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Richard Langridge, who played 212 matches for Sussex between 1957 and 1971, has died after a short battle against cancer. He was 65.A top-order left-hand batsman, Langridge scored 8310 runs at 22.89, including five hundreds. He was a member of the team which won the Gillette Cup in 1963 and 1964, and was on the losing side in the 1970 final.Langridge topped 1000 runs in five seasons, with his best aggregate coming in 1961 when he made 1675 at 26,58. He took a break from the game between 1967 and 1969, before returning to play two final seasons with the county.Langridge was one of the family which played such an important part in Sussex’s history, His father, James, played eight Tests for England and made almost 600 appearances for the county, and his uncle, John, was named in the touring party for the 1939-40 series against India which never took place.

Returning to Test cricket after a 28-month layoff, Shane Bond was delighted with his performances in the two-Test series in Zimbabwe. He took 13 wickets at 9.23, including returns of 10 for 99 in the second Test at Bulawayo – his first ten-wicket haul – and in the process became the quickest among all New Zealand bowlers to get to 50 Test wickets. Bond achieved the mark in only his 12th match, beating Chris Martin’s earlier record of 13. (Click here for Bond’s Test stats.)”That’s what’s driven me on, a few of those milestones I wanted to achieve,” Bond told Radio Sport after the match. “I’ve just got to keep working hard and hopefully I can tick them off as I go along. I feel like I’m in better condition now. I’m fitter, stronger, and a smarter cricketer.”Bond expressed his surprise, though, at the number of wickets that came his way at Bulawayo. “I set myself high standards but you never think you’re going to get a bag of wickets. I never gave up hope [during the injury layoff]. There were some really tough times, more mental than physical, but you’ve just got to work through them. All I wanted to do was be consistent and support the guys around me.”Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, admitted that Bond’s presence had made a huge difference to their attack. “We’ve gone through some series and kept our mouth shut, knowing we were missing possibly one of the greatest bowlers to play for New Zealand. He’s worked very hard and come back well.” Fleming himself had a reasonably good series with the bat, scoring two half-centuries. His 65 in the second Test took him past the 6000-run mark in Tests, making him the first New Zealander to achieve the feat.New Zealand’s next engagement is the one-day tri-series next week, involving Zimbabwe and India. However, Bond will have to wait seven months to play his next Test, when New Zealand host West Indies in March 2006.

Shane Warne will miss the fourth Test against India after breaking his right thumb during an eve-of-match net session at Mumbai today.Warne at first appeared to be untroubled, but soon looked in some discomfort and was taken to a local hospital for a precautionary X-ray where the break was revealed. It is thought that either Nathan Hauritz, the offspinner, or the legspinner Cameron White will take his place.”Shane experienced increased levels of pain throughout the afternoon, so we had the thumb X-rayed,” explained Errol Alcott, Australia’s physiotherapist. “The scans have detected a fracture in his right thumb, and given the amount of cricket on the horizon, we feel that it is in his best interests to get home now and rest. We can’t predict a return date for Shane, but we will review him in the lead-up to the first Test in Brisbane.””This series has been one of the true highlights of my career, so I’m really disappointed that I won’t be able to finish it off on the right note,” Warne admitted. “It would have been a great thrill to be on hand when we received the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the end of this Test, but I’m satisfied with the knowledge that I helped contribute to our series win.”India (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Mohammad Kaif, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.Australia (probable) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Simon Katich, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Cameron White, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Michael Kasprowicz, 11 Jason Gillespie.

Derbyshire have signed James Bryant, the former Somerset batsman, on a two-year contract. The deal was originally agreed back in September last year, but only sealed this week.Bryant, 27 and born in South Africa, had a disappointing last season for Somerset, averaging under 30. However, he has impressed for Eastern Province, the South African domestic side this winter, scoring 163 and two half-centuries.Bryant, whose parents were born in the UK, qualifies as a domestic player after he granted a British passport last year.

Zimbabwe Cricket has announced a revised domestic cricket structure that will see five national select sides play in a national league competition beginning next season.Five new sides – , the national team, Zimbabwe A, a Board XI, Zimbabwe Development and the National Academy – will take part. At a meeting on Friday, ZC said the objective of the new national league format was ”to create a professional, well organised and competitive domestic league that is free from individual politics”.It continued: ”The technical challenges being faced by ZC today relate to the lack of a clearly defined technical structure. ZC needs to put in place a technical structure that is well defined in terms of role with clear and defined outputs in order to measure performance.”It is against this background that a workshop on structure development is required before the onset of the 2006-07 season. This workshop will deal with issues of communication, job descriptions, politicking among others.”Meanwhile, the Logan Cup, the country’s first-class tournament, is set to resume with three new sides. Although Manicaland and Midlands remain as they were, the two old provinces of Mashonaland and Matabeleland have been disbanded and their places will be taken by Harare Metropolitan and Bulawayo Metropolitan. The fifth side will be Masvingo. “What will happen is that the smaller provinces will be swallowed up by these five for the Logan Cup,” source said. “With time, they say, they will become independent and play on their own.”ZC came under intense fire after it failed to stage the Logan Cup in 2005-06. At the time a spokesman insisted that it had merely been postponed and that the seasons had been rejigged.Cricinfo first broke the story that the board was planning the domestic overhaul earlier in the year.

