The Schofield Report, published this afternoon at Headingley, has recommended cuts to the English domestic programme and a reshuffling of some of the key roles within the ECB. Overall there were 19 points in the report, of which 17 have been immediately endorsed, while the issues of management and the volume of cricket will be examined in more detail by the ECB.The review committee was chaired by Ken Schofield, the former director of the European PGA Tour, with input from journalists and the public as well as from a committee of six former county captains – Micky Stewart, Angus Fraser, Nasser Hussain, Nick Knight, Hugh Morris and Brian Rose.The ECB have said that the David Collier, the chief executive, will be charged with reporting to the board about the implications of a new management structure which has called for a managing director, national selector and director of county cricket.While Schofield recommended that the domestic game be cut, scrapping the Pro40, he added that this should be addressed by the Domestic Structure Review Group and the ECB have agreed to this.The report has also said that England should play one less Test per summer in order to reduce the demands place on the players and provide more time for recovery.David Morgan, the ECB chairman, said: “The board wishes to express its gratitude to all members of the Schofield Review Team and in particular to Ken Schofield for his leadership of this review.”The review was exceptionally well received by the board and I am delighted that the prompt endorsement of the recommendations will enable the beneficial changes outlined to be implemented in the immediate future.”Among the points already accepted by the ECB are a rebranding of the academy at Loughbrough to a performance centre and an annual training programme for players on the fringe of the national side.

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

A smattering of spectators had come to see the obvious denouement to what had hitherto been a lopsided contest but were instead treated to a gritty fightback by Bangladesh. The hope held out by a spirited 86-run opening stand between Shahriar Nafees and Javed Omar and a 67-run stand between Rajin Saleh and Mohammad Ashraful was however frittered away towards the end as Ashraful committed hara-kiri and Bangladesh trailed by 255 runs, with five wickets standing, at stumps at the Sinhalese Sports Club.Sri Lanka’s first challenge was served even before a ball had been bowled. Vaashad fired a barb, perhaps as well-intended advice, at the visitors lastevening. “Bangladesh’s players should put their heads down, concentrate more. You can’tthrow away your wicket at this level.”Omar and Nafees seemed to have taken the suggestion to heart. The action began in the fourth over of the day when Omar unleashedthree square drives – a couple of which were played uppishly and kept Chaminda Vaasinterested in bowling full – that crashed into the cover-point boundary.Nafees drove one elegantly down the ground in the next Vaas over andsuddenly the batsmen had begun to find their feet.But the contest of the first session was between Nafees and Muttiah Muralitharan, whocame on in the ninth over. There was a man at deep midwicket and one at long leg yet Nafees went for his slog sweeps. Murali adjusted bybowling fuller and he was drilled down the ground, and once, through thecover region. After he was slog swept for yet another boundary, Muraliripped one full and outside off. Nafees attempted another slog sweep butmisjudged the length and the ball went to the left ofMurali, who pulled off a sharp catch.The bowling got more incisive in the second session as the seamers foundsome reverse swing; Lasith Malinga slung in furious yorkers which dipped inlate to threaten the toe if not the stumps, while Vaas got hisoffcutters to tease the outside edge and the batsmen were on the back foot.Malinga was the first to strike. A searing yorker crashed into the backboot catching Omar plumb and leaving him hobbling in pain. Jayawardene immediately went for the kill and replaced Murali with Vaas, whostarted to get the ball to cut away from the batsmen. Saleh hung on, stabbing at afew that didn’t carry to the slips. Habibul Bashar played a few drives but Vaas induced a nick fromone such attempted drive.

