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Sachin Tendulkar, who recently ruled himself out of India’s tour to West Indies, has been advised to wait at least another six weeks before returning to competitive cricket. Tendulkar met with the same doctors in London who conducted surgery on his shoulder in March, and it has been decided that he will continue with “a structured rehabilitation programme” of his right shoulder.The medical team at the Hospital of St John and Elizabeth reached the conclusion that Tendulkar, though recovering “well and as expected” was not fit for international competition yet. In a statement released by the hospital, it was reported that his shoulder was now stable and had regained “a full range of motions although strength remains slightly weak”. Though the doctors said that his biceps repair was good, there was still some discomfort in stressing a “weak” tendon.Though the expected timeframe for a recovery from a major tendon stress would be 10 to 12 weeks, the doctors said that in Tendulkar’s case the priority was to regain strength over the next four to six weeks. Tendulkar will be reassessed after a fortnight but will continue his rehabilitation during this time.Meanwhile, Tendulkar has dismissed all suggestions of retirement and insisted that he would continue to compete in both forms of the game.

Bangladesh are planning to stage a one-day tournament in December in a bid to improve their one-day ranking. At the moment, Bangladesh are 11th in the ICC’s rankings, but this will improve to 10th in the coming weeks as some of Kenya’s wins are expunged from the calculations.Under the ICC’s new rules for Champions Trophy qualification, Bangladesh need to be in the top 10 to be part of the play-off between countries ranked from No. 7 to 10 to decide one of two places in the competition.To help do this, Ali Ashgar Lobi, the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s president, told reporters that the board would be looking to stage a triangular one-day series involving Kenya and Zimbabwe, two sides immediately above them in the rankings. Although sources in Kenya indicated that this series would take place in the second week of November, Lobi said that it would be in December or January.Lobi hinted that Chittagong might get the chance of hosting the tournament as there will be no venue in Dhaka at that time.

Chris Read has been named as Nottinghamshire’s captain for this season’s Twenty20 Cup, which comes as some consolation after the harsh manner in which he has been removed from England’s Test and one-day plans.It was Read’s perceived batting weaknesses that led the England selectors to opt for Geraint Jones in both roles, but so far this season, Read had made two centuries in the County Championship, and averages more than 50 in both forms of the game. In addition, his ability to pull out big shots at the latter stages of an innings will stand his team in good stead in the Twenty20 format.”It’s going to be an interesting few weeks for me," admitted Read, whose first match in charge will be against Durham at Trent Bridge on July 2. "I’ll need to learn quickly, but I’m really looking forward to leading out the lads.”

The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCSL) has organized three limited-overpractice games prior to the selection of the Sri Lankan squad to tour the West Indies. The matches will be played on May 25, 26 and 27. Sri Lanka are due toplay three one-day internationals and two Tests in the Caribbean, starting from June 7.Practice match squad: Avishka Gunawardene, Ian Daniel, T.M. Dilshan (wk), Russel Arnold, Upul Chandana, Kaushalya Weereratne, Anushka Polonowita, Chamila Gamage, Michael Vandort, Jehan Mubarak, Dharshana Gamage, Naveed Nawaz, Chamara Silva, Thilan Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Hasantha Fernando, Lanka de Silva, Ravindu Pushpakumara, Taranga Laksitha, Nuwan Zoysa, Ranga Dias, Sujeewa de Silva, Tilan Tushara Mirando, Mudalige Pushpakumara, Malintha Gajanayake, Sahan Wijeratne, Buddhika Fernando, Dinusha Fernando, GayanWeerakoon, Dilhara Fernando

In their final Championship match of the season at Hinkley, Somerset Seconds closed the day 328 behind Leicestershire with nine wickets in hand.The home side batted first and scored 378 for 6 declared with Furnival top scoring with 103. For Somerset Ian Jones took 3 for 88, and Joe Tucker 2 for 55.By close of play on the first day Somerset had moved on to 50 for 1, with Mark Lathwell unbeaten on 27, and David Roberst, a trialist from Northants on 20 not out. The game continues tomorrow.

