In an exclusive interview for the first edition of The Wisden Cricketer magazine, which goes on sale on Friday, September 19, Michael Vaughan has called for a restructuring of county cricket, in which the number of Championship games in a season would be cut by a half.”You only have to watch county cricket to see the enthusiasm levels drained out of players,” Vaughan told The Wisden Cricketer. “Jon Lewis, of Gloucestershire, said after the Headingley Test that he had played 21 out of 24 days – that simply can’t be right.”Vaughan has proposed that the number of first-class counties be reduced by two to 16, to be divided into two divisions of eight teams. Then, instead of the current home-and-away fixture pile-up, each side would then play the others in their division only once in the course of a season, leaving a two-week gap between matches.”I love the county game but the structure is not working and I feel sorry for the young guys coming into the England side,” Vaughan added. “As a step up it is massive. I made my Test debut at 25 and had played county cricket for seven years … but it still took 18 months to get used to Test cricket.”Vaughan’s comments will cause outrage among many county stalwarts, including the Worcestershire chairman, John Elliott, who recently accused Vaughan of biting the hand that fed him. But his sentiments have also been echoed in influential circles. Prior to the Oval Test, the former ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin called for the first-class structure to be limited to 12 teams, a proposal that found favour with the Cricket Reform Group, which includes the former England captains Mike Atherton and Bob Willis among their members.Martyn Ball, the chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, however, was less enthusiastic. “Michael Vaughan is entitled to his opinion but I would question the grounds for his criticism,” he told The Wisden Cricketer as part of a major debate on the future of county cricket. “Steve Waugh has said in the past that county cricket is a strong environment and in all probability is the second-toughest domestic game in the world. Poor results [should be] the fault of the guys out on the field and not down to weaknesses of the club structure.”But England’s coach Duncan Fletcher, with whom the ECB are keen to secure a new deal, is no fan of the county structure. “When you lose, you should hurt for three weeks and really think about it,” he said after the Oval Test. “You should assess what happened and why. Instead, you’ve got the coach and the captain saying to you: ‘Forget about it because we’ve got another game today.'”Click here to subscribe to The Wisden Cricketer

The Western Australian Cricket Association Selectors today named to Second XI teams for Cricket Australia Cup matches in Queensland and New South Wales.The first match against the Queensland Cricket Academy will be played at Allan Border Field, Brisbane from November 17-20.Team for QLD
Kade Harvey (C), Aaron Heal, Steven Jacques, Andrew James, Brett Jones, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Scott Meuleman, Luke Ronchi, Craig Simmons, John Taylor, Michael Thistle and Adam VogesThe second match against the New South Wales Second XI will be played at Alan Davidson Oval, Sydney from November 27-30Team for NSWMBR>Scott Meuleman (C), Geoff Cullen, Steven Glew, Aaron Heal, Sam Howman, Andrew James, Brett Jones, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Luke Ronchi, Craig Simmons, John Taylor and Adam VogesTravelling with the side will be WA `A Coach, Doug Harris. The tour party departs Perth on Sunday, November 16. The sides are subject to Pura Cup selection due to take place on Wed Nov 12.

Melvyn Betts has joined Middlesex from Warwickshire, where he spent three seasons and took 83 first-class wickets.Betts, 28, started his career at Durham in 1993 and toured Zimbabwe and South Africa with England A in 1998-99.”I am looking forward to performing well for Middlesex and I am very excited by the prospect of playing at Lord’s," he said. “I feel I have a lot to offer and am just about reaching the peak of my career. Middlesex are a good, young side and I can’t wait for next season to start.”

Northerns 132 for 1 (Petersen 51*) beat Eastern Province 131 (Peterson 34, Mbhalati 3-26) by nine wicketsScorecardRain in East London put paid to the Border – KwaZulu-Natal match whileNortherns made short work of a troubled Eastern Province team in theStandard Bank Cup.The match in East London was abandoned without a ball being bowled when both captains decided to call the game off due to the rain, a wet pitch and a near unplayable outfield.At Centurion, Northerns never looked back after they won the toss and sentEastern Province in to bat. Traveling without their coach, Kepler Wessels,Eastern Province was bowled out for 131, in 38.4 overs. Robin Peterson with34 and Dumisa Makalima (25) were the only batsmen to offer any realresistance. Once again the young opening bowler, Ethy Mbhalati, showed somepromise, taking 3 for 26.Northerns left nothing to chance and raced away to the win by nine wicketsin 19.2 overs with only Abraham de Villiers losing his wicket, run out for28. Alviro Petersen ended on 51 and Jacques Rudolph on 28.

