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Monty Panesar might have attained a hero’s status after his matchwinning performance in the Old Trafford Test but Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, has said that Panesar must develop the other areas of his game before he can be assured a permanent spot in the team.Ashley Giles’s lengthy absence because of a hip injury allowed the 24-year-old Panesar a chance to show what he can do in international cricket. So far, Panesar, the first Sikh to play for England, has made an encouraging start with 25 wickets in his first eight Tests, including a superb matchwinning return of 5 for 72 in England’s crushing innings and 120-run victory over Pakistan in the second Test.Panesar’s return at Old Trafford, where England won inside three days to go 1-0 up in the four-match series, was especially impressive as he dismissed five of Pakistan’s top six including Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf – all noted players of spin. His attacking style has led many to suggest that Panesar should retain his place even if the more defensively-minded Giles, a valuable member of England’s Ashes-winning team last year, regains full fitness. But Fletcher said Panesar had to improve his batting and fielding, the latter a particular concern, to secure his place in the England team.”I think Monty is a very good bowler, but we have to produce 11 players who can produce two of the departments efficiently, whoever is playing for England,” said Fletcher. “I still have slight reservations about his batting and his fielding, but he’s an outstanding bowler and doing a job for us because there’s no-one else at the moment who can fulfill that role.”He needs to work hard at it because if you work hard at your fielding you can really improve that a great deal. It’s not easy to turn you into a No.6 batter, but I just think you need to work at those two areas.” Giles, capable of taking some sharp catches in the gully, had developed into a handy lower-order batsman with an average just over 20.Asked to identify England’s leading spinner, Fletcher said: “It will depend on when Ashley is going to be ready and how Monty bowls on other wickets and we’ll have to make a decision when Giles is ready. We’ll also have to look at the balance of the side. It was a good wicket for Monty to bowl on and he bowled damn well on it, but we’ve got to make sure in the future we get wickets that help our bowlers like that. Quite often when you get onto a wicket like that you can try too hard because you know it all depends on you, but he went out there and bowled a good line and length and spun the ball on occasions a great deal.”Meanwhile Giles, speaking on BBC Radio’s Sportsweek programme, admitted he had a fight on his hands. “Monty is the man in possession and I have to get my place back – that’s the danger if you do get injured. My recovery is going OK, it is just frustrating. I cannot bowl and cannot run but the rehab is going well. It is going to be another four or five weeks until we reach that point.”Giles also paid a generous tribute to Panesar, saying: “Monty is a brilliant technician and works extremely hard. He is able to land the ball in good areas and put batsmen under pressure.”England are due to announce their squad for the third Test at Headingley on Monday. However, Geraint Jones, who took the field at Old Trafford despite a fractured right ring finger, remains doubtful and his long-standing rival Chris Read, who played for England A against Pakistan earlier this season, could be called in as cover.

Cricket Australia’s security officials will sit in on a security briefing for ICC officials in Dhaka, on December 28 and 29, in view of the Under-19 World Cup that is scheduled to begin in Bangladesh on January 27. CA have not raised any specific concerns in public yet concerning its junior team’s participation in the tournament; the Australian security officials’ visit could be seen as a precautionary step, given the senior team’s tour to Bangladesh was cancelled in October due to security seasons.CA’s head of security Sean Carroll, who had visited Dhaka in September after the Australian government had issued security alerts for their citizens in Bangladesh, will arrive in Dhaka on Monday. Following that visit, CA had eventually cancelled their tour to Bangladesh due to the increased security risk. In November, Cricket South Africa had also cancelled their women’s team’s tour to Bangladesh.The ICC held meetings in Dhaka in November and December regarding security measures being taken for the U-19 World Cup, which is to be held in eight venues in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar.An ICC spokesman said the briefings on December 28 and 29 would be a follow up to those previous meetings. “The ICC and the BCB are working together to ensure complete safety and security of the event. In relation to this, and as follow up to the meetings held in November and December, the CA and ICC security officials are visiting Dhaka and receive security briefings on Monday and Tuesday,” the spokesman said.BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that a visit similar to CA’s was recently made by the security representative of two other boards, so he sees this as a routine visit. He also said that CA will be directing all its communication towards the ICC, who is the tournament organiser. “Reg [Dickason] came during the last ICC visit, possibly for England and New Zealand,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. “One part of a board’s inspection team is security. So CA can send anyone as a routine matter.”We don’t directly communicate with the participating boards. They have to communicate with the host [the ICC]. If it was a bilateral series, only then the communication is between the two boards.”Chowdhury reaffirmed that the BCB has made plans to provide the highest security levels for the participants. “As the host nation, our concentration is on making the event successful. The level of security offered for this particular U-19 event is unprecedented. There hasn’t been such measures taken for an U-19 tournament in the past and I doubt if it will be done in the future.”

