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Simon Jones has revealed how close he came to quitting Glamorgan, after the county finally persuaded him to sign a new three-year contract which will secure his long-term future at the club. During England’s tour of Zimbabwe Jones had expressed his frustration about the lack of one-day opportunities coming his way, and the deal was only sealed after a summit meeting with the captain, Robert Croft.”I never wanted to leave Glamorgan but I would have done if I had to,” Jones told the Sporting Life website, adding that he had contemplated moves to Surrey, Worcestershire and Hampshire. “Glamorgan is my county and I’m a proud Welshman, but in the end cricket is my job and I have to secure my future.”Jones, who holds a 12-month central contract and is therefore paid by England and not Glamorgan, finalised the deal on his return from holiday in Singapore.Mike Fatkin, Glamorgan’s chief executive was understandably delighted: “We’re pleased that Simon sees his future with us and that he believes he can fulfil his potential with us. It’s great news.”Jones, 26, took 15 wickets during the Test series against South Africa at 26.66 and formed an important part of the attack as Steve Harmison’s form dipped. However, he is currently on the fringe of the one-day team after playing two games against Zimbabwe, and being on standby while Harmison recovered from injury at the start of the one-day series against South Africa.He felt his progress in limited-overs cricket was being hindered by not being a regular in Glamorgan’s one-day team, and told Croft as much when the two met. “Crofty said he wanted to give me a senior role in the team which meant a lot more responsibility,” said Jones. “And that means taking the new ball and more opportunities in one-day cricket. It’s all about a fresh start.”In five years Jones has only played 12 one-day matches, bowling 90 overs and claiming seven wickets at over 71 apiece – although that lack of games can be partly attributed to his central contract. In his early days he was a tearaway quick bowler, but since returning from the knee injury he sustained at Brisbane in November 2002 he has added more control to compensate for a reduction in pace.”It’s a big, big season for Glamorgan what with us being in the first division of both league competitions,” Jones added. “With Michael Kasprowicz unlikely to be with us that means there is more responsibility falling on the home-grown bowlers.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Partisan fans at the Feroz Shah Kotla were treated to a cracker of a match as the Chennai Super Kings pulled off a dramatic last-ball win, sneaking past Delhi Daredevils’ total of 187 for 5 by four wickets. Chennai’s chase veered from the authoritative to the bumbling but they kept their nerves and put an end to their three-game losing streak, thanks largely to some fearless hitting right through the order.Chennai recovered somewhat to restrict the hosts to under 200 after Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan added a record third-wicket partnership of 121 and that, in hindsight, proved critical before a thrilling chase helped them get back to their winning ways.Chennai were given a 62-run start inside seven overs with S Vidyut, promoted to open in place of Parthiv Patel, batting purposefully. Both Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif were unusually off-key in their first overs and Vidyut handled the short and full deliveries admirably, stepping out to meet the ball. Asif’s first over went for 15, with Vidyut taking two fours and Stephen Fleming playing a gorgeous cover drive, and the sixth over, bowled by Yo Mahesh, cost 20 with both openers clubbing the width.Vidyut fell for 40 from 23 balls, attempting another pull but Fleming, finding rhythm after three poor innings, kept the momentum with Chennai. Initially a watchful spectator with Vidyut cashing in on some short-pitched stuff, he played some eye-catching square-drives and cuts. Shoaib Malik bowled a poor line and Fleming kept McGrath busy at square leg with powerful sweeps.With Mahendra Singh Dhoni keeping the ball along the grass, Fleming went for his shots except that a flat hard drive found AB de Villiers at cover. Suresh Raina steered a simple catch to backward point four balls later and Chennai failed to score a boundary for 16 deliveries. Albie Morkel made up with 25 off a Virender Sehwag over, swung into motion by three consecutive sixes, but the bowler had his revenge of sorts with a direct hit from mid-on sent Morkel running on his way to the pavilion.Dhoni threatened to seal the deal with a sensible hand but Yo Mahesh returned to snap up two wickets in the 19th over – one down to a stunning catch from de Villiers, running in from long-on – and that left Chennai with 15 to get off six balls. Sehwag gave the task to Malik and it proved a disaster. Manpreet Gony slogged the first ball over midwicket for six, a wide followed, easing the pressure further, and a thick edge past the wicketkeeper sent the crowd into silence. A single to mid-on set the stage for S Badrinath, who tied the scores with a chip over the covers for two, and won it with another over mid-on.The afternoon began with two of Delhi’s most reliable top-order batsmen welcoming Dhoni’s decision to field first – for the first time in the tournament – with a record 121-run stand in 12.4 overs after early trouble. Sehwag flickered with whips off the pads and a ramrod-straight drive before a crushing yorker from Gony breached his defence. Morkel, sharing the new ball in Makhaya Ntini’s absence, produced a pearl to clean up de Villiers first ball to make it 46 for 2 in the sixth over.Gambhir bottom-edged Muttiah Muralitharan’s first delivery narrowly past off stump and between Dhoni’s legs for four and was offered a freaky slice of luck a couple balls later when Murali’s flick back onto the stumps dislodged the bails a fraction too late. Loosening his shoulders after that last reprieve, Gambhir nudged to fine leg, flicked over midwicket, and flat-batted through the covers.A massive six over mid-on raised Gambhir’s fourth IPL half-century from 35 balls and earned him back the orange cap from Sehwag, and he proceeded to drill three consecutive fours in the 15th over to jack the run rate up near nine. He fell trying to steer one past backward point, for a 49-ball 80, and Dhawan fell shortly afterwards for a 46-ball 59 in the penultimate over. Delhi’s decision to bring in Manoj Tiwary over Rajat Bhatia cost them a fifth bowler, and that hurt them plenty.

