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Robin Uthappa cracked his fourth century of the season, taking hisfirst-class tally to a massive 831runs this season, as Karnataka stormedto a strong position against Saurashtra in their Ranji Trophy match atRajkot. Rahul Dravid, the cynosure of all eyes, helped himself to atypically even-paced fifty and Karnataka ended the first day on 329 for 4.After winning the toss and choosing to bat, with a steady stream of peoplecoming into the ground to get a glimpse of Dravid Karnataka got off to a poor start. There was a bit of assistance for the fast bowlers early on and Sandip Maniar got one ball to swing away from the bat late enough to pick up Barrington Rowland’s edge. Fora second Dravid, who has walked out to bat at No. 3 for India with prettymuch nothing on the board all season, must have thought, here we go again.But C Raghu went in at the fall of the first wicket, leaving Dravid withmore time on the balcony.Raghu, who has a wide array of strokes, was careful in getting his eye in,and ensured that he saw the new ball off. The best attempts of Maniar andSandeep Jobanputra were not good enough to breach the defences, and ithardly helped that Saurashtra were not latching onto the chances they werecreating.Uthappa, who began confidently, striking the ball powerfully throughcover, continued at a fast clip, rarely slowing down. Even in the initialstages, with the ball doing a bit, Uthappa was assured in his strokeplayand the footwork was never hesitant as he collected boundaries almost atwill. In the last Ranji match he had torn the Tamil Nadu batting attack toshreds, and here he seemed intent on doing the same to Saurashtra.The lunch break broke Uthappa’s charge, and when the players walked offthe field, he had 86 to his name, while Raghu had motored along nicely to48. The loss of the early wicket was put well behind. When theplayers came back after lunch Uthappa wasted no time – literally – ingetting to his hundred. Two fours and a big six, off the first three ballsthat Kamlesh Makvana sent down, took Uthappa to his century. But he was soon out to SP Jobanputra and Saurashtra may have let out a collective sigh of relief.Out walked Dravid, and though this wasn’t exactly Durban, with Andre Nel,Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini steaming in, he settled into his usualrhythm. He left the ball well early on, defended stoutly when the ballthreatened the stumps, and only went after what was loose. Raghu (83), whohad put on 167 for the second wicket with Uthappa, added almost 50 withDravid for the third, before he swept and missed and was trapped in front.Subsequently, when Dravid attempted to sweep a loopy offbreak, missed and was bowled,there might have been disappointment for the few hundred people gatheredat the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium to watch India’s captain bat, but for oneman, it was an absolute dream come true. For Makvana, the 23-year-oldoffspinner, it was a huge day just bowling to Dravid, forget about pickingup his wicket. It’s not often that the son of a groundsman gets to bowl toone of the best batsmen in the world.Kamlesh, the elder son of Rasiklal Makvana, the man who has been thegroundsman at this stadium in Rajkot for more than two-and-a-half decades,has been coming to this ground, initially called the Municipal Stadium,since he was a toddler. In fact, he has even worked on the ground himself- as casual labour – assisting his father.Rasiklal has been responsible for the pitch, the outfield and the generalupkeep of the ground for as long as even the old timers remember. He wasinitially with the fire brigade in Rajkot – that was what he was trainedfor – but over the years he had gained experience in working with cricketgrounds. Cricket runs in the family and while Kamlesh hasactually gone on to play first-class cricket for Saurashtra, his youngerbrother Vipul, a wicketkeeper batsman, is doing the rounds in Under-19cricket.With Dravid gone the crowd began to trickle out, but Karnataka lost noneof their focus. Yere Goud (38 not out) and Thilak Naidu (30 not out) dugthemselves in, and a Saurashtra attack that had lost one of its keybowlers, Rakesh Shruv, who fractured his hand fielding, could do little toeither pick up wickets or stem the flow of runs. When the day ended withKarnataka on an imposing score, there was plenty of hard work left in the game forSaurashtra.

