shared a laugh with his brother Yusuf. However, when Irfan on to bowl is first ball was powerfully pulled over the midwicket boundary by Junaid Siddique as well. Yusuf bowled the next over, promptly picked up a wicket, and the brothers celebrated again.A deadly debut
Making a debut in the first match of a World Cup campaign could put most novices under pressure. Not Pragyan Ojha. He appeared as experienced as the rest of the Indians, after all he has played two IPLs. Ojha turned the match decisively India’s way by striking twice in his first over. He went on to pick up two more wickets – including a bowled that escaped almost everyone’s attention but Dhoni’s – and finished with 4 for 21. He even took a catch to round off an outstanding first day in India’s Twenty20 colours.

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum has been severely reprimanded by the match referee for showing dissent in Saturday’s six-wicket loss to Deccan Chargers in Johannesburg. After a hearing on Sunday, the match referee S Venkataraghavan found him guilty of breaching Level one of the IPL Code of Conduct for players.The charge was brought up by the on-field umpires S Ravi and Rudi Koertzen. The incident took place in the final over of Deccan’s chase when a no-ball was called by Ravi at square leg off the first ball with Kolkata deemed to have only three fielders in the circle. McCullum was livid with the decision but, after lengthy discussions between him and the umpires, the decision stood.McCullum had apologised at the post-match presentation for arguing with the umpires. “I want to apologise for the reaction out there, it was purely out of emotion,” he said. “We’re going to try to stay as positive as we can. It’s not easy being in a team that has lost of a lot of tight games.”Kolkata have had a woeful campaign, losing ten of their 12 matches so far, and the defeat against Deccan was the second consecutive game they lost after seemingly being in control going into the final two overs.

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has said that the mid-innings strategic time-out, which has come in for widespread criticism, would be reviewed at the end of the season.Sachin Tendulkar had said the seven-and-a-half minute interval, introduced in this year’s tournament, hampered a team’s momentum, and others including Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody and Chennai Super Kings head of cricket operations VB Chandrasekhar had also voiced their disapproval.”I neither agree nor disagree [with the criticism] … this is an innovation, an experiment we are trying this year,” Modi wrote in his blog on the IPL’s official website. “And as with all innovations, there are probably good points to this, and also bad points – but there will be time to evaluate those.”When the league is over, the last ball has been bowled here in South Africa and a winner has been crowned, our real work will begin to fine tune the IPL for improvements next year.”On the basis of an exhaustive review, we will be able to arrive at some conclusions on what has worked, what hasn’t worked; we will be able to decide what needs to be changed, or fine-tuned, or scrapped altogether.”Modi also defended the interruption in play, writing that “such practices are normal in the world of sport be it on the Grid-Iron or the basketball courts of the NBA.”Modi had earlier said the tactical time-out was designed to allow teams to discuss strategy instead of having to spend time on it during the course of the game, and hence minimise match-time delays.