Usman Khawaja wondered if this moment would ever arrive. When he made his Test debut 1768 days ago, Ricky Ponting was still officially captain (though he did not play that match), Tim Nielsen was coach and Julia Gillard was prime minister. Michael Clarke came and went, then Steven Smith took over. Mickey Arthur came and went, now it’s Darren Lehmann. The prime ministers since then are too numerous to list.Through it all Khawaja kept dreaming, and hoping, and finally his first Test century arrived, late in the afternoon on the first day of the 2015-16 home summer, on his adopted home ground. The release of emotion was obvious in his celebration, a running leap and wave of his bat, before his batting partner and captain, Smith, gave him a hug.”It was just elation, the biggest amount of emotional relief,” Khawaja said. “I’ve wanted to get a Test hundred for Australia my whole life. There were times over the last three or four years I thought it might not happen. When it did happen the build-up of a lot of emotions came out because it’s what I always dreamt about.”The first one is always the hardest, I’ve said, so it’s massive for me. I scored my first first-class century here and now my first Test century. I’m just really excited about the day we’ve had as a team, that’s as good a day as you get. We’ve got a lot of hard work coming up but I’m very excited at the moment. And I like to live in the now, so I’m just enjoying this at the moment.”Khawaja’s hundred came with a swivelled pull for four, and it came from 123 deliveries, an innings in which he showed the kind of positive intent that had sometimes been lacking in his earlier stints as a Test batsman. He lifted the spinner Mark Craig for two classy sixes and never looked like getting bogged down, which had been a problem earlier in his career.”The hard work was done at the top by Davey and Burnsy, they batted beautifully,” Khawaja said of the 161-run opening stand between David Warner and Joe Burns. “It allows us at No. 3 and No. 4 to come out and play a few more shots because the ball is a bit older and the bowlers are a bit tired… It’s a real nice wicket out there and it was easy to play positive for that reason.”I just kept looking to score runs. It makes it easier when you have Davey at the other end, it takes a bit of pressure off you when he’s going, you don’t feel like you have to score very fast. I kept looking for runs, as you do when you’re playing well. Fortunately I got a few in my area and I got off to a flyer, which doesn’t always happen, and kept the momentum going.”There was a moment of concern for Khawaja when he collided with a New Zealand fieldsman while completing a run, and immediately hobbled around in discomfort. Khawaja had surgery on his left knee after suffering a serious injury last summer, but he was able to bat on and complete his hundred without any further problems.”I got a little jar on my left knee, the one I had surgery on,” he said. “It hurt like crap. I was making sure I was all right. It was sore for 10 overs but by the end of it, it was pretty good.”

Darrell Hair will make his return to top-level international umpiring in the second Test between England and New Zealand at Old Trafford on May 23.It will be the first Test he has stood in since the 2006 match between England and Pakistan at The Oval. That became the first game in history to be forfeited after Pakistan refused to take the field following Hair’s ruling that they had tampered with the ball.Hair was subsequently stood down from any matches involved full-member nations, although never officially removed from the Elite panel, but continued to stand in associate games. He took the ICC to court claiming racial discrimination, but withdrew his claims seven days into a tribunal in London last October.He moved back to Australia and went on a six-month rehabilitation course before being reinstated at the ICC’s March meeting in Dubai. Hair will stand alongside fellow Australian Simon Taufel at Old Trafford and will remain for the third Test at Trent Bridge when he’ll be joined by Steve Bucknor.It is still unclear where his long-term future lies as Pakistan have made it clear they don’t want him standing in any of their matches. His current contract runs out in March 2009.

Talat Ali, manager of the Pakistan team, has dampened down rumours of disgruntlement within the side over the appointment of Salman Butt as vice-captain, saying there is “complete harmony” among players.Local reports over the last few days have said that senior members of the team are unhappy with the promotion of Butt to Shoaib Malik’s deputy. The move surprised many when it was announced, given that Butt had only just returned to the side after a spell on the sidelines and also his general inexperience: he has only played 14 Tests and 26 ODIs since his debut in 2003. He replaced Mohammad Asif, who was vice-captain for one series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi.”There is complete harmony in my team and if some people are saying otherwise then they have malicious intentions,” Ali told . “These are false reports. There have been no revolts and there will be no revolts. Our team is slowly turning into a well-oiled unit and we are looking forward our future assignments,” he added.His comments came a day after it was alleged that the manager had a showdown with Shahid Afridi during the team’s recently-concluded training camp in Abbottabad. The incident is said to have occurred on the team bus after training. Butt entered the bus only to find the best seats already taken up.Ali apparently asked Afridi, one of the most experienced members of the side, to offer his seat to the “new vice-captain”, which led to harsh words being exchanged. Ali said the incident had been blown out of proportion and was “no big deal.””I just said (to some of the junior players) that one of you should offer his seat to Salman, he is your vice-captain. It was Afridi who said that ‘he can take my seat, after all he is the vice-captain’. I told him (Afridi) to stay where he is and that some junior boy would vacate his seat but he was insistent and I had to tell him firmly to stop it. That is all that happened and now people are trying to make stories of it,” he explained.Ali admitted, however, that Afridi sounded a “bit sarcastic” in his offer. “He did sound a bit bitter but that was all.”The incident is the latest in Pakistan cricket’s attempts to wean away the hierarchical structure where seniority, of years and matches, and not always performance holds sway in decision-making. The appointment of Malik as captain was seen as one step and the imminent introduction of central contracts which give heavy weightage to performances in the preceding year is another. The promotion of Butt, still not a regular in either form of the game, is seen by many as possibly a step too far.

