Delhi dominated Himachal Pradesh for the second successive day intheir Ranji Trophy North Zone clash at the Harbax Singh Stadium in thecapital. Opener Akash Chopra completed a well-deserved double centurybefore the hosts declared on 417/8 and Ashish Nehra then got onto thescorebook four times as Himachal Pradesh slumped to 106/4 by stumps.Delhi resumed at 287/3 and Chopra reached his 150 with the first ballhe faced. Featuring in two fifty partnerships during the day, withPankaj Joshi and Sandeep Angurala, Chopra’s marathon 8 hour and 20minute vigil finally came to an end just after Delhi posted the 400.27 fours and two sixes rained from his bat during a 380 ball inningsthat fetched 222 runs.The declaration came shortly afterwards, leaving Himachal 54 overs toplay out the day. With his fourth ball, leftarmer Nehra despatchedopener Nischal Gaur but wicket keeper Arun Verma and skipper RajivNayyar then frustrated Delhi with a 60 run stand. Two more strikes byNehra besides a catch off fellow left arm seamer Amit Suman reducedHimachal to 89/4. Nayyar (36), who was still sticking to the creaselike a limpet in the company of Richie Kapoor, holds the key toHimachal’s fortunes on Monday.

Nottinghamshire’s Paul Johnson and Usman Afzaal capitalised on wayward bowling by Durham in an unbroken stand of 171 at Chester-le-Street.Scoring at five an over during the afternoon, they took the total to 277 for three before rain cut 32 overs off the day’s play.Coming in to face the second ball after lunch, Johnson looked likely to score a hundred in the session until his onslaught was checked by Paul Collingwood.Johnson had hit 88 off 108 balls at tea and added one more to stay one run ahead of his partner when the rain arrived.Many of Johnson’s 13 fours were pulled in front of square, and he also hit a straight six off Nicky Phillips.James Brinkley had Greg Blewett lbw for three in taking one for 27 in seven overs at lunch, only for his six subsequent overs to be thrashed for 44.Coming in after Guy Welton and Blewett fell in successive overs, Afzaal had ten fours in his 95-ball half century and added seven more against an attack missing Simon Brown and Neil Killeen.Ian Hunter sent down four wides and Steve Harmison three, one of which went for four, as 32 of the first 54 runs came from extras.Guy Welton fell for 16 when he drove Collingwood to cover to end an opening stand of 77, then Blewett was lbw aiming to drive wide of mid-on.Darren Bicknell fell lbw for 45 to a rare straight ball from Harmison, but the fourth wicket pair never looked like being parted.

Fazl-e-Akbar is to replace Shoaib Akhtar in Pakistan’s squad in England.Shoaib has been suffering from a stomach complaint for some time. It delayed his arrival in England, and has forced him from the field on several occasions.Fazl has played four Tests and a One-Day International in the past. He is currently playing league cricket in England.”We don’t think he is fit enough for international cricket," said Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed, clearly in some exasperation. “There are only another 10 days left of the one-day tournament and if he can’t bowl 10 overs for us he’s not a lot of use.”He was spitting blood over the weekend and has seen seven doctors in the last six days; we don’t know what is wrong with him.”He went for a run yesterday and got tired very quickly. We have released him from the squad. He may be able to bowl in club cricket but not at international level at the moment,” he continued, referring to Shoaib’s inclusion in the Lashing’s team to play on Friday.”What he does from here is between him and the board,” added Saeed. “We are very disappointed because we wanted him to play for us and there are a lot of people in this country who wanted to see him play.”Meanwhile David Folb, chairman of Lashings Cricket Club, said: “Shoaib will play for us on Friday. That’s never been in doubt. I don’t think I have ever announced that anyone is going to play and they have not. He’s told me he’s available from Friday and I am not interested in politics."Lashings are a high-profile club side, boasting the services of Richie Richardson, Stuart Williams, Junior Murray, Jimmy Adams and Franklyn Rose at present. Brian Lara also has also represented them this season.Lara, like Shoaib, enjoys a lucrative endorsement from Intertops.Com, a bat manufacturer and Lashings’ club sponsor.

