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ScorecardSteven Patterson impressed with three wickets on a good day for Yorkshire•Getty Images

Perhaps it was fitting that the first day of the season should take place against backdrop of rubble and destruction. For, even as the earliest championship season began at the building site that is currently Edgbaston, the ECB were considering plans that will drastically alter the landscape of domestic cricket.It now looks almost inevitable that the championship season will be reduced to just 12 fixtures per county, probably as early as next year. As a consequence it is quite possible there will be no promotion or relegation this season. Instead, we face the prospect of teams playing in three, randomly-drawn conferences. The County Championship, the centrepiece of the English season for well over a century, is likely to be reduced to little more than a training exercise.That would be a shame. English cricket has become a great deal tougher and more competitive in the decade of two-divisional cricket and, contrary to some reports, is watched by far more than one man and his dog. Certainly there was a decent decent crowd here at Edgbaston. Over 1,300 spectators braved the earliest start to a Championship season and were rewarded with glorious sunshine for much of the day.There were also rewarded by an absorbing tussle between teams containing nine international cricketers who the bookies believe could be fighting to avoid the bottom places. On the strength of first impressions, it is Warwickshire who may face the more uncomfortable campaign. Yorkshire, led for the first time by Andrew Gale, enjoyed much the better of the opening day and are well-placed to build a commanding position on day two.Gale, Yorkshire’s youngest captain since 1933 and the club’s sixth in nine years, enjoyed an excellent start. After winning an important toss, he rotated his attack sensibly and was handsomely rewarded with several slices of fortune. Five times bowlers struck in the first over of new spells. He will not always have it so easy, however.For a start the pitch, though slow, offered his seamers more than a little assistance, with irregular bounce adding to the lateral movement. Unusually at Edgbaston, both sides would have inserted on winning the toss. Some of Warwickshire’s batting was also rather obliging. Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott apart, all the home batsmen played a part in their own downfall, with Ian Westwood (leaving a straight one) and Tim Ambrose (driving without foot movement) especially culpable.Nor will Gale always possess such a potent attack. Ajmal Shahzad and Tim Bresnan will shortly depart on England duty and, while Steven Patterson impressed here and Tino Best will gain a work permit shortly, Oliver Hannon-Dalby will need to tighten up considerably if he is to fill the void. He also put down a straightforward opportunity off Ambrose that could have proved costly.Warwickshire’s score was probably at least 100 short of par. Weakened by injuries to Darren Maddy, Rikki Clarke and Boyd Rankin, they were always likely to rely heavily on Bell and Trott, but were undone when both men fell to unplayable deliveries that bounced off a length and took the edge and glove respectively.Bell looked in fine form. Timing the ball beautifully, he hit Hannon-Dalby out of the attack with three fours in an overs, the best of them an imperious pull, and looked set for a commanding total. None of Warwickshire’s remaining players hinted at permanence. Varun Chopra (on debut) fell early, half forward to one that nipped back and while Troughton and then Neil Carter prospered for a while, the former felt for one he could have left and the latter missed an ungainly sweep.Though Adam Lyth and Anthony McGrath both fiddled at deliveries that left them, Joe Sayers and Jacques Rudolph soon made deep inroads into the Warwickshire total. Sayers, in unusually fluent form, eased to a polished half-century, but fell just before the close when he was punished for dragging his back heel by a smart piece of work by Ambrose.”That was a really good day for us,” Bresnan said afterwards. “Batting on the second day should be quite a lot easier, so we’re looking to get a lead of around 150 and bowl them out again.It will probably be a lot tougher in the second innings, as they’ll be a bit disappointed with the way they batted. But we knew we needed to get off to a good start this season and we’ve got a great opportunity here to get some points on the board.”