Mark Taylor has joined Stuart Clark, the Australia fast bowler, in saying the game could become boring if measures are taken to ban sledging and confrontation during matches. The ICC has asked teams to improve their behaviour through a “zero-tolerance policy” over verbal abuse.”How are we going to remove something that has been so much part of the game?” Clark told Sydney radio station . “Put it this way – it’s going to be very boring for six hours if you can’t talk to one another and can’t do anything like that. What is a sledge and what’s not a sledge is my big question there.”Cricket Australia says the ICC’s code of conduct already covers the issue and said a total ban on sledging, which was raised during an ICC meeting in Kuala Lumpur last month, had not been supported. The behaviour reminder comes after Australia’s often heated series with India over the past four months.Taylor, a member of the ICC cricket committee, said it was important not to go “over the top” with the regulations. “When you get a close series like we had this year with Australia and India you are going to get confrontation,” he said in the Courier-Mail. “Provided it’s kept in reasonable check it is all good.”That’s the kind of competition people want to see. We can’t go over the top, make the players the same and the game very boring.”Clark, who appears to be one of the more quiet members of the Australia squad, said removing sledging would be “detrimental to the game”, but he supported eliminating racial and political barbs. “It’s going to be a hard one to police because there are going to be times where people are going to be talking and it’s going to be misconstrued or taken the wrong way,” he said. “I can’t say what they [the ICC] are thinking but the removing of sledging completely from the game of cricket … I think it’s going to be detrimental to the game.”

