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Phil Jaques: facing a battle on his hands to remain a non-overseas player for Northants next season

Northamptonshire have insisted that they are still expecting Phil Jaques to return for duty next season as a non-overseas player, even though he is currently playing for New South Wales in Australia’s domestic season.Under the ECB’s current regulations, appearing for NSW means that Jaques will be reclassified as an overseas player, as even those holding British or European passports are classified as overseas players if they appear in first-class cricket in their homeland in the preceding 12 months. But Northants are keen to challenge that regulation, thinking that Jaques should still qualify, and a legal battle is looming.John Scopes, Northants’ chairman, was confident of winning the wrangle, saying that he expected Jaques to sign a new three-year contract as early as next week. “We’re proceeding as if Phil will be returning to us next season. I am convinced that the European Union laws are on our side,” Scopes said. “Our lawyers believe it will be illegal if the ECB do not allow us to register Phil as a player for next season. We’re in conversation with them at the moment. We shall fight our corner.”Scopes added: “If he is British, which was accepted by the ECB last season, he can’t suddenly be a non-British player this season.”Jaques was born in Australia but has English parents and thus holds a British passport. He smashed over 1000 runs at an average of 58.70 last season for Northants, and helped them to promotion in both the Championship and National League, so they are understandably keen to keep him.The ECB’s registration committee is due to meet at the end of the month to discuss the matter, but if the rules stand, Jaques will be forced to find another club that will take him on as one of their foreign players, as Northants have already secured their two overseas players.Talking in the last week, Jaques confirmed he was keen to return to Wantage Road, and is confident of doing so. “We think we’ve got a pretty strong case for restraint of trade,” he said. “Since I am a British passport-holder, we feel I should be allowed to play county cricket, even if I do play first-class cricket out here [Australia].”It would be a different story if I was playing for Australia over here and then wanted to play as a local player over there. European law states that anyone holding a passport from an EU member country can work freely within the EU. With England being a part of the EU we feel I should be able to work over there. This is my job, it’s my career, and I feel it’s harsh that I can’t go and work in a place where I do have a passport.”

Former India wicket-keeper MSK Prasad and Y Venugopal Rao were the stars in Andhra’s 52-run win over Kerala at the Trishna Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Saturday.Prasad, who also happens to be the Andhra captain, made 82 off 82 balls and Venugopal Rao 91 off 100 balls as Andhra made 270 for four in their 50 overs.MP Sorab’s 72 off 112 balls meant that the Kerala reply got off to a decent start. But his dismissal with the score on 155, saw the visitors lose their way; they were dismissed for 218 off 49.1 overs. Andhra were rewarded with four points for their win.

Michael Papps – Steers tourists through crisis Photo © CricInfo

The New Zealand A team overcame Hampshire by two wickets at Portsmouth thanks mainly to the batting of wicketkeeper Michael Papps. The tourists had been asked to score 337 runs to win – the second highest such target in a four-innings game on the historic 105 year-old ground.The New Zealanders had started the day in a strong position at 193-2. JarrodEnglefield and nightwatchman Bruce Martin took the total to 230 when theformer was leg-before to Dmitri Mascarenhas. His partner was out just beforelunch to Chris Tremlett who also had Jacob Oram caught.The Kiwis went in to lunch at 283-5 and the issue still in doubt. Captain Scott Styris survived two dropped catches to score 43 before John Stephenson made it third time lucky for the fielders. By now the New Zealanders started to panic aswickets continued to fall. Papps played through the crisis – helped by LanceHamilton who hitherto had not scored a first-class run on the tour – andbrought the Kiwis home. Stephenson with 4-68 was Hampshire’s most successfulbowler.

Alex Neil has been handed a key Sunderland injury boost over wide attacker Nathan Broadhead… 

What’s the latest?

According to The Chronicle, the Black Cats are set to monitor the forward’s fitness ahead of their clash with Lincoln in League One at the weekend.

He has been dealing with a tight hamstring for a number of months and has only made one competitive appearance for the club since the turn of the year – featuring in the 0-0 draw with Charlton on the 5th of this month.

They also quote Neil as saying: “It’s not a massive issue.

“We were disappointed he missed out, because him and Alex [Pritchard] have been very good since I’ve been here and even before that.“It was really pleasing to be able to get the win without them, as well.” Delight

This update will surely delight Neil and supporters as it suggests that the Welshman is closing in on a return from injury and could be in contention to play against the Imps.

His availability would be a major boost to the head coach as he has the quality to be a difference-maker for the club in League One. He has had fitness issues throughout the campaign but has proven his ability to find the back of the net when he has been able to get out on the pitch.

