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Karnataka have begun to alternate wicketkeeping duties between Robin Uthappa and CM Gautam at the behest of KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel to facilitate Uthappa’s return to international cricket as a wicketkeeper-batsman. The decision, which gave Karnataka’s batting coach J Arun Kumar “sleepless nights”, has come as a challenge for Gautam, who has found the switch between keeping and fielding “irritating.”Gautam kept wicket in Karnataka’s opening game against Assam in Guwahati, but Uthappa kept against Bengal. Gautam was back as keeper in the first innings against Vidarbha, but Uthappa took over in the second.Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar had said before the start of the Vidarbha game that it was Uthappa’s call to keep wicket, and Arun Kumar confirmed that was the case.”It was not a strategy but it was just the interest of Robin Uthappa trying to play for the country as a wicketkeeper batsman after Dhoni has retired,” Arun Kumar told ESPNcricinfo. “We took it to Mr. Brijesh Patel also, and Brijesh Patel took the decision that now let them alternate keeping. Even it was beyond my comprehension, but we still went to Brijesh and he said share the duty.”Gautam had said during the Vidarbha match that he did not have a choice in the matter, and later said that flitting between the roles of a keeper and a fielder was hard. “It is irritating because on and off keeping is not that easy also because I have to focus on my fielding,” Gautam told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s a new challenge for me because I haven’t done this for the past seven years.”Arun Kumar said it was hard for him to strike a balance between the interests of an individual and a team. “I am [in] a bit of a tight spot, to be honest. It’s not an easy thing for me convince both of them. It took a lot of sleepless nights for me to decide on this.””Obviously CM Gautam was really hurt, and then I explained to him that people know you are a good keeper. You don’t have to prove anything. The selectors know apart from [Wriddhiman] Saha you are the best keeper in the country.”Same thing to Robin also. He has kept in IPL and people know he is a good keeper. Both of them will have to get 1000 runs a season to break into the India side, as simple as that.”According to Arun Kumar, a slightly revised arrangement will now have Gautam keeping in the first innings before making way for Uthappa in the second. “Basically Robin wants to keep in touch with keeping, CM is a professional keeper. For Robin to keep in touch even in the second innings is good as long as he gets every match.”So I thought the logical way to do it is that let CM keep in the first, Robin in the second so that we are fair to both of them. Now we have come down to this and both are happy now.”Arun Kumar said Gautam was deliberately stationed at first slip next to Uthappa to bridge any communication gap. “I want both of them to talk to each other, understand each other better than keeping somebody away,” he said. “If it’s filled up with a lot of silence then you don’t know what’s running in each other’s mind.”As a coach of a very confident team, a very understanding team, we are like a family. Obviously there will be a lot of quarrels and misunderstandings in the family, but it’s my duty as a coach to set everything right. So, it’s a healthy competition going on. They have no animosity between them.”Gautam said he did not want to dwell on it. “I don’t really want to think too much and get frustrated over the issue. I want to focus on my cricket. End of the day, I want Karnataka want to win. I always played for that. Whether I play for India or not, I ultimately want my team to win. So, whatever they feel comfortable or happy with, I will go by that.”

Kenya’s Under-15s will take part in a three-week tournament in the West Indies this week, to prepare for the 2010 Under-19 World Cup. Kenya are the only African nation following the withdrawal of Zimbabwe, who had visa problems. Malaysia have replaced them.”We are focusing on the 2010 Under-19 World Cup that will be held in Kenya and intend to prepare our team most of whose players will come from this age group,” Tom Tikolo, Cricket Kenya’s chief executive, said.Aside from West Indies and Kenya, the other countries participating are Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland, Pakistan and an ICC American Development team – a composite of players from Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands and Bahamas.Kenya open their campaign against the American Development team in Barbados on April 19.