Group A
A combined bowling effort from State Bank of Hyderabad inflicted a second consecutive defeat on All India Electricity Board in Visakhapatnam. Vinay Dandekar picked up three wickets and was supported by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Rana Chowdhary who picked up two each. The problem for SBH was the failure of their batsmen to convert starts. T Suman made a fluent 32, P Srihari Rao chipped in with 37 while wicketkeeper M Srinivas contributed an unbeaten 33. They were not helped by the appalling lack of support from the other end, as the AIEB bowlers kept chipping away.AIEB would have backed themselves to chase down 172 but they didn’t have to go that far. Rain intervened when they were on 99 for 2 in 20.3 overs, well past what they required at that stage in the event of an interruption.Group B
In a thrilling contest in Chennai, Tata Sports Club survived a spirited chase by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and prevailed by one run to open their mark in the BCCI Corporate trophy.The chase of 265 was dealt a major setback when Abhishek Nayar’s fluent knock of 85 was terminated by Gaurav Jathar. At 138 for 4, it seemed TSC were in control but captain VA Indulkar and wicketkeeper Uday Kaul struck half-centuries to surge BPCL back in the game. Indulkar was more measured while Kaul stepped up with four fours and a couple of sixes. Just as it seemed BPCL would upstage their opponents, Wilkin Mota struck twice, ending the threatening stand and then dismissing Sairaj Bahutule. Mota bowled the final over and Bahutule fell first ball but BPCL were still favourites, requiring 4 off 5 balls with Kaul still batting. However, they managed just two more, failing to dispatch Mota, and slipped to an agonising defeat.The star with the bat for TSC was Dhruv Singh, who led his team’s recovery from 109 for 5 with an attacking 115. He was supported down the order by Mota, who chipped in with 30 – part of a decisive all-round effort – and Ajit Agarkar, who blasted 31 off 19 to stretch his team’s score to one they barely managed to defend.Group C
Air India eased to their second straight win in the tournament, beating Chemplast by six wickets in Hyderabad. Even a century from Napoleon Einstein and a score of 278 wasn’t enough in the wake of a solid reply from AI’s batsmen. Captain Mohammad Kaif took the lead in steering his team home, making an unbeaten 82 in 88 balls including four fours and two sixes. And there was ample support from the rest. Hrishikesh Kanitkar scored a run-a-ball 53 in a 118-run stand with Kaif, while Sushant Marathe and Chandan Madan put the chase on track with a 70-run stand. Victory was secured without much fuss with 14 balls to spare.Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited edged State Bank of Mysore by five runs in a fascinating encounter in Hyderabad. Both teams were bowled out, there were no half-centuries in the match and yet there were 575 runs scored in all.BSNL opted to bat and seemed to be on track for a more challenging score with a series of consistent contributions from the batsmen in the top and middle orders. Monish Mishra made 39, NS Negi made 41 and Niranjan Behera chipped in with 36 but what was missing was a more substantial innings. Chethan William grabbed three wickets while every other bowler chipped in with at least a wicket to keep BSNL in check and restrict them to a score of 240.SBM were in a good position to secure a win at 152 for 3 but offspinner Kamlesh Makvana broke a 76-run stand between William and B Akhil. He dismissed both batsmen and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Diwan stepped in to trigger a collapse where the last five wickets fell for 31 runs to deprive SBM of a win.Group D
State Bank of Patiala and Income Tax (India) served up the third closely-fought game of the day, with the former prevailing by 17 runs in Bangalore. SBP batted first and squandered an excellent start provided by their openers, R Rehni and Ravi Inder Singh, who added 101. Inder Singh made 75 but there were no major contributions from the rest. Spinners Ankit Sharma and Parag Khanapurkar grabbed seven wickets between them to help skittle out SBP for 218. SBP held the edge in the chase, limiting IT for 104 for 6 at one stage. But wicketkeeper Amol Ubarhande and Rohit Dahiya tried to revive the innings with a 57-run stand for the seventh wicket, but SBP fought back. Mukesh Sharma chipped away at the rest of the line-up, finishing with 5 for 26, and ending IT’s innings with more than three overs to spare.Oil and Natural Gas Corporation raced to victory against Madras Rubber Factory at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Despite good starts, the MRF top-order batsmen fell in pairs. The openers Thalavan Sargunam and S Anirudha fell with the score on 87, Sridharan Sriram and Y Gnaneswara Rao then fell in a space of three runs. Venugopal Rao remained unbeaten on 83 but MRF had been in a position to post more than 242 for 6. The score proved inadequate. Praveen Kumar, who opens the bowling for India, shone in his role as a batsman at the top of the order, giving the ONGC innings a boost with a quickfire 54. His opening partner Sandeep Sharma made 75 while Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir remained unbeaten to steer their team to victory with 73 balls to spare.