Broadhead, on loan from Everton, has eight goals for the side in all competitions – with five in League One, two in the League Cup and one in the EFL Trophy. His five strikes in the third tier have come from just nine starts and 13 appearances in total, showing that he can score on a regular basis when fit.

The attacker excelled in Everton’s youth side last season prior to his loan at the Stadium of Light. He scored 11 goals and provided three assists in 18 outings in the Premier League 2 and this suggests that his Sunderland form is not a flash in the pan as he has been able to score regularly at youth level as well as in a first-team set-up.

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Broadhead can play through the middle as a centre-forward, as a number 10 and on either flank, which means that he is a brilliant and versatile option for the ex-Preston coach to call upon in the coming weeks and months in the fight to secure a play-off spot. His goalscoring knack has the potential to win valuable points for Sunderland and that is why having him back is a huge boost and Neil will be delighted with this update.

AND in other news, Moyes flop who’s “like Eden Hazard” has seen value rise by £14.4m after leaving SAFC…

Harbhajan Singh made an impact taking the wickets of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf © AFP

Harbhajan Singh said the dropped chance off Misbah-ul-Haq was “crucial”, as India had hoped to bowl Pakistan out by the end of the day. He also said he felt the side possessed the batting to overhaul “any target” despite history suggesting otherwise.”If we had taken Misbah’s catch [he was dropped by Jaffer when on one] , maybe we have could taken around eight or nine wicket or even got them all out,” Harbhajan said at the end of the day, during which he finally made an impression on this Test. “It was a very crucial catch. But it is no use pondering on it… Sometimes catches do get dropped and sometimes brilliant ones are also taken. No one does it deliberately. Instead we must move forward and focus on the fourth day’s play.”Never have India chased more than 190 at this venue – only West Indies, in 1987, and England, in 1972, have managed more than 200 – but Harbhajan sounded optimistic. “We still have a good chance,” he said. “The wicket is playing much better now. As you might have seen when their opening partnership was taking place, we were wondering whether it was the same wicket. It seems like getting better and better.”Yesterday, you might have seen some balls keeping low, but today it was coming on to the bat nicely. Hopefully it remains as it was today or get better and I think we should be able to chase anything. We are very happy to get five wickets in the last session. Anil Kumble bowled well and once again brought us back into the match with those two crucial wickets.”Harbhajan had gone unnoticed in Pakistan’s first innings and took some time to make a mark today. Did he feel he was under-bowled? “I can only come to bowl if I am asked to do so [by the captain],” he said. “We always try to bowl well in partnerships, so sometimes you need to work out which combination works well. So I think whatever he [Anil Kumble] has done, he has got it right. But yes, which bowler would not like to bowl a long spell.”It was only in the third session that he transformed into a threat, dismissing Mohammad Yousuf with a delightful offbreak first up. “When I bowled from that end, it was my first long spell in the match and luckily I got a wicket with my first delivery. And when you take a wicket off the very first delivery, it gives you confidence and you bowl positively. I knew it was just a matter of time before I get to bowl. And I was just thinking that whenever I get to bowl, I will do well and I am glad I was able to take crucial wickets.”

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Mick Lewis troubled South Australia with four wickets © Getty Images

Jason Borgas and Cullen Bailey led an improved batting performance from South Australia, who fought hard to reach 7 for 262 at stumps. Victoria’s fast bowlers took wickets regularly throughout the day after sending South Australia in but could not spark they collapse they craved from a team that only last week were bowled out for 114 and 120.Borgas, the brother of the injured Cameron Borgas, was playing just his second first-class game and stubbornly refused to give in to the Victoria bowling until after four hours he was finally was caught for 66. He was one of four victims for Mick Lewis, who also removed Shane Deitz late in the day for 49. But Bailey, who scored his maiden half-century and finished unbeaten on 52, ensured the visitors would post a competitive total.However, apart from Borgas, the South Australia top order remained a concern. Darren Pattinson, Victoria’s debutant fast bowler, claimed the first breakthrough when he had Tom Plant for 13 and returned later to entice an edge to slip from Ben Cameron (22).Matthew Elliott’s struggle for runs continued as he was caught at second slip for 9 and both Daniel Harris and Mark Cosgrove made starts before falling to Lewis. Both teams were ruthless on their underperforming regulars, with Dan Cullen named 12th man for South Australia and Jon Moss for Victoria.

