All posts by csb10.top

In the aftermath of the fairly radical Woolf report on independent governance for the ICC, one group of cricketing nations has indicated that it wants its recommendations implemented. Some of the leading Associate countries would like the Woolf recommendations – about a clear pathway to Full Member status, a fairer financial model with funds distributed on a “needs” basis and the adoption of best governance practices – followed through by the ruling body.Of these, leading Associates believe the recommendation that Full Member status need not be restricted only to Test playing nations will be key to their game development and financial growth.A handful of the Full Members have already commented publicly on the report, which has called for sweeping changes in the administration of cricket and the functioning of the ICC. The BCCI’s working committee rejected the key recommendations concerning the restructuring of the ICC, but Cricket Australia and the PCB have been more measured in their comments, saying that it would be wrong to reject the report out of hand and that the ICC executive board should seek a consensus among cricket boards before deciding whether to implement it or not.Bangladesh was the last country to be granted Full Member status back in 2000. More recently, Ireland have pushed their claim to be elevated from the ranks of the Associate Members, sending a letter to the ICC stating their intentions in 2009. However, the lack of a transparent set of conditions for qualification as a Full Member has stymied their ambitions. The Woolf report has recommended that two new Full Members be inducted in 2013, but the Associates are still unclear about the criteria for promotion. “All the Associate countries want to know are the steps so everyone is clear about what they have to do,” Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo. “At the moment there is a very clear step between being an Affiliate Member and being an Associate member. There is no real clear step between being an Associate and being a Full Member.”At present, all 10 current Full Members are also Test-playing nations, but the report recommends Test status should not be a necessary condition to becoming a Full Member, a suggestion that has the backing of the Associates. “It [Test status] seems an artificial way of stifling the development of the game across the world,” Tom Sears, the chief executive of Cricket Kenya, said. “With three formats of the game, you can be a little bit more fluid with that. Obviously, we saw Zimbabwe not competing recently in Test cricket for a number of years. So I don’t think it is any pre-condition that you have to pay Test cricket.”A road map to Full Member status is considered crucial to the continued development of cricket in the Associate countries, as is the access to the Future Tours Programme, because the opportunity to compete at the highest level would not only attract more young athletes to the sport, but also funnel investment into the game through sponsorships and matches against the leading countries. In addition, more games against the Full Members would mean the Associates would be battle-hardened ahead of the ICC’s global events.”As we saw in the last World Cup in 2011, we [Kenya] suffered from chronic lack of exposure to playing the leading nations,” Sears said. “We were found very wanting. So we need to play more of the leading countries on a regular basis to expose our players and to develop our game.”Smith suggested that the process could start by having the Associates play some of the lower ranked Full Members on a more regular basis so that they have a consistent benchmark against which to judge their standard of cricket rather than playing a global event once every four years.”That in our view is the key,” Smith said. “To me, it is not so much playing against each other – those games are fantastic and we want them and are a real boost to our countries – but the real challenge for the Associate countries is closing the gap between ourselves and the lower-ranked Full Members.”The Associates also backed the recommendation that the ICC should distribute funds to Members on a needs basis as opposed to an automatic entitlement. Currently, 75% of the net profits go back to the Full Members evenly. The report recommended the abandonment of fixed percentages of revenue being given to Full Members and suggested the ICC distribute revenues strictly on a needs basis.Such a change, according to the report, would eradicate a “culture of entitlement” currently demonstrated by the Full Members. Opening up the funding system would also give the Associates the resources to invest in developing the game beyond their national sides.Sears said Kenya’s entire budget for the year is roughly $1.5 million for a country with 40 million people. In comparison, the English county of Leicestershire, with a population of about 648,700, had revenues of more than £3m for the last financial year and posted a profit of £294,000. The ECB has also invested heavily in recent times, sanctioning £30 million to help improve facilities and invest in club cricket in 2008.Cricket Canada president Ranjit Saini said in a statement that under the existing system, they are unable to invest in grassroots development of any kind. “In our particular case being a cold weather country, we are forced to undertake major overseas tours for preparations towards any major qualifiers, like the upcoming World Twenty20 Qualifier. In the process much of our funding disappears in the cost of travel and accommodation for our team. We would expect that a need-basis system will likely deal with this issue and create an equal competitive environment.”Afghanistan have shown what is possible for emerging cricket nations•AFP