Nearly a year ago, Australia arrived at Eden Park for their only away match of the World Cup. The 55-metre straight boundaries had their batsmen licking their lips and their bowlers scratching their heads. Big scores were expected. Instead, Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc provided a reminder that if the ball is swinging the boundary size is irrelevant, as they rattled stumps throughout the game. In all, 19 wickets fell for 303 runs.This time there is no Starc, as he continues to recover from ankle surgery, though Boult is available for New Zealand. In fact, none of Australia’s three frontline bowlers from that match will be playing – Pat Cummins is also injured and Mitchell Johnson has retired. Instead, the pace attack will be made up of some combination of Josh Hazlewood, John Hastings, Scott Boland, Kane Richardson, James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh, who played in that game but bowled only one over.Swing will again be key in Wednesday’s match, the first in a three-game Chappell-Hadlee series ahead of the two Tests. Australia are coming off a 4-1 series win at home against India, in matches where 295 was the lowest first-innings score made, and New Zealand are coming off a 2-0 win over Pakistan, which ended with Sunday’s win at Eden Park, where Pakistan made 290 and New Zealand chased a Duckworth-Lewis target of 263 inside 43 overs.Australia’s recent form against India will give them confidence that they can chase almost any target on the smaller grounds in New Zealand, although that will also depend on what kind of pitches are served up after the flat tracks in Australia. Faulkner, who was Man of the Match in the World Cup final against New Zealand but missed the Auckland game through injury, said conditions would determine whether this series swayed towards enormous totals or lower ones.”There’s no reason why… teams can’t get 350 or 400,” Faulkner said. “A lot of it just comes down to conditions. If it’s swinging around, which we think it would over there, the ball will be moving like it did throughout the World Cup. It’s obviously a lot tougher and early wickets tend to fall. Every team at the moment is setting up to go hard in the first 10, consolidate through the middle and try and have wickets in the shed to try and launch.”Especially with the smaller boundaries, I think if you find the ball isn’t moving, there will be high scores. But if it is, it’s obviously a lot tougher for the opening batsmen to adjust. More times than not at the moment 300 tends to be the base and every run over that is so valuable because every single batter in most teams can bat these days, so it makes it really tough for the bowlers.”Faulkner himself was reminded of the challenges faced by bowlers in ODI cricket last month against India, when he leaked more than a run a ball throughout the series. However, the Australians still managed to win the series comfortably due to the success of their batsmen, and Faulkner noted that the evolution of the one-day game had meant bowlers had to accept that their figures would balloon significantly compared to a few years ago.”I think it’s just the way the game has changed,” he said. “When the first rule came out with only four fielders outside the circle and the Powerplay between 35 and 40, it really shook the game up and I think initially it was a bit of a shock – a lot of people were seeing bowlers going for 70 or 80 off their 10 overs and thinking gee they’ve been whacked around the park compared to what it used to be back in the day of 40-45.”I think it’s just the public and all the players understanding how the game has evolved and T20 has had a hell of a lot to do with that. I think every bowler depending on where they’re bowling, whether it’s up front, whether it’s at the death or through the middle, will have their own little goals but I think now people aren’t really looking at how many runs necessarily; it’s about when they are bowling and how successful they are to certain batters at certain times.”I’ve definitely noticed it at the back end in particular, when you’ve got wickets in hand, it’s so hard to defend. It doesn’t matter how good you are and if you execute, teams can still hit you for a minimum of 10-12 runs an over. So if you’re going into the last 10 only two down, if you’re not getting 100 plus off that I don’t think you’ve done well enough with the bat.”The success of Australia’s batsmen against India meant that Faulkner’s batting was hardly required during the series, although he did play one key innings during the win at the MCG, seeing Australia home in their chase alongside Glenn Maxwell. Faulkner’s finishing with the bat could be important for Australia at the World T20 in India next month and while the selectors may consider form in this ODI series when choosing that squad, Faulkner said his focus was purely on the ODIs.”I just think it’s going to be a great series all around,” he said. “I think obviously after both teams playing in the World Cup final and what New Zealand achieved… I’m expecting a really tough series. I think you’re going to see a really good brand of cricket with bat and ball, and a really good fierce competition.”

Radical measures could be taken to prevent their players from signing lucrative contracts with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and turning their backs on their country, Justin Vaughan, New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive, has said. These measures include increasing the number of centrally contracted players to 25 as well as increasing the value of player retainers.The inaugural edition of the ICL included retired players from New Zealand like Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan and Chris Harris. While New Zealand lost just two current players to the league – Daryll Tuffey and Hamish Marshall – Vaughan fears that the number could increase, with the ICL organisers announcing plans for four new tournaments next season and also increasing the number of teams from six to eight. ICL-contracted players are allowed to play domestic cricket in New Zealand but are not eligible for selection for national or A teams.”We have a shallow player pool and we can’t afford to lose players,” Vaughan told the New Zealand’s . “But we are keeping an eye on it and maybe there are things that we can look at in the structure of our contracts.”The Indian board has also lured New Zealand’s premier players like Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram and Scott Styris, to sign up for its officially-sanctioned, cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), set to commence in April next year. While these players have agreed to honour their country ahead of their franchise teams and that the IPL is not viewed as a threat unlike the ICL, Vaughan felt that the board will have to ensure they aren’t tempted by the financial incentives being offered by the BCCI to participate.”The process of picking these players is the BCCI’s business and we’ve put forward our best players for consideration and they choose who they want,” Vaughan said.Vaughan said the matter was being discussed with the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association to work out a new structure for the contracts. Retaining elite players would, in all probability, be given more importance than increasing the pool of untried contracted players.”We don’t know how we might structure that but we will be working very closely with the [New Zealand] Players’ Association on this one,” Vaughan said. “We are starting to talk to Heath Mills, [Players’ Association head] about what might be possible. It’s this balance – yes we’d like to lock up as many players as possible but, you can either pay fewer people more or more people basically what they’re getting now.”

