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Brad Hodge’s sixth Test was familiar to his first. After a long wait for promotion, his opponents were West Indies and he stepped in with a confident contribution. On an opening day when both sides introduced and recycled some fresh faces, Hodge provided the most attractive support role to the A-list performance of Ricky Ponting.Calm and assured, Hodge did not look like the accidental tourist he became when Michael Clarke delayed his trip to the Caribbean for family reasons. Hodge’s inclusion was expected to last a week in case of another injury, a usually unlikely scenario. Then Matthew Hayden’s heel refused to heal and Hodge went from the fringe to the middle.Australia’s position was unsure when he arrived at 174 for 3. Ponting was cruising, but Michael Hussey had battled after Simon Katich and Phil Jaques departed relatively early. A cut for four was followed by a straight drive to the boundary in the same Daren Powell over. Hodge was settled. On a pitch that was staying low at times, he was troubled on a few occasions, including on 12 when his glance off Amit Jaggernauth was missed by the wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.He was more comfortable when the ball was on the stumps and West Indies helped him re-adjust to Test life. During his debut in 2005, Hodge scored a delightful 60, but Bob Simpson, the former Australia coach, worried about his tendency to play away from his body when pushing at balls outside off stump from the fast bowlers. It was a thought that concerned the selectors enough not to pick him for the 2005-06 South Africa tour, and he was dropped with a Test average of 58.42 after five Tests.West Indies didn’t seem to remember Hodge’s previous problems and he was allowed to drive straight, play behind point and produce the occasional pull. The most brutal shot came two overs before stumps when he stepped back and thrashed Jaggernauth for six over midwicket to bring up his half-century. He finished the day on 53 and will re-start his innings, and his push for more Test action, on the second morning.Ponting out-scored Hodge and the Victorian was happy to remain in control, unlike Katich earlier in the day. Katich had to wait two-and-a-half years for another Test chance and his stay was over in 11 deliveries as an aggressive outlook took hold. The danger of an edge first ball did not put him off and he struck three boundaries before driving airily and falling to a catch in the gully off Fidel Edwards.Australia’s other new face, Brad Haddin, spent a quiet day waiting to bat after collecting his cap from Ricky Ponting and becoming the country’s 400th Test player. Two more wickets have to fall before he can make his first mark.There was no long delay for Jaggernauth – the offspinner’s cap had come from West Indies’ manager Omar Khan – and he was employed by Ramnaresh Sarwan in the second session. While things were much tougher for him after tea, his first victim was unforgettable. Hussey had been proving difficult to remove, but Jaggernauth went around the wicket and forced an edge, which was taken athletically by a lunging Dwayne Bravo at first slip. He finished with 1 for 74 off 20 overs following some heavy treatment from Ponting, who stood above everyone on the opening day.

The Essex and England wicket-keeper James Foster today broke his left thumbwhile playing for his county against Glamorgan in the Frizzell CountyChampionship at Chelmsford.An X-ray this lunchtime on the injured thumb revealed a non-displaced fracture and, at this stage, it is anticipated that he will miss four to six weeks’ cricket.Foster will see a specialist tomorrow for a further assessment of the injurywhich took place while he was keeping wicket standing back to the bowling ofJohn Stephenson.The 22-year-old, who made his England Test debut last winter in India, returned to the Essex side at Southgate last week against Middlesex following a two-month lay-off with a fractured forearm.James Foster said: “This is a huge blow for me coming so soon after breaking my arm earlier in the season. The early indications are that I could be out for a while, but we will have a clearer idea once I have seen the specialisttomorrow.”

With Somerset in the depths of the relegation zone in the county championship and already doomed to Division Two of the NUL National League, the thoughts of their supporters will no doubt be looking for brighter things in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Final against Yorkshire at Lord’s on Saturday.The premier one day cricket competition is the only format of the game where Somerset have been consistent this season, and if they win at Lord’s and retain the trophy they won in September last season, 2002 will be deemed to have been a success by many of their fans, irrespective of the fact that next season they could be playing in the second division in both of the others.Somerset’s allocation of tickets for the Lord’s showcase final sold out at the County Ground within days of going on sale and were snapped up by supporters much quicker this year than they were in 2001.Despite their lack of form in the other forms of cricket the Cidermen have produced a match winning performance in each of the previous rounds of the C and G.Few who were present at Taunton for the semi final against Kent earlier this month are likely to forget how close Somerset were to going out of the 2002 competition and yet still managed to grab a victory from an almost certain defeat.The question that everyone is now asking is whether or not Marcus Trescothick will be fit to play against Yorkshire.The Somerset skipper has been having net practice with the rest of the team at Blackpool earlier this week, and from the time that the cast was removed from his broken thumb he has made it quite clear that he wants to return to the big stage at Lord’s to captain the side. However no decision will be made regarding the England opener’s fitness until just before the start of the match.Likewise a final decision as to who will make up the Somerset attack alongside Andy Caddick and Richard Johnson will also be left until the morning.Somerset coach Kevin Shine has taken a squad of fourteen to Lord’s, which includes five quick bowlers so it is likely that at least one or even two will miss out on a final spot.The full squad is: Jamie Cox, Marcus Trescothick, Matt Wood, Mike Burns, Peter Bowler, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Richard Johnson, Matt Bulbeck, Andy Caddick, Steffan Jones and Simon Francis.The coach told me earlier: "We’ve played well in the C and G for two seasons so I don’t see why we won’t perform against Yorkshire. There is plenty of confidence in the side and we are certainly up for it."Chief executive Peter Anderson told me: "In a season where we have struggled in everything but the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, as the holders we are looking forward to the Lord’s final."He continued: "The players are confident for the final, and of course they will be heartened by the presence of both Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick, who we are very confident will play."