Such a move could theoretically also benefit India, which is currently responsible for somewhere between 60 to 80% of the cricket’s revenues, and has a large pool of domestic players and a significant number of international stadiums. India would then be entitled to a larger percentage of money from the ICC than a country such as New Zealand.The parts of the Woolf report that are likely to be the most contentious are those that cover governance. It starts by recommending a restructuring of the ICC’s executive board to make it more independent and less dominated by the bigger countries and also recommends a re-examination of the rights and benefits of the current Full Member nations, calling for measures to increase transparency in dealings by the ICC and its members.According to the Associates, a more inclusive and transparent governing body is necessary given the growth of the game over the last decade. “The sport should be run, governed, managed for 105 countries and not just on 10, which I think was a theme that Lord Woolf came back to time and time again,” Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive said. “It now needs to be recognised as a global sport. The mechanisms and structures that have governed the sport since its inception would not appear have been made if not redundant, now need examination, following the growth in the sport, particularly in the last 10 years in terms of the number of countries that play and also the amount of commercial activity that is involved in the game now.”Deutrom believes the game’s governing body needs to adopt “more meritocratic principles” and said the “higher-ranked countries shouldn’t have a forever unchallenged status simply by virtue of being Test countries”.Another of Lord Woof’s recommendations was adopting the principles of one country, one vote, but Smith wasn’t sure that was necessarily the right approach. “India, for example, should have a stronger voice at the ICC than a small Affiliate country with 500 players,” he said. “There has to be a balance. There has to be respect made and recognition that some countries in world cricket are far stronger than others.”What was most important, all the Associate countries agreed, was that the system governing the game should be based on merit. “The key point in the Woolf report is it bases itself on meritocratic principles,” Smith said. “It does talk about governance principles that are held in business and sporting organisations. If that is implemented, then I don’t think the Associates could ask for any more.”

ScorecardEngland Lions put in a good all-round performance at the Shere Bangla Stadium, claiming the opening Twenty20 by 32 runs. The Lions defended 143 with a combined bowling effort, with Nathan Buck, the right-arm seamer, the most impressive with 3 for 16.Jason Roy got the Lions off to a good start with 40 off 19 balls before he was bowled by Mosharraf Hossain. Surrey’s Roy smashed seven fours and added 54 for the second wicket with James Vince, who made 32. Bangladesh A hit back with the immediate wicket of Jonny Bairstow for a duck, leaving the tourists at 81 for 3. James Taylor helped the Lions to a competitive total with a patient 28, which included only two boundaries, but was run out off the final ball of the innings.Bangladesh A got off to a good start, with the openers Nazimuddin and Imrul Kayes adding 31, but fell away. The captain Jahurul Islam made 37 but lacked support from the rest as the Lions chipped away at the wickets and affected two run-outs.The Lions conclude their tour with the second and final Twenty20 on Monday at the same venue.

Rain played spoilsport in New Zealand as one HRV Cup match was called off and the other abandoned without a ball being bowled.In Dunedin, the game was originally reduced to 12 overs. Otago managed 77 for 5, led by Brendon McCullum’s 32 from 26 balls. Left-arm spinner Anton Devcich opened the bowling for Northern Districts and picked up career best figures of 3 for 23 from his four overs.After a second rain interruption, the game was further reduced to 11 overs-a-side, with Nothern Districts set a revised target of 82. But one over into Northern District’s reply, a third and final showed ended proceedings and the points were shared.The match between Central Districts and Canterbury at New Plymouth was called off without a ball being bowled.

A hat-trick by Krishmar Santokie helped Jamaica roll over Netherlands at the Kensington Oval and book their place in the semi-finals of the Caribbean T20. Santokie took 4 for 13 to dismiss Netherlands for a paltry 116, before Jamaica coasted home by eight wickets.The Netherlands scorecard was dotted with single-digit scores, with only Stephan Myburgh (31) and Eric Szwarczynski (44) showing resistance. Nikita Miller, the left-arm spinner, made early inroads with three wickets before Santokie took over. He removed Szwarcynski with the final ball of his third over and bowled Mudassar Bukhari and Timm van der Gugten with the first two balls of his fourth. Netherlands lost their last six wickets for only six runs.Nkrumah Bonner top scored with 35 for Jamaica and put his team on course for victory, sharing an opening stand of 49 with Danza Hyatt. Marlon Samuels and Shawn Findlay knocked off the remaining runs with ease to seal the win with more than two overs to spare.It was another one-sided affair at the same venue as Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) slumped to 76 all out against Barbados, who had already booked their spot in the semi-finals. Floyd Reifer and Yannick Ottley were the only two players to pass double figures for CCC. The wickets were shared among all the Barbados bowlers, with Suliemann Benn finishing with figures of 1 for 9 from four miserly overs. Kirk Edwards and Kevin Stoute hit unbeaten 30s to knock off the required runs in ten overs.