Irfan Pathan, the fast bowler who has been out of the Indian team since January, believes that he has regained his rhythm and is confident of making a comeback to international cricket.Pathan was training at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai for six days and said that he had made some technical changes to his bowling. “I am back to my usual bowling rhythm,” Pathan told PTI. “You see the light in my face. I am happy to come back to the Academy to take corrective measures.”He felt he had lost the rhythm during India’s tour of Pakistan in 2005-06 and taking advice from too many experts did not help.”It took just two seconds for Sekar [the chief coach at the Academy] to tell me where I am going wrong. He worked on a few technical aspects of my bowling. From last Monday, I have been trying to make amends. I have been bowling with old, semi-old and new balls at the nets here.”Sekar will never have nice words but he is clear about what he says. Today, he told me that he was satisfied. I had to work hard to get back to the team by proving myself in the domestic circuit. I am oozing with confidence to play competitive cricket after my stint here.”Pathan last played a Test in the West Indies in June 2006 and did not play a single match during India’s 2007 World Cup campaign .

Sri Lanka Cricket has sold broadcast rights for the forthcoming three-Test series against India to Sony for $3.25 million – a $1.85 million increase from the bid the board had originally received from Ten Sports. As part of the new deal, SLC advanced the tour by six days, and moved the third Test from Pallekele to the SSC in Colombo, as Kandy was deemed too prone to rain to host a match in late August. Kumar Sangakkara’s farewell Test, meanwhile, was confirmed for the P Sara Oval in Colombo.

India’s schedule in Sri Lanka

Aug 6-8 Warm-up game v SL Chairman’s XI, R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Aug 12-16 1st Test, Galle
Aug 20-24 2nd Test, P Sara Oval, Colombo
Aug 28-Sep 1 3rd Test, SSC, Colombo

The new figure remained well short of what SLC had originally expected, with a three-Test series against India usually worth more than $5 million. However, the increase came as some relief to the board, which has had payments from the ICC in escrow since April, and has additionally begun expensive infrastructure upgrades at Khettarama Stadium.The first Test in Galle had been scheduled to begin on August 18, but has been brought forward to avoid a clash with Sri Lanka’s general elections, which are set for August 17. India are also likely to play a warm-up match in Colombo before the Tests begin.SLC had expressed dismay in the original bid from Ten Sports, its usual broadcaster, before negotiating with other companies for an increase. The board has an ongoing seven-year deal with Ten Sports but this tour was sold separately because it had not appeared as a home series in the Future Tour Programme. These Tests were meant to be played in India, but the previous board had negotiated for them to be brought to Sri Lanka, in exchange for an impromptu five-ODI series in India last year.