Close Australia 317 for 3 (Hayden 136, Ponting 120*) trail India 366 (Sehwag 195) by 49 runs
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A resurgent Australia called all the shots on the second day of the third Test,first taking six wickets for 37 to bowl India out for 366, and then racking up 317 for 3 by the close. Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting both made hundreds in apartnership of 234 for the second wicket, and for a large part of the second andthird sessions India were under siege. Only two wickets late in the day from Anil Kumble, including that of the promoted Adam Gilchrist, kept India in with asemblance of a chance. It was quite clear that the balance of power had turnedquite dramatically in this Test match.Australia had struggled previously in the series to run quickly through the Indian lower order and tail, but their effort with the ball this morning was exactly what they would have envisaged last night when they considered how to get back into this Test match. India, resuming on 329 for 4, started brightly, with Sourav Ganguly unfurling some gorgeous drives against Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken, but they began to lose their way immediately after reaching 350.Lee, who had come around the wicket to Ganguly, was hit for two boundaries in three balls, but broke through with a short-of-length ball that Ganguly popped to gully (350 for 5). It is a batting tic against the fast bowlers that Ganguly has struggled to eradicate completely, and it cost India dearly here.Wickets fell in a procession thereafter, mostly to poor judgement on the part ofthe batsmen. Ajit Agarkar was the most culpable, hitting his first ball straight to mid-off and attempting a suicidal single only to be run-out. Kumble played another ill-judged stroke, driving at a wide ball from Williams and edging to third slip (366 for 8), and VVS Laxman fell before he could scrape together a few runs with the tail, reaching for a legbreak and was caught by Hayden at slip for 19. India had collapsed spectacularly, much like Australia on the second day of the Brisbane Test.

The door was now open for Australia to get quickly to the Indian score – no morethan a moderate one given the excellent batting conditions – and then run the game from there. India had the consolation of a wicket before lunch, when Agarkar dismissed Justin Langer for the fourth time in the series (30 for 1), but there was to be little respite for the Indian bowling thereafter as Hayden and Ponting piled on the runs. The batting collapse in the morning and the run-scoring of two of the most prolific batsmen in the modern game were not the only reasons for Ganguly’s distracted air. Zaheer Khan seemed to feel the effects of the injury that kept him out of the second Test, and was unable to give it all, though it was a relief to the Indians that they did not lose him altogether.Hayden brought up his hundred off only 137 balls, but his innings was not as evenly paced as that statistic suggests. His dismissals at Adelaide, driving loosely at the seamers on both occasions, would have impressed upon him the need to be more selective about his strokeplay instead of trying to dominate all the bowlers. He batted circumspectly against Ashish Nehra, who bowled two probing and accurate spells at him, and most of his runs came against the bowling of Agarkar, whom he drove down the ground repeatedly, and Kumble, who was slog-swept with impunity and never allowed to settle. Akash Chopra, fielding at short leg to the bowling of Kumble, must have on more than one occasion felt that facing Lee’s bumpers with a bat for protection was infinitely more preferable to having to dodge Hayden’s swipes from five yards away.A feature of Hayden’s innings was his superb running between the wickets. Herepeatedly hit the ball straight to mid-off or mid-on and made it to the nonstriker’s end by the time the throw was fired in. Hayden made merry after hereached his hundred, taking guard well outside his crease and savaging even goodballs with powerful strokes off the front foot.Ponting, whose attacking instincts rival those of any other batsman in contemporary cricket, was content to play second foil for once, ensuring nevertheless that he scored at a healthy rate. He took heavy toll of Agarkar when he dropped short and Zaheer when he overpitched, but his batting against Kumble was less than assured, and he was lucky to survive on a number of occasions. It was not among his best hundreds, but it was vital nonetheless, and he remained undefeated at stumps.When Hayden was finally out for 133, lbw to Kumble swinging across the line oncetoo often (264 for 2), Australia made a strong statement of intent. Though still102 behind the Indian total, they showed that they were confident they would notfall short of it by sending in Adam Gilchrist at No.4 to have a go at the bowling. Gilchrist swung at quite a few without looking very convincing, but he is easily among he most dangerous batsmen in international cricket, and India would have been relieved to see the back of him when he skied Kumble high in the air and was caught at mid-off (295 for 3).Ponting and Damien Martyn then saw Australia through till stumps, at which pointthey were only 49 shy of the Indian score. It was the first time in the series that Australia had dominated the day with both bat and ball.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that it will invite Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and Aaqib Javed to coach Pakistan’s fast bowlers before India’s tour in March.Speaking to the Press Trust of India, a news agency, Rameez Raja, the PCB’s chief executive, said: “The PCB has decided to seek the expertise of former fast-bowling greats, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed to hold special build-up sessions with the present pacers to prepare them for the series against India.”Raja played down the furore in Pakistan about Irfan Pathan’s coaching by Akram during India’s tour of Australia. “I don’t think it is such a big issue,” he said. “Wasim is a retired cricketer and highly respected as a quality fast bowler. It is natural that other bowlers like to take advice and tips from him. We just want him to be available for us when possible.” Raja added that the board would approach Akram on his return from Australia, asking him and Imran to assist Mohammad Sami, who struggled in New Zealand.”We want Imran and Wasim to work with him [Sami] and see where he is going wrong,” Raja said. Sami took six wickets at an average of 45 in the recent one-day series in New Zealand, but otherwise has 71 wickets in 45 internationals, at an average of 24.77.