Virender Sehwag saw the Test batsman in David Warner before he realised it himself. Drawn towards a Twenty20 career before his methods matured, Warner was in Delhi when Sehwag helpfully suggested the man synonymous with cricket’s shortest form would make a better player in its longest.The conversation startled Warner, at that stage still yet to receive a baggy blue cap for New South Wales. But Sehwag was prescient, for little more than two years later, Warner is about to open the batting for Australia in a Test match against New Zealand. It has helped that others, Greg Chappell among them, also saw the potential for far more than 20 overs’ racy batting.”Two years ago when I went to Dehli, Sehwag watched me a couple of times and said to me, ‘You’ll be a better Test cricketer than what you will be a Twenty20 player’,” Warner recalled. “I basically looked at him and said, ‘mate, I haven’t even played a first-class game yet’. But he said, ‘All the fielders are around the bat, if the ball is there in your zone you’re still going to hit it. You’re going to have ample opportunity to score runs. You’ve always got to respect the good ball, but you’ve always got to punish the ball you always punish’.”The conversation with Sehwag may have been the start of Warner’s drive towards batsmanship worthy of a Test match, but it was also helped along by Chappell. On the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe, Cricket Australia’s national talent manager told Warner his brief sessions in the nets were not going to prepare him for lengthier innings, and encouraged a more longwinded approach. It worked.”In Zimbabwe he sat down with me and said ‘what are you going to do when you bat today’. I said I’d bat for the 20 minutes we normally get and try to get myself in,” Warner said. “He said ‘if you’re going to get yourself in, how are you going to play your shots then, you’ll just work on getting yourself in and that’s it’. I said we don’t really have that much time, and he replied ‘you’ve got as much time as you want, you’re a professional cricketer, we’ve got net bowlers here’, so I batted for two hours, three hours and it all made sense to me.”If you’re going to score hundreds you’ve got to put time in the nets. Troy Cooley [the tour coach] would say to me a few times ‘you’ve got to get out [of the net] then go back in’, so I did that a few times, prepared like it was lunchtime or a bit of a break for 30-40 minutes, then went back in for another hour or two. I was always conscious of not getting out. In a couple of those sessions I only got out once, and that was to a loose shot from one of the spinners. I really knuckled down there.”On that same tour Warner coshed 211 against the Zimbabweans, batting for eight hours to do it. Like a young adult developing a taste for vegetables after a youth spent avoiding them, he found that first-class runs could feel more rewarding, and that the compressed nature of T20 had made him yearn for the wide open batting expanses of a match played over four or five days. Lately, Warner’s newfound judgment has been noticeable in his T20 innings too, resulting in a consistency of scores he never managed in 2008-09, the summer that had Warner thrust into the national team.”I enjoy it, I wouldn’t actually say it’s easier than Twenty20 cricket or one-day cricket but you’ve got so much time. You’re not rushed at all. You don’t have to score runs,” Warner said. “The wide ones you usually go after in one-day or Twenty20 cricket and they’re the chances that you give, you’re getting yourself out. In four-day cricket, you shouldn’t be getting yourself out at all like that.”A good ball is going to get you out, but a lazy shot you shouldn’t get out like that, you should be kicking yourself. That’s one thing I pride myself on, if I’m getting out I’m not playing a loose shot. It tends to happen a bit with spinners, you think ‘oh I can get some easy runs here’ but you’ve got to have your footwork switched on and be able to play back or forward and not get carried away.”I’ve adapted my game in four-day cricket to be as technical as I can and make sure my defence is as good as can be. That’s the most important thing in four-day cricket, if your defence is good, the runs will come. As people have probably noticed in my one-day and T20 stuff, I’ve started to do that as well, I get myself in, my first 50 is coming off probably 40 balls, instead of 21 or 22 and that’s a reason why I’ve been so consistent in my last few innings, because I’m not going after every ball straight away.”Warner’s difficulty in obtaining a New South Wales cap made him hungry for runs, but also forced him to find the right way to get them. “When I got my baggy blue I was very happy and proud,” Warner said. “It is amazing how in 18 months how everything can turn around, whether it is playing one-dayers or Twenty20 cricket for Australia, how close you can be to the baggy green.”

Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has showered generous praise on fast bowler Chris Martin, who became only the fourth New Zealand bowler to take 200 Test wickets when he dismissed Kyle Jarvis in the Bulawayo Test. Vettori, who is the second-highest wicket-taker for New Zealand, said Martin was one of the best to have bowled for New Zealand.”Chris has always impressed me right from day one,” Vettori told . “He’s a fantastic bowler and probably an under-rated bowler as well. To do what he’s done, it’s a real credit to him and I certainly believe he deserves to be regarded as one of NZ’s best-ever Test bowlers.”It had been a long wait for Martin, who spent 10 months stuck on 199 Test wickets, and then more than 23 overs of toil after Test cricket finally came along. “It was an unfortunate circumstance that I had to wait that long, simply because we haven’t played any Test cricket since January,” Martin said. “I’d bowled 23-odd overs before it came so I didn’t know quite how to celebrate, it was more relief than anything, but it’s a moment I’ll remember for quite some time.”Three of the 200-club men studied in the same school, of course at different times. “To be one of four players to achieve that milestone is an honour, ” Martin said. “And there are three from Christchurch Boys’ High (Richard Hadlee and Chris Cairns being the other two), so that’s a nice achievement for the school. Chris Cairns is obviously immediately above me on the list and I think he’s got 218 wickets, so it would be nice to catch him.”Martin’s average of 34.94 might not strike fear, but that it is only marginally worse than Vettori’s 33.61 proves Vettori’s point that Martin might be under-rated. More than the statistics, it is Martin’s reliability and longevity that have shone through despite starting his career late – less than month shy of his 26th birthday. “Shane Bond was around for a while, but for the most part Chris has carried the pace attack by himself over a long period of time,” Vettori said. “He’s always been reliable.”What Martin has managed is rare for New Zealand fast bowlers – a near injury-free career. He has outlasted more incisive and flashier fast bowlers. New Zealand want him to stay around to share the experience he has garnered over his 11-year-old career with the younger quicks. Martin turns 37 in December, and there is likely to be debate around his place in the side, especially after match returns of 3 for 159 in the Test against Zimbabwe. Vettori, though, thinks there is more to come.”He’s still got a lot left in him and I think he wants to play for a wee while longer, which would be great for us to have him working with the likes of Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell coming through,” Vettori said. “It’s encouraging to have the three of them around for the Australian series [next month]. It’s the first time I’ve seen Bracewell bowl and I’ve been quite impressed by him.”