Ray Jennings, the Royal Challengers Bangalore coach, has called for a window for the IPL, saying that missing players due to international matches makes it tougher to build team spirit.Bangalore will be without their most expensive player, Kevin Pietersen, for the first couple of weeks of the IPL. New Zealand’s Ross Taylor, whose big-hitting is one of the side’s strengths, will be busy with the Tests against Australia till the end of March, and Australian allrounder Steven Smith’s selection in the Test squad also deprives Bangalore of his services till early April.”With so much international cricket being played in between the IPL, it becomes difficult for any franchise to gel as a team,” Jennings wrote on the team’s official website. “As a result, it is difficult to target all the players together at the start of the tournament. I think there should be some window for the IPL for all the players to meet and gel as a unit before the start of such an important tournament.”Jennings felt that the coming IPL season will see larger totals being made because players have more experience in Twenty20. “Par score is beginning to grow because of the knowledge of how to play the game,” he said. “I think the par score will be around 155 – 170. But we don’t want to set our targets very high. We want to assess the situation, and be flexible with the targets.”The squad has been practising at the Chinnaswamy Stadium since the beginning of last week, starting with some of the Indian players, with more team members joining since. On Tuesday, Indian medium-pacer Praveen Kumar and South African allrounder Roelof van der Merwe were the latest players to become part of the camp.

Habib Bank Limited 315 for 6 (Farhat 80, Rehman 51*, Asad 3-80) against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited
Scorecard
The Pentangular Cup final received a fitting start, as Habib Bank Limited and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited fought a closely-contested day at the National Stadium in Karachi. HBL, who were asked to bat, will be disappointed, however, for not having a single batsman reach three-figures despite each getting a solid start. Each of the eight batsmen who spent time at the crease on the first day reached double-digits but the highest score among them was an 83-ball 80 by Humayun Farhat, who smacked four boundaries and seven sixes in his attacking innings.The openers added 63 before being separated by Asad Ali, who finished with three wickets at stumps. Taufeeq Umar (45) then added 35 with Khaqan Arsal (46). SNGPL appeared to have pulled things back when they had HBL at 151 for 4, but Farhat and Abdur Rehman, unbeaten on 53, added 70 to swing the balance in their team’s favour. But the momentum once again shifted when two wickets, including Farhat’s, fell for 24 runs. But an unfinished stand of 70 between Rehman and wicketkeeper Farhan Iqbal restored parity, to take their team to 315 for 6 at stumps, restored parity.

James Hopes, the Queensland allrounder, will be rushed back to Brisbane for Saturday’s vital FR Cup clash against Victoria for his second match in two days. Hopes is in Australia’s squad for Friday’s ODI against West Indies but wasn’t picked in the Twenty20 outfit, leaving the Bulls to rely on him in a match they must win to reach the final.”We’ve spoken with James and he is keen to play on the Saturday considering he hasn’t had a lot of cricket to date,” the coach Trevor Barsby said. Hopes is the state’s most important player as he can open the batting and contribute important overs with his medium pace.Victoria won’t be as lucky as Cameron White, Dirk Nannes and David Hussey are in the Twenty20 squad to face West Indies on Sunday and Tuesday. However, they may call on Clint McKay, the fast bowler, when they choose their side on Thursday.The Bulls were leading the competition for much of the season but the successful team on Saturday will host the final. “It’s pretty basic for us – win and we’re in,” Barsby said. “Lose and we’re out.”In the Sheffield Shield, New South Wales have been forced into four changes for the game against South Australia in Adelaide from Friday. The national promotions of David Warner and Steven Smith give chances to Ben Rohrer and Grant Lambert while Moises Henriques returns from a groin injury. The wicketkeeper Daniel Smith will miss the contest with a finger problem and has been replaced in the 13-man squad by Peter Nevill.Queensland FR Cup squad James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Ryan Broad, Lee Carseldine, Craig Philipson, Chris Lynn, Nathan Reardon, Chris Simpson (capt), Ben Cutting, Ben Laughlin, Alister McDermott, Nathan Rimmington.New South Wales Shield squad Phillip Hughes, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich (capt), Peter Forrest, Moises Henriques, Dominic Thornely, Ben Rohrer, Grant Lambert, Stephen O’Keefe, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Trent Copeland.

