The suspense over who will host the World Cup in 2011 is set to be resolved during the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Dubai on April 30. The ICC will weigh up the merits of two bids – a joint Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka proposal against one from Australia and New Zealand.Malcolm Speed, ICC’s chief executive, said that it would be a difficult decision. “We put in place some very strict compliance guidelines so a lot of work has gone into both of these submissions,” he was quoted as saying by AFP. “Both have government support and have indicated their ability to comply with strict ICC criteria regarding the number of venues, the quality of facilities and the exemption from tax.”Top notch facilities and experience at hosting big events would count in Australia and New Zealand’s favour. Australia and New Zealand jointly organised the World Cup in 1992 and feel they have the right by rotation to host the tournament in 2011. James Sutherland, chief executive of Cricket Australia, spoke of the factors that could help them clinch it. “In very recent history Australia has hosted the Olympics, hosted the Rugby World Cup and with the Commonwealth Games there’s a proven track record of performance that stands us in good stead,” he said. “The facilities, the track record of putting on these large sporting events, and also the resources that we have, the human resources we have in our country and New Zealand, are really strong factors in our favour.”However, they will receive some stiff competition from the South Asian countries, with the claim that they deserve to host every third edition of the World Cup. “Our claim is a rightful one,” said Sharad Pawar, the chief of the Indian board. “The South Asian region has four of the 10 Test-playing nations and a large part of the money earned from cricket comes from here, so there is good reason that every third World Cup be held here. Our proposal is not about India alone. To see matches being held in more countries would mean more crowd participation.”Speed added that there was a chance of the deadlock continuing, considering that a decision of the ICC requires the support of the majority of Full and Associate Member representatives including at least seven of the 10 Full Members. “It may be that neither submission has sufficient support at the end of the meeting in which case the board will have to reconvene at a later date,” he warned. “This has happened in the past, most notably during discussions regarding the hosting of the 1996 World Cup, and is something we will deal with if required.”Whoever loses has the consolation of knowing that they will almost certainly hold the event in 2015. England, which had initially bid for the 2015 event, is expected to withdraw its offer and be awarded the right to host the 2019 tournament at the ICC’s conference in July.

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.

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.

The great and the good of the ICC meet in London next week, but this week it was the turn of the Federation Of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) to hold their annual general meeting.”The meeting of the member player associations, conducted over two days in London, considered issues ranging from cricket operations, relationships with stakeholders and FICA commercial and administration matters,” Tim May, FICA’s chief executive, explained. “The discussions involved a diverse range of voices from the cricketing world and there were detailed and healthy debates concerning a number of key issues.”FICA’s annual meeting is very valuable for our member associations. In addition to attending to the statutory and constitutional requirements of an annual meeting – it gives each player association a fantastic forum in which to express their views and for the group to reach positions on both operational and commercial matters.”FICA has been very much at loggerheads with the ICC on the issue of player burnout of late, and the Future Tours Programme was very much at the forefront of discussions. FICA members decided to approve a revised model of compliance for member countries to consider at the ICC meeting.The revisions include:

After unprecedented scenes during last year’s Somerset-St George’s Cup match, the Bermuda Cricket Board has brought in two top English umpires to officiate in this year’s game.Retired Test umpires David Shepherd and Mervyn Kitchen will take charge of a two-day game which in among the most fiercely competitive in the world.Randy Butler, the secretary of the local umpires’ association, was less than thrilled at his men missing out, and he had a warning for both teams:”I just hope they realise the seriousness of abiding by the ICC’s code of conduct because these guys are very experienced and will not tolerate any of the nonsense that we saw in Cup Match last year or fans running onto the pitch.”