Hashim Amla will make his international captaincy debut for South Africa in their upcoming T20 and ODI series against Australia. He replaces the injured AB de Villiers, who was named captain in both limited-overs formats in June. The series were due to be de Villiers’ first as skipper but he was ruled out for between four and six weeks after breaking a finger while practicing with the Royal Challengers Bangalore during the Champions League.Amla was chosen as de Villiers’ vice-captain but there was speculation that he would not captain the side straight away, having never done the job before, and described himself as “more of a backroom guy.” But the selectors have shown faith in their decisions and handed Amla the leadership role in both formats. Amla has only played three T20s for South Africa, but has plenty of experience in ODIs, having played 49 matches and is currently ranked the top batsman in the 50-over format.de Villiers’ absence also meant that South Africa had to search for a new wicketkeeper and have turned to an old favourite. Mark Boucher has been recalled to the ODI side having last played an ODI on South Africa’s tour of West Indies in May last year. He was left out of the squad that took part in the World Cup earlier and had made public his desire to return to the limited-overs format of the game, insisting he has plenty of offer in that department. Heino Kuhn has been named wicketkeeper for the T20s while Morne van Wyk, who took part in the World Cup and can bat in the top five, has been excluded from both squads.Andrew Hudson, the convenor of selectors, doesn’t believe the one-day squad needs to be tampered with much, despite the disappointing World Cup campaign where South Africa crashed out in the quarter-finals. Boucher’s inclusion will beef up the middle order along with David Miller, who replaces Colin Ingram. There are plenty of options in the bowling department, with all three spinners who did duty in the World Cup being retained, but no space for Albie Morkel who is only in the T20 squad.”We will probably go in with seven batsmen, including Boucher at No. 7, and we have kept all our bowling options that worked well at the World Cup,” Hudson said. “We will be able to go in with four specialist bowlers plus the back-up of Kallis, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis.”The only new cap is in the T20 squad which includes Cobras opening batsman Richard Levi. He has had an impressive run of form domestically and scored 43 off 27 balls in the team’s Champions League opener against New South Wales. With the mix of youth and experience in the T20 squad Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn are being rested.Both are taking part in the ongoing Champions League, and have enjoyed five months away from cricket since the end of the IPL, but Hudson said leaving them out was part of CSA’s rotation policy. Imran Tahir, who burst onto the international scene at the World Cup, and took 17 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 16.88 for Hampshire in the English Friends Life t20 domestic tournament, has not been included in the T20 squad.”With the ICC World Twenty20 less than a year away we need to keep a solid core of experience around the side,” Hudson said. “At the same time we want to give younger players a run as well and this certainly applies in the case of Richard Levi and David Miller. We don’t have a lot of T20 International matches before the ICC event so it is important that we give the likes of Levi, Miller and Colin Ingram an extended run.”Graeme Smith, who stepped down as T20 captain in August last year and ODI captain after the World Cup, and batted for the first time in a competitive match after having knee surgery for the first time on Saturday, has been named in both squads.South Africa’s series against Australia starts with a T20 on October 13 in Cape Town and that will be followed by another T20 in Johannesburg then three ODIs. The two-Test series starts on November 7 and the Test squad will be announced after three more rounds of SuperSport Series matches.ODI squad Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, David Miller, Morne Morkel , Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo TsotsobeT20 squad Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, Heino Kuhn, Richard Levi, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell , Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of India’s selection panel, has described India’s winless tour of England as a “bad dream” and said the team needed to move ahead and focus on upcoming series, including the tour to Australia that begins in December”Australia is the next target,” Srikkanth told the . “We have a couple of home series [against England and West Indies] before that and from those matches we’ll try and pick the best possible combination for Australia. We have to make up for the loss in England.”Srikkanth, whose tenure was extended by the BCCI at the AGM on September 19, welcomed the appointment of Mohinder Amarnath to the selection panel as the North Zone representative. “Jimmy [Amarnath] is going to add a lot of value,” he said. “We are delighted to have him around us. He comes across as someone who has plenty of cricket experience and that will help us in selection matters.”India were beaten 0-4 in the Test series in England, 0-3 in the five-match ODI series and lost the solitary Twenty20 as well. Srikkanth said the team’s performance was the “worst” during his tenure as selector. “It happens and we have to be patient with the team,” he said. “We have to take corrective measures to ensure that things fall in place. You can’t forget all the good things that happened before the England series.”We won the World Cup and our cricketers didn’t get time to soak in the celebration. Prior to that, we have done well in different conditions. This is a testing time for Indian cricket and we need to try out different things to ensure that we are able to come back with a bang.”Srikkanth said that while England were clearly the “best side” and India were “outplayed in every department”, a number of fitness issues had compounded the team’s problems. The way the youngsters performed, Srikkanth said, was one of the positives to emerge from the tour.”In my opinion, the youngsters fought well in the series. All the matches were affected by rain and the D/L method,” he said. “Plus there were a few injuries as well. What can someone do if Rohit Sharma breaks his finger off the very first ball he faces? You can’t really control injuries. Now we have to move on and the next big challenge is to play to our full strength against England at home.”