Pakistan’s batting problems on this tour have been well-documented. They crumbled under the pressure of a small chase in Sydney last week, but have struggled to compile decent Test match totals during the trip to New Zealand earlier.The problem, according to Mohammad Yousuf, is more about not going on to get big scores when set, rather than being out of form or poorly-equipped to handle Australian conditions. Yousuf himself is emblematic of the problem; he has had starts in most innings on this tour and looked in good touch, but has only one fifty to show for it. That is one of five fifties Pakistan’s batsmen have scored over two Tests, and nobody has yet scored a hundred.”There’s no doubt that my own form is better than any batsmen in the side at the moment,” Yousuf said. “Whenever I have come to Australia I have not been in as good form as I am now. When I go out to bat, the ball comes right off the middle. Maybe I am hurrying it a little but the big runs aren’t coming. I don’t think there is anything else. I was telling Waqar [Younis, the bowling coach] the same thing that I am feeling good but just not getting the big runs.”Through the tour, Yousuf has blamed Pakistan’s veer towards Twenty20 cricket as the root cause of failure: they have crossed 350 just twice in their last 16 innings and haven’t batted 100 overs even once on this tour. He said Pakistan’s batsmen lacked the patience for the longer format.”Our middle order is scoring fifties but nothing bigger and this will happen,” Yousuf said. “These guys are all young and if you look at their averages they are also low. All of us are in good form, but we need to score 350-odd then our bowling is good enough to get them.”The view is not shared by his counterpart Ricky Ponting, who believes Pakistan have just not selected the right players. “It depends who they pick, doesn’t it?” Ponting said. “They’re picking strokeplayers and dashers. They don’t have to pick those guys in their side. I’m sure there are other guys around Pakistan that can play Test cricket. Shoaib Malik is a great example, he’s someone who can bat long periods of time but there he is sitting on the sidelines.”It’s not all about every single young player in Pakistan having a Twenty20 mindset or a Twenty20 technique. There’s plenty of those players around. The two Akmals are the standout ones that are naturally aggressive strokemakers. They’ve got those two batting in the middleorder. I think the rest of them have got very sound Test match techniques. Look at the two openers – they worked really hard last week in Sydney in really tough conditions. Their No. 3 [Faisal Iqbal] looks to me to be a Test-match only sort of player, he doesn’t look like he’d really be a Twenty20 player, Yousuf’s the same.”I think that might be a bit of a, not an excuse, but they’ve only got a couple of batsmen in their line-up who you’d really say are more suited to the shorter forms of the game. We’re probably the same, we’ve got guys like Haddin and Watson that have started their careers in the shorterforms of the game and turned themselves into Test players.”[Umar] Akmal has looked Pakistan’s best batsman after Yousuf in this series, though he has thrown away starts on a couple of occasions. He is the side’s top-scorer in the series so far and was so in New Zealand before this.”He is too young, and has played just five Tests,” Yousuf said. “On this tour he has played very well and after this tour he will have more confidence. This is the best team in the world, difficult situations and conditions, everything difficult and when you go from here you perform well against other teams and get confidence. He has changed game a little and is a very clever player. He represents a good future for Pakistan.”

A combination of resilience for two days and rain on the last enabled Pakistan to escape with a draw in the third Test in Napier. Chasing 208 in a minimum of 43 overs, New Zealand’s openers, BJ Watling and Tim McIntosh, added 90 in 19 overs before it began to rain and play was abandoned. Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan captain, was a relieved man and admitted the rain had helped Pakistan avoid defeat and secure a 1-1 draw in the series.”We were lucky. Allah helped us because of rain, otherwise it would be difficult to defend 208 on this track,” he said. “In the first innings we made 223 on this track which was very less. After that we saved the game, I think it is a good performance.”On a beautiful batting surface, Pakistan imploded in the first innings and were reduced to playing catch-up once New Zealand secured a lead of 248. The visitors put up a resolute batting effort in the second innings where six of the top seven batsmen went past fifty, a performance that pleased Yousuf.Looking back at the closely fought series, Yousuf said that the teams were similarly matched but that New Zealand had home advantage. According to him, Pakistan cricket would suffer unless they had a better balance between home and away games. “If we play some games in Pakistan, it will help our youngsters and seniors as well. It is very difficult to play away series all the time with the conditions against us”, he said.Yousuf was concerned about the inexperience in his batting line-up, but believed that the performances of Umar Akmal and Danish Kaneria were good signs for the upcoming tour of Australia. “I am worried about our batting because of lack of experience,” he said. “This game, we threw away our wickets in the second innings. The bowlers did not get our wickets. They worked hard, but we threw away the wickets.”Umar Akmal batted so well through the series. Danish Kaneria bowled well in the last two Tests. On this track, he took seven wickets, I think it’s the best bowling I’ve seen in a long time because there was no help for spinners.”Yousuf did not want to play up his side’s chances in Australia, but expected his side to play competitive cricket, irrespective of the result.