PERTH, Dec 11 AAP – Mighty Murray Goodwin’s marathon knock of 176 for Western Australia stymied Tasmania’s bid for its first outright win of the summer at the WACA Ground today.The former Zimbabwean Test batsman’s 442-minute innings ensured the Pura Cup match ended in a draw on the fourth day.Goodwin guided the Warriors to an eventual second innings total of 405 after they trailed the visitors by 127 runs on first innings.Stumps were drawn early after the dismissal of Michael Clark (26) with Paul Wilson unbeaten on ten.Right-hander Goodwin celebrated his 30th birthday with a composed display the inexperienced home team badly needed with seven players on Australian or Australia A duty.His place in the WA lineup had been questioned this summer after a below-par 2001/02 season but he demonstrated today that he was still a class act.He hit 28 fours in his 344-ball effort and brought up his third hundred in 30 four-day interstate matches for WA with a well-timed straight drive for four off Scott Kremerskothen’s bowling.Goodwin scratched around yesterday but, having survived, he flourished today with his highest score for WA and showed why he averaged just under 43 from 19 Tests for the African nation.Young Tasmanian left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty had the pick of the figures with 4-92 off 30.4 overs.But the result further reduced second-last Western Australia (6) and cellar dweller Tasmania’s (2) already slim hopes of making March’s Pura Cup final.After beginning the day at 4-135, the Warriors started slowly and were in early trouble at 5-175.Debutant Adam Voges (32) failed to further his ambitions at first-class level and Kade Harvey (17) was run out in a mix-up with Goodwin.Harvey attempted to take a second run off a misfield but left himself stranded at the same end as Goodwin.Just after lunch rookie wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi (33) became fast bowler Damien Wright’s (2-44) second scalp with WA leading by 100 runs.However another debutant Beau Casson entered and put his head down taking 46 minutes to record his first run.He and Goodwin put on a 123-run seventh wicket stand in two and a half hours to kill off the visitors’ hopes of adding another four points to the two collected in the first dig.

Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe Cricket’s chairman, has written to all the members of the ICC executive claiming that any move to ban Zimbabwe would be made for political and not cricketing reasons.Chingoka, who faces a motion to discuss Zimbabwe’s status tabled by his friend and ICC president Ray Mali, pointed out that there were no moves to ban Zimbabwe from other international sporting events or organisations.He maintained what he has always said, that Zimbabwe Cricket was an apolitical organisation that could not be held responsible for the political turmoil inside the country.Earlier this week Cricket South Africa suspended all bilateral agreements with Zimbabwe Cricket, and England cancelled the proposed tour by Zimbabwe due in May 2009.Chingoka’s claims were attacked by a former senior administrator who worked closely with him on the board but did not want to be named for fear of his safety. “The reality is that nobody survives inside Zimbabwe today unless they are linked to the ruling elite, especially in an organisation with access to precious foreign currency. The board are heavily politicised and anyone who suggests otherwise is blind. Chingoka and his cronies are desperate to portray an image of a brave souls standing up for cricket against tremendous odds. The reality is the quite the opposite.”And a former Zimbabwe Test player, who also requested anonymity, was equally forthright. “The board has destroyed grassroots cricket here and all that is left is a paper-thin veneer of normality. These guys have caused the world game, not to mention the ICC, no end of embarrassment and they’ve not even done so in defence of cricket. It’s all about self interest. Nobody wants to play us, nobody wants to tour here. What’s the point of maintaining this charade?”No spokesman from Zimbabwe Cricket was prepared to speak to Cricinfo.