Gloucestershire 221 and 145 for 5 (Spearman 66, Weston 55) need another 107 runs to beat Hampshire 197 and 275 (Tremlett 64, Warne 62)
Scorecard
Billy Taylor (3 for 40) and Shane Warne (2 for 27) grabbed five late wickets to give Hampshire the edge after Gloucestershire had seemed on their way to victory when they reached 129 for 0 chasing a target of 252. But Taylor removed Spearman for 66, and in the final hour Gloucestershire lost five wickets for 26 runs before bad light brough a premature end to a day so cold that Warne shuddered in the slips in a layer of sweaters and a fetching bobble hat. It was Hampshire’s second fightback of the day. Resuming on 111 for 6, only 88 runs ahead, Warne’s 62 and a career-best 64 from Tim Tremlett enabled their last four wickets to put on 181 runs.
Scorecard
Only 13.3 overs were possible at The Oval before the rain set in, with most of the excitment for the day centred on the fox which was trapped on top of one of the gas holders outside the ground. When play was possible Richard Clinton and Mark Ramprakash were in the process of seeing off the Sussex new-ball attack, as James Kirtley continued his impressive spell from yesterday evening. Mark Ramprakash broke the shackles with a brilliant cover-drive off Kirtley but in the most part the bowling demanded respect — Sussex had obviously learnt the lessons from watching Surrey waste helpful conditions over the first two days. But the light soon closed in, soon followed by the rain, and the umpires called play off shortly after tea.
For a report on Surrey’s fox click on Roving Reporter
Scorecard
Ian Bell followed his good performance with the bat yesterday by grabbing three wickets in nine balls to rip the heart out of Glamorgan’s top order before bad light ended play shortly after tea. Matthew Elliott (69) and David Hemp (96) had taken the visitors to 169 for 1 when Bell struck. First he trapped Elliott leg-before attempting an ambitious pull, and in Bell’s next over Hemp lost his middle stump and three balls later Matthew Maynard chopped into his wicket. None of the strokes were what the situation called for and left Glamorgan facing a daunting challenge to save the game tomorrow. In the morning, Warwickshire resumed on 415 for 4 and immediately cut loose, cracking 149 runs in 24.4 overs. Dougie Brown completed a breezy hundred, and then Heath Streak (41*) and Neil Carter (39) put on 77 for the eighth wicket before Nick Knight declared half an hour before lunch.