David Morgan, the chairman of the England & Wales Cricket Board, is set to be named as the next president of the ICC, and will take over from Ray Mali, the South African acting president next year.According to the BBC, a deal has been struck between the two leading candidates for the job, Morgan and Sharad Pawar, the president of the BCCI, who met in private this week in a bid to overcome the impasse that was created after an ICC governance committee cast equal votes for the two candidates earlier this year.There had been some speculation that the job could have been decided on the toss of a coin, but instead both candidates will become vice-presidents, in effect presidents elect. Morgan will take the helm next year for a two-year tenure, with Pawar succeeding him in 2010 – in time to take control of the 2011 World Cup in the Subcontinent.The ICC executive committee is currently in London for a series of meetings ahead of the annual conference at Lord’s on Friday. Mali will take the chair left vacant by the untimely death in May of his predecessor, Percy Sonn, but the news of an agreement between Morgan and Pawar is a welcome development at the end of an unsettled period for the organisation.A formal announcement of the agreement is expected later in the week, as the ICC embarks on a tricky agenda that will include the fall-out from the recent World Cup, and the ongoing situation in Zimbabwe.Morgan, 69, has been the chairman of the ECB since January 2003, and prior to that was at the helm of Glamorgan County Cricket Club. He was seen as a “safe pair of hands” when elected to succeed Lord MacLaurin, but attracted criticism for his handling of the Zimbabwe question in particular.

Division One

Sajid Mahmood and Glen Chapple bowled Lancashire to their first win of season despite a spirited effort from Durham to bat out the final day. Jimmy Maher had been the stumbling block earlier in the day before he was snared at silly point off Gary Keedy. Mahmood claimed the key wicket of Dale Benkenstein, who had batted over three hours for 88, then helped remove the tail with Chapple. Dominic Cork bowled his first overs of the match after recovering sufficiently from his ankle injury but didn’t add his name to the wicket-takers.Kent put the memories of their opening-round defeat against Durham behind them with an outstanding run chase against Middlesex. Starting the day needing 311 more runs, they made light work of the pursuit thanks to Martin van Jaarsveld’s fine century. He struck 14 boundaries and was well supported by David Fulton. Matthew Walker took over the job when van Jaarsveld departed, sealing the result with an unbeaten 84 to follow his century in the first innings.South Australia failed to save Yorkshire as Heath Streak snapped up the final wicket for Warwickshire with three balls to spare at Edgbaston. Darren Lehmann struck a superb 150 to raise Yorkshire’s hopes of a draw with Michael Lumb offer valuable support. But when the ninth wicket fell defeat seem near only for Jason Gillespie and John Blain to survive for over an hour. However, Streak brought himself back and, with moments to spare, had the final say when Blain was trapped lbw.

Division Two

Essex wrapped up an impressive innings victory over Glamorgan midway through the final day. Two early wickets for Darren Gough put them on course, before the Glamorgan lower order offered some belated resistance. Mark Wallace hung around and Robert Croft played his shots, but it was all academic. Ryan ten doeschate completed a fine match with two wickets as he and Tim Phillips wound up proceedings.Darren Maddy’s 97 wasn’t enough to prevent Leicestershire sliding to a 99-run defeat against Surrey. When he fell to Jimmy Ormond it was only a matter of time before the tail subsided, despite some defiant blows from Mohammad Asif. Rikki Clarke improved on some of his recent bowling efforts with three important wickets, while Ian Salisbury finished off the innings.

Marcus Trescothick is confident England can bounce back from their 57-run defeat against Australia at Durham. Trescothick was standing in for Michael Vaughan, who missed the match with a groin injury, but watched as the England top-order was reduced to 6 for 3 by Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.Trescothick struggled for 15 balls until he was caught behind off McGrath for a duck, as England struggled to 209 for 9 in reply to Australia’s 266 for 5, while the extra pace of Lee brought a renewed vigour to the Australian attack.”I hope there’s no long-term damage from this defeat,” Trescothick told the Press Association. “I don’t think so, judging by the guys who were sat around the balcony talking about it when we were watching the game. I think the confidence and the spirit goes a lot deeper than losing one game and I don’t think it will hurt us too much.”We’re getting more and more experience all the time and that’s the key to bouncing back from defeats, and it was good to see we didn’t get bowled out at the end, that was really important for us. We were struggling for quite a long time and we could quite easily have folded in 40 overs, but we didn’t and held out and that shows the character of the team.”England’s next match is on Sunday at Headingley, while Australia now move onto Old Trafford for Saturday’s clash against Bangladesh with their confidence and form clearly on an upward curve.Ricky Ponting said he was delighted with Australia’s performance: “The pressure we created with the ball and in the field was as good as it’s been for a long time. What we’ve done is set a standard for ourselves again. That standard had been lowered in the last couple of games we’d played and we’ve got that standard right back up there. It’s important for us all to understand what it is that’s made us play at this level and we take it on for the rest of the series.”It’s our first win and we’re not getting carried away with anything, but it’s important we focus on the finer detail of our preparation and our play out in the middle. There’s still some way to go yet, but we’re just at the tip of the iceberg of what there might be to come from this team in the next few weeks.”England are expected to give Vaughan further treatment over the next couple of days before deciding whether he is fit enough to return against Bangladesh at Headingley. Australia have an injury concern over Michael Clarke after he was ruled out of the win at Durham with back trouble.