Ed: Maria Naureen is our correspondent from Karachi, a FM 101 radio talk-show host, cricket radio commentator and sports journalist

A year after the probe into the match-fixing allegations wasinitiated, the CBI has now begun probing the “unholy nexus” betweenbookies and the underworld mafia to find out how deep the criminalsection has penetrated into the game.The sleuths of Special Crime Branch have made some headway in theirinvestigations into the nexus and preliminary reports indicate thatsome bookies were acting at the behest of the underworld mafia infixing cricket games, highly-placed agency sources told PTI in NewDelhi.The investigations were being carried out to bring to light all themurky dealings in cricket besides the “unholy” nexus between theunderworld mafia and some of India’s leading bookies, players andadministrators.The sources said the probe into this nexus and its bearing on nationalsecurity was being conducted both within India and abroad. They saidthe accounts and other important books of bookies had been scrutinisedbut added that this was a wide area and needed a detailedinvestigation before fixing responsibilities.Even though the nexus had been unearthed during the CBI’s probe intothe match-fixing scandal, the dimensions were yet to be fullyestablished, they said.Without disclosing any names, the sources said a “few bookies” hadlinks with the underworld that had been fairly established during theearlier investigation. CBI, the sources said, would cast its net wideto get to the bottom of the nexus between the underworld, bookies,cricketers and the game’s administrators.The investigations into this area began during the tenure of formerCBI Director R K Raghavan who had held a series of meetings with theofficials of other security and intelligence agencies for data on someof the underworld people. The sources said the role of cricketers hadbeen identified and now the main thrust was being given to the role ofbookies.They said the underworld had shown more than an academic interest inthe game and had found that the game could be manipulated. They saidthe entire gamut of the unholy nexus could be unravelled with activeco-operation from police forces in other states including Mumbai andagencies like Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).It is believed that the Mumbai Police and DRI had stumbled uponconversations between some players and the underworld in 1995.However, DRI has written to CBI that it was not in possession of anytapes.The sources drew attention to the warning contained in CBI’s report onmatch-fixing that underworld mafia could be expected to take totalcontrol of the betting racket if it was not checked immediately with afirm hand.Negligence of the police and other authorities in allowing “wageringto turn into an organised racket, particularly with the involvement ofthe underworld mafia”, was cited by CBI as the reason for the warningin its 162-page report, submitted on October 31 last year.The underworld mafia’s involvement is also borne out by thetestimonies of former Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and theteam’s former physiotherapist Ali Irani in which names of mafia donsAnees Ibrahim, Abu Salem and Sharad Shetty found mention.CBI report said Azhar during his questioning had stated that “AbuSalem had rung him up on a couple of occasions to fix matches but hehad refused.”

Derbyshire’s batsmen fought back strongly after they were left to score 347 to avoid the follow-on at Derby.Worcestershire recorded their highest-ever score in Derbyshire, 496, which left the home side facing a rearguard action with only ten men.Batsman Chris Bassano, who scored a century in each innings of his Championship debut last month, was forced to pull out of the game and return to Tasmania after his father Brian suffered a stroke.But Derbyshire, who lost their last Championship match by ten wickets, responded by advancing to 134-1 from 38 overs at the close for the loss of Luke Sutton.Worcestershire were already strongly placed on 390-5 going into the second day and the lower order all chipped in to add another 106 runs.Steve Rhodes, dropped at second slip by Dominic Cork before he had scored, made an unbeaten 37 and then took the catch which removed Sutton in the tenth over of Derbyshire’s reply.Andrew Bichel and Alamgir Sheriyar had made the ball zoom around on another steamy day but it was Kabir Ali who made the breakthrough when he got one to bounce and move away from Sutton who could not avoid getting an edge.The second stoppage for rain kept the players off the field until 5.20 and Worcestershire should have taken another wicket when Stubbings was dropped at first slip by Vikram Solanki on 38.The left-hander went on to complete a half-century from 89 balls and with Titchard also applying himself, Derbyshire showed they would make Worcestershire work hard on a pitch which has so far given no help to any of the bowlers.