England’s preparations for the series against West Indies will include a masseuse for the first time – but the players have had to pay a third of the cost of having Vickki Byrne accompany them after what one newspaper described as "a tense stand off with Lord’s".Michael Vaughan asked the England & Wales Cricket Board to pay Byrne’s £15,000 bill, but the board would only stump up a third, with a sponsor picking up another third. That left the players to make up the difference."At the start of every tour the ECB provide a sum that can go towards the cost of providing a local masseur, to be sourced locally," explained an ECB spokesman. "Vickki worked for the team throughout last summer, however, and the players wanted her on board for this tour as part of the management team. While we want to give the England players the best possible support, we have had to operate within certain financial constraints during the last year and we can’t throw money at the team.”Byrne, who owns the Reading-based Body Works International, has worked with the England team for the past two years. She travelled with the side to Jamaica last week – but while the players were in business class, she was stuck back in economy.

Tasmania 9 for 313 (Dighton 152, Wise 3-59. McDonald 3-69) v Victoria
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Michael Dighton slapped Victoria’s bowlers all over the ground as he guided Tasmania to a hard-fought 9 for 313 at stumps on day one of the Pura Cup clash at the Bellerive Oval. Tasmania were 3 for 46 when Dighton came to the crease and he scored 152 runs in commanding style off 208 balls, including 18 fours and five sixes.Dighton passed the milestone of 2500 first-class runs en route and blitzed his season best of 127 not out against Queensland at Bellerive in January. His innings ended when he was caught at cover by Cameron White off Allan Wise, the left-arm paceman, who later captured Andrew Downton (3) to finish with three for 59 off 22.Dighton’s sixth-wicket stand with Sean Clingeleffer yielded 163 before Clingeleffer (46) was snared by Brendan Joseland, the debutant in his first over. “I guess it was just one of those days,” Dighton said, unaware he was just 65 runs shy of 1,000 for the season. “I just tried to put the bad balls away and there was a short boundary on one side (so) I tried to take a bit of advantage of that. It is good to contribute to the team after being in early trouble.”Xavier Doherty was unbeaten on 15 at the close of play, while Gerard Denton was 12 not out. Dighton said he hoped the pair could add at least 30-odd runs tomorrow to push the Tigers over the 350 mark.Andrew McDonald proved a top performer today. He was recalled to the squad at the eleventh hour after Ian Harvey was forced out with a groin strain. McDonald’s first victim was Shane Watson, who was caught behind for an unlucky 13. Michael Di Venuto (16) was next when he was caught at gully by David Hussey. McDonald also claimed Dan Marsh for a duck on his next ball to leave Tasmania flailing on five for 83. When Darren Berry caught Marsh he reached the milestone of 600 first-class dismissals.Tasmania, placed second (22 points) are hungry for an outright win to secure a final berth against Victoria (40), with Queensland (18) and NSW (17) still in contention.