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Allan Wise led Victoria’s fightback with a superb spell © Getty Images

An inspired spell of left-arm seam bowling from Allan Wise, who snapped up career-best figures of 6 for 89, led Victoria’s fightback against New South Wales on the third day of the Pura Cup clash at Junction Oval. Wise was on a hat-trick as NSW’s last four wickets went for three runs in 26 balls and they were dismissed on lunch for 314.Victoria then produced their best first-innings performance of the season – their previous top score was 271 – when Jason Arnberger, the opener, cracked 67 and Lloyd Mash carried on his fine form with 62. Nick Jewell and David Hussey then consolidated Victoria’s position with an unbeaten stand of 106 from 120 balls as Stuart MacGill and his team-mates could not make much of an impact.The Blues were unable to build on a Phil Jaques-engineered platform after he top-scored with 137 and added 166 for the third wicket with Dominic Thornely, who made 68. Victoria need only 25 runs to seal first-innings points against the competition leader.

Sanath Jayasuirya is one of many who will be in New Zealand, but whose thoughts will be with those back home© AFP

Let us know what you thinkThe Sri Lankan board (SLC) will ask the International Cricket Council to reassess its ruling that the tour of New Zealand has to go ahead despite the recent disaster which hit Sri Lanka.”I understand that the players are not too keen on playing,” Mohan de Silva, the SLC president, told Reuters. “But the board is bound by the ICC’s Future Tours Programme so we have to negotiate with them if the tour is to be cancelled. If individual players are affected, they can take a conscious decision to fly back home but the team will have to stay back as we are trying to negotiate with the ICC to reschedule the series.”A source close to the players told Cricinfo that there was deep unhappiness among the players at the inflexibility of the ICC. Under existing regulations, a tour can only be cancelled on security or safety grounds. The players had a team meeting this morning to discuss the matter and their feelings were made quite clear.This was echoed by Muthiah Muralitharan, who was to join the touring party for the Test matches. “In my opinion, it is not the right time for cricket,” Muralitharan was quoted as saying in the . “Something like this has never happened to my country. I was seeing on the TV today some of the people who are alive in Galle, and there is a lot of organising to do, a lot of feeding people. A lot of our cricketers are from that area.”Murali, recovering from shoulder surgery, survived a narrow shave himself and missed the devastation by about 20 minutes. He spent the weekend in Galle handing out cricket bats to underprivileged children and minutes after he left the city, the tsunami struck.Brendon Kuruppu, the Sri Lankan team manager, was quoted by agencies from Auckland where Sri Lanka lost the first one-day international to New Zealand that his team may consider pulling out of the rest of the tour due to the catastrophe.”It’s highly unlikely the ICC will bend the rules for one country,” Silva admitted, “but we are trying, considering the size of the humanitarian disaster.”Marvan Attapatu and Sanath Jayasuriya were the two players immediately affected by the disaster. Atapattu’s father had traveled to Kataragama when the tsunami struck and Jayasuriya’s mother, who lives in Matara had been injured. de Silva confirmed yesterday that Atapattu’s father was safe and that he had been able to get in touch with his family by cell phone and that arrangements were being made to get him out of Kataragama. According to him, Jayasuriya’s mother too was out of danger.The ICC expressed condolencies to all countries affected by the tsunami. Ehsan Mani, the ICC’s president, said: “Over the coming days we will be speaking to the sporting authorities from Sri Lanka and India, two of our Full Member countries, to find out how we can help the relief efforts.”Let us know what you think

Ian Ward has announced he will leave Surrey at the end of the season, citing the need for a new challenge and fresh motivation as the reason.Ward did not play for Surrey in today’s National League match against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens, but was in the commentary box instead. And talking on , Ward insisted his departure from Surrey was not acrimonious, but said: “I feel my future lies elsewhere, I want a new motivation in a new place. I’m looking forward to a challenge somewhere else.” He didn’t let out where that somewhere else will be, although he did admit he had received interest from a few counties.Keith Medlycott, Surrey’s coach, said that financial reasons also played a big part in Ward’s departure. He said: “Cricket is a business and we have to stay within a set budget, and players’ salaries play take up a big part of that.”Ward, who played five Tests against Pakistan and Australia in 2001, also said he hoped this move would help him revive his international career. “I am desperate to resurrect my England career. I feel a move away with new ideas and new drive is what I need.”