The Essex squad for the Cricinfo Championship matchv Northamptonshire at Northampton, commencing Friday 27th July is:A P Grayson, R S Clinton, D D J Robinson, S G Law, P M Such, R C Irani (Captain), S D Peters, J S Foster (Wicket-keeper), G R Napier, T J Phillips, A P Cowan, J E Bishop.Scorer: D J Norris

LEEDS, England – Shane Warne is less anxious about joining the exclusive400 Test-wicket club than he was about breaking Dennis Lillee’s recordfor an Australian bowler.Warne goes into the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley, starting Thursday,with 395 victims from 90 Tests and a relaxed frame of mind.He was on the verge of breaking Lillee’s standard of 355 wickets forwhat seemed like an eternity before finally dismissing Paul Wiseman inNew Zealand last year for No.356.Headingley is traditionally a seamer’s paradise but boasting 19 wicketsat 12.84 in the first three Ashes Tests, Warne is every chance of takingfive more to be the first Australian to reach 400.”It would be fantastic,” he said.”I don’t think I’ll be doing too much bowling here at Headingley wherethe quicks generally do all the business but if I could slide in for acouple it would be very nice.”I don’t worry about statistics too much … the only time in my careerI got stuck was breaking Lillee’s record.”There was a lot of pressure because it was such a great achievement.”I never even expected to play for Australia.”Only Courtney Walsh (519), Kapil Dev (434), Sir Richard Hadlee (431),Wasim Akram (414) and Curtly Ambrose (405) have taken 400 wickets in the124-year history of Test cricket.”I don’t worry about statistics too much but to get 400 Test wickets,there haven’t been many people to do it,” said Warne.”I’m very excited by the prospect.”If I can get a couple of important wickets, break a couple ofpartnerships this game and get five, it would be a bonus.”When records happen you give yourself a little pat on the back and say’well done.'”

Three half-centuries from Ben Smith, skipper Vince Wells and Neil Burnsrecued Leicestershire from a precarious position on the first day of theirvital CricInfo Championship Division One clash against relegationrivals Glamorgan at Grace Road.Glamorgan had reduced Leicestershire to 26-3 within nine overs after theopening 75-minutes were lost to rain, but by an abbreviated closebecause of bad light the home side had finished the day on 274-7.Despite winning the toss Leicestershire found themselves deep introuble in a match they must win to rule out the possibility ofsuffering relegation.Steve Watkin, who needed just two wickets before this match for 900first-class wickets, struck with the 12th delivery of the game to haveIain Sutcliffe lbw.From 10-1 Leicestershire found themselves 18-2 thanks to the pace ofSimon Jones, who has been included in England’s Academy tour to Adelaidethis winter.Jones had Trevor Ward well caught low down at point by Matthew Maynardand he followed that up by bowling Aftab Habib.Ben Smith and Darren Maddy launched something of a recovery and reachedtea at 61-3.But Maddy mishooked Andrew Davies in the third over after the intervaland Leicestershire’s innings further collapsed when Darren Stevens alsomiscued Darren Thomas.After reducing Leicestershire to 93-5 Glamorgan rather let the home sideoff the hook. Smith reached his 50 off 73 balls with nine fours beforebeing adjudged lbw to Robert Croft’s second ball of the match.Wells, who went to 50 off 84 balls, and Burns saw Leicestershire safelyto tea at 226-6 from 51 overs.Before the close Watkin claimed his 900th wicket when he trapped Wellslbw.

World women’s champions New Zealand’s tour of India in November is still on.While the CLEAR Black Caps tour of Pakistan was postponed with the team en route when terrorism attacks were made on the United States, and the New Zealand A team was recalled from the latter stages of their tour to India, the CLEAR White Ferns women’s tour was still on.New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said today that as the tour was not scheduled to start until the second half of November there was plenty of time for the situation in the Middle East to become clearer.”We will proceed as if it is all go,” Snedden said.”We have a good six weeks before we need to make a decision,” he said.New Zealand is scheduled to play a Test match and several One-Day Internationals in India.