Harbhajan Singh has claimed Australia targeted him with “personal and vulgar” words during the second one-day match in India while Andrew Symonds was “disappointed” with the behaviour of Sreesanth. Sreesanth attempted to run-out Symonds in a move even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s captain, initially thought was a joke.After the match Harbhajan was not laughing and said the Australians had shown themselves to be bad losers after their defeat to India in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup. “They clearly did not like that,” Harbhajan said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “They are a very good cricket side, but that does not mean that they can do whatever they want to do.”They say they play the game in the right spirit, but they don’t in reality. There is nothing gentlemanly about the way they play.”After being dismissed by Michael Clarke in the 84-run loss, Harbhajan waited mid-pitch and pointed his bat. “I was responding to a lot of vulgar words that were said to me,” he said. “I don’t have any problem with chitchat on the field, so long as it is about the game. But when it is very personal and vulgar, that is not on. They think you cannot fight back and they do not like it when you do.”The Australians were also upset with the opposition’s actions and Symonds said Gilchrist had spoken to Sreesanth during the match. “[He] tried to explain to him it’s best to try and get on with the game and try not to get tangled up with some of the childish exchanges,” Symonds said in the Australian.Symonds, who hopes to get a mental edge over India before they tour Australia in December, said he was disappointed when Sreesanth attempted to run him out when he was going to speak to Brad Haddin. Dhoni told Sreesanth: “That is not the way you get the batsman out, you get him out some other way.””I went back and made my ground,” Symonds said, “and I just went down to give Brad some support. He was doing his best and failed to make contact with that particular ball, and I didn’t see the need for him to be at Brad like he was. When I go to another sport I like to see confrontation, I’ll admit that, but you don’t want to see ugly confrontation and you don’t want to see confrontation that degrades your sport.”Shane Warne, who is in Melbourne, did not think Sreesanth’s overall behavoiur was “over the top”. “It’s going to add a bit of spice to the summer,” Warne told AAP. “Everyone’s going to be looking for Sreesanth to do his stuff and it shows with a bit of passion. I think it’s going to be good for the summer.”

Saqlain Mushtaq, who signed a two-year deal with Sussex last February, has been released at his request for personal reasons.Saqlain had not featured much this summer and made only four Championship appearances taking 14 wickets.”I would like to thank the whole team at Sussex for all the opportunities they have given me this season,” he said in a brief statement. “The club has been wonderful and it is with a heavy heart that I am having to say goodbye for my own personal reasons.”As recently as July, Saqlain, 30, who qualifies for England next April under residency rules, was taking about possibly playing for England. But he has been increasingly troubled by knee injuries and this latest news now raises doubts about his future in the game.

Have you had problems getting tickets – or even getting through to the website – or have you found everything as smooth as silk. Click here to send us your views on the sale of Ashes tickets

The first day of cricket’s biggest and most unusual family went as smoothly as many more traditional gatherings, with lengthy delays, grumpy arguments and disappointment about missing out on presents. As Cricket Australia’s locals-only policy for Ashes tickets was opened to the Australian Cricket Family, members of the 128,500 unit were furiously mouse-clicking in the search of the promised seats in stints that lasted the equivalent of three sessions of play.The current slogan for the summer is “It’s definitely on”, but today it should have been changed to “It’s definitely crashed” as computers all over the country – and in England for those with Australian-resident friends – refused to budge on the ticket-selling websites. Seats went on sale at 9am, by which time the server on Cricket Australia’s page had turned off due to overload. The online outlets Ticketmaster, who was selling for the Gabba, the WACA and the MCG, and New South Wales’s Ticketek quickly joined in as pages loaded at a pace that would have made even Chris Tavare yawn. Telephones lines were engaged as workers worried that they would end the day empty-handed.”Our system is currently busy due to a large event on sale,” the Ticketmaster site read. “We apologise for the inconvenience.” Servers spent more time going down than big ships in blockbuster movies, and buyers who were told to rush to avoid missing out were being ordered to be patient.After five group emails and months of signing up members, Cricket Australia and the ticket sellers knew exactly how many people were prepared to purchase and they expected the “unprecedented” surge. Unprecedented has been the favourite word of the publicity campaign – it was the headline of a Cricket Australia email an hour after the release – and can be used again. The delay in getting tickets to a Test was unprecedented.”We understand that due to the volume of interest systems are sometimes slower than expected,” James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said generously. “I would urge all members of the Australian Cricket Family to continue to be patient through this process as the day continues.”Andrew Symonds had surgery this week on a wrist problem that flares during heavy periods of batting. He will be in demand for tips on prevention and cures after the mass development of RSI for users who spent the day trying to refresh the pages – or attempting to get into the main ticket sites. Australian supporters must hope the five-Test campaign is better planned and runs more smoothly than this family affair.