Vincent hasn’t been so popular since singer-songwriter Don McLean was in his heyday but everybody was talking about Lou Vincent after his outstanding debut century at Perth’s WACA yesterday.The New Zealand Herald: “Lou Vincent made a fairytale start to his test cricket career yesterday when he struck a century on debut to leave New Zealand reasonably placed on the first day of the third and deciding test against Australia.”Vincent, who grew up in Forrest Hill on the North Shore and was striking hundreds as a third former for Westlake Boys High School, became just the sixth New Zealander to score a century on debut when he square drove Australian fast-bowler Jason Gillespie to the boundary shortly after the tea adjournment.”Remarkably, it was the first century scored on debut by a touring player in Australia since the Nawab of Pataudi sen struck 102 in the second test of the Bodyline series in 1932-33, and one of only four after the first-time efforts of Englishmen R.E. Foster in 1903-04 and George Gunn in 1907-08.”The Sydney Morning Herald: “The pre-match warnings of a terror ride for the Kiwis on the best fast bowling strip in the country would have seemed a distant memory for Fleming and Vincent as they went to tea with an impressive partnership of 171 in 207 minutes behind them, with Vincent on 86 and Fleming on 79.”Fleming passed 50 for the 34th time in Tests, contributing a fine captain’s hand with more of the style to suggest he should have converted far more than two of those half-centuries into hundreds.”But the real hero for New Zealand was Vincent, the Auckland-born 23-year-old who was raised in Adelaide and was shaping for a career as an Australian football umpire before cricket took hold.”Known as a middle-order batsman and a hugely talented fieldsman, Vincent was injected into his first Test as opener on this pacemen’s pitch and covered himself in glory.”Peter Roebuck (The Sydney Morning Herald): “It was a remarkable effort. He had done it on a pitch whose bounce has unnerved those unaccustomed to it. He’d done it against a vaunted attack and in the last and decisive match of a series. He’d done it on debut after leaving his usual perch in the middle order, and despite the early departure of his senior partners. It was the innings of a lifetime.”Pressed into service as an opening bat, the 23-year-old showed the temperament and technique of an old hand. No-one had ever doubted his spirit, for he is a sportsman from top to tail and proved it with a diving catch in Brisbane and by his willingness to accept a position in the batting that causes vertigo amongst lesser mortals. That his technique stood the test was more surprising.”At first Vincent did not look like lasting long as he prodded at a few deliveries and almost edged to slip or to fieldsmen placed close by. For 20 minutes he did not score a run. Significantly, Vincent did not panic in this period, instead biding his time with the air of a man with greater plans. Here was a fellow determined to grasp his opportunity. He did not change from first to last and was entirely focused. He was excited by the challenges and unperturbed by the hazards.”The Daily Telegraph: “Australia’s cricketing production line produced another Test match hero – for the wrong team – but it wasn’t enough to stop the locals from storming back to level terms at the WACA.”Adelaide-raised Lou Vincent, who said he had been facing Australia’s bowlers in his dreams, yesterday found them far less fearsome in the flesh when he claimed a stunning debut Test century for New Zealand.”New Zealand were 7-293 at stumps on day one of the Third Test after Vincent (104) and Steve Fleming (105) adding 199 for the third wicket in the most serious resistance Australia had faced since VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid stormed their castle in India.”Australia’s cause was desperate when the Kiwis had waltzed without discomfort to 2-218 but the tourists lost 4-17 just before stumps in the series decider.”Even though Australia’s bowling for most of the day was modest, there was a buoyancy among the Australians as they left the field, as if they had soaked up the tourists best punch and still finished the day a nostril ahead.”The Australian: “Haunting memories of Australia’s heartbreaking defeat in India earlier this year evaporated with the second new ball at Perth’s WACA Ground yesterday after New Zealand’s smiling debutant Lou Vincent and quality captain Stephen Fleming put Australia to the sword on the opening day of the third and final Test.”Both scored centuries before Jason Gillespie (3-79) and Brett Lee (2-89) claimed two wickets each in a stunning late burst which saw New Zealand lose 4-17 to finish 7-293 at stumps, giving Australia the ascendancy they had lacked for most of the day.”After washouts in Brisbane and Hobart, this match will decide the trans-Tasman trophy.”Vincent (104) and Fleming (105) added a third-wicket partnership of 199 in four hours, the highest stand against Australia since VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid put on 376 in Calcutta earlier this year to flip that Test and series on its head.”A 23-year-old middle-order player, Vincent had just one first-class century before yesterday. He was given the opportunity to open in this match when Matthew Bell was dropped.”After batting for 4½ hours, facing 207 balls and hitting 15 fours and a six, Vincent fell in somewhat controversial circumstances. He was given out, caught at first slip by Mark Waugh after driving at a ball which may have turned so far that the right-hander simply missed it and hit the pitch with his bat.”