Scorecard
Karl Brown and Steven Croft celebrate after scoring the winnings runs•Getty Images

Legend has it that the Holy Grail resides close to Taunton. Whatever the truth in that story, Lancashire will certainly reflect that they found their own version of the Grail in Somerset.After 77 years, a heap of near misses and much wailing and gnashing of teeth, Lancashire can, at last, celebrate winning the County Championship title. After winning 10 of their 16 games, no one could claim they didn’t deserve it. No team lost fewer games, either.There have been many good teams at Lancashire since 1934. And many great players. But Halley’s Comet has been a more regular visitor than Championship success. The Lancashire vintage of 2011 has now achieved something that proved beyond the likes of Clive Lloyd, Wasim Akram, Brian Statham, Murali, Stuart Law, Mike Atherton and David Lloyd. The names of Keedy, Croft, Hogg and Cross are now established forever into Lancashire history.Lancashire won by making a virtue out of necessity. With financial constraints preventing them from recruiting big-name overseas players (the Sri Lankan Farveez Maharoof was 12th man for this game) or ‘stars’ from other counties, Lancashire backed a squad of largely ‘home-grown’ talent. Arguably, 10 of the 11 that won this game are products of the Lancashire system.It was a crucial factor. For Lancashire didn’t buy this title. They didn’t win it through superior skill or superior fitness, either. They won it, largely, through team spirit.Teams can’t buy spirit. It’s forged by shared experience and values. It’s instilled by enjoying the success of team-mates and supporting them through the tough times. Lancashire’s players knew how much a Championship title meant to the club and its supporters.At times when other teams might have faltered – on the final day against Yorkshire and Hampshire or after the debacle at New Road, for example – Lancashire redoubled their efforts, retained their focus and refused to accept defeat. The word ‘belief’ reoccurred frequently in the after-match interviews. Lancashire ‘believed’ in themselves and each other and wouldn’t let anything shake that. It’s worth a great deal.It was a characteristic apparent on the final day at Taunton. For a long time, it appeared Lancashire might be denied. It was not Warwickshire that frustrated them, however, but Somerset. Despite losing Steve Kirby and Craig Meschede (who looks distinctly uncomfortable against the short ball) to the excellent Chapple in the opening overs, Peter Trego led some spirited resistance adding 180 for the final three wickets.Trego, showing admirable patience, recorded his first Championship century of the season and added 75 with Alfonso Thomas and 95 with Murali Kartik. Even though they batted deep into the afternoon session, however, Lancashire never gave up and, buoyed by the news of Warwickshire’s struggles at The Rose Bowl, retained the belief that this was going to be their year.In the end it was Gary Keedy who ended the Somerset innings. Rushing in from point, he scooped and threw to run out a dawdling Geemal Hussain (who endured a quite wretched game). It was the first direct hit run out Keedy has achieved in his 17-year career. It could even prove to be his final act for the club.It left Lancashire needing 211 runs in win in a minimum of 28 overs. But, if there were any nerves, they didn’t show as Horton and Moore, both of whom passed 1,000 Championship runs in this match, ended the match as a contest with a stand of 131 in 17 overs. True, the pitch was flat and Somerset’s tactics unfathomable, but this was a run chase that spoke volumes for their skill, their faith and their selflessness. They won with 29 balls to spare. This isn’t the end of the story for Lancashire.A resurgent club now needs the ECB to confirm that they will host an Ashes Test in 2013; something that should occur within days. Jim Cumbes, the long-serving chief executive who has seen the club through one of the most turbulent periods in its history, can then retire with a job well done.The team can go on from here, too. Glen Chapple has confirmed that he will play on for at least one more year and Keedy will make a decision on whether to stay with Lancashire or move to Warwickshire shortly. Many of the rest of the squad have years of good cricket ahead of them. Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s director of cricket, called this “a new dawn.”This was a fitting reward for Chapple. He will surely never now achieve the Test cap his excellence has deserved but, after 20 years service with Lancashire and having been the runner-up five times, there is no more fitting man to have led the side to the title. He bowled with great pace – at 90mph according to Peter Moores – and, despite a suspected hamstring tear – gave his side a vital attacking edge with the new ball.Lancashire chipped away at Somerset to set up the Championship run chase•PA Photos