Even Murali looked more dangerous in the second session. There wasn’t muchbite in the track, which offered slow spin, and Murali had to rely on flightand variation to test the batsmen. Ashraful and Saleh approached him withdifferent techniques: while Ashraful chose to lunge forward to smother thespin, Saleh preferred to go back and play it off the track. Both edged afew on to the pad to keep the close-in fielders interested but none poppedup into the palms.The game entered the final session, something that had looked remote afterBangladesh’s dismal first-innings display. Saleh played an immensely patientknock, the state of play fitted him to a T. All he had to do was defend and forget about scoring runs. He got into a few problems whilepressing forward and was reprieved twice, on 37 and 43. On the firstoccasion he hung his bat out at a Fernando delivery but Kumar Sangakkaralet him off at first slip; he then played a loose defensive prod at Muraliwithout leaning fully forward but a simple chance was messed up by MalingaWarnapura at short-leg.Fernando, who was the best seamer on view in the pre-lunch period,continued to steam in in the last session. Balls leapt up from a sluggishtrack, surprising the batsmen into ungainly prods. After seeing Salehhanging back to keep away his short-pitched stuff, he went around thewicket to change the angle. He slipped in a few full-pitched deliveriesthat went with the angle to beat the bat. He would have got his man hadSangakkara held a relatively simple chance.Fernando’s duel with Ashraful was equally fascinating. There was a volley of bouncers, some of which hit the gloves and a couple crashed into shoulderbut Ashraful, who had got out pulling in the first innings, desisted fromattacking.Ashraful was admirably patient for the best part of his stay but the demon ofimpatience resurfaced every now and then. He had faced 94 balls for just 22 whenhe charged down the track to Murali to loft him just over mid on. Thatfour had a rather strange effect on Ashraful. He twice tried to reversesweep Murali in the same over and was lucky to get away the second timewhen Asad Rauf negated a close shout for lbw.However, 32 balls after that shout, the adrenalin rush returned toterminate his knock. Saleh had just fallen but Ashraful charged out toMurali only to hole out to long on. The Bangladesh wall had begun to crack.

Just when the sponsorship dispute between the West Indies cricket board and the players association appeared to be nearing resolution, the saga has taken another twist. Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players’ Association, has claimed that Brian Lara and six other dropped players have received death threats owing to the sponsorship dispute with the board.”[They] face overwhelming pressure including death threats, and threats from the WICB never to play again,” claimed Ramnarine. “Threats and intimidation from sponsors, and pressure from the highest political levels within the length and breadth of the Caribbean community.”Ramnarine lashed out at the board, further saying that the dispute – in which seven players were dropped from the squad for the first Test against South Africa in Guyana – had made the board “tyrannical and despotic”. The board “has suspended its discretion, jettisoned all reasoning, and is hell-bent at all costs to do the bidding of its sponsor. In fact, the board was prepared to sacrifice West Indies cricket and the development of a successful team on the altar of commercial expediency.”The board, however, has declined to comment on the allegations made by WIPA. A statement on the windiescricket.com website quotes the WICB as saying: “The WICB is concerned about the tone and content of this highly emotional and totally inaccurate statement, which is most unbecoming and unworthy of an organisation representing professional sportsmen. The WICB, therefore, is of the view that this irresponsible statement is unworthy of any further response.”

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

After all the excellent work done over the last four days, India needed only to complete the formalities on the final morning but they were made to work hard to polish off the remaining 63 runs. Led by a fiery spell from Chris Tremlett, England fought with plenty of heart, and India needed 21 overs before finally completing a seven-wicket victory, their fifth Test win in England and the first at Trent Bridge, to go 1-0 in the series.Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik resumed the Indian innings at 10 for 0, and motored to 47 fairly comfortably. Karthik played a couple of handsome backfoot punches square on the off side, while Jaffer played his trademark effortless flicks. Both played and missed a few times off Ryan Sidebottom, but a ten-wicket win was on the cards when Tremlett struck – not once, but three times. England’s only hope of gaining some brownie points was to take a few top-order wickets before the Oval Test, and Tremlett did that, nailing both openers with short balls that bounced more than the batsmen expected – Jaffer top-edged a pull to gully while Karthik nicked a beauty which bounced and seamed away.Buoyed by those successes, Tremlett and James Anderson let rip at India’s two most experienced batsmen. Both bowlers liberally dished out short-pitched deliveries, and then mixed it with pitched-up, awayswingers. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid played and missed a few times, before Tendulkar pushed at a short one off his hips straight to Alastair Cook at leg gully, who had been cleverly stationed for that stroke.Dravid, though, patiently swayed out of the way of every short ball that came his way, and with a target of 73, victory was only a matter of time. The winning runs came when Tremlett bowled an inswinger that beat Sourav Ganguly and Matt Prior and raced down for four byes.The victory means India have now won at least one Test in ten of their last 12 tours, but have only won two of those series against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. With the last Test at The Oval – a venue which has traditionally produced belters – India have an excellent opportunity to go on and get that rare overseas series victory. England, on the other hand, haven’t lost a series at home since the 2001 Ashes, which sets up the last game of this series quite splendidly.