THE MCC TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA 1948 / 49Unique and rare footage of the three Tests on England’s first tour abroad after the Second World War – Narrated by Charles Palmer CBESend cheque for £14.24 made payable to “MCC Tour of South Africa” to Mrs S Michael, 1 Park Hill Avenue Leicester LE2 8HQ (Includes postage & packing)Books available:The History of Leicestershire Cricket – Price £11.00 (incl p&p)
100 Greatest Leicestershire Cricketers – Price £13.00 (incl p&p)
Available from Mrs S Michael, Leicestershire County Cricket Club, County Ground, Grace Road Leicester LE2 8ADCheques made payable to Leicestershire County Cricket Club

Sri Lanka all-rounder Thilan Samaraweera has been sent as a replacement for the forthcoming NatWest triangular series after Muttiah Muralitharan was forced to withdraw from the tournament to protect his shoulder.Samaraweera, 25, an off-spinner and middle order batsman, had just returned to Sri Lanka having been a member of the Test squad.He was preferred to fellow off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena, 30, who has been aregular member of the Sri Lanka one-day squad in recent times.Samaraweera, who is better known in the longer form of the game having scoredtwo centuries and three fifties in his first 10 Tests, has played just eightODIs.Samaraweera is expected to arrive in England on Tuesday evening. Sri Lanka play their first game against England at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

The efforts of the Old Trafford groundstaff once the rain finally ceased in the early hours of this morning (Saturday) ultimately proved fruitless as play was abandoned for the second day in succession just after lunch.With the rain unrelenting throughout Friday and well into the night-hours of Saturday, it was always likely to be a tough ask to get the ground fit for play and so was the case when the umpires, Barry Dudleston and Nigel Llong were joined by the two captains and coaches to snuff out any hope on day three.Hampshire skipper Will Kendall told the Hampshire web-site shortly after the inspection, “Full marks to the groundstaff who have worked very hard.”But some areas of the ground, especially at the Stretford End are very wet, to the point of being just plain muddy and with no wind or any sign of the sun, there was no point in waiting for nothing much to happen.”Peter Marron, the Lancashire head groundsman admitted that it would take “a heat-wave today” to dry the ground in time, but there is hope for a resumption on the final day (Sunday), as the groundsmen attempt to further improve the state of the ground – whilst everyone else heads home.

England skipper Nasser Hussain cited poor batting on the second morning as a primary cause of England’s defeat in the second Ashes Test at Adelaide. The tourists were in an apparently strong position at the start of the second day, but failed to build on a promising start.”We had our chances on the first day,” Hussain said. “We put ourselves in a good position and then tossed it away to be honest. To lose seven for 30-odd on a pretty flat Adelaide wicket second day was pretty poor really.”Hussain singled out Michael Vaughan and Richard Dawson for praise for their performances in the Test.”Spirit is not bad in the camp. We know we are letting ourselves down, but we have some star players in our side, like Vaughan and Dawson. Those things lift us and hopefully there will be a few more of those moments in Perth.””We are really down to the bare minimum with players now. We have got to address the fitness situation of players and make sure that everyone who plays is fit and then just work at our own game.”We are playing against a fantastic side. You can’t take that away from them. We have got to try and win the small battle and not concentrate on the bigbattle.”In all three disciplines, they have shown if you play positive batting you get runs and if you put the ball in the right areas you get wickets, so I think we can all learn from this Australian side.”Meanwhile a delighted Australia captain Steve Waugh pointed to positive batting as a primary reason for his team’s success.”All round I thought we batted well, we scored quickly and put pressure on England,” Waugh enthused. “With our quality bowlers it does put pressure on their batsman in the second innings.”I was a bit worried with the rain coming and going; if England had hung on it could have been difficult,” Waugh admitted.”The dropped catches were not the best but we made enough chances to win the game. We haven’t really talked about it but in the last five Tests we’ve dropped about 20 chances.”Ricky Ponting was made Man of the Match award for his 154 – a career-best score against England and his fifth century in the last seven Tests.”Things are going really well,” said Ponting. “I’m batting as well as I ever have in my Test career. We were outplayed on the first day but we bounced back well.”

The draw was made today for the quarter-finals of the Benson and Hedges Cupquarter finals. Pairings are as follows:

Tuesday 21st May (Reserve Day 22nd May)Gloucestershire v Worcestershire at Bristol (TV – Sky)Umpires: Nigel Cowley, Jeff Evans & Allan Jones (3rd)Wednesday 22nd May (Reserve Day 23rd May)Essex v Yorkshire at Chelmsford (TV – Sky)Umpires: Tony Clarkson, Trevor Jesty & Mark Benson (3rd)Leicestershire v Lancashire at Grace RoadUmpires: Mike Harris & Neil MallenderSussex v Warwickshire at HoveUmpires: Graham Burgess & Nigel Llong