He was typically modest afterwards. “The players won this; not me,” he said. “It’s an honour to play in this team. This couldn’t taste any sweeter. We were dismissed at the start of the season – people didn’t think we were good enough – but we were full of belief.”It’s a very difficult trophy to win, but we held on to that belief at all times. Our best achievement is our team spirit. Everyone behind the scenes – the brilliant medical and coaching staff – have played a huge part and Peter Moores is, without doubt, the best coach I’ve ever worked with.”This is a wonderful result for Moores. He could, if he was that sort of character, use this success to lambast the ECB and Kevin Pietersen for his treatment during his time as England coach.But he’s too dignified a fellow for that. Instead, he will allow others to conclude that a man who has helped two success-starved clubs to Championship titles, must be a very fine coach indeed. Whatever his issues at international level – and they may well have been more with his players than him – he is a giant at domestic level. Lancashire need to sign him up for a new contract now. As things stand, he’s out of contract before the start of the 2012 season.”We’ve won because we have a fantastic team spirit,” Moores said. “That’s what got us over the line. Glen Chapple sums that up that spirit. His will was strong and he’s played for 20 years with integrity.”We’ve won 10 games out of 16 on all sorts of grounds and surfaces and, after the first day here, no-one gave us much of a hope.”This was a chastening experience for Somerset. Watching Lancashire celebrate on the Taunton outfield will have stung. It is, however, a mark of the progress Somerset have made in recent years that some of their supporters are disappointed with a fourth place finish. Only clubs with Test-hosting grounds finished above them. It’s a decent achievement and, in the likes of Jos Buttler, Lewis Gregory, Craig Kieswetter and George Dockrell, they have a young side that could end their wait for an elusive Championship title within the near future. In the long term, days like this will just make that success taste even sweeter.There’s little love lost between these sides. Some at Somerset resented what they saw as a lack of resistance from Lancashire in their two key games against Nottinghamshire last season. It’s a pain that still burns at Taunton. “We haven’t forgotten what happened at the end of last season so there is certainly an element of revenge involved,” said Somerset coach, Andy Hurry, before the start of the final day.But at least their motivation ensured that this Championship was won the right way: through hard-fought, attritional cricket. Hampshire, too, did the reputation of the Championship no harm with a determined performance against Warwickshire. Perhaps Durham, too, can feel a little unfortunate: after all, they beat both Warwickshire and Lancashire home and away.The County Championship will always have its detractors. But, for the second year in succession, it’s produced a breathless, thrilling finish. Debates about the quality are legitimate, but in terms of entertainment value, the Championship has never been better.

Pakistan’s chairman of selectors, Mohsin Khan has denied that the Pakistan board has an agenda against senior players. Mohsin was responding to Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq’s comments, in an earlier interview, in which he had accused the Pakistan Cricket Board of indulging in conspiracy to keep senior players out of the national team.It’s the job of the selection committee to finalise the team,” Mohsin told . “I don’t know about any lobby and I don’t feel there is any agenda against the senior players.”While senior players like Razzaq and Shahid Afridi were not included in Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe, the selectors also chose to rest fast bowlers Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, with fringe seamers Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema and Junaid Khan making up the pace attack. There was also a change in the spin department with Abdur Rehman being rested and Yasir Shah being given an opportunity to make his international debut.Reacting to the team selection, Razzaq had told the Urdu newspaper , that “axing of senior players is not in the interest of Pakistan cricket”. Razzaq alleged there was a lobby within the PCB that was misguiding the board chairman Ijaz Butt. “It’s a conspiracy against the senior players,” Razzaq said. “There’s a lobby which is misguiding the chairman who is working sincerely for the promotion of the game. They just want to secure their position in the board and their agenda is against the interest of Pakistan cricket.Razzaq, who last played for Pakistan when they were beaten by India in the World Cup semi-final earlier this year, said that he had “fallen victim to the conspiracies of this lobby”.”This lobby is active in slowly ousting all senior players from the team and there is one main person who is calling the shots from behind the curtain,” he said.However Mohsin dismissed the allegations and said the senior players “should not be disheartened and should work on winning their place by proving their worth in the domestic tournaments”.”The selection committee is working on a simple policy that any player who is doing well should get a chance,” Mohsin said. “We just want to give a chance to the youngsters who are our future. If there was an agenda then we wouldn’t have a 35-year old captain [Misbah-ul-Haq] who is also a very senior player.”The squad for Zimbabwe includes three uncapped players – top-order batsman Rameez Raja, legspinner Shah and seamer Cheema. Mohsin had earlier explained that the fresh look to the squad was an effort to blood youngsters. “We have to bring in young players along with seniors so that they could be groomed,” he said.