Heath Streak, Zimbabwe’s captain, believes one-day internationals should consider new rules and fresh ideas to maximise its interest and appeal.Talking ahead of Zimbabwe’s opening game of the VB Series against Australia at Sydney on Sunday, Streak said: “One-day cricket is a fantastic advert for the game, but there is a risk that unless a tight finish is involved, the game can be predictable for players and fans.”Spectators now have dozens of sports and entertainment to choose from on their TV screens, so cricket has to find a way of holding its own in a crowded market.”Streak had a few ideas of his own on how to shake things up a bit. “For example, as a captain, I’d support the idea of being able to change the current fielding restrictions from the first 15 overs of a match, when you have to have two catchers and only two fielders outside of the circle.”If I could use the 15 overs in blocks of, say, five overs each, it would allow me to experiment more with my bowlers and have new options to try in the field. That might help change the quiet period you often get in games between overs 16 and 40.”He also suggested the introduction of international Twenty20 cricket, the 20-over format introduced in England last season. “We saw the instant impact that Twenty20 cricket had in England when we toured there in the last northern summer,” he said. “Perhaps the ICC could experiment with an international version of Twenty20, which I think would pull in spectators and be an attractive formula for telecasters.”Streak, who has played 172 one-dayers for Zimbabwe, warned that the game needs to keep coming up with new ideas. “With 11 countries playing limited-overs internationals there is plenty of scope to experiment with some fresh thinking,” he said. “Cricket needs to find a way of keeping itself attractive and interesting. Test cricket should always be there as the purest form of the game, but one-day internationals provide the perfect opportunity for some creative thinking.”

Former Victorian player, captain and coach John Scholes passed away today aged 53. The cause of death is unknown and will be subject to a coroner’s report.Cricket Victoria Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ken Jacobs, said that Scholes was a unique person and would be sadly missed. “I think today Victoria lost one of its greatest ever cricketing sons. John’s contribution as a player, junior and senior coach, as well as mentor to many young Victorian cricketers, will quite simply never be matched. On behalf of the entire Victorian cricket community, I extend our sincere condolences to Diane, as well as John’s children, Shannon and Adam”.JOHN “BARREL” SCHOLES

• Played 62 matches for Victoria (3201 runs @ 30.78, 3 centuries, HS 156)
• First captained Victoria aged 21 and again aged 30
• Coached the Victorian Bushrangers between 1996 – 2001. Led the side to the 98/99 Mercantile Mutual Cup and to two successive Pura Cup finals in 99/00 and 00/01
• All time Premier Cricket games record holder (396). Carlton (277), Fitzroy Doncaster (119)
• 12, 693 runs (Premier Cricket record at the time), 26 centuries, 60 half-centuries
• 5 Premierships (4 Carlton, 1 Fitzroy Doncaster) from 9 Grand Final appearances
• Coached Carlton CC in 2002/03
• Played Premier Cricket for 31 years

South Africa’s cricketers were caught in the midst of an alleged terrorist attack on Wednesday, as their hotel in London had to be evacuated.The team had been relaxing at the Buckinghamshire Hotel in London, ahead of a low-key charity match, when a suspicious white powder – thought to be anthrax – was discovered in the adjoining shopping centre.”The entire area was cordoned off and there were police and sirens all over,” said Omar Henry, the convenor of the national panel of selectors. “Within minutes, the fire brigade was on the scene and people were running in every direction. I locked myself in my room and did not want to move around in the hotel.”The players were told to stay in their rooms, and they were late in leaving for their match. After police had searched the area for quite some time, the players were eventually given permission to leave the hotel through a side door.

Subrata Guha, the former Indian swing bowler, died in Mumbai following a massive heart attack early this morning. He was 57.Guha was an accurate right-arm medium-pace bowler who could swing the ball both ways, but his Test appearances were limited. Guha played only four Tests for India, in the late 1960s. He finished with three wickets at an unflattering 103.67, and 17 runs at 3.40. His best bowling was 2 for 55 – the wickets of Paul Sheahan and John Gleeson – at Kanpur in 1969-70.He made his presence felt when he took 11 wickets in the match to bowl an unfancied combined Central & East Zone team to a shock victory over the all-conquering West Indian side in 1966-67. But he had a nightmarish start to his Test career, when he sent down 48 overs and conceded 115 runs without taking a wicket against England at Headingley in 1967.In the Ranji Trophy, however, Guha was a pillar of strength for Bengal for over a decade, and took 209 wickets at 14.61, with a best return of 7 for a8 against Assam at Gauhati in 1972-73. In his first-class career, Guha captured 299 wickets at an average of 20.29.