India started off in this tournament as a strong batting team, but it wastheir bowling that bailed them out more than once. Mahendra Singh Dhoni,the winning captain, recognised that it was the bowling that had won themthe cup.”On paper the batting was much stronger,” Dhoni said. “But the way thebowlers bowled was very good, and if you compare the two, our bowling wasmuch more consistent. Though there were a few good individual battingperformances, the bowling was better through the tournament.” That, hesaid, was also a reason why he chose to bat first on most occasions afterwinning the toss. “The idea was to get a decent score and then try todefend it. Our fielding helped too. We effected a run out in almost everygame. When the total is relatively low – only around 150-155 – run outsand good fielding increases the total by 15-20 runs, and we managed to dothat in most of the games.”Dhoni’s captaincy has come in for plenty of praise, but he chose to playit down, instead praising the players for responding to the challenges.”The captain hasn’t done much. The players who have been given theresponsibility have delivered. There was no [top order] batsman who hadn’t scored runs,the fielding had been very good overall. Yuvraj [Singh] has been very good, whileHarbhajan has made a very good comeback. The best part is everything whohas been given the responsibility has delivered. This side is confident,enjoying each other’s success and backing each other.”Dhoni admitted that he was concerned about Misbah-ul-Haq’s late charge,but said he knew they were only a wicket away from wresting the initiativeagain. “We knew they didn’t have wickets in hand. Pressure becomes a veryimportant aspect in big games. Harbhajan Singh was good though he wentfor a few, Joginder [Sharma] was excellent in the last over. But I always thoughtas the game approached the final stages, our chances would increase.”About the decision to bowl Joginder instead of Harbhajan in the finalover, Dhoni said it was prompted by the form on the day. “That was thebest option available. Harbhajan didn’t bowl his last over very well. Ithought if a medium pacer bowls it would be slightly difficult sinceMisbah was timing it very well against Harbhajan, who was also not 100%sure about his yorkers. And Joginder had had a decent spell till in thematch, so I decided to go with him.”

Dhoni admitted that the number of runs they had wasn’t a par score, andpraised Pakistan’s effort in the field. “In Durban it was a lot moredifficult for batting – 170-180 was a very good total there. Here Ithought we should have got 180, as the wicket was not very difficult. Butthe way they bowled was really good. After 12 overs they bowled someexcellent yorkers, so you could hardly score off them.”He also had a special word for Rohit Sharma’s 16-ball 30, which lifted theIndian total to 157. “Rohit’s innings was critical. We looked like getting140, but we ended up getting more than 150. The confidence level went upand with our fielding we increased the target further to 170-175.”Looking back at the tournament, he said the way the team planned thepractice sessions and the periods of rest was critical. “There was atwo-and-a-half month tour to England, so it was tough on the players. Theway we planned this tournament was very important. The practice sessionswere planned such that we were always fresh when we took the field for amatch.”The Indians didn’t practice before the final, despite playing at avenue where they’d played only once before in the tournament.

Ahead of England’s tour to India, the England coach Duncan Fletcher has expressed concerns over the amount of cricket his players are faced with in the coming 18 months.Fletcher was instrumental in introducing central contracts to the England set-up, after widespread calls that the amount of county cricket played was burdening England’s Test players. Since their inception, senior England players have been protected from back-to-back county games; indeed, counties are fortunate if their Test stars turn out for them five times in a season.Fletcher now feels international cricket might lead some of his players to exhaustion: England have just 50 days off international duty in the 12 months.”Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. Once it’s happened it’s too late,” Fletcher told the News of the World. By the end of the 2007 World Cup we are going to have some very tired players then we go into home series against West Indies and India.”England leave for India on Sunday 12 for the second leg of their subcontinent winter before hosting Sri Lanka and Pakistan in another packed summer. And, before defending the Ashes in Australia in November, they head to India for the ICC Champions Trophy. Then there’s the small matter of a World Cup, which is just 13 months away from starting.England have already expressed concern about the workload of Andrew Flintoff, the team’s cog and talisman.”Michael Vaughan’s job is to win games. I can’t say to him I only want Flintoff to bowl 12 overs in a day,” he added. If we can’t get a wicket, who’s he going to throw the ball to?”England’s performances in the last three World Cups have been dismal, but despite the tournament being the game’s biggest showcase, Fletcher hinted that England’s retaining of the Ashes is more important.”Ultimately we set out to beat Australia in an Ashes series at home last year,” he said. “For this England side there will be no better achievement – other than beating them away, which we’ll try to do at the end of this year.”