Zimbabwe Select will go into the second and final four-day match against South Africa A starting at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Wednesday with three spinners.Left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa, legspinner Timycen Maruma and offspinner Prosper Utseya were all named in the starting line-up for the match as Zimbabwe coach Kevin Curran believed that the trio were the key to success. All three were also named in the squad for the Twenty20 World Championship which was announced yesterday.Tino Mawoyo was finally dropped together with fast bowler Tawanda Mupariwa and top-order batsman Chamu Chibhabha. Brendan Taylor made a return to the Zimbabwe colours and was set to open the batting with Hamilton Masakadza.Only one change looked likely in the South Africa A starting line-up. Opening batsman Alviro Petersen returned to South Africa because of illness and left-hander Ashwell Prince was expected to take his place.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe A will take on the South African Academy in a four-day match at Harare Sports Club. Mawoyo leads the A side which also included Sean Williams, who had recovered from a back injury. Other players in the squad were Chibhabha, Mupariwa, Kamungozi, Edward Rainsford and Graeme Cremer.Zimbabwe A toured South Africa last month and played two three-day matches against the Highveld Lions and the South African Academy and one-dayers against the same opposition. They performed dismally in the three-day matches, losing both of them before winning the limited-overs encounters. All the matches were played at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.Zimbabwe Select Prosper Utseya (capt), Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza, Gary Brent, Christopher Mpofu, Brendan Taylor, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Timycen Maruma, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Elton Chigumbura, Keith DabengwaSouth Africa A (probable): Boeta Dippenaar (capt), Johan Botha, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Charl Langeveldt, Hashim Amla, Andre Nel, Justin Ontong, Ashwell Prince, Thami Tsolekile (wk) Morne van Wyk.Zimbabwe A Tino Mawoyo (capt), Eric Chauluka, Chamu Chibhabha, Sean Williams, Alester Maregwede, Regis Chakabva (wk), Tawanda Mupariwa, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Trevor Garwe, Edward Rainsford, Graeme Cremer.