Tamil Nadu, thanks principally to an unbeaten 120 by N Lokesh, were297 for four wickets at stumps on the first day of their three dayKSCA Coca Cola Cup (under-25) tournament in Bangalore on Wednesday.Opting to bat, Tamil Nadu were given a good start with openersRavindra John (69) and SP Lakshmi Kumar (6) putting on 63 runs off20.3 overs. John who dominated the scoring was second out at 102 inthe 32nd over. He faced 110 balls and hit 11 of them to the ropes.Lokesh, who had come in at the fall of the first wicket, added 39 runsfor the second wicket off 11 overs with John. He was then concerned inthree more fruitful partnerships. First with Noorul Riaz (18) he added53 runs for the third wicket off 26 overs. Then with J Harish (36) hewas concerned in a fourth wicket stand of 81 runs off 21 overs. Andfinally, Lokesh and Surendra Doss (38 not out) put on 61 runs for theunbroken fifth wicket off 13.2 overs. By close, Lokesh had batted 270minutes and faced 174 balls, hitting 14 of them to the ropes.

Surrey have signed Harbhajan Singh, the India offspinner who was surprisingly overlooked by the selectors for their tour of England next month.”Let’s be honest, Surrey haven’t had the start to the season that we would like,” Alan Butcher, Surrey’s cricket manager said, “and we feel that a world-class spinner is an important part of improving our performance in the second half of the year.”Harbhajan is a great wicket-taker and with the club expecting Azhar Mahmood to play for Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup later this year, we no longer have to worry about a possible gap in our line-up from August onwards. Azhar has made a great contribution to the club, and it’s clear that international duty is a distinct possibility for him later this year, so we want to be prepared.”Harbhajan, 26, last played a Test for India against West Indies 12 months ago, but is pleased to rejoin Surrey who he represented in 2005.”This is obviously a great opportunity for me personally,” he said, “and I can’t wait to get out there and play some great cricket for Surrey. I want to make every performance count, with both bat and ball, and really look forward to catching up with my old team-mates soon.”

Western Australia have dealt heavy blows to two of their star batsmen, and to their own Pura Cup chances, by suspending Luke Pomersbach and Shaun Marsh until next month. Pomersbach has been ruled out for two Pura Cup and two FR Cup matches while Marsh will miss only one of each.The disciplinary action came after the pair broke team rules by drinking alcohol in the lead-up to this week’s one-day and Pura Cup matches against South Australia. Pomersbach will not be considered for selection until the Pura Cup game against South Australia starting on December 14, while Marsh’s shorter ban could see him back in the side for the limited-overs clash with Tasmania on December 1.Both players scored centuries in Western Australia’s last Pura Cup match and Pomersbach in particular has had a superb start to his season. He has scored two hundreds and averages 98.75 from three Pura Cup games, sitting behind only Simon Katich on the competition run tally.The Warriors have made four changes to their squad for the Pura Cup match that starts on Friday, with Trent Kelly and David Bandy also omitted. Ben Edmondson returns from a hamstring strain and Aaron Heal has also been included, while the allrounder Theo Doropoulos and the batsman Liam Davis could be in line to make their first-class debuts.Davis, 23, played one limited-overs match for Western Australia in 2005-06 and has made a solid start to Perth’s club season with 333 runs at 47.57. Chris Rogers has also been named in the 12-man group after recovering from stomach cramps that kept him out of last week’s FR Cup game.South Australia have a strong list of inclusions with Shaun Tait and Mark Cosgrove added to the squad, as well as Darren Lehmann, who will be playing his final Pura Cup match after announcing his retirement on Monday. Mark Cleary, Shane Deitz and Cameron Borgas have made way for the returning trio.Western Australia squad Justin Langer, Chris Rogers, Adam Voges (capt), Liam Davis, Luke Ronchi (wk), Theo Doropoulos, Brad Hogg, Darren Wates, Aaron Heal, Steve Magoffin, Ben Edmondson, Mathew Inness.South Australia squad Matthew Elliott, Callum Ferguson, Mark Cosgrove, Nathan Adcok (capt), Darren Lehmann, Andy Delmont, Graham Manou (wk), Ryan Harris, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Shaun Tait, Cullen Bailey.