Shoaib Akhtar has been fined 40% of his match fee after being found guilty of breaching ICC rules in the first Test, which is currently being contested by Australia and Pakistan at Perth.The match umpires Billy Bowden, Rudi Koertzen and Steve David charged Shoaib with Level One misconduct for pointing Matthew Hayden towards the dressing-room when he trapped him lbw on Thursday. Celebrating Hayden’s dismissal for 4 in the third over, Shoaib pointed three times to the dressing-room with both fingers. He went on to take 5 for 99 as Australia made 381.Shoaib’s conduct breaches section 1.6 of the ICC Code, which says that a member of the fielding team may not engage in “pointing or gesturing towards the pavilion in an aggressive manner […] upon the dismissal of a batsman”.The ICC match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, announced the decision to fine Shoaib on Friday, after a disciplinary hearing.

As competitive as the cricket has been between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the greater battle has always been to determine the more hospitable host – who offers more (or hospitality). Pakistan have been courteous enough to not win a Test series against Sri Lanka at home since 1991-92. And when the two sides meet tomorrow at the SSC ground in Colombo, the hosts have been so obliging as to allow Pakistan not a single Test series loss since Pakistan first arrived in 1985-86. That season was the last time they lost even a Test in Sri Lanka.This time, the hosts have even foregone two key players as a grand gesture. Skipper Marvan Atapattu is out of the series with a back problem and Chaminda Vaas has been ruled out of the first Test with the side strain that kept him out of the ODI series. With an early summer jaunt to England, selectors have rightly decided not to risk him. Bob Woolmer told the Karachi-based daily that Vaas’s absence will be keenly felt: “I think they will miss Vaas the most as he is a very shrewd and intelligent bowler.”It could have been worse but Sanath Jayasuriya has been passed fit and is expected to open the innings. Whatever his recent form and his age, at least six Pakistan players who step out tomorrow (and Woolmer too, whose first Test as coach it was) will remember his 253-run barbarism in Faisalabad 18 months ago. There is a limit to the hosts’ generosity for Muttiah Muralitharan will be playing and he hasn’t played a Test against them for four years. He’s taken 118 wickets at this ground in 22 Tests and 68 wickets against Pakistan in 12 Tests, so what’s the likelihood that he doesn’t have a say here?Stand-in skipper Mahela Jayawardene remains stoically upbeat. “If you look at our record we have performed really well in the last 12 months in Tests although we faced slight problems in India last winter,” he was quoted as saying by . Actually it goes beyond that for since losing to India in the second Test at Kandy in August 2001, they have lost only three Tests at home, all against Australia in a series in which they had more than their share of moments.On their part, Pakistan are thoughtful guests for they’re also without Shoaib Akhtar (injury) and Mohammad Sami (dropped). Historically, it could be a crucial absence for Pakistan’s successes in Sri Lanka have been the work of broody, reverse-swinging fast bowlers, whether it was Imran Khan in 1985-86, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in 1994 or just Wasim in 2000. But the absences are not as serious for recently it is a situation they have adapted to. The last Test between these two sides, at Karachi, in fact was also without Sami and Shoaib.Danish Kaneria played his part then and not being a generally quiet chap, the silence that gripped him through the India series is unlikely to extend too much longer. In any case, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif aren’t shoddy and more than mere replacements. It’s scary how at home Asif seems since he came back into the team against England and India. He’s bowled Test match spells and ODI spells and appeared comfortable with any role presented to him.So comfortable that he should maybe even be tried out as opener, given the way Pakistan have lurched from makeshift to specialist back to makeshift again within six Tests. Salman Butt is yesterday’s Imran Farhat (out of form and favour) and Farhat is today’s Butt (in less poor form and in favour). Woolmer said Farhat will open and with him Shoaib Malik will continue his transformation into a Test opener. It’s worth recalling that in Pakistan’s last Test innings – against India at Karachi – Butt and Farhat put on a century stand in the second innings. It’s of equal worth to recall they put on nought in the first, so make of the opening situation what you will.In Urdu, they say of excessive hospitality sometimes `’ (You’ll miss the car in all the waiting for `after you, after you’). With England waiting for both sides later in the year, such courtesy and welcoming be rare this time round.TeamsSri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Upal Tharanga, 3 Kumara Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Tillekeratne Dilshan, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Malinga Bandara, 8 Farvez Maharoof, 9 Dilhara Fernando, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Muttiah MuralitharanPakistan (probable) 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Shoaib Malik, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Mohammad Yousuf, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Danish Kaneria