England 213 for 7 (Bopara 43*, Broad 45*) beat India 212 (Yuvraj 71, Tendulkar 55, Broad 4-51, Anderson 3-38) by 3 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad, two England players with bright futures, shone under the Old Trafford floodlights to lift their team from the brink of defeat to a three-wicket victory and a 3-1 lead in the series. Coming together with 99 still needed to overhaul India’s 212, they formed a record eighth-wicket stand for England and Broad registered career-best performances with bat and ball as the target was achieved with two overs to spare.The pair showed a maturity that had escaped the top order except for Paul Collingwood. Leaving behind the patient approach which served them so well while batting first in the previous games, they played as though warming up for next month’s Twenty20 World Championship. The partnership between Bopara and Broad went to the other extreme, as the run-chase began to resemble Test cricket. It was compelling viewing.Slowly but surely they knocked off the runs with calm, correct batting. Broad survived a close lbw shout, against Piyush Chawla, on 25, but as the target slipped below 50, India began to fret and mistakes crept into their game. The fielding, which had held relatively firm, creaked again with overthrows and fumbles and the pressure got to the bowlers.When Zaheer Khan was recalled for a second spell, Broad drove him off the back foot with such class that his father would have been proud. He repeated the shot off Sachin Tendulkar, between which Chawla sent down five wides to aid England’s cause, and Ajit Agarkar’s final over also included two wides to spoil his earlier four-wicket burst.Broad was looking like the Test No. 7 that everyone hopes he will eventually become, driving Chawla through the covers off the front foot and it was he who hit the winning runs. Bopara, however, was equally impressive. At the World Cup, he took England to within two runs of a remarkable run-chase against Sri Lanka and this time he was able to see the job through. By the end England had the run of play, as airy shots fell into gaps but they deserved the good fortune for the earlier hard work.It will be a huge fillip for this England team to know they can pull themselves round from the trouble they were in at 114 for 7, however, they will realise they shouldn’t have left it to two players with a combined age of 43. Alastair Cook and Matt Prior were gone within the first four overs, while Ian Bell played in an unusually expansive manner, forgetting how successful he had been with accumulating in the early overs.England were playing in a different manner now they had a target to chase, even though it was considerably smaller than the totals they had reached batting first. After using more edge than middle, Bell didn’t offer any bat at all to Agarkar and watched the ball nip back off the seam and take off stump.It has been a feisty second half to the summer since India arrived and Kevin Pietersen’s arrival at the crease rarely suggests a period of calm. He and Collingwood counter-attacked as England stayed well ahead of the asking-rate. However, with the match heading England’s way Agarkar, back for a second spell, banged one in at Pietersen who lofted it to Chawla at square leg. Andrew Flintoff played a stiff-legged drive and Owais Shah was undone by a beautifully flighted delivery from Ramesh Powar.All the while Collingwood was playing a captain’s innings, but when he was run-out by RP Singh, from backward point, England had virtually thrown away their chances. Then their new-found one-day resilience made another appearance.

The Man-of-the-Match award was an easy decision after Broad also bagged 4 for 51 as India struggled to 212. Even when they weren’t losing wickets, progress was slow, the main stand of 71 between Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh taking nearly 18 overs.It ended in the most unlikely fashion when Tendulkar pulled a Pietersen long-hop down Flintoff’s throat at deep square-leg. Pietersen, never one to miss such a moment, celebrated with Brett Lee-style fist pumping. Tendulkar’s half-century was a painstaking affair but he only played as he was allowed to by the outstanding efforts of England’s three frontline fast bowlers.However, the cheers for the early wickets paled in comparison with the roar that greeted Flintoff’s introduction in the 12th over. This was his first international appearance on his home ground since the Ashes Test in 2005 and his first ODI here since 2003. It took him just six balls to get on the scoreboard when Rahul Dravid nibbled outside the off stump after facing a hostile opening over.Monty Panesar, back on a happy hunting ground, produced one of his more effective one-day spells and his dismissal of Mahendra Singh Dhoni was classic. A flighted delivery on middle gripped and spun past Dhoni’s forward lunge and hit off stump. Yuvraj briefly broke free; taking 16 off Broad’s eighth over in his 104-ball 71, but the young fast bowler had his revenge when a leg-stump yorker breached Yuvraj’s defences. Powar followed two balls later as Broad took a four-wicket haul for the first time in one-day internationals, but his day in the spotlight was far from finished.

Western Australia will begin their campaign without the captain Marcus North after he was diagnosed with a degenerative knee problem. North, who was promoted after Justin Langer stood down in the off-season, saw a specialist in Melbourne on Wednesday and the condition is treatable, but he will miss at least two weeks.A Western Australia spokesman said North would undergo a detailed rehabilitation programme to treat the right knee tendon and his fitness would be reviewed fortnightly. Tom Moody, the new coach, hoped North would be available for the “bulk of the season”. “While the timing of this injury is unfortunate,” he said, “the main focus for Marcus and the coaching staff will be to help him get back to 100% fitness.”Adam Voges, who was in India as cover for Australia’s one-day side, will lead the Warriors for the first time when they open their season in the FR Cup against New South Wales on Friday. He will also be in charge for the Pura Cup game starting in Perth on Sunday.Western Australia squad Chris Rogers, Luke Ronchi (wk), Adam Voges (capt), Justin Langer, Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Sean Ervine, Shawn Gillies, Aaron Heal, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Steve Magoffin.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Ed Cowan, Simon Katich (capt), Dominic Thornely, Peter Forrest, Daniel Smith (wk), Grant Lambert, Moises Henriques, Stephen O’Keefe, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger, Mark Cameron, Matthew Nicholson.