Devon Smith has been ruled out of the fourth Test in Antigua after a specialist told him that his fractured thumb would take three weeks to heal. But the circumstances which led to the injury have left Gus Logie, the West Indies coach, far from impressed.Smith opted to go home to Grenada after the Jamaica Test, but rather than travel an hour to the excellent West Indies Academy just outside St George’s, he decided to practise in a local net with Rawl Lewis, the Grenadian legspinner. It was during that session that he was struck on the thumb by Lewis."Smith should have been practising at the academy," Logie fumed. "He saved himself a journey of an hour by staying on the other side of the island. I can’t understand why. He could have left earlier. It may be a slight inconvenience, but it’s investing in your future. Now he could be out of the side for a while and that will cost him a lot more."

Imran Khan’s caused a flutter when he omitted Javed Miandad from a list of high-profile guests invited for a lavish party at his residence. Though all the members of the Pakistan and Indian teams were invited for Wednesday’s party, Miandad was conspicuously absent.The News says, “He [Imran] invited the manager Haroon Rasheed, Inzamam and other senior players along with the Indians but blatantly ignored Miandad, making it obvious how much he dislikes seeing him in a position of power.”The newspaper also spoke about Miandad’s reaction to this snub, and said that he had expressed fears of another “revolt” against him.***Yasir Hameed and Mohammad Sami regretted the dropped catches in the series and spoke about how costly those chances had been. The Times of India quoted Hameed as saying, “I haven’t spoken to Inzy bhai even once after I dropped Rahul Dravid on 71. I can’t show him my face. I think it is the pressure of playing against India that forced the mistake.”And there was more. Hameed spoke about how his concentration had wavered while admiring some of India’s batsmen. “There were other dropped catches as well, but I think my mistake cost us the most. I wasn’t expecting a catch at that moment. Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.”Sami vividly recalled the moment in Multan when he had dropped Virender Sehwag and went on to describe it as a critical moment in the series. “The moment that stroke was hit towards me in the air, I thought I had covered it. But suddenly it started dropping on me and I lost it at the last moment. I tried hard but didn’t bowl well in this series but I think this was the biggest goof up. I owe an apology to my country.”***According to the Dawn, Hanif Mohammad expressed his disappointment after Pakistan were outplayed in the deciding match at Rawalpindi. Hanif also heaped lavish praise on the Indian bowlers, who had controlled their swing admirably. He said that the Pakistani bowlers laid more emphasis on speed, which eventually proved detrimental to their plans.Intikhab Alam, another former captain, admitted that India outclassed Pakistan in all departments in both the one-day and Test series. While contemplating the reasons for Pakistan’s failure, he said, “Lack of a world-class spinner has been one of the basic reasons. We have destroyed Saqlain Mushtaq while Danish Kaneria will take time to become a class act.”***Sachin Tendulkar took the opportunity after the third Test to clear the air about his statement regarding the declaration at Multan. In a TV show on ESPN Star Sports, he made it very clear that his outburst was an “emotional reaction” and that nothing else should be read into it.”As far as I’m concerned, it’s not at all a controversy. I came to the press conference and the first question asked was, ‘Are you disappointed?’ and I said, ‘Yes, I am disappointed because I was unbeaten on 194’. I think I’m allowed to express my emotions, but that doesn’t mean that the interest of the team is kept aside and individuals come first … It was just an emotional expression and not at all a big issue.”He also clarified that there was absolutely no hassles between Rahul Dravid and himself due to that incident. “Also, there was something mentioned that between me and Dravid and [about] a heated atmosphere. But that wasn’t the case. We just sat together and we sorted out the issue and there was a clear-cut understanding and everything was very transparent.”***Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, hinted at some changes in the Pakistan team set-up but insisted that they will not resort to drastic measures. The News quoted him as saying, “Don’t expect any radical changes or steps to be taken because we have lost the series to India. But yes, we have pinpointed some areas of weaknesses where more expertise is required and we will be making some changes.”Shaharyar, while stating that Pakistan had put up a good fight, also cited injuries to key players as being the main reasons for Pakistan’s defeat. “I think they [Pakistan] put up a creditable fight. It was a big effort on their part to win the second Test and level the series because India was a very good side. But we are not going to take any decisions emotionally or in haste. It is true the team has lost both the one-day and the Test series but overall the performance of the boys has not been that bad in the last couple of months. There are also some positive points about this team like the emergence and improvement of some of the younger players.”