Security has been stepped up at the Hilton Hotel in Port-of-Spain hotel following the today which led to the evacuation of the Pakistan and South Africa teams.Although there will be more police on duty at the hotel, tournament organisers insist that even though Wednesday’s incident was under investigation, there had been no direct threat to either South Africa, Pakistan or Canada and Ireland who are also based here.”The law enforcement agencies in Trinidad and Tobago have indicated that the incident was not directed towards any of the teams,” a tournament spokesman said, “and additional policing has been put in place on the property.”Representatives from all four teams have met with the acting police commissioner Glen Roach and been assured of their safety. The safety and security of the players and officials for the tournament is of paramount importance and we continue to work with the appropriate authorities to this end. We thank the local security directorate and police force for their swift and decisive action.”At first it was thought that a fire had broken out inside the hotel but the hotel later insisted the problem had been a gas leak.

Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje, who yesterday both withdrew from South Africa’s tour to India, have been dropped from the 13-man squad announced to play the last two ODIs against New Zealand this weekend.Andrew Hall and Albie Morkel have been called-up as replacements as South Africa look to complete a 5-0 series win. Gibbs and Boje pulled out of the India tour, which starts later this month, because they received no assurance that they would not be arrested on arrival in the country due to match-fixing allegations.South Africa’s convenor of selectors Haroon Lorgat explained the decision to drop the pair: “It’s rather unfortunate, but we needed to face reality, make the tough decisions and look ahead at our tour of India. Ideally we need to slot in our replacements now, re-define roles in the absence of the two established players, and ready ourselves for India.”Boeta Dippenaar was ruled out after undergoing a wrist operation last night.South Africa squad for 4th and 5th ODIs Graeme Smith (capt), Mark Boucher (wk), AB de Villiers, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph.

Paul Collingwood believes Andrew Flintoff will put his off-field problems behind him when England play Kenya in their winner-takes-all clash in St Lucia on Saturday. Flintoff was stripped of the vice-captaincy and dropped for the Canada match after being one of six players and two coaches fined for staying out late drinking after the opening defeat by New Zealand.Flintoff will return to face Kenya as the teams fight to join Stephen Fleming’s side in next week’s Super Eights. “Freddie will respond well, the whole team will,” Collingwood said. “I faced him in the nets the other day and it was proper gas. It was up there. The intensity was there. I’m sure when he gets on that park he’s going to be desperate to do well on Saturday and that can only be good for the team.”Collingwood, who has been tipped to replace Michael Vaughan as captain if he is injured, said England were prepared to be put under pressure by the Kenyans. “From what I’ve seen, and I’ve spoken to a couple of Kiwi lads about them, they’ve got a few dibbly-dobblers, not too express,” he said.”They’ve got basic cricketing talent. They’ll put you under pressure, have ring fields against you, and the Kiwi guys said it was very hard to get the pace on the ball. We have to overcome that in some way.”Kenya, who made the semi-finals in 2003, suffered a 148-run loss to New Zealand on Tuesday and Steve Tikolo, the captain, was confident of turning things around against England. “Our chances are good,” he said, “if we do the basic things right.”