There isn’t much that Shane Warne hasn’t achieved during his illustrious career, but one of the few missing accolades is a medal from a domestic Lord’s final. In 2005 he was with the touring Australians when Hampshire beat Warwickshire in the C&G Trophy – keeping in touch by constant text messages – but this year he has the chance to play a leading role himself.”Last time I had some very important duties to do at Essex as 12th man,” he said. “I was a little disappointed they didn’t allow me to play but I understood the reasoning that there was one Ashes Test to go and I may have got injured. It’s not just another game, we’ve worked hard to be here.”He has a history with Lord’s finals. His previous appearance with a trophy at stake was the 1999 World Cup final when his 4 for 33 paved the way for Australia’s crushing victory over Pakistan. Now, with his international career over, Warne’s focus is purely on steering Hampshire to more silverware over Durham – who like Warne, are making their first appearance in a domestic final.It is rare for any team including Warne not to be favourites and with Kevin Pietersen and Chris Tremlett back in county colours, plus Daren Powell’s strong form, Hampshire start with their noses in front. However, Durham have made a habit of proving people wrong. Last year they almost made the final and this season overcame Essex in an extraordinary semi-final at Chester-le-Street to take another major stride in their cricketing development.They have come a long way since Ian Botham, Wayne Larkins and David Graveney lined up for them during their debut season in 1992. The county now provides regular players to the England side and has an impressive turnover of youngsters. But they aren’t afraid to tap into the overseas market, either, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul has strengthened the batting for the latter third of the campaign – his run-scoring feats for West Indies in the first half of the season are still one of highlights of the summer.Steve Harmison’s withdrawal with a back problem is a major blow, not necessarily because he has strong recent form with the white ball but because it will deny the crowd a contest with Pietersen. However, there are other match-ups to whet the appetite.Warne has enjoyed enthralling duels with Chanderpaul and Paul Collingwood. During the winter Warne was always quick to have a few words to Collingwood, often involving MBEs, even after he hit a double-century at Adelaide. “The Friends Provident Trophy would look better on my mantelpiece, and my knighthood is on the way,” joked Warne. “Whatever Paul wants to say is fine, if he thinks the trophy would look good next to his MBE, good luck to him.””I’m just going to get on with my business, he came out and said stuff, if that made him feel better and helps him prepare – good old tough Paul – then good luck to him. We’re just going to go out and play.”Collingwood continues to be a vital part of the England side and now leads them in one-day cricket, but he remains immensely proud of his North-East roots and encapsulates Durham’s spirit. Collingwood, like Durham, has made the most of every ounce of talent.Nowhere is that more true than with Ottis Gibson, who is having a golden twilight of his career. Earlier this season he claimed all 10 wickets in an innings against Hampshire and is the second-leading bowler behind Mushtaq Ahmed. Not bad for a 38-year-old. At the other end of the age spectrum is Phil Mustard, 24, who is making a strong claim to be considered as England’s wicketkeeper, and he won’t hold back from attacking Powell and Tremlett with the new ball.Hampshire, too, have plenty of experience to fall back on. John Crawley has played in six previous Lord’s finals (five for Lancashire and one for Hampshire) winning them all, while Shaun Udal captained the team to their 2005 triumph.With 16 players who are either current or former internationals it has the makings of an outstanding final, and is another chance for county cricket to shine. The romantics will want Durham to claim their first silverware, but Warne doesn’t like losing.