Stuart Broad has won the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Player of the Year award after his rapid rise through the Leicestershire ranks and into the England one-day squad. He was presented with the award at the club’s annual dinner in central London on Friday night.He joins a long list of illustrious names, but it doesn’t include his father, Chris, who was also at the dinner. Stuart said: “It’s nice to be the first Broad to win this award.”Broad has taken 40 first-class wickets this season and claimed four for 63 on Friday, in Leicestershire’s draw against Northamptonshire, before traveling down to London.Broad polled nearly three times as many votes as his nearest challenger – last year’s winner Alastair Cook – and beat off competition from other candidates like Lancashire’s Tom Smith, Ravi Bopara of Essex, Durham’s Liam Plunkett and the Worcestershire wicketkeeper Steven Davies.Previous winners

The national selection committee will have certainly one, and possibly two, new faces when the BCCI’s annual general meeting takes place in Mumbai on September 27 and 28. Kiran More, the former Indian wicketkeeper who’s currently the chairman of the committee, has completed four years, and will make way for someone else from the West Zone. VB Chandrasekhar, from Tamil Nadu in the South Zone, could also be out, as it is Hyderabad’s turn to nominate someone from South Zone to the national selection panel.”I am tired of answering this question. He [More] has been selector for four years, as per the constitution, and his term is over,” Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, emphatically told Cricinfo, scotching all speculation that this committee could continue intact till the end of the World Cup. Earlier there were suggestions that this committee should continue, with an extra-constitutional extension as a one-off case, as it would benefit the team if there was a sense of continuity in the selection panel till the World Cup was over.”How can the term be extended? Can a secretary’s term be extended just like that?” asked Shah, “[this is ] unnecessary speculation in the media. Why should there be any confusion?” As per the board’s constitution, which is to be amended in September at the forthcoming annual general meeting, the term of office is two years with a possible extension for one year. This means that future selectors could have a three-year term, but that would not be applicable till the constitution is amended.In the current system each of the five zones – North, South, East, West and Central – nominates a candidate to the national selection committee. In the South this is done in rotation among the major teams – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Hyderabad. At the end of this term, it is Hyderabad’s turn to nominate someone from the zone, and the name of Venkatapathy Raju, the former Indian left-arm spinner, is doing the rounds. Raju is currently head of the Hyderabad selection committee.In the West, the front-runner is Dilip Vengsarkar, but it is unclear whether he wants to take up the post. The West Zone does not follow the tradition of rotation among teams, and could nominate anyone. The name of Dhiraj Parsana, the former Gujarat and India allrounder, has also cropped up. If he becomes a selector Parsana will be the first from Gujarat.Ranjib Biswal (East), Sanjay Jagdale (Central) and Bhupinder Singh (North), the three other members of the selection committee, are likely to continue as they have not completed their terms yet.

Andrew Flintoff, England’s captain, has insisted that the Champions Trophy is his team’s sole focus, as they prepare to fly out to India this afternoon to begin a long winter campaign that culminates in the Ashes and the World Cup.Flintoff will be leading England for the first time since the Test series against Sri Lanka in June, as he continues to recuperate from an ankle operation that will limit his allround effectiveness in the coming tournament.”Everything I’ve done so far, the running back home, has responded well,” he told reporters at the Heathrow Marriott Hotel. “In the nets I’ve probably bowled at 50-60% and it’s responded well to that, so we’ll start building it up over the next couple of weeks. At this stage we can’t set a date or say when I’ll be bowling again.”Flintoff’s presence alone will boost a one-day side that has missed him woefully at times this season, although their achievement in battling back to a 2-2 draw against Pakistan last month was a timely fillip ahead of the Champions Trophy. “It was a great effort and showed signs of improvement,” said Flintoff, “but what we’ve got to work on is consistency.”England are in a four-man group that includes the hosts, India, as well as the World Champions, Australia, whom England beat in the same competition two years ago, en route to a place in the final. On that occasion they they eventually lost a thrilling match to West Indies by two wickets. Flintoff recalled: “Having played in one before and getting to the final and coming so close, it hurt.””We’re flying out to win the ICC tournament,” he added. “There’s a lot being made of the Ashes but we’ve got to address what’s in front of us first. Over the next few weeks it’s a great opportunity for lads to stake a claim for the World Cup and a chance for us to perform.”That opportunity has arisen largely as a result of the spate of injuries that have decimated England’s Ashes-winning squad since last summer, with Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles among the most notable absentees. On Thursday, Vaughan hinted that a return for the final stages of the Ashes was not out of the question, and publicly, Flintoff embraced that prospect. “As soon as we’ve got Michael Vaughan back in the England side the better. He’s a class performer and he’s led the team well.”Flintoff himself said he was “hungry” for action after his three-month lay-off, and believed that the break from the game would be beneficial, both for his game and that of his other injured team-mates. “Some of us have not played a great deal of cricket this summer which has given us time to get in the gym, get fit and have time away from the game.””Now I’m hungry to play cricket, I want to get back on the pitch and play. When you’re not playing you realise how much you do miss it.”