Division 1

The second day at Old Trafford continued to favour the bowlers as Hampshire fought back from being dismissed for 194 by holding Lancashire to 148 or 6. James Bruce struck twice in his first spell, removing Mark Chilton and Mal Loye, then Sean Ervine collected a brace as Hampshire’s total began to appear more significant. Iain Sutcliffe and Glen Chapple steadied the innings, adding 54, to leave the match fascinatingly poised. Ervine and Bruce had earlier frustrated Lancashire’s efforts to wrap up the tail by adding 41 for the last wicket.Maybe this will be the season that Gordon Muchall fulfils his undoubted talent. It is a point that has been raised at the start of a few recent campaigns, but he began 2006 in the best possible fashion with a career-best, unbeaten 193. Whether this becomes another false dawn remains to be seen but it enabled Durham to make a commanding start against Kent. They are being tipped to struggle as they try to stay in the top division, follow last season’s promotion, but Muchall, along with useful contributions from Phil Mustard and Gary Pratt – who will want this season to be remember for more than just his fielding – showed they certainly won’t be pushovers.Determined batting from the Sussex lower order enabled them to stretch past 300 against Warwickshire at Hove after they’d been in early trouble against Heath Streak. Luke Wright struck an important half-century. For a full report on this match click here.The defending champions, Nottinghamshire, were forced to kick their heels in the dressing-room as the opening day of their clash against Yorkshire was washed out. However, a notable piece of action did take place as Michael Vaughan had his first serious net since leaving the tour of India. He batted in the indoor nets and also jogged around the Trent Bridge outfield with his Yorkshire team-mates.

Division 2

Gloucestershire made the most of what play was possible between the showers on the second day at Bristol, with Alex Gidman scoring a century and John Lewis snapping up two Somerset wickets. Gidman’s 103 off 169 balls enabled Gloucestershire to push their overnight score of 262 for 4 to a healthy 437. In reply, Matthew Wood and John Francis both fell to the accurate Lewis, but Marcus Trescothick managed to survive in his first major innings of the summer.Bilal Shafayat and Lance Klusener took the attack to Essex as Northamptonshire enjoyed a productive opening day at Chelmsford. Shafayat cracked an impressive 118 off 290 balls and Klusener made the same score from 130 deliveries. Contrasting innings, but equally valuable. David Sales, the captain, registered 75 as Northants recovered from 31 for 3 after Darren Gough and Andre Adams had caused problems with the new ball.Derbyshire’s opening fixture against Surrey was meant to have been played at Derby, but the ground was underwater, and they will now be delighted it was switched to The Oval. Derbyshire’s top order took the honours with Travis Birt falling one run short of a century on Championship debut. Fellow Tasmanian, Michael di Venuto, launched the innings in style with a 56-ball 60 – including 13 fours – then Hassan Adnan struck a composed 88. Azhar Mahmood kept Surrey in the game with four wickets after Mohammad Akram was forced out of the attack, in his fourth over, with a groin strain.

The 2006 Twenty20 Cup final will be held at Trent Bridge, the venue for the first final in 2003.”We are absolutely delighted that our bid has been successful and I think it reflects the faith which the ECB have in us to stage big occasions,” said Lisa Pursehouse, Nottinghamshire’s commercial director. “We have a proven track record for filling the ground and running big matches with great efficiency and I’m sure these were key factors in the decision.”It was a magnificent day two years ago when we staged the inaugural Twenty20 final and knowing that other counties were keen to secure the event for 2006, we thought the chances of us getting it again so soon must have been slim. But our proposal has been successful and it’s brilliant news that our members and supporters will have easy access to one of the showpiece sporting occasions of the summer.”The final is provisionally scheduled for Saturday, August 12, with the Sunday set aside as a reserve day should the weather intervene.Trent Bridge will stage the third Test against Sri Lanka which starts on Friday, June 2.