I must admit that it is not easy to concentrate on cricket, much less enjoy it while a brutal war rages in Iraq. Still the show must go on. So far so good for the new-look Pakistan team. But Sharjah was never going to provide a real test. It’s a friendly environment and the nature of the opposition in this particular tournament is not all that hot.But the main idea is to re-build and there appears to be little doubt that there is more cohesion, more spirit in the team. This generally happens with a new team. The skill lies in the ability to sustain the exuberance. Not only is the team new but also the management.There seems to be a general approval about the re-building process and the virtues of youth are being extolled even by those who themselves set a bad example by hanging around when it had become apparent that it was well past the time for calling it a day.The key is going to be providing some security to the new players. They need to be given a long run and though we should monitor their performance carefully, we should accept that there will be some false starts. But what needs to be avoided is the sense of smugness that some kind of revolutionary change has taken place in our cricket thinking.This is not the first time that Pakistan has experimented with a new-look team. When Kerry Packer arrived on the scene, like Pied Piper he was able to take away the best players.Packer had made it clear that he would make the players available for national duty but so incensed were the various cricket boards with the players who had ‘deserted’ to Packer that they gave these players the boot. In the end the prodigals were received back and they dined on the fatted calf.I think it is wholly wrong to portray the axed senior players as some sort of villains. To wholly blame them for the World Cup debacle is manifestly unfair. The senior players per se were not a part of the problem.The re-building process should be de-linked from the poor performance of the team in the World Cup. Rather, we should take the stand that we would have proceeded with the re-building irrespective.Re-building is an attempt to acquire a bank of players so that there is a greater pool of players available for national duty. There seems to be no need to follow the political pattern of debunking previous leaders.On the contrary, these senior players should be actively involved in the re-building. Most of them rendered distinguished service to cricket. There is an irony of sorts that to date in the Sharjah tournament Pakistan has needed the contributions from Abdul Razzaq, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana and Rashid Latif to see them through.Once South Africa pulled out for wholly untenable reasons, the tournament seemed less competitive. And it was generally expected that it would be a Pakistan-Sri Lanka final. But Zimbabwe had other ideas and it is Sri Lanka that had to take an early flight back home.Sri Lanka has looked jaded and a troubled team. Usually, it gives the impression of being a happy team. On his return from the World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya had resigned as captain but his resignation had not been accepted. Now he has resigned once again and may have played his last match as captain.I have absolutely no idea about the internal politics of Sri Lankan cricket but can only guess that something is not quite right. There was some palaver about the selection of the team. Kumar Sangakkara was initially dropped but re-instated in the team as a specialist batsmen. He showed his detractors, if there were any, that he was not amused and he slammed two hundreds on a trot.Sri Lanka too has been unlucky. Chaminda Vaas has had to go home without having bowled a ball, a sprained ankle and Dilhara Fernando was nursing a stiff back. But more than that, I don’t think that Muttiah Muralitharan is in his best form. He still remains a bowler who commands respect but I may be wrong, and I hope that I am, he seems not to be taking wickets.Muralitharan did not have a particularly good World Cup and at Sharjah he has had only modest success by his standard. I am wondering if he has fully recovered from his shoulder injury.New Zealand is proving to be a difficult team. It walked out of a tour of Pakistan because of an unrelated bomb blast at an adjoining hotel in Karachi.Then it refused to play in Nairobi and forfeited the points (and I hope will be made to pay a financial penalty as well) and now we learn that it is monitoring the deadly pneumonia outbreak in Asia before deciding to tour Sri Lanka later this month.As far as I know there have been no cases of this pneumonia in Sri Lanka though there have been few cases in Canada. If there is any health hazard, it would apply to all teams taking part in the tournament.Actually it should be the other way round. Since the New Zealand team is scheduled to fly to Colombo via Singapore, there is danger that the New Zealand team may become carriers of the mysterious virus.I think that the New Zealand cricketers need to grow up. They have to live in a world that the rest of us do. If they are constantly feeling threatened, they should pull out from international cricket until they are satisfied that the world has become a safe place.It will, unfortunately, have to be a long wait. Somehow the New Zealand players think nothing about brawling in night clubs but they are terribly concerned about security.I think if there is any health hazard, I imagine that the Sri Lankan government would be aware of it. But somehow New Zealand does not seem to ‘trust’ home governments. They prefer to deal with their own independent sources.