The following is a statement issued by Denis Streak regarding Heath Streak’s dismissal by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union:As a father to Heath Streak, I am alarmed at the various press reportsregarding my son’s position with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. My son himselfcannot make a statement as he considers himself bound by his contract withthe ZCU, which limits his ability to make any press statements.I am fully aware of the situation, as Heath has obviously discussed matterswith me. Heath, at no time, tendered or threatened to tender his resignationas captain or as a national player as alleged by the ZCU. All he said wasthat if his concerns were not addressed he would “consider possibleretirement from international cricket”.In the circumstances the ZCU, in my view, have acted unlawfully in terminating Heath’s position as captain and a member of the Zimbabwe national squad. I am aware that he is seeking legal advice regarding this issue and enjoys overwhelming support and encouragement from both his fellow players and the cricketing public in Zimbabwe.Denis Streak

THE Western Australian Cricket Association today announced a Western Warriors squad to play Victorian Bushrangers in an ING Cup match at the MCG on Friday, January 10, 2003.Australian Test team opener Justin Langer returns to captain the Warriors. Australia `A’ team pace bowler Brad Williams is also in the squad.Young spinner Beau Casson has been selected to make his limited-overs debut. He captured a match haul 10-176 against the Southern Redbacks in Adelaide in only his second first-class last month.The Warriors ING Cup team is:Justin Langer (captain), Michael Hussey, Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, Beau Casson, Michael Clark, Murray Goodwin, Kade Harvey, Shaun Marsh, Chris Rogers, Callum Thorp, Brad Williams and Paul Wilson.

Security is to be increased at Trent Bridge in preparation for tomorrow’s One-Day International between Australia and Pakistan.Temporary plastic fencing and a doubling of the stewards are just two of the methods being used to avoid a repetition of the scenes at Headingley yesterday where a steward was seriously injured in a pitch invasion.Notts chief executive David Collier, speaking on BBC Five Live, revealed that the authorities at Trent Bridge have learnt from the example of Rugby and are preparing a package of measures to prevent further trouble.”During the winter months we did commission a report by independent consultants looking at the safety risks, in conjunction with the ECB, and in particular how we stopped incursions onto the field,””For the match at Trent Bridge, not only have we doubled the number of stewards, but we’ve also been in contact with the RFU (Rugby Football Union) at Twickenham, who have been most helpful.”Twickenham has utilised some plastic barrier fencing in recent years, which has proved to be very successful. That will be utilised at Trent Bridge tomorrow night.”On both occasions that games in the NatWest Series have been affected by crowd invasions the majority – but not all – of the offenders have been Pakistan fans. In order to appeal directly to them, the authorities at Trent Bridge have ensured the presence of Urdu and Punjabi speakers at the game tomorrow.”We’ve got Urdu and Punjabi speakers on our public address, we’ve got posters that we’ve printed up asking people to assist us,” Collier revealed. “The Pakistani community are very enthusiastic about their cricket and we do wish to appeal to them to work with us to maintain safety.”Collier also admitted that the club had been in contact with government officials to see if a series of deterrents could be put in place before the game.”We have previously been in contact with the Home Office, through the ECB, to see if we can prevent people coming onto the field of play with some deterrent penalties, such as fines,” he said. “We will be re-contacting the Home Office to see if that can be utilised in both the short and long term.”Meanwhile Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell has insisted that the club did everything they could to prevent trouble at Headingley. He hinted that government help in the form of deterrents would need to be instigated if a repetition is to be avoided.”I don’t honestly think any other measures we could have taken would have made any significant difference because if a couple of thousand people want to get onto the pitch it would take a huge army to stop them,” Hassell said.”So we have to go down some different routes such as legislation and banning people coming onto the pitch at any time.”