Ian Botham collected his knighthood from the Queen this morning on what he said was “the proudest moment of my life”.Botham, who is a fervent royalist, said: “I’ve admired the Queen for many years, been lucky enough to have met her at a few occasions, but today was the icing on the cake. I’ve had some great moments in sport and other walks of life but nothing matches this.”Botham was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June for his services to cricket and charity work. He has raised millions for Leukaemia Research through his walks and other events.”It’s not just for myself but for my family and for the leukaemia people who give their time to work for me,” he told the BBC. “It’s just a very special day and one that I will never forget.”Botham went from the palace to Lord’s where the MCC were hosting a party for him in the Long Room. “It is wonderful of the MCC,” Botham said, adding that not only family and friends would attend but also many of the charity workers he had been associated with.Reflecting on his decision to become associated with Leukaemia Research, he said that he had seen children dying while in hospital and was determined to help. Since he started his involvement the survival rate for those with the illness has risen from 20% to 80%.Asked if he thought he was a legend, Botham smiled. “I think so,” he said. “I hope so.”

Scorecard
Railways extended their overnight lead of 113 to 211 before their bowlers ran through Jammu & Kashmir in just under 46 overs, completing a comprehensive win on day three in Delhi. J&K could only muster 123 in their second innings as Sanjay Bangar picked up the last four wickets in 8.5 overs.Resuming on 307 for 7, Railways reached 405 with No. 7 Karan Sharma, unbeaten overnight on 68, going on to score a century on first-class debut. Sharma was involved in a 103-run stand for the eighth wicket with Harvinder Singh (38). Sharma was the last to fall, but the 211-run deficit was too much for J&K, handing Railways a well-earned victory and six points.
ScorecardAfter having conceded a first-innings lead to Goa, Haryana were left with a chance for victory, needing another 241 runs with nine wickets in hand.Starting the third day 67 runs behind Goa’s first-innings 271, Haryana were bowled out for 246, Shadab Jakati finishing with 6 for 52 from 29.2 overs. Goa got off to a shaky start, losing three wickets with only 30 on the board as Joginder Sharma struck twice.Opener Sagun Kamat made 60, but it was a fighting 86 by Ajay Ratra, the former Indian wicketkeeper, that enabled the home team to reach 221. Ratra was involved in a 32-run last-wicket partnership with Harshad Gadekar as Amit Mishra, Haryana’s strike bowler, took 6 for 75. Haryana, set a target of 247 – one more than their first-innings total, lost a wicket before stumps, Jakati making the breakthrough.
ScorecardGujarat looked well-placed for a win in Ahmedabad, having reduced Assam to 15 to 2 after having set them a target 407.Nilesh Modi and Niraj Patel amassed 215 runs for the third wicket as Gujarat more than consolidated on the 39-run lead they had gained after bowling out Assam for 189. Niraj hit 15 boundaries in his 192-ball stint for his 124, while Modi was more circumspect, his unbeaten 152 coming at less than a run every two balls. Niraj fell with the score on 333, and his side declared once the lead was extended beyond 400. The hosts had the added bonus of two wickets in the 15 overs they bowled, with Siddharth Trivedi and Nehal Raval bagging one apiece.
ScorecardMadhya Pradesh skittled out Jharkhand for 139, gaining a first-innings lead of 84, and then scored 165 for the loss of five wickets at stumps on the third day in Jamshedpur.Jharkhand, resuming at 83 for 5, managed a further 56 as the last five wickets fell within the first 24 overs of the day. Anand Rajan bagged 4 for 51, adding two scalps to the couple he picked up on Sunday. MP lost wickets at regular intervals as they looked to build on their lead, but ended on 165 for 5, with a more than handy advantage of 249. Shankar Rao was the pick of the bowlers for Jharkhand, with three wickets in his 16 overs.
ScorecardServices, who conceded the first-innings lead against Tripura, looked poised to set the home team a challenging target on the final day of the match in Agartala. Yashpal Sharma scored an unbeaten 94 as Services, overnight on 112 for 2, reached 308 for 7, an overall lead of 222 runs. For Tripura, Vineet Jain took 3 for 66.