Durham

Captain Dale Benkenstein Coach Geoff Cook Overseas Neil McKenzie, Albie Morkel (SA), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
After a coming-of-age season in 2007 where they won the Friends Provident Trophy and were runners-up in the Championship, Durham are now established as a force in the county game. The challenge is to continue the progression and the good news is that they have the core of last year’s team still around, minus the heroic Ottis Gibson. The batting will be well served by McKenzie and Chanderpaul, but it will need one of the young bowlers such as Liam Plunkett or Graham Onions to fill the hole left by Gibson. Andrew McGlashan
High value Phil Mustard – likely to be away with England for parts of the season, but is a crucial part of Durham’s one-day jigsaw.
Long-term investment Moneeb Iqbal – a raw legspinner at the moment but a talent worth persevering with.
Prospects Have the right balance of youth and experience to challenge for silverware again, especially in the one-day game.

Hampshire

Captain Dimitri Mascarenhas Coach Paul Terry Overseas Shane Bond (NZ), Shane Watson (Aus)Hampshire have had a trying time pre-season, what with the departures of Shane Warne and Shaun Udal, the conflicting aspirations of Dimitri Mascarenhas, the retirement of James Bruce, and uncertainty over whether Shane Bond would be joining the club. That last, at least, has now been resolved, and Jimmy Adams is likely to lead the side while Mascarenhas is with the IPL in India. At present the new captain is expected to miss only two weeks’ cricket, but many another county chairman would not have been as forgiving of him as Rod Bransgrove has been. Warne’s great regret will have been not winning the County Championship and much will depend now on the fitness of Chris Tremlett and how many wickets the two spinners, Liam Dawson and Greg Lamb, take between them. Ivo Tennant
High value Kevin Pietersen – but for how many matches will he be available?
Long-term investment Liam Dawson – the teenage left arm spinner with an England future ahead of him.
Prospects A difficult summer ahead. Relegation not out of the question in the Championship.

Kent

Captain Robert Key Coach Graham Ford Overseas Yasir Arafat (Pak)
The captaincy of Rob Key, arguably prematurely discarded by England, is beginning to earn impressive notices. It is 30 years since Kent were last county champions, and although their side does not compare with that of 1978, they have a chance of replicating that success. For a club that has taken much pride in nurturing talented players, too many discarded cricketers from other counties have been signed over the past decade or more, but in Joe Denly and Sam Northeast, Kent have unearthed two exciting young batsmen. Ryan McLaren, described by Key as “a seriously serious cricketer,” took a hat-trick in the Twenty20 final, helping Kent win a knockout competition for the first time since the 1978 side achieved that, also. Alas for the club, Justin Kemp’s registration has been turned down by the ECB, and less enticing is the re-development of the St Lawrence, Canterbury, which will affect the ground’s aesthetic charm. Ivo Tennant
High value McLaren – with both bat and ball, and who is intent on playing for England.
Long-term investment Denly – unless England claim him for a central contract.
Prospects Probably their best in both first-class and instant cricket since, well, 1978.