Hampshire’s Rose Bowl will host its maiden Test match in 2011 when Sri Lanka tour England for a three-Test series in May and June. The decision was announced by the England & Wales Cricket Board as they unveiled their schedule for the next three seasons.”This is a truly historic day for The Rose Bowl and Hampshire Cricket,” said the chairman, Rod Bransgrove. “Staff, players, members, supporters, commercial partners, in fact anyone with an association with this fantastic ground can feel a huge sense of pride in what has been achieved.”The Rose Bowl has been fighting for Test recognition for the past four years, and in 2006 it suffered a major setback when Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens jumped the queue to land a prestigious Ashes Test for next summer. There was a feeling that the ground was hamstrung by a lack of direct transport links, not least during the Champions Trophy in 2004, but Bransgrove believes that a corner has been turned.”This is the culmination of an enormous amount of hard work and dedication and yes, it is the fulfilment of a personal dream,” he said. “It is important that this is not seen as ‘mission accomplished’ though, as we fully intend to be a permanent fixture on the Test-match calendar from 2011 onwards.”Bransgrove added: “This allocation of matches was hard-fought and demonstrates that with our new £45million development, turning the ground into the first ever model Test match ground, we are now one of the major sports and entertainment venues in the country. The allocation perfectly matches our proposed development timescale, due for completion in the summer of 2010 and fully tested, well before our historic first Test match in 2011.”The Rose Bowl will become the tenth Test venue in England and Wales, after the decision was reached by the independent Major Match Group, chaired by Lord Morris of Handsworth, and endorsed by the ECB Board which met at Lord’s this week.”We were presented with a more than 200 excellent and professional bids for the ECB major matches until the end of the 2011 season. It demonstrated to us the ever growing strength of international cricket in England and Wales.”We were delighted to note the increasing quality and quantity of world-class facilities provided by our venues,” said Lord Morris. “The MMG examined each and everyone against our balanced scorecard which specifically rewards grounds for the excellence of their facilities. We have nominated the venues that were best suited and most deserved to be awarded the major matches.”

West Indies are hoping to travel to Canada in August to play a series of Twenty20 matches in preparation for the format’s inaugural World Championship the following month, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) confirmed to Cricinfo today. The board also revealed it will be sending an A team to Zimbabwe in July, despite the recent withdrawal of Australia from their tour of the country.”We have our regional [domestic] Twenty20 in the middle of August, and we are hoping to select our team for the World Championship in South Africa immediately after that tournament, around August 25,” Bruce Aanensen, WICB’s chief executive, told Cricinfo. “And once we select our team, the plan is to go to Canada which should be ideal preparation for the tournament in South Africa.”Though its preparation is still in the preliminary stages, Aanensen is “anxious that it takes place, as it’s part of our build up”. Inevitably, there are television contract rights to be finalised before the tour gets the go ahead.The board is also in negotiations to send an A team to Zimbabwe in July for three four-day matches in Harare and two one-dayers. “We feel at this stage that the tour is on,” Tony Deyal, the board’s Corporate Secretary, told Cricinfo. “Our understanding is that Zimbabwe Cricket is doing everything possible to ensure the players’ safety, so we will be going to the West Indies board to seek approval that the tour goes ahead.”Should it be confirmed, West Indies A will leave on July 1 and return on July 27. An announcement from the board is expected by the end of next week.But under the agreement signed with the players’ association (WIPA) both tours should be agreed before they are planned and announced. Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA’s CEO, told Cricinfo that neither trip had been discussed. With an ongoing dispute regarding the England tour with arbitrators at the moment, it seems possible that the next two tours could also end up going down that route.