It was easy to forget that a Test match was being played out at the National Stadium in Karachi today, a crucial one at that. And it was easier to forget that, as the day dawned, it was still a closely-run affair. Mohammad Yousuf dwarfed most of what happened on the field; a neat second Test century from Mohammad Hafeez was overshadowed and even the fact that the game, and the series, had truly run away from West Indies.Brian Lara is a sharper man than most and despite the celebratory feel of the day – standing ovations were as regular as Yousuf’s centuries this year – he was fully aware of the grave situation his side find themselves in now. “The situation resembles the one we faced against India at St Lucia earlier this year,” he told reporters. “We got out of that though and we have recognized batsmen to follow after me and Ramnaresh Sarwan. We just have to stay out there and fight it out through the whole day.”Had they taken all the chances that have come their way – Yousuf has been dropped six times in this series – they would not find themselves in the position they are now, in the Test or the series. Catches were shelled this afternoon, two more from Yousuf though Lara insisted it did not matter for the now. “That part of our game is over. We have to concentrate on tomorrow. It has hurt us, yes, but our next Test is in May. We have to work on it and the catching will affect us more in the ODI game.”If the Test now rests greatly on Lara’s magic, it will also rely, in part, on a surface that has apparently improved as the Test has progressed, confounding all pre-Test worries of chronic deterioration on the fourth and fifth days. Lara said, “It’s a tough pitch for anyone and it hasn’t lived up to expectations. But we needed to bat better in our first innings and build up a lead to put them under pressure. We bowled really well and I can’t fault our bowlers at all for their effort.”The pitch was also on Yousuf’s mind and despite becoming only the sixth Pakistani to make two hundreds in a Test, he was adamant that it wasn’t up to standard. “It isn’t easy to bat on. And it is definitely not a Test wicket.”But in the blizzard of all of Yousuf’s landmarks, a significant one awaiting Lara has been all but forgotten. Seventy-eight more runs and he will become the first man to make 12,000 Test runs though understandably, as a priority, it finds itself low. “It’s not on my mind at all. I just need to bat out the entire day. That is my number one aim. Sarwan and I need to do it and if needed others do as well.”Three delicious boundaries in Lara’s unbeaten 18 were evidence of form and would be enough to spark some trepidation in most sides. West Indies need 405 runs from 90 overs and improbable as it appears, betting against Lara is rarely the clever option. Yousuf admitted, “We are in a strong position, but Lara’s wicket is the key tomorrow.”Lara himself would not be drawn into predictions. “The total is not on our mind. We just want to bat out the entire day. That is our aim. We will take it hour by hour and hope that our batsmen will play their natural game,” he reasoned.It can be argued that if Lara does bat the entire day, then few targets are safe. If so, then it may make for a truly spectacular farewell Test appearance in Pakistan. And it is possibly the only achievement that could eclipse the feats of Yousuf.

Michael Hussey will have to think twice about taking sharp singles in the near future, with dark plans afoot in his team to bring his phenomenal one-day average down. His unbeaten 88 during Saturday’s match against New Zealand lifted his mark from 129 to 151, a world record for any player in his first 15 one-day innings.The next best is England’s Kevin Pietersen, who reached 87.33 after 15 innings, which came up in his 24th match. In 21 games and 15 innings Hussey has scored 604 runs and been dismissed only four times. “A few of the boys are talking about running him out, actually,” Ricky Ponting joked after his side’s two-wicket loss at Christchurch.The highest batting average for any player to have played 30 games or more is 53.58, which is held by Michael Bevan. “I’m copping a bit of stick about it from the boys,” Hussey said. “But I can assure you I’m doing everything I can at the end to try and get out, but at the moment it seems to be going my way.”It’s amazing really, I can’t really understand it. But I guess batting where I do [No. 7] there are going to be opportunities to get the big not out at the end of the innings.”Rather than batting cautiously to build up his average, Hussey has racked up the runs in rapid style with his 88 against New Zealand coming off 56 balls. He has now returned to Australia for the first Test against South Africa starting on Friday. And his average from six Test match innings? It is 120.33.