Lancashire

Captain Stuart Law Coach Mike Watkinson Overseas Brad Hodge (Aus)
Last season was Lancashire’s most agonising Championship near-miss in their history, and the ECB fixture computer clearly has a sense of humour, having pitted them against Surrey at The Oval in the opening match this time around. How well the squad have moved on from the crushing disappointment of last year is crucial, and in Stuart Law, the no-nonsense Australian who has taken over the captaincy from Mark Chilton, they have the ideal man to ensure no dwelling. Once again they don’t have the youngest squad around and it is time some of the next generation started pushing through on a regular basis. Tom Smith needs to recover from a poor 2007, while Kyle Hogg and Oliver Newby must to keep Dominic Cork and Glen Chapple on their toes. Andrew McGlashan
High value Andrew Flintoff – will have his longest stretch of county action since becoming an England regular and has the incentive of needing runs and wickets.
Long-term investment Steven Croft – an attacking batsman and useful medium-pacer who gave a glimpse of his talent last season, especially in the one-day game.
Prospects A strong squad should be a force in all competitions and the Championship is well within their grasp.

Nottinghamshire

Captain Chris Read Coach Mick Newell Overseas David Hussey (Aus), Adam Voges (Aus)
Without Stephen Fleming’s nous and wisdom, a lot rests on Chris Read’s shoulders. Elevated to captain over the winter, he doubtless has a point to prove after again slipping out of favour with the England selectors. He will lead a side who ought to be bubbling with confidence following their promotion to the first Division, though (England fans hope) he won’t have much use of Stuart Broad who hopped north from Leicestershire over the winter. Though Jason Gallian has fled to Essex, the batting line-up has a reassuringly solid feel to it. Adam Voges, the Western Australia batsman, will cover for the prolific David Hussey who is on IPL duty. Will Luke
High value Hussey – scores big runs, quick runs and lots of them.
Long-term investment Bilal Shafayat – disappointing last year(560 runs at 31.11 with no hundreds) but a gifted strokemaker who has youth on his side.
Prospects Notts’ bowling is light when the England stars are away, but their batsmen ought to keep them afloat in the Championship.

Somerset

Captain Justin Langer Coach Andy Hurry Overseas Justin Langer (Aus)
Can Somerset become county champions for the first time in their history after storming to the second-division title? It is not improbable, given that Langer has put off joining the IPL until next year – to the appreciation of many at Taunton – and that Marcus Trescothick, whose first scoring shot in Somerset’s initial pre-season friendly match was to put the ball out of the ground, will not be playing any international cricket. Then there is Omari Banks; the ever-willing Andy Caddick, who took 75 wickets last year and understandably felt he should play for England again; and a number of talented young players, including James Hildreth and Michael Munday, who should have played more often last year. And do not forget the clubbing of the ball that Ian Blackwell perennially provides. Ivo Tennant
High value Trescothick – will almost certainly score a heap of runs in this his benefit year.
Long-term investment Off the pitch, a £50m ground redevelopment; on it, Munday’s legspin, so effective at the very end of last season.
Prospects A fair chance of becoming champions, but much will depend on whether the highly respected Phil Frost can maintain an even balance between bat and ball on the Taunton square.