Sussex have signed a left-arm seamer to bolster their squad. Chris Liddle, 22, made his county debut for Leicestershire in 2005, but has joined Sussex on a two-year deal. He has previously played for Cleveland Schools and Durham Under-17s and Under-19s.Mark Robinson, the Sussex cricket manager, said: “We are delighted to capture such an exciting prospect. Chris has the potential to bowl a very lively ball and with his natural left-arm variation should prove an attractive asset to the squad and as a person should fit well into our family atmosphere.”Liddle added: ‘It’s a privilege to join the best club in county cricket, they’ve had a marvellous season with winning both the C&G Trophy and the Liverpool Victoria County Championship. I can’t wait to get down to Hove and to impress, I am really looking forward to joining Sussex, becoming part of a great team and a member of the unique Sussex family.”

The spirit of Sir Viv Richards coursed through the National Stadium all day. His record for the most Test runs in a calendar year has stood for 30 years now, unsurpassed long enough for it to attain similar status as the legendary four-minute mile record. Mohammad Yousuf began the day 149 runs short of breaking it and ended it, less than a half-century away and one innings for the year left.Other records were broken or equalled though; nobody has now scored more than the eight Test hundreds in one year that he has, an honour previously held jointly by Richards and Aravinda de Silva. This was also his fifth hundred in five Tests, a feat Jacques Kallis has equalled and only the greatest, Sir Don Bradman, surpassed. As he spoke to reporters at the end of an ultimately disappointing day for Pakistan, he sensibly refused to be drawn into comparisons with Sir Viv.”Viv Richards was the best player of this era. There is absolutely no one like him around and breaking his centuries record is a huge thing for me. But I’ll admit I cannot play like him at all. Many people had pointed out that I can break his record number of runs this year too and it was on my mind. But he was a match-winning player unlike any. The bigger the bowler the better his batting would get.”Though he chose his Lord’s double as the best of his eight this year, the 102 he crafted on a sluggard of a pitch this afternoon was, like his batting this year, on a plane different to that of his fellow batsmen. Initially he struggled to adjust to the pace and indeterminate bounce but a clip through midwicket and a dab through point in the over after lunch suggested he was coming to terms with the surface. Thereafter, as batsman after batsman faltered, Yousuf glided on. As Pakistan inched on at under three an over, Yousuf floated to a hundred off 155 balls; of the 32 boundaries Pakistan hit, Yousuf’s wrists were responsible for 15.”I have been playing on pitches like this around the world for years now. If you have to make runs you should be able to make them anywhere. It is slow, some balls are keeping low and it will become difficult to score as the match progresses,” said Yousuf.Such has been his form, and Pakistan’s reliance on him – those slender shoulders have produced over 35% of Pakistan’s total runs scored this series – that his captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was moved to call him, in his column, Pakistan’s greatest batsman ever. Again, as regular as a cover drive, came the modesty. “I don’t think so. I mean Inzamam is such a great batsman himself and his record speaks for itself. I am grateful that he thinks it but Javed Miandad and Hanif Mohammad were very, very big players.”A few runs from the captain wouldn’t go amiss and his 18 today was another woeful struggle to relocate his groove. And when you become Daren Ganga’s first international wicket of any kind, you know that form has well and truly deserted you. The class, though Yousuf reminded everyone, is still with him.”When Inzamam scores runs, the team scores with him and does well. He has done it all, won matches, saved matches, everything. He is a little out of form at the moment and we hope he can get it back. But there is no player like him.” If this last year has been anything to go by, clearly there is one.