ScorecardUnited Arab Emirates completed a satisfactory day against Namibia in their ICC Intercontinental Shield match, dismissing the hosts for 369 in the first innings before making a steady reply at Windhoek.Namibia began the second day on 255 for 5 and Louis van der Westhuizen, who was on 22 overnight, went on to top score with 70 before he was bowled by Fayyaz Ahmed. van der Westhuizen had earlier added 102 for the sixth wicket with Nicholaas Scholtz. The tail made useful contributions and Namibia were eventually all out for 369. Fayyaz was the pick of the nine bowlers used by the UAE, finishing with figures of 4 for 74.UAE made an excellent start to their first innings. Their openers, Arfan Haider and Arshad Ali, added 88 before Sarel Burger had Ali caught by Tobias Verwey for 47. The same Namibian combination accounted for Khurram Khan and Burger then took his third wicket by catching Saqib Ali off his own bowling. UAE had slipped from 88 for 0 to 143 for 3.However, the other opener Haider remained unbeaten on 44 while wicketkeeper Abdur Rehman scored 29 to steer UAE to 185 for 3 at stumps.

Australia’s injury-hit bowling attack will be without Brett Lee and James Hopes on Wednesday after the pair was ruled out of the second ODI in Nagpur. Lee picked up a right elbow strain in Sunday’s opening win, while Hopes limped off with a hamstring problem. There was serious doubt over Mitchell Johnson’s fitness as well, after the bowler had hurt his ankle, but Australia coach Tim Nielsen said at the pre-match press conference they were happy with how Johnson trained on the eve of the match and did not rule out his participation.Moises Henriques, the New South Wales allrounder, has been called up as a standby until the fourth fixture. He will join the team in Delhi on Thursday, flying back to India a couple of days after returning to Australia following his side’s win in the Champions League Twenty20.”The whole thing has come as a big surprise,” Henriques said in the Sydney Morning Herald. ”I was unpacking my bags when I got the call. I’m over the moon. Can’t wait to join that squad. It can only help me that I’ve just been playing over there for New South Wales, getting used to those conditions, playing a lot of cricket. You wouldn’t say it’s a disadvantage, anyway.”Henriques said he was tired from all the recent cricket but would be ready to go once he arrived in India. The length of his stay depends on Hopes’ fitness.”With James Hopes’ right hamstring injury being more serious and likely to keep him out for at least the next two matches it is thought adding a standby player to the squad is a necessity,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said on Tuesday. “Given the most significant injury appears to be Hopes’ hamstring we have taken this opportunity to add Moises to the squad until the completion of game four in Mohali, where we will again assess the situation before it is decided if he remains with the squad.”Henriques was in a similar position during Australia’s series with Bangladesh last year and he played a Twenty20 against New Zealand in February. Stuart Clark, a New South Wales team-mate, predicted correctly at the weekend that Henriques, who was a strong Champions League performer, would be an Australian player as soon as a spot was available.Hilditch was also impressed by Henriques’ work in India and during Australia A’s winter series against Pakistan A. “We view him as an exciting young allrounder who will be looking to make the most of this opportunity in India,” he said.The injuries are a further blow to Australia’s patched up line-up, which is in the middle of a gruelling schedule. Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Callum Ferguson and Nathan Bracken were unavailable for this tour.