Surrey

Captain Mark Butcher Coach Alan Butcher Overseas Matt Nicholson (Aus)
The Butcher family alliance has helped Surrey rediscover their street-cred resilience: they fought tooth and nail to claw their way up the Championship and finish fourth last summer. Father and son have not, however, halted a few familiar faces from leaving over the winter. Out go Ian Salisbury, Azhar Mahmood, Rikki Clarke and Nayan Doshi – a strong bowling quartet – and in come Pedro Collins and Saqlain Mushtaq – “a Surrey legend”, in Butcher senior’s words. There is enough talent there to urge them to a trophy in one-dayers – 40-year-old Chris Lewis is back for the Twenty20s – but the powerhouses of Lancashire and Sussex will probably be too strong in the Championship. Will Luke
High value Mark Ramprakash – who is approaching his 100th first-class hundred and shows no sign of fading. Or ageing. Will England be tempted if and when one of their top six loses form or fitness?
Long-term investment Chris Jordon – a fast bowler of West Indian heritage and not yet 20 years old. It’s still not certain where his future allegiance lies, but Surrey will want to keep hold of him as long as possible.
Prospects Mid-table beckons in the Championship; possibly challenging for the title if their bowlers fire. Ramprakash to fill his boots again.

Sussex

Captain Chris Adams Coach Mark Robinson Overseas Mushtaq Ahmed (Pak)
Aiming for a hat-trick of Championship titles, Sussex went through a nervous pre-season waiting to hear if they would have the services of Mushtaq Ahmed after his time in the ICL. His availability means Sussex will again be the team to beat over four days, while Ryan Harris looks a useful acquisition from South Australia. The batting should look after itself, especially with Matt Prior back to boost the middle order and prove his worth to England. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan’s bowling will be missed, but Sussex know what it takes to win titles. The main issues are off the field as they try to develop Hove to keep up with changing times. Whatever the final plans, let’s hope it doesn’t lose its character. It’s part of the Sussex package. Andrew McGlashan
High value Mushtaq – one of the shrewdest county buys of all time and continues to handsomely reward Sussex.
Long-term investment Ragheb Aga – a pace bowler who has played ODIs for Kenya and made a good impression during pre-season.
Prospects They will be in the Championship mix throughout, but should be pushed all the way in a strong division. Harris and Prior will help their one-day chances.

Yorkshire

Captain Darren Gough Coach Martyn Moxon Overseas Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (Pak), Morne Morkel (SA)
The confirmation of Rana Naved’s availability is a boost and Yorkshire will boast an international-class bowling attack, with Matthew Hoggard eager to prove his England worth and Morne Morkel on early-season cover. Darren Gough’s first season back promised much before Yorkshire faded in the final stages, but there is still a positive vibe around the club. This will probably be Gough’s final year and you wouldn’t put it past him to go out on a high. However, the squad doesn’t appear quite strong enough for the Championship crown. All eyes will be on the further development of Adil Rashid; his England days are drawing closer. Andrew McGlashan
High value Jacques Rudolph – will need to fill his boots as some of the top order are unproven.
Long-term investment Ajmal Shahzad – another locally produced player of whom much is expected in the near future.
Prospects The squad appears more suited to one-day success as they aim to give Gough a fitting send-off.

Yorkshire have submitted plans for their new pavilion at Headingley as part of their multi-million pound investment in redeveloping the ground.The new pavilion, if approved, will be situated at the Kirkstall Lane end and, for the first time, will mean cricketers will no longer have to share the same dressing room facilities used by their rugby counterparts.”In 2005, with the help of Leeds city council the club purchased the freehold of the famous ground and in so doing went a long way towards protecting a 15-year staging agreement with the ECB to host international cricket in Yorkshire,” a club statement read. “However, the job is still not complete – because there is a need to invest in the ground before 2019 to improve player, broadcaster and spectator facilities as well as growing the capacity to over 20,000.”Although intensely proud of its pedigree, the club does not under-estimate the challenges that lie ahead and the increasing competition from other venues across the country to stage international cricket.”While the club has and will continue to have an excellent relationship with its rugby-playing neighbours, there is an acceptance that separate changing rooms and amenities are now essential – and these will form part of the new pavilion.”It was hoped that the new pavilion to be ready in time for the Ashes Test next year, but it was revealed in January that Yorkshire estimate the redevelopment work will only be half finished.