At Mohali, cricket will not be the only thing on the mind. One nation is going through turmoil back home, which might make even the thought of playing cricket absurd. The other has seen two of its greatest cricketers shy away from the Test captaincy within six weeks of each other. Their national selectors are likely to announce a new captain sometime during the match. So taking one eye away from the India-Pakistan match, might be forgiven.The teams, however, will be wary of distraction, especially after giving the impression in Guwahati that they were both still catching breath after losses to better teams just before. Guwahati’s slow, unpredictable track didn’t help the entertainment either, but successive low-on-drama India-Pakistan matches are rare.Home advantage? What home advantage?
They may have the support of 30,000, but home advantage matters little in India-Pakistan matches: seven Indian wins from 22 home matches says as much. More Pakistani players speak Punjabi, the local language, than Indian players and though India have a competitive pace attack, a lively Mohali track might favour Pakistan’s pace more.Shoaib Akhtar only ambled in at Guwahat but still threatened with pure pace in: steaming-in here, he might provide a real treat. The last time he played in Mohali, 2-18 helped reduce India to 196. His cohorts, Umar Gul and Rao Iftikhar Anjum, also have good memories: between them they took 5 for 62 in the Champions Trophy match against South Africa last year. Pakistan were, however, bowled out for 89 in reply.Permutations
The pitch and their spinners’ success leaves India grappling with a central question: do they play three pacers and Irfan Pathan and drop a spinner? Dew in the evening – a cast-iron certainty here in the first week of November – might also make the pair of Murali Kartik and Harbhajan Singh one spinner too many. Dropping one is a tricky enough decision; choosing one of the two is trickier still. Sreesanth, if the decision is made, will relish the conditions as replacement.The other question is how to fit in Virender Sehwag, should they want to. On form, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa are certain starters. That leaves only the openers – Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly – or Pathan, though they wouldn’t want to lose out on the latter’s bowling.

Pakistan might play four pace bowlers to exploit the conditions. Geoff Lawson, their coach, indicated that Sohail Tanvir will make his first start of the series. “Sohail has a very good long-term future in Pakistan cricket. I think he is in the frontline for selection here. He is a good man to have in the team, a good left-armer and a definite possibility.”Even if Tanvir becomes part of a four-man pace attack and Rahman drops out, they have Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik, both capable of bowling their full quotas on helpful tracks, to fall back on.Lawson defended the opening combination of Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal. “The pair is settling down. Salman Butt is back in form, which is really good news. And Akmal can bat too; he has scored a Test hundred at this ground.”What Lawson didn’t disagree on was that Pakistan needed to play brighter cricket. “We were a bit slack in the first game. (But) we are not got looking at too many changes. Nobody played particularly badly. We are not looking at individuals, but the whole team needs to lift their game.”Two Champions Trophy matches, around the same time last year, provide interesting reference: as mentioned, Pakistan got blown away in the first few overs under the lights. Two days later, however, Australia, chasing 250, came out attacking under lights and blew India away in the first 15 overs. The first few overs under lights, when the wicket is at its most responsive to pace, might just hold the key tomorrow too. India might also have a new Test captain by then.Teams from
India: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Dhoni, (capt, wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Rohit Sharma, Praveen KumarPakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik (capt), Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Abdur Rehman, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Fawad Alam