Sussex have expressed interest in signing Monty Panesar , whose career is now at a crossroads after a barren season. Panesar’s county of birth, Northamptonshire, have told him he is free to leave.”When there are players of Monty’s proven ability available I would expect [coach] Mark Robinson to be banging on my door to see what chances there are of us signing them,” Sussex chief executive Dave Brooks told the . “We are trying to improve our squad and he would definitely do that.”Panesar, 27, was dropped from the England Test team after the first Ashes Test at Cardiff, despite his match-saving effort with the bat on a tense final evening, and lost his central contract. His spot as England’s No.1 spinner has gone to Graeme Swann and in 13 County Championship matches this season Panesar took just 18 wickets at an expensive 59.44.

The weather felt like England and the faces were different, but they were the only unusual experiences for Ashley Noffke after landing in Perth following his east-west move from Brisbane. After 10 years with the Bulls, Noffke provided the shock of the off-season by rejecting a one-year deal and quickly signing with the Warriors.Noffke, 32, feared he was being squeezed out in his home state less than 18 months after representing Australia in their limited-overs teams and being part of the Test squad in the West Indies. He struggled with a hip injury for much of 2008-09, but proved his fitness during half a season with Worcestershire during which he was told of the Bulls’ plans.”At Queensland it wasn’t likely that I would play much outside of the four-day team,” he said. “I got the sense – nobody ever said it to me – that they were looking for the next generation and that’s fair enough. But I didn’t want to feel on the chopping block, and I didn’t want to be squeezed out.”Western Australia’s only promise to me was that I’d be eligible for all forms of the game – I didn’t get that at Queensland. I’ve definitely made the right decision.”Of course, Western Australia host Queensland in a FR Cup game on Sunday before a Sheffield Shield encounter from Tuesday, giving Noffke an early chance to reacquaint himself with the Bulls. “It’ll be different,” he said. “I’ll have mixed emotions in the early stages, dealing with the fact I’ve been playing with those guys for so long.”But these days I embrace the feeling of playing for so many teams, so it’s game-on as normal. There’ll definitely be a beer and a chat about pre-season after the game.”Trevor Barsby, the Queensland coach, said Noffke would be missed “a lot”. “He’s an outstanding player,” he said. “The simple fact was he couldn’t come to terms with QC on a contract. It’s disappointing that he went, but what more can you do? QC offered a six-figure sum and has a policy of one-year contracts once players are over 30, so you don’t get comfortable with your life. He wasn’t comfortable with the one-year deal.”Pulling on a yellow cap instead of a maroon one will feel strange for Noffke, but he said he was used to facing old friends after playing for four English counties. Only in the past two weeks has the weather allowed him to train on turf pitches and when he arrived in August it was so cold it reminded him of the start of a county season.Both the Bulls and the Warriors have evolving squads and Noffke has been impressed with what he’s seen in Perth. “Queensland have a far different look and have chosen a different direction to go in,” he said. “They’ve done it with their batting line-up – no Martin Love and no Clinton Perren – so it’s an exciting time for them. It’s a bit the same in WA, although I think we’ve got the better younger players than they do.”

He has been impressed by the batsmen Mitchell Marsh, Luke Towers, Marcus Stoinis and Wes Robinson, but is more excited by the squad’s attack. “The depth in bowling is really good and they’ve bought a few players in. Michael Hogan (NSW), Brad Knowles came over from Victoria last season and there’s Jason Behrendorff (ACT), but he’s a bit younger. Then there is Steve Magoffin, Brett Dorey, myself, Ben Edmondson and Drew Porter, an allrounder. That’s a fair nucleus. There’s talent there, but in Western Australia it’s about providing the scores.”There were some eventful developments involving Warriors in the off-season, with the captain Marcus North securing a spot in the Test team and Luke Pomersbach losing his licence for drink driving and being suspended until the new year by the state. The ban on Pomersbach, 25, training with the squad has also been extended until next month to avoid his reappearance being a distraction to the side.The rest of the unit should be quite stable, with North due to be available for half the summer and Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson the only big names who won’t have much of a say in the domestic campaign. Last summer they were fifth in all three competitions, which is why they called on players like Noffke.He has signed for two summers and will be 34 when the agreement expires. “I’m in a pretty happy place with my cricket,” he said. “I know it’s not going to last forever. I’m starting something afresh, so starting well is high on the agenda. I’ve settled in really well.”